BGSU hockey (14-6-6, 11-4-3) secured two draws against nonconference opponent Notre Dame (5-18-3, 1-13-0) of the Big 10 during the two teams’ home-and-home series last weekend.
This weekend, Bowling Green returns to conference play as they host the CCHA-leading No. 15 St. Thomas Tommies (17-8-3, 14-4-2) at the Slater Family Ice Arena on Feb. 6 and 7.
During BGSU hockey’s weekly press conference held on Feb. 3, head coach Dennis “Willi” Williams discussed playing in close games, managing emotions, the results of the Notre Dame series, and injuries to his senior players.
Here are the Falcon Four takeaways from the press conference:
Close Games
During BGSU and NDU’s home and home series that ended with 3-3 and 2-2 draws, neither team held a lead larger than one goal at any point of the series. Coach Williams praised his team’s ability to remain calm despite the close scorelines throughout the weekend.
“We didn’t have any panic,” said Williams.
Williams continued, “These types of games that are tight, they’re all close. You look back to our Lake State series, 3-1 with an empty net, and a 1-0 loss. You go up to Bemidji, 3-1 with an empty net, I know the next night was 5-1, but they’re all right down to the final wire.”
Williams expects more close games as the Falcons enter the final four weeks of the regular season before the CCHA Mason Cup playoffs begin.
“I think one thing you can assume, we were talking to our group, going into the rest of the season, is that there’s probably a good chance we see some overtime, if I was probably thinking out loud, that’s how close the games are and how tight they are. So, we gotta be ready to play from behind, with leads, and we hope that the experiences we’ve encountered this year in those positions only help us as we move forward.”
Managing Emotions
Keeping emotions in check can be the difference between a team winning a game and a team losing a game. During Bowling Green and Notre Dame’s series, especially during the home game on Saturday night, coach Williams was mostly able to let his players go without having to hold them back.
“They were good, there was nothing we had to do,” said Willi. “Playing at home Saturday, you don’t have to, I thought maybe, we always talked a little bit about pulling them back a bit, but then I thought about the movie Seabiscuit. I can only pull ‘em back so long, but then you gotta let ‘em run. So, for us, it was let’s run when the puck drops and there was no pulling back, and I thought the guys did a really nice job.”
Notre Dame
BGSU and Notre Dame would skate to a 3-3 draw on Friday night at NDU’s Compton Family Ice Arena with the Falcons claiming a shootout victory. The following night, Notre Dame would claim the shootout victory following eight rounds after the two teams skated to a 2-2 draw at the Slater Family Ice Arena.
Even though his team wasn’t able to claim a win on the weekend, coach Williams was still pleased with his team’s performance.
“We wanna win every hockey game. That’s why we go out, we do play to a standard and expectation, but at the end of the day, we don’t go out there to tie or lose either. We go to win every game,” said Willi. “But again, it’s nothing where I sit here on Monday, even after watching it all Sunday, where I go, man, we weren’t good, we were good. I thought we played good hockey.”
Williams commented on how well his team has played since returning after the CCHA winter break.
“I’ve been really happy with our play from Christmas on. I think we’re trending in the right direction, and now our next biggest challenge comes this Friday.”
Injured Seniors
Going into the weekend, the Falcons were already missing senior defenseman and captain Dalton Norris. During the weekend, the Falcons would lose another senior as forward Brett Pfoh had to leave Saturday night’s game after violently colliding with the net.
“You never wanna see players injured on either team,” said Williams. “Seniors are always difficult too. So, we gotta do our best to play as long as we can and get those guys back whenever they’re healthy.”
