The 2008-09 NMU Wildcat Hockey roster is now posted on the NMU Sports Page. Stay tuned for confirmation as the season approaches. As of today, the new Freshmen are Justin Florek, Tyler Gron, Andrew Cherniwchan and Ben Lindemulder. Phil Axtell is also new as a transfer from Tech. Gone are former seniors Matt Siddall and Andrew Sarauer, plus freshmen Reid Ellingson and Mick McCrimmon.

2008-09 Preliminary Roster

Incoming Sophomore Mark Olver was drated today by the Colorado Avalanche in the NHL Entry Draft. Mark was drafted in the 5th Round, and was the 140th player selected in the draft. This is a great accomplishment for Mark and he should be congratulated. Hopefully he continues his rapid development and will be on the ice for the Avs in the very near future. In the meantime, look for Mark to be one of the CCHA’s top players in the 2008-09 season.

Former NMU superstar Nathan Oystrick helped lead the Chicago Wolves to winning the Calder Cup of the American Hockey League (AHL) by a 4 games to 2 margin over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. The AHL is the top professional minor league in the world just below the NHL.

Nathan was one of the top blueliners on the team during the regular season posting 15 goals, 28 assists for 43 points in 80 games, including a +8 margin. In the Calder Cup playoffs, Nathan scored 3 goals and added 8 assists for 11 points.

Former NMU superstar Dallas Drake helped lead the Red Wings to their 4th Stanley Cup in the last 11 years Wednesday night at Pittsburg–what a way to conclude a great NHL career! The Detroit News provided this great snapshot of Dallas as he gets ready to drink from the holy Cup. It brings back great memories when Dallas helped lead NMU to its National Championship in 1991. That memorable season was Dallas’ junior year in which he scored 22 goals and added 36 assists for 58 points. He then went on the next season to pump in 83 points! A 1989 NHL Draft pick of the Red Wings, Dallas will likely hang it up for a career now, but you never know! He’s got the ultimate heart and fire like every good Wildcat and Red Wings should have in life.

Dallas Enjoys the Stanley Cup with the Red Wings


Dallas Enjoys the 1991 National Championship with NMU

Last week, the NHL published its NHL Central Scouting Final Rankings list of the top players in the world available to be drafted in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft on June 20-21 in Ottawa.

Two current NMU players are listed:

Mark Olver #207
Erik Gustafsson #209

Two incoming NMU players are listed:

Justin Florek #113
Tyler Gron #158

Expect all four of these guys to get drafted this summer in Ottawa. Big things are coming for the NMU hockey program in 2008-09!

Justin Florek, Marquette native and future 2008-09 NMU Wildcat, helped lead Team USA today to a Bronze Medal against Team Sweden in the IHF Under 18 World Junior Championship, 6-3. For the tournament, Justin played very well, scoring 3 goals in 8 tournament games. Keep in mind that this is the best competition and best players in the world for his age group. Justin will bring his skills and game back home to Marquette in the fall to play for the Cats!

Senior Matt Siddall went out on a great note by beating the Notre Dame Irish 2-1 in Saturday’s consolation game at the CCHA Final Four. For his great efforts in both games on the weekend, Matt made the All-tournament team as well. Thanks Matt for a fantastic career at NMU. You’ll go down in Wildcat history as one of the toughest players to lace up the skates, and the best wrister ever seen in Marquette.

With the win, the Cats moved their record to 20-20-4. Now what most fans in Marquette don’t realize that if it were not for the two tough losses to Wayne State and that fluke loss at Ohio State just a few weeks ago, the Cats would have possibly made the NCAA tournament. Just check out USCHO.com and see why… Wisconsin and Minnesota both made the tournament. Wisconsin only managed to win 15 games! Their record was 15-16-7. In the history of NCAA D-I hockey, I can’t recall if this has ever happened–a 6th place team get in the dance without winning the league playoff or even getting to the WCHA Final Five. Plus they play the first round in their home arena. That would be deemed as being a crime in D-I basketball. Minnesota finished 7th and only had a 9-12-7 league record. So how did this happen? Beats the hell out of me, but it bodes very, very well for NMU next season. Knowing that those mediocre teams got in ahead of NMU should get fans pumped up for next season. The Cats do lose big time guys like Matt Siddall, Andrew Sarauer, Blake Cosgrove and possibly Tim Hartung, but everyone else should return with a group of highly touted freshmen coming in. Thanks to Coach Walt, Coach John and Coach Rob for a fantastic run this season. After starting 1-8, the Cats went 19-12-4, and next to Michigan and Miami, was the league’s best team. Stay tuned for 2008-09!

