Bemidji State’s Oliver Peer, left, takes a shot on Northern Michigan University goaltender Oliver Auyeung-Ashton during their CCHA game played at the Berry Events Center in Marquette on Jan. 31. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps) 

MARQUETTE — The playoff future hangs in the balance for the hockey team at Northern Michigan University this weekend.

The Wildcats travel to Big Rapids to take on the team immediately in front of them in the standings, Ferris State, at 7:07 p.m. today and 6:07 p.m. Saturday.

These two teams are battling for the eighth and final spot in the CCHA Tournament that begins three weeks from today with the best-of-3 quarterfinals at campus sites from March 6-8.

The Bulldogs currently have that position with 13 points, while NMU is chasing them with 11 points.

One big thing in Northern’s favor, however, is that while the Wildcats have four league games remaining after this weekend, Ferris only has two, with it being idle next weekend while NMU hosts Lake Superior State.

During the final weekend of this month — and of the regular season — Northern travels to nationally ranked Minnesota State-Mankato while FSU takes on LSSU.

Points, of course, have been hard to earn for both Northern and Ferris, so anything that can be gained this weekend may make all the difference.

The Wildcats are 3-17 in the CCHA and 3-25 overall, while the Bulldogs are a quite similar 4-18 and 5-25. The point structure of the league might come into play — regulation wins are worth three points while regulation losers get nothing, but overtime or shootout winners only get two points while OT or shootout losers still get a point.

So NMU could catch Ferris even with a split if Northern’s win was in regulation and Ferris’ was in OT.

“(Ferris) came away with some important points against Bemidji on the road (last weekend), which is a hard feat,” Wildcats head coach Dave Shyiak said in an NMU Sports Information news release previewing the weekend.“Our mindset going into this weekend is that this is a playoff series; I think everybody knows how tight it is, and we have to get points against Ferris this weekend.”

The games will be available in online streaming on Midco Sports Plus, while fans can also tune into the games on Marquette radio station WUPT 100.3 FM The Point.

Or visit the NMU athletics website at nmuwildcats.com and look under the hockey schedule for links to live audio, live statistics and a preview.

Northern is coming off its final bye week of the season right after picking up a three-point win over Bemidji that temporarily leapfrogged them past Ferris into eighth place.

With no points possible last weekend, however, the Wildcats could only watch the out-of-town scoreboard as the Bulldogs also defeated Bemidji to get themselves back into eighth.

“We’ve gotten two big wins recently to put ourselves into a position to battle it out with Ferris,” Shyiak said, also alluding to Northern’s 3-2 victory at Michigan Tech on Jan. 24. “I thought we responded great (from the opening 8-2 loss vs. MTU) with our win at Michigan Tech, then winning at home against a very good and fast Bemidji team, and now we’re exiting the bye week.

“We’ve started to get some bodies back, still not quite 100% … but we like what we’ve seen over the bye week.”

A significant part of the Wildcats’ recent success has to be attributed to freshman phenom goaltender Oliver Auyeung-Ashton, who is a Hobey Baker Award nominee and was recently named to the Mike Richter Award “watch list.” Auyeung-Ashton recorded his first career collegiate shutout in the 2-0 Friday win against Bemidji, making 38 saves in the first NMU shutout since the end of the 2023-24 season.

“(Oliver) is highly competitive, he’s a winner, he works at his craft, and I think the greatest trait he has is his self-assessment of his games,” Shyiak said. “When he’s on top of his game, he gives our team a chance to win.

“He’s calm, cool and collected, always battles for secondary saves, and we’re happy he’s playing really well for us.”

Since the win in Houghton, Northern’s line of Peter Cisar, Tobias Pitka and Matthew Argentina each have three points in three games, Pitka and Argentina getting two goals apiece. They’ve recorded nine of NMU’s 16 points in that span to help give their team much needed offense.

“It’s been a struggle to score goals, and part of that is we haven’t been able to have continuity to our lineup since really early in the season,” the Wildcats coach said. “Since putting that line together a handful of weeks ago, they’ve had some success, they’ve got chemistry and they’re balanced in how they play the game.

“It’s nice as a coaching staff to have a line that’s producing and who we feel that we can match up with anybody…. That line gave us a spark and some energy and they have been rewarded by putting some goals in the back of the net.”

After the retirement of legendary Ferris head coach Bob Daniels at the end of last season, Brett Riley was named the program’s sixth head coach after he had been top man at Long Island University since 2020.

By the age of its players, the Bulldogs are one of the oldest teams in college hockey and will honor a full dozen graduating seniors before Saturday’s game, which will prove a unique challenge, combined with the unique layout of Ewigleben Ice Arena.

“They’re one of the older teams in college hockey; they have no (true) freshmen, and they play hard,” Shyiak said about Ferris. “They make it difficult to win in their rink, and they’re built for that rink — they’re physical, they’re structured, they’re in your face, and we need to counterattack that.

“I think that (Riley) wants a team that forechecks aggressively and makes it difficult for other teams to make plays…. They’re in a similar situation as us — they’re fighting for a playoff spot and playing with some desperation and urgency, and we’re going to have to match that.”

After 12 consecutive losses — only one that reached OT for a CCHA point — the Bulldogs had a crucial weekend at Bemidji State last weekend, first winning 6-3 on Friday before coming back from a 3-1 deficit to force overtime and earn another CCHA point in a 4-3 overtime loss.

The Bulldogs are led by seniors Gavin Best with 12 goals and 21 points, Max Itagaki with six goals and 16 points, and Josh Zary with 10 goals and also 16 points.

Junior goalie Hobie Hedquist, with a 4.12 goals-against average and .879 saves percentage, and sophomore netminder Martin Lundberg, with a 3.06 goals-against and .882 saves, have split time in net, though it was Lundberg who played both games last weekend vs. Bemidji.

For comparison purposes, Auyeung-Ashton has played in 16 games for the Wildcats and compiled a 2.78 goals against average and .927 saves percentage. Fellow Northern netminder William Gramme has been in 15 games with a 3.97 goals against and .900 saves percentage.

And newest NMU goalie arrival Max Weilandt has gotten in two games with a 2.13 goals against and .909 saves percentage.

Caiden Gault continues to lead the Wildcats in scoring with 13 goals and 13 points, his goals still accounting for a shade over 30% of the team’s production of 43 goals.

Pitka, who represented his home country of Slovakia in the world juniors tournament over the Christmas holidays, joins Argentina and Jakub Altrichter with nine points apiece. Pitka has five goals, Argentina four and Altrichter three.

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release previewing the games. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.