After having last weekend off, the Bulldogs should be well and rested as they travel 518 miles to Mankato, MN to take on the Minnesota State Mavericks for the third and fourth time in a row this season.
Two weekends ago, the Bulldogs fell to the Mavericks 2-1 on Friday and 3-1 on Saturday night against the No. 1 ranked Minnesota State team. Kyle Schempp scored both goals for the Bulldogs in the series, but one goal in each game was just not enough to best the Mavericks.
Minnesota State had games this past Friday and Saturday against Minnesota, who they beat 4-2, and Bemidji State, who they fell to by a 3-1 margin, so that could factor in to how the games will go this next weekend.
Sophomore forward Kyle Schempp said, “Having a weekend off is always nice because it gives the guys rest and more preparation leading up to the games. Even though MSU is playing this weekend we know they will be ready to play and we will have to be as well.”
The Bulldogs have had some woes on the offensive side of the puck this year, scoring just 12 goals in their last eight games. The team went 2-6 in that stretch, with both wins and over half of those goals coming against Alaska-Anchorage where Ferris scored four and three goals.
When asked what the team needs to improve on to beat the Mavericks this weekend, sophomore forward Gerald Mayhew said, “We need to score more goals, we can’t win by scoring only one goal a game.”
The Bulldogs are trying to improve their 11-13-1 record against a 19-5-1 Minnesota State team. The Mavericks have lost just two games in their last 17.
Ferris came close to dethroning the No. 1 team two weekends ago. The Bulldogs led Minnesota State 1-0 for most of the game until the Mavericks responded with 3 straight goals in the final 13:02 of the game. The Bulldogs will try their best to finish strong on Friday and Saturday.
Kyle Schempp said, “To come out on top we just have to compete hard for 60 minutes. We did a pretty good job of that last time around, but we just came up a little short.”
The puck will drop at 7:07 p.m. on both Jan. 30 and 31 at the Verizon Wireless Center in Mankato, MN.