With three-quarters of its roster consisting of new faces, this is certainly one of the most anticipated opening weekends in Miami hockey history.
Ferris State is also hoping for a major rejuvenation, as it has brought in a new coaching staff to replace 32-year veteran bench boss Bob Daniels.
This is the fifth straight year these teams have met to start their respective seasons.
VFG takes a look at the upcoming series:
WHO: Ferris State Bulldogs (13-20-3) at Miami RedHawks (3-28-3).
WHERE: Cady Arena (3,049), Oxford, Ohio.
WHEN: Friday–7:05 p.m.; Saturday–6:05 p.m.
ALL-TIME SERIES: Miami leads, 49-46-19.
VIDEO STREAMING: NCHC.tv ($).
MIAMI RADIO: Both nights–Miamiredhawks.com. Greg Waddell (PxP) and Drew Davis (color) Friday, Luke Poley (color) Saturday.
NOTES: Ferris State hadn’t even come close to sniffing .500 the past nine seasons, and Brett Riley was named the sixth head coach in Bulldogs hockey history this off-season.
Riley basically started the Long Island University program from scratch. LIU announced — in the opening weeks of COVID — that it was going Division I that fall.
No team, no staff, no conference, no home rink.
Yet, Riley saw his team’s win total increase each season, from three to 10 to 13 to 16 to 20 last season, LIU’s first winning campaign.
Up front, none of Ferris State’s three 20-point producers return, but three forwards that reached double digits in points are back.
Gavin Best finished with 19 points last season, including 10 goals, second-most on the Bulldogs, and senior Tyler Schleppe returns after going 9-9-18 in 29 games.
Holden Doell and Jacob Badal racked up 10 points apiece in 2024-25.
Logan Hereux is FSU’s lead returning points-producer on defense, having racked up three goals and 11 assists for 14 points last season.
Trevor Taulien went 3-9-12 and Xavier Jean-Louis finished with a pair of goals and four helpers.
Ferris State will carry four goalies this season, but Noah West was the primary starter in 2024-25 and returns for his graduate senior year. He went 13-17-3 with a 3.26 goals-against average and a .901 save percentage.
Martin Lundberg played just 128 minutes and Connor McDonough only seven.
Noah Rupprecht transferred in from Riley’s LIU team (giving Ferris State two goalies named Noah) after posting a 12-5 record with a 2.33 GAA and a .901 save percentage for the Sharks.
Four skaters also followed Riley from LIU to Ferris State: Forwards Riley Wallack and John Zary and defenseman Valtteri Piironen.
Two familiar names join the Bulldogs this season, a forward and a defenseman.
Max Dukovac played the last three seasons up front at Miami, where he scored 35 points in 92 games.
Graduate senior Nic Belpedio — brother of former RedHawks standout Louie Belpedio — transferred from Colgate after logging 116 games there in four seasons and racking up 37 points.
Games between these teams have been extremely close in recent seasons. Five of the last seven have gone to overtime, with three of those contests ending in ties and FSU pulling out the other two in OT.
Miami went 1-0-1 the last time these teams met at Cady Arena, and the RedHawks haven’t lost to the Bulldogs at home since Oct. 19, 2019.
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