Goaltending was the biggest question mark that the BG hockey team had coming into last night’s exhibition game against Windsor.
With Jordan Sigalet gone, goalies Jon Horrell, Jimmy Spratt and Bob Frazee had to fill the void left in the net by the school’s all-time leader in save percentage. Though they only saw 19 shots on the night in BG’s 7-1 win, all three were able to step in and contribute with all seeing action for a full 20 minutes.
“All three of our goalies looked good out there,” said Coach Scott Paluch. “Bobby (Frazee) was forced into a lot more action than Jimmy or Jonnie (Horrell), but all three of them were solid and I’m very pleased about that.”
Horrell started the game making only three saves on three shots before handing the net off to Spratt in the second period, who made four saves with Frazee ending the night making 11 saves on 12 shots. The lone goal came with only 3:19 left as Scott Mintenko put in a shot that Frazee never saw.
It was Derek Whitmore’s second power-play goal of the night at 3:39 of the second period proved to be the game-winner as he was able to knock home a pass from Brandon Svendson in front.
The Falcons out-shot the Lancers 38-19 on the night and ended the night 4-16 on the power-play as both teams combined for 65 minutes in penalities.
“Obviously there was a lot of special teams going on out there,” said Paluch. ” But it was good in that we got to take a look at a lot of different looks.”
A big contributor to the special teams on the night was forward Brett Pilkington, who ended the night with a goal and two assists.
“We got movement on the power-play out there, just couldn’t score off the bat,” he said. “Once the game got going and moving along though the pucks started to go in for us.”
It was his pass to Svendson that setup the first of Whitmore’s power-play goals on the night at 18:21 of the first period to start the scoring off. A period where the Falcons seemed a little flat due to their lack of practice time seeing only two days of practice leading up to the scrimmage.
BG then started the scoring onslaught in the second period adding four goals to take a 5-0 lead into the final period.
James Unger scored on the power-play at 10:09 with Ryan Barnett following just 47 seconds later as the Falcons gave Spratt a good 4-0 cushion to work with in his first collegiate appearance. Pilkington would then strike on a lazer into the top left corner of the net from the right circle with only 1:09 remaining to finish off the period.
Jonathan Matsumoto and Mike Nesdill would add goals in the final period to bring the Falcons’ scoring to a close.
“After tonight, I think we’re looking pretty good,” said Pilkington. “Everyone from freshmen to seniors tonight stepped up and contributed somehow on the night.”
Coach Paluch was also impressed with his four lines, who all go deep and contribute big play. He was especially pleased with his whole defensive-core as they held the Lancers scoreless on 10 power-plays.
“One of the things I liked was I thought we did a much, much better job of boxing-out,” Paluch said of the defensemens’ play on the penalty-kill. “That helped in not putting a lot of those second chances back us, especially in the third period.”
The Falcons will hit the ice for their first game of the year on Oct. 14 when the host Merrimack. That will be followed by the team’s highly-anticipated matchup with nationally-ranked Boston College the following evening.
