Encircled by Northern fans on home ice for the first time this season, the Wildcats swept the St. Cloud State University Huskies last weekend in a two-game series.
The ’Cats (3-1 overall) defeated the Huskies (1-3 overall) on Friday, Oct. 14 by a score of 5-2, and again on Saturday, Oct. 15, 3-2.
Senior goalie Reid Ellingson, who was in net Friday night, said the team was excited to face the good opponent and come out with two wins.
“I thought we played great,” Ellingson said. “Our effort was awesome both nights throughout each game. Our passing is still improving and our team play is pretty good for being this early in the season.”
Head coach Walt Kyle said the goalies, Ellingson and sophomore Jared Coreau, were the top players of the weekend. The Wildcats were outshot by the Huskies both games, with 27 saves from Ellingson on Friday and 25 from Coreau on Saturday.
On offense, the goals were spread out among the lines; of the eight total goals of the weekend, no Wildcat scored twice.
Scoring on Friday were forwards sophomore Reed Seckel, junior Kory Kaunisto, senior Andrew Cherniwchan, senior Tyler Gron and junior defenseman Kyle Follmer.
Saturday’s goals were scored by sophomore forwards Stephan Vigier and Erik Higby and senior forward Justin Florek.
“We don’t have any high-end individuals right now,” Kyle said. “It’s easier to break down one individual player than an entire line. It’s easier to break down one line than several strong lines.”
Kyle said having strength across the roster will help NMU remain tougher to play against, especially as the schedule progresses to more challenging teams.
In Friday’s game, the Huskies scored in the first at 17:31. The Wildcats, however, did not take long to respond, scoring just 39 seconds later and regaining momentum.
“It’s sometimes tough to get back into the game, but Reed Seckel made a great play and responded right away,” Ellingson said. “That got the team back into it and got the ball rolling again for us.”
The ’Cats showed much improvement against St. Cloud by staying out of the penalty box. They had only four penalties against the Huskies, compared to 20 penalties the previous weekend against University of Wisconsin.
Last Saturday, freshman defenseman Jake Baker received a five-minute major penalty and game misconduct for checking from behind. NMU succeeded in killing off the penalty without the Huskies scoring.
“Whenever you kill a penalty like that and don’t get scored on, I think the momentum shifts in your direction,” Cherniwchan said. “We were fortunate it was early in the game and none of us were tired, so we had a lot of energy to kill it off.”
Next weekend, the Wildcats take on No. 1 ranked CCHA opponent University of Michigan (5-1) at home in their first series of conference play.
“There’s always a big hype around Michigan and that’s good because they’re always one of the best teams,” Cherniwchan said. “Playing the best teams brings out the best in us, and we usually have pretty good success against them.”
Kyle said NMU will need to be at the same level of play and goaltending, win the special teams and limit its mistakes in order to defeat Michigan.
“I don’t think we’re feeling pressure; I think we feel an excitement,” Kyle said. “Michigan is ranked No. 1 in the country for a reason, and it gives us the opportunity to really test ourselves.”
The ’Cats play at 7:30 p.m. on both Friday, Oct. 21 and Saturday, Oct. 22 at the Berry Events Center.
“Home advantage is big in all aspects,” Ellingson said. “You’re used to your rink and you have your fans on your side. Especially with our good start and Michigan’s ranking, the crowd should be pretty big. It should be an exciting weekend.”
