Ferris State bolsters roster with WHL assistant captain Gavin Garland, adding significant scoring punch for a renewed program aiming for excellence.
After finishing eighth of nine teams in the CCHA this season, Ferris State is already hinting at improvement for what’s next. They have officially gotten a signing from Gavin Garland, who spent this season as an alternate captain of the Tri-City Americans of the WHL.
A 20-year-old from Clearwater, FL, Garland was just one of two skaters for the Americans to have played in every single game this season.
Tri-City missed the WHL playoffs, with a record of 26-36-5-1 in the regular season.
Garland was a bright spot on the roster for a consecutive season, finishing with 47 points, good for third on the team. He finishes his two-year WHL career with 89 points, with 37 of those as goals
Ferris State showed some fight at the end of this season, unbeaten in their last four games with two wins and two draws at the homestretch of the regular season.
The Bulldogs even took eventual Mason Cup Champion Minnesota State to three games of the best-of-three series, forced by Ohio State transfer Caden Brown’s overtime winner in game two.
Head coach Brett Riley will be in his second season with the Bulldogs next year, as he plans to bring back the “legacy of excellence” for Ferris State, a program that made it to the National Championship back in 2012 when they were runner-up to Boston College.
This landing of Gavin Garland will hopefully be another step along the path.