Local Sports

Looking to sink the Lakers

NMU icers try to build momentum after sweep of Bowling Green

MARQUETTE -- The Northern Michigan University hockey team appears to be playing its best hockey of the season right now.

After an inconsistent outing at the Ice Vegas Invitational in Las Vegas, the Wildcats (13-10-3, 11-5-2 WCHA) rebounded last weekend and pulled off an impressive sweep of now-No. 17 Bowling Green State at the Berry Events Center.

Northern did something that they've struggled with for the majority of the season -- putting forth strong performances on back-to-back nights, a good sign with the WCHA playoffs approaching at the start of March.

Now NMU has to avoid doing something that hurt them in Nevada -- not underestimating its opponent. The Wildcats were dealt a surprising defeat by a struggling Arizona State program and now face Lake Superior State (6-16-4, 4-11-3), which is going through a similar year.

The winner of the Cappo Cup contested between NMU and LSSU will be on the line after the teams split their first two meetings early in the season.

The Lakers have been bad on both sides of the ice. They are 58th out of 60 NCAA Division I teams in both team offense and defense, while NMU is middle of the pack in both categories. But LSSU could give the Wildcats some trouble on special teams as it is very close to Northern nationally on the power play, 31st vs. 35th.

Northern head coach Grant Potulny said Tuesday that the long history with the Lakers will help keep his team from taking an Upper Peninsula rival lightly.

"It's a rivalry and in this area in the U.P., that's a very important game for us," he said. "Our guys are going to be prepared for the rivalry, I can promise you that.

"I think (LSSU has) got a very good forward group and their top six is really good. They've got a good power play and they've got a good goaltender (Nick Kossoff), so we have to get to their goalie. We have to play fast again.

"As much as you talk about the opponent, a lot of the time, it's more about us playing our game. We talked … last week about who is going to get to their game first. Again, it's the same type of thing with contrasting styles. Who is going to get to their game? We want to get to our game in a hurry and force people to skate.

"That's the bigger thing for me. We've shown that we can beat the high-end teams when we just play our game. We've just got to continue to skate and play our game. Whatever happens in outcome of the game, I'm OK with.

"I would've been OK with Saturday had we not won the game because we played hard. When we play hard and we skate and do things the right way, results are going to happen one way or the other, but most of the time, you're going to get the result you want."

Reflecting on last weekend, Potulny emphasized how resilient his team was on Saturday after giving up a controversial goal in the closing minutes of regulation.

"No. 1, they score first and they hadn't lost all year scoring first," he said about early in the game. "We had talked about starting fast and on time against them.

"I didn't like our game in the first period. I didn't like it on the bench and in the video. It was a whole lot of nothing going on in the game. I don't think they played great either, but we weren't skating and when we're not skating, we're not playing our game.

"We started to skate and got the lead and then that call at the end of the game could kind of been a dagger. When you see it live and you think it was a high stick, the refs make their call and now you've got to claw back again.

"We have a very resilient group to stay with it and we probably deserved to win that game, but you don't always get what you deserve. You have to stay with it and the guys did."

Potulny also talked about how happy he is with how his team has played so far, but also said it's important that the Wildcats are not just satisfied with that.

"I really enjoy our group and they come to work every day," he said. "There are certain days where the guys only have 75 or 80 percent. There was a hard weekend and maybe didn't have a full tank of gas (on Monday), but they gave me 100 of their 85 (percent) or whatever it was they have that day.

"That's fun for a coach when your guys come to work and they want to get better. It's fun to see them get rewarded.

"There's a fine line, though. There's a trap there, too. You can't get caught (in) the trap feeling so good about yourself and living on what you've done, because there's way too much hockey left to start doing that.

"So we have to stay focused this week and have great preparation for our rivalry game."

Two NMU players earned weekly conference honors after their performances against BGSU. Forward Troy Loggins picked up the Offensive Player of the Week honors, while Atte Tolvanen earned Goaltender of the Week.

In addition, senior captain Robbie Payne earned a spot on the Hobey Baker Award nominee list with fan voting currently underway through March 4.

Ryan Stieg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.