Hockey To Host Alaska Anchorage This Holiday Weekend

Bowling Green Falcons (6-7-1, 5-3-0 WCHA)
vs.
Alaska Anchorage Seawolves (1-10-1, 0-5-1 WCHA)

GAME INFORMATION	Friday, Nov. 25, 7:07 p.m. ET Saturday, Nov. 26, 7:07 p.m. ET
LOCATION	Bowling Green, Ohio (BGSU Ice Arena)
RADIO	Falcon Radio Network (Evan Pivnick)
LIVE STATS	BGSUFalcons.com
WATCH ONLINE	WCHA.tv
LISTEN ONLINE	BGSUFalcons.com
GAME NOTES	Bowling Green

>>FALCONS ON TAP
After having just four home games compared to 10 road games thus far in the season, the Bowling Green hockey team will return back to the BGSU Ice Arena this weekend for a pair of Western Collegiate Hockey Association matchups with Alaska Anchorage. Both Friday and Saturday's games are set for a 7:07 p.m. puck drop, and will be Falcon Discount Days. Call the ticket office at 877-BGSU-Ticket or 419-372-0000 for discounted deals.

>>SCOUTING THE SEAWOLVES
The Seawolves enter the weekend with a 1-10-1 record overall and are 0-5-1 in conference action. The lone win for Alaska Anchorage came on Oct. 15 in a 1-0 victory versus Canisius. In just 10 games, UAA has been shut out twice, and has played in three overtime contests. Individually, the Seawolves are led by junior captain Matt Anholt, who marks two goals and a team-high of four assists for six points. In net is junior Olivier Mantha, who is a two-time UAA MVP and is sporting a .913 save percentage this season. Mantha also holds the UAA record of .909 career save percentage and posted a career-high of 53 saves for the Seawolves on Nov. 12 versus Penn State.

>>VERSUS ALASKA ANCHORAGE
All-time, Bowling Green holds an 8-4-1 advantage over Alaska Anchorage. The Falcons are on a three-game win streak over the Seawolves, by finals of 6-2, 6-2 and 2-0. On Jan. 21-22, Bowling Green swept Alaska Anchorage by a combined score of 12-4, and the Falcons return seven goal scorers from the series. On Friday, all six goals were scored by different players, four of which return to the Bowling Green bench, while on Saturday, senior Matt Pohlkamp tallied his third career shorthanded goal to start out the game. Sophomores Adam Smith and Connor McDonald also scored in the Saturday night sweep of the Seawolves.

>>SATURDAY NIGHT SHOW
Last Saturday night at Alabama Huntsville, 10 different Falcons tallied points in the 8-3 win over the conference foe for the weekend sweep. Both Mitch McLain and Tyler Spezia had four point performances, career-highs for the duo.

Mitch McLain scored the first hat trick for the Falcons since Mark Cooper versus Minnesota State on Nov. 23, 2013. McLain opened the game with a goal for the 1-0 lead, and tied up the game at 2-2 nearing the end of the second period. The Baxter, Minn. native then closed out the scoring for his first career hat trick and to make the final 8-3 in favor of the Falcons. McLain also assisted in Dufour's first of two goals on the night on the power play.

Junior Tyler Spezia also had a four point night by marking one goal and three assists Saturday night against the Chargers. Spezia had also scored Friday night, making it back-to-back games with goals and a five-point weekend for the Clinton Township, Mich. native. Spezia assisted in McLain's first goal and hat trick goal, as well as on Brett D'Andrea's game-winning goal. Spezia had scored his third goal of the season to tie up the game at 3-3 early in the third period, and was the first of six unanswered goals for the Falcons.

Saturday's game was also the first time since Feb. 27, 2016 that Bowling Green has scored five or more goals in a period (vs. Ferris State, 6-2). The third period on Saturday featured six goals by five different Falcons.
Other players with multipoint performances include freshman Alec Rauhauser and junior Mark Friedman, who both earned career-highs of three assists each on the night. Kevin Dufour also scored two goals in a game for the sixth time in his career, while Mercier had a two-goal night on Friday in the 4-1 win.

