Ferris State Finishes Regular Season With Momentum As Motte Shuts Out LSSU To Become All-Time Wins Leader

Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. - The Ferris State University men's ice hockey team closed out the 2014-15 regular season with momentum on Saturday (March 8) night as the Bulldogs completed a weekend sweep over Lake Superior State with a 3-0 shutout victory at Taffy Abel Ice Arena in Sault Ste. Marie.

With the win, the Bulldogs will now move into the WCHA Playoffs as the number five seed and visit Bemidji State for a best-of-three first round series set for March 13-15 in Bemidji, Minn. Ferris State wrapped up the regular-season going 4-1-1 in its final six games.

Senior netminder CJ Motte became the school's all-time winningest goaltender by recording his 64th career victory, topping former FSU All-America netminder Mike Brown's previous school mark of 63 wins. It was also Motte's 15th career shutout, which is tops among all active goaltenders in the country.

In Saturday's regular season finale, the Bulldogs struck first 2:13 into the second period as junior forward Kenny Babinski broke the scoreless tie by notching his sixth goal of the year. Assists on the goal went to sophomore forward Chad McDonald and senior forward Justin Buzzeo, who produced their eighth and 12th assists of the year, respectively.

The Bulldogs then added a pair of goals in the final five minutes of the third period to seal the victory and complete the weekend sweep. The first came from senior forward Justin Buzzeo at 15:10 of the final frame on a pass up the ice from McDonald, giving FSU a two-goal lead. It was Buzzeo's eighth marker of the year and came off the ninth assist of the season for McDonald, who produced his second point of the evening.

Soon after, with the Lakers' going to an empty net, sophomore forward Gerald Mayhew finished off the scoring with the empty-netter at 15:54 of the final frame. Junior defenseman Zach Dorer notched his fourth assist this season on the goal.

Motte closed the door on the Lakers all night as he made 24 saves to pick up the shutout victory. His totals included six saves in the first period with 10 in the second and eight in the third.

FSU continued to generate scoring chances on Saturday night as the Bulldogs outshot LSSU 32-24 for the game. Ferris State has eight shots in the opening frame followed by 14 in the second and 10 in the third. Meanwhile, the Lakers netted six shots in period one with 10 in the middle frame and eight over the final 20 minutes of action.

The contest was relatively penalty-free as neither team was whistled until midway thru the second period. FSU finished with three infractions for six minutes with the Lakers only called once for two minutes in the box. Neither team was able to convert on the power play as the Bulldogs had one opportunity and LSSU netted three overall.

Lake Superior State's Gordon Defiel took the loss in net with 29 saves on the night. He had eight in the opening frame followed by 13 in the second and eight in the final period of action.

With the win, Ferris State improved to 16-19-2 overall and concluded regular-season play with a fifth-place 13-14-1 mark in the WCHA. LSSU fell to 8-26-2 overall and 7-20-1 in league play.

The win was FSU's ninth in a row against Lake Superior State and FSU is now 10-1-1 in the last 12 matchups against the Lakers over the past three years.

More information on FSU's first-round WCHA Playoff series at Bemidji State, including official game times, will be announced soon. The winner of the best-of-three first round series advances to the WCHA Final Five set for March 20-21 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.