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.