GAMEDAY CENTRAL: Ferris State Tangles With #20 Lake Superior State to Wrap Final WCHA Series

Game Day Central serves as the virtual press box for media, National Hockey League scouts, and fans. Live in-game updates will be provided by Ferris State Hockey's twitter account (@FerrisHockey). Additional coverage questions can be answered via email by Ferris State Hockey Play-by-Play Broadcaster and Athletics Communications Associate Harrison Watt (watth@ferris.edu). 

FERRIS STATE VS. #20 LAKE SUPERIOR STATE: GAME PREVIEW

Ferris State and Lake Superior State will wrap their regular seasons in the second of a split week series for a Saturday matinee special. The Bulldogs, looking for a win, fell 4-2 last Friday at Ewigleben Ice Arena. 

The Bulldogs again got a strong performance in goal, as junior goaltender Roni Salmekangas made several highlight-reel stops for Ferris State. Senior forward Coale Norris continues to lead the Bulldogs with an 8-8-16 mark in 22 games. Junior forwards Jake Transit and Ethan Stewart sit second with identical 6-8-14 lines, both career best seasons for the juniors. Mitch Deelstra leads all Bulldog freshmen with 7 goals amongst 11 points. Freshman forwards Antonio Venuto and Stepan Pokorny lead the Bulldog freshmen in assists with six apiece. Senior forward Lucas Finner leads Ferris State with seven helpers this season.

In Friday's contest, both freshman defenseman Luke Farthing and sophomore forward Dallas Tulik scored their first goals of the season. 

The Lakers enter after an overtime loss/regulation win at Bemidji State. They have an opportunity to clinch second place in the league with a regulation win over the Ferris State Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon, by virture of conference wins tie-breaker over Bowling Green. The Lakers got a hat-trick in Wednesday night's road win from Ashton Calder, who leads the Lakers in point scoring with 22 in 23 games with 12 goals. Mareks Mitens has a .934 save percentage in goal as the LSSU starting man.

FARTHING'S FIRST

Ferris State freshman defenseman Luke Farthing picked up his first collegiate goal from the left hashmark in Friday's loss to the #18 ranked Lakers. At 1:59 of the first period, Farthing slipped by an LSSU forward into the low slot where he fired a shot past LSSU netminder Mareks Mitens for an early 1-0 Bulldog lead. Transit (8) and Stewart (8) earned assists on the play.

LEAGUE STRENGTH HIGH FOR WCHA

Five conference foes are currently ranked in the WCHA. Minnesota State (4), Bowling Green (13), Bemidji State (17), Michigan Tech (19), and Lake Superior State (20) are all in the top 20, the most the league has had in the top-20 since realignment. The BGSU Falcons spent much of the year in the top 10, but a recent four-game slide has pushed them outside of range. The Mavericks have been in the top six all season, and the three straight weeks they spent at #6 came while they were inactive. 

THREE-WAY SCORING RACE FOR TEAM LEAD

While senior forward Coale Norris pulled a goal ahead of Mitch Deelstra for the team-lead in goal scoring with eight, three Bulldogs factor into the team point-scoring race. Norris enters the final regular season game with 16 points, two-clear of the pack to lead the team. Junior forwards Ethan Stewart and Jake Transit, having career years have 6-8-14 lines in a tie for second best. Three other Bulldogs have 11 points, though one is idle for the remainder of the season. AMongst the freshmen, Deelstra leads the way with 11 points (7-4-11) and is second in goal scoring to Norris. Five Bulldogs have six or more goals this season (Justin Michaelian, Norris, Transit, Stewart, Deelstra).

COMING UP

Ferris State's first round match up at Minnesota State is set for March 12-14 in the WCHA Quarterfinals at the Mayo Clinic Health System Events Center.