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Less than a week to go to the exhibition so i figure it's time for predictions! Heres mine.

At the very least another solid season, but honestly I expect alot more. Last year I thought we would have some struggles, and that came to pass. This year we have less to replace, and a really solid junior/senior group. If we aren't a clear #1 in the WCHA I'll be disappointed. Looking for a few guys to really step it up, Baylis and Reichert in particular.

I'm going out on a limb here but I don't think we will give up 77 goals in a game. Make that two games.

Here was my prediction:

1 Michigan Tech
2 Bowling Green
3 Minnesota St
4 Ferris St
5 Northern Michigan
6 LSSU
7 Bemidji
8 UAH
9 UAF
10 UAA


F Shine (NMU)
F Mayhew (FSU)
F L'Esperance (MTU)
D Roy (MTU)
D Walker (BGSU)
G Nell (BGSU)

MVP: Shine (NMU)


I'm really hoping we finish first, but honestly, we tend to fall apart after the break and lose some really bad games. Michigan Tech is stacked top to bottom and they've proven they can win consistently. Our offense was a huge disappointment last season, but I have faith the guys will step it up and play at the level Berge expects. I expect Nell to be in the running for the Richter Award, he'll be fun to watch. Overall, should be a great season!

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birdsofafeather wrote:I think BG finishes 3rd in the league.. again. Tech and Mankato will fight it out for top spot.

They need guys to be given the green light to play more offensively. They are so defensively focused that it ill be tough to score more. Always in games because of the goaltending and defensive game mentality.

They have guys who have scored at other levels. I think you gotta free it up a little bit.

How dare you talk about the team that way? We're the best program ever! I just don't know if we can handle the schedule. We may play up to 10 games this year against teams in the top 30 of the RPI...not to mention 4 games against Alabama-Huntsville!!!

birdsofafeather wrote:I think BG finishes 3rd in the league.. again. Tech and Mankato will fight it out for top spot.

They need guys to be given the green light to play more offensively. They are so defensively focused that it ill be tough to score more. Always in games because of the goaltending and defensive game mentality.

They have guys who have scored at other levels. I think you gotta free it up a little bit.

I would hope our boys finish at least third. They had the talent last season but didn't have the ability or something to finish. Not that it would helped the standings, but we shouldn't have lost twice to WMU.

Bergeron has emphasized defenseman contributing offensively from the day he arrived.

This team can win the WCHA. The program needs to take the next step and kick in the door.

Apollo,
Do you ever add anything positive to any thread?

Mike,
You beat me to it. Does Apollo have ANY positive things to say about his ( I assume) alma mater?
We're all entitled to opinions, but it'd be nice to see some positive comments once in awhile.

BG84 wrote:

birdsofafeather wrote:I think BG finishes 3rd in the league.. again. Tech and Mankato will fight it out for top spot.

They need guys to be given the green light to play more offensively. They are so defensively focused that it ill be tough to score more. Always in games because of the goaltending and defensive game mentality.

They have guys who have scored at other levels. I think you gotta free it up a little bit.

I would hope our boys finish at least third. They had the talent last season but didn't have the ability or something to finish. Not that it would helped the standings, but we shouldn't have lost twice to WMU.

Bergeron has emphasized defenseman contributing offensively from the day he arrived.

The poor play on Friday nights resulting in losses to the bottom of the league hurt far more than the losses to Western. Never did the actual math, but I'm pretty sure flipping BG's losses against the bottom 4 teams would have landed BG, Tech, and Ferris (automatic qualifier) in the NCAA tournament. BG would have ran away with the regular season as well.

But the could've, would've, should'ves from last year are long gone. Everybody is starting with a 0-0-0-0 record. Work your ass off from the drop of the puck to the final horn, every game, and there will be no worries this season.

pdt1081 wrote:

BG84 wrote:

birdsofafeather wrote:I think BG finishes 3rd in the league.. again. Tech and Mankato will fight it out for top spot.

They need guys to be given the green light to play more offensively. They are so defensively focused that it ill be tough to score more. Always in games because of the goaltending and defensive game mentality.

They have guys who have scored at other levels. I think you gotta free it up a little bit.

I would hope our boys finish at least third. They had the talent last season but didn't have the ability or something to finish. Not that it would helped the standings, but we shouldn't have lost twice to WMU.

Bergeron has emphasized defenseman contributing offensively from the day he arrived.

