The 2024–25 Bowling Green Falcons men's ice hockey season was the 56th season of play for the program and the 46th in the CCHA. The Falcons represented Bowling Green State University, played their home games at the Slater Family Ice Arena and were coached by Dennis Williams in his 1st full season, having served as the interim head coach during the 2009–2010 season.
Season After a third consecutive losing season and a hazing scandal to boot, Bowling Green turned to former player and interim head coach Dennis Williams to right the ship. One issue Williams did not have to contend with was a great deal of roster turnover as the program lost only two players to graduation while none departed through the transfer portal. Despite a largely intact lineup, the team had a little trouble early in the season. While Bowling Green was able to post seven wins in the first half of the season, all of those victories came against teams that finished the year at or near the bottom of the national rankings. The result was, in spite of a .500 record, the Falcons were ranked just above the bottom quarter of teams in the nation by Christmas.
Regardless of their national rankings, BGSU was seeing improvements as the season progressed. Once Christian Stoever returned from an injury and was able to resume the starting role, the team began to string some wins together. The Falcons went 9–2–2 in the middle of the year to lift themselves up near the top of the conference standings, all but guaranteeing them a home site the conference quarterfinals. The absence of Stoever for a stretch in February nearly cost the team its position in the standings but he returned just in time to force Michigan Tech to come to Ohio for their matchup.
Stoever continued his torrid pace into the postseason, surrendering just 1 goals to the Huskies in their two wins. The Falcons were able to end a six-game playoff losing streak and advance for the first time in five years. With the team just two wins away from a tournament berth, they travelled to face St. Thomas for the semifinal. After exchanging goals in the second, Bowling Green fell behind in the third and began firing the puck on goal every chance they got in an effort to tie the match. Unfortunately, their mediocre offense was unable to find the equalizer and, once Stoever had been pulled for an extra attacker, an empty-net goal in the final minute of play put the final nail in the team's season.
Departures Spencer Kersten Forward Graduation (signed with Orlando Solar Bears) Josh Nodler Defenseman Graduation (signed with Jacksonville Icemen)
Recruiting Ville Immonen Forward 25 Seinäjoki, FIN; graduate transfer from Union Matvei Kabanov Forward 21 Togliatti, RUS; transfer from Northern Michigan Ivan Korodiuk Defenseman 20 Kyiv, UKR; joined mid-season Max Martin Forward 20 Tawas City, MI Jackson Niedermayer Forward 23 Newport Beach, CA; transfer from Arizona State Adam Žlnka Forward 20 Detva, SVK; selected 204th overall in 2022
Roster As of December 31, 2024.
Standings
Schedule and results
!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season
!colspan=12 style=";" |
Scoring statistics LW 36 11 22 33 16 LW 36 16 6 22 20 F 36 10 12 22 43 F 32 5 13 18 16 D 36 2 15 17 17 C 35 7 9 16 31 C 36 6 10 16 4 D 30 4 12 16 35 C/RW 35 6 8 14 10 F 34 5 8 13 20 D 36 1 9 10 6 F 32 6 3 9 10 LW 33 2 6 8 12 D 35 1 6 7 14 LW 13 2 4 6 2 D 36 1 5 6 19 D 35 2 3 5 37 F 30 1 4 5 22 C/W 21 1 3 4 12 F 15 1 0 1 2 D 17 0 1 1 4 F 1 0 0 0 0 F 2 0 0 0 0 D 4 0 0 0 0 C 9 0 0 0 4 F 11 0 0 0 2 D 13 0 0 0 2 G 18 0 0 0 0 G 20 0 0 0 0 Bench – – – – – 18 Total 90 159 249 397
Goaltending statistics 18 1092:22 12 3 3 32 517 3 .942 1.76 20 1113:19 6 11 1 52 504 1 .906 2.80 Empty Net - 13:17 - - - 1 - - - - Total 36 3311:20 18 14 4 85 1021 4 .929 2.12
Rankings
PollWeekPre 1 23456789101112131415161718192021222324252627 (Final) USCHO.comNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR–NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR–NR USA HockeyNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR–NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR Note: USCHO did not release a poll in week 12 or 26.Note: USA Hockey did not release a poll in week 12.
Awards and honors Ryan O'HaraAll-CCHA Second Team Brody Waters
References