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Already up to the task: After splitting with Miami, Wildcats hockey heads to No. 3 MSU

After splitting with Miami, Wildcats hockey heads to No. 3 MSU

By Steve Brownlee 6 min read

MARQUETTE -- Last week's season-opening series certainly looked like a tall order, but the Northern Michigan University hockey team was up to the task and pulled out a victory against Miami (Ohio).

Coming off back-to-back, last-place finishes in the CCHA, the Wildcats opened at home and won the first game by a convincing score of 3-0.

Even though it lost Saturday's second game 4-1, NMU proved it could play with -- and at times, dominate -- a college hockey team receiving votes in the national preseason poll.

But this week's assignment has to be even tougher -- go on the road and face the No. 3 team in the nation in Michigan State.

One mitigating circumstance might be that the Spartans are opening their regular season in East Lansing with this series, though MSU did play and defeat Boston College 5-2 in an exhibition last Friday.

This series has an unusual Friday-Sunday schedule, games at 7:30 p.m. today and 1 p.m. Sunday. Apparently, it's due to the Spartans playing their homecoming football game late Saturday afternoon against Big Ten foe Illinois.

NMU fans can stream both games on BigTen Plus, listen to the game on radio station WUPT 100.3 FM The Point, follow along with live statistics provided through nmuwildcats.com, and subscribe to the NMU hockey social media page for coverage throughout the weekend.

Last weekend's games were the opening series of the Wildcats' 50th anniversary season, kicked off by the raising to the rafters of three of the program's original stars, Don Waddell, Tom Laidlaw and Steve Bozek. The first two played from Northern's inaugural year of 1976 through 1980, with Bozek playing between 1978 and 1981.

Each played on NMU's national runner-up team in 1980.

Last weekend vs. Miami was something of a coming-out weekend for a number of new Wildcats, while NMU's most lauded player, sophomore goaltender Oliver Auyeung-Ashton, seemed to be in midseason form after posting his second career shutout by making 30 saves in the opener.

Auyeung-Ashton earned CCHA Goaltender of the Week after he allowed just two goals -- the RedHawks' final two goals Saturday were empty-netters -- in two games, while freshman center Coster Dunn stuffed numbers all over the stats sheet to earn CCHA Rookie of the Week honors.

Auyeung-Ashton has a .966 saves percentage after stopping 56 of 58 shots to go with a 1.02 goals against average.

Dunn scored the opening goal Friday, a shorthanded one to boot, while averaging about 20 1/2 minutes ice time over the two games. He also won 20 faceoffs and had a 54% success rate there, playing in all 5-on-5 and special teams situations for Northern.

Stars to watch early for the Spartans are Anthony Romani and Eric Nilson, each registering two goals vs. BC as Nilson also had two assists. Goalies Quentin Sigurdson and Joshua Ravensbergen split time in net.

Asked what his Wildcats were working on this week after the success of the opening series, Wildcats head coach Dave Shyiak was quick to answer.

"Well, you can always work on special teams, and you can always be better on faceoffs," he said in an NMU Sports Information news release previewing the series. "For us, it's how are we going to generate a little bit more 5-on-5?"

Interestingly, none of eight goals Miami and Northern scored last weekend came in "standard" 5-on-5 play. NMU had three goals on power plays, one shorthanded and one an empty netter when the RedHawks pulled their goalie on Friday. While that adds up to five "special" goals during a four-goal weekend, that's because Ian Engel's final goal Friday pulled double duty, being both a power play tally and an empty-netter.

Likewise, Miami had two power play and two empty-netters on Saturday.

Digging deeper, it makes Shyiak concerned that his team isn't scoring 5-on-5.

"We need more zone time," the NMU coach said. "We got to spend more time and stack shifts in the offensive zone.

"Michigan State defends hard, and they break out well, so we're going to have to work hard to hang on to pucks and force them to defend a little bit. And if you do that, then it takes away from their offense because they have no juice."

Actually, Northern's three power-play goals lead NCAA Division I.

"You're continually working on all areas of the game," Shyiak said. "It's still early; we've only played two games, and you can always round out your game every single week.

"So continue to be strong in special teams and faceoffs, and we don't want to give up the easy goal against Michigan State."

One interesting fact about MSU is that its players' average height is 6 feet, 1.8 inches, tallest in Division I, and average weight is 193 pounds, 10th in D-I.

That contrasts to the Wildcats' 5-11.5 height average and 181.6-pound mean being among the shortest and lightest in the nation.

The Northern coach said that means his charges have to prepare for a physically taxing weekend.

"Things happen much more quicker," Shyiak said. "Michigan State is one of the biggest teams in the country. They're huge, they play physical … and they play to their identity.

"It's hard to get the lines (matchup) on them, and they defend the net really well … so it's going to be hard to get pucks and bodies to the net."

There's talent in the Spartans' lineup, too, with 17 NHL draft picks, nine taken in the first round of various draft classes and four more in the second and third rounds. Six were taken in this year's draft, the highest being defenseman Chase Reid chosen No. 7 by the Seattle Kraken.

"They've got excellent young talent that can get you up and going and make plays, but they're a team that doesn't beat themselves," Shyiak said. "They're very structured and detailed, and when you make mistakes, they make you pay, and they make it difficult to score goals.

"And usually their special teams are really good, so it makes for a great challenge. For our guys to go into that rink and that atmosphere, I think it'll be a great experience. Our guys are jacked up about it."

After this pair of games, NMU has one more nonconference series prior to the CCHA season beginning Halloween weekend. Next Friday and on Saturday, Oct. 17, the Wildcats host independent Stonehill at the Berry Events Center.

Then comes an open weekend on Oct. 23-24, followed by the CCHA opener at Augustana in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, on Oct. 30-31.

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

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