NMU Sports

Getting a big win

NMU?icers move into 3rd in WCHA?by beating LSSU

MARQUETTE -- There is a lot on the line this weekend for the Northern Michigan University hockey team in its series with No. 18 Lake Superior State, including the Cappo Cup trophy and positioning for the WCHA playoffs in two weeks.

On Friday night, the Wildcats lived up to the challenge as they used three second-period goals to defeat the red-hot Lakers 4-2.

With the win, NMU (16-14-2, 15-8-2 WCHA) moves up in the WCHA into a tie for third with LSSU (20-9-2, 15-8-2), while sitting three points behind second-place Bowling Green State.

"This was big for a lot of reasons," Northern head coach Grant Potulny said. "I think the biggest one is I just wanted to see us play well again.

"We had to kill a couple penalties early and that can derail you a little bit. Even if they don't score, it can still derail you, but we motivated ourselves a little tonight.

"I thought it was the most structured we've been all season. We did a great job in the neutral zone slowing them down and not giving up odd-man rushes.

"When you play a good team, it's kind of a war of attrition. Like who can stay with it longer and we stayed with it tonight."

Tied 1-1 heading into the second, NMU started to get its offense rolling. Wildcats forwards Ty Readman and Troy Loggins both had decent scoring chances early, but Lakers goalie Nick Kossoff stonewalled each of them.

He couldn't stop Northern's next scoring chance, though. A little more than five minutes into the period, Wildcats center Adam Rockwood got a pass from Denver Pierce in the slot and fired it past Kossoff to put NMU ahead.

Three minutes later, the Wildcats struck again, this time on the penalty kill. While trying to ice the puck, Griffin Loughran and Joe Nardi raced up the ice and caught the Lakers napping. Loughran sent the puck to Nardi, whose first shot was stopped by Kossoff, but Nardi tapped the rebound in as he was streaking past the post and Northern took a 3-1 advantage on the shorthanded tally.

NMU is one of the best teams in the nation for shorties and Potulny credited his assistant coaches, Rob Lehtinen and Byron Pool, for that success.

"I think Rob and Byron do a great job with the penalty kill," he said. "They give those guys some freedom. When you think about the way the power plays are set up nowadays, lots of them, there's only one guy kind of on the point with the exception is if somebody is in a 2-3….

"So if you can take a seam pass away from them and pick it off, you've got a 2-on-1 and sometimes, you've got to smell blood when you can do that. We've got some guys that want to get up and go."

Lake State answered a little more than a minute later, though. With the Lakers on a rush, Ashton Calder fed a streaking Brayden Gelsinger by the near post and he beat NMU goalie Atte Tolvanen to cut LSSU's deficit to one. The Wildcats had a chance to pad their lead with 9:04 remaining when Pierce, a Sault Ste. Marie native, was awarded a penalty shot when he was taken down on a breakaway. However, Pierce's shot went wide and the game remained 3-2 NMU.

That is until the closing seconds of the period. With a couple players battling for the puck by the Lakers' bench, Loughran passed the puck to a wide-open Readman, who skated into the LSSU defensive zone and beat Kossoff five-hole to give NMU a 4-2 lead going into the third.

The Wildcats have struggled in the second period most of the season and Potulny was pleased with what his team accomplished Friday.

"That might've been our best period of the season," he said. "We've had some woes in the second period this year. Up to this point, it's been the one that we've had the most challenges in.

"But just from the moment the puck dropped, there was just a different energy from our group and there was kind of a different energy all week. Hopefully, we can use that to catapult us to have another good effort (tonight)."

With a little more than five minutes remaining in a scoreless first period, Northern drew its first power play and capitalized on it. After Kossoff made stops on NMU's Vincent De Mey and Readman early on the kill, Rockwood fed Phil Beaulieu at the point, who collected the pass and fired a blast past Kossoff to put NMU up 1-0.

That lead didn't last long. After Tolvanen almost kicked the puck into the net after it went off the backboards, Lake State cashed in with just over two minutes left in the opening period when Gelsinger sent a pass to Gage Torrel, who one-timed it past the goalie's glove for a 1-1 tie entering the first intermission.

The third period was quiet. Lake State had two good chances early, both of them coming from Calder, but Tolvanen stopped both. At the other end of the rink, NMU didn't test Kossoff much with the only decent chance coming on the power play midway through, but the netminder gloved a shot by Darien Craighead. The Lakers did get one last golden chance with two minutes remaining as Anthony Nellis had an open net by the far post, but Tolvanen kicked his skate over just in time to keep the puck out.

Beaulieu said even though it's been a frustrating season, the Wildcats are just trying to keep positive and chugging along toward the postseason.

"It's a good bounce-back game for us," he said. "It's obviously been a tough season overall, the last couple of weekends especially, but I think the whole mentality this week is just staying positive.

"Our time is going to come, we just need to stick with it and that's what we did. We got a good one (Friday) and we're going to look for a big one (tonight)."

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