Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
FINDLAY
Falcon Icers Upend Findlay, 5-1
December 12, 2003 | Ice Hockey
Dec. 12, 2003
Bowling Green, Ohio - Bowling Green snapped an eight-game winless streak with a 5-1 victory over non-conference opponent Findlay on Friday at the BGSU Ice Arena. Four of the five Falcon goals came on the power play, a season-high.
"I was real pleased with the way our team played tonight for most of the game," said BGSU Coach Scott Paluch. "We came out very well and forechecked hard, shot a lot of pucks, and established our game offensively in the first period.
"Hockey's a funny game sometimes. The puck will find its way in in spurts and it certainly did tonight. We had some good movement and we got some pucks to the net. We focused on getting more pucks to the net tonight and I felt it payed off."
Senior Mark Wires got the home team on the board first at 13:04 of the first period with his sixth goal of the year. Brett Pilkington and Jonathan Sigalet assisted on the only even-strength goal of the game.
Junior Ryan Minnabarriet then built the lead to 2-0 at 15:47 of the first period when he pounded in a rebound shot past UF goalie Will Hooper. Sigalet and Steve Brudzewski earned assists on the power-play goal.
BGSU held a 16-6 edge in shots in the first period and the two goals were the most in the opening period for the Falcons all season.
Pilkington then got into the action at 16:18 of the second period with his sixth goal of the year. His PPG was assisted by D'Arcy McConvey and Brian Escobedo. Findlay held a 12-8 lead in shots in the second period but failed to connect on any of its shots.
Freshman Jonathan Sigalet helped the cause with his second goal of the season at 6:33 of the third period to give BGSU a 4-0 lead. Wires and Don Morrison assisted on the goal. Frosh James Unger scored the Falcons' final goal at 8:50 of the third period on the power play. It was his second netter of the year and was assisted by Morrison and Sigalet.
UF's Kris Wiebe scored his seventh goal of the year, a short-handed goal, at 15:23 of the third period to erase Jordan Sigalet's shutout bid.
Jordan Sigalet ended with a game-high 27 saves while Hooper had 25 saves in the losing cause. BGSU ended 4-for-8 on the power play while UF was 0-for-4. UF committed 15 penalties to BGSU's 11.
"Our power play got going tonight," said Jonathan Sigalet. "When we get our power play going, with as good as we kill penalties, we're a tough team to beat."
The win was BGSU's first since a 4-2 victory over Niagara on Nov. 7 and improved its record to 4-8-6 overall. Findlay drops to 4-11-2.
BGSU is off for the next three weeks before travelling to Minnesota-Duluth for a two-game series (Jan. 2-3). The series will mark a rematch of the 1984 Division I National Championship, which the Falcons won 5-4 in quadruple overtime, the longest championship game in NCAA history.
