Head coach Dennis Williams and BGSU hockey kicks off the 2025-26 campaign with two regular season games at Niagara in their only pre-Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) non-conference matchup. The Falcons have played only once as a unit in 2025, an exhibition loss to Robert Morris on Oct. 4.
BG has a normal length of non-conference opponents, although this season, they play only two regular season games before the start of conference play on Oct. 24. These two games are both against the Niagara Purple Eagles, a top-half Atlantic Hockey America (AHA) team with glaring likenesses to the Falcons.
Prior to a loss in the AHA quarterfinal series to Army last season, Niagara went 18-16-3 overall and finished fourth in the standings. Bowling Green finished fourth place in the CCHA and lost in the Mason Cup Semifinals with a comparable 18-14-4 record, the Purple Eagles winning three more conference matches.
Both outcomes of the season are somewhat puzzling statistically, considering head coach Jason Lammers coached his team to the conference lead in goals, shots, points and faceoff percentage, also finishing top-three in win margin and assists.
Lammers’ AHA leading offense was led by senior captain Jay Ahearn and AHA Rookie of the Year Trevor Hoskin, along with two other 30+ point scorers. Neither forward will play against Bowling Green in Purple and White, Ahearn transferring to UMass-Lowell and Hoskin to Merrimack for this season, resulting in a loss of 31 combined goals and 47 combined assists.
The offense has taken a natural step back, although the addition of freshman Marshall Finnie could be a big boost for Niagara. The Alberta, Canada native scored 31 points in 59 games with the Edmonton Oil Kings in 2024-25 and found the net twice in the team’s first game against St. Lawrence.
The offense was on full display against St. Lawrence, a 5-2 victory for the Purple Eagles with four power play goals, two empty-net goals and 14 total points. They went 4-7 on their power play attempts and went 5-5 on penalty kills, helping sophomore goaltender Deivs Rolovs to his first career win.
While Niagara brought in a respectable five freshmen for this season, Bowling Green brought in 11, along with three transfers, with over half of the team brand new to the program. The change brought a rough first contest, a 4-1 loss in the exhibition game against Robert Morris, with BG’s lone goal coming in the second period by freshman Tanner Scott.
“There is a lot of things I thought we did really well out there,” said Williams. “Our penalty kill was very strong, and we limited a lot of their chances on the defensive side. But there is a few things we need to clean up.”
10 of the 11 freshmen and all three transfers played in the game, 22 of the 26 on staff found their way to the final box score. Navigating such an unfamiliar roster will serve to be a big test for BG this season; multiple line combinations and goaltenders can be expected between the two games in Niagara.
The Falcons and Purple Eagles collide for the first time since the 2012-13 season on Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 5 p.m. Tune into the broadcast of the season-opening games for Bowling Green with Falcon Media Sports Network’s Ben Corak on WBGU 88.1 FM, also streaming on bgfalconmedia.com.
