Til’ the last whistle

Bulldogs suffer shootout loss to Bemidji State

Ferris junior goaltender Darren Smith held the Beavers to two goals on forty shots through sixty minutes of regulation and two overtime periods. Photo by: Sam Cavotta | Torch Photographer

The Ferris State Bulldogs men’s hockey team lost in a shootout on Friday night (Oct. 27) against the Bemidji State Beavers.

The Bulldogs were coming off a split weekend in against Mercyhurst, which consisted of a 3-2 win (Oct.20) and a 4-1 loss (Oct. 21).

Ferris State took the road against the defending Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) Champions, the Bemidji State Beavers. The Bulldogs were 2-4 on the season coming into the weekend split and the Beavers were 2-1-1.

Last season, the Bulldogs split the series with the Beavers 1-1. The Bulldogs finished fifth in the WCHA standings last season and Bemidji State finished at the top in first place.

In net for the Bulldogs on Friday night was junior Darren Smith and the Beavers had senior Michael Bitzer.

The first period consisted of strong defense by both teams. The Beavers however started off on the board with a goal by senior forward Kyle Bauman at 13:06 in the first period. Bemidji State took a 1-0 lead going into the first intermission.

The shots were 7-5 in favor of the Beavers after the first period.

The second period consisted of many faceoff wins by the Bulldogs and midway through the second period Ferris State had a 17-11 lead in face-offs. Junior Corey Mackin answered with his first goal of the season to tie the game at 1-1 at 10:06 in the second period. Junior Ryker Killins added his second assist of the season on the goal.

Midway through the second period the Beavers started dominating in shots 17-9 in their favor. Senior Kyle Bauman netted in his second goal of the game and his fourth of the season at 11:17 to make the score 2-1 Bemidji State with 9:43 left in the second.

The Beavers took a 2-1 lead going into the second intermission against the Bulldogs. The Bulldog offense struggled to get shots on the net with only five during the period. The Beavers had a 20-10 favor in shots at this point in the game.

The Bulldogs would then answer with a fiery of shots and freshman Nate Allen scored his first goal of the season on a power play to tie the game at 2-2 at 12:26.

The third period was back forth all night with shots from both teams and impressive goaltending.

At the end of intermission the game was tied at 2-2. The Beavers had a 33-17 favor in shots heading into overtime.

The game would take two overtimes before coming to a shootout. The final decision was a tie in the game. Both goaltenders stood on their heads in the shootout. Bemidji State would pick up a point on the night in the shootout victory against the Bulldogs.

The Ferris State Bulldogs will be looking to get more shots on net in their next matchup as they were outshot 40-21 on Friday night.

Junior Darren Smith had an incredible night for the Bulldogs as he stopped 38 out of 40 shots in the game, earning him a .95 save percentage.

With the shootout victory for Bemidji State they improved to 3-1-1 on the season and the Bulldogs are now 2-4-1 on the year.

The Bulldogs and the Beavers will be back in action on Saturday, October 28 at 8:07 p.m. (ET) at Bemidji State.