The Bulldogs split their second season series with Bowling Green on Friday, Jan. 28 and Saturday, Jan. 29.
The Bulldogs’ weekend began with a 4 – 3 loss, which ended their 2 game win streak.
Head coach Bob Daniels felt that momentum swings played a large part in their loss.
“We fell behind two-nothing early then came back in the second to take a 3 – 2 lead,” Daniels said. “I thought in the third period, obviously, they got the two power play goals to take the 4 – 3 lead. Two of the penalties were in the offensive zone, they were offensive zone hooks. It’s the thing we’ve been talking about. You can’t take those kinds of penalties. I think if you were gonna boil it down to one thing, it’s the penalties in the offensive zone.”
Freshman Noah Giesbrecht started in goal for the Bulldogs. Bowling Green got out to a quick start and opened the scoring at 2:57 in the first period.
The Falcons extended their lead to 2-0 2:32 into the second period.
The Bulldogs cut the lead in half with a goal from freshman forward Kaleb Ergang at 6:47.
The tying goal for Ferris came only two minutes later. Senior forward Justin Michaelian scored an unassisted goal, tying the game at 2.
With four minutes left in the second period, sophomore defenseman Luke Farthing scored his first goal of the season while putting the Bulldogs up 3 – 2. They held that lead into the third period.
Senior captain Liam MacDougall took a hooking penalty at 3:28 in the third period and Bowling Green converted to tie the game at 3 with 15 minutes left in the game.
Only 30 seconds after the goal, junior forward Dallas Tulik tok a hooking penalty and Bowling Green went back on the power play. With ten seconds left on their power play, the Falcons got the go-ahead goal and took the lead 4 – 3.
Ferris pulled Giesbrecht in the waning minutes of the third period but failed to score and fell to the Bowling Green Falcons, 4 – 3.
The finals stats of the game would include:
Noah Giesbrecht’s save percentage: .851 (23/27 saved)
Shots: 27 – 27
Powerplay: 0 – 3
Penalty kill: 2 – 4
Daniels expanded on the penalty kill that ultimately sunk the Bulldogs in the third period and their struggles against the power play.
“We have got to do a better job of killing on our penalty kill,” Daniels said. “We need to avoid taking unnecessary penalties. The power play didn’t look good at all. I thought that it wasn’t a mechanical thing or a strategy thing as much as I thought their four outworked our five out there. I felt as though the guys were trying to strategize their way to a goal and not work their way to a goal.”
The Bulldogs got vengeance the next night and came out on top in an overtime thriller with a 2 – 1 victory.
The fight began in a slow and sloppy first period from the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs started sophomore goaltender Logan Stein. Stein faced 17 shots in the first while the Bulldogs put up seven against Bowling Green, but neither team scored.
Daniels felt his team came out and played slow in the first period.
“We looked like we were in quicksand,” Daniels said. “We looked slow, we looked sluggish, we got beat to every puck. I thought Logan Stein was great the whole game but he really gave us a chance in the first period. I think at one point, shots were 8-nothing for them. We just didn’t start the game on time.”
The Bulldogs came out with much more intensity in the second period. Two minutes into the second, Bowling Green took a penalty for too many men on the ice.
The Bulldogs scored just 11 seconds into the power play as Ergang picked up his second goal against Bowling Green in two games.
Halfway through the second, Bowling Green took a ten minute game misconduct for contact to the head. Ferris finished the period with a 1-0 lead.
Farthing took an interference penalty to start the third period, giving the Falcons a power play.
Bowling Green acted fast and netted a power play goal, tying the game, 1 – 1. Later in the period, Bowling Green took a second ten minute game misconduct penalty. The third period closed in a 1 – 1 tie.
Overtime kicked off with possession from Bowling Green. They registered a quic shot on Stein, who collected a save. Bowling Green turned the puck over and senior forward Marshall Moise slipped past a defender for a breakaway opportunity where he took one shot and slotted the game-winning goal for the Bulldogs.
Moise commented on his game winner to halt Bowling Green’s chance at a sweep.
“I was just excited to put that one in for the team,” Moise said. “We’re working hard. It was funny because guys in the locker room, they were saying I was due so I was ready. I was like ‘I gotta get one here.’”
Final stats from this game were:
Logan Stein’s save percentage: .971 (34/35 saved)
Shots on goal: 35 – 33, Ferris State
Powerplay: 1 – 5
Penalty kill: 3 – 4
With just six games left on the schedule, the Bulldogs will hit the road and battle the Lakers of Lake Superior State, Feb. 11 and 12 in what will be their penultimate road series of the regular season.
JC