Season ends in overtime thriller to Minnesota State

The Wildcat offense showed up to play Saturday night in Mankato, but  Minnesota State Mavericks along with the ’Cats penalty mistakes proved to be too much as they outlasted the NMU in overtime to end the Wildcats season.

NMU opened the game’s scoring as senior forward Jake Johnson found the net behind the Mavericks freshman goaltender Cole Huggins 7:18 into the first period. The Wildcats were looking to take momentum and a lead into the locker room, but junior forward Matt Leitner tied the game for Minnesota State with half a second remaining in the first period.

The ’Cats grabbed the lead again 3:21 into the third period as junior forward Ryan Kesti scored his fourth goal of the season and put NMU back on top. At 12:06 in the second, sophomore forward Darren Nowick was sent to the penalty box on a high sticking minor, which led to a Mavericks goal from senior forward Johnny McInnis 1:54 later to tie the game.

The third period saw another surge from the Wildcats to start the period, as senior forward Stephan Vigier scored a power play goal to give them their third lead in the contest at 3-2 at 4:44 into the third. Sophomore forward Bryce Gervais would respond two and a half minutes later and tied the game at 7:22.

Half way through the third period, the Wildcats looked to have taken a late lead to force a third game on Sunday night when freshman defenseman Brock Maschmeyer scored a power play goal with just under eight minutes remaining in the game.

However, controversy hit the Wildcats for another time this season when junior forward Ryan Daugherty was called for a hooking penalty that even had the Minnesota State radio announcers questioning what the referees saw on the play with six minutes remaining in regulation. The Mavericks capitalized on the referee’s mistake as Gervais got the puck past NMU freshman goaltender Mathias Dahlstrom for his second straight goal and tie the game with 4:23 remaining which sent the game into overtime. Freshman forward Zach Stepan completed the comeback at the 16:32 mark in overtime to punch his team’s ticket to the WCHA quarterfinals in Grand Rapids, and send the Wildcats home for the season.

The Wildcats were 2-2 on the power play, but penalties cost the team for the second night in a row as they were 2-4 on the penalty kill. The game featured the veteran leadership it seemed to lack in Friday’s loss, as two of the Wildcats four goals came off the sticks of Vigier and Baker. It was, of course, the last game in a Wildcat jersey for the two seniors, along with forward Erik Higby, defensemen Wade Epp and former captain CJ Ludwig who missed the majority of the season due to injury.

The ’Cats were bounced out of the playoffs in the first round for the fourth straight season, and were swept for the second year in a row. The Wildcats have hit the road for two straight seasons to start the playoffs. While we will examine the play of the graduating Wildcats along with the playoff performances over the last four seasons, it’s clear NMU has been missing the playoff push that have needed, or the consistency throughout the season to finish with a higher seed and draw an opponent with a lesser record to host at the Berry Events Center to open the playoffs.

The season featured moments of highs and lows, from a 2-0 win over Michigan Tech in the conference opener to bringing the Cappo Cup back to Marquette with a series win over LSSU in February.

The Wildcats finished seventh in the WCHA with 27 points. To put things in perspective, NMU was three points behind the fourth and final seed to host first round of the WCHA playoffs. Alaska Anchorage and Bowling Green tied for third and fourth place with 30 points.

The ’Cats lost three of four matches to their rival Michigan Tech Huskies, giving them six points in the season series. The Huskies finished in fifth place in the conference with only two more points than the Wildcats.

NMU had two tough stretches of play during the season, as the Wildcats went 0-5-1 from Friday, Nov. 29 against the Ferris State Bulldogs and Saturday, Dec. 14 at North Dakota State University. The ’Cats opened the new year with three straight wins over Bemidji and Alaska Fairbanks and looked to have turned the corner on the season. However, the Wildcats went on a 4-9 stretch in the final two months of the season, including the playoffs, to end the season with a 15-21-2 record.

