The Bulldogs shocked the seemingly unbeatable No. 1 nationally-ranked Miami (Ohio) RedHawks with two dramatic victories in a series sweep over the weekend.
Much preparation went into this series because of the competition and the opportunity to potentially upset the top team in the country.
“I was very happy with the win and it meant a lot to the team because obviously Miami has a terrific program,” said Ferris head coach Bob Daniels. “It meant a little bit more because it was Miami.”
The Bulldogs are now 5-3-2 overall and 2-2-2 in the conference. The Bulldogs have won both of their shootouts this season and are fifth CCHA standings. Miami dropped from first to third in the conference standings following the two losses.
Saturday evening, the Bulldogs come out with a 1-1 tie against Miami, but earned the extra point in the standings with a 3-2 shootout victory. Miami scored first in the game, but the Bulldogs would even the score just minutes into the second period when sophomore forward Kyle Bonis passed to freshman Cory Kane who scored his second goal of the year for Ferris.
The Bulldogs kept the RedHawks off the board for the reminder of the game despite being outshot 37-19 in the contest. After a scoreless overtime, the teams headed to a shootout.
Bonis, along with juniors Derek Graham and Jordie Johnston, tallied goals in the shootout to give the Bulldogs a 3-2 shootout victory. The shootout victory marked the second such win this season for Ferris, as the Bulldogs topped Michigan in a shootout on Oct. 29. Senior goaltender Pat Nagle had 36 saves and received the received the first star of the game.
“I was real impressed with the seniors Henning, Redmond and Nagle,” said Daniels. “You’re going to need leaders and that was provided by the senior class.”
The Bulldogs went into Saturday with the same strategy as before, not changing much and hoped to continue the way they had been playing all season.
“There isn’t much you can do in a 24 hour period, all the preparation went on during the week,” said Daniels. “We all watched films and fine-tuned during the morning practices. We preached that we needed more of the same.”
The Bulldogs upset the RedHawks 3-2 on Friday, which marked Miami’s first regulation conference loss of the season. The first goal was scored by Miami just 3:06 into the game, but Bulldog senior Mike Fillinger would score his first goal of the season to knot up the score at 1-1 in the first period. With a little over one minute left to play in the first, Bonis tallied his fourth goal of the season to give Ferris a 2-1 lead going into the second period.
The RedHawks knotted the game at 2-2 halfway through the second period, but the Bulldogs responded quickly. A play was set up by senior captain Zach Redmond and senior Justin Menke, that ultimately resulted in sophomore Matthew Kirzinger scoring the game-winning goal late in the second period. Nagle had 19 saves in the victory and improved his league-leading goals against average to 1.75 per game.
“We just had to play well defensively and try not to have any penalties at all,” said Daniels.
The Bulldogs went into Saturday with the same strategy as before, not changing much and hoping to continue on as they did previously.
“There isn’t much you can do in a 24 hour period, all the preparation went on during the week,” said Daniels. “We all watched films and fine-tuned during the morning practices. We preached that we needed more of the same.”
The Bulldogs will hit to the road this weekend to play Lake Superior State on Nov. 12-13 in Sault Ste. Marie.