During BGSU hockey’s weekly press conference held on Feb. 17, head coach Dennis Williams discussed his team’s series against Augustana, their upcoming series against Minnesota State, his team’s special team units, and the importance of the senior class.
Here are the Falcon Four takeaways from the press conference:
Augustana
Bowling Green (16-8-6, 13-6-3) made the trip to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, last weekend, where they faced the No. 18 Augustana Vikings (19-10-3, 13-8-2) and secured a series split via a 1-0 victory and a 4-2 loss.
“In hindsight, when you look at going into those rinks, you wanna get as many points as you can,” said Williams.
By splitting their series against the Vikings, Bowling Green collected three of a possible six points towards the CCHA standings.
“You’ve gotta give credit where credit’s due, they’re (Augustana) a really good club. To get a split in that type of game, it’s not ideally what we want, but it’s not a bad thing either. There’s a lot we can build on, a lot we can take from that weekend.”
Minnesota State
This weekend, BGSU will host reigning CCHA Mason Cup Champion, No. 17 Minnesota State (16-9-5, 12-7-3) at the Slater Family Ice Arena in the final home series of the regular season.
“We got the big boys, we got the heavy hitters coming in, so we gotta be sharp, gotta be good,” said Williams. “They got a pedigree of winning, pedigree of winning the CCHA, the WCHA, they’ve been in the NCAA tournament.
“The challenge for us is going to be able to keep our energy level at bay, stay in the moment, make sure we’re not getting too high or too low, and you’re gonna have to play a complete game to beat these guys.”
Special Teams
Throughout the season, BGSU has cemented itself for strong play on both the power play and penalty kill. The Falcons rank first in the CCHA in power play percentage and second in penalty kill percentage while ranking among the top 20 in the NCAA in both categories.
During BG’s series against Augustana, the power play went 1/6 while the penalty kill allowed five of the Vikings’ power plays without letting up a goal.
“This time of year, you gotta have good special teams to win. You have to have good penalty kill, you have to have a good power play, you have to be able to, because you might only get two or three chances, you might only get two powerplays in a game. That’s where you really need to execute and have on-demand performance, same with the kill. It’s good, I think we’re projecting in the right way with them too.”
Seniors
BGSU hockey’s senior class of Jaden Grant, Quinn Emerson, Brett Pfoh, Jack Blake, Jackson Niedermayer, and Dalton Norris will be honored before the Falcons’ game against Minnesota State on Saturday, Feb. 21, as part of the Senior Night festivities.
“They’re a great group. I’m really fortunate, I got to coach ‘em now for a couple of years,” said Williams. “Last year was kind of a learning phase for all of us. What’s so neat about them is they all have different personalities, they bring such great cohesiveness, positivity, they add to our culture, it’s kind of bittersweet. It’s great to see these young men and what they’ve done in their four years here, and what they’ve gone through and how they’ve come out on this side of it, being such integral parts of last year’s team to this year’s team, and they’re a real tight group.
Later in the press conference, Williams reiterated the importance of the senior players on the Falcon team.
“They’ve been the foundation for us right now, they’re the guys that, as we transition from last year to this year, that I relied on quite heavily with our, I guess we had 12 new guys come in, and they’ve done a terrific job of mentoring and educating and teaching and big brother and bringing this group along,” said Williams. “Where we are this year is heavily result-based on that senior group. They’re big factors on our team, and I couldn’t say enough good things about these guys.”
