Bowling Green State University’s hockey season was ended prematurely by Northern Michigan a season ago.

The Falcons can respond this weekend.
This season’s WCHA semifinal series begins Friday as BG again travels to NMU for a chance to play for the
conference title.
Not much separates the two programs, if anything at all.
After the Falcons (23-9-5) went 1-4 against the Wildcats (21-14-2) last season, including two postseason
losses, they have split with NMU 2-2 during the regular season this year.
In addition to the two wins apiece, each team has both a one-goal and two-goal win in head-to-head
meetings this season. The schools have both scored eight goals across the four meetings.
The school’s repeatedly flipped positions in the conference standings throughout the season. BG finished
with 20 more goals scored and allowed 20 fewer goals for the season, but the Wildcats earned one more
point (56-55) than the Falcons for the tournament’s second seed and the chance to host the semifinals.

BG’s separation may come on the eight-hour bus trip to Marquette, Michigan.
“I feel like we have to find a way to be confident going up there. We may not have talked about it as
much last year,” BG head coach Chris Bergeron said. “I like the way we’re playing over the last little
bit.
“I think we just try to use some momentum from last weekend as something to make us feel good about our
game.”
BG completed a two-game sweep of Michigan Tech last weekend, scoring nine goals over its past four
periods.
The Falcons trailed 2-0 entering the third period of Friday’s tournament opener before rallying for three
final-period goals and the win. They continued on Saturday with a six-goal effort to give them five wins
— including a second-overtime victory — in their past six games.
Northern Michigan, which is 6-3 against the Falcons over the past two seasons, has won six consecutive
games and has just one loss since losing the series opener against BG on Feb. 1.
“We’re two programs that are fighting for the same thing,” Bergeron said. “At this point, I don’t imagine
they’re changing much and we’re not changing much. It’s going to come down to execution like any other
game. They know our personnel, we know theirs.”
Senior Stephen Baylis, who was injured in the series opener against Michigan Tech, has not played since
and had been listed as week-to-week.
While the forward was still listed as out as recently as Wednesday, Bergeron said “it’s probably gone
from week-to-week to day-to-day, which is a good thing.
“I think we’re more optimistic for him to be in the conversation today than we would have been on
Monday.”
Baylis did not score a goal in last season’s semifinal series with NMU, but he recorded an assist on
three of the Falcons’ four goals.
Max Johnson, who was named the WCHA forward of the week after a six-point weekend against MTU, scored
twice in the semifinals last season.