Bulldog Netminder Roni Salmenkangas Chosen WCHA Rookie Of Week For Third Time

Big Rapids, Mich. - Freshman goaltender Roni Salmenkangas (Tampere, Finland) of the Ferris State University men's ice hockey squad has been tabbed as this week's Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) Rookie of the Week.

Salmenkangas had another impressive weekend in net for the Bulldogs as FSU earned a league road split at Lake Superior State to close out the campaign.

For the weekend, the Bulldog rookie tallied 68 saves to go with a 2.53 goals against average and a .932 save percentage. He played 118:41 in net for the Bulldogs and tallied 34 stops in a masterful performance to close the year, which saw him record a .939 save figure over his final six games.

He earned the win in FSU's 3-2 triumph on Saturday in the finale after the Bulldogs fell 5-2 in Friday's opener in which the final two LSSU goals came on an empty net as Ferris State tried to secure the road win in the opener to keep its playoff hopes alive.

This week's distinction marks the third time this season in which Salmenkangas was chosen as the league's rookie of the week.

Previously, he also earned the honor back on Oct. 29 of this season along with Feb. 18 and he was one of three different FSU freshmen to earn the league's Rookie of the Week award a combined total of seven times this year. Along with Salmenkangas' three nods, Bulldog freshman defenseman Cooper Zech (South Lyon) earned the honor three times this year with freshman forward Hunter Wendt (Troy) also claiming the recognition once.