BGSU hockey started its season at the Slater Family Ice Arena with an exhibition game against Robert Morris University that saw the Falcons fall 4-1 to the visiting Colonials on Saturday, Oct. 4. This weekend, the Orange and Brown will face the Niagara University Purple Eagles at NU’s Dwyer Arena.
Head coach Dennis “Willi” Williams addressed his team’s game against RMU, their upcoming series against Niagara, and his team’s development and preparation for the season during the weekly press conference on Tuesday, Oct. 7.
Here are the Falcon Four takeaways from the press conference:
The positive side of a loss
The Falcon hockey team entered the 2025-26 season with high expectations, which led to some disappointment among fans after the team’s 4-1 loss in exhibition play.
“I think a lot of people were expecting us to score x amount of goals, which is unrealistic because that’s (RMU) is a good hockey team too, that we just played,” said Williams.
It is important for fans and players alike to remember that the season is still young and that this game was an exhibition game that does not impact the Falcons’ Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) standing or their ranking in the NCAA. This is amplified by the fact that Coach Williams and the team are using the loss as fuel to inspire the team for upcoming matchups.
“It’s not a bad thing to lose a game because what it does, it puts you right back to work and it brings you right down and it brings a lot of humility to yourself,” said Williams. “We’re back to work and we’re gonna hopefully have a different outcome this weekend.”
Penalties were costly but are not a concern… yet
The Orange and Brown took a total of nine penalties for 18 minutes in the penalty box over the course of the game against the Colonials. These penalties included too many players on ice, hitting from behind, elbowing, interference, cross-checking, checking, and charging calls being made against the Falcons.
“How undisciplined were we? It was terrible. I don’t know what we were doing,” said Williams following the game. “You’re not gonna win any games playing like that.”
In the press conference, Williams expanded further on penalties.
“There’s a couple (penalties) there for sure that I didn’t like, a couple, I think, soft calls too and I’m okay this time of year for that. I just hope that they (the penalties) don’t leak into where games count,” Williams said. “There’s a couple there that I didn’t like and they could cost you big time points. . . . a lot of that might just be the excitement and exuberance, part of it might be some frustration late in the game here and there, but, again, it’s important that we channel in our emotions and just stay even keel.”
While the penalties were costly against Robert Morris, they shouldn’t be a concern for the season as a whole until they start continuously impacting games of consequence.
Trial and error with newcomers and goalies
BGSU welcomed 14 newcomers to its roster, made up of three transfers and 11 freshmen.
One major benefit of exhibition play is that it allows coaches to dress extra players and try different things with new players to see how they respond. BGSU is lucky enough to start its season off with two exhibition games in three weeks, as it will face Windsor at the Slater on Friday, Oct. 17, after the Niagara series.
“I like it because we do have new faces, so we get to kinda do some trial and error with them,” said Williams. “There’s gonna be times, I’m going to put them in position to fail, I’m going to put guys out there during a game where they’re like ‘where do I go’, how bout just be a hockey player. Like, let’s see what you got.”
This trial-and-error opportunity during exhibition games also applies to goaltending.
Bowling Green has two new goaltenders joining their roster, with freshmen Jacob Steinman and sophomore Tyler Palmer joining junior Cole Moore in Bowling Green’s goaltending room.
Exhibition play allows BG to play multiple goalies in one game as opposed to the norm of only playing one goaltender during a regular game.
“Often, either a goalie plays a whole game and the other two don’t,” said Williams. “Having the exhibition game will really allow us to see how that plays out to make sure everybody gets touches that weekend.”
The roster remains to be determined
While all 28 players on the roster will be traveling to Niagara with the team, it remains unknown whether or not all the players will see action over the two games and who will be played in what roles.
“I don’t know if everyone’s playing this weekend or not,” said Williams. “It’s going to be dictated [from] Friday night’s performance.”
This weekend’s games, along with the following weekend’s exhibition game against Windsor, will allow the Falcons to continue to try different line combinations as they work to create their ideal roster setup before CCHA play starts on Oct. 24 when BG travels to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, for a weekend series against Lake Superior State.
