One night after watching his team turn in a dominant performance in a 5-2 win, Bemidji State turned in a polar opposite performance and was dominated in nearly all phases of the game in a 7-2 loss to the Ferris State Bulldogs.
BSU allowed seven goals on just 20 shots, allowed its most goals in nearly a year and most goals in a home game in nearly two years, and saw starting goaltender Layne Sedevie (Bismarck, N.D.) receive an early hook after allowing five goals on just 12 shots.
“We went from 90 and sunshine to 30 below and a blizzard in 24 hours.” said Bemidji State head men’s hockey coach Tom Serratore, probably wishing tonight he was a weather man and not a hockey coach. “This game was a good test for us, and we didn’t respond. We went from one extreme to the other. We just played poorly. We weren’t in sync, we couldn’t make a play and we weren’t executing our system.
You’ve got to be clicking on all eight cylinders,” Serratore said, “And we weren’t.”
Ferris set the tone midway through the first period. After the Bulldogs had mustered just two shots on net in the first nine minutes of the period, Ferris State’s Matt Stefanishion picked up a loose puck just outside the BSU blue line and harmlessly flicked the puck at Sedevie across open ice to clear for a line change. The puck slipped past Sedevie and into the net, and from there the rout was on.
Ferris made it 2-0 just 1:25 later, scoring from the top of the right circle. Matt Frank found Nick Scheible, who beat Sedevie to the right to put the Bulldogs up by a pair.
BSU never recovered. Ferris extended its lead to 3-0 on a power-play goal by Mark Bomersback at 3:55 of the second, its first tally in what became a three-goal period. Derek Nesbitt, who assisted on Bomersbeck’s lamp-lighter, found the back of the net himself at 10:46 of the second to put the Bulldogs up 4-1, and Tim Vokey scored the second Bulldog power-play goal of the period at 15:42 and all but seal it for the visitors.
Carter Thomas put the Bulldogs up 6-1 with an even-strength marker at 8:07 of the third, and the teams traded short-handed goals at 13:51 and 15:37 of the period for the game’s final 7-2 margin.
The final minutes of the contest were chippy and penalty-ridden. The teams combined for eight penalties in the final 3:22, with four whistles against each team. A five-penalty brawl, sparked when two BSU players collided with Ferris State goaltender Derek MacIntyre, set the tone for the rough closing minutes. For the contest, the teams combined for 21 penalties, all minors, with 13 called against Ferris State and eight against BSU.
The seven goals allowed were the most by a BSU team since Dec. 11, 2003 when the Beavers dropped a 7-5 decision at Alabama-Huntsville, and were the most allowed in a home game since a 12-0 loss to Minn.-Duluth on Dec. 7, 2002.
Special teams were a microcosm of BSU’s struggles in the contest. The Beaver power play, which generated three second-period scores last night, was ineffective tonight. The Beavers tied a Division I-era record with 11 power-play opportunities, but scored just one goal – a Myles Kuharski (Neepawa, Manitoba) tally in the second period. Ferris State’s 10 penalties killed are second-most by an opponent in BSU’s Division I era. BSU generated just nine shots on net during its 11 power-play chances and surrendered a short-handed goal to Zac Peterson.
The Bulldogs converted on two of five power-play chances, and Bomersback’s game-winner came with Ferris State enjoying the man advantage. Ferris also surrendered a short-handed goal, to Brendan Cook at 15:37 of the third.
The loss dropped BSU to 2-4 all-time against Ferris State and 2-9-0 in 11 Division I-era games against Central Collegiate Hockey Association foes. The win snapped a 10-game losing streak for Feriris State, which picks up its first victory since Feb. 27, 2004.
Bemidji State sees its season record even at 1-1-0 with the loss, while Ferris State earns its first win of the season to improve to 1-5-0.
