NMU hockey edged at Ferris State

Courtesy of NMU Athletics

BIG RAPIDS, Mich. – The Northern Michigan University hockey team fell in a closely contested outing at No. 4/5 Ferris State in Western Collegiate Hockey Association action Saturday.

NMU moved to 11-15-2 with the loss including a 9-10-1 WCHA record. The Bulldogs improved to 20-6-3 with a 15-3-2 league mark.

Ferris State scored the first goal of the match up at the 3:44 mark of the first period. Jared VanWormer scored an even strength goal on a feed from Dom Panetta and Dakota Klecha.

The Bulldogs took a 2-0 lead when Cory Kane scored at the 4:21 mark of the third period. VanWormer and Klecha assisted to push the Ferris State lead to 2-0.

Sophomore forward Darren Nowick cut the Ferris State lead to 2-1 when he finished an even strength goal on a pass from senior defenseman Wade Epp at 12:47 of the third period.

“I was really pleased with the way we played,” said NMU head coach Walt Kyle. “As disappointed as I was with the effort last night that is how pleased I was with the effort tonight. After last night we challenged the guys to play hard and the guys responded with a hard effort, we held them to only 23 shots and we outshot them in their own building. I thought we played really well tonight”

The Wildcats outshot Ferris State 30-23 including a 10-5 advantage in the first and a 15-10 advantage in the third. NMU was 0-4 on the power play while Ferris State was 0-3.

Freshman goalie Mathias Dahlstrom made 21 saves while facing 23 total shots in net. Dahlstrom fell to 10-13-2 on the season while C.J. Motte moved to 19-4-3 on the campaign.

NMU returns home for five out of its last eight contests beginning by hosting Lake Superior State next weekend (Feb. 14-15). Game time Friday and Saturday are set for 7:07 p.m. at the Berry Events Center.