Game 1
Sunday, Oct. 6 • 5:00 p.m.
Steve 'Coach' Cady Arena (3,019) • Oxford, Ohio

Miami RedHawks vs. No. 17/RV Bowling Green Falcons
TV/Stream: NCHC.tv
Radio: 1490 AM-WKBV (Greg Waddell-pbp; Drew Davis-analyst)

MATCHUP
Miami begins the 2019-20 regular season by hosting in-state rival Bowling Green to start a five-game home stand in head coach Chris Bergeron's first game on the Miami bench as he faces his former team.
THE SERIES: Bowling Green leads the all-time series by a 60-51-9 margin and Miami went 1-0-1 in the team's last series at BG in 2017. MU is 20-2-2 in the last 24 meetings against BGSU.

PUCK POINTS
• Miami's freshman class (now sophomores) combined for 75 points (18g, 57a), 16th most in the country in 2018-19.

• Senior goaltender Ryan Larkin has started 98 of Miami's 111 games since his freshman season in 2016-17. He is 368 saves away from moving into second on the school's career list and needs 477 to become the all-time record holder in that category.

• Sophomore defenseman Derek Daschke posted 22 points as a freshman, which represented the highest total for a Miami freshman defenseman since Chris Wideman's 26 in 2008-09.

• Senior forward Gordie Green has led the team in goals each of the past two seasons. He enters the year 21 points away from becoming the 53rd player in program history to post 100 career points.

• The RedHawks are aiming to win their regular season opener for the second-straight year for the first time since claiming the 2012-13 and 2013-14 openers.

• Sunday marks the third-straight season that Miami has not opened its schedule with an exhibition on opening weekend. MU lost to Providence in 2017 and topped Alabama Huntsville in 2018.

LAST SEASON
A pair of October sweeps and a 4-1 win in the NCHC opener at Omaha saw Miami roar out of the gates with a 7-2 start. The RedHawks split their first three conference series and picked up a pair of inspired ties against No. 1 St. Cloud State to close the first half with a 9-6-3 record. The second half proved difficult, however, as MU won just twice after Nov. 17 and finished up playing on the road for the NCHC Playoffs at St. Cloud State for the second-straight year. SCSU swept that playoff series as Miami was unable to make its Frozen Faceoff appearance since 2015.

COACH BERGERON
Chris Bergeron (Miami '93) returns to his alma mater for his first season as a head coach. Before returning to Oxford, Bergeron went 171-154-44 in nine seasons as Bowling Green's head coach, leading the Falcons to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1990 in his final season in 2018-19. BGSU posted 20 or more victories in Bergeron's final five seasons at the helm. Prior to going to Bowling Green, Bergeron spent 10 seasons as an assistant coach at Miami and helped the Red & White go an astounding 226-139-37 during his tenure. The RedHawks qualified for six NCAA Tournaments and reached the Frozen Four in Bergeron's last two seasons as an assistant, including a national runner-up finish in 2009. As a player, Bergeron spent two years as team captain and helped Miami capture its first CCHA title in 1992-93, posting 61 of his 120 career points that season.

ABOUT BOWLING GREEN: The Falcons open the 2019-20 season ranked 17th in the USCHO.com poll and were picked to finish second in the WCHA Preseason Media Poll. BGSU went 25-11-5 in 2018-19 and broke a 29-year NCAA Tournament appearance drought. Bowling Green held a 1-0 lead late in its postseason contest before falling in overtime to eventual national champion Minnesota Duluth. Senior defenseman Alec Rauhauser (4g, 22a, 26p in 2018-19) and junior forward Brandon Kruse (10-31-41) were named to the Preseason All-WCHA team. While top goaltender Ryan Bednard (1.77 GAA, .927 SV%) went pro a year early, junior Ryan Dop went 5-3-1 with a 1.34 goals against average and a .948 save percentage in nine starts as BGSU's overall 1.83 goals allowed per game was the second best figure in the country. Bowling Green returns its top four scorers, who combined for 144 points on 50 goals and 94 points and helped the team finish seventh nationally in scoring a year ago.

QUITE A DEBUT: Sophomore defenseman Derek Daschke enjoyed quite the debut season on the RedHawks' blue line. His 22 points (6g, 16a) led all Miami defensemen while ranking third on the team overall. Daschke was the first MU freshman blue liner to record at least 20 points in a season since 2012-13 season and his point total was the highest for a Miami freshman defenseman since Chris Wideman had 26 in 2008-09.

