BOWLING GREEN — Bowling Green State University’s hockey team can’t get enough of playing in front of its energized, passionate, and sometimes raucous home crowd.
Good thing for the Falcons two of their most important series of the season will be in their backyard.
BGSU will cap off the regular season with a two-game series against Northern Michigan beginning Friday night at Slater Family Ice Arena.
The Falcons have clinched home ice in the first round of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association tournament, and will host an opponent to be determined in a best-of-three series beginning March 3.
“It’s huge, definitely, playing in front of the atmosphere and student section here, I know we’re all comfortable,” BGSU sophomore goaltender Christian Stoever said. “Pretty sure we have a good track record, too, when we’re playing home, so we’re excited for it.
“We definitely feed off it, I know I do. I know they have some chants specifically for me, so it’s nice hearing that and it motivates me a little bit during the second period when I’m near them. But, for sure, the team feeds off that during the whole game.”
BGSU (15-15-2, 12-10-2 CCHA) secured home-ice advantage Saturday despite having the weekend off. The Falcons are third in league play with 41 points, while Minnesota State (49) and Michigan Tech (47) will be squaring off this weekend for the regular-season title.
Bemidji State (36), Northern Michigan (33), and Ferris State (33) each have a possibility of clinching home ice for the first round. Depending on how the Northern Michigan series goes, BGSU will be either third or fourth in the final standings.
“Anything can happen at the end of this weekend,” BGSU sophomore forward Austen Swankler said. “We play Northern, and we can’t overlook them.
“I think we’ve got to come out and just play our game, not focus too much on it and just see what happens.”
Slater Family Ice Arena has been kind to BGSU over the years.
The Falcons have not had a losing record in home games since the 2012-13 season. BGSU is 101-58-19 in the 10 seasons since, including 9-7-1 this year (6-1-1 in the past eight games).
The Falcons have been even better when hosting a conference tournament game. BGSU has had home ice in the first round in seven of the past nine seasons, and have gone 13-3 overall with six series wins.
“I’ve seen a lot of videos of us hosting it before and seeing the impact, and all the people that come out for the game and how much it really means to the town,” Swankler said. “It means a lot. Last year, we weren’t able to clinch it, and it was obviously weird going to another conference team [Bemidji State] for playoffs and not being able to come home and play in front of the crowd.”
BGSU has ranked in the top half of the CCHA in home attendance the past two seasons, averaging around 2,700 fans per game. The student section, band, and community’s support has meant a lot to the Falcons.
“When we take the first step on the ice during warmups or for the starting lineup, you really see how much it means and how much the students really enjoy coming out, especially when we score a goal,” Swankler said. “It just all means a lot to us and, as student athletes, it makes it a lot easier to play in front of students who really care. You want to support your school.”
BGSU will be facing a Northern Michigan (16-16, 12-12) squad that is coming off a 17-goal weekend in a series sweep against Ferris State. The Falcons and Wildcats haven’t faced each other since the opening weekend of the season, when BGSU won 6-4 on Oct. 1 and fell 4-3 in overtime the next day.
BGSU coach Ty Eigner knows his team will be tested defensively. Northern Michigan is third in the CCHA with 100 goals scored, right behind BGSU (106) and Minnesota State (105).
“There’s a bunch of things we need to do defensively,” Eiger said, “and we’ve tried to talk about that this week, with our guys saying that this might be as difficult a series as we’ve had in a while in terms of having to defend talented players all the time. They have a lot of talented kids who can make plays.”
Getting off to a strong start coming off a bye week will also be important, according to Eigner.
“The thing you worry about as a coach is are you going to be rusty” Eigner said. “You didn’t play the weekend prior, so you need to be ready to go right away because we’re playing a team that was obviously ready to go last weekend and is feeling confident. That first five minutes of the game on Friday is going to be important for us to be ready to go and on our toes because we expect Northern Michigan to be ready.”
First Published February 23, 2023, 8:31 p.m.
