Thompson's Quick OT Goal Gives Bulldogs League Road Win

Big Rapids, Mich. - The nationally 20th-ranked Ferris State University men's hockey team scored only 14 seconds into overtime off the stick of junior wing Garrett Thompson to pull out a thrilling 4-3 victory over the Bowling Green State Falcons in Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) action at Bowling Green, Ohio, on Friday (Nov. 16) night.

FSU jumped out to a 3-0 advantage midway thru the final period before the Falcons scored three goals in a five-minute span to force the extra session.

Following a scoreless first period, Ferris State was able to register two goals in the second frame to take a two-goal lead into the final 20 minutes.

Junior center Cory Kane scored the first goal of the evening short-handed, which came unassisted, at 6:44 of the second period. The lamplighter marked Kane's fourth of the season.

Then, just over two minutes later at 8:54, freshman center Kenny Babinski notched an even-strength goal to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 advantage midway thru the second stanza. The goal was Babinski's second of his collegiate career with the assist going to freshman wing Matt Robertson.

The two teams had nearly equal scoring attempts for nearly half of the third period and Bulldog senior wing Kyle Bonis tallied FSU's third goal of the night on the power play at 9:48 of the third, which was his fifth tally of the season. Thompson earned the assist.

However, the Falcons quickly came back as they scored three goals over a five-minute stretch in the final period.

Bowling Green State's Dan DeSalvo scored the Falcons' first goal of the evening at 12:03 of the third period with the assist coming from Mark Cooper at even-strength.

Soon after, at 13:31, the Falcons' Ryan Carpenter made the score 3-2 when he notched the puck around Bulldog sophomore goaltender CJ Motte on the power play. The assists went to DeSalvo and Mike Sullivan.

Finally, a little over three minutes later, the Falcons tied the game at three goals apiece when Adam Berkle scored an even-strength goal at 16:54 off a feed from Ryan Peltoma.  Neither team was able to find the back of the net again over the final three minutes of regulation.

However, Ferris State responded quickly in the sudden death extra session when Bonis' pass connected with Thompson's stick just 14 seconds into overtime on the power play to lift the Bulldogs to the victory. The goal was Thompson's third of the season.

Motte tallied 33 saves on the night while the Falcons' goaltender Andrew Hammond registered 23 saves. The Falcons held a 36-27 edge in total shots for the night.

The Bulldogs had seven penalties on the night totaling 14 minutes and the Falcons recorded five penalties on the night for 10 minutes.  FSU was two-of-five with the man-advantage while BGSU went one-for-seven overall.

With the victory, the Bulldogs improved to 5-4-2 overall along with 4-3-0 record in the CCHA. Meanwhile, the Falcons dropped to 2-7-3 overall record with a 1-4-2-1 record in the CCHA.

Friday's win was FSU's sixth in the last eight matchups against the Falcons dating back to the start of last season as the two teams faced each other seven times a year ago.

The two teams will be back in action  on Saturday night (Nov. 17) at the Bowling Green State University Ice Arena in Bowling Green, Ohio. Puck drop for the series' finale is set for 7:05 p.m. (ET) and fans can tune into the live broadcast on Sunny 97.3 FM and the Bulldog Sports Network online at FerrisStateBulldogs.com. 

Saturday's game will also be televised by the Buckeye Cable Sports Network in Ohio.