The Bowling Green hockey team won their first game at Michigan State on Friday night since 1997 (2-1), but fell at home on Saturday (6-4) as they split their big Central Collegiate Hockey Association series with the Spartans.
Jordan Sigalet made 46 saves on 47 shots Friday night and his brother Jonathan scored the only two goals in the Falcons’ 2-1 win. Derek Whitmore scored two goals on Saturday, but the Falcons playing without Jordan Sigalet, who was out with flu-like symptoms, couldn’t slow down the Spartans and their defenseman Tyler Howells. Howells had a goal and two assists as the Spartans took advantage of Bob Frazee’s first start of the year in net.
“It was a tough situation when we get word right before the game that Jordan’s not going to play,” head coach Scott Paluch said about his two goaltenders play on Saturday. “Bob Frazee has literally 15 minutes to get ready to get in there to play, he made some good saves. I thought Jonnie Horrell was really solid in the second period, he made some tough saves to have the game at 4-3 going into the third.”
Jon Horrell played the second and third periods of Saturday’s game after Frazee started the game giving up three goals on 11 shots.
But, the weekend began on Friday night though, as the Falcons went into Munn Ice Arena and stole their first win since 1997 when they won 1-0 on Dec. 7 in the second game of a two game series at MSU.
A second period power-play goal by Jonathan Sigalet with 59 seconds left in the period to make it 2-0 proved to be the game-winner. His hard wrister from the point beat MSU goaltender Dominic Vicari low off a setup from Jonathan Matsumoto, who won the face-off back to Sigalet.
Jordan Sigalet was big all night for BG and shut down 16 MSU shots in a scoreless first period that saw BG only get nine shots on net. His biggest save coming on a penalty shot by Jim Slater, one of the top forwards in the nation, where Sigalet stopped his shot on the left as Slater just skated in and took a hard wrister.
“We do a shootout every Thursday in practice and treated it just like one of those shots,” he said about his save on the penalty shot. “He’s a great player (Slater), one of the best in the nation and I was surprised that he just shot the puck. He made a move on me when he came down on the breakaway and it was surprising to see him just take a shot on the penalty shot.”
Following a stretch of play that saw his brother keeping the Falcons in it, Jonathan Sigalet finally put a tally on the board with a power-play goal with just 1:37 left in the period. He found a crease on the left side of the net and roofed his shot behind Vicari on a pass from James Unger behind the net. Don Morrison also picked up an assist on the goal to make it 1-0.
He would then strike again on the power-play just 38 seconds later for his game- winning goal.
MSU finally got a goal in with 9:02 left in the game on a tip in by Slater, but the Falcons held off a late 5-on-3 power-play by MSU to earn a big road victory.
“It was a game like a lot of CCHA games where it comes down to the stretch,” Paluch said about the win. “We made enough of the plays down the stretch, whether it was clearing pucks, or killing off the 5-on-3 power-play to win a hockey game that Jordan gave us an opportunity to win.”
“It’s just what you have to do on the road sometimes,” Jonathan Sigalet said about grinding out a win. “Their crowd was into it at the end trying to get them going and they got the late goal to get the momentum, but we made to some big plays to win it tonight.”
On Saturday, the Spartans seemed to be the team with all the momentum, as they grabbed a 4-1 lead with 5:13 left in the second period, which the Falcons couldn’t come back from.
A power-play goal by Howells 41 seconds into the third period gave MSU a 5-3 lead and was the game-winner on the night.
It didn’t take long for the Spartans to get to the new BG goaltender, Adam Nightingale scored on a shot from the left circle that bounced in off Frazee’s left blocker to give MSU an early 1-0 lead. Howells picked up an assist on the play as Nightingale got his first goal of this season off a rush.
Falcons’ forward Rich Meloche would tie the game up at 1-1 though at the 11:20 mark of the period on a 5-on-3 power-play to swing the momentum to the Falcons. A cross-ice pass from forward Brett Pilkington from the right circle found Meloche alone on the left who roofed a wrist-shot by Matt Migliaccio into the upper right corner.
Alex Foster also picked up an assist on the play as BG took advantage of a long power-play that saw them get two 5-on-3 opportunities.
MSU would grab the lead right back on the power-play just 1:49 later. Drew Miller netted his fifth goal of the season on a shot from the left circle on another Spartan rush that lead to a goal.
David Booth would add another power-play goal to make it 3-1 just 2:10 later, to give the Spartans a two goal cushion. Booth’s slap-shot from the right circle found the right side of the net on a pass from Slater and Howells, who picked up his second assist of the night.
With 5:13 left in the second period, MSU would take a commanding three-goal lead at 4-1 on a goal by Kevin Estrada. Estrada stuck in a rebound on a shot by Jeff Dunne in-between the circles that beat Horrell.
Derek Whitmore would get the Falcons back in the game on two goals in the final five minutes of the period. The first goal came on a rebound at 15:59 from a shot by Pilkington and the second goal off another rebound with 55 seconds left from a shot by Foster. Pilkington and Foster traded assists on the two goals to bring the game to 4-3 entering the final period.
A penalty at the end of the second by BG defenseman Taylor Christie gave the Spartans a power-play to start the third.
Howells would then score his game-winner at the 41 second mark as his shot found the net from the top of the left circle.
MSU’s final goal would come with 12:30 left in the game from Snavely. His shot from between the circles found the net on the left to make it 6-3.
The Falcons would make one last attempt at a comeback on the power-play at the mid-point of the period. Michael Hodgson found the net from the left circle on a pass from Jonathan Sigalet and Pilkington to make it 6-4.
Migliaccio would make some key saves down the stretch and 20 on the night, to shut the door on any attempt at a comeback for BG.
Horrell ended the game for BG with 24 saves on 27 shots.
MSU finished 3-of-8 on the power-play; 4-for-15 on the weekend, while BG went 2-of-9 and 4-of-19 on the weekend.
“I’m proud of the way our guys hung in there, but you got to give credit to Michigan State,” BG coach Scott Paluch said on his team’s play. “They made a lot of nice plays tonight and scored goals. We had other chances on the power-play besides or two goals, we moved the puck extremely well, but just couldn’t get it by the goalie.”
BG will play at Michigan on Friday as part of a home-and-home series with the Wolverines before heading to the Dartmouth tournament to finish the first half of the season.
