All Tied Up: Freshman Kyle Bonis shoots past a fallen Michigan State University oppo­nent dur­ing Friday’s game. Fans filled the sold-out sta­dium to see the Bulldogs beat the Spartans 4–1. The 2–3 loss in East Lansing the next day kept the two teams tied for sec­ond in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. Photos By: Kate Dupon | Photographer

The Bulldogs remain tied for sec­ond with Michigan State in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) after split­ting two games with the Spartans.

After a week­end series that saw both teams pro­vide some offen­sive fire­power, and with 10 com­bined goals scored dur­ing the two games, the Bulldogs and Spartans remain tied for sec­ond in the con­fer­ence with 46 points each head­ing into the final week­end of the reg­u­lar season.

Ferris won the first game of the home-and-home week­end series with a 4–1 offen­sive show­case. The vic­tory marked the first home win against the Spartans since 2007.

The Bulldogs came out fir­ing as they posted a 7–2 shot advan­tage in a score­less first period.

Ferris took con­trol of the con­test in the sec­ond period as the team blasted three unan­swered goals in less than 10 min­utes, includ­ing a goal from senior right wing Aaron Lewicki for his tenth of the season.

“I think these first two peri­ods were the best that we’ve played all year,” said Lewicki. “It’s def­i­nitely the best we’ve played against this level of competition.”

Michigan State did not go qui­etly, though, as it cut the lead to 3–1 when Derek Grant snuck the puck past junior goal­tender Pat Nagle dur­ing a power play oppor­tu­nity early in the third period.

That was as close as the Spartans would get, as the Bulldogs got an insur­ance goal from junior cen­ter Justin Menke with 6:15 left in the con­test on a power play oppor­tu­nity to ice the victory.

Both teams were 1 of 5 on power play oppor­tu­ni­ties. The Bulldogs held Michigan State to eight shots on goal through the first 40 min­utes of play.

Though Ferris took con­trol on the offen­sive end, hold­ing a 29–23 advan­tage in shots on goal, goal­tend­ing proved just as impor­tant as Nagle made 22 saves dur­ing the match. Bulldog head coach Bob Daniels was impressed with Nagle’s per­for­mance, espe­cially in the third period.

“I thought Nagle made some nice saves in the third to keep them from tying the game up,” said Daniels. “I thought we left him out to dry too much in the third period, but he han­dled it well.”

Michigan State claimed the sec­ond game of the series 3–2 as the scene shifted to East Lansing, where Ferris has not won since 2006.

In a back and forth open­ing period, the Spartans struck first with 15:09 left on a goal put in after the puck bounced off Nagle’s pads. The Bulldogs knot­ted the score up on a goal from Menke with 3:27 left in the open­ing frame. Ferris held a 14–5 advan­tage in shots on goal dur­ing the first period.

The sec­ond period proved to be much of the same as both teams posted goals in the period to keep the con­test tied at 2–2.

With the score remain­ing dead­locked for much of the third period, the Spartans got the game-winning goal from Dustin Gazely with 7:29 left in the game.

The Bulldogs are tied for sec­ond in the CCHA in scor­ing offense and are third in the con­fer­ence in scor­ing defense. Ferris is also sec­ond in the con­fer­ence with a 19.8 per­cent power play rate.

Ferris State will bat­tle against the Western Michigan Broncos in a home-and-home series for the last two games of the 2009–2010 reg­u­lar sea­son. Michigan State will take on Bowling Green in a home-and-home series in the final weekend.