While Ferris State University's hockey team celebrated two important Central Collegiate Hockey Association shootout wins over Miami University (both games, of course, ended in ties), which entered the weekend as the top-ranked team in the nation, some who cover the RedHawks did not (and do not) share in that joy. In fact, at least one person is downright pissed that the Bulldogs twice celebrated on Miami's home ice and the RedHawks' snipers found it painfully difficult to beat the Bulldogs' defense.
John Lachmann, in his blog, writes the following (among other things):
BOTTOM LINE: I expected a bit of a letdown on Friday after the big series win at Michigan, but to manage two points in two games at home against this team is flat-out embarrassing.
Ferris State had good goaltending and played solid, defensive (read here: boring) hockey, but the top team in the country scored three goals in a weekend. At home.
All three Miami goals came on outside shots. Not once in 130 minutes of hockey this weekend were the RedHawks able to generate a goal inside the faceoff circles against a smaller, slower, less skilled team.
Those are quite the stinging comments and obviously Lachmann did not get the memo about the higher level of respect Miami has expressed for Ferris and how competitive the series has been recently. Whether the talk of respect was just for positioning in the media is irrelevant.
So, apparently, boring hockey trumped exciting hockey last weekend in Oxford, Ohio. In all honesty, it's the perfect style of play on the road and it's part of what makes the Bulldogs such a challenging opponent.
Being one of the little guys, in a league like the CCHA, schools like Ferris are all too familiar with being dissed by some of the bigger schools and individuals affiliated with bigger schools.
There's still a lot of hockey to be played, but the Bulldogs are off to a good start.
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