With Three Non-Conference Matchups, Hockey Kickstarts Season

Bowling Green Falcons (0-0-0, 0-0-0 WCHA)
vs.
Western Michigan Broncos (1-1-0, 0-0-0 NCHC)

GAME INFORMATION	Tuesday, Oct. 10, 7:05 p.m. ET
LOCATION	Kalamazoo, Mich. (Lawson Ice Arena)
RADIO	Falcon Radio Network (Ryan Vallon)
LIVE STATS	WMUBroncos.com
LISTEN ONLINE	BGSUFalcons.com
GAME NOTES	Bowling Green
WATCH ONLINE	NCHC.tv

Bowling Green Falcons
vs.
Michigan State Spartans (0-0-0, 0-0-0 Big Ten)

GAME INFORMATION	Friday, Oct. 13, 7:37 p.m. ET Saturday, Oct. 14, 7:05 p.m. ET
LOCATIONS	Bowling Green, Ohio (Slater Family Ice Arena) - Friday East Lansing, Mich. (Munn Ice Arena) - Saturday
RADIO	Falcon Radio Network (Ryan Vallon)
LIVE STATS	BGSUFalcons.com - Friday MSUSpartans.com - Saturday
LISTEN ONLINE	BGSUFalcons.com
GAME NOTES	Bowling Green
WATCH ONLINE	WCHA.tv - Friday BTN Plus - Saturday

>>FALCONS ON TAP

In a busy week for the Falcons, Bowling Green will play three games against a pair of former CCHA rivals.
Bowling Green will officially open the 2017-18 season by facing an old CCHA rival in Western Michigan, beginning at 7:05 p.m. at the Lawson Ice Arena in Kalamazoo, Mich. It is the first of eight non-conference games for the Falcons this season.
The Falcons will then face Michigan State in its second home-and-home series of the season beginning Friday, Oct. 13 at 7:37 p.m. at the Slater Family Ice Arena.
Bowling Green will then have a third game of the week when it travels to East Lansing, Mich. for a 7:05 p.m. puck drop at Michigan State on Saturday, Oct. 14 in its third non-conference game of the season.

>>FRIDAY'S PROMOTIONS

All fans are encouraged to wear orange for ORANGE OUT night at the rink.
The first 500 fans will receive an Orange Rally Towel from Elite Collegiate Apparel.
For students, it will be a Ziggy Point, Resident Life Challenge, and Fraternity and Sorority Life Challenge event.
Assistant Coach Barry Schutte will be hosting a Chalk Talk for all season ticket holders and Falcon Club members in the Center Ice Lounge of the Slater Family Ice Arena, beginning at 6:50 p.m.

>>VERSUS WESTERN MICHIGAN

All-time, the Falcons hold a 71-58-8 advantage over Western Michigan.
Bowling Green most recently faced the Broncos on Oct. 15, 2016 in the second game of a home-and-home series, in which the Falcons lost by an 8-2 mark on the road.
The Falcons most recent win over Western Michigan came on Jan. 18, 2013 in a 3-2 conference victory in the final season of the CCHA.
The Oct. 10 game against Western Michigan is the first of a home-and-home series with the NCHC foe, as the Falcons will then host the Broncos on Dec. 28 for a single game at home.
Western Michigan officially opened its 2017-18 season with a home-and-home series against Ferris State. When hosting the Bulldogs on Oct. 6, the Broncos earned a 6-1 win at home, but dropped a narrow 3-2 decision on the road on Oct. 7.

>>VERSUS MICHIGAN STATE

All-time, Bowling Green holds a 30-76-9 record against Michigan State across 115 meetings.
The Falcons most recently faced the Spartans in a home-and-home series Feb. 1-2, 2013. The teams split the series, after a 2-1 Bowling Green victory at home was followed by a 3-1 Michigan State win on the road.
Friday's game marks the season opener for the Spartans, after they posted a 3-0 victory over Toronto at home in exhibition play on Saturday, Oct. 7.

>>COMPLETING EXHIBITION ACTION

The Falcons rounded out exhibition action for the 2017-18 campaign when it hosted the U.S. National Development Team on Friday, Oct. 6. With a pair of goals by sophomore Frederic Letourneau, the Falcons claimed a 4-1 win over the USA Under-18 Team.
Bowling Green out-shot U.S. National Development Team 33-21 and 23-10 over the final two periods, while 17 different Falcons contributed for the team's 33 shots on the night.
The Falcons were 3-for-7 on the power play against the USA Under-18 Team, while their total in the two exhibitions was 5-for-16 (.313).
The U.S. National Development Team went 1-for-8 on the power play. In total, Bowling Green was 13-for-14 (.929) on the penalty kill in the exhibitions. Overall, the Falcons took 11 power-play shots and allowed only six to the USA Under-18 Team.
Bowling Green won 42 of 69 faceoffs, while senior Brett D'Andrea and freshman Max Johnson each won 11.
Scoring for the Falcons was sophomore Frederic Letourneau, who finished with two goals and an assist. D'Andrea added a goal and an assist, while senior captain Mitch McLain assisted on two goals. On the night, four other Falcons contributed individual assists.
When the Falcons unofficially opened the season against Wilfrid Laurier on Sunday, Oct. 1, they added a 3-1 win at home.
Senior forward Mitch McLain led the Falcons with a pair of goals against Laurier, 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

Twitter: @BGFalconHockey and @BGathletics
Instagram: @BGFalconHockey and @BGFalcons
Facebook: www.facebook.com/BGSUathletic
Snapchat: bgathletics

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Players Mentioned

Ryan Bednard

Eric Dop

Frederic Letourneau

Casey Linkenheld

Mitch McLain

Alec Rauhauser

Tyler Spezia