One night after losing 6-4 to The University of Michigan at BGSU Ice Arena, the Bowling Green hockey team tied Michigan 1-1 and did something no other team has done against Michigan this year. The Falcons held Michigan to one goal.

The No. 6 Wolverines had not scored less than three goals in a game this season. They had outscored their opponents 41-17 and averaged over five goals per game.

Goaltender Jordan Sigalet started at goalie for the Falcons and made 48 saves, including two in overtime and 17 in the third period.

“We feel very comfortable with our goaltenders and Jordan was spectacular tonight,” BG coach Scott Paluch said. “We did a good job early. It’s all part of a team, guys picking each other up and he [Sigalet] picked us up in that situation.”

Sigalet also had successive saves at the end of the second period when Michigan threatened to go ahead. Sigalet’s 18 saves in the second period helped the Falcons keep the game within reach going into the final period.

“Tonight’s going to be a big turning point in the season,” Sigalet said after the game. “We’ve come close in a lot of games and it’s nice to get a point out of this especially against the No. 6 rated team in the country.”

Bowling Green scored first when Sigalet got the puck to Kevin Bieksa, who fired a shot past Michigan goalie Al Montoya at the 18:30 mark in the first period.

“I thought it was a harmless play at first but Bieksa’s got a hard shot and he just got to the line and let it go,” Sigalet said. “I don’t know if Montoya saw it or not but Bieksa sacrificed his body making that play and we really missed him during the rest of the game but everyone stepped it up for him and filled in for the loss of him.”

Bieksa was knocked down while taking the shot and had to leave the game. He did not return to the bench.

The Wolverines tied the game at the 13:20 mark in the second period when Mark Mink scored on an assist from J.J. Swistak.

Neither team was successful in scoring on the power play in Saturday’s game. Both teams had numerous power play opportunities toward the end of the first period and throughout the second period when the two teams combined for 21 penalties.

“Michigan coming in was the team with skill and speed and a physical edge and our team matched that pretty much for the whole weekend,” Paluch said. “When you look at the course of the six periods, our level of competitive nature was strong the whole time. Tonight we had some great chances. Their goalie made some saves, our goalie made some saves and certainly we want to take this type of effort and move on forward.”

The Falcons seemed to pick up on Saturday night right where they left off at the end of Friday’s game.

“Scoring that goal in the last 30 seconds last night I think we carried that momentum over to tonight. It showed last night that we could play with them, scoring four goals,” Sigalet said. “We hadn’t been scoring that much in the other games and to get four goals was big.”

Although the Falcons lost on Friday, they were able to come back toward the end of the game and be a threat.

The Falcons were able to score the first goal of the game when junior Mark Wires scored at the 3:17 mark. Senior Tyler Knight and sophomore Alex Rogosheske were credited with assists on the play.

Michigan’s Brandon Rogers took advantage of a power play opportunity to tie the game at 1-1. Michigan scored two goals in the beginning of the second period to open up a 3-1 lead.

Bowling Green also took advantage of a power play situation when sophomore Steve Brudzewski scored at the 7:48 mark. He was assisted by sophomore Chris Pedota and junior D’Arcy McConvey.

Michigan scored two more goals in the period and had a 5-2 lead going into the final period.

In the third period BG capitalized on another power play opportunity when freshman Brett Pilkington scored at the 4:30 mark. Knight and freshman Don Morrison assisted on the play. Michigan scored their sixth goal at the 10:10 mark.

The Falcons were able to finish with some momentum when junior Kip Horner scored with six seconds left. Horner was assisted by junior Erik Eaton and freshman Jon Sitko for the first goal of his collegiate career.

“We’ve gotten a very good effort out of our team all year long,” Paluch said. “As long as there is time on the clock and teams are playing hockey we are going to compete and play hard.”

“We feel fortunate to walk out of here with a win tonight. Bowling Green is a good team. They did a lot of good things,” Michigan coach Red Berenson said. “They just missed on some of their chances. They had the three on one break with the one goal differential and it would have been a whole different game.”

Bowling Green is 2-8-1 on the season and 0-7-1 in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. Michigan is 6-1-1 overall and 3-0-1 in CCHA action.