Like most kids grow­ing up in Canada, all Blair Riley has ever wanted to do is play hockey.

“For most kids in Canada obvi­ously it’s the num­ber one thing,” said Riley, “That’s all that’s on TV and it’s everyone’s dream to play hockey.”

Through 24 games this sea­son, Riley is tied for fourth in the nation with 16 goals. His 27 points rank him in a third-place tie in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA). He is also tied for first in the con­fer­ence in short-handed goals.

His efforts this sea­son have brought national recog­ni­tion as Riley has been nom­i­nated for the Hobey Baker Award, given to the nation’s best col­lege hockey player. Riley said he was sur­prised when he heard the news.

“I don’t know what to say,” said Riley, “It’s obvi­ously a great honor and it’s some­thing that you don’t really think about happening.”

Work It Out: Blair Riley, a senior with 131 games under his belt and 76 points scored, pumps some iron with his team­mates dur­ing Monday’s prac­tice. Photo By: Kristyn Sonnenberg | Photo Editor

A native of Chase, British Columbia, Riley began skat­ing when he was four years old. By the age of five , he was play­ing hockey. His home­town did not have an ice rink and he began play­ing in Kamloops, British Columbia, where Riley lives today.

Before com­ing to Ferris, Riley played for two sea­sons with the Nanaimo Clippers, in the British Columbia Hockey League. Riley amassed 146 points, 82 of them goals, in 120 games played.

Riley said Ferris asso­ciate head coach Drew Famulak has fam­ily on Vancouver Island where Riley was play­ing at the time. Someone men­tioned his name to Famulak and the Bulldogs lost a player early to grad­u­a­tion, so Riley said it just worked out. He also knew the value of a qual­ity education.

“The idea of play­ing hockey at a high level and get­ting your edu­ca­tion at the same time seemed like a good deal,” said Riley.

Riley said he attrib­utes some of his per­sonal to suc­cess to the hard work he put in over the sum­mer with pro­fes­sional strength and con­di­tion­ing trainer Greg Kozoris, who trained NHL player Shane Doan for seven years. Ferris head coach Bob Daniels said Riley is scor­ing this semes­ter like he expected him to.

“What we’re see­ing from Blair now is not a fluke,” said Daniels, “It’s not just luck, it’s him.”

Most of all, Riley attrib­utes his play to his senior line­mates Cody Chupp and Casey Haines. He said he has been line­mates off and on with Chupp since his sopho­more year. This is the first year being on the same line con­sis­tently with Haines because they have both played left wing over the last three sea­sons. Daniels said Riley is hit­ting his stride and reach­ing his potential.

“Any indi­vid­ual awards you get in this game are a reflec­tion of the team and how well the team is doing,” said Riley.

This is the best team Riley has been on in his career at Ferris. Riley said he is proud to be ranked amongst and ahead of some Big Ten schools, as hockey is the only Division I sport Ferris has. The team’s goal since the begin­ning of the sea­son has been to fin­ish in the top four in the CCHA, make it to Joe Louis Arena for the league cham­pi­onship, and receive a bid to the NCAA Tournament.

“It feels good to bring any sort of recog­ni­tion to this uni­ver­sity because we love it here and it’s a pretty neat thing,” said Riley.