No. 12 Falcons Start Second Half Of Play With Three-Game Week

#12/13 Bowling Green Falcons (11-3-5)
vs.
Western Michigan (6-10-1)

GAME INFORMATION	Wednesday, Dec. 30 / 5:07 pm ET
LOCATION	Toledo, Ohio (Huntington Center)
TELEVISION	BCSN / TWC Sports Channel
RADIO	WBGU 88.1 FM (Evan Pivnick/Adam Ramos)
LIVE STATS	BGSUFalcons.com
WATCH ONLINE	None
LISTEN ONLINE	BGSUFalcons.com
GAME NOTES	BGSU \| Western Michigan \| WCHA

#12/13 Bowling Green Falcons (11-3-5)
vs.
Clarkson (7-6-2)

GAME INFORMATION	Saturday, Jan. 2 / 7:07 pm ET
LOCATION	Bowling Green, Ohio (BGSU Ice Arena)
TELEVISION	BCSN
RADIO	WBGU 88.1 FM (Evan Pivnick)
LIVE STATS	BGSUFalcons.com
WATCH ONLINE	WCHA.tv
LISTEN ONLINE	BGSUFalcons.com
GAME NOTES	BGSU \| Clarkson \| WCHA

#12/13 Bowling Green Falcons (11-3-5)
vs.
Clarkson (7-6-2)

GAME INFORMATION	Sunday, Jan. 3 / 5:07 pm ET
LOCATION	Bowling Green, Ohio (BGSU Ice Arena)
TELEVISION	BCSN / TWC Sports Channel
RADIO	WBGU 88.1 FM (Evan Pivnick)
LIVE STATS	BGSUFalcons.com
WATCH ONLINE	WCHA.tv
LISTEN ONLINE	BGSUFalcons.com
GAME NOTES	BGSU \| Clarkson \| WCHA

>>FALCONS FLYING TOGETHER
BGSU Hockey announced the addition of two defensemen, both of which will be eligible to play for the Falcons as soon as Wednesday. Freshmen Jordan Ernst and Adam Smith have both joined the team to battle for playing time in the back end. Ernst most recently played for the Madison Capitols of the USHL and Smith was a member of the Newmarket Hurricanes of the OJHL.

>>UNBEATEN
BGSU carries a nine-game unbeaten streak into the game with Western Michigan, going 7-0-2 during the stretch. While the Falcons are still looking for offensive consistency, the team has found ways to win. Each of the first seven contests during the run were decided by one goal or fewer. The nine-game unbeaten stretch ties a 6-0-3 stretch a year ago for the longest of the Chris Bergeron tenure. The last time the Falcons had an unbeaten streak of 10 games or longer was during the 1986-87 season when the team won 16 in a row. Amazingly, the Falcons also had a 12-game unbeaten streak during that season as the team went 33-10-2.

>>TOLEDO TAKEOVER
BGSU Hockey will play a game in Toledo for the third time since the 2009-10 season when the Falcons play Western Michigan Wednesday. BGSU last skated in the Huntington Center during the 2009-10 season, in a 4-1 loss to Michigan. A year ago, the Falcons earned a 2-2 tie against No. 19 Robert Morris in the program's first outdoor game, played at Fifth Third Field in Toledo.

>>ROAD WARRIORS
BGSU went 11-6-4 away from the BGSU Ice Arena in 2014-15. The team had not won more than 11 games away from home since the 1987-88 team posted 16 victories. The Falcons are already 6-3-1 on the road in 2015-16, a pace that would give them an even better road record this year.

>>CENTURY MEN
Seniors Mark Cooper (135 games) and Ben Murphy (134 games) have both played in well over 100 career games. While they are the only two current Falcons who have surpassed 100 games played, they will soon be joined by five others. Matt Pohlkamp (97 games), Brent Tate (97 games), Sean Walker (96 games), Pierre-Luc Mercier (95 games) and Kevin Dufour (92 games) will likely each reach 100 games played over the course of the remainder of the season.

>>HOME ICE
BGSU is unbeaten in its last 13 games at the BGSU Ice Arena and has a 5-0-4 record at home this year. Their current streak is the longest in the country and the program's best since a 19-0-1 stretch spanning the 1994-95 and 1995-96 seasons. Over the past 23 contests at the Madhouse on Mercer, Bowling Green has been defeated just three times and boasts a 15-3-5 mark.

