The nationally-ranked Bowling Green hockey team has battled consistency, especially during the second
half of the season.
The Falcons, who had been striving for the WCHA tournament’s second seed to secure home ice through at
least the semifinals, split each of their last eight series’ and settled for the third seed.
BG, including exhibitions and extended overtime victories, began the season 17-3-1. Since then, including
a series split with this weekend’s opponent in sixth-seeded Michigan Tech, the Falcons have gone 8-6-2.

“I don’t think it’s that far gone. I think it’s right there, we just need to bear down a little bit and
hopefully bring a little more focus, a little purpose to what we’re doing,” BG head coach Chris Bergeron
said. “I believe in my heart, the playoffs will do that, knowing that next weekend is not guaranteed in
terms of hockey.
“I think when our group knows that, its best game comes out.”
The Falcons (21-9-5), ranked No. 15 in latest Division I U.S. College Hockey Online poll, will need its
best game to open the WCHA tournament at 7:37 p.m. on Friday at the Slater Family Ice Arena.
Michigan Tech (14-18-4), in a home series, closed the schools’ January matchup with a 3-2 win to force a
series split.
Despite entering as the lower-seeded team, the Huskies bring plenty of experience as the reigning
two-time WCHA tournament champion.
“I think the guys in the room know that when we’re right we can play with anybody in the country,” BG
defenseman Alec Rauhauser said. “We’ve played against top-10 teams, top-five teams and we’ve done really
well against them. It’s just that trying to get there more of the time with the inconsistency we’ve
had.”
BG swept Minnesota State, ranked fourth, with a pair of 4-1 victories in the middle of December. In a
five-day span from Oct. 23-27, the Falcons topped No. 7 Ohio State, 8-2, and No. 12 Western Michigan,
4-1. BG also tied the Buckeyes 2-2 in the series finale.
The sweep of WCHA’s top ranked Minnesota State was the Falcons’ last series sweep before splitting the
next eight series. BG notched back-to-back wins in that span — in the series finale with Alaska and its
opener with Ferris State.
“Our A-game, when we have to reach in and get it, it’s a handful for anybody,” Bergeron said. “It’s not
like it’s been totally one way one night and the other way the other night. The score says that, there’s
no doubt it does, but from realistically watching the game, it’s not that. It’s lapses on one night and
then the next night we roll.
“We’re leaning on the fact that we know we’re pretty good when we play the way we’re supposed to play. It
wasn’t two months ago that we played two good hockey games back to back.”
NOTES: Bowling Green has won at least 20 games in a season for the fifth consecutive year. … Max Johnson
leads the Falcons with 14 goals (T-4th in the WCHA). … Connor Ford and Lukas Craggs have scored 13 goals
apiece. … Brandon Kruse’s 28 assists lead both BG and the conference. … Since beating BG, Michigan Tech
has went 3-8-2 to finish its regular season.