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Danny Ciccarello
Danny Ciccarello vs Michigan State at the GLI last season

Hockey Braden Golisek - Assistant Director of Sports Information

PREVIEW: Wildcats Welcome No. 1 Michigan State

MARQUETTE, Mich. - The NMU hockey team has a big weekend on the horizon, welcoming the nation's top team to Marquette, the No. 1/1 Michigan State Spartans.

Puck drop from the Berry Events Center is set for 7:07 p.m. on Friday, October 24, and 6:07 p.m. on Saturday, October 25. Fans can catch broadcast coverage on MidcoSports+ and the Radio Results Network (100.3 The Point) for both Friday and Saturday. TV6 will also be providing a broadcast on Friday night. 

The Wildcats (0-6-0, 0-0-0 CCHA) last met the Spartans (3-1-0, 0-0-0 BIG10) at the Great Lakes Invitational (GLI) at Van Andel Arena last Christmas, where the Wildcats played the nation-leading Spartans to a 0-2 loss at the mid-season tournament.

The Wildcats and Spartans were once old CCHA foes, with the two sides playing over 70 times since 1980. MSU holds the overall edge over NMU at 32-38-4, while the 'Cats are 15-12-1 at home against the Spartans.

The weekend includes a pair of events on Saturday. The 'Cats will be celebrating Halloween in the Berry Events Center on the 25th, including a costume parade across the ice during the first intermission, and trick-or-treating the suites taking place during the second intermission.

Saturday night also includes the season's first 4th Period Party, hosted by Slabz Bar and Grill, immediately following the final whistle. 

Hear from head coach Dave Shyiak


The Wildcats are coming off a weekend sweep to No. 19/20 Colorado College, who has subsequently moved up to the 16/17 ranking after the favorable weekend results for the Tigers.

"First of all, give credit to Colorado; they were probably the fastest team we played [this season]. They've got some really good players; they certainly have an identity, and I thought our team did a really good job of taking away the rush play and their transition play for the most part."

Friday night's home opener saw the 'Cats drop a 2-1 overtime decision. Freshman goaltender Oliver Auyeung-Ashton got his second consecutive start between the pipes, turning aside 43 of 45 shots faced for a .956 SV%. Medrick Bolduc gave the 'Cats a 1-0 lead early in the first period and held that lead until the Tigers tied the game with nine minutes to play before scoring the eventual overtime winner, and head coach Shyiak had some positives to take away from Friday night, including going 3/3 on the penalty kill.

"We are getting better in our [defensive] zone and starting to tighten it up. [Auyeung-Ashton] was really, really good in net… the penalty kill was really good, for the most part we took away the rush game…  and I think the game was there to be won."

The Wildcats had a chance to win in overtime, as Bolduc had a partial breakaway and forced Kaidan Mbereko to make a big save, but the game-winner came from the stick of Ryan Koering, who finished off his end-to-end rush after a Wildcat turnover.

"When you get beat like that at home, it takes a toll on you emotionally, because you played so well and you thought you were right there to beat a really good team. And that's the disappointing part, and that's the hard lesson part that we got to learn, that every puck matters, and it comes down to fundamental and situational games where you can't afford to make mistakes like that in terms of where we're at in our growth and development. So we addressed that a little bit." 

Saturday night then saw a 5-2 decision, going in favor of the Tigers. William Gramme got his fourth start of the season, and Mathew Ward and Tobias Pitka got their first career goals. The 'Cats scored on one of its man-advantages, but allowed two power play goals in one game for the first time this season.

"[Saturday] was a little too much up and down for me. [Auyeung-Ashton] got hurt, and [Gramme] has done really well for us, so we put him in. It was one of those things where our power play was good and our penalty kill wasn't good."

The 'Cats went down 2-0, Ward responded to make it 2-1 to end the first period. The Tigers scored goals in the second and third to make it 4-1, Pitka responded right back to make it 4-2, but the Tigers ultimately found a fifth.

"We needed to get that next goal. [CC] got the fourth goal, and I think that put it away for them… I thought the goals [on the power play] they got were way too easy and uncharacteristic goals that our penalty kill gave up… so that was a little disappointing for us."

One thing that stood out for head coach Shyiak was how physical his team played, including a play from Kyle Bettens, who laid a massive hit before collecting his first Wildcat point with the primary assist on the Pitka goal.

