LSSU squanders opportunity against Ferris State

Lake Superior State University was unable to record a victory against Ferris State in their four meetings this season after falling to the Bulldogs 3-1 Saturday night in Big Rapids. The Lakers are 2-7-4 against Ferris in their last 13 meetings including going 0-1-3 this season. The Lakers lost their first game this season Saturday night in which they have scored first, 8-1-2 for the season. The loss is also the first time the Lakers have lost a game in which they have lead this season 12-1-4, the Lakers have failed to maintain a lead 12 times this season in 8 games, resulting in a 3-1-4 record in these games. After a first period in which the Lakers found themselves out shot 18-7, LSSU found themselves in a scoreless tie thanks to the excellent goaltending performance of Junior Jeff Jakaitis. The Lakers where able to score the first goal of the game at 8:43 of the second period with Freshman Josh Sim scoring his 3rd goal of the season, Barnabas Birkeland assisted on the goal. LSSU was able to maintain the lead for the next 20 minutes until Mark Bomersback was able to score (09:20 of the third period) on a power play opportunity that Referee Brian Aaron awarded Ferris on a phantom obstruction hooking call to Josh Sim. FSU’s Corey Couturier scored the game winning goal at 15:07 of the third period. LSSU was unable to take advantage of a power play in the closing minutes of the game, and gave up a 4-on-6 shorthanded goal to Bomersback with Jakaitis sitting on the bench, in a questionable move by LSSU Head Coach Jim Roque. LSSU was 58% (38 for 66) on faceoffs which kept them in a game otherwise dominated by FSU. LSSU was 0-5 on the power play (1-11 on the weekend) while FSU was 1-4 with the extra attacker. The loss drops LSSU into a tie for 4th in the CCHA with Michigan who has 2 games in hand over the Lakers. There are currently 7 points separating the 11th place team from the second place team in the CCHA, making every game that the Lakers play the remainder of the season must win games. Next weekend the Lakers play their final home series of the regular season against Bowing Green, 7:35 on Friday, and 7:05 Saturday night.