Hockey Heads Back on the Road to Face Lake Superior State

No. 15 Bowling Green Falcons (14-8-6, 11-4-5-2 WCHA)
vs.
Lake Superior State (6-18-4, 4-13-3 WCHA)

GAME INFORMATION	Friday, Jan. 26, 7:07 p.m. ET Saturday, Jan. 27, 7:07 p.m. ET
LOCATION	Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. (Taffy Abel Arena)
RADIO	Falcon Radio Network (Ryan Vallon)
LIVE STATS	LSSULakers.com
LISTEN ONLINE	BGSUFalcons.com
GAME NOTES	Bowling Green
WATCH ONLINE	WCHA.tv

>>FALCONS ON TAP

The Bowling Green hockey program will head back out on the road for the second series of the season against Lake Superior State. The Falcons and Lakers will face off on Friday, Jan. 26 and Saturday, Jan. 27 in 7:07 p.m. puck drops for continued WCHA action.

>>VERSUS LAKE SUPERIOR STATE

All-time, Bowling Green holds the advantage over Lake Superior State by a 82-73-13 margin.
A narrow opponent for the Falcons in recent years, the pair of conference rivals have split the regular season series the last three seasons. The Falcons have gone 6-5-1 against the Lakers over the last five years.
Most recently, the Falcons earned a 5-2 win over the Lakers at home on Nov. 11, 2017. The night prior, the teams played to a 2-2 tie before Bowling Green picked up the extra conference point with a goal by Mitch McLain in the shootout to claim five of six possible conference points.
Lake Superior State is off to a 6-18-4 start on the year, including a 4-13-3 mark in WCHA play. The Lakers were recently swept by Northern Michigan on the road, by a score of 3-2 each night. With 15 points, Lake Superior State currently sits ninth in the league, just three points ahead of Alaska Anchorage.

>>NATIONALLY RANKED

T-2nd: Alec Rauhauser – Defenseman Points per Game (1.00)
T-5th: Stephen Baylis – Shorthanded Goals (2)
T-5th: Mitch McLain – Shorthanded Goals (2)
T-11th: Cameron Wright – Power Play Goals (6)
15th: Ryan Bednard – Goals Against Average (2.23)
15th: Cameron Wright – Freshman Points per Game (0.77)
T-16th: Brandon Kruse – Freshman Points per Game (0.75)
18th: Eric Dop – Winning Percentage (.615)
T-20th: Ryan Bednard – Winning Percentage (.600)
22nd: Alec Rauhauser – Assists per Game (0.79)
23rd: Ryan Bednard – Save Percentage (.914)
T-26th: Max Johnson – Power Play Goals (5)
31st: Max Johnson – Freshman Points per Game (0.68)
35th: Eric Dop – Goals Against Average (2.64)
T-44th: Alec Rauhauser – Points per Game (1.00)

>>ABOUT LAST WEEKEND

The Falcons capitalized with the home ice advantage by picking up its second conference sweep of the season against Alaska Anchorage. The Falcons downed the Seawolves 6-2 on Friday, prior to a 3-2 comeback victory on Saturday evening.
Five Falcons recorded a multi-point night against the Seawolves on Friday including Smith (1-2–3), Johnson (1-1–2), McLain (1-1–2), Wright (1-1–2), and Rauhauser (0-2–2).
Coming into the night, Smith looked to tally his first point of the season and left with a career-high three-point performance. He did so with his assist on Johnson's goal before adding a goal and another assist in his season point debut. He also led the team with six shots on goal and a plus-4 rating on the ice in the win.
By a goal and an assist, it marked Wright's team-leading sixth multi-point effort of the season on Friday evening.
The Falcons were perfect on the penalty kill in its 6-2 victory, stopping all shots fired during the four BGSU penalties. On the flip side, they went 1-for-3 on the power play, scoring with just one second remaining on their first chance with the man advantage.
By erasing the two-goal deficit on Saturday night, Johnson is now tied for third on the team with seven goals and has found the net in three straight games, while five of Johnson's seven goals as a freshman have come on the power play.
By one goal and two assists, freshman Brandon Kruse had a hand in all three goals on the night for a career-high three-point game. He ranks second on the team in assists (16) and points (21). This was Kruse's third multi-assist game of the season; all three have occurred in the last four weeks. The goal was Kruse's fifth of the season and his first game-winner.
Eric Dop saved 22 of 24 shots for his seventh victory in 13 starts (7-4-2). Dop improved his goals allowed average to 2.66 and his save percentage to .899.
BGSU out-shot the Seawolves 40-24 on the night, and 74-43 during the series.
The Falcons were 1-for-7 on the power play in its 3-2 victory and 2-for-10 in the series. Bowling Green's penalty unit was a perfect 8-for-8 in the two-game series on the penalty kill, 4-for-4 in each game.

