Ferris State hockey’s five penalties, two of which turned into goals, helped create a fourth straight loss for the Bulldogs, as they fell to Michigan Tech on Friday.
In their past four losses, Ferris has taken 20 penalties with six of them resulting in a man-advantage goal for the opposing squad.
It’s because of this that head coach Bob Daniels points to penalty issues as the largest problem plaguing the team.
“We have got to stay out of the box,” Daniels said. “I’ve been harping on that. In a game where we only get one power play and they got five, we’ve got to change that around. I think that’s probably the biggest thing and then we got to [kill penalties].”
Two of the four losses were also shutout defeats. In the other two, Ferris began the scoring in both tilts and let the lead escape from them.
Junior forward Gavin Best, who collected a tally in his second straight outing, also knows that the losses, in part, keep coming back to the issue of the penalty box.
“It’s kind of just deflating for us right now,” Best said. “It’s starting to become a little bit of a theme of taking penalties that we shouldn’t be, and then not being able to close on the kill.”
Ferris’ first line netted the first goal of the night late into the opening frame, as Best received a pass from sophomore Cole Burtch and put it behind Michigan Tech’s Max Vayrynen. The Bulldogs carried their slim lead into the first intermission.
Ferris nearly escaped the second period with the same one-goal lead they took into it, but it took less than three minutes for the entire game to change. The Huskies’ man-advantage unit tallied two goals to first tie the game and then take the lead in the span of 2:36.
Michigan Tech pulled further away from what once was a Bulldog lead with a third unanswered tally. After a period of dormancy, Ferris’ offense woke with a goal in the waning minutes of the third period from Burtch. Even with an empty net for the Bulldogs, neither team found another tally, which put the game to rest in favor of the Huskies.
The Bulldogs will finish out their weekend slate against the Michigan Tech Huskies tomorrow at 7:07 p.m. at Ewigleben Arena.