January 3, 2023
Holy Cross Transfer Gives Bulldogs ‘Sandpaper,’ Maturity and Leadership
by Jordan McAlpine/CHN Reporter (@jordan_mcalpine)
Matt Slick is no stranger to college hockey. The Buffalo native played 121 games over the past four seasons at Holy Cross and grew up watching the sport long before that.
A 6-foot-2, left-shot defenseman, Slick jokes he’s not someone you’re going to see light up the stat sheet or play a flashy style. But he brings sandpaper on the backend and is a natural leader — two traits he’s brought to Ferris State.
“I think it’s been mutually beneficial for both sides and being around this group has been a lot of fun,” Slick said of his decision to transfer to Big Rapids. “The energy in the locker room has been awesome and I think that with my experience I’ve been able to help. So it’s been fun to watch these guys develop and everyone’s made it easy to fit right in.”
Slick graduated from Holy Cross last spring and is pursuing his Masters in Business Administration — something he couldn’t do at Holy Cross because the school didn’t offer a graduate program. Looking to find a graduate program and use his extra year of eligibility, Slick transferred to Ferris State in April.
Born and raised on the East Coast, Slick said he wanted to experience college hockey in the Midwest. He remembered watching the Bulldogs’ run to the National Championship game in 2012 and Ferris State “checked a lot of boxes” on and off the ice.
Despite the Bulldogs’ struggles the past few seasons — an 11-24-1 finish last season and a 1-23-1 record in 2020-21 — it was a program Slick said interested him from the start and he saw potential in.
So far this season, Ferris State has been one of the CCHA’s biggest surprises.
“We haven’t had a weekend yet where we didn’t come away without points, and I think there have just been a lot of positives for us so far,” FSU coach Bob Daniels said. “We’ve had really good goaltending from both Noah Giesbrecht and Logan Stein and we’ve had strong defensive play. And that’s really allowed us to grow as a team.
“Everyone wanted to say we’re young (coming into this season) but I honestly wouldn’t say we’re that young. We have a good mix and we have a lot of young players seeing important minutes and having big roles this season. Plus we’ve gotten really good veteran leadership…
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