Bowling Green’s still learning how to win.
Unfortunately, the lessons have been painful of late.
The Falcons have held a one-goal lead going into the third period in five of their last six games, but
they’re only 1-2-2 in those games.
They’re struggled to score the extra goal or two to increase their lead and they’ve hard key defensive
mistakes.
And Dec. 10 against Ohio State, the Falcons held a 2-0 lead with 15 minutes left only to lose 4-2 in
regulation.
"I still think we’re a work in progress," BG coach Chris Bergeron said. "We have to find a
way to win the games we are in control of. We need to find a way to finish off games. For the most part,
our effort has been pretty consistent. Now, we need to execute in difficult times."
The Falcons have nine freshmen and 10 sophomores on a team that was won just five times last season. This
season, BG is 7-13-2 overall and 2-10-2-0 in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association.
"We’re affected by too many things, whether it’s a bad shift, a bad period, a bad game, a bad play
during a shift," he said. "We have to be in those positions more and more to know what buttons
to push when we’re in those situations. We believe the more times we’re in that position, the more
prepared we’re going to be to execute and be successful."
DEFENSE: The Falcons have their hands full Friday and Saturday when they host Ferris State, one of
college hockey’s best defensive teams.
Ferris is third nationally in goals allowed (2.05 per game) and seventh in penalty-killing (87.4 percent,
90-of-103).
Senior goalie Pat Nagle leads the CCHA with a 1.84 goals-against average and is second with a .929 save
percentage, while classmate Zach Redmond is one of the league’s best at his position.
Meanwhile, BG is scoring 2.18 goals per game and converting at 11.8 percent (12-of-102) on the power
play.
Ferris, tied for fourth in the CCHA, are 9-8-4 overall and 6-3-2-2 in the league.
MILESTONE: Ferris coach Bob Daniels is one win shy of his 300th career victory.
Daniels is 299-342-73 in 18 seasons overall, all at Ferris State. The Bulldogs won the CCHA title in
2003.
GPA: BG had a 3.15 team grade-point average during the fall semester, including 4.0s by Scott Zacharias
and Reed Rushing.
