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Back to the whiteboard: NMU hockey looks to regroup vs. nationally recognized Stonehill

NMU hockey looks to regroup vs. nationally recognized Stonehill

By Steve Brownlee 9 min read

MARQUETTE -- The opposition might be an NCAA Division I independent, but that doesn't mean Stonehill College will be any kind of pushover for the Northern Michigan University hockey team this weekend.

The Skyhawks of the Boston suburb of Easton, Massachusetts, received votes this week in both major college hockey polls, ranked 27th in the USCHO.com poll and 26th in the USA Today poll that each list a top 20 with others receiving votes, too.

That was after Stonehill swept Colgate of the East Coast-based ECAC at home to open the season last weekend, 2-1 and 4-2.

In contrast, the Wildcats are 1-3 after splitting with Miami at home, winning 3-0 and losing 4-1, then getting swept at No. 3 Michigan State, 6-2 and 5-1, last weekend.

Just like Stonehill, Miami was receiving votes in both national polls at the time NMU played them.

And like their nickname Skyhawks, NCAA independents are a rather rare bird -- a College Hockey Inc. website lists just six currently -- Stonehill, Lindenwood, Long Island, Alaska-Anchorage and Alaska-Fairbanks, while Maryville is slated to become fully Division I in 2027-28.

The two Alaska schools were part of the WCHA before that entire league reorganized as the CCHA and without the schools from Alaska and Alabama in 2021. Alabama-Huntsville ended its Division I program that year.

This weekend's games at the Berry Events Center begin at 7:07 p.m. today and 6:07 p.m. Saturday.

Tickets are available at the NMU Tickets website at tickets.nmu.edu, while fans can live stream each game at MidcoSports Plus.

Or tune into radio station WUPT 100.3 FM The Point, subscribe to official NMU hockey social media accounts, or visit the Northern athletics website at nmuwildcats.com and look under the hockey schedule for links to ticket information, live video, live audio, live statistics and a preview.

A promotion taking place this weekend is NMU Family Weekend, where families can purchase four tickets for each night -- eight in all -- for $60.

Additionally, the Slabz 4th Period Party returns, as fans can head to Slabz Bar & Grill located in the Ramada Inn of downtown Marquette following Saturday's game.

Last weekend playing one of the powerhouses of the Big Ten in MSU, the Wildcats were challenged to square up against one of the physically biggest teams in the country by an NMU team that is relatively on the lighter and shorter side.

Michigan State is listed as the second tallest and in the top-10 weight-wise in the country while also boasting 17 NHL draft picks, nine of those taken in the first round.

It was also the Spartans' Homecoming weekend, which factored into the games being played on Friday night and Sunday afternoon as MSU's Big Ten football game vs. Illinois was planted squarely into a late Saturday afternoon time slot.

One big sticking point for Northern head coach Dave Shyiak was the Wildcats' play in 5-on-5 situations, probably a lot having to do with not playing in them as much as he'd like to.

The Wildcats were whistled for 50 minutes in penalties in the first Spartans' game, though 19 of those minutes were called in the final two seconds when a big brouhaha broke out just before the final whistle.

Nevertheless, MSU scored five of its six goals on power plays, including all three in the third period after the Wildcats narrowed their deficit to 3-2 following a goal by Northern's Grayden Slipec just 40 seconds into the final period.

Sunday was the same in one way and completely different in another. The difference was that each team was only whistled for three minor penalties, but again, the Spartans cashed in on special teams with two power play tallies and one shorthanded goal.

NMU tied that game 1-1 on a Michael Burchill goal less than two minutes into the second period, which held up for just over eight minutes until MSU counted its first power play goal of the day to retake the lead for good.

In that game, Northern had what was termed seven shots in "high danger," or likely, Grade A areas of the ice compared to State's nine.

In fact, NMU Sports Information in this weekend's preview noted that the Wildcats lead the nation among teams that have played four games by only allowing three even-strength goals so far.

Unfortunately, it's come at the expense of allowing nine power play goals, worst in NCAA Division I.

"I thought our guys (at) 5-on-5 did a lot of good things," Shyiak said in the NMU SI release. "How you generate a little bit more is you got to have the puck more.

"I think possession-wise, they had a little bit more, but also on Friday night we didn't have a whole lot of energy because we killed all those penalties. That's a big difference. 

