Hockey Continues WCHA Playoffs with Semifinals at Bemidji State

Bowling Green Falcons (19-17-2, 16-13-1 WCHA)
vs.
Bemidji State Beavers (22-14-3, 20-6-2 WCHA)

GAME INFORMATION	Friday, March 10, 7:07 p.m. CT Saturday, March 11, 7:07 p.m. CT Sunday, March 12, 5:07 p.m. CT (if necessary)
LOCATION	Bemidji, Minn. (Sanford Center)
RADIO	Falcon Radio Network (Evan Pivnick)
LIVE STATS	BSUBeavers.com
WATCH ONLINE	WCHA.tv
LISTEN ONLINE	BGSUFalcons.com
GAME NOTES	Bowling Green

>>FALCONS ON TAP
The Bowling Green hockey program will travel to Bemidji, Minn. to face Western Collegiate Hockey Association foe Bemidji State for the Semifinal Round of the WCHA Playoffs. The teams will face off Friday, March 10, Saturday, March 11, and Sunday, March 12 if necessary. The series is a best two-of-three competition in which the winner will move on to the WCHA Championship on March 18.

>>VERSUS BEMIDJI STATE
Bowling Green continues to hold the all-time advantage over Bemidji State by a 9-7-1 margin. Most recently when the Falcons faced off with the Beavers at home in January, Bowling Green earned its first victory over a ranked team since Feb. 6, 2016 (vs. No. 18 Minnesota State). The Falcons also held the Beavers to just two shots on goal in the third period on Friday evening, making it the fewest number of SOG allowed in a period this season.

Back in October on the road, Bemidji State was able to sweep the Falcons by a combined score of 6-2. While in Bemidji, Minn., Stephen Baylis notched the lone goal for the Falcons Friday evening, while Mitch McLain scored his first shorthanded goal of the season on Saturday night.

Although the Falcons are 2-5-1 at the Sanford Center, they have outscored Bemidji State by a 43-37 mark all-time, but fall short on the road by 25-14. In last year's WCHA Playoffs, Bowling Green came back from a first-game loss to defeat Bemidji State in a best-of-three WCHA Tournament first round series with wins of 7-2 and 3-1 in the final two games.

>>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 will head 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 last five games.

Against Alabama Huntsville in the final weekend of the regular season, the Falcons had tallied four power play goals for the first time since March 12, 2016 when they netted four against Bemidji State in the WCHA Playoffs. Bowling Green topped it again when it marked four power play goals against Ferris State this past weekend in Saturday's 5-3 victory, going 4-for-8 on the power play.

>>POHLKAMP PLAYER OF THE WEEK PERFORMANCE
Senior forward Matt Pohlkamp was named WCHA Offensive Player of the Week after his performance against Ferris State. Pohlkamp had a career weekend at an opportune time, collecting a league-high six points to help Bowling Green sweep Ferris State in a quarterfinal round series of the 2017 WCHA Playoffs. The senior from Baxter, Minn. tied for second nationally in points with his two goals and four assists, while he also added nine shots on goal, two blocked shots and a plus-4 rating. He opened the series by matching his career high with four points in a 6-1 Falcons win. After scoring the game's first goal 6:46 into the contest, Pohlkamp tallied three points in a 2:51 span of the second period with a goal and two assists. Saturday evening, he assisted on the game-opening goal 3:39 into the first period, before adding a helper on the power-play, empty-net goal that sealed Bowling Green's 5-3 win and sweep. The six point effort is the most in a playoff series since Dan DeSalvo tallied seven versus Ferris State in the first round of the CCHA Playoffs of the 2011-12 season. The honor is Pohlkamp's first WCHA weekly award of his career.

>>KILLING THE PENALTIES
On Friday night, the Bulldogs cut the Falcons margin to 2-1 just 17 seconds into a Bowling Green 5:00 major penalty. It would be the first power play goal the Falcons have sacrificed since Feb. 4, while the Falcons had killed the last 24 consecutive penalties accessed across the month of February. The power play goal was the only one the Bulldogs earned on Friday night, while on Saturday the Falcons held Ferris State to 1-for-3 with the man advantage.

