Blair Riley (#25) is nom­i­nated for the Hobey Baker award one of the high­est scor­ers in the CCHA and the top scorer for the Bulldogs. Photo cour­tesy Joe Gorby, Ferris State Athletics

The Ferris hockey team is head­ing into a mon­u­men­tal matchup this week­end against the sec­ond best team in the nation.

The nation­ally sixth-ranked Bulldogs will face off against the No. 2-ranked Miami RedHawks this week­end in a home series that pits the top two teams in the CCHA standings.

Ferris enters the series fol­low­ing a sweep of Notre Dame and is cur­rently 10−2−2−2 in CCHA con­fer­ence play this season.

On the other side, Miami comes in after being swept for the first time this sea­son at the hands of Robert Morris University. Head coach Bob Daniels knows that the RedHawks are com­ing into the series look­ing to vent some frustration.

“We already knew that this was going to be a hard-fought game any­way,” said Daniels. “The fact that they’re com­ing off being swept just adds to the focus and inten­sity that they’re going to be bring­ing to this matchup.”

In the first series between the schools back in November, both teams played phys­i­cally and had strong goal­tend­ing. Ferris pulled out two shootout vic­to­ries to claim four of the six series points on the road.

Though this series will give the win­ner an advan­tage in the CCHA stand­ings, Daniels knows this is one of many tough tests the Bulldogs will face the rest of the season.

The series will begin Friday at 7:05 p.m. at Ewigleben ice Arena and will con­clude with a 5:05 face­off on Saturday.