Although Bowling Green appears headed for a last-place finish in the Central Collegiate Hockey
Association, BG coach Chris Bergeron believes the team is building for the future.
BG, idle this weekend, is 7-17-2 overall and last in the league with a 2-14-2-0 record. BG is nine points
behind 10th-place Michigan State, which has played two fewer games.
"Every day, we’re finding out who wants to be a part of the solution and who doesn’t," said
Bergeron, who is in his first season. "I don’t care what our record is at the end of the year, it’s
going to be a positive. It is because the groundwork will be set for the future. We’re setting the
groundwork every day.
"At the end of this season, we’re going to be able to say, this is where you fit in or we don’t
think you’re part of the solution. If you don’t, you’re not asked back. We were brought here to win
hockey games and develop people. We’re developing people, but we’re not winning games. We’re going to be
able to do both."
NEXT: BG returns to action Jan. 28-29 when it hosts Lake Superior (9-11-4, 5-9-2-0).
"We’re just trying to get to the point where we go out and play and control the things we can
control every single day, and not let our record or what went on yesterday impact our focus today,"
Bergeron said. "That’s our focus as a staff and we need 25 guys to buy into that. We need to stick
to the plan and keep pushing forward.
"The challenge we have as coaches is to prove to the guys this is going to work. All we can do is
tell them because right now they’re saying, ‘I am doing everything coach and it’s not working. Maybe I
shouldn’t do everything you say.’ That’s what happens on poor teams and that’s where the negativity
comes in. People start to stray off the path and it’s our job to make sure that doesn’t happen. We’re
trying to stay as positive as possible. We’re begging for some people to step up (as leaders) and take
this thing over and make it theirs."
PK: BG has allowed just one power-play goal in its last five games, killing off 22 of its last 23
short-handed situations.
BG is seventh in the league at 81.3 percent (109-of-134).
