Coming off a hard-fought win on Saturday against the Michigan Tech Huskies, the Bulldogs return home to face off against the Northern Michigan Wildcats for the final two games of the regular season.
The Bulldogs (12-18-2, 11-13 in CCHA) will be taking on the last-place Wildcats (5-26-1, 4-19-1 in CCHA) in hopes of finishing off the regular season on a high note before heading into the CCHA Mason Cup playoffs.
Freshman forward Jack Silich is excited about the challenge of the CCHA playoffs, extending his confidence that the Bulldogs can get wins against tough teams.
“As a team, we are game planning the same way we would for any other team,” Silich said. “We have shown that we have the capability to beat the top teams in our conference, so we are going to stick with what we have been doing all season.”
In this final homestand, Ferris will be honoring long-time head coach Bob Daniels in his final home games of his storied career, as earlier this season he announced he would be retiring following the season’s end after spending 33 years as the Bulldogs’ bench boss.
The Bulldogs will also honor the seven seniors set to leave the program after the season’s conclusion on Saturday. This includes defenseman Nico Devita, forwards Nick Nardecchia, Jacob Dirks, Kaleb Ergang, Zach Faremouth and forward Nick Grimaldi, alongside goalie Noah West.
Ferris is returning home from a series split against the Huskies. The Bulldogs took a crushing 6-1 loss in game one last Friday, then clawed back in game two and scored three unanswered goals after being down 2-0 after the first period to win on Saturday by a score of 3-2.
The Bulldogs have won six of their last 10 games in hopes of securing a home playoff game, but after back-to-back losses against Lake Superior State and Michigan Tech that is no longer possible. Ferris could earn between zero and six points this weekend, placing them somewhere between fifth and eighth place.
Ferris looks to keep their offense rolling after scoring three or more goals in five of their last six games, the offense is led by sophomore forward Cole Burtch (7-15–22) with junior forward and Hobey Baker nominee Caiden Gault (11-8–19) sitting alongside him.
In the crease, the Bulldogs are led by West, who has started 30 games this season, logging a .903 save percentage, while sitting in third place in the CCHA in saves per game with 28.61.
The Wildcats, who sit in last place in the CCHA, after already losing twice to the Bulldogs earlier this season, are led by the freshman forward duo Jakub Altrichter (3-14–17) and Grayden Slipec (8-8–16). Northern Michigan is anchored down in the goalie position by senior Ryan Ouellette who has a .920 save percentage but also sports the second-worst goals-against average in the CCHA with 2.90.
Despite posting a 12-18-2 record so far this season, the Bulldogs have already outpaced their finish to last year when they finished last place in the CCHA alongside a 10-24-2 record.
Freshman defenseman Logan Heroux was incredibly positive about his first season as a Bulldog, and he’s proud of how the team has played this season.
“I have nothing but positive things to say about my first season as a Bulldog,” Heroux said. “Despite not having the record we all may want, I’m still proud of how hard we worked to get to this point, and we’ll continue to work until the season is over, this has been one of the most fun seasons I have ever had on and off the ice.”
The Bulldogs return home to Ewigleben Arena to play Northern Michigan on Friday, Feb. 28 at 7:07 p.m. and Saturday, Feb. 29 at 6:07 p.m. The CCHA Mason Cup quarterfinals will begin on Friday, March 7, where Ferris will play in a best-of-three series, the opponent is yet to be determined.