"This series was physically demanding, but I thought we dictated [the physical play]... I thought it took away from their game, knowing that we were in their face in our hits were impactful, which led to a couple of our goals. The one that comes to the top of my head, [the Pitka goal], that started from a big hit from Bettens, who had a great weekend, physically. Usually, hits lead to turnovers, and you can collect pucks and go the other way, and that's what happened. We have to do more of that on a repeated basis, without taking penalties."

Ward, a freshman who joined the 'Cats from the CHL after the NCAA implemented a rule change to allow players from the major junior leagues to become eligible for NCAA hockey, notched two points on Saturday. Coach Shyiak says that Ward is making good progress transitioning to the NCAA.

"It doesn't matter from what league you're in, the transition has always been the pace of the game, the speed of the game, and the strength of the game, because the guys are older and stronger.. It really comes down to moving your feet and allowing your skill to take over, and [Ward] has a high skill level. He can make plays, he's got real good vision, and he has some real good tenacity when he gets on pucks. I thought he had really good back-to-back nights, especially on Saturday night. It takes time for those young individuals to make the transition, but he was impactful in his game, and we're going to need him and everybody else to step up."

Head coach Shyiak says the message to his group after the weekend, while also looking ahead to this weekend, was "consistency."

"There are some areas that we have to clean up, and we have to buy into that, and it's got to be consistent. We're six games in [to the season]. Are we doing some good things? Yeah, [and we will] continue to build on the good things. But you need both special teams clipping at the right speed together, and not give up easy goals. We got an opponent coming in who's the best team in the country right now, there's not a lot of holes to their game, so we've got to focus on getting better in the areas that we need to get better at and make sure we're able to execute."

The Wildcats welcome the nation-leading Spartans to the Berry for the first time since the 2019/20 season, where the team split the weekend 3-5 and 2-0. Though coach knows there will be excitement among the team, he doesn't want his squad "amped up too much" against the No. 1 team in the country.

"You want to be emotionally charged and engaged, but sometimes when you're amped up too much, you play a hurried game. And when you play a hurried game full of emotion, it can get you out of position, or you can make poor puck plays with it. You've got to have a calmness to your game with some real good intensity, so you can make poised plays with the puck and be on the attack. We do want to be emotionally on the edge, and we want to be intense, but again, we want to have a calmness…  Anytime you've got the best team in the country come into your barn, you've got to embrace it. You know it's going to be a battle. It brings out the best in you. We talked about that with our young group, to embrace it, have fun with it, and go out, play instinctively, play hard, compete for one another, and let's make sure we execute on our game plan."

In anticipation of a packed house for the weekend, coach says that the home crowd can help energize his team.

"It should be a great crowd [this weekend], and that really helps our guys. We've got to have that home ice advantage. It's like having a seventh player on the ice when you have a full crowd like that."

In his second season at the head of the program after scrambling together a roster last season, head coach Shyiak still emphasizes "sticking to the process of getting better" as one of the most important points at this stage. 

"We started from scratch last year.. You can't fast-track the growth and development, and when you combine that against playing the best teams in the nation, it's not always going to go your way, but we are getting better playing against these really good teams. We have to just continue on that process, but we also have to learn the hard lessons… Our approach is to focus on Friday night, take some of the things we learned from last weekend that were good and we've been consistent with, and now we've got to be consistent in this aspect of the game that's going to help us get over the hump. Consistency in how you play is the key to success."




 
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Players Mentioned

Medrick Bolduc

#13 Medrick Bolduc

F
5' 9"
Sophomore
William Gramme

#1 William Gramme

G
6' 3"
Junior
Mathew Ward

#10 Mathew Ward

F
5' 9"
Freshman
Tobias Pitka

#19 Tobias Pitka

F
6' 4"
Freshman
Kyle Bettens

#24 Kyle Bettens

F
6' 3"
Senior
Oliver Auyeung-Ashton

#30 Oliver Auyeung-Ashton

G
5' 10"
Freshman

Players Mentioned

Medrick Bolduc

#13 Medrick Bolduc

5' 9"
Sophomore
F
William Gramme

#1 William Gramme

6' 3"
Junior
G
Mathew Ward

#10 Mathew Ward

5' 9"
Freshman
F
Tobias Pitka

#19 Tobias Pitka

6' 4"
Freshman
F
Kyle Bettens

#24 Kyle Bettens

6' 3"
Senior
F
Oliver Auyeung-Ashton

#30 Oliver Auyeung-Ashton

5' 10"
Freshman
G