Ferris State Hockey Falls In Weekend Opener Against Bemidji State

Postgame Highlights

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Bemidji State Beavers scored the only two goals of the night en route to a 2-0 victory over Ferris State in Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) action on Friday (Dec. 4) night inside FSU's Ewigleben Ice Arena.

The game opened a two-game weekend series' between the two league foes, who have squared off against each other in the WCHA Playoffs each of the past two seasons.

The Beavers came out firing in the first period and scored first on a turnover in front of Ferris State freshman goaltender Darren Smith .           

BSU's Brendan Harms dangled his way past a few Bulldog players and Smith couldn't recover as Harms found the net to give the Beavers a 1-0 lead at 8:09 of the first period.           

Linemate Charlie O'Connor tallied an assist on the Harms goal,and the Beavers held their 1-0 lead until late in the third period.         

It took until 17:25 of the third period for the Beavers to get their second marker of the night when Markus Gerbrandt caused another turnover in the neutral zone and came in unabated to Smith and scored with a shot that beat Smith high to the blocker side unassisted.           

The score stood as the Bulldogs could not find a way to put the puck in the net before the game concluded. The two teams combined for 50 shots with 25 going each way.

On special teams, Bulldogs finished 0-4 on the power play while the Beavers were held scorless in their two opportunities with the man-advantage. 

It was a defensive battle as the two teams finished dead even in shots with 25 apiece. Beaver goaltender Michael Bitzer posted the shutout for Bemidji State, while Smith made 23 saves on 25 shots for the Bulldogs.          

Overall, Smith fell to 5-3-3 on the year while Bitzer improved to 2-6-2.           

The battle was nearly even in almost every facet with the Bulldogs dropping the faceoff battle 38-35 to Bemidji State.           

With the loss, Ferris State is now 6-7-4 overall while the Beavers improved to 5-6-3.          

Ferris State will have a chance to split the series on Saturday (Dec. 5) night as the two teams square off again in the series' finale at the Ewigleben Ice Arena. Puck drop is set for 7:07 p.m. (ET).

Tickets for Saturday's final home game of the 2015 calendar year are on sale and can be purchased in person thru the FSU Athletics Ticket Office, online at StarTickets.com or by calling 1-800-585-3737. Visit FerrisStateBulldogs.com for additional information.