The Wildcats are losing two of their three leading scorers, as captain Vigier (15 goals) and Higby (11 goals) are moving on this offseason. Epp and Ludwig proved to be solid on the blue line throughout their tenure in the green and gold.

The good news is that the Wildcats had young players show up and perform throughout the season and into the playoffs. Nowick, Maschmeyer, Shine and Siemer all have proven themselves as rising players with good upsides, and have a number of years remaining on the roster if they choose to do so. Mathias Dahlstrom has showed in his first season that he is one of the top goaltenders in the entire WCHA, and very well may be the best player on the Wildcats team. Seckel, Daugherty and Kesti, along with defensemen Luke Eibler, Mitch Jones and Jake Baker will return for one more run with head coach Walt Kyle’s Wildcats.

It will be a long offseason for Kyle and his staff, as there are many holes to replace in the short-term and long term future of the team. We will continue to examine these needs throughout the offseason, along with providing you updates and announcements the team makes throughout the next seven months. It’s been a fun, interesting season, and we will see you in 208 days at the Resch Center in Green Bay, Wis. for the season opener.  

Rally falls short, ’Cats facing elimination in game 2

            

       After losing to the Minnesota State Mavericks Friday night, the NMU Wildcats’ season is on the line tonight as the teams meet up for game two at 8:07 p.m.

           

     The Mavericks jumped out to an early 1-0 lead 3:44 into the first period last night, as junior forward Matt Leithner got the puck past Wildcat freshman goaltender Mathias Dahlstrom. The ’Cats appeared to tie the game minutes later, but after review the referees disallowed the goal, determining the puck was kicked in by freshman forward Dominik Shine, giving the Mavericks a one goal lead after the first period.

           

       Minnesota State scored two goals in four minutes in the second period, with goals coming from sophomore forward Bryce Gervais at 4:24 and freshman defenseman Sean Flanagan at 8:23 into the period. The Wildcats got on the board 15:01 into the period as freshman forward Shane Sooth, cutting the defecate to two goals heading into the locker room.

Freshman defenseman Brock Maschmeyer made it a one goal game early in the third period, scoring a Wildcat goal on Mavericks freshman goaltender Cole Huggins. The ’Cats would get no further in the contest however, as their rally would come up short and drop NMU down 1-0 in the best-of-three series and will face a must-win game tonight to keep their season alive.

NMU was out-shot 25-18 in the first meeting, while going 1-2 on the power play and 2-4 on the penalty kill.

Penalties were a killer for the Wildcats defense last night, as the team losses by one goal while allowing two power play goals. The team played with the Mavericks a lot better than most people gave them credit for coming into the series, but the ’Cats play was just not clean enough to earn a win last night.

NMU’s desperation play did not seem to show up until the Mavericks jumped out to a 3-0 lead, and when it did, it wasn’t for long. The rally wasn’t a too-little too-late situation, as the Wildcats had almost an entire third period to try and get a third or possible fourth goal in the game, but did not do enough to cash them in.

Hopefully we will see the Wildcats come out early in tonight’s game with the same intensity they had after Minnesota State’s third goal last night. The ’Cats seniors will need to step up their game tonight, as the only senior that made much noise on the score sheet last night was forward Stephan Vigier who assisted Maschmeyer’s goal in the third period. The freshman showed up last night and found the net, and now the seniors will have to do the same if they want their career in a Wildcat jersey to continue.

Last season, the Wildcats found themselves in a very similar situation as they fell behind the Michigan Wolverines 3-0 in the opening game of the CCHA playoffs. The Wildcats were able to make it a 3-2 game, but were unable to getting any closer in that game either as it ended 3-2 as well. The next night, the Wildcats did not show up in the final game of the season, losing 6-2 in the match. Hopefully history will not repeat itself in similar fashion, and this senior group of Wildcats will have one last chance to show up in the playoffs tonight and force game three, with a chance to win their first playoff series in their four year career.

’Cats begin WCHA playoffs at Minnesota State

The Wildcats travel to Mankato to take on the Minnesota State Mavericks in the opening round of the WCHA playoffs this weekend.

