Ferris State Hockey Duo Help Lead Tampa Bay Lightning To NHL Stanley Cup Finals
Big Rapids, Mich. - Ferris State University Hockey will be represented in the National Hockey League's (NHL) Stanley Cup Finals once again as a pair with close ties to the Bulldog program helped the Tampa Bay Lightning win the Prince of Wales Trophy as the Eastern Conference Champions.
Former FSU assistant coach Derek Lalonde serves as Tampa Bay's assistant coach under Jon Cooper while the video coordinator is Big Rapids native and former FSU ice arena employee Brian Garlock. Both have played key roles in the Lightning's success.
Tampa Bay defeated the New York Islanders 2-1 in overtime on Thursday night in the Edmonton, Alberta, bubble to win the Eastern Conference final 4-2 and will next face the Dallas Stars in the Stanley Cup Finals. Game one is on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. (ET) on NBC.
Tampa Bay was among the best teams in the Eastern Conference this season, finishing with a 43-21-6 record (92 points) and finishing with a .657 points percentage before the season was paused March 12 due to the coronavirus pandemic. In the playoffs, the Lightning knocked off the Columbus Blue Jackets and Boston Bruins in five games and the New York Islanders in six.
The Lightning are technically the higher seed and would "host" Game 1, but all games will be played at Rogers Place in Edmonton.
In beating the New York Islanders, the Bulldog duo eliminated former Bulldog Hockey standout John Gruden, who was in his second year as an assistant coach with the Islanders.
Over the past two seasons, Lalonde has helped lead Tampa Bay to the the most wins in the NHL. The New York native was behind the Bulldog bench from 2003-2006 under FSU head coach Bob Daniels before moving on to work for the Denver University Pioneers, where he helped lead them to the NCAA Tournament four times. Lalonde also served as head coach for the ECHL's Toledo Walleye and with the Iowa Wild in the American Hockey League (AHL).
Meanwhile, Garlock is a Big Rapids native and worked at FSU's Ewigleben Ice Arena before continuing his path in professional hockey, following Cooper nearly every step of the way. The 2003 Big Rapids High School graduate attended Ferris State and met Cooper when he was the head coach for the Texarkana Bandits of the North American Hockey League and held his Bandits' camp in Big Rapids.
Since that time, Garlock has followed Cooper from St. Louis, where the Texarkana franchise relocated, to the Green Bay Gamblers of the United States Hockey League (USHL) along with stops in the AHL with the Syracuse Crunch and the Norfolk Admirals. He's been with Tampa Bay since Cooper was hired prior to the 2013-14 campaign.
The duo will try to become the first with ties to Ferris State Hockey to claim the Stanley Cup Championship since former standout Chris Kunitz claimed four during his memorable and storied NHL career. Kunitz won Stanley Cups with Anaheim in 2007 along with Pittsburgh in 2009, 2016 and 2017). He played with Tampa Bay under Cooper in 2017-18 before concluding his career with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2018-19.
STANLEY CUP FINALS SCHEDULE
Game 1: Saturday, September 19 7:30 p.m. ET
Game 2: Monday, September 21 8 p.m. ET
Game 3: Wednesday, September 23 8 p.m. ET
Game 4: Friday, September 25 8 p.m. ET
*Game 5: Saturday, September 26 8 p.m. ET
*Game 6: Monday, September 28 8 p.m. ET
*Game 7: Wednesday, Septmeber 30 8 p.m. ET
* = If necessary
