BGSU hockey (11-5-4, 8-3-3) returned to conference play last weekend by securing the weekend and season sweep over the Ferris State Bulldogs (4-20-0, 3-13-0) to secure all six possible points towards the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) standings.   

This weekend, the Orange and Brown will look to claim another season sweep and six more points towards the standings as they take on Lake Superior State University (8-13-1, 5-9-0) at the Slater Family Ice Arena on Jan. 16 and 17.    

During BGSU hockey’s weekly press conference on Tuesday, head coach Dennis “Willi” Williams discussed his team’s upcoming series against LSSU, the importance of collecting points towards the CCHA standings, his team’s attention to details and execution and the pressure (or lack thereof) as the Falcons head into a gauntlet of conference games in the second half of the season.   

Here are the Falcon Four takeaways from the press conference:   

Lake Superior State  

BG played their first conference series of the season way back on Oct. 24 and 25 when the Falcons secured a weekend sweep over LSSU in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, via 4-1 and 3-2 scorelines.   

“We played ‘em, was it the first weekend? On the road,” said Williams. “That’s a while, that seems like forever ago.”   

With so much time having passed since the two teams’ last meeting, it can be expected that both teams have changed and developed since October.   

“It’s gonna be two drastically different teams, and that’s the hard part,” said Williams. “We would’ve played ‘em back, probably in October somewhere.”   

Within the CCHA standings, Lake Superior currently sits at seventh place with 17 points, with Bowling Green’s 27 points placing them in the fifth spot.   

“The other part is they’re not far behind us,” said Williams. “When you have six-point weekends, two wins, it’s so important to get points and get wins in it because if you don’t, teams jump ya…They’re coming in and playing good hockey as well. Tough team to play, big, strong, physical, they’ve beaten Mankato (Minnesota State, 12-6-5, 8-4-3), I believe this year, St. Thomas (12-7-3, 9-3-2) this year, they’ve knocked off teams.”   

Collecting points   

As previously mentioned, Bowling Green’s 27 points currently rank them as fifth in the conference, but the Falcons are only three points behind St. Thomas and Augustana (14-6-3, 8-4-2), who are tied for first place in the conference with 30 points apiece.   

“We gotta get points, I think we’re in fifth, so we’re not doing very good right now,” said Willi. “We’re not (on) home ice in the playoffs, so we got a lot of work to do, our group.”   

While the standings are of importance, Williams maintains the idea that improving and peaking at the right time is the most important aspect for a team’s success.  

“We’re not a standing watching group, we don’t talk about it a lot. We talk about, we preface, like I said, the first half of the year, what areas can we learn from, and what games can we learn from. All we’re tryna do is, it’s been my constant discussion since October, you gotta peak at the right time. Teams can peak early in the next four weeks and fall for the last three. I’d rather us continue to learn right now so as we’re gearing up for whatever opportunity we may have in a postseason, that we’re at our highest level.”   

Details and Execution  

As the hockey season begins to reach its end, details and execution become more and more important as any game could play a major impact on a team’s fate come playoff time.   

It is also important for a team to maintain confidence while not resting on its laurels.   

“We balanced the fine line of feeling good about where we’re at in terms of playing, but not to the point where we’re not, where we’re still focused on details and our execution,” said Williams of a recent practice. “You really gotta, at this time of year, manage that part of it because our guys are, yeah, they’re playing good hockey, but good hockey can also flip the other way pretty quick I told them. You gotta kinda ride the wave when it’s high, and you gotta swim like heck when it’s low.”   

Pressure  

As the regular season begins to wind down to its conclusion and playoffs begin to appear on the horizon, pressure begins to build for all teams as the standings become closer and conference points become more precious.   

However, as Bowling Green prepares for a seven-week stretch where they will play 12 conference and two nonconference games with no breaks, Williams says the pressure is on the other teams in the conference.  

“The pressure is on the preseason favorites over there, not us. No one gave us any big votes. We’re just the little team from Ohio,” said Willi. “We’re just going in, and we control what we control. I tell the guys that all the time.”   

Williams also emphasized the fact that the Falcons have control over their own destiny.   

“We’re in a battle right now, it’s awesome, because we play everybody, so we control it. We’re not dependent on another team to do something. If you gotta depend on other teams, you haven’t put yourself in the right position,” said Williams. “We’re in the right position cause we control what happens here in the next two months.”  

Williams finished his thought by saying, “But pressure? No, there’s no pressure.”