BIG RAPIDS, Mich. - The Miami University RedHawks (10-13-4, 6-10-3 CCHA) traveled to Ferris State University (9-15-3, 4-12-3) on Friday night, in search of their first road victory of the season, and found it, thanks to an overtime goal from junior Chris Michael (Glenview, Ill.). Michael's seventh goal of the season earned him the game's first star but more importantly, gave the RedHawks two critical points in the race for home-ice advantage in the first round of the CCHA playoffs.
Miami opened the scoring on the power play at 6:53 of the first period. Sophomore Marty Guerin (Lansing, Mich.) started the play with some brilliant puck handling behind the Ferris State net as he broke free from an FSU defender and found classmate Matt Christie (Ajax, Ontario), alone in the slot for his fifth power-play goal of the season, and ninth overall.
The RedHawks struck again later in the first, with the Bulldogs attempting to kill a five-minute penalty to captain Matt York. With just five seconds remaining in the major penalty, senior Todd Grant (Indianapolis, Ind.) moved the puck to junior Andy Greene (Trenton, Mich.) at the center point where Greene promptly wired a shot through traffic and past FSU's Mike Brown to make it 2-0 in favor of the Red and White.
Ferris State cut the Miami lead in half at 9:18 of the second while shorthanded. Zac Pearson picked up a loose puck in front of the Miami net and beat freshman Charlie Effinger (Belleville, Ill.) low to the glove side.
Miami regained the two-goal advantage less than a minute later when freshman Charley Fetzer's (Chicago, Ill.) shot from the point deflected off of a Ferris State player and into the net for Fetzer's second goal of the season.
Ferris State responded at 17:16 with Miami's Mitch Ganzak (Redford, Mich.) in the penalty box. Greg Rallo one-timed a pass behind Effinger from between the circles to make the score 3-2, and then tallied the equalizer 23 seconds later when Mark Bomersback banged home a loose puck from the right of the Miami net.
With no scoring in the third period, Miami went in search of a pair of firsts in the overtime period. The RedHawks were searching for their first road victory of the season and their first overtime victory since Mar. 13, 2004 versus Lake Superior. Michael made both of those things a reality at 1:03 of overtime with Miami on a power play as he banged in a loose puck from the right side of the net to empty the bench in celebration.
Effinger stopped 32-of-35 Ferris State shots to pick up his second career victory and second in a row. Brown stopped 22-of-26 Miami shots in the losing effort.
The RedHawks were 3-for-8 on the power play, one goal shy of matching their season-high for power play goals in a game. Miami's penalty-killing unit continued its fine play, holding Ferris State to just one goal on eight chances with the man-advantage.
Miami and Ferris State will faceoff again on Saturday night with the puck slated to drop at 7:05 p.m.
Notes: SO F Matt Christie scored in consecutive games for the first time since he scored in four straight from Oct. 9-21 ... he is now tied for the team lead in goals (9) ... SO Joe Cooper's assist gave him points in consecutive games for the first time in his career ... For the first time in his career (18 games), SO Jon Saunders appeared as a forward ... 15 of JR Andy Greene's 23 points have come on the power play ... Miami is 1-1-4 in overtime games.
