PREVIEW: Ferris State Closes Regular-Season At Lake Superior State This Weekend

The Opening Faceoff: The Ferris State University men's ice hockey closes out the 2014-15 regular season with a key Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) road series against the Lake Superior State Lakers on Friday and Saturday (March 6-7) in Sault Ste. Marie. The two-game series represents the final regular-season action for the Bulldogs this season. Friday's game starts at 7:37 p.m. (ET) with Saturday's puck drop at 7:07 p.m. (ET).

Radio Coverage: Both of Ferris State's games this weekend will be aired on the Bulldog Sports Network and Sunny 97.3 FM with Dominic Hennig calling the play-by-play action and Taylor Nelson offering color commentary. Radio pregame coverage begins a half-hour prior to the start with the online broadcast also accessible at FerrisStateBulldogs.com.

TV/Webcast: Both games will also be offered via a live audio/video pay-per-view webcast thru WCHA TV. Visit www.wcha.com for more information. In addition, live internet statistics will be provided for this weekend's games and all links will be available at FerrisStateBulldogs.com.

Conference Race: Ferris State still holds hope of potentially earning a first-round WCHA home playoff series on March 13-15 heading into the final week of the season. Bemidji State currently sits fourth in the WCHA with 27 points while Northern Michigan is fifth with 26 points. Ferris State currently has 23 points, but could potentially match the Wildcats or Beavers and earn the tiebreaker for the fourth and final home ice spot by pulling off a sweep this weekend coupled with help from the two team's opponents. FSU can finish anywhere from fourth to sixth in seeding pending this week's results.

Senior Ceremony: Ferris State honored its 2014-15 hockey senior class members prior to its final regular-season home game this past Saturday against Bemidji State. The senior class recognized included Jason Binkley, Justin Buzzeo, CJ Motte, Dom Panetta and Travis White along with student assistant coach and former player TJ Schlueter.

Last Weekend: FSU battled back to pull out a 1-1 overtime tie against Bemidji State on Senior Night Saturday (Feb. 28) evening as the Bulldogs played their final regular-season home game before a sellout crowd at the Ewigleben Ice Arena. The Bulldogs fought back with a big goal in the third period for the equalizer from senior forward Justin Buzzeo, who was one of six seniors honored in a memorable pregame ceremony before the 2,490 fans in attendance. FSU had suffered a 2-1 setback in Friday's opener of the weekend series with the Bulldogs' lone goal coming from freshman Tyler Andrew late in the third contest as FSU nearly climbed back to force an extra session.

Great Support: This year marks the seventh-straight year of increased regular-season attendance for the Bulldogs, who averaged their best home figure in 33 years with 2,189 per night in 15 home contests. FSU's 88% capacity rate was also tops in the WCHA for the second consecutive year. Last Saturday night's sellout was FSU's 21st over the last three seasons and it also marked the 65th-straight sellout of the "Dawg Pound" student section.

Against The Lakers: FSU and LSSU have faced each other every season since 1977. Overall, the Lakers lead the all-time series by a 66-49-14 count, but Ferris State has posted a 8-1-1 mark in the last 10 matchups over the past three years.

The Bulldogs went 4-0 against the Lakers last season and won the final two meetings by identical 2-1 scores on home ice in Big Rapids. Earlier this year, FSU topped the Lakers by counts of 5-2 and 5-0, respectively, on Dec. 12-13 at the Ewigleben Ice Arena.

Ferris State has won the past seven matchups against LSSU, including a four-game sweep last season and the two wins earlier this year.

Bulldog Weekend: The Ferris State men's basketball squad could join Bulldog Hockey in Sault Ste. Marie this weekend pending results of Wednesday night's Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Tournament. The Lakers are the tournament's top seed and would host the semifinals & finals on Saturday & Sunday (March 7-8) with a quarterfinal win. FSU is seeded third in the field.

WCHA Player of Week: Senior goaltender CJ Motte earned WCHA Defensive Player of the Week honors for the fourth time this year after helping lead the Bulldogs to a weekend road sweep over Alabama-Huntsville on Feb. 20-21 as the Bulldogs kept their hopes for a potential home-ice series in the WCHA Playoffs alive. Motte tallied 18 saves on Friday in a 2-1 victory over UAH at the Von Braun Center before coming back to register 25 saves on Saturday in a 3-2 triumph. He made several critical saves late in both games to preserve the pair of one-goal wins as FSU ran its winning streak to three consecutive games. Motte totaled 43 saves and posted a 1.50 goals against average and a .935 save percentage in the weekend of work as FSU also clinched a WCHA Playoff berth.

