ROUND 2: @ Northern Michigan (3/15-3/17)

[mbenecke]

Fresh off our 3-2, 6-2 sweep of the 2-time defending WCHA tournament champion #6 Michigan Tech Huskies, our attention has now turned to the Northern Michigan Wildcats, who, to their credit, are coming off a 5-4 (2OT), 4-3 sweep of #7 Alaska. We avenged our 2017 postseason defeat, and now it's time to do so in the same building to get them back for last year's elimination.

The Wildcats (21-14-2) are coming into this game on a hot streak, having won 6 contests in a row overall and 6-straight home games. They bested our Falcons by a single point in the conference playoff race, and that's why this game is in Marquette and not here at home. All 3 contests this weekend will begin at 7:07pm ET, and they can be streamed live online through FloHockey.

We're the better team by PairWise (16th vs. 23rd) but this series being in their Olympic-sized rink is a great equalizer. If our guys can manage to deal with all that extra space and play to their potential, I really like our shot this weekend in a best of 3 series. I already know it will be incredibly tough, though. We absolutely must stay out of the penalty box as much as possible, because finding goals against Atte Tolnvaven will not be easy.

Goaltender Stats:

BGSU
Ryan Bednard GAA - 1.81, SV% - .923, 18–6-4
Eric Dop GAA - 1.34, SV% - .948, 5–3-1

NMU
Atte Tolvanen GAA - 2.28, SV% - .918, 21-14-2

Leave your PLAYOFF thoughts and predictions below. It's time to get it done, folks. Go Falcons!

Falcon Hockey Weekly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zynD2tn2Xf0" target="_blank

[MarkL]

I'm just glad to have gotten a sweep. After so many splits with mediocre teams, it feels like the team figured it out. Keep it going!

[unfalconbelievable]

I think if we sweep we can get in NCAA tournament without Winning the tournament title.

If we win the series and take two out of three, I think we have to win Championship to make NCAA tournament

If we sweep and beat whoever in the title game, we could climb as high as a low 2 seed or high 3 seed.


Go Falcons and Go LSSU (though would hurt our pairwise)........I want another game in the Arena.

[mbenecke]

One more win gets us the most in the Bergeron era (24), and it would be the most since 26 in 1996. Advancing to the championship game would mean our first 25-win season since 1995.

This team has accomplished a lot this year, and I'm not ready for this season to be over yet.

[AZIce]

I think if we sweep we can get in NCAA tournament without Winning the tournament title.

If we win the series and take two out of three, I think we have to win Championship to make NCAA tournament

If we sweep and beat whoever in the title game, we could climb as high as a low 2 seed or high 3 seed.


Go Falcons and Go LSSU (though would hurt our pairwise)........I want another game in the Arena.

I have run a bunch of scenarios through the tool listed below and we can make the tourney as an At Large team even if we lose a game this weekend AND lose the Championship game @ Manakato.
gets tougher if we host LSSU, but a win there would put us in automatically anyway.

Basic bottom line for this weekend is this:
1)We have to advance, with a sweep preferably, but we have to win the series. I couldn't find a scenario where we can lose this weekends series and get an AL bid, but there may be one crazy one out there.
2) We need/want losses by Cornell, Clarkson, Harvard and Notre Dame. We want a win by Ohio State. Western winning or losing is really a toss up. They help our RPI with wins, but they are also in direct competition with us for an AL bid. Western seems to be a wash. Mankato wining helps our RPI, but once again hosting LSSU helps our auto bid probability, so again a wash.

https://collegehockeyranked.com/tools/pwrcalculator/

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Fri/Sat
Union (17) vs. Cornell (12)
Yale (26) vs. Clarkson (11)
Dartmouth (35) vs. Harvard (14)

Sat
Minnesota (20) vs. Notre Dame (15)

Sun
Penn State (19) vs. Buckeyes (6)

I like Minnesota to win, they seem to have figured things out over the last 4-5 weeks. Not so sure about the other 3 upsets. Do we stay ahead of Union if they win?

Interesting that we improve our chances by going to Mankato. And now we know what scoreboard watching to do this weekend.

[Critical Thinker]

Do we stay ahead of Union if they win?

Presuming we win too, yes. We also jump over Cornell.

[TommyG]

Don’t forget that if a team outside the top 15 or so steals an automatic bid, we’ll be out regardless. It is an extreme long shot for an at large bid.

[mbenecke]

Per Nick Piotrowicz of the Blade, Baylis had been upgraded to day-to-day with his upper body injury.

It sounds like there's a solid chance we see him play at some point this weekend. In talking to him Saturday night, it sounded like he was going to do everything in his power to get cleared. Seems like our captain knows just how important this weekend is, eh?

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Per Nick Piotrowicz of the Blade, Baylis had been upgraded to day-to-day with his upper body injury.

It sounds like there's a solid chance we see him play at some point this weekend. In talking to him Saturday night, it sounded like he was going to do everything in his power to get cleared. Seems like our captain knows just how important this weekend is, eh?

WOW! From what I saw Friday night it looked like his season was over. I was thinking what impact this might have on signing after the season ended. This is encouraging news for him.

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Anybody know if Baylis made the trip to Marquette?

[mbenecke]

Anybody know if Baylis made the trip to Marquette?

As far as I know, he did.

[mbenecke]

Uptown Downtown in BG is showing all playoff games (2 or 3) every night this weekend. Grab a drink, support a local business, and cheer on the Falcons!

[mbenecke]

Our captain, Stephen Baylis, is officially in the lineup for tonight.

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

0-0 after 1. We looked pretty good aside from 6 min in penalties.