>>STATISTICAL STANDOUTS

Excelling against the Lakers, Mitch McLain earned the extra point for the Falcons after a 2-2 tie when he scored a shootout goal in the third round (Nov. 10). On the road on Dec. 3, 2016 last season against Lake Superior State, it was also a game in which Mitch McLain earned his second career hat trick.
The Falcons tallied 40 shots on goal against the Seawolves Saturday night, making them now 3-0-0 when notching 40 shots on goal or more against its opponent.
Additionally, the Falcons remain undefeated when scoring four or more goals (8-0-0), as well as when they are leading after two periods (11-0-4).
With a four-point weekend, freshman forward Brandon Kruse jumps from 36th in the nation to 16th in freshman points per game, while his performance earned him his first career WCHA accolade in WCHA Rookie of the Week honors. On the season, Kruse now tallies five goals and 16 assists for 21 points on the year – the second most of the Bowling Green squad.
Getting the Falcons on the board on Saturday night was junior Chris Pohlkamp as he scored his second career goal and first since Oct. 31, 2015. That goal was also against Alaska-Anchorage and occurred in Pohlkamp's sixth career game with the Falcons. Pohlkamp is the 18th different player to score a goal for the Falcons during the 2017-18 season.
Rauhauser's assist on Saturday night was his team-best 21st and extends his team lead in points to 28. A native of Bismarck, N.D., Rauhauser has only been held off the box score in eight of the Falcons 28 games this season.
With his performances against Alaska Anchorage, senior Mitch McLain extended his point streak to seven straight games, where he has nine points (four goals, five assists) during the streak. In addition, Johnson currently rides a three-game scoring streak, while Rauhauser extended his point streak to three games as well.
Linkenheld was awarded the primary assist on Saturday's game-winning goal; it is his first point of the season. Linkenheld had scored only one other career point, a goal last season in a 3-0 win over Alaska-Anchorage.
In Sunday's 3-0 win at Ferris State (Jan. 7), sophomore goaltender Ryan Bednard earned his second career shutout with 27 saves, including a game-high of 12 in the opening period of play. It marked the first shutout for the Falcons since Feb. 25, 2017 (vs. Alabama Huntsville) and first shutout on the road since March 5, 2016 (at Alabama Huntsville).
After scoring his team-leading sixth career shorthanded goal, senior Mitch McLain has officially joined the Bowling Green hockey record book and sits tied for fifth in program history.
With 44 shots on goal at Ferris State (Feb. 6), the Bowling Green hockey program set a new season-high on the year. The mark included a season-best of 21 shots on goal in the third period alone, to shatter its previous season-high of 42 (vs. Alabama Huntsville, Dec. 9).
The Falcons momentum stems from a big tournament appearance, as they earned its first Great Lakes Invitational championship title in program history. In its first year at Little Caesar's Arena, three Falcons were named to the All-Tournament Team in Lukas Craggs, Alec Rauhauser and Eric Dop. Additionally, Craggs became the Falcons first GLI MVP in program history after his five points through two games played.
In the GLI, Bowling Green opened the tournament with a 6-4 win over Michigan, making it the Falcons second win over a Big Ten team this season, after downing Michigan State at home 4-2 (Oct. 13). It was also the first win over Michigan since Jan. 8, 2013, and the Falcons are now on a two-game win streak against the Wolverines. It was also the first win against Michigan at a neutral site in program history (1-6 record).
All three of Schilling's goals this season have come against Michigan Tech, as he scored a pair in Houghton earlier this season. By his even strength goal and the assist on Ford's game winner, Schilling also earned his second multi-point night of the season in the GLI Championship.
The Falcons 2-2 tie against the RedHawks earlier this season was highlighted with a penalty shot attempt by freshman Brandon Kruse. A native of Saline, Mich., Kruse scored to put the Falcons up 1-0 with just 00:34 remaining in the first period. Bowling Green is now .500 all-time in penalty shots with 12 goals on 24 attempts, including a 9-for-13 (.692) success rate at the Slater Family Ice Arena. When attempting a penalty shot, the Falcons are 12-9-2 all-time, as well as 7-3-2 when they are successful.
Seven Falcons have now tallied their first career goals thus far in the season, most recently being freshman Justin Wells, who put the Falcons up 2-0 over the Wolverines in the GLI Semifinals in just a 1:09 span. Other Falcons who have tallied their first career goals this season include freshmen Cameron Wright, Brandon Kruse, Connor Ford, Sam Craggs, and Max Johnson, in addition to junior Shane Bednard.

