Bulldog Hockey Battles #15 Augustana to 4-3 Overtime Loss

Sioux Falls, S.D. – The Ferris State University men's ice hockey team fell behind 3-0 to #15 Augustana University in the first period Saturday (Jan. 17) but fought back to tie the game at three before eventually falling in overtime.

Ferris State got multi-point performances from Josh Zary and Gavin Best in the game while Christopher Lie scored his first goal of the season as the Bulldogs collected one point in Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) play with the overtime loss. Hobie Hedquist made 28 saves in 62:54 minutes between the pipes for FSU.

Augustana scored the first three goals of the game before Lie put the Bulldogs on the board. First, Easton Young scored at 3:16 with Owen Bohn and Joey DelGreco assisting. Then, Leonid Bulgakov scored at 14:28 with assists going to Cole Burtch and Owen Baumgartner.

At 18:44, Augustana took a 3-0 lead when Brett Meerman scored from Baumgartner and Hunter Bischoff. Ferris State went on to score the next three goals and tie the game.

Lie scored his first goal of the year at 18:55 on the power play. Josh Zary won the power play's opening faceoff and Carter Rapalje tapped it back to Lie at the point. Lie fired a shot through traffic and gave Ferris State its first goal of the weekend. Zary and Rapalje each got their sixth assists of the year on Lie's goal.

At 2:03 in the second period, Zary lit the lamp for his ninth goal this season. Max Itagaki passed to Best on the doorstep who tipped a shot up in the air over AU goaltender Josh Kotai. Zary slapped it in from the backside to pull FSU within one goal. Best and Itagaki each got their eighth assists on Zary's goal.

FSU tied the game at 11:12 when Best scored his ninth goal of the year. Valtteri Piironen cleared the Bulldog zone with a pass up the wall to Holden Doell at center ice. Doell skated down the right-wing side and fired a pass into the slot for Best, who tipped the shot past Kotai. Doell earned his third assist of the year and Piironen collected his second as FSU tied the game at 3-3.

Neither team scored in the third period, sending the Bulldogs into their second overtime game of the season. Young won it for the Vikings at 2:54 and Colton Friesen assisted.

For the game, FSU was 1-1 on the power play and 4-4 on the penalty kill, finishing the weekend a perfect 8-8 on the kill. Augustana outshot Ferris State 32-24 and won 37-67 faceoffs. Both teams blocked 14 shots.

Individually, Trevor Taulien led the team with three blocked shots while Best paced the squad with four shots on goal. Tyler Schleppe led the way with 11 faceoff wins.

Ferris State will be off next weekend and return to play Jan. 30 and 31 to face Minnesota State at home.