NMU Hockey is back in full swing, set to open up the Barry for the first time this season. Last week, the Wildcats fell to No. 16 Ohio State. The ‘Cats were unable to get a win in either game during the weekend. The Wildcats are currently unranked. Something new for the Wildcats this year is that they are the youngest team in the CCHA conference.
In the first game against the Buckeyes, the ‘Cats fell 2-5. Both Wildcat goals came in the second period, as they were unable to score in the first or third. The Buckeyes were able to score three goals in the first period alone, with the ‘Cats being able to limit the team to just one goal in the second and third periods. The goaltender for the game was junior goalie William Gramme. Goal scorers in the game were freshmen Michael Burchill and Peter Cisar.
“I thought our guys did a really good job against some really good teams. And you know what, you can look at the shot clock at one thing, but if you look at the quality of play and the number of quality chances, it’s a little tighter than you think…And the areas that I thought we could have did a little bit better, discipline was number one. And we talked about that as a team. And then we got to find a way to create a little bit more offense when we do have the puck. And that takes time. We’re a young team. It’s not easy to score at our level. It’s just not. And we talked about that,” said Head Coach Dave Shyiak.
The following night, the Wildcats were able to pull a little closer to the Buckeyes, but were still unable to get the win over Ohio State. Goalies were swapped for this game, as freshman goalie Oliver Auyeung-Ashton made his first start as goalie. Auyeung-Asthon put on a great performance in the goal, only allowing two goals throughout the game against the 45 attempts the Buckeyes took. This performance earned the goalie the CCHA Rookie of the Week honor. The one Wildcat goal of the game was scored by freshman Landon MacDonald.
“But we got to give a little bit more, get a little bit better, and find out what it takes to win, ultimately. And you just, you got to continue to play these games and continue to learn from it and focus on the next game,” Shyiak said.
This week, the Wildcats will play at home in the Berry for the first time this season, as they are set to host the No. 19 Colorado College on both Friday and Saturday night. Last year, when the Wildcats went to face Colorado College, the ‘Cats fell in both games. The first went to overtime, ending 4-3, and the second, the ‘Cats fell hard 6-1. The ‘Cats are aiming for wins this weekend and not a repeat of last year.
“And we’re going to plan for us to get better. Obviously, we have a plan in place on how to play against them and tweak some things, but overall we’re still concentrating on how do we get better and we want to be a tough team to play against, not make it easy on the other opponent,” Shyiak said.
Following this the team will host their last non-conference team, as the Wildcats take on the Michigan State Spartans in the Berry next weekend.
“We have to talk more on the ice. It’s really really tough to hear them on the ice but you got to do it. You need everybody being able to communicate on the ice and it makes things a lot more easy to play defense, play offense, all parts of the game,” Coach said.
