He grew up taking lessons on playing the piano, and now, Alex Foster is creating music for the Bowling Green hockey team– while teaching their opponents some new chords of his own.

Foster, a Canton, Mich. native, is a freshman forward for the Falcons and has already tallied three goals with seven assists in his first season. His 10 points on the year is one of the best totals on the team as he’s been part of a freshmen class that has taken the Central Collegiate Hockey Association by storm.

“He’s off to very good start in his college career,” head coach Scott Paluch said. “I think he has a lot of elements to his game: he skates well, he shoots the puck well, he knows the game and he has a great work ethic. He is constantly learning and trying to become a better player.”

Coming into the season, the BG freshmen class was 14 on the list of top recruiting classes around the country according to Inside College Hockey, an ESPN.com associate website. Foster is one of eight freshmen on the team and was among the most sought after recruits of the bunch.

Other schools interested in Foster included: Providence, Vermont, Ferris State and Miami, but Foster chose BG in the end.

“A combination of three or four things that I wanted in a school was all here at BG,” Foster said. “The opportunity to play right away, being only an hour away from home after being away from home since I was 16 and being able to play in a great league made everything fall into place. I’m glad I’m here though and I love playing here.”

Before coming to BG, Foster spent time in South Dakota and in Danville, Ill. playing on travel squads. He did this knowing that high school hockey in Michigan isn’t looked at as a good way to develop into a Division One prospect, so he decided to play in the United States Hockey League.

While at Danville, he scored a total of 32 goals and had 48 assists in two seasons. Last season, he scored 23 goals and had 30 assists to finish tied for fourteenth on the final USHL scoring list. The Danville Wings went to the final four of the USHL playoffs.

In his first game for the Falcons, he tallied an assist in a 5-1 win at Union College in a series the Falcons would sweep to start the season. Then in a big series against rival CCHA opponent Notre Dame, he would register his first goal as a Falcon and recorded an assist in a 3-1 win at home.

Since that game four weeks ago, Foster has recorded two goals and two assists, including the game winner at Wayne State in 7-3 win.

“I would’ve liked to have done a little more as of now,” Foster said on his play. “This start for me is all right, but I’d of liked to help out a little earlier in the season. Scoring goals and getting points for the team the past few seasons has been my role, so it’s been a little frustrating for me, but when I’m not scoring I like to help out the team in any way I can.”

His goal scoring skills and hard play may have been inherited through his father, Dwight Foster, who played in the National Hockey League for 10 seasons between 1977 and 1987. He was drafted by the Boston Bruins in the first round of the 1977 NHL Entry Draft as he went on to play four seasons with the Bruins before moving on to the old Colorado Rockies franchise before a brief stint in New Jersey and then to Detroit for four seasons.

“When I came to Detroit, the team was just starting to build up and develop,” the elder Foster said. “We were just starting to improve, but by the time I was ready to go back to Boston, they hadn’t quite gotten to the prestige and prominence that they have today with the Stanley Cup victories.”

In his NHL career, Dwight Foster scored a total of 111 goals and had 163 assists for 274 points in 541 games. He retired in 1987 after having troubles with his knees.

“I had too many knee operations and it was just time for me to move on, he said.”

Being the son of an NHL player can make it hard for you to not get involved with hockey, but it was a choice that the elder Foster left open to his son.

“I introduced the game to all our kids ,” he said. “My oldest son never touched the ice, but Alex and Peter (Alex’s younger brother) did. As long as they showed the effort and desire to play we would put effort into supporting it whether it was travel or juniors.”

“Whether it’s playing the piano or playing hockey I told them to do it to the best of their ability, he added.”

Foster, took his dad’s advice, but fell in love with hockey and used his dad’s playing history as an ice-breaker in making friends.

“It’s kind of an ice-breaker,” Foster said. “People find that out and say, oh that’s pretty cool, but other than just from a conversation standpoint it didn’t really do much for me. He was always there for me though and supported me as long as I loved playing.”

Coach Paluch can see a definite influence on Foster from his dad and believes his hockey knowledge was passed on to Foster.

“I think he has inherited a lot of hockey knowledge from his dad and he has taken that and made the most of it,” he said.

Dwight Foster’s other son, Peter Foster, plays hockey for the Air Force Academy. Alex Foster’s uncle Wes Jarvis was also an NHL player, who played for Washington, Minnesota, Los Angeles and Toronto.

Foster and his freshmen classmates played solid this past weekend, splitting a pair of games with Michigan State.