FERRIS STATE’S RECRUITING CLASS RANKED AMONG NATION’S BEST

Class Rated 10th Nationally By Inside College Hockey; Three Incoming Freshmen Also Recognized

Dan Riedel

Mitch O'Keefe

Chris Zarb

The Ferris State University men’s ice hockey’s incoming freshmen class for the 2005-06 season is ranked 10th best among the nation’s top 15 recruiting classes according to Inside College Hockey.com’s (INCH) 2005 Recruiting Rankings. INCH compiled its rankings with extensive input from college and junior coaches, as well as professional scouts. Participants were asked to evaluate recruits based on their projected impact at the collegiate level, not on their professional hockey prospects.

Minnesota received the top national ranking followed by fellow Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) member North Dakota. Joining Ferris State as representatives from the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) were Michigan (third), Michigan State (seventh), Miami (12th), and Bowling Green State (15). The CCHA had the second-most representation, one shy of the WCHA’s six-member schools. Individually, freshman right wing Dan Riedel (Rochester Hills) (pronounced Rye-dell) was listed seventh on INCH’s Top 20 Incoming Forward Rankings while frosh Mitch O’Keefe (Almont, Ontario) was ranked eighth among the nation’s top rookie goaltenders and freshman Chris Zarb (Waterford) landed into 11th place on the top 15 incoming defensemen chart.

Joining them as part of the Bulldog freshmen class are forwards J.T. Dahlinger (Grosse Pointe Park), Brendan Connolly (Canmore, Alberta), Corey Couturier (Traverse City), Justin Lewandowski (Naperville, Ill.) along with defenseman Evan Case (Grosse Pointe Woods).

Riedel was selected as the 2004-05 United States Hockey League’s (USHL) CCM Forward of the Year after registering a league-high 81 points on 30 goals and 51 assists this past season while earning All-USHL First-Team accolades as a member of the Lincoln (Neb.) Stars. Riedel was named the North American Hockey League’s (NAHL) Rookie of the Year in 2003-04 while skating for the Springfield (Ill.) Jr. Blues as a result of pacing the league rookies in scoring with a team-best 67 points (third overall in the NAHL) on 29 goals and 38 assists. O’Keefe, who is the current record holder for most shutouts (nine) in the Central Junior ‘A’ Hockey League (CJHL), played for the Hawkesbury (Ontario) Hawks in 16 games last season while posting a 2.48 goals against average (38 goals allowed). He played a key part in helping the Hawks capture a league championship title and was selected the game MVP in the Royal Bank Cup Semifinal contest. Prior to Hawkesbury, O’Keefe was a first-team CJHL All-Star and league MVP in the 2003-04 season for the Gloucester (Ontario) Rangers. He compiled a 29-16-5 record and a league-leading .917 saves percentage in 53 net appearances to go with a league single-season record six shutouts.

O’Keefe, the Rangers’ MVP and team “three star” award honoree, played for the Nepean (Ontario) Raiders in the latter part of 2003-04 where he helped them to the Eastern Canadian Fred Page Cup Championship and then to the semifinal round of the RBC Royal Bank Cup, which is the Tier II Junior Canadian National Championship. Zarb, a fifth-round draft pick (144th overall) by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2004 National Hockey League (NHL) Entry Draft, played for the Tri-City Storm (Kearney, Neb.) of the USHL the past two seasons (2003-04 and 2004-05). The two-time All-USHL All-Star pick totaled 24 points with four goals and 20 assists in 43 outings for Tri-City in the 2003-04 campaign and then followed up with a 23-points total on nine lamplighters with 14 assists in 48 contests. He entered the 2004 NHL Draft ranked 37th among North American players on NHL’s Central Scouting Service and was the highest of the 29 USHL skaters to be ranked.

Playing significant roles in the recruitment of this noteworthy freshmen class besides 14th-year head coach Bob Daniels were associate head coach Drew Famulak, assistant coach Derek Lalonde, and administrative assistant/video coordinator Dave Cencer.

Ferris State will open its 2005-06 season on Friday, Oct. 7, with its annual Crimson and Gold Intrasquad Game at the Ewigleben Ice Arena in Big Rapids before hosting Western Ontario Saturday, Oct. 8, in an exhibition encounter. A 7:05 p.m. (EDT) start time is scheduled for both outings.

Inside College Hockey’s Assessment of Ferris State’s 2005 Recruiting Class
It’s said that defense wins championships and this recruiting class is built around two players that should help the Bulldogs in their quest to add CCHA trophy number two to the case, to go with 2003’s regular season title. And if that doesn’t work, Ferris has also brought in Dan Riedel, the USHL’s top scorer last season. Impact players: Mitch O’Keefe, Chris Zarb, Dan Riedel.