Hockey Continues Exhibition Play Against US National Development Team

Friday, October 6

Bowling Green, Ohio

7:37PM

Bowling Green State University

USA Hockey U18

Hockey Continues Exhibition Play Against US National Development Team

October 03, 2017 | Ice Hockey

By: Jenna Jorgensen (Assistant Director of Athletic Communications)

Bowling Green Falcons (0-0-0 WCHA)
vs.
USA Under-18 Team (4-1-0)

GAME INFORMATION	Friday, Oct. 6, 7:37 p.m. ET
LOCATION	Bowling Green, Ohio (Slater Family Ice Arena)
RADIO	Falcon Radio Network (Ryan Vallon)
LIVE STATS	BGSUFalcons.com
LISTEN ONLINE	BGSUFalcons.com
GAME NOTES	Bowling Green

>>FALCONS ON TAP

Bowling Green will complete 2017-18 exhibition play by hosting the U.S. National Development Program, beginning at 7:37 p.m. at the Slater Family Ice Arena.

>>FRIDAY'S PROMOTIONS

All tickets for the exhibition matchup are $5 and can be purchased at the Stroh Center Box Office, Online, or in person on Friday at the Arena.
All season ticket holders are invited to join Coach Bergeron for Chalk Talk beginning at 6:50 p.m. in the Center Ice Lounge at the Slater Family Ice Arena.

>>VERSUS U.S. NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT TEAM

All-time, the Falcons are 1-2 against the U.S. National Development team.
Bowling Green most recently faced the U.S. Under-18 team on Feb. 21, 2014 in an exhibition matchup that resulted in a 6-1 Team USA win.
The Falcons win over the U.S. Under-18 team came on Nov. 15, 2002 in a 2-1 victory.
After opening the season with four straight wins over the Minnesota Wilderness (NAHL), Muskegon Lumberjacks (USHL), Central Illinois Flying Aces (USHL), and the Omaha Lancers (USHL), the U.S. Under-18 team fell to the University of Notre Dame by a score of 4-3 (Oct. 1).

>>OPENING EXHIBITION ACTION

In a 3-1 win at home, the Falcons unofficially opened the 2017-18 season when they hosted Wilfrid Laurier in exhibition play Sunday, Oct. 1.
Senior forward Mitch McLain led the Falcons with a pair of goals, including a power play goal and empty netter against the Golden Hawks. A native of Baxter, Minn., McLain also notched a team-leading four shots on goal, as well as two blocked shots.
Sophomore Casey Linkenheld opened the scoring with an even strength goal in the first period. Last season, Linkenheld tallied one goal off six shots in 10 games played.
In net, sophomore goaltender Ryan Bednard saw 35:34 minutes of action and made 13 saves without sacrificing a goal. Freshman Eric Dop rounded out the game with 24:26 minutes in net, and made five saves with one goal against.
Bowling Green had a perfect penalty kill, as they burned all six opportunities Wilfrid Laurier had the man advantage. On the night, the Falcons went 2-9 on the power play, generating 13 of its 30 shots with the advantage.

>>PRESEASON POLLS PEG BOWLING GREEN

The Bowling Green hockey program was voted to finish fourth overall in both the 2017 Mankato Free Press WCHA Coaches' and the UAHhockey.com WCHA Media preseason polls.
For the upcoming season, the Falcons return nine of 12 forwards who appeared in the WCHA Championship, as well as five of seven defensemen for the 2017-18 campaign, resulting in Bowling Green garnering 90 points in the coaches' preseason poll. The Falcons also had one vote for the top finish on the year in the media preseason poll.
Senior forward Mitch McLain was voted to Preseason All-WCHA First Team honors by both the coaches and media, in addition to receiving votes for Preseason WCHA Player of the Year by the media.
Also receiving votes for Preseason All-WCHA Teams were senior forward Tyler Spezia and sophomore defenseman Alec Rauhauser.

>>2017-18 FALCON HOCKEY OUTLOOK

The Falcons look to return nine of 12 forwards who appeared in the WCHA Championship, in addition to five of seven defensemen for the 2017-18 campaign. In goal, the Falcons will return Florida Panthers draftee Ryan Bednard, who marked a 2.70 GAA and .882 save percentage.
Bowling Green adds a class of nine freshmen to the 2017-18 squad, including two goaltenders, two defensemen and five forwards.
The Falcons return 2016-17 leading scorer in senior forward Mitch McLain, who tallied 17 goals and 16 assists for 33 points and will be leading as the Falcons captain for the 2017-18 campaign. A native of Baxter, Minn., McLain also led the team on the ice with a plus-19 rating.
By registering 30 points last season, the Falcons also return its third highest scorer in senior forward Tyler Spezia, who will serve as the team's assistant captain.
As a unit, the Falcons return four players who tallied 20 or more points last season, and nine players who registered double-digit points.

>>RETURNING FROM A RECORD YEAR

With an overall record of 21-18-2, the Falcons marked its third consecutive 20+ win season and fourth straight winning season. Bowling Green had records of 22-14-6 in the 2015-16 campaign, following a 23-11-5 record in the 2014-15 season. Last year was the 21^st season that the Falcons have tallied a 20-plus win season.
The Falcons went on a seven-game win streak entering the WCHA Championship, the longest of Coach Bergeron's career and longest of the Bowling Green hockey team since the 1987-88 campaign; a year in which the team clinched its last conference title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
By competing in the WCHA Championship in March, it marked Bowling Green's first conference championship appearance since 1988.
The WCHA saw a total of nine hat tricks on the year, with Bowling Green accounting for four of those. Mitch McLain marked two on the year, posting the two three-goal performances in a three week span.
Leading the Falcons offensively was Mitch McLain. On the season, McLain earned a total of six conference awards (2x POTM, 3x POTW, All-WCHA First Team), in addition to being named a WCHA Scholar-Athlete and to WCHA All-Academic honors.
Bowling Green saw extensive time in the penalty box, and ranked ninth in the nation with a total of 631 minutes for 15.4 minutes per game. The Falcons were one of five WCHA schools in the top ten in the category.
Bowling Green accumulated 10 WCHA Players of the Week, three WCHA Players of the Month, WCHA Championship Third Star of the Game, NCAA Hockey No. 1 Star of the Week, No. 4 spot on SportCenter's Top 10 Plays of the Night over the course of the 2016-17 season.

>>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. Falcon Hockey play-by-play broadcaster Ryan Vallon will begin the pregame show 30 minutes prior to the opening face-off, and can also be heard on WTOD/WQQO-HD2 (Talk Radio 100.7) and WLQR-FM (106.5 The Ticket).

>>WCHA.tv

For as low as 60¢ per game for the 2017-18 season, Bowling Green hockey fans can watch all regular season home games as well as all Western Collegiate Hockey Association matchups live or on-demand with WCHA.tv – the Association's official online streaming platform. WCHA.tv provides fans with high-quality, HD broadcasts (when available from the originating arena) on multiple platforms, including – new for this season – TV-connected devices via custom apps on Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV.
A WCHA.tv Season Pass would provide Bowling Green hockey fans 32 regular season games, including 14 of the team's 18 road matchups. It would also include all of the Falcons' action in the 2018 WCHA Playoffs. Bowling Green's first official WCHA.tv broadcast will be on Friday, Oct. 13 as the team hosts Michigan State at 7:37 p.m.

>>LIVE STATS

Live stats for all Bowling Green home games and 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.

>>FOLLOW THE FALCONS