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Jones lifts Wildcats over Seawolves 3-1, ‘Cats look for Sweep Saturday

Mitch Jones scores his first two goals of the season as NMU defeats the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves 3-1 late Friday night.

            Jones opened the game’s scoring midway through the first with a goal past Anchorage goaltender Chris Kamal. Kamal would save 11 shots out of 14 in the game. The goal was assisted by Stephan Vigier and John Siemer.

            Alaska would respond shortly after as Dylan Hubbs would score the only goal of the contest for the Seawolves. The goal was reviewed as Hubbs appeared to be in the crease behind NMU goaltender Mathias Dahlstrom as it was scored, but referees deemed the goal legal and continued play. Jones would give the ‘Cats the lead again at 12:01 in the second period, and Reed Seckel gave NMU an insurance goal in the third to give the Wildcats a win to start the series.

            Jone’s goals were each scored on the powerplay. The Wildcats were 2/6 on the powerplay, while the Seawolves were 1/6.

                        The loss for Anchorage was just their third loss at home of the year for the Seawolves. While the teams seemed pretty evenly matched throughout the game, the Seawolves did not seem as challenging in the offensive zone as either teams probably expected they would be heading into the game. With that said, Dahlstrom saved 22/23 shots in the game, which were six more shots for Alaska than NMU had in the game.

            The ‘Cats will look for the sweep tomorrow night in Alaska as the two teams battle off again at the same place at the same 11:07 puck drop. While the team produced a pretty good offensive performance tonight, they will need to up their game even more tomorrow night to complete the sweep, and Dahlstrom will have to play just as brilliantly as he did in tonight’s game.

            With the win, the Wildcats gained ground on the Bemidji Beavers and the Bowling Green Falcons who suffered losses earlier tonight. Michigan Tech handed the first place Ferris State Bulldogs their third consecutive loss, and the Wildcats will look to keep an upper hand over the Huskies who are only one point behind them in the standings. NMU still has more conference games remaining on their schedule than any other team in the WCHA.

            Saturday’s game can be seen on AmericaOneSports.com or heard on 100.3 FM The Point at 11:07 p.m.

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Wildcats look to rebound in Anchorage

                 The Wildcats will hit the ice for a pair at Alaska Anchorage Friday, Jan. 24 at 11:07 p.m. and Saturday, Jan. 25 at the same time. It will be the first time the ‘Cats meet the Seawolves since beginning their second stint with the WCHA.

                NMU will be looking to put a tough 4-3 loss at home against Alaska Fairbanks on Saturday behind them with a second trip to Alaska this season.  The ‘Cats traveled to Fairbanks in early November, where they split a series against the Nanooks at a game apiece.

                The Wildcats will be looking for WCHA points this weekend, as they sit in sixth place in the conference with 15 points. NMU has played at least two less games than anybody else in the conference, including the Anchorage Seawolves who sit two spots ahead of the ‘Cats in the standings with 19 points and four more games played.

                The Seawolves found themselves struggling late in November, but have gone unbeaten in six of their last seven and salvaged their season. Senior forward Matt Bailey has racked up 22 points for Anchorage with 13 goals and 9 assists. Senior goaltender Rob Gunderson comes into Friday with a 5-5-1 record with a 2.53 goals against average.

                Forward Stephan Vigier is leading the Wildcats in his junior year in scoring with 11 goals through the first 22 games. Junior forward Erik Higby and junior forward Reed Seckel each have six goals. Freshman goaltender Mathias Dahlstrom has an 8-9-2 record with a .923 save percentage.

                Coach Kyle will be looking for Friday night’s five goal effort from his offense to help get past Gunderson and expose why Alaska was struggling earlier in the season. The team will have to play more disciplined than they did against Alaska, and Dahlstrom will have to have a better performance against the second Alaska team.

                This will be a crucial series in the season for the Wildcats, who find themselves in the middle of the WCHA with uncertainty and inconsistency lingering around the team. Alaska Anchorage is no pushover by any means, but the Wildcats should be able to at least get two points by the early hours of Sunday morning.  

                As stated earlier, the Wildcats have more games in hand than any other team in the WCHA, but the schedule gets significantly tougher after this weekend. NMU will host the Minn. State Mavericks next weekend, who just handed Ferris their first two conference losses of the season and sit two points behind the Bulldogs for first place in the WCHA. The Wildcats will than hit the road for Big Rapids the next weekend to take on Ferris State Feb. 6-7, who have yet to lose at home this season.  The ‘Cats will have back-to-back rivalry weekends as they host LSSU 13-14 than partake in a home-and-home series with Tech Feb. 20-21. The Wildcats will not have much time to breath after the Huskies leave town before Bowling Green comes to town Feb. 28-March 1, and their recent success against us late in the season goes without saying. NMU will travel to Alabama Huntsville before closing out the regular season and hopefully qualifying for the WCHA playoffs.

                So the time to start winning is this weekend. It’s not impossible to get your game going against two ranked teams that sit atop your conference, but the ‘Cats best chance at getting some momentum going would be this weekend in Alaska.  Hopefully, it’ll be momentum they will ride to Grand Rapids in March.