11^th and Climbing

The Ferris hockey team tied the school record for the best home start with an 11–0 record

With a sweep of Western Michigan, Ferris is 11−0−0 at home this sea­son, tying the school record for the best home start ever and ranked 11^th in the country.

The Bulldogs, nation­ally ranked 11^th by uscho​.com, improved to 8−2−2−2 in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) and 13−3−2 over­all. Ferris remains third in the con­fer­ence stand­ings, just one point behind Michigan State and six points behind first-place Miami.

The Bulldog hockey team will look to make his­tory on Jan. 15 as the No. 1-ranked Miami RedHawks visit Big Rapids. Ferris defeated Miami in con­sec­u­tive shootouts ear­lier this sea­son in Oxford, Ohio.

Senior left wing Blair Riley said the teams’ defense, along with a strong power play and penalty kill, are big rea­sons why the Bulldogs have been suc­cess­ful this season.

“The biggest rea­son for our suc­cess to date has been the stel­lar goal­tend­ing we have been get­ting,” said Riley.

Junior goalie Pat Nagle earned his first shutout of the sea­son on Friday, sav­ing all 22 shots he faced on the night. Nagle was named as the CCHA’s Reebok Goaltender of the Week for his effort. He improved his save per­cent­age to .940, which is the best in the CCHA.

On Friday, the Bulldogs and Broncos were score­less after two peri­ods before senior left wing Casey Haines scored just 19 sec­onds into the third period. Riley had a goal and an assist for the team as the Bulldogs cruised to a 3–0 victory.

Riley is sec­ond in the CCHA with 14 goals and is tied for third over­all with 21 total points. He is tied for first in the con­fer­ence in both short-handed goals and short-handed points, with two each.

On Saturday, the Bulldogs jumped out to a 3–0 lead in the first period. Junior right wing Todd Pococke scored the first two goals of the game on power play opportunities.

Junior defense­man Zach Redmond added a power play goal with just over two min­utes left in the first period. Redmond tal­lied two assists in the game as well and is tied for fourth in the con­fer­ence with 13 assists this sea­son. He earned the CCHA’s Defenseman of the Week award for his effort on Saturday.

Western Michigan got two goals back in the sec­ond period as sopho­more J.J. Crew lit the lamp twice in the period. Sophomore cen­ter Derek Graham added an insur­ance goal for Ferris and the Bulldogs hung on for a 4–3 victory.

The Bulldogs now have one more win than the 12 they amassed all of last sea­son. Riley said the team has had a dif­fer­ent mind­set around the rink this year.
“After the tough end to last year’s sea­son, all the return­ing play­ers have been highly moti­vated to have a turn­around year and prove to our­selves how good of a team we are,” said Riley.

During the break, the Bulldogs will travel to Madison, Wis. to par­tic­i­pate in the 21^st annual Badger Hockey Showdown. Ferris will play Yale University, ranked ninth in the national poll, on Jan. 2.

The next con­fer­ence con­tests will be against Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. on Jan. 9–10. Notre Dame is cur­rently sixth in the CCHA stand­ings with a 5−5−4−2 con­fer­ence record and is ranked 20^th in the nation.