Bowling Green senior goalie Jordan Sigalet came within 1:32 of shutting out Union on Friday. On Saturday, Sigalet completed the job.
He stopped 23 shots, including a couple of scoring attempts in the final minute, leading the Falcons to a 1-0 non-league victory over the Dutchmen at Messa Rink.
The win completed a two-game sweep for Bowling Green (2-0), which won Friday, 5-1. It is the first time the Falcons have opened the season 2-0 since 1996-97. The Dutchmen drop to 0-4. Sigalet made 37 saves in Friday’s game. Jordan Webb’s power-play goal ruined Sigalet’s shutout bid.
“I wouldn’t have cared if they had scored three goals in the last minute [Friday] night,” said Sigalet, a 2001 draft pick of the Boston Bruins. “As long as we get the win, a shutout doesn’t mean anything to me. But when you’re in a 1-0 game, you obviously have to get a shutout if you’re going to win. Obviously, it’s nice getting a shutout, but I didn’t have do too much.”
At least not in the first two periods. The Dutchmen made Sigalet’s life easy, firing just 10 shots on goal. Union was playing without two of its top forwards, Scott Seney and Jonathan Poirier. Seney was suspended for the game after receiving a game disqualification the previous night. Poirier has missed the last three games with a knee injury.
“We have to shoot the puck,” Union coach Nate Leaman said. “For some reason, we’re a little reluctant to pull the trigger. We worked on it in practice last week. You saw 38 shots on goal [Friday] night. Our game plan didn’t really change much because I thought we played a great game [Friday] night. We didn’t have that urgency to put pucks on the net tonight.”
Union put 13 shots on Sigalet in the third period. With 1:10 to go, Sigalet just got his glove on a Jason Visser shot from close range.
“I saw it at the last second,” Sigalet said. “It just tipped my glove. The guys did a good job of moving the players out of the way so I could see it at the last minute.”
Meanwhile, Union freshman goalie Justin Mrazek was outstanding in his collegiate debut. He made 29 saves, including 25 in the first 40 minutes.
“He kept it out of the net,” Leaman said. “It could have been 3-0 after the first, the way that we competed. Justin gave us a chance to win the game. That’s what you ask of your goaltender.”
The only goal Mrazek allowed came at 11:33 of the second period. Jonathan Matsumoto, who had a goal and two assists in Friday’s game, had his back to Mrazek when he got a puck in front of the net. Matsumoto turned around, faked a forehand shot and put a backhander past Mrazek’s left pad for a power-play goal.
“It was a pretty nice goal,” said Mrazek, who was selected by the Washington Capitals in June’s NHL draft. “Obviously, I’d like to have it back, seeing how it was the only goal of the game.”
Notebook
Union returns to action next weekend when it hosts Mercyhurst on Friday and UMass-Lowell on Saturday. … Freshman forward Sam Bowles and junior forward Chris Konnick were inserted into the Union lineup. Junior forward A.J. Palkovich was a healthy scratch. … There were 18 penalties called in the game.
Ken Schott covers college hockey for The Daily Gazette in Schenectady, N.Y.
