Ferris State hockey will play in the Kwik Trip Holiday Face-Off on Saturday, Dec. 28 and Sunday, Dec. 29.
The Bulldogs (6-10-2, 4-6 in CCHA) join the Wisconsin Badgers (7-10-2, 5-7 in Big Ten), the UConn Huskies (7-7-1, 4-6-1 in Hockey East) and the Alaska Nanooks (5-8-3) at Fiserv Forum for the tournament. Ferris’ first-round contest will be against Wisconsin, the reigning tournament winner.
For the past couple of seasons, the end of the calendar year saw the Bulldogs spend their time at the Van Andel Arena for the GLI Tournament. With the Wisconsin-based tournament up next for the team, they look to improve upon a two-game win streak that sprung from a sweep against the CCHA-worst Northern Michigan Wildcats.
Improving the streak won’t come easy. Despite the Badgers’ below-.500 record, they’ve spent their last few weeks battling top-10 opponents. Two splits with the No. 1 ranked Michigan State Spartans and the No. 9 ranked Michigan Wolverines, with both losses coming in overtime, spells out a tough start to the tournament for Ferris.
With a win, the Bulldogs can advance to the first-place game against the winner of Alaska/UConn. A loss will guarantee a spot against the loser of the aforementioned series for a third-place game.
This won’t be the first time that the two schools have met, as they battled in four games between 2014 and 2015. Record-wise, the teams sit deadlocked at 3-3-2 all-time. Since their last meeting in 2015, some things have changed, while others remain the same. Badgers head coach Mike Hastings was hired in 2023 and has never coached against Ferris as a Badger. On the other side, Bulldogs head coach Bob Daniels has six games against Wisconsin under his belt, dating back to 2005.
Just over a third of Ferris’ scoring has come from four players. Junior forwards Caiden Gault, Max Itagaki, Gavin Best and redshirt sophomore forward Cole Burtch. Gault leads all Bulldogs in scoring with 10 points (8-2–10) but Itagaki (2-7–9) and Burtch (6-3–9) are right behind him with nine, all in 18 games played. Best is up there with the trio, as he has eight points (4-4–8) in the 18 contests. Graduate goaltender Noah West, who’s familiar with Wisconsin from his time as a Wolverine, has been a workhorse for the Bulldogs, playing in 17 of 18 games and starting 16 of them. The Pittsboro, Ind. native brings a .914 save percentage, a 2.61 goals-against average and a 6-8-2 record into the tournament.
The Badgers are led in scoring by two players currently at a point-per-game pace. Sophomore forward Quinn Finley has 22 points (12-10–22) in 18 games while his teammate, freshman forward Gavin Morrissey, has 18 points (5-13–18) in the same amount of contests. In net for Wisconsin, senior Tommy Scarfone has taken the brunt of the starts with 13 of 18 tilts being his. In those 13 games, Scarfone has posted a .917 save percentage, a 2.12 goals-against average and a 6-6-1 record.
Ferris State and Wisconsin will renew their rivalry to decide who will play for the tournament title at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 28. The game is available for streaming on BigTen+.