Ferris State Hockey Drops Opening Game Of Weekend Series At Minnesota State

Mankato, Minn. - A big second period lifted Minnesota State to a Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) home win over the Ferris State Bulldogs on Friday (Feb. 16) night as the two squads opened a weekend league series at the Verizon Wireless Center in Mankato.

The Mavericks scored five times in the middle frame en route to a 7-1 win over FSU in the opening game of the two-game set.

MSU struck first with the only goal of the opening period when Connor Mackey found the back of the net off an assist from Jake Jaremko.

The Mavericks, who led 1-0 heading into the second, got an early second period goal from C.J. Suess only 45 seconds into the frame with the assist credited to Parker Tuomie.

Ferris State drew back within a goal at 1:23 of the second when freshman forward Lucas Finner notched a power-play goal assisted by juniors Corey Mackin and Ryker Killins.

However, the Mavericks took control again with four more goals in the second. Daniel Brickley pushed the margin to 3-1 at 2:03 of the second off assists from Brad McClure and Jared Spooner. His marker was then followed by back-to-back goals from Jaremko, with the first coming at 6:59 on the power play followed by another at 18:21 of the middle frame.

The first goal from Jaremko was assisted by Reggie Lutz and Dallas Gerads with Lutz also earning an assist on his second goal to go with one by Zeb Knutson.

Minnesota State stretched its advantage to 6-1 after two periods when Marc Michaelis scored MSU's second power play goal at 19:21 aided by Brickley and Tuomie. The Mavericks then scored the only goal of the third when McClure found the net for his second point of the evening assisted by Nicolas Rivera to account for the final margin at 18:52.

MSU held a 43-20 overall edge in shots for the night and went two-of-three with the man-advantage while FSU finished one-of-three on the power play.

Connor LaCouvee earned the win in net for Minnesota State by making 19 saves in 60 minutes. FSU's Darren Smith suffered the setback despite stopping 36 shots in 60 minutes of work.

The two teams will wrap up the weekend series on Saturday (Feb. 17) night starting at 8:07 p.m. (ET) in Mankato. FSU then returns home to host Lake Superior State in the final regular-season action next Friday and Saturday (Feb. 23-24) at the Ewigleben Ice Arena in Big Rapids.