Lawson Arena is one of the toughest arenas to play in in the CCHA. The Falcons learned this the hard way as they lost 3-2 to the Broncos Saturday night, after dropping Friday’s game at BGSU’s Ice Arena 6-5 in overtime.
Saturday’s game was a game of periods as Western Michigan dominated the first period, scoring two power play goals.
“They were able to create some situations,” Paluch said. “We took a few penalties and they had two power play goals to start.”
The Falcons came out and took control of the second period.
“The last two periods we executed a lot better, finished a lot more checks and were able to create more chances,” Paluch said.
The Falcons kept putting pressure on the net and at 11:53 of the second, it finally paid off, as junior Mark Wires found the net on a pass in front of the net by junior Erik Eaton. Freshman Mike Falk also earned an assist on the goal.
After the goal the Broncos fans quieted down and BG took advantage of this. Sophomore Ryan Minnabarriet put the puck in the net two minutes later to tie to score at two a piece. Sophomore Steve Brudzewski and senior Tyler Knight received assists. The tables turned again in the third period, though, as the Broncos regained control.
“We need to make some plays in the third period,” Paluch said. “Their trailer was able to poke in the puck and obviously any goal in the third period is going to be critical. We had some chances to put ourselves back in it. It’s a breakdown in third period that has to be eliminated.”
WMU’s Vince Bellissimo scored the game winning goal at 2:40 in the third period on a pass in front of the net on sophomore goaltender Jordan Sigalet.
“We got some tremendous play out of Jordan Sigalet,” Paluch said. “He was in control for the entire 60 minutes. When they had some chances down tight in the first he limited his rebounds and covered up a lot of pucks that were potential rebounds. He stayed up extremely well in some screened situations.”
Sigalet made his first start in goal this season, stopping 24 of 27 shots on goal.
“It took the first period to get the nerves out,” Sigalet said. “As soon as I got the first couple of shots things calmed down a little bit. I think we turned it on a lot more after the first period. The second period and third period was a lot better.”
Friday night’s loss was another heartbreaker for the young Falcons team.
Against the very skilled Broncos, the Falcons went down 1-0 after a Belissimo goal six minutes into the first. Knight’s power play goal eight minutes later knotted the game at one, but Western scored at 19:59 of the first when Andy Townsend forced a turnover right in front of Masters. He then forced the puck past Masters just one second before the end of the first.
In the second, the Falcons continued their strong play on the power play, as Kevin Bieksa scored on slap shot from the blue line. Bieksa received a pass at the point, an faked a Bronco defender. He then moved around that defender, and fired through traffic, netting the goal in the lower right corner for a tie game.
Brudzewski netted a shorthanded goal to put the Falcons up. “Last year we were real defensive, and this year we’re more offensive,” Brudzewski said. “A lot of guys are going to the net more, and I’m definitely going to the net more, and pucks are going in.
“That goal was the result of an aggressive penatly kill,” Brudzewski said. “[Ryan] Minnabarriet came in and pressured him right away, and I called for the puck.”
Western, though, tied the game with a shorthanded goal of their own with five minutes to go in the second. In the third, though, the Falcons had all but put the game away on goals by Don Morrison and Craig Pilkington, and they led 5-3 with 11 minutes left. The Broncos, though, used two goals six minutes apart, the latter of which came with four minutes left to send the game to overtime.
“Western was the team we thought they would be,” Paluch said. “They seem to really trust each other. They play a real good game. It was a fun hockey game, and they made the plays the last eight minutes of the game. … We got some real strong efforts from our penalty kill, and that’s a great way to gain momentum.
Twenty-five seconds into overtime, a scramble in front of Masters led to a soft goal batted into the net by Bellissimo for the game winner. Masters made 44 saves in the loss. Brudzewski was named the third star of the game.
