In the third straight winning season opener under Coach Bob Mancini
Michigan Tech defeated Ferris State University 4-3.
 
Scoring:
 
MTU  1  1  2  -  4
FSU  0  2  1  -  3
 
1st Period
 
MTU - Seale (Wright, K. Peterson) 7:09
 
2nd Period
 
MTU - Dupont (B. Peterson) ppg 13:56
FSU - Blake (Roach, Christion) ppg 17:17
FSU - Dodunski (Kitching) 18:31
 
3rd Period
 
FSU - Hunt (Nagy) 6:10
MTU - P. Mikesch (Garvey) 6:42
MTU - Hanchuk (unassisted) 15:39
 
Penalties:
 
1st Period:
 
MTU- Wright holding 1:31
FSU - Colinga slashing 3:26
MTU - Caravaggio (served by Myers) delay of game 7:09
FSU - Raoch interference 11:08
MTU - Kryser interference 18:15
 
2nd Period:
 
FSU - Colinga elbowing 0:35
MTU - Van Tighem interference 3:06
FSU - (player unk) interference 5:55
MTU - K. Peterson roughing 12:51
FSU - Bernam roughing 12:51
FSU - Blake tripping 13:01
MTU - Kryser check from behind 17:20
 
3rd Period:
 
MTU - Roy tripping 3:11
FSU - Anderson roughing 6:42
MTU - J. Mikesch roughing 6:42
MTU - Savage hooking 18:50
 
Goaltending Saves:
 
MTU Caravaggio   7   7  11 -  25
FSU Nagy        15  14   9 -  38
 
Commentary:
 
The first period was dominated by MTU's play in the
Ferris zone. MTU pelted Nagy with shots. Nagy stood
up to the play well making several critical saves.
Finally, on a 2nd rebound from about 15 feet out,
Travis Seale put the puck in the net. Nagy continued
to thwart MTU's scoring for the rest of the period.
 
During the second period, Dave Dupont rifled a shot
on net from the point on a 4 on 3 power play. An FSU
player slammed into Caravaggio who was put on his back
in the MTU net. Being unable to get up, Caravaggio
was tended to by the medical staff. After a lengthy
delay, FSU's Jason Blake was able to score in the
top right corner of the crease. This was followed
a minute later by a Dodunski shot from the blue
line that was screened from Caravaggio by several
players. Momentum was clearly with FSU at this
point in the game.
 
FSU continued in the third with a go ahead goal
by Hunt who caught Caravaggio moving to the right
and unable to stop the puck on the low left glove
side. Things were starting to look bad. However,
Liam Garvey crahed the blue line and fed the
puck to a streaking Pat Mikesch who was able
score. This goal, 31 seconds after FSU's Hunt
goal, killed FSU's momentum. The game highlight
has to be Hanchuk's unassisted, coast to coast,
wrap around goal at 15:39 which proved to be
the game winner. The last minute of the game was
a nail biter as FSU pulled the goalie and went
up on a 6 on 4 power play. MTU was up to the
task and closed off the game.
 
Overall, MTU showed that its positive mix
of experience defenders, it 2 of the top three
leading WCHA scorers from last year (Pat Mikesch
and Brent Peterson) and its aggressive freshman
who have come to play hockey on Friday and
Saturday nights is a winning combination. While
MTU's overall team is young and thus unpredicatable,
my guess is that come March, MTU will not be in
the WCHA cellar.