MARQUETTE – It’s been six series since the Northern Michigan University Wildcats swept an opponent, and it’ll be difficult to pull it off this weekend.

NMU (8-5-3, 5-5-2 WCHA) faces off against No. 3-ranked Minnesota State and the Mavericks roll into Marquette tied for the WCHA lead. The Mankato, Minn., based team (13-4 overall, 10-2 WCHA) has won eight of its last nine games including a road sweep of Michigan Tech, which at the time was ranked No. 1 in the nation.

“We’re just trying to focus on winning (today),” NMU head coach Walt Kyle said. “We played them twice last year in the playoffs in two one-goal games. They are very good.

“They have a ton of dynamic people up front and they are well coached. Right now, they are probably the class of the league. We’re going to have our hands full.

“We’ll have to play good ‘D,’ manage the puck well and our special teams will also have to be good. Goaltending will also be critical this series.”

The Mavericks are skilled at all positions but the players that stand out are the forwards. Matt Leitner was a preseason WCHA Player of the Year candidate and has racked up 17 points.

Bryce Gervais leads the Mavericks with 11 goals and Jean-Paul Lafontaine is tied for the lead with 12 assists.

The Wildcats will also have to get the puck past MSU goalie Stephon Williams, who boasts a 1.86 goals-against average and a .914 saves percentage.

NMU can counter with its star goalie Mathias Dahlstrom, who didn’t play the last time Northern was in action due to an unspecified injury and is day-to-day on whether he will play against the Mavericks.

“Leitner is obviously one of the best forwards in the league,” Kyle said. “He’s certainly one of the most dynamic. Lafontaine, Gervais up front – these guys are legit. They’ve got good defensemen and one of their goalies was Rookie of the Year.

“They went to the NCAA tournament last year and didn’t have many losses. I think it’s great to play a real quality opponent and see how we match up.”

“I think this is a good time to play them,” Wildcats winger John Siemer said. “I think our team is getting better and better. We all had a good break to get rested up and get ready to go. I feel like we are ready for this battle.”

Even though they have a tough task this weekend – and another with archrival Michigan Tech next weekend – the Wildcats have the ability to stay in the WCHA race.

Three players have reached double digits in points, Darren Nowick and Dominik Shine with 11 each and Shane Sooth with 10, and if he plays, Dahlstrom is a great asset in net, as he is tied for the shutout lead with four. NMU is also sixth in the nation in total defense and 10th on the penalty kill.

When assessing his team at the halfway point in the season, Kyle was disappointed with how the Wildcats went into the holiday break, but overall, likes how they have played so far.

“I think we’ve had a good start,” he said. “I think that we’ve floundered a little bit lately and we’ve been banged up.

“After the start we had, I would’ve liked to finish with one or two more wins, but 8-5-3 is a solid start. Now we are entering the toughest part of schedule, so we’ll have some tough tests, but I think it’ll also be a good opportunity for us.”

Both today’s and Saturday’s games start at 7:07 p.m. at the Berry Events Center.

Ryan Stieg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 246. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.