Spartans do splits with BGSU

Michigan State did the splits with Bowling Green last weekend in a home-and home series.

The Falcons took a 2-1 win Friday at MSU and then the Spartans returned the favor Saturday night with a 6-4 victory at Bowling Green.

Senior captain Jim Slater missed a penalty shot in the first period, but scored 10:58 into the third period to ruin Jordan Sigalet's shutout bid Friday night. Sophomore Dominic Vicari stopped 21 shots, but not two Jonathan Sigalet shots in the first period. Sigalet, the goalie, finished with 46 saves.

"We average 35 shots a game; 47 tonight," MSU head coach Rick Comley said. "You can't make people scorers if they're not scorers. They're trying hard and generating shots, and Sigalet made a lot of great saves tonight. We had a lot of really good shots too. My only disappointment is the bad penalties. Sometimes you get the lucky breaks around the net, and right now we're not."

But the breaks came Saturday as the Spartans (7-8-1, 4-6-0 CCHA) got a three-point effort (goal, two assists) from sophomore Tyler Howells and 20 saves from senior Matt Migliaccio. Adam Nightingale, Drew Miller, David Booth, Kevin Estrada and Chris Snavely also scored for MSU.

"This was a big win for us," said Comley. "We played our hearts out last night and couldn't score. We played well and lost. There were so many penalties early in the hockey game. A lot of guys had to sit early in the hockey game. I tried to get them some short shifts later, just to try and get them in the hockey game."

The Spartans play another home-and-home this weekend, this time with Notre Dame. Friday's game is in South Bend and Saturday's is back at Munn Ice Arena. Friday's game is on CSTV while Saturday's will be on Comcast Local.