BGSU hockey has completed their season with the Mason Cup semifinal loss to St. Thomas on the road. Their first season with head coach Dennis “Willie” Williams was, by almost every barometer, substantially better than the previous seasons, the most accomplished season for the program in about five years.
Maybe more valuable is the hope the season gave to many BGSU Hockey fans, one of the most loyal fan bases in the CCHA and in BG Athletics. 2024-25’ gave life to a program that had seemingly plateaued, NCAA aspirations for the seasons to come.
Season summary (Overall: 18-14-4, CCHA: 12-10-4, Home: 10-5-3, Road: 8-9-1)
The non-conference schedule went as expected for BG, with losses to #4 Western Michigan and #10 Ohio State (Pairwise). WMU is the favorite to win the NCHC before the semifinal round, OSU competes for the Big10 championship with #2 Michigan State.
Willie also took two opening-road trip wins over Mercyhurst and over RIT three weeks later in the same road trip is WMU. The team could have very easily recorded two more wins against Robert Morris and Simon Fraser (B.C.) but the games were switched to exhibition before the season’s start. BG won both, combined score 11-3.
They entered conference play 3-3, advancing to 5-3 with wins over Ferris State at home. That series had the best single-game performance by a BG forward in the season, Brody Waters’ hat-trick in a 5-4 BG win in overtime.
BG entered into the hardest stretch of their season in six games against St. Thomas, Michigan Tech, and Minnesota State, only MTU at home. They took only five of 18 available points during that stretch, all games fairly tight but playing like a team quite similar to previous seasons.
A home series sweep against Northern Michigan brought on Christmas break for students and the team, a 15-day break from games before non-conference against RIT again. Wayne Wilson’s return to BG seemingly was a turning point in the season for Bowling Green, taking a 2-1 win and, more importantly, getting Ryan O’Hara his first goal of the season (0/11/11 into that game).
The start of 2025 brought a new identity for the Falcons, a commanding victory over Lake Superior State in Sault Ste. Marie 3-0 and 3-1. They continued their loss-less streak through Bemidji State and the first Ferris State game on the road, FSU finally breaking the seven-game streak.
At this point in the season, BG was legitimately vying for a top two seed, surprisingly close to #14 ranked Minnesota State as CCHA leader.
Then came their toughest two games of the season, against Augustana at home. The almost 5,400 fans saw only three total goals scored, one by BG and two by the Vikings, two overtime games and an OT and shootout loss for BG, heartbreaking considering the great trend they had been on.
In other seasons it may have started the “annual downturn” of the team. Instead, Willie got the Falcons back on the wagon, winning three straights in dominating games, broken up at home against St. Thomas in a 57-save one-goal allowed game by the opposing goalie.
BGSU played an exhibition game against the U.S. National Development program, losing 6-4, although half the team had the flu and some of the most impactful players did not play.
Clinging to a home playoff spot and stepping into the final two series, Orange and Brown-headed to Bemidji State to play what turned out to be probably their worst series of 2025. BSU, who was eighth at the time, swept BG at home in regulation and in OT in games the Falcons simply played poorly.
Now in the fourth spot, last in for the home playoff quarterfinal, BG returned home for Lake Superior State again, losing the first game but winning the second, earning their first home playoff appearance in two seasons.
They drew Michigan Tech in the quarterfinal of the 2025 Mason Cup, with junior right-winger Quinn Emerson getting two game-winners. One came in overtime in the first game, and one the opening goal in the second game BG won 4-0.
Being the four seed they had to take the road to St. Thomas in the semifinal, losing 3-1 in a game so tight a single bounce of the puck could have sent Willie to the championship instead of the Tommies.
From last season to this season
The only thing that matters in a season is the winning and the success. This was the reason Ty Eigner was let go and Willie was hired after the 2024 Mason Cup.
Willie took BG to five more wins, two seeds higher in the CCHA, eight more points, the first home playoff series win since 2018-19’ (before Eigner) and the first playoff series win since 2019-20’ (first season of Eigner). In success terms, a far more accomplishing season.
Aside from simply winning more, Willie gave BG a far bigger boost on the ice. There was no time during the season that it felt BG did not have a chance at winning the game, nor was there a lapse in belief that a home playoff and playoff series win was possible.
BG has had the trend over the last few seasons of having a hot stretch to start the new year, then falling off toward the end of the year. Granted it took the final game of the season, but BG did not follow this trend. They were immensely consistent and won in the game that really mattered against LSSU. They had a seven-game lossless streak, yet did not have a coinciding seven-game fall (their longest lossless streak of 2025 only three games).
Even the numbers got better in a team whose substance and personality did not change almost at all. This is BG’s statistical boost from 2023-24’ to 2024-25’:
Goals (scored-allowed) from 86-116 to 90-85
Goal margin from –0.8 to 0.1
Overall rating from -134 to +24
Shots per game from 28 to 33
Penalty minutes from 405 to 378
15+ point scorers from five to eight
20+ point scorers from 0 to three
10+ goal scorers from one to three
10+ assist scorers from two to six
5+ goal games from three to five
Goalie goals against average from 3.21 to 2.12
Goalie save percentage from .902 to .929
Shutouts from two to four
All of this came with the top two additions to the roster seventh and twelfth in scoring, only three affecting over 25 of 36 games.
