Overtime Goal By Bowling Green Spoils Record-Breaking Night For Ferris State Netminder

Bowling Green, Ohio - The Ferris State University men's ice hockey team fell 2-1 in sudden death overtime to the nationally 17th-ranked Bowling Green State Falcons at the Slater Family Ice Arena on Friday (March 2) night in game one of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) Quarterfinals.

Ferris State junior goaltender Darren Smith broke Marc Felicio's 30-year old school record for saves in a game, passing him by one for a 62-stop performance. Felicio set the record on March 4, 1988, also against Bowling Green State. 

Bowling Green's Brandon Kruse opened the scoring at 15:38 of the opening period from Mitch McLain and Tyler Spezia, but it was from that point on that Smith started to dazzle. By the end of the second period, Smith had made 43 stops.

The Bulldogs cashed in on the power play when sophomore forward Jason Tackett snuck a shot between the legs of BGSU netminder Ryan Bednard for his second goal of the season at 15:50 of the second frame. Sophomore defenseman Joe Rutkowski (13) and junior forward Trevor Recktenwald (6) picked up assists on Tackett's power play tally.

The Bulldogs outshot the Falcons 10-9 in the third period, the only one of the four periods in which the Bulldogs had the edge in shots on goal.

However, at 12:05 of overtime, Kruse tallied his second goal of the night on a rebound from a Smith save for the win, giving BGSU a 1-0 series lead.

The Bulldogs finished 1-6 on the power play while holding the Falcons 0-6 despite 11 power play shots by the Falcons, all in the first two periods.

Ryan Bednard made 34 saves for the win for BGSU while Smith took the loss on his 62-save performance.

Ferris State will look to force the deciding game in the best-of-three playoff series on Saturday when the Bulldogs face BGSU again in game two starting at 7:07 p.m. (ET) at the Slater Family Ice Arena.

This year represents the Bulldogs' 21st-consecutive postseason playoff appearance.