Men's Hockey | 11/6/2015 8:50:00 PM

Box Score       Big Rapids, Mich.  --- Minnesota State battled back to tie the game on three occasions, but three straight Ferris State third-period goals gave the host Bulldogs a 7-4 victory in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association men's hockey road contest in Big Rapids Friday.

The loss ended a four-game winning streak for the Mavericks.

Ferris State struck first with Andrew Dorantes tallying at 1:59 of the opening period. The Mavericks got one back at 13:40 on a power play opportunity after defenseman Casey Nelson's shot from the left circle was pounced upon by sophomore C.J. Franklin and put past Darren Smith.  The game stood tied until 17:34 when FSU forward Gerald Mayhew jammed the puck past Jason Pawloski on a disputed goal with the Bulldogs on a power play. The play was originally waved off, but became a good goal following video review.

The Mavericks tied it up at 6:50 of the second when senior forward Bryce Gervais looked off the FSU netminder prior to burying his third goal of the season. The goal, the 54^th of his Minnesota State career, gives Gervais three points on two goals and an assist in the last three games.  The Bulldogs regained the lead at 8:06 on Sean O'Rourke's first goal of the season, which came when O'Rourke capitalized on a rebound to beat Cole Huggins. Huggins had replaced Pawloski at the beginning of the period.

Kyle Schempp connected for a power play marker at 15:48 of the third period in making it a 4-2 Ferris State lead.  Junior defenseman Casey Nelson, who had assisted on Franklin's and Gervais' goals earlier in the game, got his third point of the night when he scored at 7:54.  Freshman forward Max Coatta got his first career goal at 9:51 in tying the game for the third time. The Bulldogs got their fourth lead of the game with O'Rourke's second goal of the contest making it 5-4 at 10:39. Chad McDonald's backhand tally at 12:46 gave FSU a two-goal cushion and an empty net tally 18: 62 from Matt Robertson closed out the scoring in the game.

The Mavericks went two-for-six in power play chances on the night and freshman goalkeeper Jason Pawloski and junior Cole Huggins combined to make 20 saves for Minnesota State in the loss.  The Mavericks owned a 38-27 shots on goal advantage in the contest.

Minnesota State, which stands 4-5-0 overall and owns a 4-1-0 WCHA mark, close out the two-game WCHA set with Ferris State with a 7:07 p.m. EST face-off scheduled for Saturday.
 
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