When the dead of winter rolls around, many college hockey teams, like the mammals whose likeness they wear on the front of their jerseys, go into hibernation.
Sometimes the strength of opponents finally catches up to a team that had an easy run in the first half of the year, sometimes a grueling travel schedule can take its toll on teams that are balancing full academic loads on top of hockey. Perhaps it’s even simply an inability to shake off the rust of the holiday break.
But while these conditions can be unpredictable with different effects striking different teams and all, you can almost set your watch to the emergence of a Northern Michigan team that has once again jumped to life at the turn of the year just as it has the two previous seasons, putting the Wildcats into contention for a first-round bye in the CCHA playoffs.
Northern Michigan has amassed a six-game unbeaten streak, with four wins in regulation and two shootout victories, propelling a that may have been headed on the road for the playoffs into a club with a legitimate shot to be resting during the opening round of the postseason.
“We finally started to play the way we’re supposed to,” Wildcats forward Greger Hansen said. “We’re following the coaches’ guidelines and doing all of the little things right.”
Hansen and fellow forward Mark Olver, perhaps the league’s most exciting players, have led the charge. They have compiled seven and eight points a piece during the past half dozen games, including a four-point night for Olver during last weekend’s 7-2 drubbing of Western Michigan at the Berry Events Center.
But while the offensive numbers continue to pile up and the Wildcats’ power play has risen to become the top unit in conference play in converting 22.7 percent of its opportunities, Hansen and Olver contend that the key has been focus on the team’s defensive game.
Heading into a critical two game series at Michigan, the Wildcats know that they must be responsible defensively and put away any chances that they do get against a talented Wolverines team. Olver noted that with Northern Michigan can’t always recruit the top talents in the land, coach Walt Kyle’s focus on recruiting the hardest working players he can find is paying off. Even Olver, as effective as his supreme offensive talents are, has made a renewed commitment to playing a two-way game.
“I think this year has been a little different for me,” Olver said. “I’m working to become a better defensive player. To get to the next level, you have to be a good defensive player and you have to be good down low, so I spent a lot of time in the weight room.”
One major piece of the Wildcats’ defensive efforts is goaltender Bryan Stewart, who continues to show why he is known as one of the toughest netminders in the CCHA. The 6-foot-4, 200 pound senior from British Columbia consistently comes up with big saves and his .923 save percentage ranks among the league’s best.
In the team’s five-point weekend at Ferris State, Stewart showed that he’s as ready as ever for matchups against top opponents, notching perhaps the single most heroic goaltending performance of the season in a 4-0 victory.
“The other weekend at Ferris State, (Stewart) had a 51-save shutout,” Olver said. “We won 4-0, but he came up with some of the big saves that we needed, because it would be a different game if it was 4-2 or 4-3. He has been a real catalyst for our team.”
If Stewert, Olver and the Wildcats can manage a big weekend in Ann Arbor, Northern Michigan could find itself in position to close out the year amongst the top four. With Michigan State and Ferris State facing each other and Nebraska-Omaha facing a tough road series at Miami, a sweep of Michigan could launch Northern Michigan to third place.
With a first-round bye and the rabid Wildcats fans pulling for the home team in the second round, it would be a downhill road to Joe Louis Arena for Northern Michigan.
