Cats rally, but penalties are too much Friday night in Alaska Fairbanks

                Despite their comebacks in the second and third, the Wildcats’ penalties provided too big of a hole to climb out of Friday night, as the Nanooks hold on and take a 5-4 victory over NMU Friday night/Saturday morning.

Michael Doan got the start in net for the Wildcats, before getting pulled in the second where he was replaced by Mathias Dahlstrom.

                Ryan Daugherty committed two penalties early on in the game during the first period for the Wildcats, as Alaska capitalized on their second opportunity when Tyler Morley scored at 12:44 to give Alaska a 1-0 lead early on. A little over two minutes later, Tyler’s brother, Brandon Morley would score to give the Nanooks a quick 2-0 lead.

                Stephan Vigier got the ‘Cats on the board with 2:07 left in the first period. Cohen Adair’s first goal of the season would tie the game 4:28 into the second period, and suddenly it seemed NMU was taking control of the game until five minutes later when Luke Eibler committed a five minute boarding penalty that gave Alaska a golden opportunity to get back in the game. Less than a minute later, CJ Ludwig was called for tripping and gave the Nanooks a two man advantage, which resulted in an Alaska goal by Marcus Basara to give Alaska the lead again at 3-2. Just as Beck scored, which ended Ludwig’s penalty, Wade Epp was called for crosschecking which gave the Nanooks back-to-back two man advantages. Colton Beck capitalized on their given opportunity and scored at 10:10 to give Alaska a 4-2 lead. Shawn Hochhausen scored with three minutes left in the second to give Alaska a 5-2 lead and send Michael Doan to the bench, as Mathias Dahlstrom relieved him of his duties for the night.

                Dahlstrom saved all eight shots he faced in the third period, and kept the Wildcats in the game as they made things interesting late in the third. CJ Ludwig scored with six minutes left in the third to make it a 5-3 lead for the Nanooks, and Cohen Adair got his second goal of the evening and season to make it a one goal game with 2:04 left on the clock. Reed Seckel made a great attempt at tying the game shortly after, but NMU was unable to tie the game and send it into overtime as the Nanooks held on and defeated them in the opening game of the weekend series.

                Penalties were the deciding factor in the game, as the Nanooks only committed two penalties with 4 PIM, as opposed to the Wildcats who committed six penalties that added up to 15 PIM.

                The decision by Walt Kyle to sit Mathias Dahlstrom in the game to put Michael Doan in was also possibly a costly decision, as Doan let in some cheap shots in the first two periods, while Dahlstrom made some marvelous saves in the third to keep his team alive and almost help them to overtime. Kyle has praised the play of Dahlstrom through his first four games, but sat him to start Friday's game, possibly due to the team’s overall poor performance last week at Michigan Tech to help build confidence in him. However, one would think that if Dahlstrom’s play is as good as it’s been hyped, he should be receiving the starting nod from the coach in the similar fashion that Coreau seemed to always receive from Kyle week in and week out.

                With the loss, the ‘Cats fall to 1-2 in conference play, 2-5 overall and fall to sixth in the conference. Alaska’s win tonight gives them a 1-0 conference record and a 4-1-2 record overall, moving them up to second in the WCHA. NMU will have some tape too look over, with some costly penalties and turnovers highlighted which essentially changed the game for the ‘Cats. Give NMU credit for sticking around and competing until the game was over, and hopefully they can carry that attitude over into Saturday night’s game with a better disciplined form of play. If they do so, they should have a good chance at leaving Alaska with a split heading back to Marquette.
          The puck drops Saturday night at 11:07 pm, which can be heard on 100.3 The Point and seen on AmericaOneSports.com.

Late night Series in Alaska for the 'Cats

The NMU Wildcats are in Alaska this weekend for a WCHA clash against the Alaska Nanooks. 

           The Wildcats come into this game with a 1-1 WCHA record (2-4 overall), fourth in the conference, taking on the fifth place Nanooks who are opening their conference play tonight and have an overall record of 3-1-2.

        The Wildcats are looking for their first road win of the year, hoping to get it against a conference opponent, which is something the team struggled with all of last year, getting only 2 conference road wins all season with the first coming in February. Fairbanks is the perfect place to get their road game play on the right track: even though the Wildcats were swept last January in Fairbanks, the Nanooks are only 6-28-12 all-time against the ‘Cats, with NMU winning 14 of the 18 games they have ever played in Fairbanks against Alaska.

