Bulldog Hockey Falls 6-1 to Michigan Tech in Weekend Series Opener

Houghton, Mich. – The Ferris State University men's ice hockey team suffered a 6-1 setback against Michigan Tech University to open its final regular season road series Friday (Feb. 21) at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena in Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) play.

The Bulldogs (11-18-2, 10-13 CCHA) fell behind 5-0 by the midway point of the second period and were unable to mount a comeback. Prior to Friday's loss, the Bulldogs had won five of their last seven games but have now lost back-to-back games.

MTU scored three goals in the first period. Max Koskipirtti scored first at 6:04 with Stiven Sardarian and Viktor Hurtig assisting. Isaac Gordon gave the Huskies a 2-0 lead at 9:30 with Logan Morrell and Elias Jansson tallying assists. Alex Nordstrom scored a short-handed goal at 15:46 to give MTU a 3-0 advantage.

Nordstrom scored the first two goals of the third period, completing the hat trick. He scored an even strength goal at 3:41 from Koskipirtti and Nick Williams. At 8:38, he converted a power play goal to give him the hat trick. Morrell and Sardarian assisted.

FSU starting goaltender Noah West was pulled at the midway point of the second period and freshman Martin Lundberg finished the game. Lundberg made nine saves and allowed one goal.

Jacob Badal put FSU on the board with a goal at 15:04. Logan Heroux broke out of the Bulldog zone with a pass to Zach Faremouth. Faremouth found Badal in the offensive zone who worked towards the front of the net and beat MTU goaltender Ryan Manzella for his fourth goal of the year. Faremouth got his fourth assist and Heroux collected his 10th.

Early in the third period, Morrell took a five-minute major penalty and FSU had a chance to cut into its deficit, but the Huskies killed their penalty and then got a power play goal from Gordon at 11:35. Janson and Koskipirtti assisted, sealing a 6-1 win.

For the game, Badal led the team with four shots on goal. Nico DeVita blocked two shots and both Holden Doell and Trevor Taulien blocked two. Tyler Schleppe had a game-high 12 wins on the faceoff circle.

As a team, the Bulldogs were 0-2 on the power play, 0-2 on the penalty kill, took 25 shots on goal, blocked 13 shots and won 32 faceoffs. The Huskies had 23 shots on goal, 14 blocks and 24 faceoff wins.

The Bulldogs will look to split their series against Michigan Tech Saturday (Feb. 22). Puck drop is scheduled for 6:07 p.m. (ET) with pregame coverage beginning on Sunny 97.3 FM at 5:30 p.m. (ET).