Bowling Green State University
Nebraska Omaha
BGSU Wins First CCHA Road Game, 5-0, at Nebraska-Omaha
January 31, 2003 | Ice Hockey
Jan. 31, 2003
Omaha, Neb. - Bowling Green entered Omaha, Nebraska, on Friday night not having won a league road game and playing a team that had just soundly beaten #7 Ohio State twice last weekend. All the Falcons did was score four power play goals while goalie Jordan Sigalet earned his first collegiate shutout in net for a 5-0 BGSU victory over Nebraska-Omaha in front of 8,314 Maverick fans.
BGSU, now 1-9-0 on the road vs. Central Collegiate Hockey Association opponents, withstood an early UNO stampede and went on to score three first-period goals. UNO held an 8-0 shot advantage in the first six minutes of the game and the Falcons killed off a five-on-three UNO power play at 6:39. Sophomore Alex Rogosheske broke BGSU into the scoring column at 7:41 of the first period (Mark Wires assist). It was BGSU's first shot on net in the game and extended Rogosheske's point streak to a career-high three games.
"When you come here you've really got to be ready to play," said BGSU coach Scott Paluch. "I think we prepared hard all week long. It was probably the best 60 minutes we played all season. We knew when we came here that we were going to be playing against a lot of good players and in a very good building."
Wires then took advantage of a five-on-three BGSU power play with a PPG at 9:36 of the first period for a 2-0 Falcon lead. D'Arcy McConvey and Kevin Bieksa assisted on the goal. Bieksa's point streak extended to a career-high five games with the assist. Rogosheske then capitalized on the ensuing BGSU power play with a PPG at 10:34 for his second goal of the game and a 3-0 BGSU lead.
Meanwhile, sophomore goalie Jordan Sigalet was keeping the Mavericks at bay with 13 first-period saves. UNO held a 13-8 shot advantage in the first period but BGSU held a 3-0 lead.
"Jordan had some tremendous saves early to keep the game scoreless and then the special teams had a very good five-on-three power play kill," said Paluch. "I thought we had some great saves along with a good PK and power play, as well."
Wires netted his second power-play goal of the game at 8:00 of the second period when he snuck a wrister from the left goal line between the left post and Dan Ellis' glove, building the Falcon lead to 4-0. Senior Tyler Knight and McConvey assisted on the only goal of the second period. Freshman Mike Falk made a tremendous individual effort late in the third period to give BGSU its final goal (PPG) of the night. Brian Escobedo and Roger Leonard assisted on the goal.
UNO held a 31-24 shot advantage for the game, but were held to 0-for-6 on the power play and scoreless in the game. It was the first road shutout for the Falcons since Nov. 27, 1999 (1-0 at Lake Superior) and the first time this season that BGSU netted four power-play goals (4-for-8 on the power play). Due to a full-squad melee at the 18:54 mark of the third period, UNO had 21 penalties for 61 minutes while BGSU had 20 penalties for 59 minutes. BGSU's Ben Assenmacher and UNO's Mike Lefley received game disqualifications in the scuffle.
"From a consistent standpoint, we were able to do a lot of things pretty well for a long time," said Paluch. "We were able to avoid any long letdowns. When you play a team like UNO on the road, they're going to have moments where they're going to get their chances and get pressure, and that's where you need a good defensive stand, you need a big save, or in the case of the first period, you look at our penalty kill situation to weather the storm."
"It's always fun coming into another person's building and keeping the crowd kind of quiet, and getting up on them early," said Sigalet. "What we tried to do tonight was come out and have a strong first 20 minutes because we've had some slow starts, and tonight we put a full 60 minutes together. We've had games this season where we've let teams back in the game."
BGSU improves to 7-15-2 overall and 4-12-2 in the CCHA. UNO drops to 10-14-3 overall and 8-12-1 in the league. The two teams meet for the last time this season on Saturday night (8:05 p.m. EST) at the Omaha Civic Auditorium.
