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Jump into league play: Hockey Wildcats open CCHA season at No. 11 Augustana tonight

MARQUETTE -- It's almost like a new season is beginning for the Northern Michigan University hockey team tonight in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

The Wildcats have finished off the majority of their nonconference schedule with a pair of split series against teams receiving votes in national polls and suffering a sweep by the No. 3 team in the nation.

After taking last weekend off, NMU enters play in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association with a trip to the league team farthest west and its newest member, Augustana.

The Vikings are in their third season as a full CCHA member, but more importantly to Northern head coach Dave Shyiak and his charges, Augustana is another nationally ranked opponent, checking in at No. 11 this week in a pair of national polls.

At this point of the season, half the CCHA is still the same 0-0 in conference contests, though two CCHA series were played last weekend -- Bowling Green State sweeping Lake Superior State, and Michigan Tech and Ferris State splitting.

However, while the Wildcats have a modest 2-4 record, the Vikings have sailed out fast at 5-0-1.

Northern defeated Miami (Ohio) 3-0 and lost to the RedHawks 4-1 on opening weekend, then lost 6-2 and 5-1 to No. 3 MSU, and most recently won 5-1 and lost 2-1 in overtime vs. Stonehill on Oct. 16-17.

Augustana opened with a pair of OT games vs. Minnesota-Duluth, winning 4-3 and tying 1-1, then sweeping Nebraska-Omaha 2-1 and 3-2 in OT, and last weekend, sweeping Ohio State 3-2 in OT and 4-3.

Of the Vikings' trio of opponents, only Duluth was ranked, No. 5 when they played them and now No. 7.

"I think Augustana is the best team in the league," Shyiak said in an NMU Sports Information news release previewing this weekend. "And the reason why they're the best team -- they play as a team.

"They're fundamentally sound, they skate and it's hard to create offense. They wait for other teams to make mistakes and they capitalize on it.

"We can't give them easy offense, and that's been the message all along. They're good. I think for us, heading into conference play, going on the road, I think our guys are excited for it. I think to open up league play against the best in the league right now might be an indicator (of) where we're at with our team this early in the season."

Game times are 8:07 p.m. EDT today and 7:07 p.m. EDT Saturday. Fans can watch by livestreaming each game through MidcoSports Plus, or listen on radio station WUPT 100.3 FM The Point. Fans can also follow along with live statistics and postgame coverage at the Northern athletics website at nmuwildcats.com, and can also subscribe to the official NMU hockey social media accounts.

Following the Stonehill split, a Wildcats player earned what is already the team's third CCHA Player of the Week honor this young season. Following Oliver Auyeung-Ashton winning Goaltender of the Week and Coster Dunn the Rookie of the Week against Miami, their freshman teammate Owen Pitters was named a second Rookie of the Week.

Pitters had a four-point weekend vs. Stonehill with a goal and three assists, along with nine total shots and a plus-4 rating.

"(We) don't control the bye weeks," Shyiak said. "What we do control is maintaining our conditioning level (and) our timing.

"So how we prepared this week was a lot of 5-on-5. We want to keep it simulated to 5-on-5 action, which is what they're going to see this week, and then see some other guys be given some more opportunities to see where they may fit in.

"Because right now, I don't think anybody is solidified in our lineup. It's still early in the season, and when we're playing well, we're a four-line-deep team. We just need to see that on a more consistent basis. 

"The bye week, I thought we did a good job with it. It was more of a mental refresher, and then it gives us a chance to continue to get better with our habits and our systems. Tightening up some things to help us better prepare for (tonight)."

In a bit of news announced Wednesday, senior forward Branden Piku was named a second alternate captain for this season, joining the Wildcats' other alternate captain, Joe Schiller, along with captain Medrick Bolduc as the three players wearing captain's letters on their jerseys.

"Branden brings veteran leadership to our group," Shyiak said about a player who transferred from Lake Superior State this summer. "He has earned the respect of our team and coaching staff. Branden leads daily on the ice, in the locker room and away from the arena."

At LSSU, he scored 44 points in 93 games over three seasons. At NMU he picked up his first point with an assist in the opening 4-1 win over Miami, then scored his first Wildcat goal against the highly ranked Spartans.

He's averaging just about 15 1/2 minutes ice time per game, fifth among Northern forwards, and plays in 5-on-5 and all special teams situations.

Tonight's game marks his 100th career collegiate game, too.

Elsewhere on the team, Pitters and Michael Burchill lead NMU with four points apiece as a dozen players have multiple points and 10 have scored at least one goal.

Auyeung-Ashton, who has gotten all the time in the NMU net, has 172 saves in six games with a .915 saves percentage and 2.66 goals-against average.

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