Weekend wins move IU up in standings

Saturday's second period against Ferris State took nearly an hour to complete, but it was over too quickly for IU.\nThe Hoosiers began the period down 0-2. Four minutes into the second, IU junior forward Bob Pesavento received an elbowing penalty and the IU bench received another penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct, giving FSU a two minute three-on-five advantage.\nIU did step up, killing the penalty and scoring four unanswered goals before the end of a penalty-ridden second.\nIU got on the board when a shot by sophomore defenseman Todd Lorenger bounced back to junior forward David Dassel, who buried the rebound for his fourth goal of the season and his second on the weekend.\nSophomore forward David Ravensberg evened the game just 14 seconds later, sweeping in another FSU rebound after being taken down in front of the net.\nFreshman forward Pete Johnson put IU ahead for good at the 13 minute mark of the second when graduate forward Tom Orr pulled up in the FSU zone and sent a pass to Johnson, who was wide open in front of the net. Johnson put two moves on FSU freshman goalie Drew Youngblood and knocked the puck to the back of the net. \nDassel added a powerplay goal with less than two minutes to go in the second and the Hoosiers rolled through the third. Sophomore forward Matt Ritz, Orr and Ravensberg each gave IU a goal to end the game with a 7-2 IU victory. IU posted 76 penalty minutes and two ejections.\n"There were those times where we were in front of the net and our players got jumped." junior forward Rhys Anderson said. "Those are the times where we have to go in and watch our boys' backs."\nFSU forward Anthony Hurd did his best to match that total, racking up 45 penalty minutes of his own, and two game misconduct ejections; one for swinging his stick at freshman forward Tyler Crowley and one for fighting immediately afterward with sophomore defenseman Jamie Dillon.\n"I tried to get our guys to focus on the most important thing," coach Rich Holdeman said "Sometimes you get sidetracked, and it can be an impediment to winning the game. I think we did a fairly good job of keeping focus given the situation."\nOn Friday, the Hoosiers downed Michigan for their first conference win of the season.\nUnlike Saturday's slow start, IU came out firing on all cylinders in the first. Ravensberg put a shot between the skate of Michigan goalie Justin Spurlock and the near pipe while falling over to put IU ahead 1-0. Shortly after, Ritz one-timed a pass from Dillon on a three-on-two opportunity for the Hoosiers. Dassel added his third of the season later in the first to give IU a 3-0 margin.\n"We came out in the first and we were just on fire," Anderson said. "They couldn't handle what we were dishing out." \nIU carried that momentum right through intermission. Anderson scored just over a minute into the second. Michigan answered with a powerplay goal shortly after, but IU ended any hope of a comeback when Pesavento took advantage of confusion in the Michigan zone to put the Hoosiers up 5-1. Michigan added another at the end of the second and the teams traded powerplay goals in the third for a 6-3 IU victory.\nJunior goalie Brandon Tucker got his first start of the season and took advantage of it, earning his first career win Friday night.\nThe wins gave the Hoosiers four points in the Great Midwest Hockey League standings, cutting in half the eight-point lead by Oakland University, who did not play conference games this weekend. The wins moved IU from last to having sole possession of third place in league standings.\n"This weekend was huge for us, we pretty much have a new team this year and this was a huge confidence booster for us," Anderson said "We know now that we can beat any team if we play our game"