>>ROAD SWEEP REDEMPTION
Bowling Green has now swept the home team two consecutive weeks in a row, with four wins over Northern Michigan and Alabama Huntsville. Prior to the road sweep of Northern Michigan two weeks back, the last time the Falcons have marked two consecutive wins over the home team was at Bemidji State Dec. 11-12, 2015.

Similarly, the last time Bowling Green has marked back-to-back series sweeps was versus Alabama Huntsville (Nov. 20-21, 2015) and Northern Michigan (Nov. 27-28, 2015), however the four games were held at home for the Falcons.

>>POINTS BY POHLKAMP
Senior Matt Pohlkamp has had four multi-point games this season, including a pair of assists against Western Michigan, followed by two goals at home against Ohio State, as well as a goal and an assist against Ferris State. Recently, Pohlkamp scored in back-to-back games at Northern Michigan to help the Falcons to its first sweep of the season by a 10-4 combined score. With the quad of multi-point performances, Pohlkamp is tied for first in the conference with 0.29 power play goals per game, is tied for third in the WCHA with 0.43 goals per game, and is tied for third with his two game-winning goals. Nationally, Pohlkamp is also tied for fifth in the NCAA with his 0.29 power play goals per game, as well as tied for 10th with the game-winners. Four of the six Pohlkamp goals this season have come on the power play as well.

>>MERCIER JOINS THE 60 POINT CLUB
Senior Pierre-Luc Mercier scored for two times in three games through the Miami series with a power play rebound shot that found the top shelf Saturday night against the RedHawks. Mercier's goal was his 18th of his career, and 60th collegiate point, making him the fourth active Falcon to mark 60 or more career points (M. Pohlkamp, 75; Dufour, 67; Walker, 64). Since then, the Montreal, Quebec native had two multipoint nights including Friday at Northern Michigan, where he tacked on two more assists, as well as two goals on Friday night at Alabama Huntsville for a career-total of 63 points.

>>MOOSE MCLAIN
Junior Mitch McLain started out the season by scoring two goals in two games, one being his third career shorthanded goal. Having not slowed down, the Baxter, Minn. native now boasts 11 points in the last seven games as well, and tops the Falcons with 15 points in his 13 games played this season, nearing his sophomore season mark of 18 points on the year. Last weekend was highlighted with a McLain hat trick, the first of his career, and first for Bowling Green since Nov. 2013. McLain also leads the Bowling Green squad with a +10 ranking, and sits second overall in the WCHA with 1.15 points per game average. McLain also pops up in the WCHA statistical rankings as he is tied for ninth overall with 0.54 assists per game, and is second with an 0.54 goals per game average.

>>FANTASTIC FRESHMEN
Three Falcon freshmen have notched their first career goals this year, including Frederic Letourneau, Alec Rauhauser and now Lukas Craggs. Letourneau, who has seen action in 13 games thus far, marked his first collegiate goal against then-No. 19 Ohio State. The Montreal, Quebec native had a two two-game point streak, as Letourneau assisted in senior Pierre-Luc Mercier's first goal of the season in the second game of the home-and-home series with Ohio State.

A native of Bismarck, N.D., Rauhauser has been a force on the Bowling Green defensive line, and leads the freshman class with two goals, nine assists and 11 points through his first 13 games of play. The defenseman found the back of the net for his first collegiate goal in the 4-4 tie with Western Michigan at home, and assisted in senior Matt Pohlkamp's power play goal against Ohio State. Rauhauser also had a three-point performance at home against Ferris State with a goal and two assists. This past weekend, Rauhauser marked four total assists against Alabama Huntsville, including the first assist on Tyler Spezia's game-winning goal on Friday night in a 4-1 final. Rauhauser followed the performance up marking his second career multi-point night as he accounted for three assists, and is now on an active four-game point streak.

Craggs was the lone goal-scorer for the Falcons on Saturday night in the 3-1 loss against Ferris State. The Elmhurst, Ill. native tied up the game at 1-1 midway through the second period as he was able to tuck in the puck on the rebound. This past weekend, Craggs notched his second of the season in the 8-3 win over Alabama Huntsville.

Transfer Matt Meier recently scored his first goal as a Falcon at Northern Michigan. The goal came just 2:40 into the game and put Bowling Green up 1-0 to the Wildcats. Fellow rookie Letourneau also assisted on the game-opening goal.

