Falcons Kick Off Season Right with 5-1 Victory

Friday, October 22

Schenectady, N.Y.

7:05 PM

Bowling Green State University

Union

October 22, 2004 | Ice Hockey

Oct. 22, 2004

Final Stats

Schenectady, N.Y. - Bowling Green freshman Jonathan Matsumoto garnered a goal and two assists and senior Jordan Sigalet stopped 37 shots as the Falcons went on to post a season-opening victory over host Union, 5-1, in Schenectady, N.Y. Three of the five BGSU goals came from freshmen while Sigalet was just 1:32 away from his fourth career shutout.

Junior Mike Falk put the Falcons on the board for the first time this season at 10:08 of the first period with a wrister from the left-side of the crease, thanks to a pass from Matsumoto from behind the net. Later in the period, junior defenseman Jon Sitko fired a shot from the left point that found its way through traffic and into the back of the net past goalie Kris Mayotte for a 2-0 Falcon lead. Sitko's goal at 18:33 was assisted by Matsumoto and Don Morrison. It was just Sitko's second goal in 75 career games.

At the end of the first period BGSU held a 2-0 advantage, but it could have been more. The Falcons were 0-for-4 on the power play in the opening 20 minutes, including nearly two minutes of a 5-on-3 power play early in the period. Union held a 13-8 shot advantage in the first period.

"Union came out real strong," said BGSU Coach Scott Paluch. "We weren't doing a good job of getting the puck out and playing strong defensively like we needed. Fortunately we got the three penalty calls in a row and that gave us an opportunity to control the puck a little bit until we got our feet underneath ourselves."

Freshman Derek Whitmore scored a power-play goal at 4:58 of the second period to build the Falcons' lead to 3-0, which held into the third period. Fellow frosh Alex Foster and senior Ryan Minnabarriet assisted.

At 8:40 of the third period, Matsumoto decided to score a goal instead of assisting one one, scoring a power-play tally for a 4-0 Falcon lead. Jonathan Sigalet and James Unger assisted. After Bryan Dobek received a game disqualification at 14:49 to give the Dutchmen a five-minute power play, freshman Ben Geelan stole the puck at the top of the circle and skated in for an unassisted, short-handed goal at 15:19 of the third period.

"We were pretty opportunistic," said Paluch. "The chances we did create we did a good job of finishing, which was an area we didn't do a good job of the last couple of years. I thought Union did a great job of generating chances off their cycle. Our power play generated when it had to and our penalty kill did a good job, as well."

Union's Jordan Webb spoiled Sigalet's shutout bid at 18:48 with a PPG, cutting BGSU's lead to 5-1. For the game, Union held a 38-24 shot advantage with Sigalet recording 37 saves and Mayotte stopping 19 shots. BGSU was 2-for-8 on the power play while Union was 1-for-5.

We've come to expect a lot out of Siggy. He has a great knack of staying focused in games where he sees a lot of shots and makes key saves at the right time, and I thought he did that again tonight.

For Matsumoto, he was still soaking in his first collegiate game during the post-game press conference.

"I was real excited to score my first goal in the NCAA, but we know that we have to come out strong tomorrow because they're going to come out ready to play."

BGSU (1-0-0) and Union (0-3-0) meet again on Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. in Messa Rink.