The Michigan State Spartans came into the BGSU Ice Arena Saturday night on a quest for revenge and on a real hot streak.
Last time the Spartans came to town the Falcons got a 3-2 overtime win and snapped a 12 game win streak the Spartans had over BG.
A huge crowd packed the Ice Arena and saw the Spartans turn a strong first and second period into a 6-3 victory.
“It was simply a game where, for two periods, Michigan State did everything you need to do to take control of a hockey game,” head coach Scott Paluch said.
The game began with the Falcons getting a power play just 31 seconds into the first period giving them a golden opportunity to get an early lead.
However, the power play unit failed to get good puck control going and turned the puck over deep in the zone giving Spartan Jim Slater a one-on-one situation with Falcon goaltender Jordan Sigalet, which he took advantage of, beating him for a shorthanded goal just 1:41 into the game.
“I kind of turned around fast, someone gave it away in our own zone and he came in pretty fast making a good shot right inside the post,” Sigalet said.
With an early 1-0 lead the Spartans then got a power play of their own and got a goal from John-Michael Liles just as the power play ended to give them a 2-0 advantage at the 5:20 mark.
Liles has been a real dominating force for the Spartans at defenseman all year and has clearly been a real MVP candidate for the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. He was a real key to the success the Spartans had in the game and as Paluch comments, a real tough guy to stop.
“John-Michael has great feet and he knows how to be in control, which in turn takes him a great player who makes very few mistakes,” Paluch said.
In the second period the Falcons showed some life when Roger Leonard got his fifth goal of the year beating Spartan goaltender Matt Migliaccio at 12:44 with an assist from Brian Escobedo.
The Spartans answered back quickly and got a power play goal from Mike Lalonde just three minutes later to push it back to a two goal cushion.
Just 32 seconds after that the Spartans struck again and got a goal from Kevin Estrada to make it 4-1.
Brad Fast then notched his tenth goal of the year for the Spartans at 17:52 to end the scoring for the period and gave the Spartans a 5-1 lead heading into the final period. During the first two periods, the Falcons had four power plays, but failed to capitalize on any of them.
The Spartan penalty kill was very aggressive and forced many shorthanded opportunities, which resulted in one shorthanded goal to begin the game. This was a real area that Spartan head coach Rick Comley thought his team could attack and force mistakes.
“We felt their power play was vulnerable to pressure and we tried to take advantage of that,” Comley said.
To begin the final period the Falcons struck quick with Mike Falk punching in a rebound from D’Arcy McConvey at the 1:24 mark to bring the score to 5-2 in favor the Spartans.
Ryan Minnabarriet got his sixth goal of the year with assists to Ryan Barnett and Falk at 16:26 making it 5-3.
The Spartans got the final goal on the night with an empty netter to Brian Maloney which made it a 6-3 final bringing the Spartans to 16-10-2 overall and 12-7-1 in the CCHA and the Falcons to 7-17-2 overall and 4-14-2 in the CCHA.
The final period was one that belonged to the Falcons and saw them get good opportunities for points.
“If we can play as strong as we did that final period, we can make good things happen,” Sigalet said. “The crowd was great and hopefully we can get people in here the final games because it really helps us get going.”
Sigalet was yet another big factor in the game for the Falcons and made 30 saves on the night to keep the Falcons close at times.
“There’s no better goalie in the league that I’ve seen than him and he keeps getting better and better. He makes big saves and controls the puck well,” said Comley.
“I thought Jordan played fine and had a great game. He just had a tough start with them getting good chances on him,” Paluch said. “He stayed right with it in the third and gave us a chance to get back in it.”
The Falcons will now get ready for Notre Dame on Friday night at the BGSU Ice Arena in the first of a two game weekend series.
