Northern Michigan University hockey team opens WCHA playoffs this weekend vs. Alaska-Fairbanks
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Northern Michigan University's Griffin Loughran, bottom, continues to try to pass the puck as Michigan Tech's Todd Kiilunen forces him to the ice in the third period of their WCHA game played at the Berry Events Center in Marquette on Saturday. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)
As the WCHA playoffs begin this weekend, the No. 2-seeded Wildcats (19-14-2, 18-8-2 WCHA) face a team from the coldest state in the nation as Alaska-Fairbanks makes the long journey to Marquette for a best-of-three series.
The No. 7-seeded Nanooks (12-19-3, 12-14-2) are coming off a sweep of Alaska-Anchorage and managed to shut out No. 4 Minnesota State the Saturday before that.
Still, the stats don't lie. Alaska is the underdog by far as its offense struggles badly (57th out of 60 nationally) and leads the nation in penalty minutes. With the Nanooks' penalty kill sitting only 39th, Northern's improved power play could have a productive weekend.
But the Wildcats shouldn't overlook Alaska. NMU shut out the Nanooks in the first game at Fairbanks in January, but needed three straight power-play goals in three minutes during the third period from defenseman Phil Beaulieu to complete the sweep Saturday.
"Since we left there in January, they're 8-5-1 and they won three in a row," Wildcats head coach Grant Potulny said Tuesday. "They just beat the league champion (Minnesota State) 1-0 and then proceeded to win the Governor's Cup for the 10th year in a row and only gave up one goal in their last three games.
"They got a lot of things going for them right now and I'm sure that they feel pretty good about how their team's playing."
Looking back to the January series, Potulny felt his team had to grind out the sweep. This time around, the Wildcats need to take advantage of whatever opportunities they get.
"The first night we played very well," he said of the January set. "We scored really early in the game and played well. The second night we had to fight. They scored and it kind of was the same way the year before. We played a very strong game the first night and the second night they played much better.
"We couldn't find a way to win the game and we ended up losing the game up there. This year, the power play got us three goals and Phil had a hat trick in about a three-minute span.
"That was the tale of the game and I think we're going to have to make sure that we're disciplined because they do have a good power play, and we're going to have to make sure that when we get scoring chances that we execute … (that would) allow us to play from a position of power as long as we can the whole weekend."
NMU may not need that impressive offensive surge from Beaulieu this time around, though, as the Wildcats are coming off back-to-back sweeps of Upper Peninsula rivals Lake Superior State, now No. 20 in the nation, and Michigan Tech.
Northern stifled the Huskies defensively, limiting their scoring chances on Saturday in Marquette after giving up 60 shots on net the night before in Houghton.
"I think for sure it was close to one of our best games all year, if not the best," Potulny said about Saturday. "We spent a ton of time from the moment the puck dropped in their end.
"We were winning races and we were skating on first touch and creating separation and getting pucks to the inside and spreading the zone. All the things you talk about all the time and you work on a regular basis from the beginning of the year until the last week of practice.
"You start to see all of those come to fruition on the front half of the rink, which allows you to not even worry much about the back half of the rink because you're doing such a good job making them defend."
Wildcats forward Troy Loggins and goaltender Atte Tolvanen have been key pieces to Northern's success as they've won WCHA Forward of the Week and Goaltender of the Week two weeks in a row, including this week's honors.
Loggins notched a hat trick Friday in Houghton and scored NMU's first two goals Saturday.
Tolvanen made a school-record 58 saves Friday and also broke another Wildcats' record with his 13th career shutout Saturday.
Since being reunited with linemates Adam Rockwood and Denver Pierce, Loggins has been on a tear and Potulny said that the reason he brought the threesome back together was that it just felt like it was time.
"I was running out of combinations," he said with a laugh. "It's kind of been a funny year. As a coach, you'd love to have your lines set by early February or late January. Sometimes on really good teams, your lines are set before Christmas and you just move a guy in or out, whether it's an injury or poor play.
"We hadn't had the consistency of generating enough offensively that warranted keeping anyone together. It kind of felt like it was time to give that line one more crack at it.
"They all bring such effective qualities to the game. Adam is the driver of that line, make no mistake. As much as Troy is the goal-scoring machine, Adam is the driver. He's the playmaker and the guy that's got the puck on his stick the most.
"Denver is the hardness to the line. He's the guy that allows the offensive guys to be able to have a little more room to have a couple plays.
"Troy is the goal scorer and together when they play the way they have, it's fantastic for the coach, because no matter who the other team has, at times, you're trying to keep your guys away from their best players.
"Now I can't wait to play them against their best players because they're playing so well together. They're staying on offense. When they play the way they've played, it's such an effective line."
With the top line playing well and the team seemingly clicking right now, Potulny is feeling confident as the Nanooks come to town.
"It kind of felt like it was coming and I even mentioned something to the team before our Bemidji (State) series," he said. "I just said that I kind of had a funny feeling that it was coming.
"Obviously, I was a week early, but the last four games, it's just been good hockey. There's discipline to it. There's structure to it.
"Kind of the thing that hurt us much early and is helping so much right now is the way that we're just taking what the game gives us. We're not trying to score and win the game in the first five minutes.
"We talk about it all the time. There's no shot clock in hockey. You can possess the puck as long as you'd like in their end and what that does, is it makes people defend and it's much harder to play defense than play offense.
"We've done a way better job of that, which allows us to open the game up later."
Ryan Stieg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.