The No. 8-seeded Ferris State Bulldogs will travel to the No. 1-seeded Minnesota State Mavericks in the best-of-three quarterfinal round of the CCHA Mason Cup.
These two teams played each other four times in the regular season, with Minnesota State winning the season series three games to one. Ferris beat the Mavericks 4-1 on Dec. 6 at Minnesota State.
First-year head coach Brett Riley knows this will be a difficult matchup for the Bulldogs, but he has a lot of confidence in his team.
“This will be a tough test, but we need to be ready from the start and continue the strong play we’ve had here down the stretch,” Riley said. “Our group is confident and excited for the opportunity to keep this season going. That has to show up in how we play, desperate, fast, aggressive and connected for 60 minutes.”
Ferris State (7-25-2, 6-18-2 in CCHA) ended the season 3-1-2 in February, with its loss being at Bemidji State and tying with Northern Michigan and Lake Superior State in the final game of the regular season. Senior forward Gavin Best leads the Bulldogs in points with 25 (12-13-25), with senior forward Josh Zary leading the team with 13 goals and sophomore defenseman Chris Lie leading with 15 assists.
Sophomore goaltender Martin Lundberg has started 17 of the 20 games he’s played in, logging over 1,000 minutes in net. Lundberg has let in 49 goals for a goals against average of 2.79 and has 428 saves for a .879 save percentage.
Graduate defenseman Nic Belpedio is looking forward to this playoff series.
“I’m super excited to play this team,” Belpedio said. “Ultimately, the playoffs is a new season and a different type of hockey compared to the regular season. Our team has been playing well and has come together down the stretch over the course of the last few weeks. We have a lot of confidence in our game right now and have had positive results since playing them last. Obviously, Mankato is a really good team, and I think it will set up for a good series. We had two good games against over the course of the regular season despite the series results saying otherwise. Hopefully, we will be able to build off those games and the past few weeks of progress.”
Minnesota State (18-9-7, 14-7-5 in CCHA) is led by senior forward Tristan Lemyre, who leads the team in points with 27 (13-14-27). Senior forward Jack Smith leads the Mavericks with nine goals. While junior forward and former Ferris Bulldog, Luigi Benincasa, leads the team with 17 assists.
Senior goaltender Alex Tracy started all 33 games he played, logging in just over 2,000 minutes between the pipes. Tracy has allowed 63 goals on the year for a 1.89 goals against average and has 790 saves for a .926 save percentage.
Around the rest of the CCHA, the 7-seeded Lake Superior State Lakers will travel to the 2-seeded St. Thomas Tommies, the 6-seeded Bemidji State Beavers will travel to the 3-seeded Augustana Vikings, and the 5-seeded Bowling Green Falcons will travel to play the 4-seeded Michigan Tech Huskies.
Senior forward Tyler Schleppe spoke about the matchups against Minnesota State from past seasons, as well as this year, ahead of the playoff series this weekend.
“Minnesota State has a long-running history against us,” Schleppe said. “My freshman year, they ended our season in the second round, so it’s only fitting that we get a crack at them in my senior season. They won the season series against us this year as well, but that’s behind us, and we are really happy with the way we are playing. We are looking forward to this upcoming weekend and know that we are playing to prolong our season, so were going to give it everything that we have.”
The first game will be on Friday, March 6, with puck drop slated for 8:07 p.m., and the second on Saturday, March 7, with the puck drop scheduled for 7:07 p.m. If necessary, game three will be on Sunday, March 8.