Bowling Green State University Athletics
Friday, February 12
Bowling Green, Ohio
7:07 PM
Bowling Green State University
vs
Miami
Photo by: Brad Phalin, BGSU Marketing and Communications
Falcons Renew Rivalry With RedHawks Friday
February 10, 2016 | Ice Hockey
#19 Bowling Green Falcons (16-9-6)
vs.
#RV Miami RedHawks (11-13-3)
vs.
#RV Miami RedHawks (11-13-3)
| PREGAME CHALK TALK (CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS) | |
| GAME INFORMATION | Friday, Feb. 12 / 7:07 pm ET |
| LOCATION | Bowling Green, Ohio (BGSU Ice Arena) |
| TELEVISION | BCSN (Greg Franke) |
| RADIO | WBGU 88.1 FM (Evan Pivnick/Adam Ramos) |
| LIVE STATS | BGSUFalcons.com |
| WATCH ONLINE | WCHA.tv |
| LISTEN ONLINE | BGSUFalcons.com |
| GAME NOTES | BGSU | Miami | WCHA | NCHC |
>>THE WEEK AHEAD
>>PROMOTIONS, PROMOTIONS, PROMOTIONS
While the Bowling Green/Miami rivalry stands on its own, there are numerous promotions and events taking place around Friday night's game. They include:
* The WILDLY popular Pregame Chalk Talk with Assistant Coach Ty Eigner, beginning at 6:30 pm at the Center Ice Lounge. CLICK HERE for details
* Friday night's game serves as the team's annual Teddy Bear Toss game. Bring a teddy bear, wrap it in a bag (bags will be provided at the BGSU Ice Arena), and toss it on the ice at the first intermission. All teddy bears will be donated to The Children's Miracle Network through BGSU's Dance Marathon (on Twitter at @dm_bgsu)
* BGSU's own Duke Pieper will be in attendance for a book signing of "I'm Alive: Courage, Hope And A Miracle". His book is available online by CLICKING HERE
* The first 500 fans at the game will receive a Tim Horton's coffee cup for the Roll Up The Rim! promotion. Every cup wins either a free cup of coffee or a free doughnut at Tim Horton's (can not be redeemed at BGSU Ice Arena concession stands)
* The Newlove Pro Shop has a special mini stick promotion with qualifying purchase Friday night.
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>>ABOUT MIAMI
* 11-13-3 overall record
* Fifth in NCHC (6-10-2, 22 points)
* 4-7 on the road but have won last two (at Omaha)
* First nationally in penalty kill (.935)
* Jack Roslovic leads Miami with 10 goals and is tied for third in NCHC with 21 points
* Louie Belpedio ranks in top ten in NCHC in power play points (8) and defensemen scoring (13)
* Alex Gacek and Anthony Lewis each posted a goal and an assist in 2-1 win over BGSU on Jan. 16
* Jay Williams (.893 save percentage) saved 28 of 29 shots vs BGSU in January
>>NOTABLE
* The Falcons rank sixth nationally and lead the WCHA with 2.06 goals allowed per game
* Mark Cooper scored a pair of goals on Saturday to reclaim BGSU scoring lead with 19 points
* Mark Friedman has a point in five of his last nine games. Among WCHA defensemen, he is second in assists (13) and points (17)
* BGSU freshmen continued to sizzle last weekend with two goals and an assist. Since Jan. 1, Falcon rookies have seven goals and 25 points in 11 games
* Freshman Jordan Ernst led the Falcons with four shots in January game at Miami
* Kevin Dufour scored BGSU's goal in 2-1 loss at Miami on Jan. 16. It was his first goal since Nov. 20 against Alabama-Huntsville
>>WHAT ARE THEY SAYING?
"Our level of desperation on Saturday (in a 3-1 win over Minnesota State) was as good as I've seen it in a long time. We lost a really tight game when we last played Miami and that is still on our mind. The fact that we let one slip away a couple weeks ago in their building is a good reminder that we need to play well." -- BGSU Head Coach Chris Bergeron
>>THE WCHA TOURNAMENT
The Bowling Green Falcons clinched a berth in the WCHA Tournament for the third consecutive year with their 3-1 win over Minnesota State on Saturday night. Now, the Falcons' attention turns to clinching home ice for the first-round. The top four tournament teams play at home, and BGSU is currently tied for second with 29 points. The Falcons are seven points ahead of fifth-place Northern Michigan, who has eight conference games remaining compared to BGSU's six. Bowling Green needs ten points from wins, ties or NMU losses to clinch a playoff series at home. BGSU has hosted a playoff series in each of their first two WCHA seasons and has won a playoff series in five consecutive years.
