Returners offer plenty of depth, optimism for Ferris State in 2015-16
By Matt Mackinder –
After a 13-14-1 overall record last season, Ferris State knows that getting out to a fast start will be key to a successful 2015-16 season.
Bulldogs coach Bob Daniels returns eight of the team’s nine top scorers from last season, as well as preseason rookie of the year Corey Mackin. The defense will be seasoned, leaving just the goaltender position with a question mark in untested Charles Williams.
C.J. Motte saw the bulk of crease time the past couple years, but with his graduation, that means the net now belongs to Williams.
Daniels said he’s elated at what his team looks like on paper, but will know more once practices and games get into full swing.
Overall, the Bulldogs were picked to finish sixth in both the WCHA’s media and coaches’ polls.
“We look forward with great anticipation to this year,” said Daniels. “The sophomores from last year will be the beneficiaries of the roles they were thrust into last year.”
Back up front are juniors Kyle Schempp, Chad McDonald, Gerald Mayhew and Jared Van Wormer and senior Matt Robertson.
“I think scoring should be something that when we go into the year won’t be as much of a concern as it’s been in previous years,” Daniels said. “On defense, we return a really nice group of defensemen, five of which saw an awful lot of ice time the past few years.”
Simon Denis is back on the blue line as a fifth-year senior and looks to be a force from the back end.
In goal, replacing Motte will not be an easy task.
“I think the question many people have and one we have ourselves is where our goaltending will be,” said Daniels. “We’ve had an unbelievable run of great goaltenders the past several years when you look at guys like Taylor Nelson and Motte, so now for one of the first times, it’s really a question mark. I don’t think it’s as much a question for us because we know Charles Williams.”
Williams played sparingly as a freshman, saw more time as a sophomore, but then on the eve of the 2014-15 season, tore his Achilles tendon, had surgery and didn’t return to the ice until February when he was redshirted.
“We have an awful lot of faith in Charles and if you look at his sophomore season, he played five games and had a .949 save percentage and a 1.44 goals-against,” noted Daniels. “The last game he ever played, we were up at Michigan Tech on a three-game slide and he went in net and shut out a very good Michigan Tech team and got our season turned around and back on track. He would have played a lot last year as a tandem with C.J., but the good news for us is that Charles is back and we have all the confidence in the world in him.”
Mackin was the Canadian Junior Hockey League’s MVP last season with the Coquitlam Express of the British Columbia Hockey League. It’s one thing to dominate the junior circuit, but another to make the transition to the NCAA game.
“He comes to us really highly-touted,” said Daniels. “The little time we have had to watch him on the ice, he’s met the expectations and I think he’s a talented player, very gifted offensively, he skates well, plays in traffic. I think he can play at a fast pace and we’ll see once games start getting played.”
The Bulldogs open the regular season with a home-and-home series versus Western Michigan starting Friday, Oct. 9, in Kalamazoo, with the finale the next night in Big Rapids.