No. 14 Falcons Open The 2016-17 Campaign By Hosting Windsor In Exhibition Play

Saturday, October 1

Bowling Green, Ohio

12:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Windsor

No. 14 Falcons Open The 2016-17 Campaign By Hosting Windsor In Exhibition Play

September 28, 2016 | Ice Hockey

By: Jenna Jorgensen (Assistant Director of Athletic Communications)

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Bowling Green, Ohio — The Bowling Green ice hockey team, ranked No. 14 in the country, opens the 2016-17 season by hosting the University of Windsor in exhibition play on Saturday, Oct. 1 at the BGSU Ice Arena in a 12 p.m. puck drop. The game represents the first action for the Falcons since concluding the 2015-16 season with a 22-14-6 record and a trip to the WCHA Final Five.

Head coach Chris Bergeron will begin his seventh season at BGSU against the Windsor Lancers. The Falcons posted back-to-back 20-plus win seasons for the first time in 20 years under Bergeron, and have won a best-of-three playoff series in each of the last six years, a stat that no other program in the country can claim the same.

The Falcons return 19 letter winners in their quest to win a WCHA championship and earn an elusive NCAA Tournament berth. With that in mind, BGSU earned a No. 14 ranking in the USCHO.com preseason poll that was released Monday in voting by coaches, media and other personnel working in college hockey. It is the second year in a row and second time ever that the Falcons have 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 players responsible for the vast majority of last season's offensive production will skate for the Falcons again this year, including returning 10 of the team's top-11 scorers. With the exception of last year's leading scorer, the next 10 scorers will all return to the ice for the 2016-17 campaign, including senior Kevin Dufour (14 goals), junior Brandon Hawkins (13 goals) and junior Tyler Spezia (10 goals).

Also returning to the lineup for the Falcons are juniors Mark Friedman and Chris Nell, who were named First Team All-WCHA, in addition to captain Sean Walker, who earned Second Team All-WCHA honors at the end of the 2015-16 season. In preseason voting, junior Brandon Hawkins, Friedman and Nell were all voted to the Preseason All-WCHA Team for the 2016-17 year.

In addition to Friedman who is drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers, the Falcons added two NHL draftees to the roster over the summer. Current Bowling Green sophomore Adam Smith was selected by the Nashville Predators, while incoming freshman goaltender Ryan Bednard was drafted by the Florida Panthers.
BGSU also returns its entire goaltending stable to patrol the net this season. Led by junior Chris Nell, the group held opponents to 2.13 goals per game in 2015-16. All-WCHA goaltender Nell tops the BGSU record boards with a 2.02 goals against average and .927 save percentage, and set a single season school record of just 1.91 GAA in the 2015-16 season.

In addition, there are eight newcomers who will begin their BGSU careers during the 2016-2017 season. The group includes three forwards, four defensemen and one goaltender in Frederic Letourneau, Casey Linkenheld, Jacob Dalton, Lukas Craggs, Alec Rauhauser, Niko Coffman, as well as sophomore transfer Matt Meier and goaltender Ryan Bednard.

To kick off the 2016-17 campaign, the Lancers have gone 2-1 in exhibition play thus far, by wins of 3-0 to the Guelph Gryphons and 3-2 over the Ottawa Gee-Gees. The lone loss came by the hand of the Carleton Ravens in a 4-1 final. After the Lancers face the Falcons, they will hit the road to take on Michigan on Sunday, Oct. 2. Last season, the University of Windsor earned a 17-16-1 record.

The Falcons hold an undefeated record over Windsor, at a 4-0-0 mark. The first matchup between the programs was on Nov. 14, 1969 and resulted in a Bowling Green win in an 8-2 final, while the Falcons have notched 10 goals or more on the Lancers on two occasions in 11-0 and 12-1 finals, most recently on Oct. 12, 2007.

Bowling Green will begin regular season play on Oct. 7-8, as it faces Bemidji State on the road in conference play. The Beavers went 17-16-6 in the 2015-16 campaign, although the Falcons hold the all-time advantage by an 8-4-1 mark.