Hockey Flies off to Alaska for Final WCHA Series of 2016

Bowling Green Falcons (8-10-2, 7-6-1 WCHA)
vs.
Alaska Nanooks (5-11-2, 4-8-2 WCHA)

GAME INFORMATION	Friday, Dec. 16, 11:07 p.m. ET Saturday, Dec. 17, 11:07 p.m. ET
LOCATION	Fairbanks, Alaska (Carlson Center)
RADIO	Falcon Radio Network (Evan Pivnick)
LIVE STATS	AlaskaNanooks.com
WATCH ONLINE	WCHA.tv
LISTEN ONLINE	BGSUFalcons.com
GAME NOTES	Bowling Green

>>FALCONS ON TAP
The Bowling Green hockey team will face Alaska in its final WCHA series of 2016. With 7:07 p.m. Alaska Time starts, the pair of conference games will start in 11:07 p.m. Eastern Time puck drops.

Be sure to follow the team on its travels to the last frontier on Twitter at @BGFalconHockey, and on the Bowling Green Athletics Snapchat at BGAthletics.

>>SCOUTING THE NANOOKS
The Nanooks enter the weekend with a 5-11-2 record overall and are 4-8-2 in conference action. Most recently, Alaska split with Alaska Anchorage at home, and earned a 3-1 win Saturday night after a narrow 3-2 loss on Friday night. Overall, senior Marcus Basara leads the team with 13 points and sophomore Chad Staley and junior Zach Frye trail will 11 points each, while collectively, the Nanooks tally three shorthanded goals on the season. Sophomore Jesse Jenks has seen the most time in goal, starting 12 of 13 games played this season and boasts a .893 save percentage with a 3.22 goals against average through 746:15 minutes played.

>>VERSUS ALASKA
Bowling Green holds a narrow advantage in the all-time record against Alaska, going 27-26-8 against the Nanooks since 1987. The Falcons have gone 4-1-1 in the last six matchups with Alaska, and return four of the five goal-scorers from last year's series in Sean Walker, Matt Pohlkamp, Joe McKeown and Tyler Spezia. Last season in Fairbanks, the Falcons lost 2-1 on Friday night, but rebounded with a 4-1 victory on Saturday.

>>FANTASTIC FRESHMAN
Saturday night against Michigan Tech, freshman goaltender Ryan Bednard posted a career-high of 29 saves when faced with 31 shots on goal. The Macomb, Mich. native now leads the Bowling Green squad with a save percentage of .901 on the season, as well as with a 2.41 goals against average.

>>HAT TRICK CITY
McLain highlighted a Saturday night 5-2 victory at Lake Superior State two weeks back with three goals, making it his 11th career and fifth multi-point night of the season. McLain earned his second hat trick of the season, and marked a team-leading six shots on goal in addition to one blocked shot.

With his second hat trick in a three week timespan, McLain is the first WCHA skater with multiple hat tricks in the same season since 2011-12. McLain is also on his way to tying the Bowling Green hockey record for most in a single season. Bob Dobek had five hat tricks in a season in the 1973-74 campaign.

>>RAUHAUSER RACKING UP POINTS
With 0.72 points per game average, freshman Alec Rauhauser sits second overall of all defensemen in the WCHA in the category. The Bismarck, N.D. is also third overall in the conference in points per game of all rookies this season.

>>CENTURY MEN
Senior Matt Pohlkamp played in his 140th career game Saturday against Michigan Tech. As the active career leader for the Bowling Green squad, Pohlkamp leads five current Falcons who have 100+ games of collegiate experience, including Sean Walker (139), Pierre-Luc Mercier (137), and Kevin Dufour (133).

The most recent addition to the century men is junior Mark Friedman, who clocked ice time in his 100th game Saturday night at the Slater Family Ice Arena. Two other juniors are also nearing the mark, as Mitch McLain, has appeared in 99 career games, while Tyler Spezia tallies 93 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 also scored a shorthanded hat trick goal in the series finale with LSSU, increasing his career total to four shorthanded goals, making him just one goal away from joining the standings in the BGSU record books. Senior Matt Pohlkamp is also in the search to join the Bowling Green records page in the category, and tallies three shorthanded goals, aiming for a minimum of five to join the standings. Freshman Lukas Craggs marked his first career shorthanded goal that became the game-winning goal, also a first in his career, in the 5-2 win at Lake Superior State.

>>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 recently reached his 100th game mark of calling for the Falcons, and will continue to provide top-notch 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

Kevin Dufour

Mark Friedman

Joe McKeown

Mitch McLain

Pierre-Luc Mercier

Matt Pohlkamp

Alec Rauhauser

Tyler Spezia

Sean Walker

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