Bulldog Notebook: FSU's home sellout against Bemidji State in its most recent home game on Saturday represented the 21st regular-season sellout for the Bulldogs over the past three seasons and it marked the 65th-straight regular season sellout of the "Dawg Pound" student section. FSU also had a near sellout crowd for the opening game of the series on Friday with more than 2,100 fans on hand.

Ferris State senior netminder CJ Motte presently has 62 career victories in net and is only one away from matching former All-America netminder Mike Brown's school record of 63 wins.

FSU was perfect on the penalty kill in the recent four-game series against Bowling Green in early February as the Bulldogs finished with a perfect 16-of-16 showing. The Bulldogs were also a perfect 9-of-9 this past weekend against Bemidji State.

Ferris State has played a total of 18 games this season determined by a single goal or less.

Did You Know?: This season, Ferris State currently ranks 11th in the nation on the penalty kill (87.2%) and 12th in scoring defense (2.29 pg). So far, senior goaltender CJ Motte is tied for fourth in the country with four shutouts this season. Sophomore Chad McDonald is presently tied for 13th in the nation with four game-winners. McDonald is also tied for fourth nationally with two short-handed goals.

Hobey Baker Award Nominee: Senior goaltender CJ Motte is again among the initial nominees for the 2015 Hobey Baker Award presented to college hockey's most outstanding player. Fans can vote now at www.voteforhobey.com during the first phase of the voting process. Previously, Motte was chosen as one of the nation's top 10 finalists last year for the 2014 Hobey Baker Award, becoming only the third Bulldog player ever to receive such distinction. Motte joined a select list of only two other former Bulldog student-athletes who have advanced to the top 10 phase, including current NHL great Chris Kunitz and former standout Rob Collins. Kunitz, now with the National Hockey League's (NHL) Pittsburgh Penguins, holds the distinction of being the only Ferris skater in the program's history to advance among the nation's top three finalists as he did so in 2002-03. One of his Bulldog teammates, Collins, was FSU's first top 10 finalist when he received the honor the year before Kunitz for the 2001-02 season.

Preseason National Watch Lists: A pair of Bulldog seniors received preseason acclaim on college hockey watch lists compiled by The Hockey News and CollegeHockeyInc.com. Senior goaltender CJ Motte was featured on Ryan Kennedy's list of "The 50 NCAA players you need to know this season". Meanwhile, CollegeHockeyInc.com added 50 more to Kennedy's list in the "THN's Top 50 - Plus 50" and senior forward Justin Buzzeo was included on the listing. Motte was also chosen as one of five WCHA Players To Watch by College Hockey News (CHN).

Mike Richter Award Finalist: Ferris State senior goaltender CJ Motte is currently one of 28 collegiate goalies tabbed as national finalists for the 2015 Mike Richter Award, which annually honors the most outstanding goaltender in NCAA Division I men's hockey and is presented by Let's Play Hockey and the Herb Brooks Foundation. The winner of the second annual award will be announced at the 2015 NCAA Men's Frozen Four in Boston.

Senior CLASS Award: Current senior captain CJ Motte has been chosen as one of this year's national finalists for the Senior CLASS Award for his accomplishments on and off the ice.  The award annually goes to a student-athlete for success on and off the ice. The Bulldogs have now had one of the national finalists for the award each of the last four years as Motte joins former standouts Chad Billins, Kyle Bonis and Scott Czarnowczan. FSU has had plenty of off-ice success as the Bulldogs have also recorded one of the country's top 10 performances in the NCAA Academic Progress Report each of the last two years while leading the WCHA a season ago.

Big Home Sweep: Ferris State registered a league home sweep on Dec. 12-13 as FSU topped Lake Superior State by scores of 5-2 on Friday and 5-0 on Saturday at the Ewigleben Ice Arena. The two games represented the Bulldogs' final home games of the 2014 calendar year. Senior goaltender CJ Motte tallied his NCAA career active-leading 14th shutout on Saturday night before more than 2,000 fans in the win over LSSU. It was his then nation-leading fourth shutout win of the season.

Best Weekend To Date: Ferris State freshman forward Andrew Mayer had his best week to date in FSU's Dec. 12-13 home series as he tallied a team-leading two goals and three points in a weekend home sweep over Lake Superior State. Mayer scored a goal both nights, including the lone first period goal of the weekend in Friday's (Dec. 12) 5-2 FSU victory.

Two-Goal Weekend: FSU junior forward Kenny Babinski had a pair of goals to help fuel Ferris State to the home sweep over LSSU on Dec. 12-13. Babinski tallied the game-winning goal both nights. His Friday night marker with 5:25 remaining in the third period helped Ferris State crawl back from a 2-1 third period deficit. He then scored the eventual game-winner only 1:08 into the second period on Saturday as FSU went on to the five-goal win.

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