Bob Daniels Wins 500th Career Game as Bulldogs Top Lake State in First Ever Game at Centre Ice Arena

Traverse City, Mich. – Ferris State Hockey head coach Bob Daniels earned his 500th career victory Saturday (Nov. 16) with a 3-2 win over Lake Superior State in the first-ever college hockey game at Centre Ice Arena in Traverse City.

The Bulldogs participated in the first Superior Ice Showdown as part of a road series against LSSU in Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) play. LSSU topped FSU 4-2 in Sault Ste. Marie Friday (Nov. 15) before Ferris State bounced back with their second CCHA win Saturday.

Ferris State (3-9-2, 2-6-0 CCHA) got two goals from junior forward Tyler Schleppe in Saturday's win, capping off a three-goal series for him. Lake State jumped out to a 2-0 lead for the second night in a row, but the Bulldogs were able to storm back and complete the comeback Saturday.

Timo Bakos scored the game's first goal with a power play conversion for Lake State at 1:03 in the second period. Connor Milburn collected an assist, his second assist of the series. LSSU tacked on its second goal courtesy of Milburn at 6:02 with Bakos and Blake Humphrey assisting.

Ferris State responded with two goals in eight seconds, the first of which came from Max Itagaki. His second goal in as many nights came on a rebound chance that he flipped past LSSU goaltender Rorke Applebee. Travis Shoudy took a shot from the point that Applebee saved, but Itagaki finished the rebound opportunity. Shoudy and Cole Burtch assisted.

Schleppe struck for the first time just eight seconds later, getting his third goal of the season and second of the weekend. He tied the game at 2-2 for the second night in a row, with Connor McGrath and Trevor Taulien collecting assists.

Schleppe scored the game's final goal at 15:25. McGrath sent a shot on target that was saved by Applebee and tipped by Logan Heroux back to Schleppe, who fired a shot from the goal line that lit the lamp, serving as his first game-winning goal this year.

LSSU pulled Applebee for an extra attacker at 19:00, and then Taulien took an elbowing penalty, giving Lake State a 6-on-4 opportunity with 54 seconds left. The Bulldogs stood tall, not allowing a single shot from Lake State during that stretch.

With the win, FSU ended a six-game losing streak and collected its second conference win. Noah West won his third game of the year, stopping 14-16 shots. The 16 shots FSU faced was a season low.

As a team, FSU sent 29 shots on goal, won 28 faceoffs, blocked five shots and failed to convert any of their three power play tries. LSSU had 16 shots on goal, won 30 faceoffs, blocked five shots and went 1-4 on the power play.

Individually, Schleppe had the second two-goal performance of his career, with the other also coming against Lake State on Jan. 13, 2023. Heroux, Itagaki, Taulien, Andrew Noel and Cole Burtch each had a blocked shot, while Jacob Dirks and Burtch tied for the team lead with seven faceoff wins each. Zach Faremouth led with five shots on goal.

Lake Superior State got two points from both Milburn and Bakos, who each had a goal and an assist. Humphrey led with four shots on target, while Applebee stopped 26-29 shots in his third loss.

Ferris State will return home for a series next weekend as the Bulldogs will welcome Augustana to Ewigleben Ice Arena for the first time. The Vikings visit Big Rapids Friday (Nov. 22) at for a 7:07 p.m. (ET) puck drop and Saturday (Nov. 23) at 6:07 p.m. (ET). Both games will be streamed live on Midco Sports Plus with pregame coverage beginning 30 minutes prior to puck drop both nights on Sunny 97.3 FM.