Hockey Heads to Houghton for WCHA Championship

Bowling Green Falcons (21-17-2, 14-13-1 WCHA)
vs.
Michigan Tech Huskies (22-14-7, 15-7-6 WCHA)

GAME INFORMATION	Saturday, March 18, 7:07 p.m. ET
LOCATION	Houghton, Mich. (John MacInnes Student Ice Arena)
RADIO	Falcon Radio Network (Evan Pivnick)
LIVE STATS	MichiganTechHuskies.com
WATCH ONLINE	WCHA.tv
LISTEN ONLINE	BGSUFalcons.com
GAME NOTES	Bowling Green

>>FALCONS ON TAP
The Bowling Green hockey program will travel to Houghton, Mich. to face Western Collegiate Hockey Association foe Michigan Tech for the WCHA Championship title and automatic bid to the 2017 NCAA Tournament. The teams will face off Saturday, March 18 in a 7:07 p.m. ET puck drop.

>>VERSUS MICHIGAN TECH
Bowling Green holds an all-time record of 9-15-3 against Michigan Tech, as well as 1-3-1 in the last five games. The last Falcons sweep of the Huskies was in the first round of the WCHA Playoffs in the 2013-14 campaign, by scores of 5-2 and 2-1. Last season at home, the Falcons lost 4-1 and tied 4-4 with Michigan Tech, and returns three of five goal scorers in Kevin Dufour, Mitch McLain, and Stephen Baylis. On the road last season, the Falcons won 3-2 and lost 2-0, and returns two of three goal scorers in Tyler Spezia and Matt Pohlkamp. Six of the last ten matchups with the pair of conference rivals has also been decided by one goal or less.

When the Falcons hosted the Huskies in December 2016, Michigan Tech swept Bowling Green by a combined score of 5-2. Baylis had marked the lone goal for the Falcons on Friday night, while junior goaltender Chris Nell tallied 33 saves. On Saturday, sophomore Matt Meier had notched his first career goal as a Falcon in the 2-1 loss.

>>NOTABLE STREAK
This weekend's WCHA Championship game is the Falcons first appearance in a conference championship since 1988, a year in which they won the CCHA title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Additionally, Bowling Green will enter the WCHA Championship on a seven game win streak, the longest of Coach Bergeron's time at Bowling Green, and longest from the Falcons since the 1987-88 season.

>>POSITIVELY POHLKAMP
Senior Matt Pohlkamp continued his point streak by tallying a pair of assists this weekend, ultimately finishing the semifinals with three points in two games. The performance follows a First Round with six points through two games, totaling nine points in four games for the Baxter, Minn. native in the WCHA Playoffs. Pohlkamp had highlighted the First Round with two goals and four assists, while in the Semifinals he marked a game-winning goal and two assists. The four game point streak is a season-best for Pohlkamp.

>>SPEZIA'S ON A STREAK!
By marking an assist on each of the game-tying goals this weekend, junior forward Tyler Spezia extended his point streak to seven straight games. The native of Clinton Township, Mich. has earned eight points in the seven games, a streak in which the Falcons have been undefeated. Overall on the season, the Falcons are 17-3 when Spezia tallies a point, while the seven-game streak ties the high on the season (Mitch McLain, seven games).

>>SHOOTING PRACTICE
Bowling Green tallied 30 or more shots on goal for the 22nd time this season when it marked 32 against Bemidji State Saturday night. In comparison, the Falcons have only sacrificed more than 30 shots on goal to its opponent on 12 occasions this year.

>>HAT TRICK CITY
In the final series of the regular season, senior Kevin Dufour netted his first career hat trick in the 7-0 victory over Alabama Huntsville. The hat trick was the third of the season for the Falcons, but first at home since Nov. 26, 2013 (Mark Cooper vs. Minnesota State). This past weekend in Bemidji, Minn., Dufour netted the overtime game-winner on Friday night, completing a second hat trick in a three-week span by scoring three of the Falcons four goals.

Junior Mitch McLain had also tallied two hat tricks in a three-week span when he net three goals at Alabama Huntsville, followed by a trio at Lake Superior State. The four Bowling Green hat tricks are the most of any WCHA team this season.

>>NELL IN NET
Last weekend, junior goaltender Chris Nell set the Bowling Green hockey program record of shutout minutes at 220:18 shutout streak, shattering the former record of 154:43. The time consisted of three consecutive shutouts, in addition to the opening minutes of Friday's First Round action against Ferris State.

