In the game of hockey, there always seems to be intangible factors that give a team a boost over their opponent or allow them to overcome adversity. Once again this season the Falcons’ intangible factor was its senior class.
This weekend against Notre Dame, they combined well play with quality leadership to help the Falcons sweep the Irish (4-1, 6-2) in two big Central Collegiate Hockey Association games to move into the league’s fifth spot.
“Us seniors really made an effort to be vocal this week in practice coming off last weekend,” senior tri-captain Ryan Minnabarriet said. “We pushed each other all week and I think it showed as we got great production out of our senior class all weekend.”
Minnabarriet had three goals on the weekend and added two assists to lead the team in points in the two games as three seniors scored points.
“It’s as good a weekend, back to back games that any guy has had in a long time,” BG head coach Scott Paluch said on Minnabarriet’s solid play. “He was solid for all six periods this weekend. His finished checks, his goals and his leadership on the bench really helped the team focus on rebounding from the disappointment at Northern.”
That focus was evident from the start of Friday night’s game at the Ice Arena, which saw a season-high 4,956 fans in attendance (14th largest in the arena’s history) as the Falcons (12-9-3; 9-7-2 CCHA) came out and put up three goals in the first 13 minutes of the game.
The Falcons went 2-of-11 on the power-play for the night, while the Irish were 1-of-10 in a game that saw a total of 46 minutes in penalties.
Minnabarriet’s first power-play goal at 11:42 of the first period proved to be the difference on the night. His rebound from the left crease off a shot from the right circle by Brett Pilkington beat David Brown, who was scrambling across the crease in a game he’d like to forget, getting pulled just 12:46 into the game for Morgan Cey after allowing three.
Alex Foster picked up an assist as well on Minnabarriet’s third of the season, putting the Falcons up 2-0 at that point.
“Last weekend we struggled with the power-play,” Minnabarriet said about BG’s 1-of-15 power-play effort at Northern Michigan a week ago. “Tonight, we just got open for shots and when they were available we took them and then were lucky enough to get some rebounds.”
BG’s power-play was 1-for-2 in the first and generated eight shots. The Falcons out-shot the Irish 12-7 in the period.
Taylor Christie netted the first goal of his college career on the left side of the net off a great play by Pilkington to start the scoring for the Falcons. Pilkington hit Steve Brudzewski on a great turn-around pass from just outside the circle, who then hit Christie for the goal at 8:33.
Soon after Minnabarriet’s game-winner, Brudzewski would put the Falcons up 3-0 on a shot in front off a pass from behind the net by James Unger with John Mazzei adding an assist.
Brown was then pulled for Cey after making five stops on eight shots. Cey came in and held the Falcons scoreless throughout the rest of the period, before going on to make 19 saves on 20 shots for the night.
The Irish picked up their game following the change and started to generate more offense in the second period out-shooting BG 13-12.
Michael Bartlett finally got the Irish on the board with a power-play goal 10:23 into the second. His shot in front went off the right crossbar and past Jordan Sigalet off a pass from Matt Amado behind the net.
That would be as close as the Irish would get, however, as Sigalet continued to make some nice saves throughout the second and into the third.
Minnabarriet would tally his second extra-man goal at 5:27 in the third on yet another rebound in front off a shot by Foster. Mike Falk made a nice pass to Foster in the right circle, who then fired a shot that came right to Minnabarriet to make it 4-1 and gave the Falcons the final goal of the night.
“I thought the crowd had a lot to do with the hockey game tonight,” BG head coach Scott Paluch said about the largest crowd at BG since a 1996 game against Michigan. “Our team responded early to the atmosphere, came out quick and scored some quick goals. I think it’s a real solid win for us.”
On Saturday night at the Joyce Center in South Bend, Ind., the Falcons came out and once again struck quickly much like the previous night.
James Unger and Mike Falk scored 40 seconds apart starting at the 13:30 mark of the first to give the Falcons an early 2-0 lead. Foster, Pilkington and Michael Hodgson picked up the assists on the two goals.
The Irish out-shot BG 15-6 in the first, but Sigalet stood tall having a great stretch from the five-minute mark to the 15 minute mark where he was under good attack from the Irish forwards.
BG would rebound in the second putting up 14 shots to only eight for the Irish, and scored three in the first half of the period to stretch their lead to 5-0 at 9:27 of the second.
Falk added his second of the night at 2:20 on a delayed penalty call, then Minnabarriet capitalized on a 5-on-3 power-play in front on the left side of the crease to make it 4-0 at 9:17.
Just 10 seconds later, Derek Whitmore would score on a hard one-timer past Cey to make it 5-0 on a pass from Minnabarriet.
Matt Amado got the Irish on the board then with just under a minute left in the period to make it 5-1, but following a Ben Geelan goal in the third period and another Irish goal by Mark Van Guilder, it was too little too late as BG went on to win 6-2.
“It’s hard to win on the road in our league and it’s always hard to win two in a row, so we feel real good to bounce back from our Northern Michigan weekend,” Paluch said.
Sigalet made 61 saves on 64 shots for the weekend, continuing his race for the Hobey Baker Award.
BG will head to Ferris State next weekend for two games before heading to Ohio State in two weeks, continuing a five-game road schedule.