>>MERCIER; MULTI-POINT MAN
On Saturday night, senior Pierre-Luc Mercier marked one goal and two assists for a three-point night making it his fifth multipoint night of the season. The Montreal, Quebec native lifting Bowling Green to a 2-0 lead early in the second period, prior to assisting on the game-tying and game-winning goals in the third. On the weekend, Mercier tallied a four point weekend in one goal and three assists, with the addition of an assist on Friday's game-winner.

>>DOUBLE POINT D'ANDREA
In Saturday's 4-2 victory over WCHA leader Bemidji State in January, junior Brett D'Andrea scored the game-tying goal as the Falcons went on to score four unanswered to win. The Marysville, Mich. native then marked the assist on Mark Friedman's power play goal that gave Bowling Green a 3-2 lead midway through the game.

>>MCLAIN POINT STREAK
Junior Mitch McLain extended his active point streak to four games when he tallied an assist on the Falcons fifth goal on Friday, as well as on the game-tying goal on Saturday. Leading up to the playoffs, McLain scored the first of four Falcon power play goals against Alabama Huntsville on Friday, and followed it up with an assist on Saturday's game-winning goal to begin the point streak.

>>BEDNARD AND BEMDIJI
For the first time in his collegiate career, Bowling Green hockey goaltender Ryan Bednard was named WCHA Rookie of the Week with his performance against Bemidji State in January. Bednard stopped 17-of-19 shots in the Falcons' 4-2 win over No. 17 Bemidji State Friday evening, including all 12 after the first period as BGSU scored four unanswered for the victory.

>>LIGHTING THE LAMP
Four Falcons marked a multi-point night against Ferris State on Friday evening in a 6-1 victory over the Bulldogs. Senior Matt Pohlkamp marked two goals and two assists for a team-high of four points, while fellow senior Sean Walker tallied one goal and two assists for three points. Additionally, juniors Brett D'Andrea and Tyler Spezia each posted a pair of assists for their fifth and sixth multipoint games of the season, respectively.

On Saturday, two more Falcons marked multipoint nights against Ferris State when senior Pierre-Luc Mercier earned one goal and two assists for three points, while fellow senior Kevin Dufour had a goal and one assist for two points. Matt Pohlkamp continued his point streak by tallying a pair of assists, ultimately finishing the First Round with six points through the two games.

>>SHOOTING PRACTICE
Bowling Green tallied 30 or more shots on goal for the 21st time this season when it marked 33 against Ferris State Friday night. In comparison, the Falcons have only sacrificed more than 30 shots on goal to its opponent on 11 occasions this year.

Against the Bulldogs, Bowling Green exploded in the second period with 18 shots on goal, tying the season-high in a 20:00 span (18 vs. Alaska, 18 vs. Bemidji State), ultimately leading to a game total of 33.

>>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).

Junior Mitch McLain had 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 three Bowling Green hat tricks are the most of any WCHA team this season.

>>NELL IN NET
Junior goaltender Chris Nell set the Bowling Green hockey program record this weekend 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.

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 81 career games played.

>>CENTURY MEN
Senior Sean Walker played in his 157th career game Saturday against Ferris State. Walker is now the active career leader for the Bowling Green squad, along with fellow senior Matt Pohlkamp, who has also appeared in 157 games. The pair leads six current Falcons who have 100+ games of collegiate experience, including Pierre-Luc Mercier (154), Kevin Dufour (151) and Mark Friedman (118).

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 111 games played. Spezia joins fellow junior Mitch McLain who clocked ice time in his 117th game on Saturday against the Bulldogs.

>>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

Ryan Bednard

Mark Cooper

Brett D'Andrea

Kevin Dufour

Mark Friedman

Mitch McLain

Pierre-Luc Mercier

Chris Nell

Matt Pohlkamp

Tyler Spezia

Sean Walker

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