Bowling Green State University Athletics
NCAA star faces a different battle
March 09, 2005 | Ice Hockey
March 9, 2005
Toronto, Ontario, Canada - By Eric Duhatschek Globe and Mail Newspaper He first noticed the symptoms almost exactly a year ago right after Jordan Sigalet, the Surrey, B.C.-born goaltender for the Bowling Green University men's hockey team, had finished up a two-game series against Northern Michigan.
The next morning, Sigalet woke up, but his left foot didn't. It felt as if it were asleep - and the feeling didn't go away all day. Sigalet thought it was "really weird" and told his coach, Scott Paluch, about it but wasn't really worried - or not until the next morning. This time, his whole body felt asleep from the neck down.
"That got me a little scared," said Sigalet, "so I called my mom and she told me to get to emergency right away. I saw our team doctor at the hospital and right away, they rushed me in for an MRI on my brain and spine. Doc came up and told me, 'things don't look good.' My heart dropped. I didn't know what to think."
Sigalet discovered he had multiple sclerosis, a disease that causes the body's immune system to attack nerve tissue and manifests itself differently in different people. Sigalet kept the diagnosis to himself through the summer, right up until December, when he finally shared the news with his teammates.
"At the time, I didn't know what MS was, so I was really scared," he said. "I had always heard that Montel Williams, the talk-show host, had MS, but I didn't really know what it was. With a disease like MS, it's different for everybody. It doesn't have a set pattern. It affects everyone in a different way."
Paradoxically, Sigalet is in the midst of his finest college season, despite the diagnosis. The 23-year-old senior helped Bowling Green clinch a home-ice playoff berth for the Central Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs for the first time in 10 years. They did it with a 2-1 win over Michigan State last Friday, in which Sigalet was named the game's first star. Overall, he is 16-9-3, with a 2.66 GAA and a .922 save percentage, one of the best in the country.
Moreover, he is No. 1 in fan voting for the prestigious Hobey Baker award, the de facto MVP award for U.S. college hockey players. Next week, all 58 Division I head coaches will vote for the award, creating 10 semi-finalists. The winner will be announced on Apr. 8 in Columbus, Ohio, the day before the national championship game.
Considering that he is in the early stages of fighting this debilitating disease, how is it that Sigalet is playing so well?
"I'm lucky in that it (the diagnosis) came at the end of last year," he answered, "because it gave me the summer to get over the initial shock of everything and adjust to being on the ice with it. I had to adjust my hands to holding my stick and glove because I've never gained the feeling back. The summer gave me a chance to do that. I came in this year, just really excited to play my last year. I've played a lot of minutes and I'm just happy that I've been able to play as much as I have."
Indeed, Sigalet has played all but 242 minutes for Bowling Green this season and the team's back-up goalies surrendered 19 goals in that span.
"I can't imagine watching anybody handle this better than Jordan," Paluch, his coach, told The Associated Press. "How he goes about understanding this disease and how he's concerned about other people, it says so much about his character.
Sigalet is one of Paluch's three captains and he plays on the same team as his younger brother Jonathan, a sophomore eligible for the 2005 NHL entry draft. Jordan wore No. 29 in his first two CCHA seasons, but switched to No. 57 last year because Jonathan had always worn No. 56 and since the Falcons line up numerically, they can stand side-by-side during the national anthem. Jordan can also lean on Jonathan when times get hard.
Sigalet himself was chosen by the Boston Bruins in the seventh round, 209th overall, in the 2001 entry draft. Because of NCAA regulations, he cannot officially engage an agent until that time, and so his conversations with the Bruins have been limited to get-well wishes from general manager Mike O'Connell and scouting director Scott Bradley.
"They've come in a few times and watched over the years," said Sigalet. "They talk to me after the games when they're here. They said they would keep watching me, as long as I can keep playing."
Ideally, Sigalet wants a chance to play professionally next season upon graduation. Currently, Boston is in decent shape as far as goaltenders go, with 25-year-old Andrew Raycroft, last year's NHL rookie of the year, firmly established as the No. 1 man. Moreover, Hannu Toivonen, the Bruins' No. 1 goalie in AHL Providence, is only 20 and considered a legitimate NHL prospect, who could act as Raycroft's backup once NHL play resumes.
"I definitely want to continue playing as long as I can," said Sigalet. "I'd love to play for Boston's farm next year in the minor leagues. That's my goal right now. But I'm definitely going to concentrate on finishing up with a strong year here and I'm sure the rest will take care of itself."
In the meantime, the news is mostly pretty positive, according to Sigalet, who said: "I'm on a drug right now that I inject into myself three times a week. In November, they released a new drug that has had great success rates so far. I'm looking forward for that to come out in Canada soon, so I can start taking that - because that way, it's a lot cheaper. So things look exciting. They're saying, in five-to-10 years, they're hoping to have a cure, so I'm trying to help out to raise money to help that process along. We raised $11,000 two weekends ago with a fund-raiser we did.
"I think attitude's the biggest thing - just trying to stay positive. When you get down on yourself, it just makes you feel a lot worse. I'm just trying to stay positive."
