BULLDOGS GAIN CCHA HOME SERIES SPLIT WITH LAKERS

Goaltender Pat Nagle (30) and center Justin Menke (10) helped the Bulldogs to a 4-3 league win in Saturday's (Nov. 1) weekend series finale versus Lake Superior State.

Ferris State scored three of the game's final four goals and sophomore goaltender Pat Nagle (Bloomfield) turned in a 26-saves performance in leading the Bulldogs to a 4-3 win over Lake Superior State Saturday (Nov. 1) evening to gain a weekend Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) series split at FSU's Ewigleben Ice Arena in Big Rapids, Mich.

Ferris State's game winner came at 2:23 into the third period as junior center Aaron Lewicki (Livonia) tipped the puck in off a rebound just outside the crease area for his fourth of the season. Senior right wing Justin Lewandowski (Naperville, Ill.) helped set up the tally with a shot on LSSU netminder Brian Mahoney-Wilson, who gathered 19 saves in 32:16 of action. The Lakers' Zac MacVoy would draw the visitors within one goal (4-3) as he tallied with 6:46 remaining in the contest, but Nagle stopped 10 LSSU shots in the final frame to preserve the Bulldog win.

Lake Superior State took a 1-0 lead in the first period as Fred Cassiani scored just 1:07 into the game. However, sophomore left wing Mike Fillinger (Grand Ledge) would answer for Ferris State at 6:26 into the frame on a blast from above the left circle near the boards to tie it at 1-1. The marker was Fillinger's first of this season.

The Lakers would regain the upper hand with 4:59 to go in the first period as MacVoy netted his first of two lamplighters in the game.

The second half was controlled by the Bulldogs, who outshot the Lakers by a 13-to-8 margin. Sophomore defenseman Zach Redmond's (Traverse City) wrister from inside the right circle went into the inside post past Mahoney-Wilson to knot the game at 2-2 with 15:02 remaining in the stanza. Redmond's power-play tally marked his first goal of the year.

The Bulldogs proceeded to take their first lead of the game with 2:32 to go in the second frame as junior left wing Blair Riley (Kamloops, British Columbia) took a pass from junior right wing Cody Chupp (Big Rapids) in the slot area and fired the puck into the LSSU goal to notch his fourth lamplighter of the 2008-09 campaign.

Mike Embach tries to put the loose puck past LSSU goaltender Pat Inglis. (Photo courtesy of Pioneer)

The Bulldogs would outshoot their opponent for the seventh time this season by generating a 39-to-29 shots advantage. FSU went 1-for-8 on the power play while LSSU went 0-for-5.

Mahoney-Wilson, who came in relief of starter Pat Inglis, took the loss for the Lakers, saving 19 shots and his season record drops to 2-2-0. Inglis played the initial 26:11 and compiled 16 stops. Pat Nagle picked up the win for Ferris State by turning away 26 shots in 59:58 between the posts.

The CCHA victory evened FSU's overall record to 3-3-2 this season and the Bulldogs are now 2-1-1-0 in league action to date.