BGSU hockey (7-4-3, 5-2-3) was able to claim a series sweep over Princeton University (5-4-0, 2-2-0) at the Slater Family Ice Arena via a 4-1 victory on Nov. 28 and a 4-3 victory on Nov. 29.
This weekend, the Falcons will once again have a home series at the Slater Family Ice Arena as they will take on the Northern Michigan Wildcats (0-16-0, 0-8-0) on Dec. 5 and 6.
During BGSU hockey’s weekly press conference held on Dec. 2, head coach Dennis “Willi” Williams discussed the team’s series against Princeton, his team’s goaltending during the Princeton series and the season as a whole, his team’s physicality and the challenge and benefits that the long CCHA winter break provides.
Here are the Falcon Four takeaways from the press conference:
Princeton
The Orange and Brown were able to claim a sweep in nonconference play over the Princeton Tigers via 4-1 and 4-3 victories.
“I thought it was good. Obviously, anytime we can win games and continue to learn, I think it is important,” said Williams.
Despite claiming the sweep, the Falcons did not play their best game on Saturday and were just barely able to escape with the 4-3 victory after senior forward Quinn Emerson scored the game-winning goal with less than three minutes remaining in regulation while on a power-play opportunity.
“Like on Saturday, I don’t think we played a great game. I think we all can attest to that. Friday, I thought, we played some really good hockey,” said Williams. “An ugly win is much better than a pretty loss.”
Despite struggling on Saturday night, Coach Williams still liked his team’s effort as a whole during the weekend.
“It was good, I thought we battled, we competed. (There’s) Some areas we gotta clean up, but I think that’s gonna happen every weekend, we gotta clean up some areas.”
Goaltending
The Orange and Brown had two goalies represent them this weekend, with sophomore goaltender Tyler Palmer starting on Friday night and freshman netminder Jacob Steinman getting the nod for Saturday.
Palmer finished his game with a .944 save percentage after only conceding one goal against and making 17 saves. Steinman finished with a .864 save percentage while saving 19 of the 22 shots he faced on Saturday.
“Both of ‘em playing well,” said Willi. “Both are playing really confidently. They’re both giving us a chance to win hockey games.”
Goaltending is always considered to be one of the most important positions in hockey because a good goalie can carry a struggling team to victory, while a struggling netminder can cost their team a deserving victory.
“They’ve won us games, they’ve kept us in games, and that’s what’s most important,” said Williams. “They’re making the saves they’re supposed to make and mixing in some that are probably meant to be in the back of the net, and that gives you a chance.”
Having strong goaltending also allows the rest of the team to play with confidence in front of whichever goaltender is given the nod for a specific game.
“It allows the group in front of ‘em to play with a lot of confidence, a lot more swagger to the game,” said Willi. “It’s been good, we’re really happy with ‘em.”
Physicality
A noticeable absence for the Falcons as of late is junior defenseman Gustav Stjernberg, who has been struggling with injuries all season and last appeared in a game on Nov. 15 against Ferris State (3-11-0, 2-6-0). Despite Stjernberg’s absence and the physicality that comes when he is in the lineup, BG remained as physical as ever against the Tigers of Princeton.
“There’s no option for physicality with us. We gotta play hard, we gotta play heavy,” said Willi. “We wanna take away time and space, we wanna make it uncomfortable for teams to wanna get inside the dots, we wanna make it punishing on the walls, we wanna play that brand of hockey.”
While every player on the Falcon roster is expected to play physical, the BG coaching staff understands that physicality comes in different forms for each player.
“We also know some guys can’t play the same way,” said Williams. “Breck McKinley plays differently than Gustav Stejernberg. But one thing Breck will do is, he was up against a couple of their (Princeton’s) big guys, and he’s a competitor. He can keep ‘em to the outside, he can use his stick, use his feet to his advantage, and then when he can get to a point where he can seal a guy, that’s his physicality. More than a guy, say, like Gustav, who’s gonna wanna hit the guy to the third row. There’s a different play there, but both of ‘em are just as competitive.”
Winter break
Following BG’s series with Northern Michigan this weekend, the Falcons won’t play another game until Dec. 29, when they will face Team USA’s National Developmental U-18 team in an exhibition match following the CCHA’s winter break.
The long break comes with benefits and disadvantages for the Falcons.
“Nice thing is, you get some guys (who) get healthy, you get a restart,” said Willi. “The challenge for us is coming back, how do we start better than where we started the season?”
