Bulldogs Mount Late Charge But Fall On Road To #15 Northern Michigan

Marquette, Mich. - The Ferris State University men's ice hockey team fell 5-2 to the nationally #15 ranked Northern Michigan Wildcats on Friday (Jan. 31) at the Berry Events Center in Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) play.

Ferris State scored a pair of power play goals in the game, and mounted a late charge but were unable to complete the comeback.

The Wildcats jumped out to a 3-0 lead on a pair of goals by Darien Craighead at 0:28 seconds of the first and 18:39 of the opening frame, followed by a Griffin Loughran goal at 14:10 of the second.

Late in the second, Ferris State cut the deficit to two when freshman defenseman Jake Willets streaked down the ice and fired a shot inside the left goal post for his third goal of the year and team-leading 20th point. Senior defenseman Nate Kallen (10) and sophomore goaltender Roni Salmenkangas (1) picked up assists on Willets' goal on the power play.

The 3-1 score held until sophomore forward Justin Michaelian punched in a shot from the low slot to cut the NMU lead to 3-2 at 16:14 of the third on a power play goal. Sophomore forward Jake Transit (5) and senior defenseman Cameron Clarke (3) picked up assists on Michaelian's seventh goal of the season.

Northern Michigan's Craighead completed the hat trick on a deflection at 17:31 of the third, and the Wildcats followed with an empty net goal at 19:12 when Vincent De Mey scored for the 5-2 final.

Ferris State finished 2-6 on the man advantage and held Northern Michigan 0-8. The Wildcats finished with a 25-22 shots on goal advantage. 

For the Bulldogs, Salmenkangas made 20 saves in the effort, while NMU's Nolan Kent made 20 stops for the Wildcats.

Ferris State wraps the season series with the Wildcats on Saturday (Feb. 1) at 6:07 pm ET inside the Berry Events Center.