DETROIT — Bowling Green’s terrific playoff run created optimism about the Falcon
hockey programNow, second-year coach Chris Bergeron expects it to raise the
expectations of the team’s players for next season.The Falcons ended their season
Saturday with a 4-1 loss to Miami in the consolation game of the Central Collegiate
Hockey Association playoffs at Joe Louis Arena.After finishing last in the CCHA during
the regular season, BG won at No. 2 and regular-season league champion Ferris State and
17th-ranked Northern Michigan to advance to the semifinals for the first time since
2001.BG nearly advanced to the finals, but dropped a 3-2 double-overtime loss to No. 3
Michigan Friday.The Falcons, 14-25-5 overall, played well during the second half of the
season. BG was 8-12-2 in its final 22 games, all but two of the games coming against
ranked opponents.“Expectations,” Bergeron said when asked what he wants his team to
take out of the second half. “I’m not saying necessarily saying they expect to end up at
Joe Louis Arena, but they expect to come to the rink with a mind-set to get better and
then we go into every game with the expectation we’re going to win.“We’ve got people in
place who are willing to do what they need to do to make that happen,” Bergeron added.
“That’s the mind-set we took most of the second half. We’re going to continue with that
as we continue to build this program back to where we all feel it belongs.”BG had nine
freshmen and nine sophomores, and many were used in key situations.“With the core
returning, it’ll only get better,” said BG junior goalie Andrew Hammond, who stopped
84-of-91 shots (.923 save percentage) over the weekend. “This summer will be important
for us to take another step forward. We proved to ourselves we can play with every team
in the league. Just having built that confidence is really huge moving forward.”IRON
MAN: Hammond started all 44 games, posting a 2.73 goals-against average and a .903 save
percentage.He had to start every game after a sports hernia injury to freshman Wyatt
Galley, who was expected to see some playing time this season.“Andrew’s year has kind
of been like our team’s year,” Bergeron said. “He did great. His game got better as the
year went on. It was never bad, but as we tried to take this program from OK to good,
he’s going from good to great. That’s a lifestyle. That’s not easy. He put his arms
around that. We’re very proud of him.”Hammond’s stats are even more impressive because
he knew he was going to start every game and he had to play well every night to give the
Falcons a chance to win.In BG’s eight playoff games, he stopped 286-of-312 shots for a
.917 save percentage.“We all saw this weekend, the last three weeks, Andrew’s capable
of being an all-league-type goaltender and that’s going to be the expectation for him
individually next year,” Bergeron said.OFFENSE: BG’s high-scoring trio of Adam Berkle,
Ryan Carpenter and Dan DeSalvo had just one goal in the two games, that coming from
Carpenter.Two other key offensive players, Bryce Williamson and Cam Wojtala, didn’t
have a goal. Wojtala did have two assists.ROAD KILL: BG’s playoff success the last two
seasons is even more impressive because all six wins came on the road, including four
this season against ranked teams.It also was a bounce away from beating Michigan at Joe
Louis Arena, the Wolverines’ home away from home.INJURED: BG played the final 39
minutes against Miami with just five defensemen after Ryan Peltoma suffered a shoulder
injury. He was checked hard into the boards.PP/PK: BG was 1-of-6 on the power play in
the two games, and allowed just one power-play goal in five attempts.The Falcons had
just five penalties, all minors.FAREWELL: The game capped the careers for BG’s two
seniors, forwards Cam Sinclair and James McIntosh.