Falcons To Face Ferris State In Non-Conference Series This Weekend

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University hockey team will take on Ferris State this weekend in a non-conference home-and-home series. The Falcons will host the first game of the series on Friday (Dec. 11) at the Slater Family Ice Arena before the series moves north to Big Rapids, Mich. on Saturday (Dec. 12). Both games are set for 7:07 p.m. puck drops and will be available to stream on FloHockey.

No. 16 Bowling Green Falcons (4-1-0, 0-0-0-0 WCHA)
vs.
Ferris State (0-0-0, 0-0-0-0 WCHA)

GAME INFORMATION	Friday, Dec. 11, 7:07 p.m. // Saturday, Dec. 12, 7:07 p.m.
LOCATION (FRIDAY)	Bowling Green, Ohio / Slater Family Ice Arena
LOCATION (SATURDAY)	Big Rapids, Mich. / R.L. Ewigleben Sports Complex
WATCH	FloHockey (Friday) / FloHockey (Saturday)
RADIO	Falcon Radio Network
LIVE STATS	Friday / Saturday
LISTEN ONLINE	BGSUFalcons.com
GAME NOTES	Bowling Green
GAME PROGRAM	Bowling Green

Falcons Ready For Final Non-Conference Home-And-Home
With five games under their belt, Bowling Green has just five non-conference games left on the schedule with the series with Ferris State being the only home-and-home left. For the Falcons, they still have a non-conference series at Quinnipiac before hosting Robert Morris on Dec. 29 to close their non-conference schedule. From there the WCHA schedule will start up with Ferris State, making this series a preview of WCHA play for both teams. While it counts as non-conference on the schedule, it could go a long way in conference play prep.

Becoming Familiar With Ferris
While the Falcons have a total of 10 non-conference games on the schedule, Ferris State only has three on the schedule and all three are against WCHA teams. Their first non-conference game was scheduled for Tuesday against Alabama Huntsville, but was rescheduled for Wednesday, and this series will end their non-conference slate. This also means that between this series and the first series of conference play, Ferris State will play four straight games against the Falcons. The Bulldogs enter the season with a roster, having just four seniors, who are all forwards, while featuring 10 freshmen and another 10 sophomores. For a similar reason, their defensemen will be on the younger side consisting of one junior, five sophomores and four freshmen.

The Games At A Glance
Having faced previously 145 times, Ferris State and Bowling Green are no strangers. The Falcons have opposed just three teams more, being Lake Superior State (175), Ohio State (166) and Western Michigan (151). The two teams last met in February when the Falcons captured a weekend sweep over Ferris State at the Slater Family Ice Arena, being the last home series of the 2019-20 season. Over those two games Bowling Green outscored Ferris State 9-2 including Brandon Kruse tallying his 100th career point. Connor Ford also tallied three assists in the series while the Falcons had eight different goal scorers in the series with Cameron Wright being the only player to tally multiple goals, having two in Friday's game of the series.

Last Time Out
The Falcons last took the ice in a weekend home-and-home series against Mercyhurst, splitting the series with the Lakers. In the first game of the series the Falcons came up just short in a 2-1 final despite a late goal by Evan Dougherty. As for Saturday, the Orange and Brown rebounded to top the Lakers 3-1. Tim Theocharidis tallied two scores in the contest with T.J. Lloyd receiving an assist on both scores as well, marking the first multiple-goal game for Theocharidis and first multiple-assist game for Lloyd. In goal, Eric Dop picked up the win to improve to 3-0-0 on the season after accumulating 24 saves on the day.

Three Is The Key…
So far this season the Falcons are 4-1 through their first five games, but there has been one constant. When Bowling Green scores three or more goals, they win. Obviously, goals hold the key to any victory, but in all four of the Falcons' wins this season they have been able to tally at least three goals. However, in their lone loss of the season they were able to net just one score.

… But With Five They Thrive
While three goals has been the key this season, scoring five or more goals has proven to be a long standing point of success for the Falcons. In each of the first three games this year Bowling Green scored at least five goals, beating Adrian 6-2 and 5-0 before topping Robert Morris 6-3. With those three victories the Falcons are 37-0 over the last five seasons, dating back to the 2016-17 season, when they score five or more goals in a game.

Offense From The Defense
Last year, Alec Rauhauser finished the season as the sixth highest scoring defensemen in the country for points per game, averaging 0.92 points per game. Now this season, the Falcons are seeing similar success from Will Cullen and T.J. Lloyd early in the year. With five points each, both Cullen and Lloyd are averaging a point per game, which is tied for the fourth most in the nation. They are both tied for the most points by a defensemen in the country as well. Tim Theocharidis is also on the list with three points and is tied for the most goals by a defensemen during the 2020-21 season with all three of his points being goals so far.

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