Ferris State Hockey Opens 50th Season With Shootout Win Over Miami

Video Highlights 
Postgame Interview - Coach Daniels 
Postgame Interview - Noah West 
Postgame Interview - Cole Burtch 

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University men's ice hockey squad opened up its 50th season of college hockey with a shootout victory over Miami (Ohio) in non-league play before a big crowd on Friday (Oct. 4) night inside the Ewigleben Ice Arena.

The two teams squared off against each other to open the campaign for the fourth consecutive year and finished in a 3-3 deadlock following regulation and the five-minute overtime period.

In the shootout, the Bulldogs got a goal from Cole Burtch and senior goaltender Noah West made three saves as FSU prevailed by a 1-0 count.

The shootout win capped a strong night by the Bulldogs, who outshot Miami 37-30 overall, including by a 9-4 margin in the overtime session.

The RedHawks struck first late in the opening period when Conner Hutchison scored the first goal of the night with only 2.2 seconds remaining in the period off assists from Johnny Waldron and Colby Ambrosio.

However, Ferris State answered quickly to begin the second period when Holden Doell found the back of the net on a quick opportunity only 23 seconds into the frame. His goal tied the game 1-1 and was assisted by Gavin Best and Jacob Badal.

Miami regained the lead at 16:51 of the second on Blake Mesenburg's first goal of the year, which was aided by Matt Choupani and Hutchison.

Again, though, Ferris State responded as Burtch tallied a short-handed goal 8:21 into the final period to knot the game back up. Doell picked up the assist on the goal.

The RedHawks answered to again reclaim the lead less than two minutes later when Christophe Fillion scored the power play at 9:52 of the third off assists from Ambrosio and Hutchison.

The Bulldogs responded again at 11:36 when Caiden Gault scored unassisted on another breakway for the eventual game-tying goal.

In the shootout, Burtch scored on FSU's first opportunity after West stopped Choupani. He went on to close the door against both Ambrosio and Rihards Simanovics to lift the Bulldogs to the shootout win.

Overall, Ferris State was called for five penalties totaling 10 minutes in the opener while Miami had four infractions for 19 minutes. FSU went 0-of-2 on the power play and the RedHawks finished 1-of-4 with the man-advantage.

The two teams will meet again in the series' finale on Saturday (Oct. 5) evening starting at 8:07 p.m. (ET) in Big Rapids.