MARQUETTE – The second season has begun for the Northern Michigan University hockey team.

Starting tonight, the Wildcats will try to keep their season alive as they travel to Ferris State for the best-of-three first round of the WCHA playoffs.

The Wildcats had a chance to earn home ice during the past two weekends, but an 0-3-1 stretch against Upper Peninsula rivals Lake Superior State and Michigan Tech left them one point behind the Bulldogs in the standings.

Northern split four games with Ferris this season, going 2-2-0 as they split series in each building.

“We did just see them (back in February) and they kind of play the same way each time,” Northern head coach Walt Kyle said. “They have some forwards who can really go after you with their forecheck. They have a really good corps of defensemen and their goaltending is always solid.

“It is two really close teams. I think both teams know each other. I think both teams know what to expect.

“I think it comes down to if your best players are the best in the series. If they are, you’re in good shape.

“They do play in a smaller rink and it’s a tough building to play in, especially coming from our ice sheet to their ice sheet. Once again, though, we were there four weeks ago. The guys know what to expect there and they know what it’s like.”

The good thing for Northern is that it might be catching Ferris (15-14-6, 13-11-4 WCHA) at the best time. The Bulldogs have only won once in their last six games and almost missed getting home ice after losing a game to LSSU last weekend.

Ferris is led by All-WCHA Second Team member Gerald Mayhew and WCHA Rookie of the Year Corey Mackin.

Mayhew led the Bulldogs with 11 goals and 31 points, while Mackin had nine and 23. Mackin led all rookies with 21 points in league games as well as in goals. Fellow forwards Chad McDonald and Kyle Schempp also finished above the 20-point mark with 21 apiece.

Northern counters with its own top scoring tandem of Darren Nowick and Dominik Shine. Both were named to the All-WCHA second team on Thursday with Nowick leading the Wildcats in points with 30 and Shine in goals with 14.

Winger Robbie Payne has also had a good season with 11 goals and 18 points, while Gerard Hanson led Northern with 18 assists.

Kyle had praise for Nowick and Shine after their stellar seasons.

“I think that’s really rewarding for the guys and well deserved,” he said. “Nowick and Shine both put together really good seasons. They both were in contention for the scoring title till the end, so they are both deserving of it.

“Darren is the straw that stirs the drink with his line and that’s the best year of his career. He has been a really good player for us for four years and it’s nice to see him be rewarded for that.

“Dom is also stepping into his wheelhouse now. I think he would’ve had an even better year, but he was hobbled by a bad ankle in the first half of the year. I give him credit for that because a lot of guys wouldn’t have played with an injury like that.”

Defensively, the Bulldogs’ blue line is anchored by senior and All-WCHA Third Team member Brandon Anselmini, who was eighth among league defenseman with 13 points. Their goaltending is also solid with Darren Smith boasting a 2.29 goals-against average and .920 saves percentage.

Right now, it’s a question mark on who Smith’s counterpart will be in the Wildcats’ net between All-Rookie Team member Atte Tolvanen or senior Mathias Dahlstrom.

Kyle said he has made his choice, but wouldn’t say who it was. However, he did praise Tolvanen for what he accomplished this year.

“Atte came into a really tough situation with Mathias being out and he played exceptionally well,” he said. “I thought Atte would get 10 or 12 games this year in relief of Mathias and maybe be the starter going into next year. We were forced to play him and he answered the bell for us.”

All in all, it should be a competitive series and likely go the distance.

“I would expect the series to go three games because they are two really close teams,” Kyle said. “We feel that we are capable of playing with anybody. We think we’ve shown that over the course of the year, but now you have to do it.”

To dispatch the Bulldogs, the Wildcats will have to put last weekend’s home-and-home sweep by MTU behind them. Perhaps the most frustrating thing about the weekend was that the Wildcats outplayed the Huskies for the majority of Saturday’s game at the Berry Events Center, but couldn’t get the puck past Tech goalie Jamie Phillips.

“I was disappointed in the outcome of the game, but it wasn’t a 5-1 game on Saturday when I watched it,” Kyle said. “In the (Friday) game at Tech, I didn’t like how we performed after about 10 minutes into the second. I don’t think we played very good after that.

“The biggest thing for me Saturday was to kind of get a rebound game where we were doing the things that we needed to do right. I think that we did.

“We had some breakdowns certainly and Tech took advantage of them. However, I did see some things that we did well that showed that we were back where I wanted us to be going into the playoffs.”

The games today and Saturday start at 7:07 p.m. in Big Rapids. If necessary, Sunday’s game will be at 5:07 p.m.

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