Bowling Green’s hockey team is confident
its goaltending will be consistently good this season.The Falcons believe sophomore Tommy Burke and freshman
Tomas Sholl can fill the void left by Andrew Hammond.Hammond finished an outstanding four-year career as one
of the best goalies in Falcon history. His 2.84 goals-against average was the second-best in BG history and
his .906 save percentage was the third-best by a Falcon."We like our goaltending," BG coach Chris
Bergeron said. "It’s just the one position where we don’t have guys who have proven it over a length of
time."Burke had the usual ups and downs of a freshman last season, but played well overall. He had a
2.57 goals-against average and an .889 save percentage in 16 games.Sholl played for the Fresno Monsters in
the North American (Junior) Hockey League last season. He had a 3.14 goals-against and a .908 save
percentage in 32 games."We think it’s going to be by committee," Bergeron said of the goaltending.
"They both want to play and they both want to contribute. It’s not going to be a one-game situation
where you play poorly and you’re out."

Bergeron added Sholl is "ready to push" for the No. 1 job
and Burke has "elevated his game" since the end of last season.The goalies should benefit from
having a solid and experienced team in front of them. The two shouldn’t have to make 35 or more saves per
game on a consistent basis."We’re going to let it play out for a while," Bergeron said. "We
want to give these guys a chance to prove themselves and see how it shakes out."Bergeron isn’t partial
to using to just one goalie or having a rotation where one goalie plays Friday and the other plays
Saturday."I’ve seen the rotation work and take teams to the national tournament and deep in the
national tournament," Bergeron said. "Every goalie wants to be the No. 1 guy. They don’t want to
share the net. But it’s not a bad thing to have that focus on winning one game every weekend and you have a
partner who is just as good and has that same focus."If it turns out to be a situation where it’s one
guy like Andrew Hammond, I can live with that, too."VETERANS: The Falcons finally have an experienced
team with nine juniors and eight seniors on their 28-player roster. They also have six sophomores who saw
extensive playing time last season."They’re the guys who are basically driving the bus and we expect
them to hold themselves and each other to a standard that you expect of upperclassmen,’ Bergeron said of the
juniors and seniors."What our juniors and seniors have been through, in terms of playing time and
playing in difficult circumstances, in terms of winning and losing, I sure hope they’re ready to take the
reigns and take this program to where we all want it to go. That’s how it’s going to get there …. by
stressing all of the things we’ve been talking about the last couple years. Hopefully, we’ll see the fruits
of that every day."SENIORS: Of BG’s eight seniors, it’s possible only four will be regulars – forwards
Brett Mohler, Andrew Wallace, Bryce Williamson and Cam Wojtala.RECRUITS: Even though Bergeron is in his
fourth season, the team still only has three of his recruiting classes.Wojtala is the only senior recruited
by the current coaching staff.SHOOTOUTS: The Western Collegiate Hockey Association will not use shootouts in
league games to break ties if the score is tied after overtime.Each team will receive one point for the tie.
Regulation and overtime wins are worth two points.Overtime will be 5-on-5 for five minutes.The now-defunct
Central Collegiate Hockey Association, where BG previously played, used shootouts.PAIRINGS: The Falcons will
face Boston College at 4:35 p.m. in the semifinals of the Three Rivers Classic Dec. 27 in Pittsburgh.BG
plays Robert Morris or Penn State in the consolation/championship game Dec. 28. The consolation is at 4:35
p.m., followed by the championship at 7:35 p.m.