MAKING SPECIAL TEAMS, SPECIAL: One spot Miami looks for a resurgence is in its penalty kill as it ranked 58th out of 60 teams nationally last season with a 74.3 percent kill rate. Head coach Chris Bergeron hopes to make that a strength like he did at Bowling Green as the Falcons were second nationally with an 88.5 percent penalty killing percentage in 2018-19. Additionally, MU is looking to recapture its magic on the power play from 2017-18, when its 23.2 percent conversion rate was the ninth best in the country prior to last season's 15.6 percent success rate (45th).

GOING GREEN: Senior forward Gordie Green is once again back in the mix to help anchor Miami's attack. Green has led the RedHawks in goal scoring each of the past two seasons and he enters the year with 79 career points. Having recorded at least 21 points every season in Oxford, Green is likely to become the RedHawks' 53rd member of the 100-point club. In his last 94 games dating back to December of 2016, Green has 74 points on 33 goals and 41 assists and his 25 points (11g, 14a) last year were second on the team.

NICE DEBUT, WHAT'S NEXT: While Jonathan Gruden signed a pro contract following his lone season in Oxford, seven of Miami's eight freshmen from a year ago look to take strides as sophomores after a strong debut. As freshmen a year ago, this group combined for 75 points on 18 goals and 57 assists, a total that was 16th nationally. Derek Daschke's 22 points paced the group, but sophomores Brian Hawkinson (3-13-16) and Scott Corbett (5-5-10) also notched double digit points in their debut seasons.

HE'S SEEN A LOT: Senior goaltender Ryan Larkin has been kept busy over his time in Oxford. Larkin's started 98 of the RedHawks' 111 games since his 2016-17 freshman campaign. The Clarkston, Mich., native debuted with a strong .910 save percentage as a freshman and despite seeing a lot of pucks come his way a year ago, recorded a respectable .907 save percentage in 2018-19. In his career, Larkin has 33 games where he has recorded at least 30 stops. He already owns two of Miami's top eight seasons in total saves with 905 as a freshman (third) and 863 in 2017-18 (eighth). His 2,560 career saves rank third in school history. He needs 477 saves this season to surpass David Burleigh's school record of 2,975 saves.

SHAKING SOPHOMORE SLUMPS: If Miami is to put more pucks in the net this year, two players who could go a long way towards helping that are junior forwards Casey Gilling and Phil Knies. As freshmen, the duo helped lengthen MU's attack by combining for 37 points on 20 goals and 17 assists. Gilling contributed nine goals and 19 points while Knies chipped in 11 goals and 18 points in 2017-18. However, both had tougher sledding in their second go round through college as Gilling's production dropped to 12 points (4g, 8a) while Knies dipped to nine (6g, 3a). 

CAUSING HAVOC: Entering his senior season, Karch Bachman has never lacked for generating scoring opportunities in his career. The Florida Panthers' draft choice netted a career-best 10 goals in in 2018-19 and his ability to create shots makes further strides in the goal column possible. Bachman led the RedHawks with 120 shots on goal last season after putting 97 shots on net in 2017-18 and he finished third on the team in shots on goal as a freshmen with 72 in 2016-17.

STRUGGLES AGAINST THE TOP: With the NCHC sporting five teams ranked in the preseason USCHO.com poll and the league already home of the past four national champions, the RedHawks figure to once again play one of the most difficult schedules in the country this season. Which means that its success will come down to how it performs against the top teams in the nation. Last year, the Red & White played 15 games against teams that finished in the top 15 (1-11-3) and 21 against teams that finished in the top 20 (2-16-3).

SHOTS GETTING FIRED: One spot that Miami hopes to improve on is its shot prevention. Last season, MU allowed 32.21 shots per game, a total that ranked 47th nationally. As the season wore on, the trend got worse with the RedHawks allowing at least 30 shots on goal in 25 of their last 29 games and ranking 56th nationally in shots on goal allowed per game (34.97) in that span.

COMING THIS WINTER: While it will take awhile to pay dividends, Miami is looking towards sophomore forward Matt Barry for some additional offense this season. As a mid-year transfer during the 2018-19 season, Barry has to wait until the first semester ends to be eligible to play. Barry spent the first half of 2018-19 with Holy Cross and tied for the team lead with 11 points at the time of his departure. In his final USHL season in 2017-18, Barry notched 54 points in 57 games to help Youngstown reach the Clark Cup finals and he put up 59 points in 59 NAHL games with Bismarck the year before that.