BOX SCORE
BIG RAPIDS, Mich. -- Freshmen Kyle O'Kane and J.J. Crew each netted their first collegiate goals and Riley Gill made 38 saves to propel Western Michigan over Ferris State on Friday night in front of 1,084 fans at Ewigleben Arena.
The Broncos (4-12-5, 3-8-4-1 CCHA) got the ball rolling 3:45 into the second period. WMU's Tyler Ludwig cycled the puck to Kevin Connauton deep in the Bronco zone. Connauton found a wide-open O'Kane at the other end of the ice. O'Kane skated in on Ferris State goaltender Pat Nagle and put the puck right in his five-hole for his first goal as a Bronco. Ludwig picked up his eighth assist on the season and Connauton, also a freshman, picked up his seventh helper.
“The defensemen were changing and it left me wide open,” commented O'Kane. “Connauton made a fantastic pass to me to give me the breakaway. On breakaways I normally like to go five-hole and I used to play with Nagle in juniors so I really wanted to score on him.”
WMU pushed the lead to 2-0 just under six minutes later in the period right off a face-off. Patrick Nagorsen won the draw and got the puck to Crew who skated to the slot and fired the puck top-shelf to beat Nagle on his glove side for his first career goal. Nagorsen picked up his second assist on the season. Both goals came from WMU's fourth line of Crew, Nagorsen and O'Kane, who also gave Brown fits in Western Michigan's 1-1 tie.
By the end of the second period, the Broncos and Bulldogs were tied with 25 shots on goal, but Western Michigan had 16 blocks in the game. WMU's defense would end with 20 blocks with Chris Frank and Ludwig leading the way four each.
“The defense was great, especially on the penalty kill,” added Gill. “They were blocking everything and if it did get through to me, they cleared it out right away. “
The Bronco penalty kill held Ferris State scoreless on four chances and has now killed 26 of its last 27 penalties.
FSU's Mike Embach added a goal for the Bulldogs at the 13:16 mark in the third period off of a long pass by Brendan Connolly. Ferris State fired off 14 shots in the period but Gill made 13 saves, including a key flurry of shots with less than two minutes remaining in the game.
The Bulldogs and Broncos battle for the final time, barring a playoff match up, tomorrow night at 7:35 p.m. at Lawson Ice Arena in Kalamazoo.
