In a non-traditional Thursday-Friday series between former CCHA opponents, the Ferris State Bulldogs would head to Yost Ice Arena to take on the Michigan Wolverines, and it didn’t take very long for their offense to light the lamp in the opener.
Ferris State would provide a costly penalty that would give Michigan an early power play and defenseman Joseph Cecconi would give Michigan an early 1-0 lead with a rocket from the point.
Ferris State’s Mitch Maloney would tie the game up 1-1 when he scored on a power play of their own. It would not take long for the Wolverines offense to take the lead. Michigan’s spectacular forward Will Lockwood would score his third goal of the season on the power play to make it 2-1.
The offense wouldn’t be done yet in the first period as junior Cooper Marody would make it 3-1 with less than three minutes to go in the first period with a nice goal.
Ferris State would attempt to make it a game in the second period as freshman Lucas Finner would put the puck passed sophomore goaltender Jack LaFontaine after Jake Slaker slipped giving Finner an open net and making it a 3-2 game.
Once again, the third period would be the Wolverines period where Michigan captain Tony Calderone would find the net to extend is point streak to three games and make it 4-2 Wolverines in which his line mates Dexter Dancs and Cooper Marody would help set him up for.
Not to be out done, Jake Slaker would make it 5-2 with a nice deflection passed the Ferris State goaltender Darren Smith. Slaker and Alex Roos would also score within two minutes of the each other to make it a 7-2 victory for the Wolverines.
Coach Mel Pearson would be asked what he thought of his teams 7-2 win over Ferris State.
“I liked our bounce back in the third. I like how our team is staying in the moment and playing the full 60 minutes,” he said.
In game two, it would be a defensive struggle where both goaltenders and defenses would prove to be an old fashion hockey game last Friday against Ferris State.
The Wolverines would open the scoring early when Cooper Marody would find the back of the net with a wicked wrister in the slot to beat Ferris State goaltender Justin Kapelmaster to make it 1-0. Ferris State’s offense would not be out done when Michigan’s freshman Josh Norris’s brother Coale Norris would find the back of the net to beat sophomore netminder Hayden Lavigne to tie the game at 1-1.
It would be a defensive second period, where both Lavigne and Kapelmaster would showcase their skill keeping the game tied 1-1.
Michigan’s top line of Dancs, Marody and Calderone would give the Wolverines the go ahead goal when Dexter Dancs would score a beauty of a goal on the power play to make it 2-1 and really cause Yost to
get loud.
After the game Pearson praised his top line trio.
“They’ve got some chemistry,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun watching them play.”
The momentum would not last long for the Wolverines, Ferris State’s Mitch Maloney found a way to put the puck past Lavigne to tie the game up 2-2.
For the rest of the third period, Michigan and Ferris State battled to score the clinching goal in the final minutes but both defenses and goaltenders stood tall to force overtime.
For the second straight weekend, Michigan headed into overtime and unfortunately for the Wolverines it would be controversial.
Michigan looked to have won the game on a beautiful goal by Cooper Marody in overtime but after a lengthy review, officials called it No Goal due to interference between James Slaker and Justin Kampelmaster. Immediately following the review, Ferris State would head down the ice on an odd man rush and Ryker Killins would find the back of the net to beat Lavigne and give the Bulldogs a 3-2 overtime win.
After the game, Coach Pearson spoke of the overtime call, saying the team “need more consistency.” This was the second-straight overtime game that the Wolverines lost due to a lack of consistency with officials.
Michigan (5-3-0) will face #4 Minnesota (7-3-0) for a two game series at Yost Ice Arena on November 10 & 11. The puck will drop at 7:30 p.m. for both games of the weekend.
Check out photos of Michigan vs. Ferris State hockey below!
