Looking just like last year
Potulny confident as NMU icers reach halfway point in season
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Above, Northern Michigan University goaltender Atte Tolvanen (center) makes a save on a shot by Ferris State's Corey Mackin (left) during a game Dec. 14 at the Berry Events Center in Marquette. Below, NMU's Connor Frantti (right) heads across the ice after checking Ferris State's Justin Michaelian in that same game. (Journal photos by Trinity Carey)
MARQUETTE -- It's Christmastime for the Northern Michigan University hockey team and right now, the Wildcats seem to be in the holiday spirit.
The Wildcats are coming off a home sweep of Ferris State and they also looked good the week before in a split with Michigan Tech. NMU is currently 9-10 (8-4 WCHA) and although the 'Cats would like their record to be better, they're pretty much in the same spot they were last year (10-8-2), just with one less game.
"I'm happy with where we're moving," Northern head coach Grant Potulny said. "We got bloodied a little bit out in St. Cloud and I had mentioned that I hadn't seen a team play at that level that early in a long time. I think it hurt our confidence, but they've (the Huskies) gone on to bloody a lot of people. It doesn't matter who it is. They're beating ranked teams by the same score or worse. The weekend after we played them, they went out to Boston College and beat them 7-0. I think that hurt our confidence a little bit. In non-conference, we've played pretty well. We've been right there with everybody. We were going through the numbers yesterday and the difference in goals for the first half is seven with one less game. We're kind of right on it and if those go the other way, you feel much better of where you're at standings-wise, but within the league, I think we're in a pretty good spot."
The Wildcats started off slow as they were not only swept by now-No. 1 St. Cloud, but also by now-No. 20 Cornell in Marquette. However, things started to turn around after taking two games from Alaska-Anchorage at home and Potulny said that the split against Lake Superior State in Sault Ste. Marie might've been the spark his team needed.
"The Saturday night against Lake State, there were a couple of guys who didn't play and it was a real gutsy effort to win the game," he said. "We've played really well since then. The Notre Dame game (a 2-1 overtime loss), I feel that had those special teams had gone the other way, I think the game would've gone the other way. We played well against Tech and played well against Ferris. I think if you look at, wins and losses are one thing, but if you look at the way we play, I feel like we've played better and more like us since that Saturday night."
That doesn't mean that Potulny doesn't think there needs to be improvements. Until the last couple of weeks, Northern's offense has struggled (51st out of 60 in the nation), but Potulny is feeling more positive about that area.
"I think the only area that still needs to improve is the power play," he said. "That will improve and we'll generate our offense on that. I like how when you talk to the opposing coach after the game on Saturday and he talks about how good your offensive play is and how hard your team is to contend with when we're in the offensive zone. Those are signs that we're coming."
One area where the Wildcats haven't struggled is in the net as Atte Tolvanen has been putting on a show so far. The senior has played every game so far and was named WCHA Goaltender of the Month for November. He even scored a goal against Tech earlier this month, becoming only the 11th NCAA goalie to do that and only the second in WCHA history. Not only that, but he was only the fourth NCAA goalie to score off his own shot.
"Nothing surprises me with him," Potulny said. "He scored a goal, so maybe that was a little surprising. If everybody could see just how he is every day and how he operates and how professional he is, the byproduct of it is how he plays during the games. He's just risen the bar to such a level because of the professional he is, and the athlete that he is. If you had told me before the year that those would've been his numbers (2.29 goals against average, .919 save percentage), that would've not been surprising to me."
Someone who has surprised and impressed Potulny so far is freshman Grant Loven, who is currently playing on the Wildcats' top line with offensive stars Troy Loggins and Darien Craighead.
"The one guy who has probably exceeded expectations is Grant," Potulny said. "His numbers might not tell you that, but he's such an honest player. He keeps so many pucks alive and that's why we put him with Darien and Troy because he does a lot of things that you don't notice. Through those things, pucks stay in the offensive zone, or he can shut a guy down and get it to those guys, so they can get out in space and run. He's probably, to this point, played the best out of that (freshman) class."
All in all, as the Wildcats prepare for the long trip to Alaska, Potulny thinks that his squad is turning the corner and that they definitely have a chance to make some noise in the second half as they have home games against the three teams ahead of them in the WCHA standings (Tech, Bowling Green State, Minnesota State).
"I think last year, the expectations were maybe different," he said. "We had played one more game last year at this point and we had won 10 games and that's the first time in like 15 years that we had 10 wins at Christmas. That was a big deal for our program. Coming into this year, I think the maybe the expectations internally have changed a little bit. Starting out the year, we played good teams and we've played a tough schedule. Maybe we didn't have as many wins as we'd hoped and that kind of bleeds into gripping your stick and some of those things.
"But we are in a better place this year than we were last year in the league. I think we're a better team than we were and hopefully, this is kind of a sign of what is coming and we have a chance to make some hay here after Christmas with some home games against the kind of the teams we're competing with."
Ryan Stieg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.