OXFORD, Ohio – Three first period goals staked the Miami hockey team to a big lead and it held off a Ferris State rally to prevail 4-3 at Steve 'Coach' Cady Arena on Friday night.
Four RedHawks (1-2-1) scored goals as
Chris Bergeron picked up his first victory as MU head coach.
The Bulldogs (1-1) registered the first couple shots on goal, but
Ryan Larkin steered those pucks aside. Miami did get some possession established in the offensive zone about four minutes in and capitalized off it.
Ben Lown got the RedHawks on the board by tipping a
Derek Daschke point shot past Carter McPhail and in for his first of the year.
John Sladic also earned a helper after digging the puck out of the corner and feeding Daschke at the point.
Not long after Lown's goal, Ferris State went on a power play that Miami was able to kill off thanks to a couple stops.
The RedHawks went up 2-0 with 4:05 as
Noah Jordan gathered the puck at the half wall of his own zone and moved ahead, eventually reaching the slot unimpeded and beating McPhail stick side for his first career goal. That marked his second-straight game with a point.
Miami was not done there as with a delayed penalty in progress,
Karch Bachman went down but jammed home a backdoor feed from
Casey Gilling to make it a 3-0 contest after 20 minutes. Daschke also nabbed his second assist of the period on the play.
Midway through the second, MU got a golden opportunity to put the game away with a five-minute major penalty giving it an extended power play. However, the Bulldogs allowed just one shot during a scoreless five minutes to stay within three.
Energized by the penalty kill, FSU scored twice in a 43-second span as Lucas Finner and Jake Transit brought it within 3-2 with 4:19 to go in the frame. Miami's special teams had an answer as a late minor penalty gave the power play a chance at redemption. After a
Phil Knies shot was stopped by McPhail, but it bounced past him for
Gordie Green to clean it up for his fourth of the year. Daschke also had an assist on the play as the RedHawks skated to the dressing room with a 4-2 lead.
Oskar Andren brought the Bulldogs back within 4-3 4:05 into the third after burying a centering feed. On the tally, MU was called for a major penalty, but it managed to kill off all five minutes of the FSU man advantage.
The Bulldogs outshot the RedHawks 10-6 in the final period and had two more power plays after the five minute major, including one with 1:22 remaining in regulation that allowed them to pull McPhail for an extra attacker. MU managed to clear the puck up ice and had an opportunity to bury an empty netter, but a Ferris State player intentionally knocked the net off the pegs with 24.2 seconds remaining, giving a penalty shot to the Red & White. While the bid was ultimately unsuccessful, the Red & White managed to salt away the remaining 24.2 seconds and get in the win column.
Ferris State outshot Miami by a 30-27 count, but Larkin made 27 saves to keep the Bulldogs from completely erasing the early deficit. Miami's penalty kill was a perfect 6-for-6 while it also connected on 1-of-4 man advantages. Daschke led all players with three assists.
These teams wrap their weekend series on Saturday with opening faceoff at 8 p.m.
