Cullen Maksimowski, LSSULakers.com

SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich.— A strong start and an even stronger finish propelled the Lake Superior State hockey team to a 4-3 win and a Western Collegiate Hockey Association spilt against Ferris State inside Taffy Abel Arena.

The Lakers improve to 6-16-4 overall and 4-11-3 in the WCHA with the loss. The Bulldogs move to 10-14-1, 7-9-1.

LSSU came out of the gates hard in the first period jumping out to a 3-0 lead. Gage Torrel, Jake Hand and Anthony Nellis were the goal scorers for Lake State.

FSU began their comeback in later stages of the second period when Trevor Rectenwald put the Bulldogs on the board at the 13:33 mark. Two quick goals in the first five minutes of the third from Ryker Killins and Jason Tackett tied things up.

Senior defenseman Kyle Chatham put the Lakers back up when scoring his first goal of the season at the 12:35 mark. Brayden Gelsinger iced the game with an empty netter with 48 seconds left in regulation.

Junior netminder Nick Kossoff turned in a solid night in between the pipes for LSSU with 20 saves on 23 shots faced.

Lake Superior outshot Ferris State, 29-23, in the loss and were 2-of-5 with the man advantage. FSU was 0-of-6 on power play opportunities.

The Lakers will hit the road next weekend to take on rival Northern Michigan in another WCHA series. LSSU is back home for their final home series of the year (Jan.26-27) as they take on Bowling Green.

Lake State Tickets are available at the Norris Center Ticket Office or online at lssulakers.com/tickets.