After a two-year drought, Dom Panetta netted his first collegiate goal, getting the monkey off his back with the game-winner in Ferris State’s 5-2 win over Michigan State.
“I didn’t even know I scored,” said Panetta. “I thought someone else tipped it in.”
Panetta said the razzing from teammates and coaches has been increasing as the length of his goalless streak increased.
“I haven’t scored in two years, so there’s been some pressure,” said Panetta. “Coach Fam [Ferris assistant Drew Famulak] is always giving me crap at practice. If I shoot wide, he’ll say, ‘That’s why you don’t have any goals.'”
Elsewhere on the ice, the Bulldogs were supported by multipoint nights from Travis Ouellette, Cory Kane, Andy Huff, and Dakota Klecha, while C.J. Motte had 17 saves in the win.
Ferris State opened the scoring early with a power-play goal from Kyle Bonis just over three minutes into the contest. However, like last night, Michigan State quickly answered after Matt DeBlouw got behind the Ferris State defense and buried a pass from Matt Berry.
With the game fairly even through the first half of the second period, Ferris State began to take advantage of Michigan State’s mistakes.
The first goal came off a two-on-one rush where Eric Alexander took the shot high over Jake Hildebrand’s glove to give Ferris State the lead.
The second was Panetta’s goal. Klecha fired wide of the net, but the puck wrapped around the board to Panetta, who lobbed it past a flailing Hildebrand.
“The coaches tell me to shoot low, but I think that was high on the glove side,” said Panetta.
Michigan State answered back late in the middle frame with a goal from Lee Reimer, but it wasn’t enough, as Ferris State tacked on two more goals in the third.
“It’s good to see Reimer score,” said Michigan State coach Tom Anastos. “He hasn’t scored in a while.”
Huff scored midway through the third, burying a feed from Kane after a ferocious forecheck forced the Spartans to turn the puck over in their own zone.
Ouellette closed out the game’s scoring late in the frame. Jason Binkley found him in the slot and Ouellette made the most of the pass with a nifty forehand-backhand move before lifting a shot over Hildebrand.
Anastos seems increasingly vexed by his team’s inability to score.
“Scoring doesn’t come easy to us; we worked fairly hard, but our execution was off,” said Anastos. “It’s touch on the road when the home team gets ahead and gets the crowd into it. You make your own luck, and we haven’t been able to do it.”
Next week, Michigan State has three games at home, starting with the U.S. Under-18 Team on Tuesday before a weekend (6-15-3, 5-12-1-0 CCHA) series at home with Penn State. Ferris State (12-9-3, 10-7-1-0 CCHA) will hit the road for a two-game CCHA series with league-leader Notre Dame.
