The Bulldogs are looking good after sweeping Alaska thanks to a 5-3 victory over the Nanooks Saturday night.
It was the first game all season that the Bulldogs were able to score more than three goals in a game. With the win the Bulldogs (5-6-2) jumped over Alaska in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) standings.
The Bulldogs scored the first goal for the second straight night and kept the lead the rest of the night, trading shots back and forth with Alaska. Defenseman Nate Kallen started the scoring when he found a rebound off a Mitch Maloney shot and buried it past Alaska goaltender Anton Martinsson at 10:45 of the first period to put the Bulldogs up 1-0.
The Bulldogs started things in a back and forth second period when they stretched the lead to 2-0 when defenseman Joe Rutkowski made a nice move and lasered off an even better shot by Martinsson at 5:15 of the middle frame.
It didn’t take long for the Nanooks to answer as Tayler Munson was gifted a loose puck right in front of the net and made the most of the opportunity, burying one past Ferris goaltender Justin Kapelmaster just 1:26 after the Rutkowski goal to pull Alaska back within one.
Craig Pefley found the net for the first time this season on the powerplay to put the Bulldogs back up by two, 3-1 just 1:42 later when he tipped in a great pass from Cameron Clarke who found Pefley wide open right in front of the net.
The two-goal lead once again vanished quickly as Kapelmaster played the puck and struggled to regain positioning in the crease and Kylar Hope sent one by him to bring the Bulldog lead to 3-2 just 22 seconds after the Pefley goal.
Things calmed down for a bit before Nate Kallen found the net again when he took a pass from Coale Norris and squeezed one through Martinsson to put the Bulldogs up 4-2. The goal would stand as the game winner.
The Nanooks made things interesting in the third period when they once again cut the Bulldog lead to one when Nikol Koberstein found the back of the net with 6:56 left in the game. The Nanooks fought hard to the finish but the Ferris defense along with Kapelmaster stood tall.
Mitch Maloney sealed the victory when he found the empty net with 1:33 left. It was the second straight night that Maloney found the empty net to add some insurance for the Bulldogs.
For the first time this season the Bulldogs did not split the weekend in between the pipes as Kapelmaster made the start for the second night in a row. Kapelmaster has been in net now for the Bulldogs in all of three games of their current three-game winning streak and looked good again tonight with 31 saves.
The Bulldogs return to action Friday Nov. 17th when they travel to East Lansing to take on the Michigan State Spartans at Munn Ice Arena. The Bulldogs return home the next day to host the Spartans in the annual teddy bear toss game at Ewigleben Ice Arena.