                

After sweeping last-place Alabama Huntsville last weekend, along with Lake Superior State and Bemidji State getting swept as well, the Wildcats have finished the regular season in seventh place of the conference, earning the right to battle in the WCHA playoffs. Northern Michigan missed out on an opportunity to take on third-place Alaska Fairbanks by one game as the ’Cats finished with a 13-14-1 record . Instead, NMU will take on the Minnesota State team that tied for first place in the WCHA regular season with a record of 20-7-1, and have not lost a regular season home game since their WCHA home opener on November 8 when they fell 4-3 to Bowling Green.

               

      In fact, Minnesota State has been unbeaten for almost a month in a half. Their last loss did come against NMU back on January 31 when the Wildcats defeated the Mavericks 5-2 at the Berry Events Center, when defense man Ryan Kesti scored two of the Wildcats four goals in the third period. On the season, the Wildcats are 1-3 against the Mavericks, as they dropped two in Minnesota back in early December. The Wildcats came within one goal of Minnesota State on Friday, Dec. 6 as they fell 3-2 on the evening before getting blanked 3-0 the following night on Saturday, Dec. 7 suffering a sweep. The ’Cats were unable to repay the Mavericks the favor in January, as Minnesota defeated the Wildcats 5-1 on Saturday, Feb. 1 at home. The lone goal for the Wildcats came off a penalty shot to senior forward Erik Higby.

              

      Minnesota State’s offense benefits from great depth, with nine players scoring seven goals or more, three of which have double-digit goals on the season. Junior forward Jean-Paul Lafontaine is leading the Mavericks offense with 20 goals on the season, followed by senior forward Johnny McInnis who has racked up 19. Sophomore forward Bryce Gervais has found the net 12 times this season for the Mavericks as well.

Freshman goaltender Mathias Dahlstrom will stand across from freshman goaltender Cole Huggins, who is holding a 92.21 save percentage on the season. Dahlstrom has had similar success, posting a 91.25 save percentage in his first season for the Wildcats. To get to the WCHA finals in Grand Rapids, Mich. next weekend, the Wildcats will need Dahlstrom to have some of his best performances of his first season this weekend.

Senior forward and captain Stephan Vigier is leading the Wildcats to his final playoff push with 14 goals on the season. Higby and junior forward Reed Seckel follow with 11 goals. The Wildcats will need everything their three leading goal scorers have left in them this season if they are going to compete in Mankato and look to finally take a series from the Mavericks. 

OPINION:

The Wildcats are looking to extend what head coach Walt Kyle has said to have considered good play over the last two series, where the ’Cats split the fourth seed Bowling Green Falcons, along with a sweep over Alabama Huntsville. Of the four teams hosting playoff games in the WCHA this weekend however, Minnesota State may be the hardest of all to defeat in their arena.

                It will be up to the senior core to try and pull off the upset in Minnesota, and if there is any team that knows about playoff upsets, it is this senior roster. For forwards Higby, Stephan Vigier, defense men CJ Ludwig (Injury reserve), Austin Handley and Wade Epp, it has been a difficult four year experience at NMU in many ways. With the regular season aside, this team has been eliminated by the six-seed Bowling Green Falcons twice and an under performing Michigan Wolverines team in the last three seasons. Maybe this is the year that this team comes through as the underdog role and upsets a team that appears to be better than them in almost every category.

NMU has played Minnesota close in at least one game in both series this weekend. Maybe this is a good match up for the Wildcats, but they might be licking their wounds late Saturday night, dwelling on the missed opportunity to travel to Alaska or host the first round of the playoffs at the Berry Events Center. The Wildcats just need to find a way to win one of the first two games on Friday or Saturday, no matter how ugly or close it may get, and pull out some magic on Sunday night. If the ’Cats do find  a way to finish off the Mavericks this weekend, than they will have taken out the hottest team in the WCHA and will travel to a neutral site in Grand Rapids to fight for a WCHA title.