>>ALWAYS RANKED
Bowling Green has been ranked in the USCHO.com top 20 poll for 36 consecutive weeks. Only seven teams have a longer active streak -- North Dakota, Boston College, Providence, UMass Lowell, Boston University, Nebraska Omaha, and Denver. Quinnipiac is tied with the Falcons at 35 straight weeks as both programs entered the poll on Nov. 10, 2014 and have not left since.
>>THE MADHOUSE ON MERCER
Bowling Green has earned a 6-1-5 record through 12 conference home games this season. The Falcons are on pace for their best home slate of conference games since the 1994-95 team went 11-1-1 in the CCHA. In the 20 seasons since, the Falcons' best conference records at the BGSU Ice Arena were 9-4-1 in both 2004-05 and 2014-15.
>>HAWK=FALCON
Sophomore forward Brandon Hawkins lit up Alaska Anchorage for three goals and five points on Jan. 21-22 and earned his first career WCHA Offensive Player of the Week honor. He followed that with another goal and two points on Jan. 29 against Michigan Tech. Hawkins' four goals are the most in three consecutive regular season games since Tyler Spezia did it between Oct. 25 and Nov. 1, 2014, while no Falcon had scored seven points in three games since Dan DeSalvo had eight from Jan. 3-10, 2014. Hawkins now has six goals and 11 points in his last 11 games. His season total of 18 points and nine goals are tied for second on the team.
>>MORE SOPHOMORE FIREPOWER
Bowling Green sophomore Tyler Spezia is another Falcon to catch fire on offense during the new year. After securing just four goals and two assists in BGSU's first 20 games, he has nearly matched those totals with three goals and two assists in the last 11. He has a point in five of those 11 games, including assists in both wins over Alaska Anchorage on Jan. 21-22.
>>MARKED MAN
Bowling Green senior forward Mark Cooper really enjoys facing the Minnesota State Mavericks. Saturday, he scored an unassisted goal in the first period and added a power play goal in the second, as BGSU earned a 3-1 win at MSU. Cooper also scored twice in the Falcons' 2-2 tie with the Mavericks on Dec. 5. In his career, eight of his 41 goals are against MSU, including a hat trick during the 2013-14 season. Cooper has six points in his last six games and leads Bowling Green this season with 12 goals and 19 points.
>>HELP IS HERE
BGSU Hockey added two defensemen, both of whom are eligible to play for the Falcons in the second half of the season. Freshmen Jordan Ernst and Adam Smith have both joined the team to battle for playing time in the back end, and the pair have played in all eight games since joining the team. Ernst most recently played for the Madison Capitols of the USHL and Smith was a member of the Newmarket Hurricanes of the OJHL. Smith scored three points in the series against Alaska Anchorage, including his first collegiate goal on Friday, Jan. 22. Ernst assisted on a goal for his first career point in a win on Friday, Jan. 8 at Lake Superior State, then posted another assist in the Falcons' 4-4 tie with Michigan Tech on Jan. 29.
>>CENTURY MEN
Bowling Green now has seven players with over 100 career games. The group is led by seniors Mark Cooper (147 games) and Ben Murphy (141), while juniors Matt Pohlkamp (109), Sean Walker (108) and Pierre-Luc Mercier (106) joined the club earlier this month. Senior Brent Tate (106) added his name to the list on Jan. 16 against Miami. Junior Kevin Dufour (102 games) eclipsed the centry mark on Friday, Jan. 29 against Michigan Tech. These players have combined for 40 goals and 97 points this season.
>>CENTURY MAN, PART TWO
Head coach Chris Bergeron earned his 96th career victory on Saturday night at Minnesota State. He needs just four more to become the fourth coach in Bowling Green history to reach 100 wins. He would join Jerry York (342 wins), Ron Mason (160) and Buddy Powers (135). Powers was the last to reach the century mark, when his Falcons defeated Ohio State 3-0 on Jan. 14, 2000. Bergeron is 57-35-17 since the start of the 2013-14 season.
>>FANTASTIC FRESHMEN
The Falcons have eight freshmen, and all of them have notched their first career points. Against Alaska-Anchorage on Jan. 21-22, Adam Smith and Joe McKeown earned their first points while Smith, McKeown and Connor McDonald lit the lamp for the first time. Bowling Green freshmen have poured in seven goals and 25 points in 11 games since the beginning of January, and they have combined for 12 goals and 48 points overall. Four BGSU freshmen rank among the WCHA's top 20 rookie point scorers (John Schilling, 11; Connor McDonald, 10; Stephen Baylis, 8; Shane Bednard, 7).
