MARQUETTE – Last weekend, the Northern Michigan University hockey team notched their first sweep of the season. Two victories over Alaska-Anchorage left the Wildcats alone in fifth place with their sights now set on fourth-place Ferris State, which is ahead of Northern by four points.

This weekend, Northern will face off against those Bulldogs in Big Rapids in a battle for fourth as they continue a quest to lock up home ice in the first round of the WCHA playoffs.

“When you look at the standings, you know the significance of this weekend,” NMU head coach Walt Kyle said. “We want to keep our guys focused on the task of being better and not focus on the task necessarily of winning games.

“We know the magnitude of the series, what wins here could do for us and what losses could do. We want to continue to have success and continue to win, but the reality is that we have to continue to grow.

“With eight games left, we’re in the hunt for home ice and I think that’s great. We have to take advantage of our opportunities to win and we’ll try to do that in Big Rapids.”

The first time NMU tangled with the Bulldogs was at home just before the December holiday break. The Wildcats dropped the first game, but bounced back to nab an overtime win on a goal by Dominik Shine.

The Bulldogs have played consistently well since that series, not losing since it got thrashed by Harvard on New Year’s Day; Ferris is now coming off a sweep of Alaska-Fairbanks.

Ferris has one of the most balanced offensive attacks in the country with 12 players having 10 points or more. Gerald Mayhew leads the way with 24 points and nine goals.

The Bulldogs are higher than Northern in team offense, but the Wildcats power play is significantly more efficient (31st nationally to 42nd for Ferris). That says a lot as NMU has struggled with the man-advantage this season, although they have gotten better recently as they scored three last weekend.

“They don’t beat themselves,” Kyle said. “They’re a really sound team. The one thing about them is the building they play in. We play in a huge building and they play in a really tiny building and they play really well in it.

“They crowd the ice up, jam the ice up, and it becomes a small area game so you have to be good at it and they’re good at it. It’s really tough to play there.”

What both teams are known for is their defense. Northern and Ferris are neck-and-neck in team defense (20th to 21st), but the Wildcats outshine the Bulldogs on the penalty kill. Northern is sixth in the nation on the kill, while Ferris is 21st.

However, goalie Darren Smith continues to be a pleasant surprise in net for Ferris as the freshman sits 11th nationally with a 1.93 goals-against average and is tied for eighth is saves percentage at .933.

Northern’s net continues to be up for grabs. The coaches are trying to determine which of their goalies will become No. 1 as the Wildcats get closer to the playoffs. Mathias Dahlstrom picked up both wins in net last weekend and sits undefeated at 4-0, but freshman Atte Tolvanen has had the most work so far and the best stats of the three. Mathias Israelsson still has a shot to earn playing time as well.

“It is important that Dahlstrom gets a chance to get going and be the guy that he is capable of being,” Kyle said. “You can’t just do that with one game a weekend. There was a silver lining in the clouds losing two weeks ago against Duluth. We got Dahly in there for 56 minutes of that one and the plan was to have him start Friday last week. He started Friday and got the win and then we were able to come back with him Saturday.

“So he’s really now played three in a row and he needed to do that. Certainly, we’re going to get Atte back in the mix and maybe Israelsson as well. The thing that I want is that we can have at least one or maybe two guys at the peak of their game as we move down the stretch and into the playoffs.”

The goalies all want to play, but Tolvanen says there isn’t a rivalry going on between the three Scandinavians.

“You’d like to play every single game, but you have to approach it differently throughout the week,” he said. “It’s a different situation from the start of the year. We just push each other to be better in practice all the time. You just have to work hard every day and be better every time you’re on the ice.”

Overall, Kyle was pleased with how the series against Anchorage went, and likes the spot that his team is in.

“I thought it was a good weekend of hockey,” he said. “We scored nine goals on the weekend and that’s something we haven’t done in a while. It was great to get Sami (Salminen) back in the lineup, Mathias back in for two games, it was great to get Justin Rose back. We just have to find a way to stay focused on what we have to do.

“We have some great things available to us. Our schedule is good. We have eight games left. Ferris has six games left. Michigan Tech has six games left. We play both of those teams head-to-head down the stretch.

“I’d love to be where they are, ahead of us, but we’re not. We have the opportunity to move forward and we kind of control our own fate right now. That’s the place where you want to be.”

Both Friday’s and Saturday’s games start at 7:07 p.m.

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