Through all of the team and individual statistics BGSU Hockey keeps track of, there was nothing that got substantially worse from last season to this. In fact, the strong suits of the team remained strong (mainly specials teams, face-offs and physicality) and the weak points got stronger, even scoring, which was better but still an issue both years.
Looking forward
The main thing Bowling Green has been lacking in the last few seasons is a natural goal scorer. Brody Waters had the most goals on the team with 16, however most came from redirections in front of the net and on powerplays. Great value but not the kind of all-purpose goals BG needs.
O’Hara had a great stretch toward the end of the season but went the entire first half of the season without scoring a goal. Not the consistency you want from your #1 goal option year in and year out.
The last “great” goal-scorer BG had was Austen Swankler, with 19 goals in 2022-23. Before CCHA reformation the last Falcon to score 20+ goals was Derek Whitmore in the 2007-08 season. 20-goal scorers are difficult to come by, however, two of the last four Mason Cup champions have had 20+ goal scorers, Michigan Tech also had two 18-goal scorers in 2024.
The supporting cast to a star is there, Willie probably returning six of the top nine goal scorers and arguably the best defense in the CCHA in 2024-25′. Yet there is great hope for a star on the horizon.
According to Neutral Zone’s NCAA recruiting class rankings, Bowling Green has the second-best 2025 incoming class in the nation, behind only Boston University. Averaging 3.9 stars per recruit, their list of 15 junior-hockey players includes only one goaltender, but ten forwards and four defensemen.
Of the 15 incoming recruits (probably not all coming to BG in 2025), seven average over one point per game, eight average over .5 assists per game and six average over .4 goals per game. While these numbers won’t directly translate to CCHA hockey, these are high quality impressive, these are high-quality recruits with very impressive numbers in top major junior leagues. Some are sure to be very high-impact players in their first years with the Falcons.
The Falcons supported themselves on great team play, offense, and defense through all 18/19 skaters. They were simply missing this star player, a great chance to add it in 2025-26′.
BSGU will also bring back a very strong defensive core. Their 1A and 1B guys, Gustav Stjernberg and Dalton Norris (A), will both return, the top two defenseman scorers for BG this season. High-motor and solid, Breck McKinley will also come back and could play partner with mid-season signee Ivan Korodiuk who was scratched only three times in 20 games available after joining the team.
They will more than likely return top scorers Ben Doran and Waters, and end-of-season standout Emerson. Max Martin may be the Falcon to watch for a breakout year, with six goals, and three assists in his freshman campaign. He was a near-100-point scorer in his last season in the NHL, a natural offensive player.
Cole Moore will most likely be the starting goaltender for BG, not having the greatest season this year but having a great rookie season in 2023-24′. He and Salvatore Evola will be BG’s returners, adding Jacob Steinman from the QMJHL, a rookie who had a 22-5-2 record, 2.13 goals allowed, and a .928 save percentage with the Moncton Wildcats.
Leadership will be a large question for Willie over the offseason, both captains (Ethan Scardina, O’Hara) and an alternate (Ville Immonen). The other alternate, Norris, will almost assuredly be a captain in his senior season, the other spots are up for the coach’s decision.
Way too early for a bar-setting
The second season of Willie will surely be more telling than the first. The first season of Eigner in 2019-20′ had great success as well (21-13-4), however, the Falcons declined every season after (13-22-1 in 2023-24′).
Just like most second-year coaches, it is a year of gaining your own recruits, changing staff members if desired and trying to surpass the last season’s achievements.
Fortunately, Willie’s first season was the most successful in five years for Bowling Green, setting the bar high for the second season. With a top recruiting class coming in, it is not ridiculous to expect similar success in the Mason Cup and better success in the regular season.
The bar for the regular season should be another 18-win season or even more. Minnesota State, St. Thomas, and Bemidji State are all losing huge talent to graduation, Augustana losing quite a bit as well and having to play a full conference schedule in 2025-26′. Three of those four teams finished above BG this season and will probably take large steps back next year.
The bar for seeding should be a clean-cut home playoff series. Last season BG missed the home playoffs, this season they hosted a home quarterfinals round by the skin of their teeth. You need to finish at least solidly in fourth place to get such a great home-ice advantage. Any higher you finish gives you a better chance of hosting in the semifinals and finals.
While not a bar to hit, being ranked towards the end of the regular season would be a definite goal for Bowling Green. The Falcons received votes a few times this season, but being legitimately ranked top 20 towards the end of the season would be a massive sign of success in conference.
The bar for every season should be to show improvement. The coaching change was based on the lack of improvement over five years. Improvement in the coming seasons, replicating this season’s success, is all a path to restoring glory to Bowling Green hockey.
