Random thoughts on the day after Christmas with family still being the best gift of
all:LOOKING AHEAD: Bowling Green’s hockey team has reason to look forward to its final 16 games of the
season.The Falcons have improved and played consistently well during the second half in each of Chris
Bergeron’s first three seasons as head coach.And this season, the second-half schedule is manageable.That
doesn’t guarantee success. But if BG can play well, it can overcome a disappointing first half of the
season.The Falcons believed they would contend for the Western Collegiate Hockey Association championship at
the start of the season, but they’re 8-8-4 overall and 6-6-2 in the league entering this weekend’s games in
the Three Rivers Classic.They’ve played well for 40 minutes or more during most of their games, but the poor
stretches during those games prevented BG from winning more. And the Falcons have battled injuries and a
difficult schedule.The bottom line is the Falcons’ record is a fair representation of how the team has
played – regardless of the schedule and the injuries.Yet, they survived to finish in a third-place tie with
Bemidji State in the WCHA.BG and Bemidji each have 14 points to trail Ferris State with 22 and Minnesota
State with 18. Right behind are Michigan Tech, Lake Superior and Alaska-Anchorage, each with 12.BG and
Bemidji, however, have played two more games than the other five teams.The top eight teams make the
playoffs, with the first four teams hosting quarterfinal series.SCHEDULE: Second-ranked Ferris and No. 20
MSU have been the two best teams in the WCHA, and the Falcons won’t see either team during the second half
of the regular season.The Falcons have six straight home games in January, including home series against
Lake Superior and Tech. BG also has a home series against Bemidji.Ferris and MSU still have their only
series of the season to play, and Tech still has to play Ferris four times and MSU twice.Although BG will
have a hard time catching the top two teams, it still controls where it’ll finish in the league.The Falcons
were 2-3-1 against Ferris and MSU, but four of the games were one-goal games and a fifth was a two-goal game
where the second goal was an empty-net with less than two minutes play. Four of the games went to
overtime.KEY: Although BG must have improvement from every player and in every aspect of the game for a big
second half, it really needs its defense corps to be significantly better.The defensemen were expected to be
BG’s strength, based on their experience. But they haven’t played well and when they’re off, the rest of the
team’s game isn’t as sharp.The BG coaching staff was so unhappy with their defensemen during the first half
they moved forward Dajon Mingo back to the blueline to add an offensive threat and to create more
competition at the position.Had the defense played as well as expected, Mingo likely would have stayed at
forward.NEWCOMERS: One of the bright spots of the first half for BG was the play of freshmen forwards Matt
Pohlkamp, Pierre-Luc Mercier and Kevin Dufour.The three have combined for 11 goals and 14 goals this season,
and have helped out on the BG special teams. Mercier and Pohlkamp have played in all 20 games, and Dufour
has missed just two games.Although injured forwards Ryan Carpenter, Adam Berkle and Brett Mohler aren’t
easily replaced, the play of the three freshmen softened some of the damage done by the injuries.Pohlkamp,
Mercier and Dufour took advantage of their extra ice time and figure to be even better with experience.TV:
Here’s wishing the NFL or a college football bowl game or two would play on Christmas Day to provide some
relief from the NBA marathon on ESPN and ABC.Even the NHL should consider playing an outdoor game on
Christmas Day, given the lack of competition from other sports.Fortunately, the three Santa Claus movies
with Tim Allen and Christmas Vacation were on the ABC Family Channel to enjoy.