>>FANTASTIC FRESHMEN
Five Falcon freshmen have notched their first career points this year, while all six have seen their first collegiate action. They have combined for five goals and 23 points. John Schilling leads the group with eight points (three goals, five assists) and defenseman Connor McDonald has posted five assists. Forward Shane Bednard has added four assists and defenseman Chris Pohlkamp scored his first collegiate goal against Alaska Anchorage and now has three points. Stephen Baylis, the Bemidji Pioneer WCHA Preseason Newcomer of the Year, missed the first eight games due to NCAA amateurism requirements but posted his first goal against Bemidji State and now has three points.

>>PASSING A HALL OF FAMER
Head coach Chris Bergeron owns 91 wins in his six-year career at Bowling Green. With BGSU's 3-2 win on Nov. 14, Bergeron moved past BGSU Athletics Hall of Famer Scott Paluch into fourth place on the all-time coaching wins list as a Falcon. He now trails only Buddy Powers (135 wins), Ron Mason (160) and Jerry York (342). Bergeron is 52-29-16 since the start of the 2013-14 season.

>>GONNA NEED A BIGGER BROOM
With 4-1 and 2-0 victories at Bemidji State Dec. 11-12, Bowling Green earned its fifth road sweep of the Chris Bergeron era. The first three came at Alabama Huntsville, along with a sweep at Alaska.

>>NELL AND VOID
Sophomore goalie Chris Nell has given up just 23 goals in 15 starts (8-2-5) this season. He's allowed two or fewer in 12 of the 15 and never more than three. A WCHA Goaltender of the Year contender, Nell ranks first in the league in goals against average (1.46), save percentage (.943) and shutouts (three). His .700 win percentage is second. Nationally, Nell ranks among the top six in goals against average, save percentage and shutouts. In just 27 career starts, Nell has earned six shutouts, third-most in program history. He needs just one more to match the school record of seven, held jointly by Tyler Masters (1999-03) and Andrew Hammond (2010-13).

>>CAN I GET A BIG MAC WITH THAT?
BGSU freshman defenseman Connor McDonald had a season-long four-game point streak, posting assists in both games of the Minnesota State series, sandwiched between assists in games vs. Northern Michigan and at Bemidji State. McDonald was a team-best plus-4 on-ice during the critical Minnesota State series and is plus-7 in the last four games. He is the only freshman on the team to have played in every game this year.

>>OFFENSIVE SPARK
Junior forward Matt Pohlkamp had a career night on Saturday (Nov. 21) against Alabama-Huntsville. He scored BGSU's first two goals and assisted on two others in the 4-3 victory over the Chargers. The four-point game is a career-best for Pohlkamp and is the first four-point game by a Falcon since Ryan Carpenter did it during a 5-2 win over Michigan Tech on March 15, 2014. That win sent Bowling Green to the 2014 WCHA Final Five. Pohlkamp's two goals are a career-best, and his two assists are also a season high.

>>THE FALCON FLYER
Sophomore defenseman Mark Friedman, a third round draft pick of the Philadelphia Flyers, has been playing lights-out on both ends of the ice recently. He has scored 10 points in the past nine games, including three multi-point games and three goals. He was named WCHA Defensive Player of the Week Nov. 30 and is a plus-5 in the past five games.

>>OVERTIME IS THE RIGHT TIME
Bowling Green has played in seven overtime games through the first 19 games of the season and the Falcons are 2-0-5 in contests with an extra session. The program record for overtime games in a season is 11, in both the 2003-04 and 1991-92 seasons.

>>NHL ALUMS
Three Bowling Green alumni have seen action in the NHL this year and one head coach is also a Falcon. Defenseman Kevin Bieksa has played in all of the first 29 games for the Anaheim Ducks (as of Dec. 17, 2015), while goalie Andrew Hammond, who took the Ottawa Senators on a wild ride a year ago, now has 28 career decisions (as of Dec. 17, 2015) with just two career losses. Ryan Carpenter, a member of the San Jose Sharks organization, made his NHL debut on Dec. 12 against the Minnesota Wild, centering the team's fourth line. Buffalo Sabres' first year head coach Dan Bylsma was just inducted in the BGSU Athletics Hall of Fame on Oct. 9 and is a Stanley Cup winner in Pittsburgh as well as having coached the 2014 US Winter Olympic team.

