MARQUETTE – If the Northern Michigan University hockey team wants to jump up in the WCHA standings, this weekend would be the perfect time.

NMU sits in fifth place, two points behind their opponent this weekend, Ferris State, and four behind both Michigan Tech and Bowling Green.

If the Wildcats sweep the Bulldogs at the Berry Events Center, they will move into fourth place and depending on how things shake out, could even move up to third.

“This is a huge series,” NMU head coach Walt Kyle said. “Both Ferris and Tech have played two more games than us, so these games are big. This is to me the end of our toughest stretch of the year.

“In that time, we had to travel to Alaska and Huntsville, which are both long trips. Around that, we had Bowling Green and (Minnesota State) Mankato, two of the best teams in the league.

“Now during finals week, we have a good Ferris team. It’s a tough stretch. Every point counts and we just have to keep moving ahead.”

After picking up three points last weekend against Alabama-Huntsville, the Wildcats take on a Ferris team that already has two wins over Tech along with one each over Minnesota State and Wisconsin.

The Bulldogs are led by junior forward Gerald Mayhew, who has 16 points, freshman Corey Mackin with 14 and junior Kyle Schempp with 13.

Just like the previous two series, NMU goalie Atte Tolvanen will duel with a quality goaltender, this time Bulldogs freshman Darren Smith, who has a 2.20 goals-against average and .929 saves percentage. After star Ferris netminder C.J. Motte left after last season, goaltending was a question mark for the Bulldogs, but Smith has performed well so far and eliminated that concern.

“They’re very good defensively,” Kyle said. “They always work very hard. They are structured defensively well. They are a good forechecking team. They are a tough team to play.”

Looking back at last weekend, the Wildcats picked up a win and a tie in Alabama. Friday night was an exciting affair as Northern scored two goals in the third period to get a 4-3 win despite being badly outshot. Winger Dominik Shine notched a hat trick and picked up the winning goal on a penalty shot with 17 seconds left.

“One of the things that we talked about was trying to get points every weekend and move ahead and we did that,” Kyle said. “I think we were just OK on Friday night. I didn’t think we were as sharp as we needed to be. The shots weren’t indicative of the game. I wasn’t happy with our sharpness and our puck movement.

“I thought Saturday we responded and looked really good. We significantly outchanced them. We just weren’t able to finish those chances.

“Dom had a great game Friday. He went in on a breakaway (in the closing seconds) and the guy two-handed him right before he shot it, so they called a penalty shot.”

Kyle was also pleased with the play of Tolvanen, who shone again in net as Mathias Dahlstrom recovers from his knee injury.

Tolvanen said it was different fewer shots Saturday than he is used to, but says that goalies have to be prepared for nights like that.

“On Friday I faced a lot of pucks, but then Saturday, we played a lot better and we limited their scoring chances,” he said. “It was a new challenge for me getting only 20 shots a game.”

The Wildcats hope to get a sweep before the much-needed holiday break. Northern is banged up and the week-long break before the Great Lakes Invitational in Detroit might help.

“Right now, I try not to complain about it, but we are so beat up,” Kyle said. “Dahlstrom is still not back. (Barrett) Kaib is day to day. We’ve lost Cohen Adair till after the GLI. We lost Troy Loggins for the year with an ACL and Sami (Salminen) is still out with an ACL.

“We’re playing without an entire line of forwards, three defensemen and a goalie. The guys are doing a great job of handling that, though, and they’re doing what I’m asking them to do. It’s the next-guy-up (mentality) and we have to move ahead with it.”

Both Friday’s and Saturday’s games are 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.