The Falcon hockey team jumped back into conference play with a strong effort, defeating the Ferris State Bulldogs 3-0 Sunday night after taking a 6-3 victory over Ferris State Saturday night.
“Any time you come to Ferris and win two games, you’re pretty happy with that,” Falcons head coach Chris Bergeron said. “By winning both games this weekend, you take advantage of the games that you have in hand over the other teams.”
Saturday’s game began with the Falcons getting on the board quickly, as senior forward Tyler Spezia scored just 54 seconds into the game to give the the team a 1-0 advantage. The team then doubled their lead at the 8:12 mark with a goal from freshman forward Connor Ford. However, it didn’t take long for Ferris State to regain their footing, as they took advantage of a power play chance just before the halfway point of the period at 9:47. Ferris State then capped off the exciting first period with another goal to make it a 2-2 game heading into the second.
In the second, however, the same level of scoring did not carry over, but Ferris State was able to take the lead on a power play chance with just 23 seconds remaining in the period. In the third, the Falcons began an offensive onslaught with freshman forward Sam Craggs tying the game up at 2:43. The team was further able to gain momentum, drawing a five minute major power play, which they took advantage of as freshman forward Cameron Wright scored at the 4:26 mark. With the team still on the power play, Wright scored again to give the Falcons a two-goal advantage.
“Cameron’s a guy that’s proven this year that he can find offense,” Bergeron said. “The puck kind of follows him around, and both of his goals were on the power play, so that was nice to see.”
The team added to the lead at the 9:41 mark with a goal by sophomore forward Lukas Craggs. From there, the team would hold on to seal the 6-3 victory.
“We feel like if we’re forechecking right and we’re doing things right, we can create offense,” Bergeron said. “Obviously, our third period was the best period, but I liked the way we played the first two periods. I thought there were a couple mistakes I’d like to have back that ended up in our net, but I thought we were around their net, we were skating and we were creating chances.”
On Sunday, both teams went scoreless through the first period, but the Falcons got on the board first, with senior forward Mitch McLain scoring at the 6:00 mark of the second to take a 1-0 lead. Late in the period, it was Lukas Craggs taking advantage of a power play opportunity with less than two minutes remaining that sent the team into the third with a 2-0 lead.
In the third, however, neither team was able to score until McLain got his second goal of the game on a shorthanded empty net chance with just 29 seconds remaining to seal the game for the Falcons with a 3-0 victory. Sophomore goaltender Ryan Bednard stopped all 27 shots to earn the shutout.
“It was kind of an answer game for him,” Bergeron said. “He didn’t finish the last start that he had great. He played okay, but he didn’t finish great, and tonight he had an opportunity and played well.”
The team will next play on Friday and Saturday nights on the road against the Northern Michigan Wildcats.
