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Everything on the line

MARQUETTE – It’s been a long time since so much was riding on a Michigan Tech-Northern Michigan University hockey series, but that is what’s going on this weekend.

Both teams have a lot to play for and will be watching the scoreboard intently as the two archrivals close out the regular season. NMU hopes to clinch home ice in the first round of the WCHA playoffs, while Tech has a chance to win its first conference title in decades.

“It should be a great series,” NMU head coach Walt Kyle said. “I think it’s the best series in college hockey. Both communities love it, both communities love it. It’s always a tough, hard series and I expect nothing less than that.”

The Wildcats sit in fifth place in the WCHA standings, one point behind Bemidji State. There’s a couple of ways that NMU can earn home ice, but the Wildcats cannot afford to get swept by Tech.

On the other side of the ice, Tech sits three points in back of conference leader Minnesota State. If the Huskies can pull off that sweep and the Mavericks get swept by Bemidji, Tech will win the WCHA.

Tech and Northern played a series back in January with the Wildcats taking three points from the Huskies, including an exciting overtime victory on Saturday.

The Huskies haven’t missed a beat since that series and are led by the fearsome foursome of Tanner Kero (41 points, tied for 10th in the nation), Alex Petan (38), Malcolm Gould (28) and Blake Pietila (26). Junior goalie Jamie Phillips has also put on a show this year, now ranked fifth in the country in goals-against average (1.80) and sixth in saves percentage (.934).

“They’ve got a lot of talent and they have some really good upperclassmen,” Kyle said. “They’re a good hockey team.”

While the Huskies may have more scoring threats and better goaltending stats, the two teams are fairly even on special teams. Tech is seventh on the power play and Northern is 17th on the kill, while NMU is 19th with the man advantage and the Huskies are 24th on the PK.

Last weekend, the Wildcats started off great on Friday, beating rival Lake Superior State 5-0, but on Saturday, they not only lost the game, but also a chance to gain ground in the standings.

NMU captain Ryan Kesti feels that the team’s players learned from Saturday’s loss and that they know they have to be sharp from the opening faceoff.

“We know that we have to be ready at all times,” he said. “Not that we were lax on Saturday night, but the way we came out was not the way we expected to.

“There’s no time to sit on the backburner. It’s time to go and it has to start on the first shift and it has to go through the full 60 minutes.”

Even though the Wildcats have been battling injuries for a while, including the loss of star goalie Mathias Dahlstrom for the rest of the season, Kyle says he’s comfortable with the guys that will dress and he thinks the fact that this weekend has a lot riding on it makes things a little more special.

“This late in the year, it feels good to be playing for something,” he said. “We want to do our job to get it.”

Friday’s game in Houghton and Saturday’s game at the Berry Events Center in Marquette both start at 7:07 p.m. and will be televised on FOX U.P.

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

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