BOWLING GREEN — At the end of the season, Bowling Green hopes to find itself among the elite teams in college hockey.
Luckily for the Falcons, the schedule presents plenty of chances for playoff-type atmospheres along the way.
Next up is the most high-profile nonconference opponent to play at Slater Family Ice Arena this season: a Saturday date against No. 5 Notre Dame, which won the past two Big Ten tournaments and was the NCAA runner-up in 2018.
The Falcons will travel to South Bend, Ind., on Friday to start the home-and-home series against the Irish, led by 14th-year coach Jeff Jackson, who helped Lake Superior State to two championships in the 1990s.
“From top to bottom — facility, coaches, players — they’ve got everything any program could want,” Bowling Green coach Ty Eigner said of Notre Dame.
Bowling Green is 8-5 and ranked No. 16 after a rugged first seven weeks of the season during which they opened against former coach Chris Bergeron at Miami, played host to the Ice Breaker tournament, won two of three games against current No. 17 Western Michigan, and split a road series at current No. 1 Minnesota State, the WCHA favorite.
The Falcons currently sit at No. 9 in the PairWise rankings, which determine the 16-team NCAA tournament field.
The computer rankings look favorably upon teams with wins against top-tier opponents — particularly on the road — and BG made the NCAA field last season largely because of its success against ranked teams.
A month after winning one of two at Minnesota State, the Falcons will have another chance against a likely tournament team with similar hopes when they face the Fighting Irish.
“Now, here’s another opportunity a month later to see who can play against a team that’s got the same goals: to win their league, and win their playoffs, and go to the NCAA tournament,” Eigner said, adding they use heated environments to evaluate their roster.
“We’re just trying to see who is sort of separating themselves and who is making a push to say, ‘Hey, Coach, don’t forget about me,’ or ‘Maybe I should be a guy to get an opportunity.’”
Notre Dame (8-2-2) has won 10 consecutive games at home dating to last season, which includes a 6-0 mark so far this season. The Irish swept Air Force, Lake Superior State, and current No. 11 Ohio State in South Bend earlier this season.
During the past seven seasons, Notre Dame has qualified for the NCAA tournament six times, which included back-to-back Frozen Four trips in 2017 and 2018.
And before Bowling Green jumps back into WCHA play again next weekend, the Falcons have the opportunity to test themselves against another of college hockey’s strongest programs.
“They’ve done a really good job over there for a long time,” Eigner said of Notre Dame.
“It happens to be that they are highly ranked and coming off an NCAA tournament and all that kind of stuff, so it’ll be a great challenge for our team to see another kind of a benchmark to see where we’re at in terms of the big picture.”
First Published November 28, 2019, 12:00 p.m.
