Hockey Begins WCHA Playoffs with Ferris State in the First Round

Bowling Green Falcons (17-17-2, 14-13-1 WCHA)
vs.
Ferris State Bulldogs (13-17-5, 12-12-4 WCHA)

GAME INFORMATION	Friday, March 3, 7:07 p.m. ET Saturday, March 4, 7:07 p.m. ET Sunday, March 5, 7:07 p.m. ET (if necessary)
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 Western Collegiate Hockey Association foe Ferris State for the First Round of the WCHA Playoffs. The teams will face off Friday, March 3, Saturday, March 4, and Sunday, March 5 if necessary. The series is a best two-of-three competition in which the winner will move on to the WCHA Playoff Semifinals from March 10-12.

Tickets are available online at www.bgsufalcons.com/buytickets, via phone at 419-372-0000 during regular business hours or by purchasing in person at the Stroh Center ticket office.

>>VERSUS FERRIS STATE IN CONFERENCE PLAYOFFS
The last time the Falcons and Bulldogs faced off in a conference tournament was the first round of the 2011-12 CCHA Playoffs. Bowling Green won two of the three games in the best-of-three series in overtime. Overall, Bowling Green and Ferris State have met in the postseason for five series, three of which the Falcons have come out victorious.

>>VERSUS FERRIS STATE
All-time, Bowling Green holds a 62-59-12 advantage over Ferris State. The Falcons have won seven of the last nine matchups against the Bulldogs, including a sweep last season in a combined score of 10-5. Earlier this season, the Falcons split with the Bulldogs at the Slater Family Ice Arena. On Friday, the Falcons came out with a big 4-1 win on Friday night, although Ferris State rebounded with a 3-1 final on Saturday. It was the only loss the Falcons suffered the entire month of November. Tyler Spezia, Matt Pohlkamp, Alec Rauhauser, and Mitch McLain all appeared on the box score Friday night, while all four marked multi-point nights including a career-high three-point performance by freshman Rauhauser. Freshman Lukas Craggs was the lone goal-scorer for the Falcons Saturday night.

Last month when the Falcons traveled to Big Rapids, Mich., Bowling Green had an exciting Friday night performance as junior Mark Friedman scored 34 seconds into overtime to lift the Falcons to its second consecutive overtime victory by a 3-2 mark. Tyler Spezia and Kevin Dufour also scored, while junior goaltender Chris Nell tallied 21 saves. On Saturday, the Bulldogs rebounded to win by a 5-0 margin.

Last season in Friday's 4-3 win, three players accounted for the Falcons' four goals, and eight posted at least one point, while four earned multiple points, including Stephen Baylis. The Falcons came out with a strong 6-2 victory on Saturday, in which five players scored a goal and 11 earned at least one point, including Mitch McLain, who had scored two goals for the first time in his career. Bowling Green also returns eight of the 10 goal-scorers from last years' series.

>>DUFOUR'S HAT TRICK
On Friday night, senior Kevin Dufour netted his first career hat trick in the 7-0 victory over Alabama Huntsville. With an assist on Frederic Letourneau's goal, Dufour marked a career-high four point night as well. The hat trick is the third of the season for the Falcons, but first at home since Nov. 26, 2013 (Mark Cooper vs. Minnesota State). With the four point performance, Dufour earned his second WCHA Offensive Player of the Week award of the season, and fourth of his career.

>>MCLAIN'S SCORING
Junior Mitch McLain leads the Falcons in scoring this season, and was able to net his 17th of the season last night against the Chargers. It is the Baxter, Minn. native's first time scoring since a seven-game point streak through Jan. 20, 2017, and followed it up with an assist in Saturday's 2-0 victory, reigniting an active two-game point streak heading into the playoffs.

>>KILLING THE PENALTIES
On Friday night, the Falcons killed a full two minutes of 5-on-3 penalty time, en route to burning all seven penalty kills of the game. Bowling Green followed it up with an outstanding 12 penalty kills on Saturday as well. It was the 19th time this season Bowling Green has held the opponent scoreless on the power play, and hold a 12-6-1 record with the feat. Heading into the weekend, the Falcons have successfully killed the last 23 consecutive penalties it has been assessed across three games.

>>MERCIER; MULTI-POINT MAN
With four assists on the night, senior Pierre-Luc Mercier marked a career-high four point night. He is the only Falcon on the Bowling Green squad to have marked four assists in a game in their career.

>>NELL IN NET
Junior goaltender Chris Nell shattered his previous season high of 33 saves with a 38 save performance on Saturday night, on his way to earning his program-leading 11th career shutout. The Green Bay, Wis. native earned his second career WCHA Defensive Player of the Week accolade with a combined 71 saves against the Chargers, zero goals against and a perfect save percentage.

Nell's 7-0 and 3-0 shutouts of Alabama Huntsville marked the first time in program history that the Falcons have shutout its opponent for a full weekend series. With the minutes in goal, Nell also took over the program record with an active 207:31 shutout streak.

Nell also leads the Bowling Green record book in the career save percentage and goals against average categories. The junior holds a program-leading 2.08 goals against average and .922 save percentage through 79 career games played.

>>LETOURNEAU ON THE BOX SCORE
Freshman Frederic Letourneau earned his first career multipoint night with an assist on Dufour's second goal, followed by a power play goal in the third period in Friday's 7-0 victory over UAH.

>>OTHER NIGHTLY NOTES
The 7-0 shutout is the biggest shutout differential since Jan. 3, 2014 when the Falcons shut out Alabama
Huntsville on the road in another 7-0 final. The Falcons also tallied four power play goals for the first time since March 12, 2016 when they netted four against Bemidji State in the WCHA Playoffs.

>>LIGHTING THE LAMP
Four Falcons marked multi-point nights against Alabama Huntsville on Friday evening in a 7-0 shutout of the Chargers. Kevin Dufour tallied four points with a hat trick and one assist, while fellow senior Pierre-Luc Mercier marked a program-best four assists on the night. Additionally, freshmen duo Frederic Letourneau and Alec Rauhauser each marked one goal and one assist, while junior Mark Friedman had his third multipoint night of the season with a pair of assists.

>>SHOOTING PRACTICE
Bowling Green tallied 30 or more shots on goal for the 20th time this season when it marked 42 against Alabama Huntsville Saturday night. In comparison, the Falcons have only sacrificed more than 30 shots on goal to its opponent on 10 occasions this year.

Against the Chargers, Bowling Green exploded in the third period with 17 shots on goal, making it the second-most of the season in a 20:00 span (18 vs. Alaska, 18 vs. Bemidji State), leading to a game total of 42, a new season-high for the Falcons.

>>CENTURY MEN
Senior Sean Walker played in his 155th career game Saturday against Alabama Huntsville. Walker is now the active career leader for the Bowling Green squad, along with fellow senior Matt Pohlkamp, who has also appeared in 155 games. The pair leads six current Falcons who have 100+ games of collegiate experience, including Pierre-Luc Mercier (152), Kevin Dufour (149) and Mark Friedman (116).

The most recent addition to the century men is junior Tyler Spezia, who hit his 100-game mark last month in Mankato and is now at 109 games played. Spezia joins fellow junior Mitch McLain who clocked ice time in his 115th game on Saturday against the Chargers.

>>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

Mark Cooper

Lukas Craggs

Kevin Dufour

Mark Friedman

Frederic Letourneau

Mitch McLain

Pierre-Luc Mercier

Chris Nell

Matt Pohlkamp

Alec Rauhauser

Tyler Spezia

Sean Walker

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