Home Of Ferris State Hockey Tabbed Nation's #5 College Hockey City!

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Big Rapids, Mich. - The home of Ferris State University's NCAA Division I men's ice hockey program, Big Rapids, has received further acclaim as it has been tabbed as the nation's fifth-best college hockey city in a study conducted recently by WalletHub.

Previously, Big Rapids was ranked as the nation's #12 hockey city a year ago in a similar study and was second among all cities in the state of Michigan behind only "Hockeytown" itself in Detroit.

This year, WalletHub rated 72 U.S. cities according to 17 metrics that ranged from ticket prices to stadium capacity to the performance level of each city's teams. 

Big Rapids was again found among the nation's top 30 overall (#26) this year in addition to being the fifth-best college hockey city in the country. It was one of only a few true "college towns" among the top 30 nationally as a majority of the top 30 in the rankings were dominated by larger metropolitan areas such as Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Tampa, Boston, St. Paul, Detroit, Denver, Chicago and Anaheim among others.

"Hockey is a big part of the fabric of the Big Rapids and Ferris State community," said FSU head coach Bob Daniels. "The atmosphere in our arena on game nights is second to none in college hockey. Our players always have appreciated the rabid support from our fan base and the home-ice advantage it gives our team."

Detroit, home of the National Hockey League's (NHL) Red Wings, ranked first overall nationally in this year's report. The analysis of hockey fever in 72 U.S. cities was conducted by WalletHub, an online web source. 

In the college hockey rankings, Big Rapids placed only behind Boston, Ann Arbor, Grand Forks (N.D.) and Houghton. FSU ranked again as one of the leaders of all member schools of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) and among the top cities home to NCAA Division I hockey programs across the country.

The West Michigan location ranked ahead of such larger places on this year's national list as Colorado Springs, Madison (Wis.), East Lansing, Minneapolis, South Bend (Ind.) and others.

Overall, a total of eight cities from the state of Michigan were featured in this year's national rankings, including Detroit (1st), Ann Arbor (23rd), Houghton (25th), Big Rapids (26th), East Lansing (33rd), Sault Ste. Marie (37th), Marquette (47th) and Kalamazoo (60th). 

In last year's study, Big Rapids ranked among the country's top cities in several criteria, including friendliness and engagement of NCAA Division I hockey fans, which refers to the number of Twitter followers and Facebook likes per capita. The Bulldogs were among the top programs in college hockey and lead the WCHA in both categories. 

Ferris State Hockey also helped Big Rapids be listed among the top 15 in performance level overall of an NCAA Division I hockey team and the Ewigleben Ice Arena ranked among the top 15 in the country for stadium accessibility of college hockey venues in the 2015 report. Big Rapids also was listed a year ago at the top of the rankings in local establishments supporting athletics per 100,000 residents.

Data used to create the rankings was obtained from various sources, including the U.S. Census Bureau, the Team Marketing Report, ESPN, NHL, USCHO, Yelp, SportsBusiness Journal and team member websites.

The Bulldogs, who are the defending WCHA postseason champions and coming off a NCAA Final Eight appearance, will embark on their 42nd campaign this coming fall and again face perhaps one of the country's toughest schedules as they seek their fourth trip to the NCAA Tournament in the last six years.

The 2016-17 schedule is highlighted by matchups against every other in-state Division I opponent from Michigan, including non-conference home showdowns against Michigan, Michigan State and Western Michigan inside FSU's Ewigleben Ice Arena. Overall, the Bulldogs will play host to five of the other six D1 programs from Michigan this coming year. This coming season will represent the first time in which the Bulldogs have faced every Michigan opponent in the same campaign since the 1995-96 season.

Along with the premier matchups against the in-state foes, the Bulldogs will also entertain conference rivals such as Minnesota State and Bowling Green as part of a 17-game home schedule.
The Bulldogs will open up the 2016-17 campaign on home ice with one of the program's earliest starts ever as they play host to Alabama Huntsville on Oct. 1-2 in a conference-opening WCHA series.

The Bulldogs closed the 2015-16 campaign by making the program's fourth NCAA Tournament appearance, including the third in the past five years to date. Along with this past year's run to the NCAA West Regional Championship game, the Bulldogs also won the WCHA's Broadmoor Trophy as the league's Final Five Champion. It marked the first conference tournament championship in school history and came on the heels of conference regular-season titles in both 2012 and 2014.

Along with a Frozen Four berth and national title game showing in 2012, FSU also has reached the regional final and the final eight of the NCAA Tournament in both 2014 and 2016.