The poor play on Friday nights resulting in losses to the bottom of the league hurt far more than the losses to Western. Never did the actual math, but I'm pretty sure flipping BG's losses against the bottom 4 teams would have landed BG, Tech, and Ferris (automatic qualifier) in the NCAA tournament. BG would have ran away with the regular season as well.

But the could've, would've, should'ves from last year are long gone. Everybody is starting with a 0-0-0-0 record. Work your ass off from the drop of the puck to the final horn, every game, and there will be no worries this season.

I agree. Losing twice to Western hurt our PWR which wasn't good. But there were 3 losses down the stretch that were really killer. That "fluke" goal LSSU scored in OT, not sweeping AK (OK, it's tough sweeping up there but if you're a championship caliber team you find a way), and giving up 7 goals in that first game of the series down in Huntsville (UFB). Win one of three and you tie for the cup. Win two and it's all yours. We just can't seem to stay mentally strong for an entire season. Same pattern two years in a row -- start strong, finish weak. Bergeron mentioned that in his presser. Hoping the team has finally learned how to win, but we won't know this until Feb. Until then, take 'em one game at a time.

This year's schedule is a bit kinder to us in the second half with the majority of our games being at home. Hopefully that will help with our second half woes.

While the last two seasons have netted 20+ wins, those are the first two consecutive 20+ wins this team has had in a very, very long time. Face it, we were really, really bad and we had a very long way to go to get where we are today but that journey isn't done. While recruiting is easier than it was 6 years ago we still aren't getting the same caliber of recruits as, say, Miami or UM gets on a regular basis. That is still changing which is evidenced by the 3 drafted players on our team this year but compare our 3 to the number that Miami has. We are getting there, but we still have some growing to do. Hopefully this year we will turn that corner a little bit further. Winning the league would help immensely.

Class of 61 wrote:Mike,
You beat me to it. Does Apollo have ANY positive things to say about his ( I assume) alma mater?
We're all entitled to opinions, but it'd be nice to see some positive comments once in awhile.

Falconfreak90 wrote:This team can win the WCHA. The program needs to take the next step and kick in the door.

Apollo,
Do you ever add anything positive to any thread?

Not really....Eventually BG will finally get into the NCAA tournament. It's just a matter time...we've put a ton of money into the program and play in the second worst league in the country. This year especially the WCHA schedule is a joke. I certainly don't think Bergeron is a dummy, he's clearly doing a solid job. We're just not anything more than average. If we played the competition we played 5 years ago everyone would be ready to fire Bergeron. I'm just not fooled by the schedule. Sorry if you don't like it...it's my opinion.

apollo wrote:

Class of 61 wrote:Mike,
You beat me to it. Does Apollo have ANY positive things to say about his ( I assume) alma mater?
We're all entitled to opinions, but it'd be nice to see some positive comments once in awhile.

Falconfreak90 wrote:This team can win the WCHA. The program needs to take the next step and kick in the door.

Apollo,
Do you ever add anything positive to any thread?

Not really....Eventually BG will finally get into the NCAA tournament. It's just a matter time...we've put a ton of money into the program and play in the second worst league in the country. This year especially the WCHA schedule is a joke. I certainly don't think Bergeron is a dummy, he's clearly doing a solid job. We're just not anything more than average. If we played the competition we played 5 years ago everyone would be ready to fire Bergeron. I'm just not fooled by the schedule. Sorry if you don't like it...it's my opinion.

I think you're overestimating the talent gap from the CCHA to the WCHA. Easy to do with the sexy names that were a part of it, but if you don't see the improvement in the teams we have put on the ice, you don't know hockey.

I'm not saying we haven't improved, but it's not leaps and bounds better from say 2005-8...it has more to do with not having to play a bunch of solid programs and 2-3 elite programs every year in conference. We now play 3-4 solid programs every year with 0-1 elite programs. Take a look at the Pairwise Rankings....it's not made up...it's a fact. Yes we've improved, yes we're now a solid program, no we're not one of the top 15-20 programs in the country.

apollo wrote:I'm not saying we haven't improved, but it's not leaps and bounds better from say 2005-8...it has more to do with not having to play a bunch of solid programs and 2-3 elite programs every year in conference. We now play 3-4 solid programs every year with 0-1 elite programs. Take a look at the Pairwise Rankings....it's not made up...it's a fact. Yes we've improved, yes we're now a solid program, no we're not one of the top 15-20 programs in the country.

As a person who was around the hockey program from 2007-09, I can assure you they are leaps and bounds better than now than then. There's no debate.