>>NELL AND VOID
Sophomore goalie Chris Nell has given up just 44 goals in 24 starts (12-6-6) this season. He has allowed two or fewer in 18 of the 24. A WCHA Goaltender of the Year contender, Nell ranks first in the league in goals against average (1.74) and save percentage (.933). He is second in shutouts (three) and fourth in winning percentage (.625). Nationally, Nell ranks sixth in goals against average and eighth in save percentage. In just 36 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).
>>DEFENSE, DEFENSE
Bowling Green is on pace to shatter the program record for fewest goals allowed in a season. The 1975-76 team allowed a program-low 90 goals in 32 games. This year, the Falcons have given up just 64 goals through the first 31 contests. BGSU is on pace to end the regular season with only 78 goals allowed, despite playing 38 games.
>>MORE DEFENSE
This season, BGSU held opponents to three or fewer goals in 21 consecutive games, a streak which ended on Jan. 29 against Michigan Tech. The 21-game streak is a school record, as the Falcons broke the previous mark of 14 in their 6-3 win on Jan. 2 against Clarkson. That 14-game stretch occurred during the 2012-13 season. This string of excellence has helped BGSU achieve a 2.06 goals against average, which would shatter the school record (2.385) by nearly a half-goal per game. In the 41 years of Falcon hockey prior to the arrival of Chris Bergeron, BGSU had six seasons with a 3.00 or better goals against average. Bergeron's teams have already matched that total in his six seasons, and his defenses own four of the top five seasons for goals against average in school history.
>>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 8-6-1 on the road in 2015-16, a pace that would again give them a double-digit road victory total.
>>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 first Minnesota State series, sandwiched between assists in games vs. Northern Michigan and at Bemidji State. McDonald was +3 on-ice during the critical four-game season series against Minnesota State and is +9 in the last 16 games, which ties him with fellow freshman Chris Pohlkamp for the overall team lead at +10. McDonald is the only freshman on the team to have played in every game this year, and he posted his first multi-point game of his career with two assists against Clarkson on Jan. 3. He scored his first collegiate goal in the 6-2 win over Alaska Anchorage on Jan. 22.
>>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 has since added his sixth goal of the season on Friday, Jan. 22 against Alaska-Anchorage and is tied for second on the team with 18 points.
>>THE FALCON FLYER
Sophomore defenseman Mark Friedman, a third round draft pick of the Philadelphia Flyers, turned around a slow start and has been the team's anchor defensively. Friedman had just two points and was +2 on-ice through the first 14 games of the season. However, over the last 17 games, Friedman has three goals, seven assists and a +7 on-ice mark. He ranks second for assists (13) and points (17) among WCHA defensemen. Friedman has scored points in five of his last nine games.
>>OVERTIME IS THE RIGHT TIME
Bowling Green has played in nine overtime games through the first 29 contests of the season, and the Falcons are 2-1-6 in games with an extra session. The program record for overtime games in a season is 11, in both the 2003-04 and 1991-92 seasons.
>>DU-FOUR SCORE
Junior forward Kevin Dufour has enjoyed a resurgence since the calendar flipped to 2016. Dufour began the season with seven goals and nine points in Bowling Green's first 12 games but had gone eight consecutive contests without earning a point. Beginning with BGSU's 6-3 victory over Clarkson on Jan. 2, Dufour has posted two goals and six points in nine games played. Against Miami on Jan. 16, he scored his first goal since Nov. 20 against Alabama-Huntsville. Dufour has 15 points and is tied for second on the team with nine goals.
>>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 each of the Anaheim Ducks' first 50 games (as of Feb. 7, 2016), while goalie Andrew Hammond, who took the Ottawa Senators on a wild ride a year ago, now has 33 career decisions (as of Feb. 7, 2016) with a record of 23-6-0-4. 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 a 6-3 win over Clarkson, senior goalie Tommy Burke recorded his 37th career victory to tie Al Sarachman (1973-77) for ninth place all-time on the BGSU goalie leaderboard. He needs just one more win to tie Tyler Masters (1999-03) for eighth. Gary Kruzich (1983-87) is the all-time Falcon goalie leader with 88 career wins. Burke is 4-3-0 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 16-9-6, the Falcons are vying to earn back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since 1994-95 and 1995-96.
>>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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