Falcons Return to the Ice Arena for Final Home Series in 2016

Bowling Green Falcons (8-8-2, 7-4-1 WCHA)
vs.
Michigan Tech Huskies (10-7-3, 9-3-2 WCHA)

GAME INFORMATION	Friday, Dec. 9, 7:07 p.m. ET Saturday, Dec. 10, 7:07 p.m. ET
LOCATION	Bowling Green, Ohio (BGSU Ice Arena)
RADIO	Falcon Radio Network (Evan Pivnick)
LIVE STATS	BGSUFalcons.com
WATCH ONLINE	WCHA.tv
LISTEN ONLINE	BGSUFalcons.com
GAME NOTES	Bowling Green

>>FALCONS ON TAP
The Bowling Green hockey team will return home for its final series at the BGSU Ice Arena until the New Year. Friday and Saturday's conference showdowns with Michigan Tech are both scheduled for 7:07 p.m. puck drops.

Friday night will feature a pre-game Chalk Talk with assistant coach Ty Eigner for all Falcon Club members and season ticket holders at 6:20 p.m. in the Ice Arena Lounge. Also be sure to get to the rink early, as the first 100 fans to spend $50 or more in the NewLove Pro Shop will receive a Coach Bergeron bobblehead! In game, one lucky fan will also be able to shoot from center ice to win free snow removal for a year, courtesy of D&D Landscaping. All fans are also invited to join the Bleacher Creatures in Ugly Sweater Night at the rink.

On Saturday, all season ticket holders are invited to a pre-game dinner from 6-7 p.m. Postgame, all fans are welcome to Skate with the Falcons of the Bowling Green hockey team on the ice!

>>SCOUTING THE HUSKIES
The Huskies enter the weekend with a 10-7-3 record overall and are 9-3-2 in conference action. Although Michigan Tech started the season 0-4 against nationally-ranked Minnesota Duluth and Minnesota State, they rebounded in November and went 6-1-1. Most recently, the Huskies split with Bemidji State at home, and earned a narrow 2-1 win Saturday night. Well-rounded, four different Huskies tally 11 points, while two more narrowly trail with 10 on the season. Overall, junior Joel L'Esperance and senior Chris Leibinger both lead the team with six goals apiece, while the team collectively has marked three shorthanded goals by three different players. Freshman Angus Redmond has seen the most time in goal, starting 12 of 13 games played this season and boasts a .932 save percentage with just a 1.47 goals against average through 736:54 minutes played.

>>VERSUS MICHIGAN TECH
Bowling Green holds an all-time record of 9-13-3 against Michigan Tech, as well as 1-1-1 in the last three games. The last Falcons sweep of the Huskies was in the first round of the WCHA Playoffs in the 2013-14 campaign, by scores of 5-2 and 2-1. Last season at home, the Falcons lost 4-1 and tied 4-4 with Michigan Tech, and returns three of five goal scorers in Kevin Dufour, Mitch McLain, and Stephen Baylis. On the road last season, the Falcons won 3-2 and lost 2-0, and returns two of three goal scorers in Tyler Spezia and Matt Pohlkamp. Six of the last ten matchups with the pair of conference rivals has also been decided by one goal or less.

>>FANTASTIC FRESHMAN
Saturday night at LSSU, freshman Lukas Craggs picked up the puck and took a quick shot at the top of the crease, and made the score 3-2 Falcons in the third period. The unassisted goal marked both the Elmhurst, Ill. native's first career shorthanded and game-winning goal. With the assist on McLain's first of three goals on the night, Craggs also marked his first multi-point night in his career. On Friday, Craggs had one shot and one blocked shot, while Saturday featured a game-winning goal, one assist, and a +2 rating.

>>RETURNING HOME
The Falcons have had a heavy road schedule thus far in the first half, and have gone 6-6 on the road. Although 2/3 of the fall season has been at the road, the team has only had six games at home going into this weekend. So far at home, Bowling Green has gone 2-2-2-1.

>>HAT TRICK CITY
McLain highlighted Saturday night's 5-2 victory over Lake Superior State with three goals, making it his 11th career and fifth multi-point night of the season. McLain earned his second hat trick of the season, and marked a team-leading six shots on goal in addition to one blocked shot.

With his second hat trick in three weeks, McLain is the first WCHA skater with multiple hat tricks in the same season since 2011-12. McLain is also on his way to tying the Bowling Green hockey record for most in a single season. Bob Dobek had five hat tricks in a season in the 1973-74 campaign.

>>RAUHAUSER RACKING UP POINTS
With 0.81 points per game average, freshman Alec Rauhauser is tied for first of all defensemen in the WCHA in the category. The Bismarck, N.D. is also third overall in the conference in points per game of all rookies this season. On the weekend at LSSU, Rauhauser marked one point each night with an assist on Sean Walker's goal that put the Falcons up 1-0 on Friday night, as well as an assist on McLain's second of three goals that regained the Bowling Green lead 2-1 on Saturday night.

>>PLAYER OF THE WEEK X2
Mitch McLain was first named WCHA Player of the Week last week, and earned his second consecutive honor this week after the hat trick performance. In addition to the back-to-back weekly honors, McLain added a WCHA Player of the Month accolade to his resume after marking five goals and six assists for 11 points in November's eight games played.

