The Falcon hockey team is adjusting to coaching changes and the unavailability of the ice rink due to renovations, but it is relishing the challenge.

In anticipation, the team has been working hard on maintaining its strength and physical condition during the summer.

According to coach Chris Bergeron, captain’s practice will begin around the end of August and run through September, allowing players to “get back in hockey shape” before official practices begin Oct. 2.

“We’ll start to get some questions answered as far as who at home worked hard this summer and who didn’t,” Bergeron said. “I’m very excited to get that going.”

Having gone through two coaching changes, senior forward David Solway is looking forward to working with Bergeron.

“He couldn’t be a better fit at Bowling Green,” Solway said. “We’re going to be a young team, and coach will be able to help us out and handle us on the path next year and years to come.”

Bergeron and the staff believe the summer is best spent focusing on strength and conditioning. Solway said he finds the summer to be the best opportunity to get stronger due to the school year’s demands on players’ time.

Solway said that it was expected of the players spending the summer at home to regularly e-mail their progress to strength coach Kenny Goodrich.

“When everyone’s working hard and trying to get better, it helps out the team as a whole,” Solway said.

Solway added that his home routine was a mixture of lifts, runs and two-hour bi-weekly skating sessions. He said his Tuesday session is more individualized, while he spends Thursday practicing with Division III college players.

“We get a good kind of scrimmage skate going,” Solway said. “It’s high intensity and keeps [our] skills up.”

Solway said that some players participate in summer leagues, particularly in the Michigan area, playing hockey games at least once a week. Solway does the same thing at home in Green Bay, Wis., but without as large a pool of high school, college and professional players.

Another good training experience is remaining in BG to train at the Sebo Center. Solway was able to train at home as well as on campus, spending the first summer semester in town.

Solway admitted that working alongside teammates in BG spurred him to work harder, with workouts from Monday through Thursday at 6:30 a.m.

While a handful of players remained in BG during the summer, many of them went home. Solway attributes this to the Ice Arena construction, leaving the rink out of commission this summer.

“It would have been nice to have the ice,” Solway said. “At the same time it will be nice to see some changes in the rink, and those changes help our program in the long run, [particularly] recruiting.”

Bergeron said the summer is a great time for recruiting, especially for assistant coaches Ty Eigner and Barry Schutte, who are establishing themselves in the college hockey recruiting world.

“I feel very positive about where recruiting is right now and where it can be with some success,” Bergeron said.

The team’s 10 incoming freshmen will be evenly matched with 10 sophomores. Nine of the freshmen were recruited before Bergeron’s arrival, but he said this does not make the staff less excited for them to join the team.

“That’s just the reality, that the team was pretty much in place,” Bergeron said. “We’re just excited to get things going and start to establish the relationships with the players that we need to have.”

Ultimately, Solway and Bergeron expect a good season in terms of team camaraderie.

“Your team is only as good as its weakest link,” Solway said. “Coming in after summer, you don’t want to be that guy. You don’t want to let down your team.”

Bergeron said that fans can expect “100 percent effort,” as well as a large degree of community involvement, on campus and off.

“I think you can expect a bunch of kids that are going to expect a lot from themselves, and a lot from each other,” Bergeron said. “If that’s not what we have, then they won’t be part of this program.”