        Who to watch for-NMU- Stephan Vigier has scored five goals in six games this year for the Wildcats, and I have a feeling he will be an offensive machine sending pucks at the net all night. The return of Reed Seckel gave NMU an extra bounce against Tech, and hopefully he will be in the lineup to stir things up again this evening. Cohen Adair has missed the last four games with undisclosed reasons, so his status is still unknown for this weekend’s series.

      Who to watch for-Alaska- Cody Kunyk and Nolan Huysmans each have five goals apiece for Alaska in their six games this year, and the dueling threat will be a tough task for the defense this evening.

 If the ‘Cats have the same performance they did last Friday night, they should be able to take on the Nanooks in their usual Fairbanks fashion.  They have to push their performance from Saturday in Houghton behind them and concentrate on this valuable points, battling the time that is right behind them in the standings.

NMU GOES FOR SPLIT IN SERIES FINALE AT WISCONSIN

            The NMU Wildcats will try to rebound after dropping their season opener in Madison and try for a series split. The ‘Cats will be without scoring threat Junior forward Reed Seckel for the second straight game as they battle on the no. 3 ranked Wisconsin Badgers tonight at 9:00 pm est.

The Wildcats will have to come with a stronger start  than last night’s game, where freshmen players showed their nerves and seniors couldn’t hold the team together until they had dug themselves too large of a defecate to come back.

The Defense will have to be much stronger than the first game, where fundamental breakdowns gave the Badgers four open goals in the first two periods, one of them a shorthanded goal in the second. If the defense can’t find it’s rhythm fast, they’ll fall behind quickly in the game just like last night.

A player to watch for the Wildcats in this game is Stephan Vigier, who had 6 shots on net last night and recorded his first goal of the season late in last night’s game. If Vigier has the same performance he did last night, there’s a good chance he’ll find the back of the net again tonight and possibly give the ‘Cats a chance to grab a non-conference win leaving Madison tonight.

Michael Doan will fill in between the pipes tonight for Mathias Dahlstrom for the ‘Cats, where last night he allowed 5 goals on 38 shots. It was tough to place all the blame on Dahlstrom though, as the defense left him out to dry time after time, with him also making some incredible saves that give us optimism for the season in net.

Dahlstrom will be facing Rumple, who is filling in for Landon Peterson, who made 18 saves on 20 shots last night. The Wildcats will certainly need to send more pucks his way tonight, as the Badgers outshout them nearly 2-1.

The Puck drop tonight is at 9:00 pm est., and can be seen tonight on InsideBadgerSports.com, or heard on 100. 3 The Point.

WILDCATS  LOSE  SEASON  OPENER
IN WISCONSIN 5 - 2

The Northern Michigan University Wildcats dropped their first game of the season to the Wisconsin Badgers on Friday night. Stephan Vigier and CJ Ludwig found the back of the net for the 'Cats, but the NMU defense couldn't hold up against the no. 3 ranked team in the country's offense, who scored five goals on 38 shots.

The no. 3 ranked Wisconsin Badgers scored just five minutes into the game, when Joseph Labate got the puck past diving NMU goaltender Mathias Dahlstrom at 5:07. The Badgers would score again two minutes later on the Wildcats first power play of the game, when Jake McCabe scored a shorthanded goal cutting through the NMU defense at 7:39.

"We did not have a lot of our guys play well," coach Walt Kyle said. "I thought we were nervous when (Wisconsin) started scoring. Our upperclassman have to have better composure than to let it go away like that."

Stephan Vigier had a goal waved off shortly after McCabe's goal in the second, in a controversial call where the officials ruled that Ryan Daugherty interfered with the goaltender crease.

"That was a big point in the game," Kyle said. "We could have maybe put our finger in the dike if that goal goes in."

Michael Mersch would score with two minutes left in the first period to give the Badgers a 3-0 lead heading into the second period. In the second, CJ Ludwig scored the first goal of the season for the 'Cats at 17:41, but the Badgers matched that with a goal of their own a minute later when Tyler Barnes scored on a delayed penalty with a minute left in the period.

"I think we could have slowed the game down a bit," Ludwig said. "Too much panic on our team, we've just got to settle it down and get it going."

Both teams would score in the third period as Grant Besse scored for the Badgers 1:43 into the period, and Stephan Vigier got one past with one minute remaining in the game.

Northern Michigan goaltender Mathias Dahlstrom saved 33 of 38 shots on goal, while Wisconsin goaltender stopped 18 of 20 shots. The Wildcats were 2 for 9 on the powerplay, while the Badgers were 1 for 7.

The Wildcats will look to take a series split tomorrow when they play the Badgers again on Saturday, October 12 at 9:00 pm est. The game can be watched on Americanonesports.com or listened to on 100.3 FM The Point.