"Falcon Rising"

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by Ryan Evans/CHN Reporter

With eight wins in its first 12 games, Bowling Green (8-3-1, 5-1-0 WCHA) is off to one of its best starts in recent memory. The Falcons are sitting in a tie for second in the WCHA, are ranked for the first time in seven years, and look like a legitimate threat for its first NCAA tournament appearance in over two decades.

Right now things are looking up for BGSU, but it was not all that long ago the conversation about, and vibe around, the program had a much different tone.

Back in 2009, once-proud Bowling Green hockey program was on the verge of extinction. Amid years of losing seasons, an aging arena, and the resulting inability to attract the top players necessary for national success, the in-debt athletic department was considering doing away with hockey as a varsity sport as a cost-cutting measure.

Thanks to the efforts of grassroots campaigns, and eventually the university’s “Bring Back the Glory” campaign — which also helped raise money for arena renovations — that didn’t happen, but the team was still looking at a long road back to relevance, the first step of which was bringing in then-Miami assistant Chris Bergeron as head coach after an abysmal 5-25-6 campaign in 2009-10.

Bergeron was tasked with building the struggling program from the ground up. To do that, he set out to alter the perceptions and expectations around it and the BGSU faithful are beginning to see the payoff of those efforts. The Falcons’ win total has increased every season under Bergeron, their third place finish in the WCHA last year was their highest conference finish in 19 years, and this season’s start has put them back in the national conversation.

“It hasn’t been easy,” Bergeron said. “We’re seeing now that some of those expectations and perceptions have changed for the positive. The results are starting to show a little bit more about what’s going on here.

“There were people who were questioning the commitment that Bowling Green had to its hockey program. What we wanted to do is show people that we are committed.”

Another monkey wrench entered the equation when the CCHA broke up and Bowling Green needed a new conference. It's safe to say people around Bowling Green were uneasy with an alliance with other CCHA castoffs and leftover WCHA programs.

Today, Bowling Green is not only committed to having a hockey program, but is striving to make it a great one. And it is thriving in the WCHA, a conference which has enabled the program to get its feet back on the ground.

“I want that to be the expectation,” Bergeron said. “I think that’s something that has developed since we’ve been here. Now, those expectations are real.”

With the Falcons’ recent renaissance, it has been easier for the program to attract more talent. Bergeron and his staff are selling players on the idea of being a part of something special at Bowling Green. Four years ago, that meant being a part of a turnaround, nowadays it means being on a team that expects to compete for championships.

That mindset has lead to the arrival of players like freshman defenseman Mark Friedman, who was the highest WCHA player selected in the 2014 NHL Draft (3rd round, 86th overall to Philadelphia) and is seeing big minutes on the blue line this season; sophomore forward Kevin Dufour, who sits tied atop the national goal-scoring leaderboard with nine goals in 12 games this season; and sophomore forwards Matt Pohlkamp and Pierre-Luc Mercier, who both rank among the WCHA’s top-10 point-getters with nine apiece.

The Falcons certainly appear to be a team on the rise. After advancing to the WCHA Final Five last year, BGSU lost a lot of seniors and suffered a few key early departures. It hasn’t missed a beat, though, thanks to an impressive collection of young talent. Of Bowling Green’s 28-man roster, over half are underclassmen. That group has been thrown into the fire early in their careers and has embraced the opportunity. The Falcons boast the second-highest scoring group of underclassmen in the country, with 67 points on the year (28+39), and their defense ranks among the top-20 nationally at 2.25 goals allowed per game.

“It means a lot to be put in situations where the team can trust me,” Pohlkamp said. “When you have those opportunities you have to go out and take advantage of them.”

Bowling Green’s young group is getting a valuable chance to learn and grow together during the formative stages of their college hockey careers. The early results have been positive, and if that keeps up the Falcons will be dangerous for years to come.

“Our team this year has high potential,” Dufour said. “I think we can go really far.”

As with any young team, the struggle for Bowling Green is going to be consistency, but Bergeron believes that the lessons his group is learning on a daily basis right now by being put into big-time opportunities early on are going to pay dividends in the long run.

“We like our group,” he said. “I hope, from a program perspective, that the future is bright because of the people we have.”

If the past few years for Bowling Green are any indication, that is certainly the case.