PREVIEW: Ferris State Makes First Visit To Oxford In Ten Years To Tangle With Redhawks

Oxford, Ohio - The unbeaten Ferris State University men's ice hockey team is headed for Oxford, Ohio, to take on the Miami (Ohio) Redhawks for their first weekend series since November of 2012, and first series at the Goggin Ice Center in 10 years. Ferris State and Miami drop the puck on Friday, Oct. 18 at 7:05 p.m. (ET) followed by an 8:05 p.m. (ET) start on Saturday, Oct. 19.

Both games in the series are sold out.
 
The two games will be carried live by Sunny 97.3 FM in Big Rapids and online at FerrisStateBulldogs.com. Video coverage will be provided by NCHC.tv on a pay-per-view basis.

BULLDOGS STIFLE COLGATE TO OPEN SEASON WITH A VICTORY 

Ferris State picked up a 3-1 victory over the Colgate to open the 2019-20 season with their first season opening victory since a 4-3 triumph over Michigan on October 4, 2014 over a Dylan Larkin and Zach Werenski-led Wolverine squad. 

Ferris State evened up the game on the power play at 1-1 when Lucas Finner ripped a long shot from the middle of the zone through traffic that hit the right toe of Colgate defenseman Trevor Cosgrove and cut right past Colgate goaltender Mitch Benson. Early in the third, Joe Rutkowski picked off a Raider pass in neutral ice and drove straight down the center lane, cut to the right and fired a shot that tipped off the stick of Colgate defenseman Paul Meyer and whistled by the left ear of Benson for a 2-1 Bulldog lead. Ferris State's Coale Norris ended the contest with an empty netter with 3.8 seconds on the clock. 

FERRIS STATE VS. MIAMI: ALL-TIME HISTORY 

It's been a long time since the Bulldogs and Redhawks met for the 104th time in match-up history, dating all the way back to Nov. 3, 2012, a 4-1 loss to Miami at Ewigleben Ice Arena. Further, as the Bulldogs prepare to meet for the 105th and 106th times in program history, Ferris State has not been at the Goggin Ice Center in nearly 10 years to date. The last meeting in Oxford dates back to Nov. 14, 2009. Ferris State and Miami have warred to a 4-4-2 record in the last ten meetings, and hold a narrow 45-43-16 lead over Miami in the all-time series. Home ice has helped just narrowly. Miami is 18-17-7 at home in the all-time series, while Ferris State stands 22-19-8 at Ewigleben Ice Arena against the Redhawks. Ferris State has the all-time longest winning streak in the series (7 games, 11/15/1980-2/22/1986). No player on either team has ever dressed in a game against eachother at the NCAA Division I level. 

SALMENKANGAS CARRYING OVER HOT FINISH TO THE START OF 2019/20 

Finnish Sophomore netminder Roni Salmenkangas finished last season on a tear with a .933 save percentage from February 8 on over six games. Now, after a 28 stop performance and victory over Colgate, Salmenkangas runs his seven game hot streak up to a .937 save percentage. Salmenkangas was strong early as the Bulldogs killed off six penalties in the contest, but allowed very few opportunities late in the game. He has all but one of Ferris State's victories to his record since the start of last season. 

MAYHEW EARNS FIRST NHL CALL UP WITH MINNESOTA WILD 

#Gerrytime is back in Minnesota. In his first NHL game, Gerald Mayhew scored from former NCAA Stars Ryan Donato (Harvard) and Jordan Greenway (Boston University) at 18:58 of the third period at Toronto inside Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday Oct 15, 2019. Mayhew's new home, the Xcel Energy Center, saw him score five points in three games in a Bulldog uniform including three goals, all in the NCAA tournament. After tearing through the American Hockey League with the Iowa Wild last season (27-33-60 in 71 games last season, 9-2-11 in 11 playoff games with Iowa), Mayhew erupted for six points in the Iowa Wild's first four games after narrowly missing out on making the Minnesota Wild out of camp. Mayhew, who is Ferris State's all-time leading playoff point scorer, joined the Minnesota Wild for their Canada swing starting on Monday, Oct. 14 in Ottawa (DNP Monday). 

