Goaltender Phil Osaer’s amazing saves and Rob Collins’ goal and two assists helped propel the Ferris State Bulldogs over the Miami RedHawks, 5-3 on Friday.
The scoring started early in the first period when Ferris was awarded the first power-play opportunity. Off a Kevin Swider pass, Collins made no mistake as he buried the puck top-shelf on goaltender David Burleigh for a 1-0 lead at 1:33.
Miami would not be denied on its own power-play opportunity, though. Ernie Hartlieb took a pass from Greg Hogeboom and skated around a defenseman and through the top of the crease, and backhanded a shot past Osaer to tie the game at 1-1 at 5:28.
Miami struck again less than three minutes later when Matt Medvecz got the puck behind the Bulldog net. Hogeboom was out in front to take the pass and bury it past a sprawling Osaer to make it 2-1 at 8:12.
Ferris tied it up quickly in the second period. Derrick McIver took the puck from Collins and shot along the ice, beating Burleigh at 1:20.
The chances kept coming through the second period, but Osaer and Burleigh kept their teams in the game and the score tied.
In the end, however, the third period belonged to Ferris State as the puck seemed to bounce the way of the Bulldogs. Collins and Swider were denied by Burleigh, but he couldn’t stop Scott Lewis, who put away a loose puck at 1:39.
Chris Kunitz then added a goal on a great individual effort. Kunitz intercepted a pass at the top of the right faceoff circle, turned, and fired a slapshot off Burleigh’s glove and into the net for the goal at 6:04.
McIver added another goal about two minutes later when he broke in alone down the left side and slid the puck through the five-hole of Burleigh at 8:23 to make the score 5-2.
RedHawk Michael Glumac added another power-play goal at 17:24 off a goalmouth scramble to make it 5-3, but the Bulldog defense held tight, holding Miami to just six shots on goal for the period and preserving the win.
With the win, Ferris nets a four-game winning streak and improves to 8-11-4 overall. Miami drops to 10-9-2.
Miami will play at Ferris again Saturday at 7:05 p.m.
