Broncos and Bulldogs Finish with Split

The Western Michigan Broncos and Ferris State Bulldogs closed out the regular season over the weekend by splitting their traditional home-and-home series.

BIG RAPIDS, Mich--- The Broncos (13-19-2, 8-18-2 CCHA) came to play on Friday night as they whipped the Bulldogs, 5-1, at the Ewigleben Ice Arena.

Kevin Labatte, Vince Bellissimo, Brent Walton, and Mike Erickson all scored to give the visitors a 4-0 lead by the 7:14 mark of the third period.

Derek Nesbitt finally got FSU on the board with a 5-on-3, power-play goal at 9:28 of the third.

Labatte added his second of the night at 15:10 to seal the win for the Broncos.

In net, Daniel Bellissimo made 30 saves for the Broncos and Mike Brown turned aside 33 for the Bulldogs.

WMU finished the evening with a 3-8 power-play while holding FSU to a 1-8 night with the man advantage.

KALAMAZOO, Mich--- The Bulldogs (12-20-4, 7-17-4 CCHA) got their revenge on the Broncos home ice on Saturday by pulling out a 5-2 win at the Lawson Arena.

Vince Bellissimo got the Broncos on the board first with his 17th of the season, just 45 seconds into the game.

The Bulldogs regrouped as Derek Nesbitt scored the next two goals on the power-play to give FSU a one goal lead.

Jeff Legue added another power-play marker at 12:05 of the first period and the Bulldogs rode a 3-1 lead into the third.

At 10:28 of the final twenty, Nesbitt scored again for the hat-trick and a 4-1 FSU lead.

Reid Yantzi scored for the Broncos at 17:32, but the Bulldogs squashed all momentum when Legue scored his second of the night just 13 seconds later to cap the scoring.

Senior Mike Brown made 28 saves in winning his final regular season start for the Bulldogs. Daniel Bellissimo made 31 saves for the Broncos.

FSU finished the evening with a 3-8 power-play. WMU went 1-7 with the man-advantage.

On to the Playoffs….

The split sealed a tenth place tie for FSU and WMU, who’ll both start a difficult conference playoff run on the road.

The Bulldogs will open the first round of the CCHA Playoffs with a pair of games against the #2 seed Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus on Friday and Saturday night.

The Broncos will head north and open with two games against the third-seed Northern Michigan Wildcats in Marquette on Friday and Saturday.