It’s always nice to get your first win, whether it be in exhibition or regular season, by a few goals or many.
BGSU hockey’s first win of the season came in the form of their second exhibition game of the season and final nonconference game before the start of the CCHA season during the coming weekend.
It’s also quite nice to do so in front of a strong crowd; 3303 the final recorded attendance in the Slater Family Ice Arena for a stand-alone exhibition game on a Friday night.
“The crowd was great,” said head coach Dennis “Willi” Williams. “I know our guys appreciate it, especially during exhibition games that, a lot of times, it’s thin.”
The Falcons commandingly beat the Windsor Lancers, a 6-3 final wherein BG outscored the visiting Canadian team 2-1 in all three periods. It marks the first time in four competitions this season that Falcon scoring came alive and a new-look roster felt complete.
There isn’t too much poor to say about BG’s offense. The only point of improvement could be in man advantages, no scores, and only two shots on four powerplay attempts (basically three, the final was only four seconds before the end of the game).
Both teams had just over six minutes of man-advantage time throughout the game, but the Lancers scored once on seven total shots.
BG still had no trouble finding the cage; three goals apiece were scored by returners and rookies, although seven of the eight assists were on returners’ passes. Even nicer was two goals and five assists scored by defensemen, a goal and two assists netted by sophomore defenseman Ivan Korodiuk, who, like a few more Falcon scorers against Windsor, was more defensively known in 2024-25.
In a classic display of Willi’s brand of hockey, the Falcons led in shots, faceoffs won, and penalties/penalty minutes. BGSU took two penalties for slashing, one for tripping, and four of the seven on physicality plays, namely a roughing, boarding, direct contact to the head and a game misconduct.
“I don’t think those are retaliation, I think those are just hockey plays,” said Williams about the physical penalties postgame. “I’m not going to sit there and let guys crosscheck me or shove me in the face either. We need more hockey players.”
All in one game, the style of BG Hockey seemed to come together along all four lines of forwards and three pairings of defensemen.
The question now: Can the Falcons carry the themes of this exhibition win into their first taste of conference play at Lake Superior State?
Falcon Media Sports Network’s Ben Corak will have the call on WBGU 88.1 FM for both Friday and Saturday games.
