Bowling Green Set For Weekend Home-And-Home Meeting With Mercyhurst

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University hockey team will have their first weekend series of the season, playing a home-and-home with Mercyhurst on Saturday and Sunday (Dec. 5 and 6). The Falcons will host on Saturday with a 1:30 p.m. puck drop before the series shifts to Erie, Pa. on Sunday for a 3:00 p.m. start.

No. 18 Bowling Green Falcons (3-0-0, 0-0-0-0 WCHA)
vs.
Mercyhurst Lakers (0-0-0, 1-1-0-0 AHA)

GAME INFORMATION	Saturday, Dec. 5, 1:30 p.m. // Sunday, Dec. 6, 3:00 p.m.
LOCATION (SATURDAY)	Bowling Green, Ohio / Slater Family Ice Arena
LOCATION (SUNDAY)	Erie, Pa. / Mercyhurst Ice Center
WATCH	FloHockey (Saturday) / FloHockey (Sunday)
RADIO	Falcon Radio Network
LIVE STATS	Saturday / Sunday
LISTEN ONLINE	BGSUFalcons.com
GAME NOTES	Bowling Green

Bowling Green Set For Home-And-Home With Mercyhurst
After back-to-back road games, Bowling Green will return to home ice at the Slater Family Ice Arena to take on Mercyhurst on Dec. 5 before taking to the road once more, traveling to Erie, Pa. on Dec. 6 to complete the home-and-home. The Falcons will enter having started the season with three straight wins to improve to 3-0 on the young season. As for Mercyhurst, the series will serve as their first set of games during the 2020-21 season after having their series against Long Island University postponed.

First Game For Mercyhurst
While the Falcons will enter with three games under their belt, Mercyhurst will be taking the ice for their first competition of the 2020-21 season. They originally had a series scheduled against Long Island that was postponed. The Lakers are coming off a 5-29-2 record during the 2019-20 season but will have a roster that will look a bit different. None of the goalies from last year's roster returned, but they add a transfer from Bemidji State in Hank Johnson as well as two freshmen. In total, Mercyhurst's roster has 10 freshmen this season as well as 10 sophomores to create a young team overall. With seven juniors, the Lakers will play the 2020-21 season with just two seniors, one being the transfer Johnson.

The Game At A Glance
Bowling Green and Mercyhurst will meet this weekend for two games marking the fourth and fifth meetings between the two teams all-time. First meeting during the 2000-01 season, the Falcons have won all three contests. The first game, taking place on Dec. 28, 2000, ending in a 3-1 final for Bowling Green. The two teams didn't meet again until Feb. 11, 2017 with the Orange and Brown coming away with a 3-0 win. In the third and most recent matchup Bowling Green worked to an 8-2 victory on Oct. 6, 2018. Stephen Baylis had a hat trick in the game while Max Johnson had two goals himself in addition to two assists for a four-point outing. Connor Ford also had a goal and two assists in the game while Brandon Kruse logged four assists.

Last Time Out
Going against Robert Morris on Tuesday (Dec. 1) the Falcons improved to 3-0 on the season with a 6-3 win. In the win, Bowling Green saw six different players score the team's six goals, including three of the them coming on the power play. Cameron Wright led the way for the Falcons with a four-point game, registering a goal and three assists, his first three-assist game of his tenure at BGSU. Justin Wells also added a short-handed, empty net goal in the waning seconds of the game during a 6-on-4 advantage for Robert Morris. Eric Dop was able to log the win between the pipes for the Orange and Brown with 15 saves in the contest.

Falcons Flying High To Begin 2020-21 Campaign
Bowling Green is off to a 3-0 start for the first time since 1996-97 when they rattled off five straight wins to begin the season. With two wins over Adrian and one against Robert Morris, the Falcons have been able to outscore their opponents 17-5 so far this season, including a shutout in the second game against Adrian. While holding their opponents to five goals over three games is impressive, the Falcons have also scored at least five goals in each contest.

Streaks Continue To Carry Over
Bowling Green closed out the 2019-20 season as the hottest team in the nation, holding a 10-game unbeaten streak with a six-game win streak, being 8-0-2 over the span. With three wins to start the 2020-21 year those streaks have now extended to a 13-game unbeaten streak and a nine-game win streak dating back to last year. This marks the best streak since the team won 16 straight games during the 1986-87 season. During the streak the Falcons are outscoring their opponents 55-25. Of Bowling Green's 55 goals over that time, 18 have come on the power play, accounting for just shy of one-third of the team's scores during the streak.

Special Teams Making The Difference
During the 2019-20 season the Falcons led the nation in power play goals with 45 and that momentum has carried over in the 2020-21 season. So far, BGSU has netted five power play goals, tied for second in the nation behind Michigan and Wisconsin who each have six, but Michigan has played six games and Wisconsin eight. The penalty kill has also been stellar, allowing just one power play goal on 16 tries for a .938 success rate. Overall, the Falcons are tied for sixth in the nation for combined special teams, but all five of the top five teams have played just one game.

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