Bowling Green Pulls Away From Ferris State In Third Period To Win Series

Bowling Green Pulls Away From Ferris State In Third Period To Win Series

Bowling Green, Ohio — The Bowling Green Falcons (19-11-6, 15-6-5 WCHA) came from behind to defeat the Ferris State Bulldogs (14-13-6, 12-10-4 WCHA) for the second consecutive night Saturday (Feb. 27), scoring five times in the third period to secure a 6-2 win at the BGSU Ice Arena.

Ferris State had leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in the contest on goals by senior forward Matt Robertson and junior forward Kyle Schempp, but the Falcons broke through in the final period to complete a weekend sweep in Ohio.

Robertson's opening tally at 10:02 of the first period came while FSU was down a man, marking the second shorthanded goal for the Bulldogs during the 2015-16 season. At the start of the penalty kill, junior forward Chad McDonald won a face-off back to senior defenseman Zach Dorer, who moved the puck out of the defensive zone and started a 2-on-1 rush for Ferris State. McDonald worked the puck down the right side and put a perfect pass on the stick of Robertson, who beat BGSU goalie Chris Nell blocker side for the first goal of the game.

With the first assist on the goal, McDonald has now scored points in seven consecutive games for the Bulldogs, the longest streak of any FSU skater this season. The tally was Robertson's sixth of his senior campaign.

The score stayed 1-0 until late in the second period, when forward Brandon Hawkins evened the game at 1-1 for the Falcons with less than five minutes remaining in the middle frame.

Ferris State had a power play to start the third period and scored just after time expired on the BGSU penalty to re-take the lead 2-1 49 seconds into the last stanza. Schempp was right in front of the BGSU goal to re-direct a puck into the back of the net for his seventh goal of the year.

Assists were given to both freshman forward Corey Mackin and junior forward Gerald Mayhew. For the freshman, his 14th assist and 23rd point lead all WCHA freshman, while Mayhew has now been on the scoresheet in 10 of FSU's last 12 games and leads the team with 29 points.

But Bowling Green responded to tie the game at 3:14 of the third when Kevin Dufour scored his third goal of the weekend on a breakaway chance and then took the lead two minutes later on a goal by Mitch McLain.

McLain added another tally at 9:30 of the third to extend the BGSU advantage to 4-2. In the final minute of the contest, Mark Cooper scored with an empty net before Brett D'Andrea struck to end the scoring for the Falcons.

Goaltender Darren Smith took the loss for the Bulldogs for the second time on the weekend, despite making some great saves to keep his team in the contest earlier in the game. Smith finished with 25 saves in the game, as both teams equaled 31 shots on net for the night.

Neither team registered a power play goal, as the Bulldogs held BGSU to 0-for-3 on the man-advantage, while FSU finished 0-for-4.

Ferris State will still have an opportunity to secure home-ice advantage for the upcoming WCHA playoffs next weekend when they host Lake Superior State for a two-game series in Big Rapids March 4-5. Both games are scheduled to take place at 7:07 p.m. within the Ewigleben Ice Arena.

Tickets for next weekend's home series against the Lakers are on sale now. Visit FerrisStateBulldogs.com or call (231) 591-2888 for more information. Tickets can also be purchased online at StarTickets.com.