Needed turnaround: Northern Michigan University hockey team looks to keep momentum against Alaska-Anchorage at home this weekend
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Northern Michigan University's Shane Sooth, left, pokes at the puck while teammate Sami Salminen, right, checks Lake Superior State University's Aidan Wright on Friday night at the Berry Events Center. (Journal photo by Jess Makela)
In the past two weekends, the Wildcats (5-17-4, 3-12-3 WCHA) have split two series with rival Lake Superior State and won the Cappo Cup. Now they are feeling much better about themselves.
"We've been stepping up our game," NMU defenseman Brock Maschmeyer said. "If you've been watching the last couple of games, they've been good matchups. Playing against Lake State, I think we found a bit of a groove. We just hope it can keep going this weekend."
This weekend, Northern hosts Alaska-Anchorage, the team that sits just above them in the league standings. The Seawolves (5-14-5, 4-9-5) are one of the few teams that the Wildcats seem to defeat fairly consistently. They've swept UAA at the Berry Events Center the past two seasons and earlier this year, NMU snapped an eight-game winless streak in Anchorage.
There's a lot riding on this series for both teams, both of whom are coming in on a positive note. While Northern split with the rival Lakers, UAA tied Michigan Tech twice and recently came close to sweeping WCHA-leading Bemidji State.
Northern and Anchorage are also remarkably similar.
Both are offensively challenged, with the Seawolves dead last in the nation in total offense and Northern just four spots ahead of them. The two teams rank next to each other on the power play, with the Wildcats at 59th and Seawolves 60th.
However, UAA does outperform the Wildcats on the penalty kill. The Seawolves are in the top 20 nationally and have a good goaltender in Olivier Mantha (2.60 goals against average, .917 save percentage). With NMU so weak on its power play, Anchorage might not be sweating much in that area.
"They're a tough team," NMU forward Denver Pierce said. "They don't have a lot of overly skilled guys, but they're still a hard team to play against. They've got good goaltending and they've been playing well as of late. It's not going to be easy."
The advantage going in for the Wildcats is the number of players who can step up if needed. The Seawolves only have three double-digits points scorers while NMU has seven, including leading goal producer Dominik Shine with 12.
If the Wildcats can strike quickly and not let up, they have the potential to get a crucial sweep. However, if they can't score consistently and revert to their earlier home woes, that will most likely put the nail in the coffin for this season.
"Every series now is a make-or-break weekend," Maschmeyer said. "We've got to get both wins and we know where we are in the standings. We're not supposed to look at that, but we know what we need to do."
"You just have to keep after it," Pierce said. "You can't get discouraged because that doesn't do any good for anyone. You just have to stick with what you're good at and good things will come. It's been a tough year scoring and it's kind of hard to say that, but getting discouraged does nothing."
Ryan Stieg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.