BOWLING GREEN — Bowling Green State University is playing its best hockey of the season at the right time, and it has led to a significant surge up the league standings.
With five wins and a shootout victory in their last six games, the Falcons (13-16-1, 11-8-1) have gone from near the bottom of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association standings to a tie for second. BGSU, which is 6-1-1 overall in its last eight games, could win its first league title in 37 years with a strong finish in its final four regular season games – and some help from other CCHA squads – beginning with this weekend’s series against Michigan Tech at Slater Family Ice Arena.
“It’s really been awesome,” BGSU freshman forward Ben Doran said. “I think the whole year, we’ve had a really tight-knit group and really believed in each other, and I don’t think we got the results we wanted at the start of the year.
“Now that the results are coming the way we wanted, it’s been awesome. We just have a lot of confidence in the room now.”
The Falcons, whose last league title came during the 1986-87 campaign as a member of the previous version of the CCHA (1971 to 2013), are right in the mix of a tightly-packed group of teams in the league. Bemidji State is in first with 37 points; BGSU, Minnesota State, and St. Thomas are each tied for second with 35; and Michigan Tech is close behind with 30.
When BGSU wrapped up a home-and-home series against Ohio State in early January, the Falcons were just 7-15. They had a few solid wins and chances at series sweeps, but were still working to overcome a 2-8 start to the year.
Since then, the Falcons have been nearly unbeatable.
BGSU has outscored its opponents 28-20 and pulled out clutch wins in its last eight games. The Falcons haven’t lost yet in February, either.
“We’ve been saying it all year, we have a really good group and it’s kind of coming together,” BGSU senior forward Ethan Scardina said. “Everything’s meshing together on the ice and off the ice, and we’re obviously really excited for this to keep going.”
BGSU earned five of six possible CCHA points at St. Thomas last weekend, and it was highlighted by a thrilling shootout win on Friday. In the fourth and final round, and after St. Thomas had already missed its last attempt, Doran found the back of the net for the only goal in the shootout.
“It was just awesome. It’s kind of hard to explain how it felt, but after the period, going into overtime and then going into shootout, we had so much confidence in the group,” Doran said. “To get it done and have it go our way was amazing.”
BGSU coach Ty Eigner and his team felt the Falcons were going to be solid entering the season, and seeing everything jell at the end of the year has been satisfying to witness.
“This team, we felt, in the beginning of the year, was going to be a good team,” Eigner said. “The coaches and the media picked us to finish third (in the CCHA).
“Obviously, we went through some stuff early, but we’ve gotten past that, and the reason we’ve gotten past it is because of the character of the people that are in that locker room. Whatever success we’re having and whatever notoriety we’re getting and all these good things, the players deserve all the credit. They’ve come to the rink every day consistently with the right attitude and have worked. They genuinely care about each other, they genuinely want the other guy to succeed.”
Eigner added that even when things weren’t going well in the beginning of the season, it was still fun to come to the rink with the team.
“So that tells you a little bit about the group,” he said. “Now, you have fun coming to the rink and the results are better, that really makes it enjoyable.”
Having the right mindset and mentality has been a key factor into BGSU’s recent success. Scardina said the Falcons have embraced an underdog role, while Doran added that sticking to the process and believing they are doing the right things have gone a long way as well.
“Every time we come to the rink in the morning, we want to get better, and that’s kind of been our mindset all year is just getting better every day,” Doran said. “So far, we have, and I think that’s what is really separating us from the other teams is we’re not getting complacent.”
BGSU will also be celebrating the 40th anniversary of its 1984 NCAA national championship team at Saturday’s night’s game.
Former head coach Jerry York and members of the 1983-84 team that beat Minnesota-Duluth 5-4 in quadruple overtime for the title will be in attendance.
“The pride that Bowling Green and Bowling Green State University has in that group and the history, and you see on our walls, we’ve got the (murals), we’ve got the ‘Once a Falcon, always a Falcon’ with all our players and the numbers,” Eigner said. “We want to appreciate and honor our past because it’s a proud and historic past.
“We’ve had some of the best college hockey players in the history of college hockey come through here, some of the best college hockey coaches in the history of college hockey come through Bowling Green, and I want our guys – I understand it, I appreciate it because I lived it (as a former BGSU player) – I want our guys to understand and appreciate it because they’re going through it right now.”
First Published February 22, 2024, 8:28 p.m.
