Often considered to be amongst the best student sections and crowds in all of college hockey, the Falcon Faithful and Bleacher Creatures have built a reputation as some of the most loyal and passionate fans in the entire NCAA.
“(We’re) just a bunch of guys who (are) really passionate about hockey,” said Bleacher Creatures member Alex Yang. “We’re just here to watch some hockey and cheer on our team, we love them.”
“I think we have the best crowd in the whole NCAA honestly,” said junior forward Quinn Emerson.
The fans of Bowling Green cheer for their team through the good and bad, through wins and losses, and the players don’t take it for granted.
“(The Fans) show up every game and they’re always loud, no matter the score. They’re always cheering for us, so it’s a pleasure to be playing in front of them,” said graduate forward and co-captain Ethan Scardina.
“Not every program has a community that comes out to support them so I think we gotta take advantage of what we got, soak it all in,” added senior forward Owen Ozar.
“(It’s a) special place for sure. You look around the league even, not a lot of teams have the type of crowd we do, so makes it fun for us,” stated graduate defenseman Tommy Pasanen.
Players and coaches alike appreciate and are grateful for the support from the fans.
“So grateful for the students coming out, the town coming out to support, the area fans coming out to support our group,” said head coach Dennis Williams. “It’s something I always tell our players; we should never take that for granted. People always have choices, they have a choice to come to maybe a hockey game, go to a movie, or stay home with their family and for the people that came out this weekend to support us, (we) have a lot of gratitude for the support.”
The support from the fanbase isn’t just noticed by players in the rink on gamedays, as they feel the support from the entire Bowling Green community.
“When people have jerseys or are waving the flag or something like that, we can feel the support within the community,” said Scardina. “Even going to the grocery store, people kinda talk to you about how the season’s going.”
“Coming here and knowing hockey is a big part of the community and we get a lot of support from the community, I think that was a big factor,” said Pasanen while commenting on the fan’s impact on his decision to come to BG.
“I think the best part of BG is the community and the hockey community surrounding us,” said sophomore goaltender Cole Moore.
As a goaltender, the fans impact Moore in a unique way that is separate from his non-goalie teammates. With the Falcon faithful belting out chants aimed specifically at complimenting Moore’s game, the fan’s have their own unique impact on the goaltender.
“(It) gives you a lot of energy when you make a big save and the crowd acknowledges it. It gets you going,” said Moore. “They’re the best.”
While the Falcon hockey fans have built a reputation as one of the most loyal fanbases in the NCAA, they have also built a reputation for the Slater Family Ice Arena as one of the most hostile environments in the NCAA that visiting teams enter.
“Definitely a huge advantage for us playing at home,” said Williams.
Cole Moore commented, “I would hate to be the visiting goalie here. I bet he can’t even hear himself think. They’re all over him.”
The Falcon faithful have been packing the Slater Family Ice Arena (originally named the BGSU Ice Arena) since the venue’s construction in 1967. The Slater incudes an infamously low ceiling that allows the noise of the fans to echo through the building and multiplies the noise within the arena.
“It’s a low ceiling, everyone knows,” said coach Williams. “When they’re going, like even me, I was saying after the game, it’s hard for me to talk sometimes on the bench.”
“The arena is unbelievable, how loud it is, the support from all the fans. It’s unbelievable and then it gives us as players a little bit of confidence,” stated Pasanen
The support from the fans isn’t exclusive to home games as the Falcon faithful have been known to travel great distances in order to support their team.
Ozar commented on seeing BG fans in the crowd during away games, “Yeah, I just see some orange jerseys in the stands for sure.”
“A couple of weekends ago we had like 50 fans come up on the bus. That was pretty special in Ferris,” said Emerson. “We have a good group of fans and they’re awesome”
“The students that came up to Ferris State on the bus there on the Saturday, it was awesome to have them up there cheering for us,” said coach Williams.
Unfortunately, as the hockey season occurs during the winter months, there are stretches of games where there are smaller crowds and little support from the student section due to students being home during thanksgiving, winter, and even spring break. These games have a completely different atmosphere due to smaller crowd sizes.
