After a successful season for the Falcons, the first year of head coach Dennis Williams’ tenure brought BGSU hockey a 12-10-4 record in the CCHA, a fourth-place finish, and the first home playoff series win since 2018-19.
Still amidst the tumultuous months of transfer portal entries and exits, Williams and the Falcons have released their 2025-26 CCHA regular season schedule.
The conference season opens on Oct. 24, the first of a series at Lake Superior State, whom Bowling Green took three of four against in 2024-25. They play five series in five straight weekends, following the Lakers with Bemidji State at home, Minnesota State in Mankato (Minn.), Ferris State at home, and St. Thomas in the new Lee and Penny Anderson Arena in St. Paul, Minn.
The Falcons play only one series in December, and Northern Michigan is at home on Dec. 5 and 6. They next play four weeks later on Jan. 9, opening 2026 with a road series in Big Rapids against Ferris State, then LSSU at home before Bemidji State in Bemidji, Minn., before their final bye of the season.
The four final weeks of the season are filled with four tough opponents and difficult trips. The first and third of those four are St. Thomas and Minnesota State, both at home and both finalists for the Mason Cup in March of 2025. The two road series are to South Dakota for Augustana on Feb. 13 (an almost 13-hour drive) and Houghton, Michigan, for Michigan Tech in the final series of the season, widely regarded as one of BG’s rivals and one of the more difficult arenas to play.
The CCHA will take a week off from the final game of the regular season to the Mason Cup Quarterfinals, starting the playoffs on March 6 and ending with the championship around March 20, 2026.
While the Falcons play only six home conference series to their seven away, only one of their scheduled series interferes with the university calendar’s school breaks. This is in stark contrast to 2024-25, in which there were three weekends when BGSU students could not attend home CCHA hockey games. Assuming students went home for fall, Thanksgiving, or Christmas break.
There is no scheduled release date for the non-conference slate. BGSU has played Robert Morris and Mercyhurst in each of the last two seasons, Western Michigan in the last three, and Ohio State in the last four.
Other common non-conference opponents for the Falcons over the last seven years include Miami and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), the Falcons historically showing an affinity for playing ex-CCHA opponents in Michigan State and Michigan.
