Quality leadership is becoming one of Bowling Green’s strengths.
The Falcon hockey team had good leadership this season, even though it finished
14-25-5 overall and last in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association with a
5-19-4 record.
The team worked consistently hard during the season and never quit during a difficult
first half of the season.
BG played well during most of the second half and eventually advanced to the
semifinals of the CCHA playoffs.
“I liked what was happening on its own without any official appointment from the
coach to see guys in hard situations over the whole year,” said BG coach Chris
Bergeron, who will start his third season in the fall. “I liked the way guys
stayed resilient even though it wasn’t about one person leading the way. It was
all of us collectively not accepting where we were and constantly pushing to get
better. Some leaders have developed on their own.”
BG has named sophomore forward Cam Wojtala and freshmen forward Ryan Carpenter as its
captains for next season.
Wojtala and Carpenter are members of the team’s leadership committee that also
consists of junior goalie Andrew Hammond and sophomore forward Andrew Wallace.

Bergeron said the only difference in the roles for Wojtala and Carpenter, and Hammond
and Wallace are that Wojtala and Carpenter will wear the ‘C’ as captains on the
jersey during games.
“All four of them have to continue to progress as players and get their individual
games to a certain level,” Bergeron said. “The leadership part then becomes the
second piece of that.”
BG didn’t have captains this season as the coaches wanted every player to contribute
as a leader in their own way. By doing that, the team’s leaders would emerge.

The Falcons started spring workouts Monday.
“It’s important to have that leadership in place as we start to prepare for the
2012-13 season,” Bergeron said. “The captains will have each other to lean on,
but we don’t want our leadership to be limited to one or two guys. We want it to
be a collective effort.”
CAPTAINS: Wojtala and Carpenter were picked as captains based on input from the
players and coaches. They were two of the BG’s top players, combining for 21
goals and 32 assists, and skating in all situations.
“First and foremost, they live the lifestyle and their work ethic is very good,”
Bergeron said. “They expect to be at a certain level, whether it be in the
classroom, the weight room or on the ice. They have the trust and respect of
their teammates.”
UNION: BG is close to finalizing a home-and-home contract with Union, which is
playing in the semifinals of the NCAA Frozen Four next week. Union would visit
BG this fall (Oct. 12-13), with the Falcons traveling to Union during the
2013-14 season.
The Dutchmen, who won the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference title and are 26-7-7
overall, have just three seniors.
Among the returnees for next season are first-team ECAC selections in goalie Troy
Grosenick and defenseman Mat Bodie; second-team forward Jeremy Welsh and
all-rookie team defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere.
Grosenick, a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, ranks second nationally in both
goals-against average (1.64) and save percentage (.936).
LEARNING: Bergeron said the season was a learning experience for him as a coach as
well. He’s consistently stressed focusing on the details and the process,
letting the results take care of themselves.
But during the team’s 0-6-2 stretch to finish the first half, Bergeron said he became
too worried about the results.
“All of a sudden, the rink became a not very nice place to be. That’s unacceptable on
my part and I’m not going to let that happen again,” he said.
But after talking to assistant coaches Barry Schutte and Ty Eigner, his friends and
wife Janis, Bergeron went back to worrying about the process and the details
when the second half started.
“It’s just been a process this year of us going through experiences with a group of
guys having never gone through it before, whether it was individual experiences
of collective experiences,” Bergeron said. “I just needed to do a better job of
staying focused on the process and the details because there were good things
happening, even when we’re getting the results. I had to be minded of that.
We’re a stronger bunch because of it. This is going to pay off.”