Matt Slick didn’t know a ton about the CCHA before he arrived at Ferris State this summer, but it didn’t take the Bulldogs long to school their new teammate about the ins and outs of their conference rivalries.
And now the defenseman has been in Big Rapids, Mich., for long enough to know exactly what to expect from this weekend’s series against Bemidji State.
“That was something I learned about when I got here,” said the graduate transfer, who spent his first four seasons of college hockey playing at Holy Cross. “I had never played a game against a CCHA team until I came here. But I would say in August, I learned about Bemidji and our battles with them. Guys really get up for this game. It’s always a low-scoring, tight game.
“There’s definitely a little bit more fire this week knowing it’s against Bemidji and what’s on the line.”
The Bulldogs (11-13-4, 8-9-3 CCHA) host the Beavers (11-12-5, 9-8-3) this weekend at Ewigleben Arena for a series that could very well determine which of the two teams gets home ice for the first round of the CCHA tournament. The Beavers, with 31 points, are just one ahead of the Bulldogs, who have 30.
Considering the Bulldogs’ inconsistent start and recent history, it might not have been obvious to outsiders how talented this team was, but Slick said he knew right away that his new teammates would be better than anyone gave them credit.
“Everyone’s hopeful in the spring, but when we came back in August, it was pretty obvious we had a lot of talent, a lot of guys who worked really hard, and two really good goalies, which I think is a blueprint for success,” he said. “We had a bit of a rollercoaster start to this season, but then we found some success around Thanksgiving, and it’s been contagious. It’s been a lot of fun. Obviously, we have a huge series this weekend, but playoffs have already started in our mind. It’s a lot of fun.”
Ferris State is just two seasons removed from the worst season in program history; last year the Bulldogs won just 11 games and wasn’t even in the conversation for home ice. So the fact that the team has the chance to host a playoff series for the first time since the 2015-16 season is a big deal – especially considering how much of an advantage the “friendly confines” of Ewigleben tends to give them.
“It can be like pinball in there,” Bemidji State coach Tom Serratore said of Ewigleben during his weekly media conference. “You’ve got the high glass, the low ceiling, the loud fans, the rounded boards, smaller rink, all that stuff. Games are always a lot of fun there.”
Slick chuckled when asked about how much teams seem to dislike playing at Ewigleben.
“We’re really comfortable in our own rink. We’ve played well here in the past, and we take a lot of pride in our home ice,” the Bulldogs captain said. “We’ve been drawing better crowds here as we’ve been stringing together wins, so hopsting a first-round playoff series is something we’ve been aiming for. The fact that it’s something that’s within reach is really motivating for us. It would be really awesome to get it but there’s a lot of work that needs to be done to make it happen over the next six games.”
The Bulldogs managed to make themselves a home ice contender again thanks to a five-point weekend in Bowling Green. Ferris swept the Falcons with a 2-1 win on Friday and a 4-4 tie (and shootout win) on Saturday. Most notably, the Bulldogs managed to shut down CCHA scoring leader Austen Swankler, holding him to just a single assist in Friday’s game.
“We kind of got our butts handed to us the week before against Mankato, and we just kind of had to look in the mirror and say, you can either slip and keep stumbling into the playoffs or we get up, so we got out there and played hard,” Slick said. “Guys were really motivated going into the Friday game (against BG). It’s a crazy atmosphere there, but once the game settled in we were playing with a lot of confidence. It’s a good feeling to set the stage for us the rest of the way.”
Since returning for the second half of the season in the second week of January, the Bulldogs haven’t had any weeks off, and they won’t have any more until the end of the season. Following this weekend’s series with the Beavers, they travel to Northern Michigan then host Lake Superior State for the final series of the regular season.
“We have a lot of belief in what we have in the room, and that’s kind of what we focus on,” Slick said. “Maybe there are teams out there who write us off a little bit, but that’s kind of motivation for us. We play hard-nosed, we try to dictate the play as much as possible. We don’t talk too much about the standings, but obviously this weekend everyone knows this one is a big one. We like the underdog mentality but at the same time, we don’t feel in the locker room that we’re ever out of any game.
“If we play our game, we know we have the ability to win games.”