>>THE BURKE WALL
In his 3-2 win at Michigan Tech, senior goalie Tommy Burke recorded his 36th career victory. He is in sole possession of 10th place all-time on the BGSU goalie leaderboard and is just one win shy of Al Sarachman (1973-77) for ninth. Gary Kruzich (1983-87) is the all-time Falcon goalie leader with 88 career wins. Burke is 3-1-0 during the 2015-16 season.

>>SEEING 20-20
With 23 wins during the 2014-15 season, Bowling Green posted the 19th 20-win season in program history, a mark with includes five 30-win seasons. It is the first time the team won 20 games since the 1995-96 campaign. At 11-3-5, the Falcons are off to a strong start in an effort to earn back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since 1994-95 and 1995-96.

>>FOR THE LONG HAUL
Bowling Green head coach Chris Bergeron signed a five-year contract extension following the 2014-15 season that will keep him at the helm of the Falcons through the 2022-23 season. Bergeron, who is in his sixth season at BGSU, has compiled 80 wins through his first five seasons and has led the Falcons to a win total increase in each of those campaigns. That five-year run of improved win totals is a first in team history. The Falcons' 23 wins in 2014-15 were the most for BGSU in 19 years, since they won 26 in 1995-96. Bergeron has also led the Falcons to at least one best-of-three postseason series victory in each of the last five seasons. BGSU is the only program in the country to accomplish this feat.

>>#MADHOUSEONMERCER
With increased success, the BGSU Ice Arena has seen more and more fans line up for BG hockey games. A year ago, Bowling Green played in front of crowds exceeding 3,000 fans four times and the program averaged 2,601 fans per game, an increase of almost 600 per game over the 2,022 in 2013-14. This year, BGSU had 3,022 fans for the home opener against Ohio State and has an average home attendance of 2,229 through the first nine games.

>>OHIO'S HOCKEY TOWN
Wallethub.com has named Bowling Green the top hockey city in Ohio and 18th out of 74 cities nationally that host either an NHL or NCAA Division I team. The rankings were a combination of several factors, including team performance, ticket prices, arena accessibility and friendliness/engagement of the fans. Each area was weighted differently, and some were comprised of a three-year average. "The Madhouse on Mercer" housed an average of 2,601 fans per game during the 2014-15 season. A total of 5,353 fans broke the BGSU Ice Arena attendance record Nov. 14, 2014 when the Falcons hosted Ohio State.

>>THE LETTERMEN
Bowling Green has named the three players who will wear the "C" and the "A" on their jerseys this year. Junior defenseman Sean Walker will serve as the Falcons' captain, while senior forwards Mark Cooper and Brent Tate will compete as the team's assistant captains. Both Cooper and Tate are in the role for the second consecutive season. The trio provided 51 points for the Falcons during the 2014-2015 season. They scored 20 goals and combined for a +11 on-ice rating. During BGSU's three-game postseason run, the three posted three goals and totaled eight points as the Falcons won a best-of-three playoff series for the fifth consecutive year.

>>THE VOICE ON THE MIC
All games this season can be heard on the radio by tuning into 88.1 WBGU-FM. Evan Pivnick will provide the play-by-play commentary throughout the season. The pregame show will air 30 minutes prior to the opening face-off. The broadcast can be heard globally on www.bgsufalcons.com and WBGUFM.com.

>>WCHA.TV IS LIVE
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 BGSU home games are available on the BGSU website at BGSUFalcons.com. Navigate to the hockey schedule for links to all available ways to follow the action.

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Players Mentioned

Stephen Baylis

Shane Bednard

Tommy Burke

Mark Cooper

Kevin Dufour

Jordan Ernst

Mark Friedman

Connor McDonald

Pierre-Luc Mercier

Dajon Mingo

Ben Murphy

Chris Nell

Chris Pohlkamp

Matt Pohlkamp

John Schilling

Adam Smith

Brent Tate

Sean Walker

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