2023–24 Ferris State Bulldogs men's ice hockey season explained

The 2023–24 Ferris State Bulldogs men's ice hockey season was the 49th season of play for the program and the 38th in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA). The Bulldogs represent Ferris State University, played their home games at Ewigleben Arena and were coached by Bob Daniels in his 32nd season.

Season

Ferris State began the year with a stretch of up-and-down hockey. In the first two months of the season, the offense was middling but consistent. The goaltending duties were split between Logan Stein and Noah Giesbrecht with both providing reliable netminding. By early December, the team was near .500 and had shown signs of improvement. Unfortunately, that was when their season began to unravel. A dip in scoring resulted in seven game losing streak that set the team at the bottom of the standings, where they would remain for the rest of the year.

The team recovered a bit after the Great Lakes Invitational, earning a split with league champion Bemidji State and then winning four in a row to close out January. However, the scoring faltered for a second time afterwards and the team was unable to win any of its final nine games.

Despite its poor finish, Ferris State was nearly able to pull off an upset in the first round of the conference tournament. Twice the team was able to get a 2-goal advantage in their opening game against Bemidji State but they were unable to hold onto either of their leads. The overtime goal appeared to sap whatever energy the team had left and they were swept out of the conference tournament with an 0–4 loss.^[1]

Departures

Mitchel Deelstra	Forward	Transferred to Northern Michigan
Blake Evennou	Defenseman	Graduation (signed with Atlanta Gladiators)
Luke Farthing	Defenseman	Transferred to Canisius
Cade Kowalski	Forward	Graduate transfer to Prince Edward Island
Bradley Marek	Forward	Signed professional contract (San Jose Barracuda)
Brenden Rons	Defenseman	Graduate transfer to Lindenwood
Matt Slick	Defenseman	Graduation (signed with Adirondack Thunder)
Dallas Tulik	Forward	Graduate transfer to Robert Morris

Recruiting

Luigi Benincasa	Forward	20	Edmonton, AB
Nico DeVita	Defenseman	22	Bellevue, WA transfer from New Hampshire
Holden Doell	Forward	19	Martensville SK
Emerson Goode	Forward	20	Anaheim, CA
Nick Hale	Defenseman	24	Raleigh, NC graduate transfer from Holy Cross
Jack Mesic	Defenseman	20	Plymouth, MI
Trevor Taulien	Defenseman	20	Crystal Lake, IL

Roster

As of September 18, 2023.^[2]

Schedule and results

Scoring statistics

	36	12	14	26	44
	33	6	16	22	6
	36	4	17	21	14
	36	8	10	18	26
	35	9	7	16	16
	34	6	9	15	10
	34	6	6	12	24
	32	7	5	12	24
	36	2	8	10	8
	25	3	7	10	11
	34	2	6	8	12
	27	2	6	8	20
	34	3	4	7	27
	27	3	4	7	2
	20	3	2	5	4
	19	2	3	5	4
	24	2	3	5	4
	28	1	3	4	6
	24	1	3	4	12
	35	1	3	4	4
	27	0	2	2	11
	21	0	2	2	6
	5	0	0	0	0
	19	0	0	0	2
	18	0	0	0	0
	21	0	0	0	0
Total		83	140	223	303

^[3]

Goaltending statistics

	22	1219:18	5	13	1	59	595	0	.910	2.90
	19	960:41	5	11	1	62	480	0	.886	3.87
Empty Net	-	14:57	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-
Total	36	2194:56	10	24	2	126	1075	0	.895	3.44

Rankings

See main article: 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey rankings.

Poll	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26 (Final)
USCHO.com	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	–	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	–	NR
USA Today	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	–	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR

Note: USCHO did not release a poll in weeks 11 and 25.^[4]
Note: USA Today did not release a poll in week 12.

Notes and References

Web site: SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2024 . College Hockey Inc. . March 19, 2024.
Web site: 2023-24 Ferris State Hockey Roster . Ferris State Bulldogs . September 18, 2023.
News: Ferris State Univ. 2023-2024 Skater Stats . Elite Prospects . March 3, 2020.
Web site: USCHO Division I Men's Poll . USCHO.com . November 26, 2019.
Web site: CCHA All-Rookie Team Revealed . CCHA.com . March 11, 2024 . March 12, 2024.