BOWLING GREEN – Bowling Green State University will play an important Western Collegiate Hockey Association series this Friday and Saturday when the Falcons host Bemidji State at the Slater Family Ice Arena.

Friday’s contests between the Falcons and the Beavers will face off at 7:37 p.m., while Saturday’s game will begin at 7:07 p.m.

BG enters this contest tied with Michigan Tech for second in the WCHA standings with a 5-2-3-2 league mark; the Falcons are 6-5-4 overall. Bemidji State is 5-5-2 overall and 2-3-1 in the WCHA, which ties it with three teams for eighth (or last) in the 10-team league.

But both of those positions in the standings deserve an asterisk. The Beavers have played only six WCHA games, while the two teams tied with them have played more (Lake Superior State has played eight, Alaska has played 10).

As for the Falcons, the team they are tied with for second (Michigan Tech) has played four more games. But that works both ways: Fourth-place Northern Michigan has played just eight league games and is just five points back; fifth-place Alabama-Huntsville, Ferris State in sixth and Alaska-Anchorage in seventh have only played six WCHA contests and also could close the gap considerably with wins.

Here’s a closer look at BG hockey heading into this weekend.

A LOOK BACK: The Falcons are coming off a tough weekend against Miami at the Slater Family Ice Arena. Bowling Green suffered a 6-3 loss Friday, then was able to bounce back with a late goal Saturday to claim a tie, with Alec Rauhauser scoring to force OT and Tyler Spezia netting the game-winner in the 3-on-3 overtime.

“Friday night we had a pretty poor process,” BG coach Chris Bergeron said. “I saw us defending as poorly as we have in a while. And when you defend poorly, a good team like Miami will score six goals. …

“On Saturday I saw the answer we’ve been giving on Saturdays. The process was better, but still not great. But Saturday we defended better in the first and third [periods] and in overtime.”

Bergeron said he feels the Falcons’ November habit of struggling on Fridays (1-2-1) and playing better on Saturday (2-0-2) is more mental than physical.

“When you look at it physically, we’re better on the second night than the first night, so that doesn’t make any sense,” Bergeron explained. “So then we come to a mental attitude.

“When we’re painted into a corner – and that’s what a Friday night does, because you’re in danger of being swept – your attitude is different. There’s no way we’re going to let that happen, so I think it’s mental.”

A LOOK AHEAD: The Falcons will be facing Bemidji State for the first time this season after playing six games against the Beavers last season. A year ago Bemidji swept a season-opening series at home, and the two teams split a series at the Slater Family Ice Arena in January before the Falcons swept a pair of WCHA playoff semifinal games at Bemidji.

“This is a team we’ve played a bunch in the last two years – including playoff series both years,” Bergeron said. “Their top guys are really good.”

And the Beavers “top guy” is senior goalie Michael Bitzer, the WCHA’s player of the year last season. This year Bitzer ranks sixth in the league with a 2.79 goals-against average and is 11th in save percentage with a 89.7 percent mark.

Offensively the top goal-scorers are senior Kyle Bauman and Jay Dickman with six apiece in 12 games, while senior forward Gerry Fitzgerald leads the team in both assists (nine, tied for seventh in the WCHA) and total points (13, also tied for seventh in the league).

Last season the Beavers roared out of the gates, winning their first eight WCHA contests and eventually claiming the MacNaughton Cup as regular-season champions with a 20-6-2 mark. Bergeron said Bemidji State’s inability to match that start this season points only to the fact that the team’s hot start a year ago would be difficult to replicate.

“What happened last year was that the stars aligned for them – and we were a victim of that the first weekend,” Bergeron said. “It’s hard to match how good they were last season.

“That’s not meant as an insult at all: The group they have this year is very capable.”

A LOOK INSIDE: When asked if the Falcons penchant for mediocre play on Fridays followed by improved effort on Saturday was a positive or a negative, Bergeron smiled before answering.

“The ‘new’ coach Bergeron will look at that as a positive – we’re capable,” he said. “We can do this. We can have the right attitude all the time.

“I’m not saying our attitude on Fridays has been poor. I’m saying that the dealing with the highs and lows of the game have not been at the proper level.”

Senior captain Mitch McLain said he and the other veteran players on the team need to take steps to make sure the entire team is more consistent in its preparation for each weekend.

“If you’re having a bad practice, you have to fix it right away – you can’t wait until the next day to fix it,” he said. “Every play has to matter every day during the week, and that will carry over into the games.”

A LOOK AT THE TRAINING ROOM: The Falcons will be without junior forward John Schilling, who is week-to-week with an upper body injury suffered at Minnesota State. And freshman defenseman Carson Musser is out with an upper body injury.

Bergeron said he is hopeful both players will be available for the three games to be played during the week after Christmas.

Contact John Wagner at jwagner@theblade.com, 419-724-6481, or on Twitter @jwagnerblade.

First Published December 1, 2017, 6:43 p.m.