>>SIGHTS ON SHORTIES

After notching his team-leading sixth career shorthanded goal against Ferris State (Jan. 7), senior Mitch McLain has officially joined the Bowling Green hockey record book. The captain is now tied for fifth in program history with six career shorthanded goals, including two in each of the last two seasons.
The Falcons featured two shorthanded goals in a game against the Lakers on Nov. 11, one by each McLain and Baylis. On the Bowling Green squad, McLain (5), John Schilling (1), Lukas Craggs (1) and Baylis (1) have all tallied a shorty in their career.

>>EYES ON CENTURY MEN

Senior Mitch McLain: 148 games played, 47 goals – 42 assists – 89 points
Senior Tyler Spezia: 134 games played, 29 goals – 35 assists – 64 points
Senior Brett D'Andrea: 118 games played, 20 goals – 27 assists – 47 points
Junior Connor McDonald: 107 games played, 6 goals – 17 assists – 23 points
Junior Stephen Baylis: 102 games played, 19 goals – 36 assists – 55 points
Junior John Schilling: 97 games played, 12 goals – 17 assists – 29 points
Junior Chris Pohlkamp: 91 games played, 2 goals – 19 assists – 21 points

>>STANDOUT SOPHOMORE AT THE BLUE LINE

Sophomore defenseman Alec Rauhauser earned his first career WCHA weekly award when he was named WCHA Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts at then-No. 5 Minnesota State. Rauhauser was then named to his first career WCHA Defensive Player of the Month award in November for notching seven points in eight games played, as well as Player of the Week for a three-point performance in the Great Lakes Invitational.
A native of Bismarck, N.D., Rauhauser matched his career-high three point night, and marked his first career multi-goal game by a pair of power play goals and an assist against then-No. 5 Minnesota State. On the weekend against the Mavericks, Rauhauser also led the Bowling Green squad with seven shots on goal helping them earn the split against the nationally ranked program.
Rauhauser went on a career-best six-game point streak this season, a span in which he has tallied two goals and six assists for eight points. Rauhauser has also only been held off the box score in eight of the Falcons 28 games this season.
This past weekend against Alaska Anchorage, Rauhauser matched his career-high three-point night when he earned a trio of assists in the 6-2 victory on Friday night.
On the season, Rauhauser averages 1.00 points per game, which ranks him second nationally for all defensemen, as well as first overall in the WCHA. The Bismarck, N.D. native has 28 points through 28 games played by six goals and 22 assists.

>>BROTHERLY LOVE

In Saturday's 3-3 tie against Bemidji State, freshman Sam Craggs tallied his first career goal for the Falcons as he lifted them to a 2-1 lead in the final minutes of the second period. To force an overtime session, older brother Lukas Craggs notched his third of the season with the extra skater and just 00:54 remaining in regulation.
More connections were recently made between the Craggs brothers when elder brother Lukas fed the puck to Sam Craggs to tie the game at 3-3 against Ferris State (Jan. 6). Lukas Craggs also went on to notch a goal of his own in the 6-3 win to seal a four-goal third period for the Falcons.
Not a first for Bowling Green this season, junior Shane Bednard also posted his first career goal with his brother on the ice. The older Bednard brother scored the Falcons second even strength goal at Michigan State (Oct. 14), as his younger brother Ryan Bednard tended the net with 32 saves and three goals against.

>>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 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
Ticketing Information: https://spark.adobe.com/page/1D4rbBUtBaXtr/

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Stephen Baylis

Ryan Bednard

Shane Bednard

Lukas Craggs

Sam Craggs

Brett D'Andrea

Eric Dop

Connor Ford

Max Johnson

Brandon Kruse

Connor McDonald

Mitch McLain

Chris Pohlkamp

Alec Rauhauser

John Schilling

Tyler Spezia

Justin Wells

Cameron Wright

Upcoming Events

Recent Results

Bowling Green State University Athletics