A six goal onslaught lifted the Ferris State Bulldogs to a 6-1 victory Saturday night, completing a weekend sweep.
Driving to the net and capitalizing on rebounds were the keys to the Bulldogs’ offense. Matt Case, Cody Chupp, Blair Riley and Todd Pococke lit the red lamp.
“I thought we did a good job of getting to the net,” said Ferris State coach Bob Daniels.
After lots of back and forth action to start, the Bulldogs took over and didn’t look back. Many of the chances Connecticut was able to generate early in the game ended with a blocked shot and Ferris State going back the other way to test freshman netminder Jeff Larson.
Ferris State opened the scoring midway through the opening period when senior captain Cody Chupp drove to the net and left a rebound lying near a sprawled out Larson. Casey Haines and Blair Riley were there to clean it up, with Riley eventually lifting the puck over the prone Larson.
The Bulldogs added to their lead late in the period when Todd Pococke snuck a wraparound attempt past Larson at the 18:29 mark.
Connecticut added some pressure following the Ferris goal, but Bulldogs’ goalie Pat Nagle stopped Marcello Ranallo from alone in the slot with 45 seconds to play in the stanza.
The Huskies tried to stage a comeback in the second period, but were hindered by penalties throughout the middle frame. Their best chance in the early going was an Andrew Olson shot on a short-handed three-on-two that was gloved down by Nagle.
Larson kept the Huskies in the game for the first half of the second, but eventually the penalties caught up to them. On the third Ferris State power play of the period, forward Matt Case beat Larson through the five-hole for an unassisted goal.
Connecticut broke through when Sean Ambrosie stuffed a shot by Nagle during a scramble at the front of the net.
The third period belonged to the Bulldogs despite, some strong pressure from the Connecticut power play. The Bulldogs scored three, starting with Cody Chupp’s power-play goal just 43 seconds in.
Chupp was the lucky recipient of a Blair Riley pass and he promptly buried the puck into a wide open net.
“You get to the right spot and he’ll get you the puck,” said Chupp when asked about playing with Riley.
Connecticut’s best chances of the night came in the middle of the third period when Ferris State’s Scott Wietecha received a five-minute major and game misconduct for checking from behind. During the penalty kill, Bulldogs’ defensemen Michael Trebish took a slashing penalty that gave the Huskies a full two minutes of five-on-three hockey.
They generated seven shots on that power play, but the only time the puck entered the net was on a kick, and the goal was waved off following a video review.
Chad Billins scored Ferris State’s fifth goal of the night at 11:49 of the third period when the puck trickled through Larson’s legs.
The Bulldogs’ final goal came when freshman Matt Kirzinger took a Todd Pococke pass and scored.
‘We’ve worked on it [the power play], but we didn’t work on it with a combination we had this weekend,” said Daniels. “We had to mix and match a bit.”
