The BG hockey team is hosting the Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks for an exhibition match following the football game Saturday during Homecoming Weekend.

This will be the Falcons’ first time on the ice against an opponent since they lost to the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish 4-3 in the second round of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association tournament in March.

“At Notre Dame, the feeling was ‘we want to keep playing,’” head coach Chris Bergeron said. “We need to find a way to recreate that momentum.”

This year the Falcons have moved to Western Collegiate Hockey Association after the Big Ten Conference picked up ice hockey as a conference supported sport and resulting in the CCHA to fold.

The WCHA is made up of the University of Alabama-Huntsville Chargers, the University of Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves, the University of Alaska-Fairbanks Nanooks, the Bemidji State University Beavers, the Ferris State University Bulldogs, the Lake Superior State Lakers, the Michigan Tech Huskies, the Minnesota State University-Mankato Mavericks and the Northern Michigan University Wildcats.

Some of these teams are familiar to BG, as they were former-CCHA members with the Falcons. These teams include Alaska-Fairbanks, Ferris State, Lake Superior State and Northern Michigan.

The Falcons will be facing one other former-CCHA member, the Ohio State University Buckeyes. BG will host Ohio State on Oct. 15 and then travel to Columbus on Oct. 29 for a return game against the Buckeyes.

This season the Falcons will be participating in the second edition of the Three Rivers Classic in Pittsburgh, Pa. They will be facing the Boston College Eagles on Dec. 27 at the Consol Energy Center, the home of the National Hockey League’s Pittsburgh Penguins. They will face either the Robert Morris University Colonials or the Penn State Nittany Lions the following day.

BG’s exhibition game opponent is the Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks. Wilfrid Laurier is a university in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada and is a part of the Canadian Interuniversity Sport, which is comparable to the NCAA.

The Falcons and the Golden Hawks have played each other twice in the programs’ histories. The first meeting was a pair of games during the 1975 season, but the teams did not meet again until the 2010-11 season when they met again for a preseason exhibition match.

The Falcons will be facing off against the Golden Hawks Saturday at 7:37 p.m. following the Homecoming football game earlier in the day.