Ferris State's Bonis & Motte Attain All-CCHA Honorable Mention Honors

Big Rapids, Mich. - Ferris State University senior forward Kyle Bonis and sophomore goaltender CJ Motte have both earned 2012-13 All-Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) Honorable Mention accolades as announced today (March 13) by the conference office.

The teams were selected by a vote of the league's head coaches and are based on performance in conference games. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own players.  A first-place vote was worth five points, second-place votes received three points and a third-place vote was worth a single point.

A total of six players were chosen to both the All-CCHA First and Second Teams with only six others claiming honorable mention status. 

In addition to both Bonis and Motte, the Bulldogs had three other players receive al-conference votes in junior forward Garrett Thompson along with sophomore defensemen Jason Binkley and Simon Denis.

Earlier this year, Bonis was chosen as one of 10 national finalists for the prestigous Senior CLASS Award for excellence on and off the ice and he is also among the national nominees for the Hobey Baker Award, which goes to college hockey's top player each year.

Currently, Bonis leads the Bulldogs with 17 goals and is second among the squad's scoring leaders with 24 points, just one behind Thompson's team-leading total.  He leads the conference and is eighth in the nation to date with seven power-play goals while ranking second among the league leaders and 19th in the country with 14 total goals to date.

Meanwhile, Motte has been the Bulldogs' goalie of record in 32 of 34 games this year. He's 12th in the country with three shutouts to date and ranks 17th nationally in save percentage (.927) along with 19th in goals against average (2.17) heading into this week's action.  In the CCHA, Motte is listed third in save percentage and fifth in goals against average.

Ferris State will begin postseason action and its quest to reach Joe Louis Arena in a best-of-three second round playoff series on the road against the Ohio State Buckeyes this weekend (March 15-17) at the OSU Ice Rink in Columbus, Ohio. The quarterfinal-round series will get underway on Friday, March 15, proceeded by game two to be held on Saturday, March 16.  The deciding game, if necessary, is set to take place on Sunday, March 17.  All three contests are scheduled for 7:05 p.m. (ET) opening faceoffs.

This weekend's playoff series winner will advance to Joe Louis Arena next weekend (March 23-24) for the final CCHA Championship with the league's tournament champion receiving an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.

This year's CCHA Tournament represents the last in the 42-year history of the league.  Ferris State has advanced to the CCHA Championship Semifinals at Joe Louis Arena four previous times in 1990-91, 1992-93, 2002-03 and 2009-10.