The Falcon hockey team came out flying last night as they put up 17 shots in the first period en route to a 3-1 CCHA win over the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.
Dana Hanson got the game-winner, scoring his first ever-collegiate goal at 8:10 in the third period. Alex Foster and Michael Hodgson picked up assists on the play as Hanson got a rebound off the boards and shot it in from the right circle.
“I had just come off the bench, someone had just taken a shot, it went in and bounced off behind the net and out on the other side,” Hanson said. “The goalie was scrambling to get back to his net. I saw the open net so I just kind of just fired it on net and luckily it went it.”
Jordan Sigalet recorded 30 saves on the night, including 21 in the final two periods to keep the Irish at bay.
Morgan Cey made 34 saves on the night for the Irish, which included 16 in the first period to keep his team in the game.
Right from the start of the game, the Falcons looked strong as they out hustled and out shot the Irish 17 to 9 in the first period.
Derek Whitmore capitalized on the first power-play of the night for the Falcons giving BG a l-0 lead just 6:30 in. John Mazzei picked up an assist as his shot went off the boards behind the net and came out to Whitmore in front of the net, who put it in over Cey’s left shoulder for his second of the year.
The second period didn’t go so well for the Falcons as the Irish out-shot them 11 to 9.
Mark Van Guilder skated in from the right of the net and put a shot in over Sigalet’s shoulder at 8:54 to tie the game at 1-1. Cory McLean and picked up an assist on the goal.
In the final period, the Falcons put the game away with two players getting their first career goals.
After Hanson’s game winner at the 8:10 mark, Alex Foster got his first collegiate goal with just 3:39 to play. His shot trickled in past Cey to give the Falcons a commanding 3-1 lead. Mazzei and Ben Geelan picked up assists on the final goal of the game.
During the last minute and a half of the game, the Irish pulled Cey on a power-play to give them a 6-on-4 advantage. However, Sigalet came up big again like he had all night and BG held off the final Irish attack.
“I though it was a game that was very similar to the last three hockey games we played,” head coach Scott Paluch said. “We came out with a great deal of energy and kind of hit a little bit of a wall in the second period. Jordan was able to make a lot of key saves for us in that period.
