Following a tough week off the ice that saw seven players suspended, the Falcon hockey team will look to continue their early season success.
They will entertain the Lakers of Lake Superior State this weekend in their home-opener and first weekend of Central Collegiate Hockey Association play.
“Business has to move forward and we’re starting the CCHA this weekend,” head coach Scott Paluch said. “We’ve had very good practices getting ready. We learned a lot at Union, we learned what type of team we can be and we move forward knowing that Lake State is a much improved hockey team, but for us we’re starting our CCHA season.”
The Falcons are off to their first 2-0 start since the 1996-97 season after their sweep at Union (5-1, 1-0) this past weekend. It was also their first road sweep since the 2001 season when they swept Miami on the road in the first-round of the CCHA play-offs.
“Our energy and enthusiasm were so strong for the first weekend,” Paluch said. “What that got us to do was a real quickness throughout our line-up, we had all four lines involved for the entire 120 minutes of the weekend and saw a lot of guys contribute. It was a real team type of weekend and a really good way to kick things off.”
Jordan Sigalet made 60 of 61 saves on the weekend and was less than two minutes away from a shut-out on Friday. The shut-out on Saturday was the fourth of his career as he made 23 saves on the night.
Freshman forward Jonathan Matsumoto had two goals and two assists in his debut weekend. His second period goal on Saturday proved to be the game-winner as he scored the lone goal of the game.
“I didn’t really know what to expect coming in here, but that definitely helped out my confidence a lot,” Matsumoto said. “It was a great way to start the season. A lot of us are feeling pretty good after the road wins and we’re looking forward to this weekend.”
Three other freshmen picked up their first points on the weekend as well. Ben Geelan and Derek Whitmore picked up their first goals, while Alex Foster had an assist.
For the Lakers they’ve opened up their season 0-4 after losses at Colgate and losing a pair to Michigan last weekend.
They lead Michigan in both games, but were unable to hold off the top team in the CCHA falling 4-3 and 5-2.
Coach Paluch knows they’re an improved team though and after going 1-1-2 against them last year they’ll be in for a battle.
“Looking at them, this is one of the first years over the last couple that they return almost their entire team,” Paluch said. “They got all their players back and I think they now have a little more confidence in their game. We’ve seen them score some goals. Even though they haven’t won a game yet, they look at last weekend being on top of Michigan in some significant parts of that game and realize they’re close to getting themselves up the standings.”
Up front the Lakers are lead by forwards Mike Adamek, Dominic Osman, Trent Campbell, Bo Cheesman and Jon Booras.
Osman, was the leading scorer for team a season ago as a freshman with 19 points, scoring 10 goals and adding nine assists.
In net, the Lakers are led by Jeff Jakaitis, who comes into the game with a 3.56 goals against average and .894 saves percentage.
Last season as a freshman, Jakaitis posted three shut-outs and had a goal against average of 2.13, which was second in the league. Two of those shut-outs came against the Falcons were the teams skated to 0-0 ties on two occasions last season.
“We saw Jeff Jakaitis last season in three out of the four games and he was outstanding,” Paluch said. “We had two 0-0 ties with him last year, so we know what he can do.”
The Falcons will only dress 20 players this weekend, which will include three goalies. Only 11 forwards and six defensemen will be available.
Most teams dress 12 forwards and six defensemen for a game.
Paluch doesn’t expect the short-handed line-up to affect his lines too much. He used multiple lines in the first weekend and most of the players who will be a factor with his special teams are still available for use.
The team however, received a blow on Tuesday as James Unger was struck in the head with a puck during practice. He is being treated for “concussion-like symptoms” and his status is day to day for the weekend.
The status of freshman defenseman Mike Nesdill is still yet to be determined as well. However, he will not see action this weekend and the condition of his shoulder is unknown as of now.
Tonight’s face-off will be at 7:05 p.m. at the BG Ice Arena, then the series will wrap up tomorrow afternoon with a 2:35 face-off.
