From left, Northern Michigan University hockey players Colby Enns and Kristof Papp wait at the edge of the faceoff circle while teammate Connor Eddy waits just outside of that during a Wildcats’ hockey game played at the Berry Events Center in Marquette earlier this season. (Photo courtesy NMU)

MARQUETTE — Time is starting to run out for the Northern Michigan University hockey team to make a move up to a top-four position in the CCHA.

So the Wildcats desperately need a good weekend — like, say, a sweep — starting tonight at the league’s newest member, the University of St. Thomas.

NMU is sitting sixth in the eight-team league with a 9-11 league record and 13-15 overall mark and has 24 points.

That’s just one point ahead of the seventh-place Tommies, who are 7-11-2 and 8-18-2 with 23 points.

And probably more importantly for the Wildcats, they sit seven points out of the coveted fourth-place spot occupied by Bemidji State as the top four teams earn home ice for the first round of the CCHA playoffs the first weekend of March.

Northern is also six points behind fifth-place Ferris State as all four of these teams have the same number of league games remaining.

Even with no more off weekends, NMU has just six games left, including this weekend, to make up that ground. The good thing with the league’s points system is that each game is worth a potential three points if it’s won in regulation.

The bad thing? Northern has gone eight straight series without a sweep, their last one coming against Lake Superior State in Sault Ste. Marie on Nov. 4-5.

This weekend’s games are at 8:07 p.m. EST today and 7:07 p.m. EST Saturday as this will be the Wildcats’ first visit to St. Thomas Ice Arena in St. Paul, Minnesota. It’s NMU’s and St. Thomas’ only games against each other this season — each league team has one team it only plays for two games with all other opponents facing each other four times.

The games will be broadcast on radio station WUPT 100.3 FM The Point.

Last year, St. Thomas’ first season in the CCHA and in NCAA Division I, the Tommies came to Marquette as NMU won 4-1 and 8-3.

This past weekend, the Wildcats did enough to bring the Cappo Cup back to Marquette with a 3-games-to-1 season series victory over LSSU after splitting at the Berry Events Center. The last-place Lakers won Friday’s opener 4-2 before Northern bounced back for a 3-1 victory Saturday.

It didn’t do a whole lot to improve the Wildcats’ standing in the CCHA, though they did move out of a tie for sixth with St. Thomas.

In the opener, NMU led 2-1 midway through the third period before Lake State pounced with three unanswered goals. And that was despite NMU holding a 32-26 shots on goals edge and 36-24 advantage in faceoffs won.

Freshman Joey Larson had a goal and assist on his way to being named CCHA Rookie of the Week for the third time this season. Kristof Papp also scored, while Andre Ghantous, Mikey Colella and Artem Shlaine each had an assist. Freshman goalie Beni Halasz stopped 22 shots.

With the Cappo Cup on the line Saturday — an LSSU win would’ve invoked the total-goals tiebreaker — Northern won as Halasz was only called on to make 13 saves as Ghantous, Larson and Shlaine all scored goals and Papp, David Keefer and Simon Kjellberg each recorded assists.

Larson and Shlaine each have notched five points in their past five games, with Larson scoring three goals and Shlaine two, while Papp has four points in that span with a single goal.

Each member of this line, the Wildcats’ top line, is riding a three-game point streak.

Also in the last five games, Northern has killed 12 of its last 13 penalties, a 92.3% success rate.

Overall this season, NMU is 5-0 when leading after one period and 6-0 when leading after two; and is 5-2 in one-goal games, 0-11 when trailing after two periods and 3-0 in overtime.

When scoring first, the Wildcats are 9-5 but only 4-10 when the opponent scores first. And when scoring at least three goals, NMU is 12-3 but only 1-12 with two or less.

In national rankings, senior captain AJ Vanderbeck is still tied for first in shorthanded goals with three, tied for third in shots taken with 116, tied for 14th in game-winning goals with three, tied for 35th in points with 27 and tied for 39th in goals with 12.

Keefer matches Vanderbeck in two of those categories — he also has three game winners and is tied for 14th nationally, while the fellow senior also has 12 goals and is tied for 39th in that category.

And Ghantous, another senior, is tied for 28th nationally in assists with 19.

Team-wise, the Wildcats are third in faceoff win percentage at .548, tied for sixth in shorthanded goals with five, 12th in power play goals with 26, tied for 18th in penalty kill percentage at .824, 19th in power play percentage at .226, tied for 27th in shooting percentage at 10.0% and tied for 29th in goals scored with 78.

The NCAA shows 60 teams in its NCAA Division I statistical rankings.

Though St. Thomas’ record is rather modest at 10 games below .500, the Tommies are 2-3-1 in their last half-dozen games, last weekend splitting a home-and-home series against CCHA leader and then-No. 13 Minnesota State-Mankato. St. Thomas won the opener 3-2 in OT at Mankato — their first-ever win over the Mavericks — before Minnesota State turned around and won 5-2 in St. Paul.

Mack Byers leads the Tommies with 14 goals and 19 points, firing with a 24.1% shooting percentage. Regular starting goalie Aaron Trotter has a 3.05 goals against average and .905 saves percentage.

By comparison, NMU’s Halasz, who has played in 25 of the team’s 28 games, has a 2.51 GAA and .910 saves percentage.

While Northern’s Larson was garnering league Rookie of the Week laurels, St. Thomas’ Luc Laylin was named CCHA Forward of the Week as he had a league-high three goals.

Fans can follow this NMU team @NMUHockey on Twitter to get updates, while a visit to the NMU athletics website at www.nmuwildcats.com gives links for video, live statistics and a series preview and history.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.