Following a split weekend with Alaska-Fairbanks, the men’s hockey team will hit the road for a series at University of Alaska-Anchorage.Head coach Walt Kyle said the team needs to bring energy, puck movement and commitment.
“Right now we’ve got to be better,” Kyle said. “We’ll know we’re a good team when every night I know the level of play we’re going to have.”
Alaska-Anchorage is currently in fourth place of 10 WCHA teams with an 8-7-3 record. In their most recent games, the Seawolves went 3-0-1, sweeping preseason favorite Minnesota State-Mankato a few weeks back.
NMU will head up to Alaska-Anchorage with a different situation. The ’Cats swept Bemidji State on the road a few weeks back, but then had a weekend off.
The ’Cats returned to split last weekend with Alaska-Fairbanks in a 5-4 victory Friday, Jan. 17 and a 4-3 loss Saturday, Jan. 18.
The most recent additions to the team each scored a goal for the ’Cats. Redshirt freshman forward John Siemer, named WCHA rookie of the week following last weekend’s series, scored his first goal for NMU off assists from junior defenseman Luke Eibler and senior forward Erik Higby.
Freshman forward Gerard Hanson also scored his first goal for NMU with assists from freshman forward Sami Salminen and junior defenseman Jake Baker.
Siemer said his first goal with the ’Cats was a nice way to get the monkey off his back.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling, especially in the Berry, in front of the home fans,” Siemer said. “I feel like it opened things up for me. I feel like I can stop worrying about it so much now and the goals will come.”
Junior forward Ryan Kesti also scored his first goal of the season on Friday evening off assists from freshman defenseman Brock Maschmeyer and Baker.
Kyle said Kesti was very deserving.
“I thought Ryan Kesti was our best forward tonight, without a doubt,” Kyle said. “He played both sides of the puck; he was solid. He made a number of plays and he was just an honest, hardworking player tonight and he’s been all year for us. It was good to see him finally get rewarded.”
The following evening, the ’Cats took the loss for a split weekend. Alaska-Fairbanks earned the 4-3 victory with a quick shot in the third period by freshman forward Brandon Morley for the win.
Redshirt freshman goaltender Mathias Dahlstrom said he was not happy with how he played.
“The start of the game is really important and today we got the 2-0 lead,” Dahlstrom said. “We’ve got to keep playing that way like we started it and not sit back. I feel like I started good in the first. I just didn’t have it this weekend, so I’m not that happy.”
Even with the weekend split, the Wildcats moved up two places in the WCHA standings, from eighth of 10 teams to sixth.
Following the game Saturday, Kyle said the team will have to make some adjustments for the road trip up to Alaska.
“Tonight gets us ahead of the game,” Kyle said. “We did a great job in Bemidji. We came back last night and won a game we shouldn’t have won. Now we’re back, we’ve got games in Alaska. They’re a very good team at home and we’re going to have our hands full.”
