Ferris State Hockey will play the Minnesota State Mavericks this weekend at home.
The Bulldogs (7-15-2, 6-10 in CCHA) will look to pull off the upset win against the No. 12 Minnesota State Mavericks (16-5-2, 11-2-2 in CCHA) in the second home series for the Bulldogs since late November.
The Mavericks, currently sitting atop the CCHA standings, split a series against the Michigan Tech Huskies at home, winning the first game 5-2 and losing the second 1-0 in overtime. The Bulldogs are coming off a home-series split, as well against the Bowling Green Falcons, losing the first game 4-3 and winning the second game 4-3.
With the victory last Saturday, Ferris snapped their five-game losing streak. Head coach Bob Daniels knew the team was firing on all cylinders in the series.
“I thought yesterday we were emotionally and physically invested in the games, but maybe at times not as mentally invested,” Daniels said. “And that showed up on a few of the penalties we took and a few turnovers, where today I felt like we had all of those factors. We know the recipe and it’s going to take that quality of hockey to give us a chance against Minnesota State.”
In their matchups against Bowling Green, the Bulldogs’ power-play went 1-for-8 but the penalty kill finished 4-for-5 against the Falcons. The penalty kill has been a glaring issue for Ferris this season, as they sport a 66.3% percentage on the kill.
Junior forward Gavin Best was glad to see the special team units performing in their matchups.
“The penalty kill made some big strides,” Best said. “We can get momentum off play like that. We blocked some good shots and really gave us energy by killing a five-minute penalty. I’d say that turning around those units was a big success from the weekend.”
The Bulldogs played Minnesota State four times last year, with the Mavericks sweeping Ferris. Minnesota State also has the upper hand in the all-time matchups against the Bulldogs with a 9-1 record, with the Mavericks outscoring Ferris State 44-16 in those 10 games.
Three players for Ferris are leading the team in scoring. Sophomore forward Cole Burtch and junior forwards Caiden Gault and Gavin Best all have double-digit points on the season. Burtch leads the team in scoring with 14 points (4-10–14), with Gault (8-4–12) and Best (6-6–12) right behind with 12 points each. All three lead the team with 24 games played.
Graduate goaltender Noah West has been the Bulldogs’ go-to in the crease, playing in 23 games and starting 22. West has over 13 hundred minutes played coming into the game with a .900 save percentage and a 3.25 goals-against average.
The Mavericks are led in scoring by Senior forward Rhett Pitlick (9-14–23). Pitlick is followed by graduate forward Josh Groll (8-11–19) and senior forward Brian Carrebes (7-8–15). Minnesota State will have their trusty junior goaltender Alex Tracy between the pipes. Tracy has started all 24 games he’s played and has logged over 14 hundred minutes played. Tracy has a .942 save percentage, as well as a 1.45 goals-against average.
Freshman defenseman Kade Turner knows what comes with taking on a high-powered team like Minnesota State but insists on Ferris’ defense to keep them in it after their performance against Bowling Green.
“I think we just got to build on what happened tonight in the third period,” Turner said. “Just lock it down. We need to try to play like that for a whole game. If we keep it simple, we can shut them down.”
Ferris and Minnesota State will play at Ewigleben Ice Arena on Friday, Jan. 24 with a 7:07 p.m. puck drop, and on Saturday, Jan. 25 with the puck dropping at 6:07 p.m.