#11 Bulldogs Wrap Up Season-Opening Series With 2-2 OT Tie

Big Rapids, Mich. - The nationally 11th-ranked Ferris State University men's ice hockey team wrapped up its season-opening road series at RPI with a 2-2 overtime tie on Saturday (Oct. 13) evening at the Houston Field House in Troy, N.Y.

The Bulldogs. who dropped a 3-1 decision to the Enginners in Friday's (Oct. 12) season opener, avoided a second-straight setback to open the campaign with a hard-fought deadlock in the finale.

Rensselaer struck first at 19:31 of the opening period as Jacob Laliberte tallied a power play goal off assists from Ryan Haggerty and Matt Neal to account for the lone scoring of the first period.

However, FSU answered back quickly to start the second stanza as forward Garrett Thompson found the back of the net only 39 seconds into the frame with the pass coming from senior captain Kyle Bonis.

FSU took its first and only lead of the contest at 9:59 of the third period when freshman defenseman Brandon Anselmini tallied his first career goal off assists from sophomore defenseman Simon Denis and Bonis.

The Engineers, though, answered back with a quicky goal of their own at 10:23 when Laliberte recorded his second goal of the night off a feed from Neal.

Neither team was able to score the rest of the way in regulation or in the five-minute overtime session.

The Bulldogs held a slim 24-23 edge in total shots with 11 coming in the second period alone.  The Engineers had a team-high eight in period two and posted a narrow 5-2 edge in scoring chances in the overtime session.

RPI cashed in on one of its four power play opportunities while the Bulldogs were not able to convert in two tries before a crowd of 2,779 fans at the Houston Field House.

Overall, FSU had five penalties for 10 minutes and RPI finished with three infractions for six minutes in the box.

Sophomore goaltender CJ Motte tallied 21 saves for the Bulldogs in 65 minutes of action while Bryce Merriam also played all 65 minutes in net for the Engineers and made 22 saves.

Bonis had a team-high four shots for the Bulldogs in the tie with Haggerty recording a squad-best four shots for RPI.

With Saturday's tie, the Bulldogs now own a 0-1-1 overall record to date this campaign.  RPI is now 1-0-1 after the weekend under head coach Seth Appert, who's a former four-year letterwinner for the Bulldogs.

Ferris State returns home to host the Mercyhurst Lakers in its 2012-13 home-opening series next weekend (Oct. 19-20) at the Ewigeleben Ice Arena in Big Rapids.  Opening faceoff both nights for the non-league series' is set for 7:05 p.m. (ET).

A special banner raising ceremony will take place prior to Friday's home opener as the Bulldogs celebrate the historic achievements of last season's squad that captured the school's second-ever Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) Regular-Season Championship and reached the national championship game at the 2012 Frozen Four.

Tickets for next weekend's action can be purchased in advance and fans can save money on each ticket by purchasing prior to gameday.  For more information, please call (231) 591-2888 or visit FerrisStateBulldogs.com.  Tickets can also be purchased online at StarTickets.com.