BOWLING GREEN — Inside Slater Family Ice Arena, there was no use in denying this weekend will be different.
The 15th-ranked Bowling Green hockey team will face a steep test with a home-and-home series against No. 4 Ohio State, a Frozen Four qualifier last season and a legitimate championship contender again this year.
The in-state, former Central Collegiate Hockey Association rivalry is something both programs wished to resume — the Buckeyes will return next year for the Ice Breaker tournament hosted by BG at the Huntington Center — and the Falcons will use the weekend to measure themselves against perhaps the most complete team in college hockey.
“I think the magnitude is not just about winning and losing in this one,” Bowling Green coach Chris Bergeron said. “It’s about the fact that this rivalry, this competition between us and them, is real. Let’s see where we are.”
The start to the season has been encouraging for the Falcons (5-1-0), who swept both games of a home-and-home against a ranked Western Michigan team and have two chances for resume-boosting wins against the Buckeyes (3-2-0), who were ranked No. 1 until this week.
Behind a hat trick by Max Johnson, Bowling Green won the first game 8-2 on Friday. The teams now pack up for 7 p.m. game Saturday in Bowling Green.
Ohio State still has a rugged schedule to play inside the Big Ten — which boasts three of the four national semifinalists from last season and current No. 1 Notre Dame — but Buckeyes coach Steve Rohlik said BG will be a challenge for his team. Rohlik said “the proof is in the pudding” for Bowling Green’s start to the season.
BG ranks third in the country with 5.20 goals per game an has the nation’s fifth-best power play.
“We’re facing one of the top teams in the country right now,” Rohlik told reporters this week. “I mean, they’re as good as anybody and this is as good a team as they’ve had in a while, and they’ve been very good for the last few years.”
The Buckeyes’ trip to Bowling Green represents their final nonconference game before opening Big Ten play at Notre Dame.
It’s a chance for a signature victory, and with less than 250 tickets remaining as of Friday afternoon, the Falcons are hoping for a signature crowd in their home building with one of the country’s best teams in town.
“It’s got some memories and all that when it’s empty, but with people in it, it’s a special place, man,” Bergeron said. “The atmosphere is great, and I’m expecting that to be the same come this Saturday.”
First Published October 26, 2018, 4:00 p.m.