Falcons Skate To Sault Ste. Marie With CCHA Seeding On The Line

SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. – The Bowling Green Falcons hockey team (14-15-3, 11-12-1-2) will close the 2021-22 regular season with a series against the Lake Superior State Lakers (15-16-1, 11-13-0-1). The Falcons and Lakers take the ice for a 7:07 p.m. ET showdown on Friday, Feb. 25, then conclude the series with a 6:07 p.m. ET matchup on Saturday, Feb. 26. Both games will be held at Taffy Abel Arena.

The series will have implications on the final CCHA standings, as BGSU and LSSU are tied for fourth place with 33 points each. The Northern Michigan Wildcats are directly behind both team, sitting in sixth place with 32 points. The top four teams in the standings will host the CCHA Quarterfinals, a best-of-three series beginning on Friday, March 4.

How to Follow
Both games will be streamed live on FloHockey, broadcast HERE. The games will also be broadcast by BGRSO on 88.1 FM, found online HERE. Live stats for Friday are available HERE. Live stats for Saturday are available HERE.

The games will also have live updates on Bowling Green Hockey's official Twitter page, @BGFalconHockey.

Tickets, Parking, and Attendance Guidelines
Tickets for both games are available beginning at $16. Friday's tickets are available for online purchase HERE. Saturday's tickets are available for online purchase HERE. Parking is available in Lots A, B, and C for $3. Before Saturday's game, Lake Superior State Hockey will recognize their senior members of the team.

Falcon Facts

Sam Craggs enters the weekend with 176 games played in his career, third on the program's all-time list. The forward can tie Nelson Emerson and Greg Parks for first by participating in both games this weekend. Craggs has seven goals and four assists this season, including three power play scores, a shorthanded goal, and a game-winning goal.
Last Saturday, Bowling Green Hockey recognized eight seniors. The senior class scored five of the six points for the Orange and Brown that evening, with Coale Norris tallying his fourth multi-point game of the season.

BGSU CCHA Quarterfinals Home-Ice Clinching Scenarios and Tiebreakers

If BGSU earns six points (two regulation wins), they clinch the fourth seed.
If BGSU and LSSU are tied (series split), the Falcons have the tiebreaking advantage. Bowling Green has a 3-1 record in the head-to-head matchup.
If BGSU and NMU are tied, NMU has the head-to-head advantage and finishes ahead of the Falcons.
If BGSU, NMU, and LSSU are tied, LSSU will earn the fourth seed because they have the most regulation wins. NMU would have the fifth seed because of their head-to-head record against BGSU. The Falcons will be the sixth seed.

The full CCHA Standings with the list of tiebreaking procedures can be found HERE.

Series Info
Bowling Green swept Lake Superior State in their first series of the season, held in Slater Family Ice Arena on Nov. 19-20. The Falcons won the first game, 5-1, with Coale Norris leading the way with two goals and two assists. Nathan Burke and Ethan Scardina each tallied a goal and an assist, while Zack Rose stopped 24 of 25 shots by the Lakers. BGSU's offensive outburst continued the following night, as they took a 6-2 victory over LSSU. Alex Barber scored two goals and tallied an assist, while Taylor Schneider and Chrystopher Collin each notched one goal and one assist. Gabriel Chicoine registered two assists while Burke and Scardina scored goals for the second night in a row. Christian Stoever earned the victory with the first 30-save performance of his career. The Falcons have an 88-78-13 advantage in the all-time series.

Opponent Outlook
Lake Superior State enters with an 11-13-0-1 conference record, tied for fourth in the standings with Bowling Green. Last week, the Lakers split their road series against St. Thomas. Louis Boudon leads the Lakers in goals (14) and points (35) while tying for the team-high in assists (21) with Jacob Bengtsson and Miroslav Mucha. On February 14, Boudon earned his third CCHA Forward of the Week honor. Joining the junior was classmate Jake Willets, who was named CCHA Defenseman of the Week after recording a hat trick against his former team, Ferris State. Seth Eisele and Ethan Langenegger have split time in goal, each holding a .913 save percentage. Langenegger is a two-time CCHA Goaltender of the Week, while Eisele has earned the award once.

Ty's Take
"The formula for being at home, for them and us, couldn't be more simple. Win two games, you're at home. You have two teams that have the same goal in mind. The challenge is that they're a really good team.
The challenge for us is to forget about last weekend, get on the bus to Sault Ste. Marie, and be ready to go, knowing that Lake Superior is going to be ready to go. Just like our guys want desperately to have another crack at playing at Slater Family Ice Arena, Lake Superior wants the same opportunity."

Up Next
Bowling Green will await the results from around the conference for their location and opponent for the CCHA Quarterfinals. The best-of-three series will begin on Friday, March 4, then continue on Saturday, March 5. If necessary, the third game will be played on Sunday, March 6. Time and location updates will be provided on BGSUFalcons.com.

Follow the Falcons
Be sure to follow the Falcons hockey team on social media
Twitter - @BGAthletics and @BGFalconHockey
Instagram - 'bgfalcons' and 'bgfalconhockey'
Facebook - 'BGSU Athletics'
YouTube - 'Falcon Athletics'

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