’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.