BGSU Centennial Sport Blog: Women's Gymnastics and Men's Ice Hockey (11:30 Class)

This report on the BGSU Women’s Gymnastics Team is being done as part of the celebration of the BGSU centennial celebration going on around campus. We became interested in the women’s gymnastics team because we looked at the list and decided that the women’s gymnastics team was a BGSU team that was not well known and we were interested in the history of the team. The women’s gymnastics team started competition in 1974* here at Bowling Green. The gymnastics team has had three coaches over the 36 years that they have been in competition. The team's overall record is 217 wins 230 losses and 2 ties spanning the 36 year program history. The team has become more successful as the program becomes older. The 2002 season was one that the program can give credit to for their recent growth when the Falcon gymnast won the Mid American Conference regular season title under Coach Dan Connelly (see below). Connelly was very important in bringing the program to where it is today. The three time Mid American Conference coach of the year can be credited with recent success of the program including in 1999 when Marny Oestreng became the first woman at Bowling Green to capture a national title when she won the national title in floor exercise.

Marny Oestreng (below) is among BGSU's top performers in Gymnastics:

The historical research for the gymnastics team was a tough challenge to do. Since the program has not been widely publicized it was more difficult to find information on it. A lot of information has come from school yearbooks and finding information from people who participated with the gymnastics program. While the challenge has been rough along the way finding out information about a team that has been over shadowed here at BGSU was very gratifying and is something that hopefully generations after us will build on and help the gymnastics program continue to grow into a national power.

Ice Hockey at Bowling Green State University is filled with lots of memories and traditions. Our group was excited to research the hockey team especially since a few of us have played the game ourselves. The ice hockey program first began at BGSU in 1969. The program has had a total of seven coaches since the recent hire of Miami's former assistant coach Chris Bergeron (below).

Some other notable coaches are Jack Vivian, Jerry York, and Buddy Powers to name a few. Though the program has had some slow seasons recently, our overall record is still above .500 at 776-645-92.

One of the most memorable games for this sport was the NCAA Championship game on March 24, 1984 against Minnesota-Duluth. The game lasted over four hours and went to four overtime periods. Bowling Green fought hard and the 5-4 score went our way. Winning the NCAA title meant so much to the community that followed them all the way.

Along with our NCAA title, Bowling Green is proud to announce a long list of alumni that have and currently are playing in the National Hockey League. Notable players are Rob Blake (1988), Nelson Emerson (1985), Goalie Mike Liut (1976), and Ken Morrow (1976) to name only a few from the strong list of candidates. Ken Morrow (below), Rob Blake, and Mark Wells each represent BG in carrying a gold medal in the Olympics.

Our program currently holds four CCHA league titles as well. BG's "Ice House Gangs" of the late 1970's put the Falcons on the map as a national power and was a great representation of the past.

In a interview with Dennis Williams, past player, he mentioned that the best memory in his career was going to Miami in the playoffs his senior year in 2001 and beating the Redhawks. They advanced past Northern Michigan which put them in the Joe Louis Arena. The bus stopped there as they were downed by Michigan State losing 2-1. "It was a great run for our team," Williams said.