The St. Thomas men’s hockey team improved to 11-7-3 on the season after completing a sweep of Ferris State in a weekend series at the Lee & Penny Anderson Arena.

Saturday’s 8-4 victory came far easier than Friday’s come from behind 5-3 triumph, though the Tommies trailed 2-0 in both contests.

Ferris State’s edge on Saturday didn’t last nearly as long as it did on Friday. The Bulldogs opened the second game of the series with goals at 4:39 and 11:34 of the opening period before St. Thomas proceeded to light the lamp eight consecutive times to wrest control of the weekend away from the visitors.

The Tommies exploded for four goals in just over six minutes to take a 4-2 edge into the first intermission. Jake Bracchini began the onslaught with a power-play goal at 13:22 before Hayes Hundley made it 2-2 at 17:53.

But the hosts weren’t done there. Lucas Wahlin put UST up 3-2 38 seconds later before Attila Lippai finished off the period with a goal at 19:49 to make the score 4-2 at the break.

The second period was all Tommies, with Nick Williams, Alex Gaffney and Nathan Pilling all getting in on the scoring along with Bracchini’s second of the game. The rout was on at 8-2 heading into the third.

Ferris State got two back in the concluding interval, but it wasn’t nearly enough as the contest ended in a four-goal difference favoring St. Thomas as goaltender William Ingemann made 15 saves. Lucas Van Vliet led the hosts with three assists, with Chase Cheslock, Gaffney and Braccini each earning two assists apiece.

Friday: Tommies 5, Bulldogs 3

St. Thomas opened the series by rallying from third period deficits of 2-0 and 3-2 to win 5-3.

Ferris St. led 2-0 following the final intermission on the strength of single tallies in the first and second period.

That all changed in the third as Braccini and Mason Poolman scored at 15:20 and 12:43 of the period, respectively, to pull the hosts even at 2-2.

That didn’t last long, however, as the Bulldogs again seized the lead at 3-2 on a goal just 26 seconds after Poolman’s score.

But Luc Laylin drew UST level with a goal at 4:28 or the third before Hundley gave the Tommies the lead at last with just 41 seconds remaining in regulation. Pilling added one final goal 15 seconds later on an empty netter after the Bulldogs had pulled goaltender Hobie Hedquist in favor of the added skater.

Tommies netminder Carsen Musser made 21 saves in the game. Gaffney and Van Vliet led the team with two assists apiece.

Next up

St. Thomas has just one game on its slate next weekend, a trip to Mankato to take on Minnesota State. The Tommies and Mavericks drop the puck at 6:07 p.m. Saturday in a game televised on CCHATV.

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