Falcons Fly To Bemidji For Mason Cup Quarterfinals

BEMIDJI, Minn. – The Bowling Green Falcons hockey team (14-17-3, 11-14-1-2) will travel to Minnesota for a CCHA Mason Cup Quarterfinals series with the Bemidji State Beavers (16-18-0, 14-12-0-1). The teams will play a best-of-three series, with all games being held at the Sanford Center. The series starts Friday, March 4, at 8:07 p.m. ET. Game two is scheduled for 7:07 p.m. ET on Saturday, March 5. If necessary, the third game will be played at 6:07 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 6. The first team to win two games will advance to the CCHA Mason Cup Semifinals, with a single-elimination game being held on Saturday, March 12.

How to Follow
All 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. Live stats for Sunday are available HERE.

The games will also have live updates on Bowling Green Hockey's official Twitter page, @BGFalconHockey. For full Mason Cup coverage and information, visit the CCHA's official Tournament Central site HERE.

Tickets, Parking, and Attendance Guidelines
General admission tickets for all games are available beginning at $10, with select seating starting at $12. Friday's tickets are available for online purchase HERE. Saturday's tickets are available for online purchase HERE. Sunday's tickets are available for online purchase HERE. Parking is available at the Sanford Center. Per Bemidji State University policy, fans are required to wear masks in the Sanford Center, regardless of vaccination status.

Falcon Facts

Sam Craggs enters the weekend with 178 games played in his Bowling Green career, sharing the program record with Nelson Emerson and Greg Parks. Craggs can set and extend the record by playing in this weekend's CCHA Quarterfinals series. The forward has seven goals and four assists for 11 points this season, including a game-winning goal and shorthanded goal. Both of those came in the Falcons' home series against Bemidji State.
At the end of the regular season, Taylor Schneider leads the Falcons in assists (20) and points (28). He also leads in assists (11) and points (16) on the power play. Nathan Burke leads the Orange and Brown in goals (16) and power play goals (6).
Bowling Green ranks 22^nd nationally with a .215 success rate on the power play. They are one of six CCHA teams ranking in the top 25 of the NCAA, including Bemidji State. The Beavers are sixth in the country and second in the conference with a .260 conversion rate.

Series Info
The Falcons and Beavers split their four games this season, with the first two played in Bemidji at the end of October. Chrystopher Collin scored two goals and Zack Rose made a career-best 38 saves as BGSU took down then-No. 17 Bemidji State in the series opener. It was the Falcons' first CCHA game in over 3,000 days. The next night, BSU flipped the script and dealt the Falcons their first loss of the season behind a 40-save performance from Gavin Enright. Owen Sillinger and Elias Rosen assisted on the Beaver goals scored by Alex Ierullo and Lukas Sillinger.

When the teams met in Bowling Green, the series once again ended in a split. Bemidji State took the first game, 5-3, scoring three power play goals and one shorthanded goal. Ierullo led the way with one goal and two assists, while three other Beavers tallied multi-point nights. Mattias Sholl made 30 saves for BSU. Sam Craggs scored a shorthanded goal for the Falcons, while three Falcons also recorded multi-point efforts. The Falcons took the series finale with a 3-2 overtime victory. Sam Craggs scored the unassisted golden goal, while Coale Norris netted the other two scores for the Orange and Brown. Christian Stoever made 33 saves for Bowling Green.

The Falcons have a 17-15-3 series advantage.

Opponent Outlook
Since their last meeting with the Falcons, the Beavers are 3-7-0. Owen Sillinger leads the Beavers in assists (27) and points (41) while tying Alex Ierullo for the team lead in goals (14). Mattias Sholl has spent 1161:36 in net, earning a 10-11-0 record this season. He and Christian Stoever's statistics are nearly identical, with Stoever's GAA at 2.99 and Sholl's at 3.00. Sholl has a slight advantage in save percentage, leading .896-.895. Junior Elias Rosen was named CCHA Defenseman of the Week after scoring the golden goal in Bemidji State's overtime victory against St. Thomas in the regular season finale. In the first game of the series against UST, Ross Armour recorded a hat trick to lead the Beavers to a 5-3 victory.

Ty's Take
"Right now, both teams have a really good idea of who they are. In the beginning of the year, we had a bunch of new faces in our lineup and they had a bunch of returning guys. They have a new goalie and we ultimately have a new goalie. They know who they are, they know what guys they want to lean on, they know what guys they want going out in certain situations, just like we do."

Up Next
A win in the CCHA Quarterfinals will put the Falcons in the CCHA Semifinals, with the location and time of the game to be determined. The two highest remaining seeds will host the CCHA Semifinals games, a single-elimination contest held on Saturday, March 12.

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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Nathan Burke

Chrystopher Collin

Sam Craggs

Coale Norris

Zack Rose

Taylor Schneider

Christian Stoever

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