First-year coach Dennis Williams said no one’s starting position on the Falcon hockey team is safe after a lackluster effort in Friday’s 7-2 exhibition loss to the U.S. National Under-18 Team.
‘It wasn’t so much that the loss bothers me, but it was our team effort that hurts more,’ Williams said. ‘We’re going to go back to the drawing board and I told them after the game, ‘you’ve got tryouts this week.”
Williams also said no player is above the name on the front of their jersey, saying being a member of the team does not mean a player has a right to wear a Falcons jersey.
‘It’s not a right to put that jersey on,’ Williams said. ‘You don’t get to put on the Bowling Green jersey just because you’re here. Your only right is your education you got here, and you have to work and work and have honor to put that [jersey] on.
‘It just doesn’t come because you’re recruited here to be a Bowling Green hockey player. Unless you go to the wall for everybody out there and compete hard, that’s when you get to wear that jersey. That was my challenge to them after the game.’
U.S.A. got the scoring started early in the first period with a blue line goal from Justin Faulk; Bill Arnold would score a goal on a power play minutes later and Bryan Rust would add another goal in the period’s closing minutes, giving U.S.A. a 3-0 after one period.
The Falcons didn’t fare any better in the second period either, as U.S.A.’s Luke Moffatt knocked in a rebound goal less than three and a half minutes into the period. Immediately following the game’s fourth goal, starting goalie Andrew Hammond was yanked, and replaced by Nick Eno.
‘The goaltending was just OK,’ Williams said.
Eno would give up what Williams described as a fluke goal to U.S.A.’s Nick Shore later in the period when his shot ricocheted off the skates of a Falcon standing in front of the net.
Eno would give up another goal in the third period and would finish the night with 17 saves before being relieved by Phil Greer with less than four minutes to play.
On an extended power play in the latter part of the third period, the Falcons were able to get on the board with a 5-on-3 goal from Kyle Page, and a 5-on-4 goal from Andrew Krelove.
‘Our execution was off, especially at the blue line,’ Page said. ‘We have to get the puck in and out.’
Absent from the game was the one of the team’s best offensive weapons, David Solway.
Solway sat high above the ice, nursing a head injury he sustained in the team’s first exhibition game against Wilfred Laurier.
‘We need David back,’ Williams said. ‘He’s a big punch for us up front, but I don’t want to push him.’
Even with a disappointing performance and a strong message from their coach, the Falcons seemed eager to show they can move on quickly. Williams cited that the team is still 0-0-0 in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, and Page is already looking ahead to the week of practice.
‘We have a workout tomorrow morning,’ Page said. ‘The clock turns at midnight, and we’ve got Providence coming.”
