Bowling Green played well enough to win, but solid goaltending by Pat Nagle and a pair of lucky bounces gave Ferris State a 3-2 road victory.
“I thought they outplayed us; I’d say they were by far the better of the teams,” Ferris coach Bob Daniels said of the game, “Pat Nagle was the biggest difference tonight; he stole that game for us.”
Daniels went on to say that BG was the better prepared team and deserved a better result after outshooting Ferris 36-28.
BG goalie Jimmy Spratt and Nagle combined to keep the first period scoreless, as they both turned in an impressive array of saves. Nagle, who had 13 stops in the opening stanza, faced a lot of traffic in front, as BG crashed the net hard, generating six shots from below the faceoff circles.
On the other end of the ice, Spratt had bit easier period. Of the 10 shots he faced, only two posed a serious threat at goal, including a two-on-one break that the senior goalie slammed the five-hole shut as he slid across.
The second period almost ended deadlocked as well, but a late Ferris State goal broke Spratt’s shutout bid.
With Kai Kantola just leaving the box, Ferris senior Brendan Connolly fired a shot into traffic that found its way to Jordie Johnston. Johnston, a freshman from Saskatchewan, easily beat Spratt for his third career goal.
“That first goal was huge,” Zach Redmond said. “Up to that point, I felt we were getting outplayed a bit, and we got a lucky goal, but that’s how it goes and we fed off it.”
The Ferris lead held to the end of the second, but didn’t stand very long in the third period.
A mere 30 seconds into the period, senior Brandon Svendsen tied the game when he crashed the net hard after a shot by captain Kyle Page.
Ferris was able to regain the lead ten minutes later when a weird bounce hopped off a Falcon, bounced off the ice and eventually landed in the Falcons’ net. Todd Pococke got credit for the goal, his first of the season.
“It’s frustrating but it’s part of the game,” Svendsen said of the goal, “You get those bounces, sometimes they go your way, sometimes they don’t.”
Svendsen rescued BG again, tying the game at two while BG had a five-on-three advantage. Svendsen took a pass from Dan Sexton and deposited the tying goal just over the arm of Nagle from the left side.
Despite Svendsen’s goals, Ferris continued to pressure the Falcons, netting the eventual game-winner at the 14:08 mark.
During a rush, Zach Redmond found a wide-open Scott Wietecha, whose one-timer beat Spratt just over the right arm.
“When I faked my shot everybody came to me,” Redmond said of the game-winner. “I figured he would be wide open so I shoveled it over and luckily he put it in.”
BG had a chance to tie the game late with Spratt pulled, but Nagle made another spectacular save to seal the win.
“Our leading scorer with a great chance at the end of the game and their goalie made a great save,” said BG coach Scott Paluch. “All it comes down to is their goalie makes a terrific save at the end of the game.”
In total Nagle, turned away 34 of 37 shots he faced while Spratt stopped 25 of 28.
The teams face off again tomorrow night at 7 p.m. from the BGSU Ice Arena.
