Ferris State Hockey Falls to St. Thomas in First Game at Lee & Penny Anderson Arena
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Ferris State (4-17-0, 3-10-0) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
|
St. Thomas (Minn.) (10-7-3, 7-3-2) | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
St. Paul, Minn. – The Ferris State University men's ice hockey team played its first ever game at the University of St. Thomas's new home, Lee & Penny Anderson Arena, Friday (Jan. 2) and suffered a 5-3 setback against the Tommies in Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) play.
The Bulldogs (4-17-0, 3-10-0 CCHA) built a 2-0 lead by the second intermission, but the Tommies (10-7-3, 7-3-2 CCHA) scored five goals in the third to comeback and clinch a victory. Gavin Best had a multi-point game and Hobie Hedquist started between the pipes for FSU, recording 32 saves in a losing effort.
Best put FSU up 1-0 at 14:07 in the first period with his seventh goal of the season. Christopher Lie broke out of the Bulldog zone with a pass up the right wall for Max Itagaki at center ice. Itagaki skated to the high slot and passed below the hashes in the left circle to Best who drew to his backhand and flipped a shot past UST goaltender Carsen Musser. Itagaki got his fifth assist on the play and Lie got his ninth.
With the goal and assist, respectively, Best and Itagaki each extended their point streaks to three games. Previously, both skaters had one point in each game at the Great Lakes Invitational last weekend.
Emerson Goode tallied his second goal of the year at 13:32 in the second period to put Ferris State up 2-0. Xavier Jean-Louis cleared the Bulldog zone with a pass off the wall to Josh Zary in the neutral zone. Zary skated to the high slot and found Goode backside for a shot past Musser. Zary picked up his fourth assist and Jean-Louis got his ninth, tying him with Lie for the team lead. Jean-Louis also extended his point streak to three games on the play after recording one point in both games last weekend.
Jake Braccini scored St. Thomas's first goal at 4:40 in the third. Alex Gaffney and Lucas Van Vliet assisted, cutting the Bulldog lead in half.
Mason Poolman tied the game with his first goal of the year at 7:17. Poolman scored unassisted.
Riley Wallack put the Bulldogs back up by a goal just 26 seconds later. Best picked up a puck in the Bulldog zone and skated to the left-wing circle in the Tommie zone before firing a pass across the ice to Wallack in the right circle. Wallack ripped a shot past Musser for his fourth goal this year with Best collecting his sixth helper and team-leading 13th point.
Luc Laylin tied the game at 3-3 with a goal at 15:52. Nick Williams recorded a helper.
St. Thomas claimed its first lead of the game at 19:19 when Hayes Hundley lit the lamp. Van Vliet tallied the lone helper. Nathan Pilling scored an empty-net goal at 19:34 to seal the Tommie victory.
For the game, Hedquist stopped 32-36 shots faced and Musser was 21-24 on save attempts. The Bulldogs had 24 shots on goal compared to 37 for the Tommies and UST won 31 faceoffs to FSU's 29. Ferris State was 0-4 on the power play 2-2 on the penalty kill and blocked 12 shots in the game.
Individually, Best led the way with two points, his second multi-point game of the year. Tyler Schleppe, Jack Mesic, Max Dukovac and Carter Rapalje each had three shots on goal to lead the team. Trevor Taulien finished with a game-high three blocked shots and Wallack had a game-high 11 faceoff wins.
The Bulldogs will go for the split with the Tommies Saturday (Jan. 3). Puck drop is scheduled for 7:07 p.m. (ET) with pregame coverage beginning on Sunny 97.3 FM at 6:30 p.m. (ET). Fans can also stream the game via pay-per-view on Midco Sports Plus.