2020–21 Bowling Green Falcons men's ice hockey season

The 2020–21 Bowling Green Falcons men's ice hockey season was the 55th season of play for the program and the 8th in the WCHA conference. The Falcons represented Bowling Green State University and were coached by Ty Eigner, in his 2nd season.
==Season==
As a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic the entire college ice hockey season was delayed. Because the NCAA had previously announced that all winter sports athletes would retain whatever eligibility they possessed through at least the following year, none of Bowling Green's players would lose a season of play. However, the NCAA also approved a change in its transfer regulations that would allow players to transfer and play immediately rather than having to sit out a season, as the rules previously required.
Despite COVID concerns, Bowling Green was able to play several non-WCHA teams early in the year and propelled themselves into the top-10 with a fantastic start. The Falcons won 12 of their first 13 games, including an impressive series sweep of Quinnipiac, and rose to the #5 ranking by mid-January. Unfortunately, when Bowling Green began facing stiff competition, the offense dropped off dramatically. Over a 4 week stretch, the Falcons went 2–6, losing the six games against teams that finished the season ranked. In those games the team scored just 6 goals. While the defense wasn't particularly bad, it wasn't good either. Bowling Green recovered with a 3–0–1 run to end the season but the damage had been done.
Even with a 19–8–1 record, the Falcons had fallen to 13th in the rankings and were considered a 'bubble team', since they possessed a 1–7 record against the other top teams in the WCHA. To get themselves a NCAA Tournament bid, the team would need a good performance in their conference tournament. BG got off to a bad start, losing the opening game 3–4 to Northern Michigan, but rebounded with resounding 5–0 win. The turnaround didn't last long, however, and the Falcons dropped the deciding game 1–5. The team was ranked 16th the following poll and were passed over in favor of Notre Dame, who were just 1 game over .500.
==Departures==
Player 	Position 	Nationality	Cause
Jacob Dalton 	Defenseman	 	Graduation
Frédéric Letourneau	Forward 	 	Graduation (signed with South Carolina Stingrays)
Casey Linkenheld 	Forward 	 	Graduation
Alec Rauhauser 	Defenseman	 	Graduation (signed with Florida Panthers)
==Recruiting==
Player 	Position 	Nationality	Age	Notes
Chrystopher Collin	Forward 	 	21 	Boisbriand, QC
Max Coyle 	Defenseman	 	22 	Tillsonburg, ON; transfer from Alabama–Huntsville
Seth Fyten 	Forward 	 	19 	Sundre, AB; Selected 142nd overall in 2020
Ethan Scardina 	Forward 	 	19 	White Rock, BC
Anton Malmström 	Defenseman	 	20 	Österhaninge, SWE
==Roster==
</small>As of September 8, 2020.</small>
==Standings==
==Schedule and Results==
|-
!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season
|-
!colspan=12 style=";" | 
|- align="center" bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
|colspan=12|Bowling Green Lost Series 1–2
==Scoring Statistics==
Name 	Position	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	
 	LW 	31 	11 	23 	34 	26
 	LW 	31 	13 	16 	29 	32
 	RW 	31 	16 	12 	28 	10
 	D 	28 	6 	19 	25 	54
 	C 	27 	10 	14 	24 	8
 	F 	31 	9 	14 	23 	35
 	LW 	31 	10 	9 	19 	8
 	D 	31 	5 	10 	15 	8
 	D 	31 	0 	14 	14 	26
 	F 	21 	3 	10 	13 	6
 	LW 	27 	4 	8 	12 	55
 	RW 	31 	8 	3 	11 	20
 	D 	31 	1 	9 	10 	8
 	D 	31 	2 	7 	9 	18
 	F 	28 	5 	1 	6 	6
 	F 	24 	1 	4 	5 	8
 	C/LW 	21 	1 	3 	4 	2
 	D 	29 	1 	3 	4 	6
 	D 	20 	1 	2 	3 	17
 	F 	3 	1 	0 	1 	0
 	F 	11 	0 	1 	1 	20
 	RW 	14 	0 	1 	1 	4
 	G 	23 	0 	1 	1 	0
 	D 	23 	0 	1 	1 	8
 	G 	1 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	F 	1 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	2 	0 	0 	0 	2
 	G 	10 	0 	0 	0 	0
Bench	- 	- 	- 	- 	- 	6
Total	 	 	108 	185 	293 	393
==Goaltending statistics==
Name 	Games	Minutes	Wins	Losses	Ties	Goals Against	Saves	Shut Outs	 	
 	1 	1:59 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	- 	0.00
 	10 	545 	7 	2 	0 	18 	178 	1 	.908	1.98
 	23 	1306 	13 	8 	1 	47 	566 	2 	.923	2.16
Empty Net	- 	11 	- 	- 	- 	2 	- 	- 	- 	-
Total 	31 	1865 	20 	10 	1 	67 	744 	4† 	.917	2.15
† Dop and Rich shared a shutout on February 24 
==Rankings==
Poll 	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week 	Week	Week	Week
Poll 	Pre 	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 	6 	7 	8 	9 	10 	11 	12 	13 	14 	15 	16 	17 	18 	19 	20 	21 (Final)	 	 	
USCHO.com	NR 	19 	18 	18 	16 	13 	9 	7 	7 	8 	5 	8 	8 	12 	14 	13 	13 	13 	16 	17 	- 	 	 	 	
USA Today	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	12 	8 	7 	6 	7 	5 	8 	8 	12 	13 	14 	13 	13 	NR 	NR 	NR 	 	 	 	
USCHO did not release a poll in week 20.
==Awards and honors==
Player 	Award 	Ref
Will Cullen 	WCHA Defensive Player of the Year	
Will Cullen 	WCHA First Team 	
Brandon Kruse	WCHA First Team 	
Connor Ford 	WCHA First Team 	
==References==
Category:Bowling Green Falcons men's ice hockey seasons
Bowling Green Falcons 
Bowling Green Falcons 
Bowling Green Falcons