Des Moines goalie Alan Lendak commits to Ferris State for 2027-28

USHL Junior Hockey · By Marcus Chen · August 1, 2026

Des Moines Buccaneers goaltender Alan Lendak committed to Ferris State University for the 2027-28 season, giving the Bulldogs a 6-foot-1, left-catching netminder from Nitra, Slovakia who still has two USHL seasons to shape his game. The Buccaneers announced the pledge on Instagram and X, saying Lendak will continue his hockey career at the NCAA level and join Ferris State’s men’s team in Ferris, Michigan.

The timing fits the way junior hockey works for goaltenders. Ferris locked in a 2006-born goalie who remains in the middle of his USHL climb, while Des Moines gets to keep building with a player whose development has already moved fast enough to attract an NCAA commitment before his arrival in college hockey. The Buccaneers’ public reaction was celebratory, thanking Lendak and wishing him well as he heads toward the next step.

Lendak’s path to Des Moines came through a December 23, 2025 trade from the Fargo Force, a move that lined him up for a stretch run with the Buccaneers while he was preparing for his second IIHF World Junior Championship. Elite Prospects lists him with Des Moines, while PuckPedia lists him as undrafted, born July 24, 2006, and weighing 174 pounds.

His Fargo numbers show why Ferris saw enough to commit early. PuckPedia credits Lendak with 11 USHL regular-season games for the Force, a 2.45 goals-against average and a .915 save percentage. The stat line is still small, but the latest Des Moines stretch added more evidence that his ceiling is rising. The Buccaneers later posted that he stopped all 33 shots he faced in a win over Madison, and the USHL named him one of its Players of the Week in April 2026.

For Des Moines, the pledge is another example of the club’s ability to move goaltenders into Division I programs. For Ferris State, it is a two-year bet on a goalie who already has a track record in the USHL and international experience with Slovakia. What happens in his next two USHL seasons will determine whether Lendak arrives in Michigan as a future starter or a longer-term project.