On an evening in late January, Jordan Sigalet sat eyeing an injection he would have to give himself in an hour or two. He rolled it in his fingers, talking about his successes of being a hockey player, but also about coming to grips with being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. By his stare, one might say he may be more apprehensive about what the injection means than the 90-100 mph hockey pucks he faces on a regular basis. And it also becomes apparent why his family, friends, teammates, coaches and communities in both his hometown of Surrey, British Columbia, and Bowling Green, Ohio, find him so inspirational.

Three months ago, Sigalet held a press conference, sharing with everyone a secret he had held for months — that he had been diagnosed with MS in March 2004.

He told those gathered that he had his own reasons for only confiding in family, friends and a few teammates.

“I didn’t want to tell anyone about it,” he said. “I wanted to prove to everyone that I could keep playing. Prove it to myself.”

And play he has, as Sigalet is in the midst of one of his best seasons in net as Falcon goaltender.

Sigalet began to play hockey following in the footsteps of his older brother Stefan. He started as a forward, but found his place in front of the net.

“He just wanted to be a goalie from day one,” Genevieve Sigalet, Jordan’s mother said. “But we told him, ‘No, no, no. You have to learn to skate first.'”

So he learned how to skate.

“When it was my turn in goal I just loved it,” Sigalet said. “I liked the idea that you could make a difference in any game, and I like that pressure.”

He played in leagues until he was 16, when he began to play junior hockey. At 18, he moved to Vancouver Island to play junior hockey for the Victoria Salsa. Sigalet was offered scholarships from a few schools, but after visiting Bowling Green he decided to become a Falcon, a 40-hour drive from British Columbia.

“I flew down here, liked it a lot and committed right away,” Sigalet said. Buddy Powers was running the Falcon program when Sigalet was recruited, but now the team’s head coach is Scott Paluch.

“I love my coaching staff now, they are the ones that really gave me a chance and believed in me,” Sigalet said.

Sigalet was also a seventh-round 2001 draft pick for the National Hockey League’s Boston Bruins. Things were looking great for this young athlete.

“Getting the scholarship and getting drafted, it was all pretty overwhelming,” Sigalet said. “But you can’t get a big head about anything or get cocky.”

But in February 2004, Sigalet probably had every right to be getting cocky, he was improving his stats and had just earned his first career shutout on Jan. 31 at Nebraska-Omaha in a 5-0 victory. He was also starting more often. There were no indications that things were about to get complicated.

On the last weekend in February, days after his 23rd birthday, Sigalet woke up and his foot was numb.

His mother remembers the call.

“He phoned the night before and said his foot felt numb,” his mother said. “I didn’t pay much attention.” By the next day, he was numb from the neck down and he knew something was wrong.

The team’s physician Tom Wojciechowski started some tests.

“I was in the hospital and I had a scan of my brain done and my spine,” Sigalet said. “The doc came in and said, ‘Things don’t look good,’ then my heart just dropped because I thought it was a tumor. When he told me it was MS, I didn’t know what it was, but it was sort of a relief that it wasn’t something worse.”

And so the research began.

Sigalet said he hasn’t stopped learning about MS since he was diagnosed.

MS is a disease that affects the central nervous system, which consists of the brain, spinal cord and the optic nerves. It is a lifelong disease, but isn’t fatal. There are four types of the disease, all of which can be mild, moderate or severe, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

It can take up to 10 years to diagnose the specific type of MS one can have, therefore Sigalet said he knows little about what could happen in the future. But the initial shock has begun to wear off for the Sigalet family.

“He said he had MS and I just about died,” his mother said. “It is still very emotional, and you think sometimes it is a dream and you are going to wake up.”

Sigalet’s brother Jonathan had a similar reaction to their mother’s. Jonathan is a sophomore defenseman on the Falcon’s hockey team, and he said he could not believe an athlete at peak condition could have MS.

“I didn’t believe it could be true,” Jonathan said. “I was expecting them to come back in a few days later and say, ‘We made a mistake and this is what it really is.'”

But head coach Paluch said Sigalet’s initial reaction would reflect his attitude in the months to come.

“I remember I will never forget watching Jordan in the hospital,” Paluch said. “His approach to it right from the start was ‘OK, I have MS, what do we have to do here.’ He certainly has lived everyday since then with the same attitude — he is going to get it done, make people aware of MS and live his life the best he can.”

One of the hardest parts about having a disease like MS is accepting it and moving on with your life, Sigalet said.

“I pulled back the next weekend (after the MS episode) and played in the playoffs,” Sigalet said. “I couldn’t even feel my body when I was playing.” He made 80 saves in the games against Ohio State University.

At that time he said he had not decided to make the disease public, confiding in only his family, coaching staff and a few teammates.

“I couldn’t accept it,” Sigalet said. “I couldn’t talk about it to anyone or talk about it at all.”

He began the new routine that has become very familiar. It included three shots a week, no dairy products and rest. His hands are still numb from the initial episode.

“It never came back. It is so weird,” he said. “I couldn’t tie my shoes at first, but I just got used to it.”

But for Sigalet, living with MS has also meant continuing what he loved — playing hockey.

“I really worried about what Boston would think because they own my rights,” Sigalet said. “After they found out they were really supportive, and they said just as long as I am healthy and keep playing, they would like to keep following me.”

If Boston decides to keep Sigalet he will begin playing on their farm team in Providence, R.I., after graduation in May.

He said the Boston Bruins have not called him concerning the news that the National Hockey League had canceled the 2004-05 season, but the farm team in Providence is still playing.

Today, Sigalet is a new kind of role model, not only for little kids playing hockey, but also for those who live with MS and maybe both, his brother Jonathan said.

“What he is doing on the ice is phenomenal by itself, let alone with MS,” Jonathan said. “A lot of people have been inspired by his story and it is awesome from that point of view.”

The press conference gained a lot of attention in December, Sigalet said.

Afterward he received more than 200 e-mail messages.

“I have written back to every one of them,” Sigalet said. “It took me a while, but these people didn’t have to do anything, but they took that minute to be supportive. So I want to give back.”

He has begun working with charities to raise money for MS and will soon appear in a commercial for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. USAToday and Sports Illustrated have been among the larger publications that have written about Sigalet.

This past weekend Sigalet helped put together the “MS Awareness Week at the Ice Arena.” As of last night, a little over $10,000 has been raised. He said he is extremely happy he can help raise awareness and funds for MS.

“A lot of people called me and wanted to volunteer. So that was great,” Sigalet said. “I would like to thank everyone because every dollar makes a big difference.”

Sigalet’s family is excited to see Jordan’s dedication and say they are sure — when it comes to making a difference — he’s taken the initiative.

“I think he is very strong and courageous,” his mother Genevieve said. “I think he will be a great ambassador for MS and I think that is his big thing now — to raise money and hopefully find a cure. Gosh, that would be great.”