Late Charge Falls Short At Northern Michigan

Marquette, Mich. - The Ferris State University men's ice hockey team made a late bid to force overtime, but ultimately fell 5-4 to the Northern Michigan Wildcats on Friday (Jan. 29) at the Berry Events Center in Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) play.

Ferris State senior forward Lucas Finner and freshman forward Stepan Pokorny each had a pair of assists in the contest.

The Wildcats opened the scoring at 33 seconds of the first period when Joseph Nardi hammered in a one-timer giving NMU an early 1-0 lead.

The Bulldogs responded with three straight goals, first to even the score at 1-1 when sophomore defenseman Blake Evennou wired in his first goal of the season on a shot from the point. Finner (6) and freshman forward Mitch Deelstra (2) had the helpers on the play.

Later, at 12:45 of the first, freshman forward Antonio Venuto hammered the puck three times before it crossed the goal next to the Wildcat goalpost for his second goal of the year. Senior forward Marshall Moise (1) and Pokorny (3) picked up the helpers on the play. 

Late in the first period, junior forward Justin Michaelian took advantage of a Wildcat penalty, tipping in Lucas Finner's (7) point shot for his fifth goal of the year, staking the Bulldogs to a 3-1 lead.

However, the Wildcats reeled off four-straight goals to take a 5-3 lead. Late in the opening stanza, at 19:06 of the first period, Griffin Loughran batted a puck just under the crossbar that Ferris State junior goaltender Roni Salmenkangas twisted backwards at but could not keep out of the goal.

During the second frame, at 11:18 of the second period, Michael Van Unen evened the score at 3-3 on a breakaway, beating Salmenkangas high on a backhander.

In the third, Nardi fired another one-timer in for his second of the night and a 4-3 Wildcat lead at 4:46 of the final period. AJ Vanderbeck capped the Wildcat scoring at 10:14 on a rush play.

Late in the third, Ferris State sophomore defenseman Max Finner took a slapshot that evaded NMU's Kent to pull the Bulldogs back within one at 18:13 of the third period, but Ferris State could not find the equalizer. Senior forward Coale Norris (6) and Pokorny (4) earned assists on the goal.

Ferris State was outshot 24-23 in the game. The Bulldogs went 1-2 on the power play. Salmenkangas for Ferris State and Kent for Northern Michigan each made 19 stops in goal.

The Bulldogs wrap up the season series with Northern Michigan on Saturday (Jan. 30) at the Berry Events Center at 6:07 pm ET.