October 8, 2011

Saints Upended by Ferris State

The 2011-12 men's hockey season did not get off to the kind of start the Saints were looking for as Ferris State completed a two-game sweep in the home openers with a 5-1 win at Appleton Arena Saturday afternoon, and things will not get any easier with a big road trip looming.

Junior wing Kyle Bonis scored two goals and set up a third and freshman goaltender C.J. Motte had a solid collegiate debut, stopping 16 of 17 shots in the Bulldogs' 5-1 Saturday win. Ferris also scored a pair of key power play goals, giving it four for the weekend as penalties hurt the Saints for the second night in a row.

"We obviously have a lot of things to address," said Saint associate head coach Mike Hurlbut. "Fortunately it is early in the year, and the things that need fixing are certainly fixable. It is all an on-going process and we will start working on what we have to work on early in the week."
"We've got another big set of games coming up at Michigan on Thursday and against RIT in Rochester Saturday which will give us a chance to see our younger guys in the pressure of a couple of tough road venues."

Ferris State, which won the Friday night series opener 4-2, jumped in front just 1:50 into the game and iced the win with a pair of goals in the final five minutes of regulation to improve to 2-0-0 on the young season. The Bulldogs had a 35-17 edge in shots on goal in the game and scored two power play goals for the second straight night.