Hockey Heads North To Take On Lake Superior State

Bowling Green Falcons (7-7-2, 6-3-1 WCHA)
vs.
Lake Superior State Lakers (7-7-0, 4-6-0 WCHA)

GAME INFORMATION	Friday, Dec. 2, 7:37 p.m. ET Saturday, Dec. 3, 7:07 p.m. ET
LOCATION	Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. (Taffy Abel Arena)
RADIO	Falcon Radio Network (Evan Pivnick)
LIVE STATS	LSSULakers.com
WATCH ONLINE	WCHA.tv
LISTEN ONLINE	BGSUFalcons.com
GAME NOTES	Bowling Green

>>FALCONS ON TAP
The Bowling Green hockey team will hit the road for a pair of Western Collegiate Hockey Association matchups with Lake Superior State. Friday's game is scheduled for a 7:37 p.m. puck drop, while Saturday is set for 7:07 p.m.

>>SCOUTING THE LAKERS
The Lakers enter the weekend with a 7-7-0 record overall and are 4-6-0 in conference action. In October, Lake Superior State opened with a strong 5-1-1 record, although they followed it up with a record of 2-6-0 in November. Individually, the Lakers are led by sophomore Mitch Hults, who marks five goals and a team-high of 11 assists for 16 points. In net is junior Gordon Defiel, who is sporting a .911 save percentage this season. Throughout his 13 games played, Defiel a 2.49 goals against average.

>>VERSUS LAKE SUPERIOR STATE
Bowling Green holds the all-time advantage over Lake Superior State by an 80-72-12 margin. Recently, the series with LSSU has proven to be evenly-matched as the series went 1-1-2 last season. From last season, the Falcons return three of the five goal-scorers, as well as seven players who marked at least one point in the pair of series. Junior Tyler Spezia, as well as seniors Pierre-Luc Mercier and Kevin Dufour all scored against the Lakers last year.

>>MULTI-POINT PERFORMANCES
Four Falcons had multi-point nights this weekend in the tie and win over Alaska Anchorage. On Friday night, junior Brett D'Andrea and senior Sean Walker each had one goal and one assist for two points apiece. On Saturday night, McLain marked two assists, while junior Tyler Spezia had one assist in addition to his game-winning goal.

>>RECORD KEEPING
The Falcons are undefeated when scoring first, with a 5-0-2 record, as well as undefeated when holding its opponents scoreless on the power play, with a 4-0-1 record. Most recently, the Falcons shut down all 11 Alaska Anchorage power plays, and went 1-0-1 on the weekend.

Bowling Green has a record of 6-1-1 this season when tallying 30 or more shots on goal. They have also out-shot opponents in 12 of 16 games this year.

>>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 17 points in 15 games played this season, nearing his sophomore season mark of 18 points on the year.

This past weekend, after marking his third multi-point night of the season, and ninth of his career, junior Mitch McLain was named WCHA Offensive Player of the Week. Against Alaska Anchorage last weekend, the Baxter, Minn. native netted the game-winning goal Friday night in the second overtime to lift the Falcons to a 4-3 conference win. On Saturday night, McLain tallied a pair of assists, on both the game-winner and on Linkenheld's first career goal.

>>FANTASTIC FRESHMEN
Four Falcon freshmen have notched their first career goals this year, including Frederic Letourneau, Alec Rauhauser, Lukas Craggs and now Casey Linkenheld.
Linkenheld is the fourth rookie on the team to mark his first collegiate goal this season. Linkenheld stretched the Falcons lead to a 3-0 margin on Saturday night in the shutout of Alaska Anchorage with an even strength goal. It was also Linkenheld's first career game.

Freshman Ryan Bednard earned both his first career win and first career shutout with a 3-0 victory over Alaska Anchorage Saturday night. Bednard tallied 11 saves in the Falcons first shutout of the season.

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.

>>CENTURY MEN
Senior Matt Pohlkamp played in his 136th career game Saturday against Alaska Anchorage. 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 (135), Pierre-Luc Mercier (133), and Kevin Dufour (129).

Nearing the 100 game mark is junior Mark Friedman, who clocks ice time in 96 career games, as well as junior Mitch McLain, who has appeared in 95 career games. Junior Tyler Spezia is nearing the mark as well, with 89 career games played.

>>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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Ryan Bednard

Lukas Craggs

Brett D'Andrea

Kevin Dufour

Mark Friedman

Casey Linkenheld

Mitch McLain

Matt Meier

Pierre-Luc Mercier

Matt Pohlkamp

Tyler Spezia

Sean Walker

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