Game 18
Monday, Dec. 30 • 7:37 p.m.
Slater Family Ice Arena (5,000) • Bowling Green, Ohio

Miami RedHawks (4-10-3, 2-5-1-1 NCHC) at No. 10/11 Bowling Green Falcons (12-6-1, 7-4-1-1 WCHA)
TV/Stream: WCHA.tv
Radio: 1450 AM-WMOH (Greg Waddell-pbp; Drew Davis-analyst)

MATCHUP
Following a 23-day layoff, the RedHawks begin second-half play with a road tilt at Bowling Green to wrap up a home-and-home series that began on opening night.
THE SERIES: Bowling Green leads the all-time series by a 61-51-9 margin. Miami is 20-3-2 in its last 25 meetings against Bowling Green, but BGSU posted a 7-4 win in Oxford in the team's Oct. 6 season opener.

PUCK POINTS
• Miami's trio of Gordie Green, Karch Bachman and Casey Gilling has combined for 48 points through 17 games. Green himself leads the team with 19 points (7g, 12a) while Bachman (6g, 9a) has 15 and Gilling (5g, 9a) 14.

• Karch Bachman is riding a career-best six-game point streak and his 15 points this season are already one shy of matching his career best of 16 from each of the past two years.

• Gordie Green leads the RedHawks with 19 points this season and is two points away from becoming the 53rd Miami player to amass 100 career points.

• Miami's power play is 0-for-6 in its past three games after it went a season-best six-straight games scoring a power play goal, a stretch where it converted on 8-of-22 (36.4 percent) man advantages.

• The RedHawks have been outshot in 11 straight games and have only outshot their opponents three times this season.

• Miami has been tied or ahead in the third period in six of its last eight games, but is just 2-3-1 in those instances.

LAST TIME OUT
After a 2-2-1 stretch that culminated in a five-point weekend at Omaha, Miami dropped its last four games of the first half which included a home sweep against St. Cloud State. The RedHawks battled back from a 1-0 deficit in the third period in the Dec. 6 series opener, but the Huskies scored with 25.2 seconds remaining to pull out the 2-1 win. After the teams were tied 1-1 after the first period in the series finale, the Huskies used a 5-on-3 goal to take a 2-1 lead into the third. SCSU netted two quick goals in the third and MU was unable to fully answer and dropped a 5-3 decision as its losing skid hit a season-long four games.

COACH BERGERON
Chris Bergeron (Miami '93) returns to his alma mater for his first season as 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 closed the first half going 2-1-1 against WCHA foes Alabama Huntsville and Lake Superior State to take a slight hit in their PairWise rating (No. 11). Overall, BGSU is 12-6-1 (7-4-1-1 in WCHA play) and ranks in the national top 15 in both scoring (3.21 goals per game; 13th) and defense (2.21 goals against per game; 15th). Seven Falcon skaters have posted at least 11 points this season, with Connor
Ford (9g, 10a) and Alec Rauhauser (6g, 13a) tied for the team lead with 19. Rauhauser's point total is the fourth most among all NCAA defensemen. Cameron Wright paces Bowling Green with 12 goals, four of which came
at Miami on opening night. In net, Eric Dop has started 17 of 19 contests and holds a 1.99 goals against average (13th nationally) and a .918 save percentage while his three shutouts are one off the national lead.

OFFENSIVE BLUE LINE: Miami's defense core has provided help on the scoresheet all season long. All nine of the team's blue liners on the roster have at least one point this year and collectively the unit has posted 38 points on 10 goals and 28 assists. That point total is tied for the 13th most in the nation.

GETTING THE PUCK: An area that is still a work in progress for Miami is its puck management. The RedHawks have been outshot in each of their last 11 contests and have only outshot their opponents three times all season. In the last 11 games, MU has been outshot 363-253, an average of 33.0 shots against against just 23.0 shots for.

GROWING UP FAST: Miami's freshman class has been developing at a quick rate. All five of the team's freshman skaters have seen the ice for at least eight
games with one playing in all 15 contests. That group broke out in a tie with New Hampshire on Oct. 12, combining for six points on three goals and three assists. In a Nov. 23 win at Omaha, the newcomers combined for five points on two goals and three assists while freshman Ben Kraws stopped 32 of 33 saves in a 4-1 victory. Overall this season, MU's freshmen have totaled 32 points (16th nationally) on 14 goals and 18 assists as all five have recorded at least two points thus far. Ryan Savage and John Sladic are tied for the freshman scoring lead with eight points apiece.

TOPPING OUT: Miami's experienced trio of Gordie Green, Karch Bachman and Casey Gilling have been carrying the mail for the RedHawks through the first half. After an eight-point opening night, the trio of Gordie Green (7g, 12a), Karch Bachman (6g, 9a) and Casey Gilling (5g, 9a) have totaled 48 points. All three of them notched a multi-point game on opening night against Bowling Green, paced by Green's four, and the trio has nine of the team's 22 multi-point games this year.

SAVAGE SCORING: The start of conference play has been bringing out the best of freshman forward Ryan Savage. The son of former Miami standout and 11-year NHL veteran Brian Savage, Ryan earned NCHC Rookie of the Month honors in November. The center recorded seven points that month on two goals and five assists, posting multi-point games at North Dakota on Nov. 9 and at Omaha on
Nov. 23. His seven points in November were the most among all NCHC freshmen.

BALANCING IT OUT: Head coach Chris Bergeron mentioned needing to do some scoring by committee this season and that has been bearing out of late. The RedHawks have netted 42 goals in the past 15 games and 14 different players have found the net in that span. Overall, 16 players have scored goals for the Red & White, led by Gordie Green's seven.

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. Daschke has four goals and eight assists in his past 13 outings and his 12 points this year leads the Miami defense.

GOING GREEN: Senior forward Gordie Green is once again back in the mix to help anchor Miami's attack. The RedHawks' leading goal scorer the past two seasons opened the year with a bang, scoring twice and notching four points on opening night against Bowling Green. Green also added a three-assist game on Oct. 25 at Colgate, his seventh career game of three or more points. In his last 111 games dating back to December of 2016, Green has 93 points on 40 goals and 53 assists. He posted a career-best six-game point streak (Nov. 9-29) and needs two points to become the 53rd member of Miami's 100-point club.

HE'S SEEN A LOT: Senior goaltender Ryan Larkin has been kept busy over his time in Oxford. Larkin's started 108 of the RedHawks' 128 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 37 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 2,842 career saves rank third in school history, 15 shy of passing Marc Michaud for second. He needs 134 more saves this season to catch 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. 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). So far this season Gilling has 14 points (5g, 9a) in 15 games while Knies has six (2g, 4a).

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 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. This year, Bachman leads the Red & White with 72 shots and he has 15 points on six goals and nine assists.

COMING THIS WINTER: With the first semester complete, Miami enters the second half able to enjoy the services of sophomore forward Matt Barry. As a mid-year transfer during the 2018-19 season, Barry had to wait until the first semester ended to be eligible to play. He 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.