Hockey Heads To Bemidji State To Officially Open 2016-17 Campaign

#14 Bowling Green Falcons (0-0-0, 0-0-0 WCHA)
at
Bemidji State Beavers (0-0-0, 0-0-0 WCHA)

GAME INFORMATION	Friday, Oct. 7, 8:07 p.m. ET Saturday, Oct. 8, 8:07 p.m. ET
LOCATION	Bemidji, Minn. (Sanford Center)
RADIO	WBGU 88.1 FM (Evan Pivnick, Adam Ramos)
LIVE STATS	BSUBeavers.com
WATCH ONLINE	WCHA.tv
LISTEN ONLINE	BGSUFalcons.com
GAME NOTES	Bowling Green

>>FALCONS ON TAP
Bowling Green, which is ranked No. 14 in the USCHO.com preseason poll, and opens not just regular season play, but also Western Collegiate Hockey Associate play Friday and Saturday against Bemidji State. Both games in the series will start at 7:07 p.m. central time, 8:07 eastern, in Bemidji, Minn.

>>RECAPPING THE WCHA FIRST ROUND
Bowling Green most recently faced off with Bemidji State in the first round of the WCHA Playoffs, from March 11-13, 2016. With a 2-1 record in the series win, the Falcons now hold an all-time series record of 8-4-1 with the Beavers, including an impressive 6-1 mark at home. Although the Falcons are 2-3-1 at the Sanford Center, they have outscored Bemidji State by a 36-27 mark all-time, but fall short on the road by 19-12.

>>PLAYOFF SUCCESS
In last year's WCHA Playoffs, Bowling Green came back from a first-game loss to defeat Bemidji State in a best-of-three WCHA Tournament first round series with wins of 7-2 and 3-1 in the final two games. BGSU has now won a best-of-three playoff series in six consecutive years, including all three as members of the WCHA.

>>FRIEDMAN FLYS PAST THE BEAVERS
Defenseman Mark Friedman had two goals and three points in the second game of the WCHA Playoff series during BGSU's 7-2 win over Bemidji State. That still represents his career-best for a single game in both categories.

>>HOLY MOLY, WHAT A GOALIE
Goalie Chris Nell saved 93 of 99 shots during the three game series against Bemidji State and led WCHA goalies with a .939 save percentage during the first round of the playoffs. In BGSU's two wins, he saved 72 of 75 shots. At the end of the 2016-17 campaign, Nell led the WCHA overall in save percentage (.930) and was third in goals against average (1.91) and set Bowling Green school records in the pair of categories.

>>PRESEASON POLLS PEG BOWLING GREEN
Bowling Green was picked to finish first in the WCHA by both the coaches' and media preseason polls, in addition to being ranked No. 14 in the country by USCHO.com. It is just the second time in school history that Bowling Green has been ranked in the first USCHO.com poll of the year since the poll was initiated for the 1997-98 season, and improved from a No. 16 ranking at the start of the 2015-16 campaign. The Falcons did earn votes (but not enough to be ranked) in the USCHO.com preseason polls in 2014 (11 votes), 2013 (4 votes), 2008 (3 votes), 2005 (1 vote), 2004 (1 vote), 1999 (1 vote) and 1997 (3 votes). Bowling Green is also ranked No. 15 in the first USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll of the season. This is the Falcons first appearance in the poll since receiving a No. 13 ranking on 12/14/15.

>>ALL-CONFERENCE ACTION
Multiple Falcons were named for preseason All-WCHA, including junior Mark Friedman and goaltender Chris Nell. Senior Sean Walker also received votes for the Preseason All-WCHA Team, while Friedman and Nell joined Walker in Bowling Green upperclassmen that received votes for Preseason WCHA Player of the Year. Three Falcon freshmen were recognized for the Preseason WCHA Rookie of the Year award, in defenseman Alec Rauhauser and forwards Frederic Letourneau and Casey Linkenheld.

>>CRITICAL POINTS FROM DUFOUR
Forward Kevin Dufour scored three points in the playoff matchup against Bemidji State last season. Two of those occurred in the second game, as he posted an assist and the game-winning goal. Dufour also notched the game-winner of a narrow 3-2 exhibition win for the Falcons last weekend.

>>D'ANDREA DODGES WINDSOR DEFENSE
The Falcons opened the 2016-17 season in an exhibition matchup with Windsor on Oct. 1, in which Bowling Green downed Windsor with a 3-2 final. Junior Brett D'Andrea scored two of the three goals for the Falcons, which would be a career-high for the forward both categories.

>>SEEING 20/20
With a 22-14-6 record over the 2015-16 campaign, the Falcons posted back-to-back 20+ win seasons for the first time in 20 years. With 23 wins during the 2014-15 season, Bowling Green posted the 19th 20-win season in program history, followed by the 20th 20-win season with the 22 victories last year. Historically, Bowling Green has marked five 30-win seasons, although the 2014-15 season was the first time the team won 20 games since the 1995-96 campaign has been on a roll ever since.

>>RETURNING OFFENSE TO THE ICE
Despite losing the leading scorer from last season in Mark Cooper (16 goals), the Falcons return a vast majority of their offensive fi repower for this season. Nine of the next top-11 scorers on the Falcons squad return to the ice for the 2016-17 season, including seniors Matt Pohlkamp (25 goals) and Kevin Dufour (36 goals). All told, Bowling Green returns 18 of the 25 players who scored at least one point last season.

>>SPECIAL TEAMS GET EXTRA PRACTICE
Against the Lancers last weekend, the Falcons saw 20:09 minutes of power play time, and a total of 39:12 minutes of special teams play. 17 of Bowling Green's 31 shots came with the man-advantage, and went two of 12 on the power play. The Falcons also killed all 10 of Windsor's power plays. Other special teams standouts came last year in the second game of the playoff series with Bemidji State, as BGSU tallied four power play goals, the most in a single game since Nov. 9, 2007.

>>WCHA.tv
In partnership with industry leader Stretch Internet, WCHA.tv will allow fans to watch all 10 league teams and up to 196 games during the 2015-16 season on just about any device – computer, tablet, phone and many Smart TVs – with a responsive experience customized for that particular medium. High-quality HD streams, when available from the originating arena, will be viewable in multiple screen layout options (including picture-in-picture, multi-view format to watch up to four games simultaneously and full-screen video). For more information, visit WCHA.tv.

>>EVAN PIVNICK "THE VOICE" ON THE MIC
All games this season can be heard on the radio by tuning into 88.1 WBGU-FM. Evan Pivnick will provide the play-by-play commentary throughout the season. The pregame show will air 30 minutes prior to the opening face-off. The broadcast can be heard globally on www.bgsufalcons.com and WBGUFM.com.

>>LIVE STATS
Live stats for all Bowling Green home games and select road matchups are available on the BGSU website at BGSUFalcons.com. Navigate to the hockey schedule for links to all available ways to follow the action while the Falcons are both at home and on the road.

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