For Jordan Sigalet, the last two months have been a time of educating and inspiring people all across the country.

The senior goaltender from Surrey, British Columbia was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis last March and since his announcement two months ago (Dec.13), he has been a nationally recognized spokesman for the disease. His recent appearances came in the Sports Illustrated that was released yesterday, as well as USA Today and SI on Campus.

His everyday battle with the disease and determination to carry on with his life through it’s complications has been an inspiration to many people across the country who have read or heard about his amazing story.

This weekend, he’ll try to inspire and educate about his disease even more when he and the Falcons host the Western Michigan Broncos for “MS Awareness Weekend at the Ice Arena.” During the weekend to help educate about MS, fans can purchase items such as wrist bracelets or signed memorabilia in exchange for a donation.

“I want to do all that I can to help,” Sigalet said about his special weekend. “I know how hard it was to go through [MS] at my age. And besides these two games being huge this weekend, I’m excited about helping and doing anything I can to help lift spirits of those affected by it.”

Lifting spirits is what he has done for the Falcons and those who have seen him in action since December. In that time, Sigalet has started 11 of 12 games and currently has a goal against average of 2.73 on the year with a save percentage of .921. He is currently second in the fan voting for the Hobey Baker Award given to the nation’s top player.

“He’s been feeling good mentally, as well as physically since he made his announcement and his play has just kind of followed suite,” head coach Scott Paluch said. “The fact that where we are at right now –fighting for home ice– has a lot to do with his play. And he is clearly one of the top, if not the top goalie in the country for that.”

Fighting for home ice is what the Falcons are doing as they come into tonight’s game against Western tied for the fifth spot in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association with Alaska-Fairbanks. Nebraska-Omaha sits in the fourth spot just two points ahead and Miami sits in the seventh just two points behind as the top six teams host the first round playoff series.

The weekend marks the last two-game home series of the season for the Falcons as the last two weeks will be home-and-home series against Michigan State and Michigan.

Western comes into the weekend 11th in the league, but has been a team the Falcons have struggled with for the past six seasons: going 5-13-1 in their last 19 meetings. The Broncos (11-15-2; 6-14-2 CCHA) only took one point away from their series at Northern Michigan last week and come in 3-9-1 in their last 13.

“This week is magnified by us not getting any points last weekend,” Paluch said. “Western is as gifted a team as there is offensively, and up until our regular season finale last season [with a 6-4 win] we haven’t had a lot of success against them. And its another thing our program is trying to improve this weekend.”

Western’s offense has been dangerous all season: averaging 2.86 goals a game while their power-play has scored 21.1 percent of the time, which is second best in the CCHA.

Forward Brent Walton leads the league in points with 42 on 17 goals and 25 assists. But it’s been their lack of defense which has hurt them giving up 4.19 goals a game in league play.

The Falcons (13-11-4; 10-9-3 CCHA) come in averaging 3.32 goals a game (fourth best in the league) while scoring on 18.9 percent of their power-plays.

“Their power-play is extremely dangerous and we’ll need to be sharp on both special teams this weekend,” Paluch said. “We weren’t successful last weekend on the special teams and this time of year, special teams get magnified with goals decreasing.”

BGSU’s goal decreased last weekend as they could only score four times. Jonathan Matsumoto contributed on 3-of-4 goals scoring a goal each night and adding an assist.

He currently leads the team on the year with 25 points on 13 goals and 12 assists.

Though the team struggled at Ohio State, one bright spot on the weekend for the Falcons was the play of freshman defenseman Mike Nesdill.

Nesdill got an assist on the weekend for his first collegiate point and gave the Falcons a big boost on defense. He has only played in four games as he has been out this season with a shoulder injury that was thought to be season ending, as well as illness.

“It’s been an interesting year for him,” Paluch said of Nesdill. “He gives us a nice lift being that he’s a right-shot defenseman with good-size, who moves well and he adds another dangerous element for us on defense.”

With Nesdill healthy, the Falcons have a healthy roster for the first time all season and team spirits are high, even after a disappointing weekend.

“A stumble is not a fall,” senior tri-captain Alex Rogosheske said. “We had a rough weekend and now we have to rebound from that and come back against Western.”

“It’ll be a huge weekend for Jordan and big weekend emotionally for the team as we try to create awareness for MS,” he added.

The Falcons and Broncos will drop the puck tonight and tomorrow night at 7:05 p.m. to start the final three-week stretch of the CCHA regular season.