BG’s Adam Pitters, left, eyes the puck near Bemidji State’s Tyler Jubenvill earlier this season.
J.D. Pooley | Sentinel-Tribune
Bowling Green State University hockey will end the regular season in Sault Ste. Marie as they take on Lake Superior State.
Both teams are tied with 33 points in the CCHA standings. They are fighting for fourth place and home ice for the first round of the CCHA playoffs.
If the series results in a split, with both teams gaining the same amount of points, the team with the greatest number of regulation wins will get fourth place.
BGSU and LSS both have the same amount of regulation wins in conference play. However, LSS has 15 regulation wins overall; BGSU has 14 regulation wins.
There are other teams in the mix. From third to sixth place, it is a five point difference. Bemidji State is in third with 37 points. Northern Michigan, who just swept BGSU, is in sixth with 32 points.
It is possible to see a major shakeup in the CCHA standings after this weekend.
LSS had a chance to claim sole possession of fourth place last weekend. A loss to St.Thomas ended that opportunity.
The Falcons last faced the Lakers on Nov. 19 and 20. BGSU swept them at Slater Family Ice Arena. Since that sweep, LSS has gone 8-7-1.
BGSU head coach Ty Eigner said the Lakers have been playing well the past few weeks. They will be more of a challenge this time around.
“The challenge for us is to forget about last weekend and get on the bus Thursday to head up to Sault Ste. Marie and be ready to go. We know Lake Superior State will be ready to go,” Eigner said.
A big key for the Falcons in this matchup will be the special teams. BGSU has the most penalty minutes per game in the CCHA with just over 15 penalty minutes.
Eigner said in his press conferences last weekend they need to stop taking the untimely penalties.
“At the end of the day, we have a bunch of little things going on that hopefully we can fix,” Eigner said in Tuesday’s press conference. “The one glaring thing would be the discipline.”
The Lakers are fourth in the conference in power play percentage. They convert on 22.3% of their power plays.
The Falcons penalty kill unit kills off 79.4% of the power plays they face. That is good for fourth in the conference.
The offense will need to improve on last week’s performance if they want to get past LSS. The Lakers are third in goals allowed per game with 2.81 goals.
The Falcons have recently struggled against the top two defenses in the CCHA recently. They were held to one goal in two games by Minnesota State. Also, they were shut out by Michigan Tech in their first game against them.
Eigner has shuffled the lines the past few series to jump start the offense. He said the line changes have been due to the lack of offense and injuries that have occurred before and during games.
“In a perfect world, you have ‘x’ amount of forwards, nobody gets hurt and everybody plays well. You can keep rolling out the same guys. But, we all know that’s not possible,” Eigner said.
Eigner said freshman Austen Swankler has practiced after missing Saturday’s game with an illness. The expectation is that Swankler will play this weekend.
Eigner said sophomore Ethan Scardina is in concussion protocol after taking a hit to the head in last Friday’s game. It is unknown if he will play.
The first game of the series will be Friday. Puck will drop at 7:07 p.m. The second game is Saturday at 6:07 p.m.
