After BGSU hockey was swept by Bemidji State, the Falcons will look to rebound against No. 18 Michigan
Tech this weekend at Slater Family Ice Arena.
The Falcons fell from No. 5 to No. 8 in the latest USCHO poll after the sweep.
It was a physical matchup with the Beavers that resulted in close losses both games, but now the Falcons
have to shake that off as they head into an important matchup with the Huskies, said BGSU head coach Ty
Eigner.
“You have to give credit where credit is due and Bemidji did a really good job last weekend and we have
to move forward to Michigan Tech who is another very good team,” Eigner said. “We have to work on the
things and control the things that we can control and get back to playing the game the way that we are
capable of playing, that’s our first priority.”
Not only do the Huskies find themselves inside the USCHO rankings, they also are on a seven-game win
streak coming into the series with BGSU. They started off 1-3 and are now 8-3 overall and 2-0 in the
WCHA.
They are led by junior Forward Trenton Bliss who leads the team in assists with seven and goals with
four. Junior forward Brian Halonen also has four goals.
Eigner knows just how important this series is going to be and how important it is going to be to pull
out close games inside the WCHA.
“We know that we’re going to have tight games here coming down the stretch based on who we are playing
and it is important that we are prepared to play in those tight games. We know that a lot of times we
may not get a bunch of power play opportunities in games like that so you need to be able to take
advantage of those situations,” he said.
When it comes to Michigan Tech, the Falcons are going to need to capitalize when they can on the power
play but that will be tough. The Huskies are second in the WCHA this season on the penalty kill, killing
the other team’s power play 93% of the time. The Falcons are sixth, killing the power play 81% of the
time.
While the Falcons haven’t been able to score on the power play often, just 18% of the time, they have
been very successful overall at putting pucks into the back of the net.
Led by Brandon Kruse who has 21 points, thanks to 12 goals and nine assists on the season, the Falcons
are No. 1 in the WCHA in goals scored per game this season at 3.8.
Despite putting up these impressive offensive numbers, Eigner said the Falcons know that they are coming
off a rough weekend, while Michigan Tech comes in riding a winning streak.
“They are coming in here feeling really good about themselves as a team and we are coming off a weekend
where we didn’t play great and we maybe don’t feel great. It is important that we understand that and we
acknowledge that and we are ready to go,” he said.
This isn’t going to be a Michigan Tech team that let’s their guard down while on a high, Eigner said. The
Huskies know just how dangerous the Falcons have been all season.
“They are going to be excited to play us and we are going to get their best effort,” he said. “This
weekend we have to be prepared that Michigan Tech right away at 7 o’clock on Friday night is going to
come out and play really really well.”
The puck is set to drop at 7:07 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday at the Slater Family Ice Arena.
