2012 Frozen Four: What You Need To Know About Ferris State

If you are like me, you probably have never heard of Ferris State before this year. If you are saying that you have heard of this school before this year, you either know someone that graduated from FSU, really love CCHA hockey or you are a big fat liar. Honestly last night I had to pull up a Wikipedia page to figure out where the school was, who went there and what kind of school it was.

Tomorrow Boston College will meet Ferris State head to head with the National Championship on the line. In order to feel a little more knowledgeable about our opponent, I did a little research about the hockey program and the school in general. That way when Barry Melrose makes an awkward comment showing that he too knows next to nothing about Ferris State, you can feel more knowledgeable than the announcers.

-- Ferris State is located in Big Rapids Michigan. It was founded in 1884 (as Ferris Institute) which makes the college itself only 21 years younger than Boston College, though it only became Ferris State in 1987.

-- It was founded by (no lie) a man named Woodbridge Nathan Ferris. Ferris was a New York educator, who later became the governor of Michigan and served in the Senate.

-- A fire burned most of the school down in 1950.

-- Now there are 19 satellite campuses all around Michigan.

-- "Famous" Alumni include: Actor Shawn Christian, Cincinnati Bearcats Football Coach Butch Jones Former New England Patriot and Juggalo wrestler Monty Brown. NHLers such as Dave Karpa, Andy Roach and Chris Kunitz. Karen MacDougal who was the 1988 Playmate of the Year also graduated from Ferris State

Now in terms of hockey history ...

-- Team colors are the Crimson and Gold

-- Joined the CCHA in 1975 as an affiliate member, and as a full member in 1979

-- Before this season Ferris State's most successful season was 2002-03 when they went 31-10-1, defeated North Dakota in the NCAA tournament before losing to Minnesota.

-- Current coach is Bob Daniels who before this season had a losing record as coach of FS (308-347)

-- I heard last night that BC has played Ferris State twice, beating them once and tying them once (though I can't find this information anywhere)

-- This season they played one Hockey East team, Vermont and lost to them 4-2. Lost a best of three series in the CCHA playoffs against Bowling Green.

-- Ferris State has the 5th ranked defense, allowing 2.14 goals per game. Taylor Nelson their goaltender ranks 9th in the country allowing 2.06 goals per game.

-- They do not have a skater in the top 50 in scoring, their leading scorer is Jordie Johnston (36 points).

-- They have a fight song entitled "Fighting Bulldogs"

Cheer those Bulldogs
Watch them fight.
Boost those Bulldogs
They're all right.
We'll stand by the Crimson and Gold.
Fight! Fight! Fight!
Bulldogs of Ferris
Cheer that Bulldog varsity
Steer that team to victory.
Fight you Ferris Bulldogs
And gain another victory.
Fight! Fight! Fight!
Fight for Ferris

That's about all I could find on the school. If you know of anything else interesting about Ferris State that we don't know about, leave it in the comments.

Go Eagles!