After ending a three-game losing streak with their third win of the season over Alabama-Huntsville, the Falcons return their attention to Central Collegiate Hockey Association games this weekend.

BG coach Chris Bergeron was content with the progress the team made over the weekend, and feels that his players are beginning to understand where they need to be at competition wise.

“I think that we are making progress, and that the feeling after the game Saturday (a 3-2 loss to RPI) was that we left something on the table,” he said. “That’s what I want them to feel, I’m talking about realizing that we are a team that should be competing at a high level every single night.”

“I do feel like we went in there with a purpose, we had a good game Friday and I thought we had an OK game Saturday; it wasn’t necessarily about effort, it’s about execution.”

Now the Falcons prepare for a weekend series with the Lake Superior Lakers, who are currently riding a four-game losing streak.

“I feel that they are one of the more underrated teams in the conference,” Bergeron said. “They will go nose-to-nose with anyone from a physical and competition standpoint; we have to be ready to compete.”

The Lakers were swept by Michigan in their last CCHA series, before dropping games to Denver and Clarkson in their holiday tournament this past weekend.

Like the Falcons, they employ a two-goalie system, with freshman Kevin Kapalka having been the more successful of the two. He has started nine of 16 games, posting a goals-against average of 2.52 and a .915 save percent.

Senior Brian Mahoney-Wilson has a 4.30 GAA and a .873 save percent through seven starts.

800

With their win Friday against Alabama-Huntsville, the Falcons won their 800th game in program history.

Bergeron deflected praise to past coaches and players, who he said are the people most responsible for this achievement.

“It’s really not my place to talk about it because these guys, from Coach (Jack) Vivian to Dennis (Williams) last year, they’ve all had more to do with it then me, whether it was playing or coaching,” Bergeron said. “Was I humbled to be a part of the 800th win? Absolutely, and I’m looking forward to being a part of 900 and 1000 and so on.”

Coming around

The Falcons’ special teams showed progress over the weekend, as they won the special teams battle in each game.

Between the two games, the Falcons were 3-10 on the power play, while they were 6-6 on the penalty kill.

“I think they’re understanding that the competition and the intensity and the executing doesn’t exclude the power play,” Bergeron said. “I think when we struggled on the power play it’s been a lack of intensity and a lack of competition level.

“I thought this weekend we did a pretty good job … so I see progress, but I still want us to do better.”

Calling all leaders

Bergeron is still displeased with leadership roles within the team, saying they can’t just rely on captain David Solway to carry the load.

“I still feel that when things go sideways on the bench or on the ice or whatever, guys are looking left and right versus, ‘what can I do?'” Bergeron said. “I think that they’re looking at David to carry the load on that and I don’t, I don’t look at one guy; we’ve got 27 guys on that team, one guy isn’t going to lead us down the good path or the bad path.”

Bergeron said he feels that the lack of consistent secondary leadership is a reason for the team’s inconsistent play so far this season.

“I don’t think that there are enough guys taking a leadership approach,” he said. “We have good boys, and I think that we have good followers, but we don’t have enough leaders right now.”