Even after scoring first and holding leads in both games, the No. 17 ranked Falcon hockey team dropped two (8-3, 5-4) to No. 4 ranked Michigan in its home-and-home Central Collegiate Hockey Association series this past weekend.

“There are a lot of positives which we can take from this weekend,” head coach Scott Paluch said about the weekend and closing the gap between BG and Michigan. “We were able to create some offense against a pretty good team, get some goals on a very good goalie and in both situations we had an opportunity going into the third period to win the hockey game. Certainly though, we need to get points on a weekend like this to make that next move and we’ll shoot for that in the second half of the season.”

Steve Brudzewski had two goals over the weekend to lead the Falcon charge while Bryan Dobek contributed three assists to lead the team in points in the two games.

Michigan defenseman Matt Hunwick had three goals and two assists over the weekend, including a hat-trick Friday night at Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor, Mich., where Michigan came back from a 3-0 deficit to score eight straight goals to win 8-3.

A goal by T.J. Hensick just 1:09 into the third period moved the Wolverines in front 4-3 and proved to be the game-winner. Hensick took the puck off the right boards from Milan Gajic and skated in on a rush from the neutral zone, before taking a shot on the right side of Jordan Sigalet near the crease, which beat him, high on the stick side.

It was Brudzewski however, who got BG on the board first just 4:37 in as BG took a 3-0 lead after the first period. He took a pass from Dobek on the right side of Michigan goaltender Al Montoya, and then snuck a shot under Montoya’s arm on the glove side to make 1-0. Don Morrison also picked up an assist on the play to give BG the early lead.

The Falcons then took advantage of a Michigan mistake on the power-play to move ahead 2-0. Jon Sitko stole a pass in the neutral zone and got it over to Alex Rogosheske who skated into the slot on a breakaway and put a shot by Montoya on his glove side for BG’s third short-handed goal of the season at 7:53.

“Jon Sitko made a great play,” Rogosheske said about his first goal of the season. “He tipped it away from their guy and I got a lucky break. It went over their defenseman’s head and I went in all alone.”

A little less than three minutes later, Brudzewski tallied his second goal of the night to give the Falcons a commanding 3-0 lead. His hard shot from the left circle found the net after going under Montoya’s blocker with assists going to Sitko and Dobek.

The first 10 minutes of the second period would belong to Michigan as they stormed back to tie it at 3-3. Hunwick and Brandon Kaleniecki scored two power-play goals before Gajic tied the game up on a great move around Sigalet’s left side.

BG out-shot the Wolverines 11-10 in the period, but Montoya made some big saves to keep Michigan in the game, including a big one on Derek Whitmore on a Falcon power-play and finished the night with.

Five goals by Michigan in the third would blow the game wide-open. After Hensick’s goal just 1:09 in, Hunwick got his second of the night less than two minutes later to give Michigan a 5-3 lead 2:58 into the final period.

Kevin Porter, Hensick and Hunwick would score again before it was all over as Michigan stayed unbeaten at Yost Ice Arena, winning 8-3.

“I was real pleased with the game our team played for two periods, but we didn’t handle the road conditions that well in the third period,” Paluch said about the loss. “Michigan just made too many plays in the third and capitalized on their opportunities.”

It only took only 2:12 on Saturday for the Falcons to grab an early lead on the Wolverines in the BG Ice Arena, which saw its biggest crowd in nearly six years.

Mike Falk took a pass from Whitmore and slipped a shot past Montoya on the left side of the net for his second on the year to give BG a 1-0 lead for the second night in a row.

Jon Horrell made his first start of the season in net for the Falcons on the night, after it was learned that Sigalet was sick from symptoms of multiple sclerosis, which he came out and announced he had prior to the game.

Sigalet had been suffering from MS for the past nine months after being diagnosed in early March, 2004. His symptoms have caused him to miss just three games in that period of time, including last Saturday’s game against Michigan State.

“What Jordan has exhibited over the past nine months, both physically and mentally, is nothing short of extraordinary,” Paluch said about Sigalet’s announcement. “His ability to deal with his disease and perform at the high level he has is unbelievable. It’s as courageous an effort as anything I’ve been around from an athlete and certainly one that I know our staff and players have drawn a lot from.”

Horrell, who has seen limited action this season only playing 130:53 minutes and getting in two prior games, made some big saves throughout the first as Michigan got nine on him in one period.

Jason Dest finally got the Wolverines on the board with just 1:13 left in the first as he took a pass in the slot and put his wrist-shot past Horrell’s left to tie it at 1-1.

It would only take five seconds for the Wolverines to gain the lead as Jeff Tambellini made a great play off the face-off and found David Moss, who drove in and slipped one by Horrell on a rush to make it 2-1.

The Falcons would have a great first 10 minutes of the second period, as this time they scored two goals and grabbed the lead right back.

Whitmore scored on the power-play after his dump-in bounced off the right boards and found an open net after Montoya had left to play the puck from behind. Horrell recorded the assist as he played the puck out to Whitmore, who picked up his seventh goal at 1:14.

James Unger gave BG the lead as he skated into the slot from the right and fired a shot that beat Montoya low on the stick side for his fifth goal of the season. Dobek picked up the assist at the 8:12 mark of the period.

After a big 5-on-3 kill by BG, the Wolverines caught the Falcons napping as Kaleniecki found the net from the slot in front with 4:04 remaining in the period to tie it at 3-3.

Once again, the Falcons would grab the lead just 2:09 into the third as Ben Geelan’s got his fourth of the year on a hard-laser from the point. Brett Pilkington picked up the assist.

Hensick would tie the game again just 1:34 later on a wrap-around from the left side that beat Horrell on his glove side.

David Moss then got the game-winner in front just over three minutes later on a Michigan power-play on a tip on from a shot from the point that found the net under Horrell’s arm to make it 5-4.

BG had chances down the stretch including a shot off the top crossbar with only 1:30 left on a 6-on-4 advantage, but couldn’t beat Montoya as Michigan held on for a 5-4 victory.

“I know we played better tonight than we did yesterday,” Horrell said about the game. “We were a lot stronger in our own end than we were yesterday. We didn’t allow mistakes to build on each other and build the momentum like they did last night.”

“It was a crazy game, every time we come to Bowling Green its’ a crazy game,” Michigan head coach Red Berenson said about the game. “It was a good hard-fought game, they (BG) certainly redeemed themselves and they came back and had a good game and we were lucky to get out of here with a win. No one can fault their goalie, he (Horrell) played really well for them. He made two great saves in the second period, which could’ve been game saving saves for them and he gave them a chance all night.”

“I was sorry to hear about Jordan Sigalet and his situation,” he added. “We just learned about his situation tonight and it’s unfortunate.”

The BG power-play went 1-for-12 on the weekend, while the Michigan power-play went a stronger 4-for-15.

BG drops to 8-6-2 overall; 5-5-2 in the CCHA and will return to action at the Dartmouth tournament, Dec. 29.