In a weekend where 22 total goals were scored, the Falcon hockey team managed to take two out of four points from their non-conference series with Wayne State with a 7-3 win on Thursday, before falling 9-3 on Saturday.
Sophomore forward Rich Meloche had three goals and an assist on the weekend to lead the Falcons, including two goals with an assist in Thursday night’s win.
Eight different Falcons scored the 10 goals on the weekend for BG. Five of those, which came from the new freshmen players.
The weekend started on Thursday night in Plymouth, Mich., where BG came out firing, as they put up 17 shots compared to 6 for the Warriors.
BG jumped out to a 3-0 lead in a span of four minutes during the middle stage of the first period.
James Unger started the scoring as he netted his third goal of the season on a wrap-around shot from the right circle that beat Warrior goalie Will Hooper. Brett Pilkington assisted on the play at the 8:30 mark of the period.
Derek Whitmore and Meloche would then add to the lead in the next four minutes, as they netted two power-play goals to make it 3-0 BG just 12:26 into the game. Michael Hodgson, Ryan Minnabarriet, Whitmore and Meloche all picked up assists on the two goals.
The Warriors would finally strike back on the power-play at the 14:26 mark. Steve Kovalchik took a pass from Tylor Michel and put a high-slapper past Jordan Sigalet to make it 3-1.
Then with just 14 seconds left in the opening period, Alex Foster found the net on the power-play on a hard shot from the point to give BG a 4-1 lead.
Wayne State would out-shoot BG 35-15 in the last two periods, but Sigalet turned away 33 of those to keep BG ahead.
“It’s almost like sometimes you feel like you don’t have to back-check,” Meloche said about Sigalet’s play on the night. “He’s a phenomenal goalie and if he’s not in the NHL in the next few years I’ll be very surprised.”
Jonathan Sigalet would add a goal in the second, then Meloche and John Mazzei would add goals in the third before it was over and BG took away a 7-3 win.
The Falcon power-play, which came in ranked sixth in the country according to U.S. College Hockey Online, went 4-8 on the night. They held the Warriors to just 1-7 as the special teams continue to improve this season.
Jeremy Bronson, Alex Rogosheske, Hodgson, Foster and Mazzei all picked up assists on the final three goals.
“It was game where the first two periods were pretty well defined as to who out-played the other one in each period,” head coach Scott Paluch said. “Our ability to finish off some plays in the third, kind of got the game where it needed to be. I thought for the first 25 minutes of the game and in the third period we played a good road game. Our goaltender gave us the opportunity in the second period to stay in front.”
Meloche commented on how the team continues to improve and how this year they take winning in a different way. “Unless we win every night we aren’t happy,” Meloche said. “That’s the difference between this season and last. Anytime last year if you won you were real excited and now if we don’t win we’re mad.”
Saturday night at the BG Ice Arena was a polar-opposite game for the Falcons as this time Wayne State came out strong and took a 4-0 lead after the first.
Just 2:01 into the game Adam Krug would get the first of his three goals on the night, as he skated in on the right side of Sigalet and put it past him on right. Less than a minute later Mark Nebus would get a similar goal as the Warriors to a 2-0 lead.
Steve Kovalchik would add a power-play goal at the 12:41 mark and Stavros Paskaris would get the first of two short-handed goals on the night for Wayne State at the 17:51 mark.
Jonathan Matsumoto finally got BG on the board on the power-play just four minutes into the second as he roofed a rebound past Matt Kelly to make it 4-1. Jonathan Sigalet and Pilkington would pick up assists on Matsumoto’s seventh goal of the season.
Krug would finish off his hat-trick with seven minutes left in the period as he netted two goals in 45 seconds to give the Warriors a commanding 6-1 lead.
The Falcons would then capitalize on a power-play with 22 seconds left in the period as Meloche beat Kelly on the right. Hodgson and Minnabarriet assisted on Meloche’s fifth goal of the season as BG trailed 6-2 heading into the final period.
After a Mike Forgie short-handed goal, Derek Bachynski and Nate Higgins would score goals to make it 9-2 Wayne State with 7:20 left in the game.
Ben Geelan would add a final goal with 4:19 left from Don Morrison, but it was too late for BG as they suffered their worst home defeat since Ohio State beat them 7-0 last season.
Sigalet struggled and made only five saves on nine shots in the first. Jon Horrell came in and played the second period and most of the third before Bob Frazee played the last seven minutes of the game. It was the first action either saw this season.
Jon Sitko sat out both games this weekend again with an ankle contusion and still day-to-day for this weekend.
The Falcons are now 6-3-1 on the year and will host Miami this weekend in Central Collegiate Hockey Association series on Friday and Saturday night with a 7:05 p.m. face-off in both games.