>>SPECIAL TEAMS GET EXTRA PRACTICE
The Falcons have seen significant special teams play thus far in the season, which has featured two Bowling Green shorthanded goals in back-to-back games. The Falcons had averaged 16.3 penalty minutes per game heading into the Miami series, although it significantly dropped to an average of 13.9 minutes after the last three series. A new season-low for the Falcons, Bowling Green only committed three infractions at Northern Michigan on Nov. 12 and successfully killed two of them. Overall, the Falcons have gone 13/88 on the power play, and have killed 63/85 penalties.

>>CENTURY MEN
Senior Matt Pohlkamp played in his 134th career game Saturday at Alabama Huntsville. As the active career leader for the Bowling Green squad, Pohlkamp leads four current Falcons who have 100+ games of collegiate experience, including Sean Walker (133), Pierre-Luc Mercier (131), and Kevin Dufour (127).

Nearing the 100 game mark is junior Mark Friedman, who clocks ice time in 94 career games, as well as junior Mitch McLain, who has appeared in 93 career games. Junior Tyler Spezia is nearing the mark as well, with 87 career games played.

>>COUNTING CAPTAIN'S POINTS
Bowling Green senior captain Sean Walker had a three-game scoring streak, after finding the back of the net against Western Michigan on back-to-back nights and then again versus No. 19 Ohio State. Walker also scored his first shorthanded goal of his career against the Broncos, and posted two multi-point nights in the three-game span, for a total of five points. It was the first time in his career that Walker has scored in three consecutive games. Most recently, the Keswick, Ont. native marked his fourth goal of the season in the 5-1 win over Northern Michigan, as well as an assist in the game-winning goal in the 8-3 win over Alabama Huntsville. A non-traditional scorer, Walker now has four goals, four assists and eight points in 14 games played, composed of one short-handed goal and three power play goals.

>>SIGHTS ON SHORTIES
Junior Mitch McLain started out the season by scoring two goals in two games, one being his third career shorthanded goal. The Baxter, Minn. native joins senior Matt Pohlkamp in the search to join the Bowling Green records page in the category, each tallying three shorthanded goals, aiming for a minimum of five to join the standings.

>>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. Rauhauser also scored his first collegiate goal against the Broncos on Friday night with a power play shot taken from the point.

>>FALCONS IN THE BIG TIME
In addition to three current NHL draftees on the Falcons roster (Ryan Bednard, Mark Friedman, and Adam Smith), two Falcon alumni have made NHL rosters for the 2016-17 campaign. Goaltender Andrew Hammond has begun his third season with the Ottawa Senators, after recording the most wins to start a career by going 20-1-2 in his first 23 NHL games. The second Falcon alum in the big time is Kevin Bieksa, who is beginning his second season with the Anaheim Ducks after an eight-year stint with the Vancouver Canucks.

>>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 firepower 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.

>>TAKING OVER TOLEDO
The BGSU hockey team has once again partnered with the ECHL's Toledo Walleye to feature the Falcons at Toledo's Huntington Center. This year, the Falcons will host the RIT on Dec. 30 at 5:07 p.m. in the first game of a doubleheader with the Walleye. BGSU last skated in the Huntington Center on Dec. 30, 2015 against Western Michigan, which resulted in a narrow 1-0 Broncos win. Prior to the event last season, the last time the Falcons played in the Huntington Center was during the 2009-10 season against Michigan. Tickets can be purchased online at BGSUFalcons.com/tickets or through ToledoWalleye.com, by phone at 877-BGSU-TICKET, or in person at the BGSU Ticket Office, located in the Stroh Center.

>>EVAN PIVNICK "THE VOICE" ON THE MIC
All games this season can be heard on the radio by tuning into the Falcon Radio Network and can be heard globally on www.bgsufalcons.com and WBGUFM.com. 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.

>>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.

>>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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Mark Cooper

Lukas Craggs

Brett D'Andrea

Kevin Dufour

Mark Friedman

Connor McDonald

Mitch McLain

Matt Meier

Pierre-Luc Mercier

Matt Pohlkamp

Alec Rauhauser

Adam Smith

Tyler Spezia

Sean Walker

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