Ferris State Hockey Opens 2013-14 Campaign Exploding For Seven Goals In Road Victory

Big Rapids, Mich. - Ferris State University opened the 2013-14 men's ice hockey campaign off in victorious fashion as the Bulldogs recorded a 7-4 road win over Colgate on Saturday (Oct. 5) evening in the series opener at Starr Rink in Hamilton, N.Y.

Ferris State fought back from a 2-0 deficit and scored the final three goals of the night en route to the win.  The seven goals were the Bulldogs' most since an early 7-3 home win over Mercyhurst in week two last October.

The host Raiders struck first at 5:48 of the first period as Mike Borkowski notched the first lamplighter of the contest at even-strength with both Darcy Murphy and Joe Wilson adding assists.

Colgate struck again nearly two minutes later when Andrew Black found the back of the net to give the Raiders a 2-0 edge.  Both John Lidgett and Mike McCann picked up assists on his goal.

Ferris State, though, rallied back with three consecutive goals in the second period.  The first came from senior forward Cory Kane only 3:53 into the period off an assist from junior defenseman Jason Binkley.

Senior captain Scott Czarnowczan netted the Bulldogs' second goal at 13:29 of the second off a power-play feed from forwards Justin Buzzeo and Garrett Thompson to tie the contest up at two goals each.

The Bulldogs took their first lead at 16:42 of the second as Binkley notched his first goal of the year and second point of the night with senior Justin DeMartino and sophomore Brandon Anselmini earning helpers.  The 3-2 lead stood after two periods of play.

However, the Raiders fought back with back-to-back goals to regain the lead.  Tyson Spink tallied an even-strength goal only 58 seconds into the final frame as Kyle Baun and his brother, Tylor Spink, picked up the assists.

Less than a minute later, it was Tylor Spink that found the back of the next on a power-play goal with assists credited to Baun and Borkowski to give the Raiders a 4-3 edge.

However, the Bulldogs were not done as freshman Kyle Schempp notched his first collegiate goal at 3:01 of the third period after receiving the pass from DeMartino and Czarnowczan.  The goal tied the game back up at 4-4 heading into the homestretch.

Ferris State surged ahead on Thompson's first goal of the year at 5:29 of the third as the senior forward recorded his first goal of the year on the power play off a Buzzeo assist.

Soon after, Buzzeo returned the favor by hammering a shot home off a feed from Thompson at 9:46 to give FSU a two-goal advantage.

The final Bulldog goal came on an empty-netter from sophomore Matt Robertson with 53 seconds to play in the game.

Ferris State received a complete-game, 28-save performance from junior goaltender CJ Motte in net. He had five stops in the opening period, nine in the second and a game-high 14 in the third and final period of action.

On the opposite side of the ice, Colgate's Charlie Finn made 25 saves for the Raiders in 59:15 between the pipes.

Ferris State and Colgate both tallied 32 shots apice for the game. FSU had 12 shots in both the second and third periods after being limited to eight scoring chances in the initial 20 minutes of action.

FSU finished two-of-four on the power play and killed off two-of-three Colgate tries on the penalty kill in earning the victory.  Overall, the Bulldogs were called for six penalties totaling 12 minutes and the Raiders had seven for 14 minutes in the box.

An announced crowd of 1,476 fans were on hand for the season opener between the two teams.  With the win, the Bulldogs improved to 7-4-1 all-time versus the Raiders and moved to 3-2 in five matchups played in Hamilton to date.

With Saturday night's contest, FSU was the first team in the revamped Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) to officially open the 2013-14 regular-season.

The Bulldogs will go for the season-opening sweep on Sunday (Oct. 6) at Starr Rink in an afternoon contest slated to begin at 4 p.m. (ET). The game can be heard live on Sunny 97.3 and the Bulldog Sports Network online at FerrisStateBulldogs.com with Dan Kowalski calling the action starting with pregame coverage at 3:30 p.m.