"And on the second night, for a good period and a half there, I thought we did generate. We just didn't connect and didn't execute. And so we're making the right plays, it's just executing and finding the back of the net."

Considering all those power play goals given up, NMU also leads the nation with 99 penalty minutes and 24.8 penalty minutes per game, with a trio of 15-minute "packages" of a five-minute major and 10-minute misconduct handed out to Wildcats players.

The first went to Reilley Kotai in the win over Miami for butt ending, with the other two occurring in the first MSU game -- to Medrick Bolduc for hitting from behind, and to Jason Davenport for contact to the head near the end of the game that apparently sparked the brawl.

Actually, Kotai also picked up a cross-checking minor at the time of his major-misconduct call vs. Miami to make for a total of 47 penalty minutes from those three incidents.

"We obviously had a big communication to make a point of (not taking as many penalties) on Sunday morning, and we did," Shyiak said. "If you asked me what I liked about our team (on Sunday), we played more under control, but our habits were much, much better.

"We weren't taking the cheap stick infractions and we weren't trying to run around and take guys heads off. When you get charged up, you kind of lose your habits and you play out of emotion rather than a controlled emotion, and we did that.

"So we addressed it, and I give our guys credit. We had three power plays and (Michigan State) had three power plays. I'll take that any night of the week.

"For a lot of our guys, if not all, they haven't been in an environment like that and playing a team like that.

"It was sold out, great environment, great crowd, and a lot of (their) guys are going to play in the NHL. So I think at times we were a little overwhelmed, too charged up, and that's why I think we took a lot of penalties in the first game.

"But in the second game, obviously we addressed it, you just can't take that many penalties against an excellent hockey team. In the next night ... (we) only had three.

"But at the same time, the power play goals that we did give up, you just can't give them that many looks. And unfortunately, it was a special teams weekend, and they were better than us in that category."

Despite not getting a win, Shyiak said the trip was another step in the right direction for his Wildcats.

"We (have) to be repeatable in our habits and how we play 5-on-5," he said. "We had segments last weekend when we were really good 5-on-5, had good puck possession time, had good energy and had good legs. It's more about us continuing to grow and get better.

"And then our special teams, obviously, we've been working on it a lot. We were good the first weekend against Miami, and not so good against a very good opponent at Michigan State.

"This weekend, it'll be critical again. Special teams and goaltending are always critical, especially early in the season (as) you're trying to get continuity to your game and rhythm to your game."

Speaking of goaltending, All-American candidate Oliver Auyeung-Ashton made 36 saves on Friday and 28 on Sunday while doing something in each game that netminders don't often do -- he picked up an assist in both contests, and he also was tagged with a two-minute minor penalty in each.

Friday's penalty was for unsportsmanlike conduct during the late-game brawl, while Sunday's was for delay of game.

This all came about while the Wildcats were already suffering this early in the season with injuries to forwards Peter Cisar and Merril Steenari, and defenseman -- and Tampa Bay Lightning draft pick -- Warren Clark.

Making their NMU debuts were Owen Pitters and Adam Csabi on the fourth line, while Oliver Beaulieu filled in for Davenport while the latter was suspended Sunday for his actions the previous game.

"(Injuries) gave opportunity for some guys to go in the lineup," Shyiak said. "I thought Pitters and Csabi did a real solid job, so it's a chance for them to get some live action and for us to evaluate to see where they might fit in."

Looking forward to this weekend, the Northern coach seems to characterize Stonehill as a gritty team.

"I think Stonehill works extremely hard," Shyiak said. "They're competitive, they're well coached and organized, and they're really tight in their own end.

"They don't give up easy offense, and on top of that, they're really good at applying puck pressure.

"So obviously we'll address that, but it's an important series for our guys just to take another step forward and get better in our overall game.

"This weekend, we got to worry about us getting better with our habits and being consistent with our habits, our workload, our compete, and being connected not just for segments of the game, (but) for the whole 60 minutes.

"Every coach will tell you they want consistency, they want repeatability.... We've got a real hungry team that's out to prove something, and we've got a lot of room to continue to grow. We got a lot of work to do, so that's our focus this week and getting ready for for a very good hockey team on Friday night."

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.

Starting at /week.