Jordan Sigalet won’t be the only person in the BGSU Ice Arena tonight that will have Hobey Baker attached to his name.
Sigalet, who is first in the preliminary voting for college hockey’s top honor will be joined by BGSU’s first two recipients of the award as Brian Holzinger and George McPhee will be in attendance as the Falcons get ready to host the fourth ranked Michigan Wolverines on “Senior Night”.
Six seniors will be playing in their last regular season home game as the regular season comes to an end tomorrow night when the teams meet at Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor, Mich. Seniors Chris Pedota, Taylor Christie, Steve Brudzewski, Ryan Minnabarriet, Alex Rogosheske and Sigalet will be honored in a pre-game ceremony with face-off scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
“You always want to win on this night for your seniors,” said forward James Unger of the game. “We especially want to win for big Siggy [Sigalet] as everyone always kind of wants to win for him.”
The night will also be a tribute to two Falcons who are two of just 25 recipients in the Hobey Baker Award’s history as BGSU is one of only seven schools to have multiple winners of the award.
If Sigalet were to go on to win, BGSU would be one of only four to have three or more winners.
Holzinger was the second award winner as he won as senior in the 1994-95 season leading the Falcons to a 25-11-2 record while scoring 35 goals and adding 34 assists as the team finished second in the CCHA. McPhee won it in its second year of existence in 1982, scoring 28 goals and adding 52 assists as the Falcons went 27-13-2 winning the 1982 CCHA Championship.
The two are both members of the BGSU Athletic Hall of Fame and have had their jerseys retired. Holzinger (185 points) is 16th on BG’s all-time scoring list while McPhee (267 points) is third.
Currently Holzinger is a member of the Columbus Blue Jackets while McPhee is the current vice president and general manager of the Washington Capitals.
Sigalet is chasing them in the BG history books and comes into the weekend ahead of Northern Michigan’s goaltender Tuomas Tarkki in the preliminary voting. The award winner will be announced in Columbus on April 8. Sigalet’s current goals against average are 2.66 and he has a save percentage of .922.
Sigalet’s counterpart this weekend is his good friend–Wolverine goaltender Al Montoya–who comes in with a 2.69 goals against average and save percentage of .891.
The sixth pick of the New York Rangers in last season’s NHL Entry Draft comes into the weekend struggling in net, but Montoya is still considered to be one of the top goaltenders in the league.
He became friends with Sigalet after attending the same goaltending camp in Chicago.
“There are lots of situations in college hockey where you play against people you know and Al [Montoya] and Jordan [Sigalet] just so happen to be very good friends in this situation,” head coach Scott Paluch said. “I’m sure we’ll see good play out of both of them and as in any situation, you always want to out-compete your friend. So, I’m sure they’re looking forward to the challenge.”
A challenge is what it’ll be for the Falcons as Michigan comes in unbeaten in their last seven games and is currently three points ahead of Ohio State for first place in the league. Just two points separate them from earning their second straight CCHA regular season crown.
“We played them real tough the last time we played them and just couldn’t win the third periods,” said Unger of the last weekend series against U of M where the Falcons were swept. “This time we hope to stay out of the penalty box more and don’t want to give them a shot at the title on our ice.”
Home ice has been big for the Falcons as they have gone 6-0 at home since the holiday break after beginning the year 3-4-1 at the BGSU Ice Arena. It’s a streak which has seen them get home wins over Alaska-Fairbanks, Notre Dame, Western Michigan and Michigan State.
“The simplest answer to that is we’ve just been able to win those games,” Paluch said. “With the exception of the Wayne State game, I think we’ve played well at home throughout the year and just didn’t win those earlier games.”
A home win this weekend would clinch a fourth place finish for the Falcons who have already clinched home ice in the first round of the playoffs. They sit just a point behind Nebraska-Omaha who has finished league play.
Playoffs begin next weekend with BG hosting a best-of-three series with the winner going to Joe Louis Arena to compete in the CCHA’s Super Six Championship. Their opponent is yet to be determined as a possible four teams (Fairbanks, Lake Superior State, Miami and MSU) could be matched up against the Falcons depending on order of finish.
“We want to finish in fourth place and getting a win this weekend would be a good boost going into the post season,” Paluch said. “Though we have home ice it doesn’t guarantee that we’ll go to Joe Louis Arena so we want to be playing strong and setting ourselves up for the best opportunity to go to Joe Louis.”
The Super Six will take place March 17-19 and will be single elimination format. BG’s last CCHA Tournament Championship came in 1988 as the school has won five titles in its’ storied history.
They’ll conclude their series with Michigan tomorrow with a face-off set for 7:35 p.m. Both games can be heard on 88.1 WBGU with Andy Evans doing the play-by-play.
