Rons Scores Twice But Bulldogs Fall To Wildcats In Return To CCHA Play

Postgame Press Conference
Postgame Highlights

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University men's ice hockey team fell 6-3 to the (RV) Northern Michigan Wildcats on Friday (Nov. 19) in Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) action inside Ewigleben Ice Arena in a back-and-forth affair.

Ferris State junior defenseman Brenden Rons scored twice for the Bulldogs while sophomore defenseman Drew Cooper tallied a pair of assists on the night.

The Bulldogs struck first when Cooper fired a shot off of NMU goaltender Rico DiMatteo, who kicked the rebound to the bottom of the left wing circle where Rons drove and powered in the rebound for his second goal of the year at 12:47 of the first period.

Northern Michigan responded at 13:51 when Andre Ghantous fired a shot that hit a Bulldog skate and deflected past FSU sophomore goaltender Logan Stein to tie the game at 1-1.

Late in the period, Rons again gave the Bulldogs a lead on a delayed penalty. With the extra attacker on, Rons laced a shot through traffic for his first collegiate multi-goal game and a 2-1 Bulldog lead. The goal was Rons third of the year, set up by Cooper (3) and Ferris State freshman forward Bradley Marek (3). 

Northern Michigan came back and scored twice in the second to take a 3-2 lead, led by Micheal Colella at 13:32 and Vincent de Mey at 15:21 of the middle frame.

The Bulldogs fired back at 18:30 of the second period when senior forward Liam MacDougall drove to the net and lifted a loose puck past DiMatteo to tie the game at 3-3 with his fourth goal of the year. Junior forward Dallas Tulik (7) and sophomore defenseman Luke Farthing (1) picked up the helpers on the goal.

In the third period, Northern Michigan scored twice 19 seconds apart to take a 5-3 lead - Colella at 1:55 followed by Rylan Van Unen at 2:14. NMU capped the scoring on the power play at 11:12 when Joseph Nardi one-timed a shot past Logan Stein for the 6-3 final.

Ferris State finished 0-5 on the man advantage while Northern Michigan went 1-5 on the night. In goal, Stein took the loss for the Bulldogs on 23 saves. DiMatteo picked up the win making 28 stops.

The Bulldogs outshot the Wildcats 31-29 on the evening and won 37 faceoffs to just 27 losses (57.8 percent) on the evening.

Ferris State and Northern Michigan are back at it Saturday (Nov. 20) at 6:07 pm ET inside Ewigleben Ice Arena in the weekend series finale.