Ferris State sweeps away Western

Second periods were critical for the Ferris State Bulldogs last weekend -- both Friday and Saturday night saw the team net three goals which aided them in sweeping the Western Michigan Broncos in Kalamazoo. The Bulldogs won 4-2 on Friday and 7-2 on Saturday.

On Friday, Western jumped out to an early lead when Brent Walton knocked a Nathan Ansell (pictured) rebound past Ferris netminder Mitch O'Keefe. Paul Szczechura was also credited with an assist on Walton's goal. Ferris evened the score at 7:21 of the first. Adam Miller scored his eighth of the season with some help from Andrew Winnick and Chris Zarb.

The game went decidedly in the Bulldogs' favor early in the second period, when Greg Rallo reversed the energy of a five-minute Western power play to score a shorthanded goal. Rallo's goal, which came courtesy of a Mark Bomersback pass, started Ferris's scoring surge. Miller netted his second of the game on the power play at 8:06 of the period, and Justin Lewandowski got in on the action by scoring his first of the season at 17:33.

Western tried to get back in the game by giving Ferris a taste of its own medicine--Mike Lesperance took advantage of a Bulldogs power play to score on a breakaway and cut Western's deficit to two. But they could not foil O'Keefe again--even with an extra attacker during the game's last minute--and Ferris took away the 4-2 win.

O'Keefe had 23 saves while Western goalie Daniel Bellissimo stopped 26 shots.

Western's quest for redemption on Saturday didn't get very far--Rallo gave the Broncos an unfortunate sense of deja vu by netting his second shorthanded goal of the weekend just three minutes into the game. Bomersback and Alex Spezia earned assists on the play. Rallo also earned an unassisted power play goal at 7:24 of the first period. Szezechura took a pass from Walton to cut the Bulldogs' lead to one going into the second period.

Ferris scored three straight goals in the second period: Joe Van Culin, Corey Couturier, and Dan Riedel each contributed a tally to Ferris's dismantling of Western.

The Broncos tried to start the third period fresh--coach Jim Culhane pulled Bellissimo in favor of Eric Marvin, and Jason Moul set up Matt Clackson for Western's second goal of the night. But Ferris stifled any Bronco energy a few minutes later, when Riedel and Zac Pearson (who also assisted on Riedel's goal) set up Matt Verdone for his 13th of the season. Eric Vesely drove in the final nail at 16:39 of the period, scoring off assists from Jim Jorgensen (his second assist after helping on Riedel's goal) and Matt Frank.

O'Keefe had 23 saves in the 7-2 win. Bellissimo had 21 saves and Marvin 11.

Western meets Michigan on Tuesday night, while Ferris will meet Notre Dame in a home-and-home series next weekend.