Nell also leads the Bowling Green record book in the career save percentage and goals against average categories. The junior holds a program-leading 2.07 goals against average and .923 save percentage through 83 career games played. Additionally, Nell set a career-best mark this past weekend with 45 saves in Friday night's 4-3 overtime victory at Bemidji State.

>> PLAYER OF THE WEEK PERFORMANCE X2
After a weekend sweep of Bemidji State in the semifinal series of the WCHA Playoffs, Bowling Green hockey's Kevin Dufour has been named Offensive Player of the Week, while junior goaltender Chris Nell was honored as Defensive Player of the Week as announced by the Western Collegiate Hockey Association Monday afternoon. Dufour earned his second hat trick in a three week span as he net the overtime game-winner on Friday night against No. 1-seeded Bemidji State. A native of Quebec City, Quebec, Dufour opened the scoring with his 15th of the season then was at the crease ready to tip in a shot taken from the left point to tie the game back up at 3-3. Dufour's second of the night forced the overtime action. Dufour was then able to decide the first game of the semifinals with a rebound that bounced off the back boards, and tucked the puck in the back door to seal his hat trick performance.

The game marked his fourth multi-goal night of the season, and after the hat trick performance on Friday, Dufour answered for the Bowling Green squad by evening the score to 1-1. The goal marked Dufour's 18th of the season and fourth of the weekend. In the semifinal series sweep of the Beavers, Dufour marked four goals for four points, seven shots, a +2 rating, and two blocked shots, while the award is Dufour's third WCHA weekly honor of the year.

Defensively, junior goaltender Chris Nell was critical for the Falcons in Friday's narrow 4-3 overtime victory and held strong to keep it a one-goal game. Nell finished the night with a career-high of 45 saves, including a game-high of 15 in the third period of action.

On Saturday, Nell faced numerous shots in the final minutes, and was crucial in keeping the Falcons ahead with the 2-1 score, and ultimately closed out the night with 25 saves and just one goal against. On the weekend, Nell accumulated 70 saves, just one shy of his season-high for a series, and four goals against for a .946 save percentage, while the honor is Nell's second WCHA Weekly award of the season.

>>FIRST ROUND SUCCESS
With the series sweep of Ferris State this past season, Bowling Green has now won a best-of-three playoff series in seven consecutive years, including all four as members of the WCHA. The Falcons headed into the WCHA Semifinals on a five game win streak, the longest of the season, in addition to outscoring opponents by an outstanding 23-4 margin across the five games heading into the semifinals.
Bowling Green marked four power play goals in a game for the second consecutive weekend as well when it marked goals with the man advantage against Ferris State in Saturday's 5-3 victory, going 4-for-8 on the power play.

>>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.

Last week as the WCHA announced its All-Conference teams, four Falcons were named All-WCHA, while 13 earned WCHA All-Academic honors. Junior forward Mitch McLain was named All-WCHA First Team after accumulating a team-leading 32 points through 37 games played. Senior captain Sean Walker was named All-WCHA Second Team by racking up 24 points in his 38 games played thus far, while fellow defenseman Mark Friedman was named All-WCHA Third Team with 25 points in 37 games played as a junior. Freshman defenseman Alec Rauhauser was honored on the All-WCHA Rookie Team after topping his class with five goals and 15 assists for 20 points.

Previously, Friedman was named to the WCHA All-Rookie Team in his freshman season, in addition to earning First Team All-WCHA honors in his sophomore campaign. While serving as team captain in his junior season, Walker earned his first All-WCHA Second Team honor. It is the first All-Conference honor for McLain and Rauhauser.

>>FANTASTIC FRESHMAN
Earlier this season in the Saturday night game 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 had led the Bowling Green squad with a save percentage of .901 earlier on the season, as well as with a 2.41 goals against average.

>>CENTURY MEN
Senior Sean Walker played in his 159th career game Saturday against Bemidji State. Walker is now the active career leader for the Bowling Green squad, along with fellow senior Matt Pohlkamp, who has also appeared in 159 games. The pair leads six current Falcons who have 100+ games of collegiate experience, including Pierre-Luc Mercier (156), Kevin Dufour (153) and Mark Friedman (120).

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 113 games played. Spezia joins fellow junior Mitch McLain who clocked ice time in his 119th game on Saturday against the Beavers.

>>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.

>>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. This year with a current 21-17-2, the Falcons have marked its third consecutive 20-win season, and 21st overall. 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

Ryan Bednard

Mark Cooper

Kevin Dufour

Mark Friedman

Mitch McLain

Matt Meier

Pierre-Luc Mercier

Chris Nell

Matt Pohlkamp

Tyler Spezia

Sean Walker

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