Bulldog Hockey Falls in GLI Semifinal Against Michigan State

Postgame Press Conference 
Postgame Highlights   

Grand Rapids, Mich. – The Ferris State University men's ice hockey team traveled to Grand Rapids for the Great Lakes Invitational (GLI) and faced the Michigan State Spartans for the second year in a row at the Van Andel Arena on Thursday (Dec. 28), but fell 4-1.

Last year, the Bulldogs topped the Spartans 4-2 in the GLI Semifinal contest, but the Spartans responded this season with a victory and will play Michigan Tech in the GLI Championship game Friday (Dec. 29). Ferris State will face Alaska Fairbanks in the third-place contest.

In Thursday's loss, Logan Stein drew the start and stopped 35-39 shots faced. 

Michigan State scored the first four goals of the game, beginning at 7:38 in the first. Jeremey Davidson tallied his first goal of the night from Tiernan Shoudy and Griffin Jurecki. At 14:13, Tanner Kelly gave MSU a 2-0 lead, while Daniel Russell and Nash Nienhuis assisted.

The Spartans added two more goals in the second period, the first coming from Karsen Dorwart at 5:37. Russell collected his second assist of the night and Artyom Levshunov also assisted. Davidson scored his second of the night at 13:40 to give MSU a 4-0 lead.

Travis Shoudy put the Bulldogs on the board at 16:12 in the second period, beating Luca Di Pasquo for his second goal of the season and team-leading 16th point. Tyler Schleppe recorded the helper.

Through two periods, Ferris State had 16 shots on goal compared to 35 for the Spartans. In the third period, the Bulldogs outshot MSU 11-4 as they attempted a late comeback. Ultimately, the Spartans held their lead and emerged with a 4-1 victory.

MSU took 39 shots in the game compared to 27 for Ferris State. Both teams went 0-2 on their power play tries, and MSU won 38 faceoffs while FSU had 32 wins in the circle.

Russell (0-2-2) and Davidson (2-0-2) each had multi-point performances for the Spartans. Di Pasquo stopped 26-27 shots faced and earned his second win of the season. The Bulldogs also blocked 21 shots in the game.

Ferris State will be back in action Friday (Dec. 29) against the Alaska Nanooks inside Van Andel Arena in the third-place contest. Puck drop is set for 3:37 p.m. (ET) with pregame coverage beginning on Sunny 97.3 FM at 3 p.m. (ET).