>>CENTURY MEN
Senior Matt Pohlkamp played in his 138th career game Saturday against Lake Superior State. As the active career leader for the Bowling Green squad, Pohlkamp leads four current Falcons who have 100+ games of collegiate experience, including Sean Walker (137), Pierre-Luc Mercier (135), and Kevin Dufour (131).

Nearing the 100 game mark is junior Mark Friedman, who clocks ice time in 98 career games, as well as junior Mitch McLain, who has appeared in 97 career games. Junior Tyler Spezia is nearing the mark as well, with 91 career games played.

>>SIGHTS ON SHORTIES
Junior Mitch McLain started out the season by scoring two goals in two games, one being his third career shorthanded goal. The Baxter, Minn. native also scored a shorthanded hat trick goal Saturday night at LSSU, increasing his career total to four shorthanded goals, making him just one goal away from joining the standings in the BGSU record books. Senior Matt Pohlkamp is also in the search to join the Bowling Green records page in the category, and tallies three shorthanded goals, aiming for a minimum of five to join the standings.

>>PRESEASON POLLS PEG BOWLING GREEN
Bowling Green was picked to finish first in the WCHA by both the coaches' and media preseason polls, in addition to being ranked No. 14 in the country by USCHO.com. It is just the second time in school history that Bowling Green has been ranked in the first USCHO.com poll of the year since the poll was initiated for the 1997-98 season, and improved from a No. 16 ranking at the start of the 2015-16 campaign. The Falcons did earn votes (but not enough to be ranked) in the USCHO.com preseason polls in 2014 (11 votes), 2013 (4 votes), 2008 (3 votes), 2005 (1 vote), 2004 (1 vote), 1999 (1 vote) and 1997 (3 votes). Bowling Green is also ranked No. 15 in the first USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll of the season. This is the Falcons first appearance in the poll since receiving a No. 13 ranking on 12/14/15.

>>ALL-CONFERENCE ACTION
Multiple Falcons were named for preseason All-WCHA, including junior Mark Friedman and goaltender Chris Nell. Senior Sean Walker also received votes for the Preseason All-WCHA Team, while Friedman and Nell joined Walker in Bowling Green upperclassmen that received votes for Preseason WCHA Player of the Year. Three Falcon freshmen were recognized for the Preseason WCHA Rookie of the Year award, in defenseman Alec Rauhauser and forwards Frederic Letourneau and Casey Linkenheld. Rauhauser also scored his first collegiate goal against the Broncos on Friday night with a power play shot taken from the point.

>>FALCONS IN THE BIG TIME
In addition to three current NHL draftees on the Falcons roster (Ryan Bednard, Mark Friedman, and Adam Smith), three Falcon alumni have made NHL rosters for the 2016-17 campaign. Goaltender Andrew Hammond has begun his third season with the Ottawa Senators, after recording the most wins to start a career by going 20-1-2 in his first 23 NHL games. The second Falcon alum in the big time is Kevin Bieksa, who is beginning his second season with the Anaheim Ducks after an eight-year stint with the Vancouver Canucks. Ryan Carpenter also recently earned his first NHL goal for the San Jose Sharks in the 4-1 win over the LA Kings on Dec. 1. It was just Carpenter's fourth career game with the Sharks.

>>SEEING 20/20
With a 22-14-6 record over the 2015-16 campaign, the Falcons posted back-to-back 20+ win seasons for the first time in 20 years. With 23 wins during the 2014-15 season, Bowling Green posted the 19th 20-win season in program history, followed by the 20th 20-win season with the 22 victories last year. Historically, Bowling Green has marked five 30-win seasons, although the 2014-15 season was the first time the team won 20 games since the 1995-96 campaign has been on a roll ever since.

>>RETURNING OFFENSE TO THE ICE
Despite losing the leading scorer from last season in Mark Cooper (16 goals), the Falcons return a vast majority of their offensive firepower for this season. Nine of the next top-11 scorers on the Falcons squad return to the ice for the 2016-17 season, including seniors Matt Pohlkamp (25 goals) and Kevin Dufour (36 goals). All told, Bowling Green returns 18 of the 25 players who scored at least one point last season.

>>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 RIT on Dec. 30 at 5:07 p.m. in the first game of a doubleheader with the Walleye. BGSU last skated in the Huntington Center on Dec. 30, 2015 against Western Michigan, which resulted in a narrow 1-0 Broncos win. Prior to the event last season, the last time the Falcons played in the Huntington Center was during the 2009-10 season against Michigan. Tickets can be purchased online at BGSUFalcons.com/tickets or through ToledoWalleye.com, by phone at 877-BGSU-TICKET, or in person at the BGSU Ticket Office, located in the Stroh Center.

>>EVAN PIVNICK "THE VOICE" ON THE MIC
All games this season can be heard on the radio by tuning into the Falcon Radio Network and can be heard globally on www.bgsufalcons.com and WBGUFM.com. Evan Pivnick recently reached his 100th game mark of calling for the Falcons, and will continue to provide top-notch play-by-play commentary throughout the season. The pregame show will air 30 minutes prior to the opening face-off.

>>WCHA.tv
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 Bowling Green home games and select road matchups are available on the BGSU website at BGSUFalcons.com. Navigate to the hockey schedule for links to all available ways to follow the action while the Falcons are both at home and on the road.

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