Ferris State could do no wrong. Mike Brown turned in a 32-save performance while Chris Kunitz had two goals and four assists in a 10-1 victory in Big Rapids.
“It was quite obvious that Ferris State had the extra step tonight,” Bowling Green coach Scott Paluch said. “They were crashing the net and creating scoring chances from beginning to end.”
It only took 24 seconds for Ferris State to take the lead on a goal by Derek Nesbitt. Kunitz turned in his second assist by feeding Jeremy Scherlinck at 6:07 to make it 2-0.
Bowling Green got on the board by scoring a fluke goal. Mike Falk flipped the puck up toward Bulldog goaltender Mike Brown, who caught the puck, but it slipped out and bounced into the open net behind him to make it 2-1.
Bowling Green stepped up the pressure to try to tie the score but never succeeded due to the solid goaltending of Brown. It was at 17:47, on a breakaway goal by Kunitz, that the life was taken out of the Falcons.
“Chris has been a little snake bitten lately,” Ferris State coach Bob Daniels said. “When you haven’t scored lately, you start to wonder and then you can start to get depressed. I was really happy to see him have such a good game.
“It was that goal that really sparked our team. We were really back on our heels, and Brown came up with some timely saves to keep us in the lead.”
The Falcons came out with more intensity at the start of the second period. Jeff Legue put Bowling Green on ice with a breakaway goal of his own at 7:55 to make it 4-1. Carter Thompson and Phil Lewandowski netted goals to make the score 6-1 at the end of the second period.
The third period brought no better luck for the Falcons. Brown gobbled up every shot while the Bulldogs scored four more goals. The final score really made Daniels “very nervous.”
“I am worried about tomorrow,” Daniels said. “If you look at the past two years and the routs we have had, we haven’t played well the second game. Bowling Green is a such a tough team. It doesn’t take long for a team to regroup and I know they will be ready to play tomorrow.”
Falcon goaltender Tyler Masters was praised for his performance as he turned in many good saves in spite of a hungry offense and many pretty goals scored against him.
“I feel Masters played a solid game today,” Paluch said. “You can’t fault him at all.”
Ferris State and Bowling Green close out the two game series in Big Rapids on Saturday night.
