Bulldog Hockey Falls 6-4 To Western Michigan In First Road Contest Of The Season

Kalamazoo, Mich. – The Ferris State University men's ice hockey team traveled to #12 Western Michigan on Thursday (Oct. 12) for its first road contest of the season, but fell 6-4 in non-conference action.

FSU (1-2-0) once again had a balanced offensive attack, with four different players recording goals. However, Western Michigan nearly doubled FSU's shots attempts and came away with the victory.

The Broncos started the scoring just 16 seconds into the contest. Ethan Phillips tallied the first goal of the year for WMU, and the Broncos jumped out to a 1-0 early edge in the opening minute of play.

Ferris State answered back with a goal at 11:22 of the first period. Nick Nardecchia scored his first of the season, while Luigi Benincasa recorded his second assist of the young campaign.

Daniel Hilsendager gave the lead back to Western Michigan just three minutes later, and the Broncos went into the first intermission up 2-1.

FSU starting goaltender Noah Giesbrecht faced 19 shots in the first period. He saved 17 while WMU goaltender Cameron Rowe made seven saves on eight shots from the Bulldogs. Ferris State committed a penalty in the closing seconds of the first period and Western started the second on the power play.

The Broncos took advantage of their power play and scored 41 seconds into the period. Dylan Wendt notched the goal and freshman Alex Bump recorded his first career assist while Luke Grainger tallied his second helper of the night.

Jacob Dirks pulled the Bulldogs within one at 13:24 with his first goal of the season. He scored unassisted on a breakaway with a perfectly placed shot to the top right corner, beating Rowe for the Bulldogs' second goal of the evening.

Grainger tallied his first goal of the year with 1:06 to play in the second. His third point of the night gave the Broncos a 4-2 lead going into the third.

Giesbrecht faced 21 shots in the second period and saved 19 of them. Rowe made nine saves on 10 shots from FSU.

Grainger gave WMU a three-goal advantage 17 seconds into period three. They held that 5-2 lead for only three minutes however as FSU's Stepan Pokorny took a pass from Benincasa out of the corner and fired a shot from the slot that beat Rowe. Pokorny's first tally brought the Bulldogs back to within two, and freshman Jack Mesic recorded his first career assist on the play as well.

Later, at the 8:48 mark, the Broncos got their second power play goal of the night, courtesy of freshman Ean Somoza. His goal pushed the lead to 6-3 in WMU's favor.

The Bulldogs' Antonio Venuto answered with a power play goal of his own at 12:19, his third goal of the year. Travis Shoudy recorded his fifth assist of the campaign while Pokorny got his second.

The Bulldogs were unable to score again, and ultimately fell at Lawson Arena. For the game, the Broncos outshot Ferris State 48-27. Giesbrecht made 42 saves and Rowe had 23. Western had 35 face off wins while the Bulldogs had 28.

FSU went 1-2 on the power play and killed 2-4 power plays for the Broncos.

Venuto, Pokorny, Dirks and Nardecchia tallied goals in the effort, while Pokorny, Shoudy, Benincasa (2) and Jack Mesic recorded assists.

The Bulldogs will be back in action on Friday, hosting the Broncos in Big Rapids for the home-and-home series finale. Puck drop is set for 7:07 p.m. (ET) inside Ewigleben Ice Arena. Tickets are on sale now at FerrisStateBulldogs.com/Tickets.