“We’ve had a great crowd(s) pretty much every game, but having students in the student section gives you that little boost of energy throughout the game,” said freshman forward Adam Zlnka.
“Well, the energy’s completely different. If the rink is full, we feel the energy from the crowd, from the fans. Everyone’s in it, everyone’s a little more invested. Maybe gives us a little bit more of an edge too. When the rinks empty, it’s a completely different game I’d say,” said Pasanen.
“The energy just changes, whenever you have the fans, you got extra energy and you just wanna kinda hit everything and the crowd goes crazy and it’s pretty awesome,” said Emerson.
Transfer students like Ozar and Pasanen, have the unique ability to compare the BG fans to those of their former institutions.
Ozar, who transferred two seasons ago from Denver University, compared the two fanbases.
“(Denver’s fans) were good, they were different. Denver is a big city so its not hard to get big crowds, but here I think it definitely feels a lot tighter,” said Ozar. “You feel a little bit like a smaller fish in a bigger pond but I think that the atmosphere (is better). There’s more chants, the students feel more involved.”
Pasanen, who transferred two seasons ago from Clarkson University, also compared his experiences with the fans at the two universities.
“Clarkson was a small town so we got a good amount of students in there too, but I think here we get more fans,” said Pasanen. “The energy is just different. When the rink is full the whole place is vibrating, you feel it more on the ice, the students are chanting and whatnot, so it’s a lot of fun to play here.”
Arguably the greatest sign of the players’ respect and appreciation of their fans is the memories they’ve made over their time at BG. Each player has a fan memory that they know is their favorite.
Scardina, recalls a memory from his second season at Bowling Green.
“My freshmen year against Miami [OH] it was packed to the brim. (I) couldn’t even hear myself think,” said Scardina. “A year after COVID didn’t really experience it (the crowds) during COVID, but all the fans, and that was the first kinda packed barn we’d seen, it was insane. It was really cool”
Ozar and Pasanen, both remember a specific game from the first year after they transferred to Bowling Green.
“I’d say probably just seeing the crowd against Ohio State for the first time last year. As a transfer coming in, everyone talked about those games being pretty cool. That first statement was pretty awesome,” stated Ozar.
“I’d say for me too; it’s last year against Ohio State. The place was completely packed, it was super loud,” said Pasanen. “It’s probably the best atmosphere that I’ve played in.”
Moore and Emerson, both fondly look back to a game against Lake Superior State.
“When they were throwing Freddie Falcon up when we were (up) 6-3 against Lake State,” said Moore.
“I remember against Lake State, fans were taking off their shirts and throwing each other in the stands, so I thought that was pretty awesome and I don’t think you’ll ever see that at any professional game,” said Emerson.
For the freshman Zlnka, he just enjoys the crowd in general and their constant support.
“I’ve been here for only (a little) while, but whenever the rink was packed and we scored a goal, the place was about to break down so that’s pretty exceptional,” said Zlnka.
The BGSU hockey fans and community play a key role in the team’s success and a hockey game wouldn’t be a hockey game without the fan support. The type of support the team receives consistently from their fans, and the entire community, is something that only a handful of college hockey programs can relate to.
“We don’t take it for granted,” stated coach Williams. “We love the fact that they’re out there to cheer us on.”
“We’re grateful to play hockey, and it doubles down to play in front of the Falcon faithful,” said Zlnka.
The fans serve as an inspiration to the team to keep providing entertaining games that make the fans want to come back for more.
“It’s up to us to make sure we play an entertaining, sound, fun game to watch,” said Williams. “We’ll continue to do our best to put a product on the ice that they enjoy cheering on and supporting.”
This weekend, the Slater Family Ice Arena will once again be packed as the Falcons will face the Michigan Tech Huskies in the first round of the Mason Cup playoffs.
“The crowds (have) been huge for us all year,” said senior defenseman Ben Wozney. “I think we owed it to the fans that we finished the regular season strong and that we were able to get them at least one more weekend.”
