Bulldog hockey kicked off their long run of interconference tilts with a 4-2 victory and a 3-0 loss against the Bemidji State Beavers.
Ferris’ first CCHA victory of the season on Friday, Oct. 25 acts as a measure of revenge, as Bemidji (2-3-0) beat the Bulldogs in the first round of the CCHA Playoffs last season. However, the vengeance only lasted until Saturday, Oct. 26 with Ferris (2-4-2) failing to find the back of the net.
A flurry of goals in the first and second periods generated the Bulldogs’ Friday night win. After a shorthanded tally from senior defenseman Nico Devita was answered by a Beaver goal in the first period, the Bulldogs celebrated the middle frame with three unanswered tallies from junior defenseman Xavier Jean-Louis, junior forward Caiden Gault and freshman forward Matt Corbet. From there, Bemidji answered with a single power-play goal in the third.
Despite leading by three after the second period and ultimately winning by two, head coach Bob Daniels felt that the game was closer than the score suggested.
“I’d say it was a pretty even game,” Daniels said. “I was very happy with how we played in the third. Even though it was 4-1, I felt like they were throwing a lot at us. I thought the guys, for the most part, played very well.”
Daniels was also pleased with Ferris’ blueliners getting in on the scoring action, stating that it’s a “real bonus” for the defensemen to find the back of the net.
Senior goaltender Noah West posted a .926 save percentage in his seventh start with Ferris, denying Bemidji on 25-of-27 shot attempts.
Corbet’s second-period goal marked his first collegiate tally, which drew a confident response from Daniel, stating “it won’t be his last.” For Corbet, the confidence has been instilled.
“It means a lot as a freshman coming into a new team,” Corbet said. “It means a lot that the coaches have trusted me and played me some pretty big minutes so far.”
With confidence from the win and Daniels sitting at 499 career wins, the Bulldogs entered the last leg of the series only to be shut out in the latter half of a weekend for the second series in a row.
One goal in the first and two in the second for the Beavers was enough to put Ferris away. West, in his third time starting back-to-back contests, let up the trio of tallies on 28 shots (.893 save percentage).
For Daniels, the Bulldogs’ shutout loss wasn’t due to a lack of trying.
“I think the overall feeling was that this was a missed opportunity,” Daniels said. “We had a chance for a sweep here and again. I don’t fault the effort at all. I thought the guys played hard the entire night. I did think some guys’ legs looked a little bit tired. Some guys just didn’t have the jump that they had last night. But overall, the effort, the care, the want to was there. We’ve got to find a way to continue to try to manufacture scoring chances.”
Ferris’ power play unit has struggled mightily through the first four series, including going 0-4 in the loss to Bemidji. The Bulldogs have zero man-advantage goals on 22 chances, which seats them at the bottom of NCAA DI hockey power-play percentages with other teams without a power-play goal.
On the topic of offense and power-play scoring, senior forward Nick Narddechia knows what it boils down to.
“It just comes down to execution and putting the puck in the net,” Narddechia said. “We’re there, but we got to execute and get the job done.”
Ferris will spend the next six weeks taking on five CCHA opponents and will not get any interconference relief until they play in the Kwik Trip Holiday Face-Off Tournament at the tail end of the year.
Up next, the Bulldogs will start their first interconference road trip with a weekend slate set against the Bowling Green Falcons on Friday, Nov. 1 and Saturday, Nov. 2.