The Bowling Green men’s hockey team will attempt to keep their five game winning streak alive against the top team in the WCHA standings, the Minnesota State Mavericks, on Friday and Saturday night at the BGSU Ice Arena.
The Falcons come into this weekend’s games sweeping both the Alabama Huntsville Chargers and Northern Michigan Wildcats in home series.
“We don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves,” Falcons head coach Chris Bergeron said. “But this is a good Litmus test to see where we are at the beginning of December and I hope our guys look at it as such.”
The team also feels that they don’t need to change much about the way they play, despite the difficult opponent.
“We really don’t do much differently in preparation,” Bergeron said. “We talk about some of their players and their team, but they’re the standard in the WCHA as far as I’m concerned.”
The team is also looking forward to having the chance to go up against some of the top players in the WCHA.
“They really do have some good players and their top players are guys who have won a bunch,” Bergeron said. “We’ve constantly said that you can’t teach experience, and when your experience is winning regular season championships and playoff championships… that’s some big stuff. The belief is there in their top guys.”
The team also believes that keeping their emotions in check throughout the series will be an important part of avoiding costly penalties.
“We have to be in control of our emotions,” Bergeron said. “It can’t be a five or six penalty kill night for us, their power play’s just too good.”
The team also views the strength of Minnesota State as a challenge, rather than an intimidation factor.
“We have lots of respect for Minnesota State, and I believe they have lots of respect for us,” Bergeron said. “We’re not intimidated or worried about it, it’s a good time to be playing this team.”
In addition to having a five game winning streak, the team also currently holds a four game home winning streak that they will also have a chance to add victories onto.
“We want to play well at home, that’s what we want to keep alive,” Bergeron said. “The results will take care of themselves if we do that, this is a big time opponent, we get to play them at home and we’re looking forward to it. I think it’s a good opportunity for us at the right time.”