FERRIS STATE DOMINATES DEVELOPMENT TEAM IN EXHIBITION 

Ferris State Defeated the USA NTDP Under 18 Squad in a 5-0 split shutout between freshman Carter McPhail (19 stops, assist) and sophomore Roni Salmenkangas (Six stops) on Tuesday. Five different Bulldogs scored in the game. Junior forward Lucas Finner, sophomore forward Jake Transit and freshman defenseman Max Finner all tallied two points to lead the Bulldogs. Marshall Moise scored the game winning goal at 54 seconds of the opening period. Ferris State was outshot 25-23 but buttoned down defensively, only allowing six shots on goal in the third frame. Freshman forward Cade Kowalski, sophomore forward Hunter Wendt and junior forward Liam MacDougall all scored goals for Ferris State as they chased USA's starter just 10:18 into the contest, scoring three goals on their first six shots. 

MEET THE REDHAWKS 

The Redhawks, currently winless, are in unfamiliar territory as per the larger scale of the history of 'The Brotherhood.' The Redhawks have lost 20 or more games in three consecutive seasons, and have 13, 12, and 9 victories respectively in each of their last three (starting with the most recent). The Redhawks may be in need of a road trip to right the ship as they've allowed 17 goals in their first three games, all on home ice. They lost their first two games by the combined line of 13-6 with 7-4 and 6-2 losses to Bowling Green and New Hampshire respectively before roaring back to life with four consecutive goals to pull ahead 4-3 on UNH before allowing the tying mark at 14:14 of the third. Both goaltenders have struggled mightily. Starter Ryan Larkin has an .833 save percentage and 6.72 goals against average in two games. Freshman Ben Kraws has fared slightly better with an .853 mark and a 3.53 goals against average. Kraws only game of record is Miami's tie. Up front, the Redhawks are getting production from their three highest active career scorers. Gordie Green has five points on three goals in three games, Karch Bachman (Florida Panthers) has four points with two goals, and Casey Gilling has three points. Freshman forward John Sladic has a pair of goals this season for the Redhawks. Miami, now under the direction of longtime Bowling Green bench boss, the ever-agressive Chris Bergeron, are looking to turn the tide, especially on special teams. Miami is 2/14 on the power play, lurking in the middle of the pack in the country and just 11/18 on the penalty kill, 49th of the 52 teams that have played a game at 61.1 percent. Further - Miami's current metrics have sat them in precarious situations. They're being outshot on average 33.3 to 23.6 thus far. The Redhawks are finishing a five-game homestand with Ferris State to open the regular season. Their only other home series between this and Dec. 6 brings the defending national champion Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs to town. 

BULLDOGS MEET FAMILIAR FOE IN MIAMI'S BERGERON 

Ferris State knows well the head coach they face this weekend in former Bowlign Green Head Coach Chris Beregron. From 2010-2019, Bergeron guided Bowling Green to an 18-15-2 record against Ferris State, bringing the all-time series into the hands of the Falcons. The 2010's decade was one of Ferris State's most successful, as the Bulldogs reached the NCAA tournament three separare times, the Elite Eight at least in each of those and the National Championship game one time. Ferris State does have the last laugh, a 3-0 road shutout win over Bowling Green on January 26, 2019 at the Slater Family Ice Arena in their last outing againt Coach Bergeron. 

MATCH UP SET FOR THE 55TH ANNUAL GLI 

Ferris State will take on the Michigan Wolverines to open the 55th Annual Great Lakes Invitational at Little Caesar's Arena in Detroit, Michigan - the Home of the Detroit Red Wings - on Monday, Dec. 30. Puck drop is set for 4:00 pm ET and Ferris State will serve as the road team and wear red uniforms against Michigan. Michigan Tech and Michigan State faceoff at 1:00 pm ET. The consolation final is set for 11:30 am on Tuesday, Dec. 31, and the championship at 2:30 pm.