The Michigan hockey team entered last year's CCHA playoffs with nothing to lose.

On the verge of seeing their string of 19 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances snapped, the Wolverines relished an unfamiliar role as the underdogs.

So when Michigan coach Red Berenson considers the plight of Bowling Green heading into this weekend's best-of-three quarterfinal series at Yost Ice Arena, he appreciates where the Falcons are coming from.

He also understands that his No. 5-ranked Wolverines will likely see a much different team than the one that won only three league games and entered the post-season as the lowest seed in the league tournament.

"In the playoffs, everyone picks it up," Berenson said Tuesday. "Right now, they're probably having the best experience they've had. They've got more confidence than they've had in months and we're catching a team that can put the season behind them and they can just go for it in the playoffs.

"They're a little bit like Michigan last year. Now, they've won a series and they're a dangerous team."

Twelve months after the Wolverines started the playoffs as a No. 7 seed in the conference and rode a wave of momentum all the way to the NCAA regional finals, Bowling Green faces a similar road. The Falcons won their first playoff series since 2008 over the weekend, using a dramatic double overtime win over Northern Michigan Sunday to advance to this weekend's quarterfinal round.

The Falcons nearly matched their regular-season league win total in only three days, giving them confidence against top-seeded Michigan, which hasn't played in two weeks. Berenson isn't certain how the combination of Bowling Green's renewed confidence and his team's layoff will factor into Friday's series opener (7:35 p.m., Comcast Channel 900).

"We could be much more rested and it might show or they could be a lot sharper and we could be rusty and that could show," he said.

Michigan won its only two meetings with Bowling Green, sweeping the Falcons on the road back in October. Berenson said he will review game film of some of Bowling Green's games. He will look at tendencies the Falcons may have developed, especially now that they enter the series riding the momentum of a two-game winning streak.

Before last Saturday's 2-0 victory, Bowling Green hadn't won since Jan. 29 against Lake Superior State.

Home ice advantage

Despite Bowling Green's success, Michigan holds a major advantage playing at home. The Wolverines have won 11 straight games at Yost.

Bowling Green, which has nine freshmen on its roster, went 4-12-3 on the road this season, but won one league game away from home before stunning Northern Michigan in Marquette last week.

Falcons coach Chris Bergeron, who spent 10 years as an assistant at Miami, said this week his team can't allow itself to get consumed by the challenge of playing at Yost this weekend.

"We're not going to put a whole lot of emphasis on it," Bergeron told reporters. "We've got an opponent who there is enough emphasis we can put on. In terms of the environment, all these guys have played in tough environments before, but not Yost.

"Yost has bounces and there seems to be demons in that place that no other building in this league has. So trying to control it or putting too much emphasis on it does us no good."

Michigan's last home loss came Nov. 12 in a 3-1 setback against Notre Dame.

Honor roll

Michigan senior forward Carl Hagelin was named to the CCHA's All-Scholar Athlete team for the third straight season. Hagelin is a sport management major in Michigan's School of Kinesiology and was chosen as the Wolverines' top student by Berenson and the team's faculty representative. Nominees must have a grade-point average of at least 3.25 to be considered.

The league also announced this week that freshman defenseman Jon Merrill has been named to the CCHA's All-Rookie team. Merrill's 19 points (7-12-19) tied for the league best among freshmen defenseman. His seven goals was good enough for second best among blue-liners and the Brighton native's overall scoring ranked him fifth among CCHA rookies overall.

Michigan has had a representative on the all-rookie team 12 of the past 14 years.

Ice chips

Limited tickets remain available for this weekend's playoff series. All seats are $24 and are available online or by visiting or calling the Yost Arena ticket office. Friday and Saturday's games will begin at 7:35 p.m. If a third and deciding game is necessary, the puck will also drop at 7:35 p.m. Sunday. ... Senior defenseman Chad Langlais should break the Michigan record for consecutive games played this weekend. Langlais has appeared in 165 straight games. The current mark of 166 consecutive appearances was set by Tim Miller and Travis Turnbull in 2008-09.

Jeff Arnold covers Michigan hockey for AnnArbor.com and can be reached at (734) 623-2554 or by e-mail at jeffarnold@annarbor.com. Follow him on Twitter @jeffreyparnold.