This Week on WCHA RinkRap: a rookie goalie throws a “perfecto,” a major milestone in Big Rapids, Cullen plays Catalyst for Falcons, and WCHA goaltenders vie for supremacy.

Midway through the second period of Tuesday’s Michigan Tech-Ferris State tilt down in Big Rapids, MI, local play-by-play man Harrison Watt gave a shout out to Ferris long-time assistant coach Mark Kaufman, the man in charge of the Bulldogs’ PK unit. His group had just killed off its second straight penalty to keep Ferris State within a goal of Michigan Tech.

This week on the WCHA RinkRap: an ugly flashback in Mankato, a goal-fest by Bemidji has hockey historians reaching for new terminology, and Northern Michigan’s fifth goalie comes up aces.

For those crossing their fingers hoping for a 2021 NCAA Hockey Tournament, it is officially crunch time. On Friday, February 5, the six-member NCAA hockey committee will stage the first of six weekly calls leading up to hockey’s version of Selection Sunday.

Northern Michigan, Lake Superior State, and Ferris State have all enjoyed degrees of success this past decade: Ferris with three trips to the NCAAs (including a competitive NCAA title game in 2012); Northern Michigan with a return to 20-win seasons under Grant Potulny; and Lake Superior waking its echoes of dominance with a Great Lakes Invitational title and a 23-win season in 2019. 

On a Thursday night in early October, a couple of 60-something hockey lifers coached against each other for the 16th time. Don Vaughan of Colgate traveled 600 miles to play Bob Daniels’ Ferris State Bulldogs for a single game on a school night. It was a game that hardly moved the meter in terms of national rankings, but the contest was huge in terms of nostalgia and the human element.