Bulldog Hockey Falls to Lake State in Regular Season Finale

Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. – The Ferris State University men's ice hockey team will turn their attention to the CCHA Playoffs after suffering a 4-1 setback on the road at Lake Superior State University in their regular season finale Friday (March 1) at Taffy Abel Arena.

The Bulldogs (10-22-2) closed their regular season against the Lakers, who evened the season series at 2-2 with their win. Ethan Langenegger had a strong game for LSSU between the pipes, turning away 32-33 shots faced on senior night for the Lakers.

Drew Cooper scored the first goal of the game at 10:11 in the first period. His second goal of the year represented a new career best for goals scored in a season. Kaleb Ergang took a shot from the point that Cooper tipped in front of the net, beating Langenegger and putting the Bulldogs up 1-0. Ergang and Luigi Benincasa recorded assists.

FSU held their lead going into the second period, but Lake State scored three times in the period. The first goal came from Connor Milburn at 1:30, tying the game. Jared Westcott recorded his CCHA-leading 34^th point of the season with an assist.

Branden Piku scored the next two goals for Lake State, the first of which came at 5:02 and gave the Lakers their first lead of the night. Milburn and Arty Borshyov had the helpers. Piku then scored his second of the night at 15:56 with Milburn again assisting, along with Sasha Teleguine.

Lake State scored for the final time at 8:29 in the third. John Herrington converted a power play goal from Harrison Roy and Ross Roloson to seal a 4-1 victory for the Lakers.

For the game, Ferris State won the faceoff battle 30-23. The Lakers outshot FSU 35-33 and converted 1-2 power play chances, while the Bulldogs were 0-2 on their man advantage opportunities.

Noah Giesbrecht stopped 31 shots in the loss. Milburn and Piku each had multiple points for the Lakers, while Zach Faremouth went 10-3 on the faceoff circle.

The Bulldogs will be back in action Friday (March 8) for the first round of the CCHA Playoffs. They will play a best-of-three series at Bemidji State set for March 8-10 in Minnesota.