No. 14 Falcons Head To Bemidji State For First Road Trip In A Month

#14 Bowling Green Falcons (9-3-5, 6-2-4 WCHA)
at
Bemidji State (5-7-3, 4-6-2 WCHA)

GAME INFORMATION	Friday, Dec. 11 / 8:37 pm ET
LOCATION	Bemidji, Minn. (Sanford Center)
TELEVISION	None
RADIO	WBGU 88.1 FM (Evan Pivnick)
LIVE STATS	Courtesy BSUBeavers.com
WATCH ONLINE	WCHA.tv
LISTEN ONLINE	BGSUFalcons.com
GAME NOTES	BGSU \| Bemidji State \| WCHA

#14 Bowling Green Falcons (9-3-5, 6-2-4 WCHA)
at
Bemidji State (5-7-3, 4-6-2 WCHA)

GAME INFORMATION	Saturday, Dec. 12 / 8:07 pm ET
LOCATION	Bemidji, Minn. (Sanford Center)
TELEVISION	None
RADIO	WBGU 88.1 FM (Evan Pivnick)
LIVE STATS	Courtesy BSUBeavers.com
WATCH ONLINE	WCHA.tv
LISTEN ONLINE	BGSUFalcons.com
GAME NOTES	BGSU \| Bemidji State \| WCHA

>>WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
"We've got two very difficult league games this weekend that are going to matter. (Bemidji State) returns a bunch of their of their top forwards and their goaltending is experienced and good. We haven't played well in that building, at least enough of the time." -- BGSU Head Coach Chris Bergeron

>>THE USCHO.COM POLL
* BGSU gained five votes and remained No. 14 in the country.
* The Falcons have been ranked in the USCHO.com top 20 poll every week this year.
* Bowling Green is one of two WCHA schools in the top 20, along with Minnesota State (No. 20).

>>THE USA TODAY/US HOCKEY MAGAZINE POLL
* Bowling Green garnered 30 more votes than a week ago and rose a spot to No. 14 in the poll.
* BGSU was ranked in the top 15 for four straight weeks in October and early November, peaking at No. 10.
* The Falcons are the only WCHA team receiving votes in the poll.

>>THE PAIRWISE
* The PairWise mimics the method of selection for the NCAA Division I men's hockey national tournament, comparing common opponents, head-to-head competition and the RPI.
* BGSU climbed two spots to No. 19 in the PairWise, tied for their highest ranking this year.
* Minnesota State is the next-highest ranked WCHA team at No. 20.
* Bowling Green ended No. 16 a year ago and the Falcons were the first team out of the NCAA Tournament.
* This week's opponent, Bemidji State, is No. 44.

>>UNBEATEN
BGSU carries a seven-game unbeaten streak into the weekend series at Bemidji State, going 5-0-2 during the stretch. While the Falcons are still looking for offensive consistency, the team has found ways to win as every contest has been decided by one goal (or none, in the case of the two ties). The seven-game unbeaten stretch is the second-longest of the Chris Bergeron era at BGSU, trailing a nine-game streak a year ago in which the squad went 6-0-3.

>>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 4-3-1 on the road in 2015-16 heading into this weekend's trip to Minnesota.

>>CENTURY MEN
Redshirt senior Dajon Mingo played in his 100th career game on Oct. 9 against Ohio State. He has now played in 107 career games and joins classmates Mark Cooper (133 games) and Ben Murphy (132 games) as the three current Falcons who have 100+ games of collegiate experience. Five other Falcons have now reached 90-or-more games played.

>>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 three goals and 19 points. John Schilling leads the group with seven points (two goals, five assists). Chris Pohlkamp scored his first collegiate goal against Alaska Anchorage and now has three points. Forward Shane Bednard and defenseman Connor McDonald both have four assists, with McDonald recording one in each of the past three games. Stephen Baylis, the Bemidji Pioneer WCHA Preseason Newcomer of the Year, missed the first eight games due to NCAA amateurism requirements but got in the point column with an assist Friday against Minnesota State.

>>PASSING A HALL OF FAMER
Head coach Chris Bergeron owns 89 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 50-29-16 since the start of the 2013-14 season.

>>NELL AND VOID
Sophomore goalie Chris Nell has given up just 22 goals in 13 starts (6-2-5) this season. He's allowed two or fewer in 10 of the 13 and never more than three. A WCHA Goaltender of the Year contender, Nell ranks first in the league in goals against average (1.59), save percentage (.939) and shutouts (two). His .654 win percentage is second. Nationally, Nell is fifth in goals against average and eighth in both save percentage and shutouts. In just 25 career starts, Nell has earned five shutouts, third-most in program history. He needs only two 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 is on a season-long three-game point streak and posted assists in both weekend ties against Minnesota State. In fact, McDonald was a team-best +4 on-ice during the weekend. 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 season- and 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 at least one point in six of the past seven games and has two goals and six assists during the stretch. He was named WCHA Defensive Player of the Week Nov. 30 and is a +4 in the past three games.

>>OVERTIME IS THE RIGHT TIME
Bowling Green has played in seven overtime games through the first 17 of the season and the Falcons are 2-0-5 in contests with an extra session. The Falcons last played in at least seven OT games through the first 17 of a season in 2003-04, going 0-1-6 during that stretch. That squad played in four more overtime games the rest of the year to tie the 1991-92 campaign for most OT contests in one year.

>>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.

>>NHL ALUMS
Bowling Green has two active alumni in the NHL, as well as one head coach. Defenseman Kevin Bieksa has played in all of the first 28 games for the Anaheim Ducks, while goalie Andrew Hammond, who took the Ottawa Senators on a wild ride a year ago, now has 27 career decisions (as of Dec. 8, 2015) with just one career loss. 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 9-3-5, 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.

>>TAKING OVER TOLEDO
The BGSU hockey team has once again partnered with the ECHL's Toledo Walleye to feature the Falcons at Toledo's Huntington Center. This year, the Falcons will host the Western Michigan Broncos on Dec. 30 at 5:00 p.m. in the first game of a doubleheader with the Walleye. BGSU last skated in the Huntington Center during the 2009-10 season against Michigan. The Falcons also played in Toledo last season, when they earned a 2-2 tie against No. 19 Robert Morris in the program's first outdoor game, at the Walleye's Winterfest.

>>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.

>>THE BERGERON FACTOR
BGSU Head Coach Chris Bergeron arrived in Bowling Green in 2010-11 and the Falcons won 10 games in his first season at the helm, doubling the team's win total over the previous season. The next year, Bowling Green climbed to 14 wins and then added another win on top of that in 2012-13. During the 2013-14 season, the Falcons improved their win total for the fourth straight season with an 18-victory campaign and BGSU posted 23 wins a year ago. It is the first time in program history that the team has improved its win total in five consecutive seasons.

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