Falcons Welcome WCHA Foe Alaska to the Ice Arena

Bowling Green Falcons (12-13-2, 10-9-1 WCHA)
vs.
Alaska Nanooks (7-14-3, 6-9-3 WCHA)

GAME INFORMATION	Friday, Jan. 20, 7:07 p.m. ET Saturday, Jan. 21, 7:07 p.m. ET
LOCATION	Bowling Green, Ohio (Slater Family 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
The Bowling Green hockey program will host Alaska for Western Collegiate Hockey Association action Friday and Saturday evenings in 7:07 p.m. puck drops.

Friday's game will feature Fan Appreciation specials, including $1 tickets until 5 p.m., as well as $1 hotdogs, popcorn and cookies from 6-8 p.m. Friday's game will also be a Greek Challenge event, while Saturday's game is a Ziggy point event for students. Be sure to stay after the series finale on Saturday night, as the team will hold a poster signing session postgame in the arena concourse.

>>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 5-2-1 in the last eight 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.

Similarly, when the pair of conference foes met in Fairbanks, Alaska in December, the Nanooks took Friday's game in a narrow 3-2 score in which junior Mark Friedman and freshman Lukas Craggs scored, while sophomore Stephen Baylis had a multi-point night with a pair of assists. The Falcons rebounded with a 6-3 victory on Saturday where six different players scored, including freshmen Jacob Dalton and Frederic Letourneau, sophomore Connor McDonald, junior Mitch McLain and seniors Matt Pohlkamp and Kevin Dufour.

At Alaska Saturday night, Bowling Green had also snapped a three-game losing streak by downing the Nanooks in the 6-3 final. The Falcons also marked the most shots in a period since Oct. 29 when they tallied 18 in the opening period, leading to the most shots in a goal in a game since the 4-1 win at Miami with 39. Both the shots in a period and shots in a game numbers stand from the last time the Falcons saw the Nanooks.

>>FLYING IN THE LEAGUE
Junior defenseman Mark Friedman currently sits second overall of defensemen in the WCHA with 0.65 points per game, while the 17 points in 26 games ranks him 37th nationally.

Additionally, fellow junior Mitch McLain is second in the conference with 1.00 points per game as well as second overall with 0.58 goals per game average.

As a team, the Falcons also rank second overall in the WCHA with its 3.04 goals per game average. The offensive mark is second only to Minnesota State's 3.17 goals per game average.

>>CAPTAIN'S ADVANTAGE
On Saturday at No. 18 Minnesota State, senior captain Sean Walker tallied a pair of goals. The Keswick, Ontario native's second goal that put the Falcons up 3-2 was scored with the man-advantage, making it his team-leading fifth power play goal of the year. In his career, Walker has now earned 10 goals with the man-advantage, only trailing fellow senior Kevin Dufour's 11 career power play goals. The duo accounts for nearly half of the career power play goals on the Bowling Green squad, which is 49 since the start of the 2013-14 season.

>>MULTI-POINT PERFORMANCES
Friday's dramatic 3-2 overtime victory was carried by a pair of game-tying goals by senior Kevin Dufour leading to an overtime victory over a nationally ranked opponent. It was the second time this season and seventh time in his career that the Quebec City, Quebec native has notched more than one goal in a game, and was the first time he scored since Dec. 17 (at Alaska).

Additionally, two different Falcons marked multi-point nights on Saturday at Minnesota State. Senior Sean Walker scored twice in a game for the first time since Jan. 10, 2015 (vs. Alaska), while junior Tyler Spezia earned a pair of assists for his fifth multi-point night of the season.

>>MCLAIN'S POINT-STREAK
Junior Mitch McLain entered the weekend at Minnesota State on a four game scoring streak. The Baxter, Minn. native then notched his third game-winner of the season for the Falcons on Friday night in Mankato to extend his goal-scoring streak to five consecutive games, making it every game since Dec. 17 at Alaska Fairbanks that McLain has scored. The Falcons are now 8-1-1 when McLain scores a goal.

Although he didn't score on Saturday night against No. 18 Minnesota State, McLain assisted on the first of Sean Walker's two goals, putting him on an active six-game point streak.

>>RETURNING HOME FOR THE SECOND HALF
Bowling Green had many road series to kick off the season, and didn't have its first full home series until the first weekend of November. In the fall, Bowling Green went 7-7-0 on the road, and 3-4-2 at home although the second half will balance out the home atmosphere for the Falcons.

The second half of the season will present ample home ice advantage for the Falcons, as nine of the 13 second half regular season matchups will take place at the Slater Family Ice Arena, including all five games of February taking place at home.

>>CENTURY MEN
Senior Sean Walker played in his 146th career game Saturday against Minnesota State. Walker is now the active career leader for the Bowling Green squad, along with fellow senior Matt Pohlkamp, who has also appeared in 146 games. The pair leads six current Falcons who have 100+ games of collegiate experience, including Pierre-Luc Mercier (144), Kevin Dufour (140) and Mark Friedman (107).

The most recent addition to the century men is junior Tyler Spezia, who hit his 100-game mark Saturday evening in Mankato. Spezia joins fellow junior Mitch McLain who clocked ice time in his 106th game on Saturday as well.

>>ICE ARENA 50^TH CELEBRATION
The Ice Arena is turning 50 and to honor the historic mark, numerous activities are scheduled and planned for the weekend of Feb. 10-12, 2017. Highlighting the weekend will be the Bowling Green hockey game as they host Mercyhurst in non-conference action on Feb. 11. In addition to current "Voice of the Falcons" Evan Pivnick, legendary NHL broadcaster Mike "Doc" Emrick will join Pivnick on air for the call of the Falcons hockey game.

>>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.

>>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.

>>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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Stephen Baylis

Lukas Craggs

Jacob Dalton

Kevin Dufour

Mark Friedman

Frederic Letourneau

Connor McDonald

Joe McKeown

Mitch McLain

Pierre-Luc Mercier

Matt Pohlkamp

Tyler Spezia

Sean Walker

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