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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.