The Bulldogs have nine points in CCHA play and share third place with Notre Dame, Lake Superior State and Michigan State.
The CCHA’s log jammed standings put the Bulldogs right in the thick of things after dropping the first game against LSSU in the weekend series, before bouncing back Nov. 10 with a win.
In the first game of the series, Ferris scored first in the early part of the second period when junior forward Justin DeMartino put his second goal of the season in on a play set up by junior center Corey Kane and sophomore defenseman Simon Denis.
The Bulldogs tried to carry their 1-0 lead into the third period, but during the final minute of the second the Lakers stampeded back by scoring three times in less than 60 seconds. Lakers sophomore forward Buddy Robinson notched his first two goals of the season while giving LSSU a 3-1 advantage.
“It was only our second time on the road this season, and we had a bad minute of hockey that cost us the game,” Ferris sophomore defenseman Jason Brinkley said.
Even with the 32-27 edge in shots for Ferris, the one minute meltdown proved to be costly for the Bulldogs, as they were unable to equalize the LSSU rally and would lose after the Lakers scored an empty net goal to give Ferris a 4-1 loss.
The nationally 18th-ranked Bulldogs (U.S. College Hockey Online) would answer in the final game of the series, as Ferris posted a 2-1 victory to force a split against LSSU.
Junior center Corey Kane scored first in the opening stanza of play on a power play goal off a pass from DeMartino to give Ferris an early 1-0 lead.
DeMartino scored a following goal early in the second period to give Ferris a 2-0 lead with assists given to senior forward Kyle Bonis and sophomore defenseman Simon Denis. There were two goals and one assist for DeMartino in the series, as he tallied a point in all of the goals Ferris scored.
“Ideally, you want to sweep your home series and split your road ones,” Binkley said. “So far all we have been doing is splitting series and so has the rest of the league. Now with our schedule coming up, we have to start getting our sweeps and play competitive hockey and we’ll be right there.”
Sophomore goaltender C.J. Motte would do the rest, allowing only one goal off of 44 shots by the Lakers, as Ferris was greatly outshot 44-28 but managed to escape with a win.
The split this weekend put Ferris right in the thick of things, as CCHA play begins to heat up.
The Bulldogs will seek revenge Nov. 17-18 against Bowling Green State University. BGSU prevented Ferris from reaching the St. Joe Louis arena last season by knocking the Bulldogs out of the first round of last season’s CCHA Tournament.