Ferris State Roars Back From Early Deficit But Falls On The Road To Miami

Oxford, Ohio - The Ferris State University men's ice hockey team fought back from an early deficit, but ultimately fell on the road to the Miami (Ohio) Redhawks 4-3 on Friday, Oct. 18, at the Goggin Ice Center.

Three different Bulldogs scored in the contest as they erased a 3-0 first period deficit to bring the game within a goal before falling by one.

Miami got in front at 4:18 of the first period when Ben Lown deflected a point shot from Derek Daschke over the shoulder of Ferris State freshman goaltender Carter McPhail for a 1-0 Redhawks' lead. 

Later, at 15:55 of the first, Noah Jordan rushed straight down the ice and picked the top left corner to make it 2-0 Miami. Less than two minutes later at 17:52, Karch Bachman crashed the goal and beat McPhail as the hosts took a 3-0 lead.

After a long penalty kill, the Bulldogs came to life late in the second period. Ferris State junior forward Lucas Finner wrapped around the Miami cage and tucked it between the legs of MU goaltender Ryan Larkin to cut the Miami lead to 3-1 at 14:58 of the middle frame. 

The goal was Finner's second of the season. Junior forward Coale Norris and sophomore forward Hunter Wendt each picked up their first assists of the season on Finner's goal.

Less than a minute later, FSU senior defenseman Cameron Clarke pulled a drag move to beat a sliding Miami defender and powered a shot towards the right goal post. Sophomore forward Jake Transit tipped it home for his first goal of the season at 15:41 of the second period to cut Miami's lead to 3-2. Clarke and senior defenseman Joe Rutkowski each earned their second assists of the season on Transit's goal.

Miami struck back to pull back ahead by two goals when Gordie Green scored on the power play at 17:45 of the second period.

Early in the third, Ferris State freshman defenseman Jake Willets was dumped hard from behind into the end boards, drawing a five-minute major power play. Before the play was blown dead, his diving centering feed found redshirt senior Oskar Andren's stick. Andren roofed a hard shot at 4:05 of the third period for his first goal of the season to pull back within a goal.

On the goal, Willets earned his first collegiate point, an assist, as did freshman defenseman Blake Evennou on the secondary assist.

Ferris State had a late power play, and with the empty net had a few good looks. Miami rushed back down the ice, causing Rutkowski to knock the goal off while defending the empty net. The play earned Miami a penalty shot that McPhail steered aside with 24.2 seconds left on the clock.

The Bulldogs ultimately could not find the equalizer despite outshooting the Redhawks 30-27.

For Ferris State, McPhail made 22 saves in the loss. Larkin made 27 stops for Miami in the contest. Ferris State finished 0/6 on the power play while Miami went 1/4 with the man advantage.

Ferris State returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 19, at the Goggin Ice Center for an 8:05 p.m. (ET) puck drop to wrap up the series with Miami.