Former Bulldogs Chasing Second Consecutive Stanley Cup Championship!

Big Rapids, Mich. - A pair of individuals with close ties to the Ferris State University hockey program are currently chasing a second consecutive Stanley Cup Championship with the National Hockey League's (NHL) Tampa Bay Lightning.

Former Bulldog assistant coach Derek Lalonde, who now serves as Tampa Bay's assistant coach under head coach Jon Cooper, along with video coordinator Brian Garlock, a Big Rapids native and former FSU ice arena employee, have helped lead the Lightning to the Stanley Cup Finals for the second-straight season after playing key roles a year ago as Tampa Bay hoisted the Stanley Cup Trophy.

Presently, Tampa Bay holds a 1-0 series' lead over the Montreal Canadiens in hockey's final postseason round following a 5-1 win in the opening game of the series on Monday evening. Game two is Wednesday (June 30) in Tampa Bay with the series then shifting to Montreal for games three and four on Friday (July 2) and Monday (July 5), respectively. If needed, game five is back in Tampa Bay on July 7 with game six slated for Montreal on July 9 and game seven in Tampa on July 11.

Tampa Bay reached the Stanley Cup finals by beating the New York Islanders in seven games to capture the Price of Wales Trophy and is looking to become only the second team in the NHL's salary-cap era to win back-to-back Stanley Cups. The series' win over the Islanders came against former Bulldog Hockey standout and current third-year New York assistant coach John Gruden.

Over the past three 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) before joining Cooper's staff.

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. Formerly, he was a zamboni driver for the Ewigleben Ice Arena.

Last year, the duo 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.