Ferris State Hockey Suffers 5-1 Home Setback Against #17 Western Michigan

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Big Rapids, Mich. – The Ferris State University men's ice hockey squad concluded its home-and-home series against #17 Western Michigan University in the Ewigleben Ice Arena Saturday (Oct. 12) and suffered a 5-1 setback against the Broncos. 

The Bulldogs (0-2-2) brought the series back to Big Rapids after the Broncos claimed a 4-1 victory Friday (Oct. 11) in Kalamazoo. FSU debuted new black jerseys for their game Saturday.

Noah West started in goal for the Bulldogs, stopping 27 shots in the game. Freshman Hampton Slukynsky got the starting nod for the Broncos and turned away 28-29 shots faced, earning a win in his first collegiate game.

Western Michigan jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period. At 12:45, Owen Michaels scored his first goal of the year, giving the Broncos a 1-0 advantage. Iiro Hakkarainen and Brian Kramer assisted, giving both players a point in each game agains the Bulldogs.

Zach Faremouth took a hooking penalty at 17:22, giving WMU their second power play chance of the evening. The Bulldogs killed off their first penalty of the night, but Matteo Costantini converted a power play goal after the penalty to Faremouth, giving the Broncos a 2-0 lead going into the first intermission. Alex Bump and Samuel Sjolund assisted.

Michaels got Western Michigan off to a fast start in the second period, tallying his second goal of the evening just 59 seconds into the period. Grant Slukynsky had the assist, and WMU claimed a 3-0 lead.

Neither team scored in the second period after Michaels' goal. FSU held the Broncos to only four shots in the period while attempting 13 shots of their own. The Broncos also committed four penalties in the period, while Ferris State committed two. Max Itagaki and Cole Crusber-Roseen both headed to the box at 14:55, leading to two-minutes of four-on-four play.

Kramer was whistled for a cross check with 15 seconds left in the second period, and the Bulldogs started the third period on the power play. Zach Nehring then commited an interfence penalty at 1:58 in the third, putting FSU back on the man advantage, but WMU killed both penalties.

Cam Knuble scored his third career goal at 12:24 with assists from Ty Henricks and Wyatt Schingoethe, putting the Broncos up 4-0. They extended their lead to 5-0 with a goal from Grant Slukynsky at 14:33. Nehring and Crusberg-Roseen dished the helpers.

At 16:15, FSU scored their lone goal of the evening courtesy of Cole Burtch. Gavin Best pushed the puck down the right-wing side into the Broncos' zone and then fired a pass inside for Burtch, who put the first shot of the night past Hampton Slukynsky. Burtch recorded his second goal of the year and Best got his second assist.

For the game, Western Michigan attempted 32 shots compared to 29 for Ferris State. The Broncos were 1-3 on their power plays and Ferris State went 0-4. WMU controlled the faceoff circle, winning 44 draws while FSU had 28 wins.

Burtch had four shots on goal and Travis Shoudy, Andrew Noel and Faremouth each fired three shots on goal. The Bulldogs blocked 14 shots led by Nico DeVita who finished with five. Noel had three and Trevor Taulien and Logan Heroux each had two. Shoudy and Kaleb Ergang registered one block a piece.

Ferris State will head on the road next weekend to face St. Lawrence in Canton, New York. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. (ET) Friday (Oct. 18) and Saturday (Oct. 19) with pregame coverage beginning both evenings on Sunny 97.3 FM at 6:30 p.m. (ET).