Ferris State scored six straight unanswered goals Friday to defeat the Chargers 6-2 at the Von Braun Center.
UAH (4-8-1 overall, 3-3-1 WCHA) got first-period goals from Adam Wilcox and Josh Kestner to take a 2-0 lead.
Then Ferris State (6-8-1, 3-3-1) scored one in the first, two in the second, and three in the third, all by Mitch Maloney, to put the Chargers away en route to the Bulldogs’ third straight WCHA victory.
Game two of the series is Saturday night at 7:07 p.m. in Propst Arena. It will finish off a six-game homestand for the Chargers before they start a run of 12 straight on the road. The next home series will be in late January.
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The Chargers got on the board first with a Georgia connection. Wilcox (of Alpharetta) with an odd angle shot put in a rebound from Connor Wood (of Buford) for his first goal of the season at the 6:31 mark. It was Wood’s third assist.
UAH made it 2-0 two-and-a-half minutes later thanks to Huntsville native Kestner. He scored his seventh of the season, assisted by Brandon Parker (his second).
Liam MacDougall scored with 6:05 left in the first to cut UAH’s lead to 2-1.
Ferris State put the pedal down in the second period and took the lead.
At the 10:49 mark, Jasen Fernsler tied the game at 2-2 as UAH goalie Mark Sinclair went down after making an initial save on Zach Yoder’s shot. The Bulldogs had a 10-3 shots advantage in the second period at that point.
It was 3-2 Bulldogs with 2:34 left in the second when their captain, Corey Mackin, put in the rebound on Tyler Dorantes’ shot all alone from the slot.
UAH had 25 seconds of power play to start the third period, followed by a 5-on-3 situation, but couldn’t convert any of them. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs added three more, a natural hat trick by Mitch Maloney.
Maloney’s first goal of the game right after the partial power play expired to make it 4-2. Then Maloney got his second with 12:44 to go, then got the third with 7:26 left. He now has 11 goals on the season.
FSU goaltender Darren Smith stopped 31 of 33 UAH shots in the win. Sinclair made 29 saves, but allowed all six goals.
Both teams were scoreless on the power play: Six opportunities for UAH, five for Ferris State.