By Kevin Shields

Sports Reporter

He may look like a wild man who loves to burn some rubber with his wild blonde hair, but this goaltender from Surrey, British Columbia specializes in keeping the rubber out of the nets.

Jordan Sigalet, now a senior co-captain for the Bowling Green State University hockey team, will enter his final college hockey season as one of the nation’s top goaltenders. The seventh round pick (209th overall) of the Boston Bruins in 2002, Sigalet earned first-team All-Central Collegiate Hockey Association honors last season and is looking forward to the challenges that come with that distinction, as well as the challenges that come with being named a team captain for the first time.

“It’s a great honor, I was pretty surprised when I got voted in by the guys and the coaches as captain,” Sigalet said. “It’s not going to change the way I think or play at all, but I want to try and be as good a leader as I can for all the new guys and returning players. I’m not putting any extra pressure on myself. I’m just going to go play how I can and do my best. Hopefully good things will happen and we’ll win some more games this year.”

Sigalet is coming off a record-breaking year for the Falcons and a year that saw him assert himself as one of the most dominating goaltenders in the country. He recorded two shutouts and had seven games where he recorded 40 plus saves, which included two 50 plus save games, including one in which he stopped 56 pucks in the team’s first win of the year at Notre Dame that set a single game school record.

He also set school marks in saves for a season with 1,140 and for CCHA saves in a year with 839.

His save total was tops in the nation and his minutes played also ranked at the top of the national list (2210:02).

In the team’s series at Alaska-Fairbanks, he made 87 saves on 92 shots, including 50 of 52 in a game one win. He also had an 85 save performance against Ferris State in another two game weekend series.

Whether he faced 20 shots in a game or 50 shots, his mental focus was always there. Falcon head coach Scott Paluch credits Jordan’s mental focus to his ability to handle big work loads or small work loads the same. “I think Jordan’s mental approach to the game is outstanding. Some goalies will lose focus in games where they don’t see as many shots or they can’t handle the work load when they do see a lot,” Paluch said. “Jordan has a great knack of making saves in all those types of situations and he is also as adept as any goalie we’ve seen when it comes to finding pucks in traffic.”

In his first two seasons, Jordan saw action in 33 games as he split time with then stand-out Tyler Masters.

His first career start came at Wayne State his freshman year. That night he gloved 29 shots and earned his first career victory (4-1).

It was really his sophomore year where he started to assert himself. He started 20 games in his second season and finished near the top of the league in many categories. “Jordan clearly made his mark during his sophomore year. He took advantage of the opportunities he got that year as he split time with Tyler Masters, who was another outstanding goaltender for us,” Paluch said. “He really hasn’t looked back since.”

He seized one of those opportunities that season in a big road game at Nebraska-Omaha. His 31 saves in the game gave him his first career shutout as the Falcons won 5 to 0.

Though his play has given him the opportunities to become the outstanding goalie he has become, there are other big characters that stick out to coach Paluch. His biggest praise of Jordan is not in his play, but in the way he goes about his business. “The biggest compliment from myself and the team obviously goes to show what he earned by earning the captain’s ‘C’ for this year. It’s kind of rare that a goalie gets that honor chosen by the players,” Paluch said. “When you look at Jordan, he’s got all the respect and all the characteristics you want out of a leader. He’s meant so much to our team in not only his on ice play, but all the intangibles that come along with it. His everyday work ethic, his everyday character, how he handles himself on and off the ice is exemplary in what we want out of all of our hockey players here in our program.”

Coming into his senior year, Sigalet is second all-time on the Falcon list for goals against average (3.02). However, he owns the school mark for career save percentage (.914).

His younger brother, Jonathan, is a sophomore defenseman on the team and also a major contributor. As a freshman last season, he scored 3 goals and recorded 12 assists. He finished seventh on the team in scoring and is considered one of the best young defensemen in the country.

“Having Jonathan out there is great,” Sigalet said. “He’s gotten so much more confident in his play. I love having him out there in front of me. It helps the team out a lot more too having him on the ice.”

Off the ice, Sigalet enjoys working out and taking some time to hit the golf links. Staying active has always been a big part of his life and it has given him more confidence in himself.

“Golf is just relaxing. It’s a real relaxing thing to do. I haven’t gotten the chance to do it as much since I got here, but it’s just a fun sport to do and it gets you away from the rink and gives me another opportunity to hang out with my teammates,” Sigalet said. “I always like to be active and to be doing some active. Makes me feel better about myself and I’ve just always been that way since I was little.”

Jordan also grew up with big dreams just like an ordinary Canadian athlete would of being able to play in the National Hockey League someday. “Obviously as a little kid my dream was to make it to the NHL. I’ll keep chasing that dream as long as I can. Hopefully it’ll come true, but it’s a long road and tough road to go down. You just got to keep working hard and worry about tomorrow and the next and just take each day at a time.”

One man, who has watched Jordan go down this long road, is Kevin Gordon, the beat writer for the Falcon hockey team and assistant sports editor of the Bowling Green Sentinel-Tribune.

He has written about Falcon hockey for over twenty years and considers Jordan to be as good as any goaltender the Falcons have ever had.

“I think he’s as good as any goalie they’ve ever had. I mean it’s tough to compare goalies because of the goals being scored back in the seventies and goals being down today, but he has been consistently good over a period of time and all parts of his game have improved since he got here,” Gordon said. “He handles the 50 shot games just as good as the 20 shot games. He’s highly respected by everyone that he plays and has a great desire to win.”

Sigalet and his Falcon teammates will begin their year on the ninth of October with the annual Falcon Face-off at 4 p.m.