NMU 2 Notre Dame 1

It was a strong effort by NMU tonight, but the combination of terrible puck luck and bad bounces, resulting in four Michigan goals was too much. Details and box to follow. NMU will play Notre Dame in the consolation game tomorrow at 3:35 Eastern. Shots off backs, skates and legs were damn lucky for Michigan. Final score 6-4, with one open net goal, the only goal that was legit all night by the Wolverines. Coverage on Fox was good, but I thought this was the CCHA Final Four, not the Michigan Invitational!? What the hell is with the pre-game Michigan hockey show? This crap has to stop in the CCHA. It is very unprofessional.

In the first period, Michigan came flying out of the gate. Since they only had to travel like 30 minutes to the game, they had their legs ready to go. NMU seemed to be playing a little tentatively and it showed. However, the Wildcat D and Brian Stewart played very solid hockey. Even though the Wolverines were buzzing all over, they really couldn’t get super quality scoring chances for much of the first period. But when Chad Kolarik swooped around the net and threw a puck on goal, Michigan struck paydirt. But the review showed that it bounced right off Erick Gustafsson’s skate and into the net. 1-0 Michigan. It was a great move but a very fluky goal. Even though Michigan continued to dominate the period, you had a sense that NMU was going to be fine with the way they held control over Michigan’s high pressure attack. And then NMU got the bounce they neeed. Gregor Hanson picked up a bouncing puck off a Wolverine bobble, and skated in and made a beautiful pass to Matt Butcher who blasted it by Sauer. The 1-1 tie gave the Cats momentum. But then when Billy Smith made an innocent push to Michigan’s Chris Summers against the board, the momentum was killed. It was a 5 minute major and game misconduct. So Billy was out for the game. Amazingly, the Cats were able to kill the bulk of the penalty and end the period at 1-1.

In the second period, the Cats killed off the rest of the penalty to Billy and started getting their wheels going a little more. But the Wolverines were able to get first blood of the period when Travis Turnbull got one by Brian at 9:31. It was not a pretty goal, but legit. Then on a total one on one move by Mark Olver, the Cats tied it all up at 14:54. Kevin Porter was back on his heels a bit when Mark came flying into the Michigan zone with the puck. He was able to use his strength to knock Porter down and then move in on Sauer alone, made a beautiful deke and slipped it five-hole. Porter cried like a baby, but the replays showed Mark simply used his skating ability and muscle to out-maneuver him. Then just two minutes later, Matt Siddall scored an NHL-like goal, blowing a hard wrister by Sauer. Nick Sirota set it all up for Matt. It was one of those shots you see on Versus or CBC by the big boys. So the Cats managed to get momentum back and take a 3-2 lead into the dressing room.

In the third period, however, the lead instantly disappeared. It was hard to say how this goal went in, but it did. A shot came from a Michigan player, bounced off an NMU leg and in. It was now 3-3 and NMU fans felt jipped. To make matters worse, Michigan took the lead 4-3 off a very similar goal, bouncing off a Cats’ back and in the net. You started to feel bad for Brian. If it were not for these bounces, he played fantastic. Yet what can he do about them other than hope for the best in this pinball affair. But when things seemed bad for the Cats, Jared Brown got a nice garbage goal from a scrum behind the Michigan goal at 12:44 to tie the game. It certainly was not a garbage shot, but had the looks of a sniper goal by one of Jared’s mentors, the lengendary Gary Emmons himself. But alas, the pinball continued at 16:00 when a guy named Tim Miller got credit for a goal shot by Kolarik off someone–maybe Tim’s leg or whoever and into the net. Let’s face it, Michigan carried much of the play and deserved to score a lot of goals, but it’s tough to see the Cats lose because of these types of goals.

Overall, the Cats played a good game after a shaky first period, due in part to the penalties. If you watched this game, putting aside the pre-game Michigan show and the biased announcers, NMU put in a good showing. So they can end the season against Notre Dame on a good note and feel proud of their accomplishments.

Michigan 6 NMU 4

The NMU Wildcats (19-19-4) take on the Michigan Wolverines (29-5-4) Friday night at 8:05 at the Joe Louis Arena in the CCHA Final Four. The game will be televised on Fox Sports Net Detroit. Michigan has been at the top of the league all season long, while NMU has emerged as the league’s 4th best team, looking to make yet another move up to the top.

The Matchup
Last weekend, the Wolverines dispatched the UNO Mavs in two games quite easily. After destroying the Mavs 10-1 on Friday, they came back the next night and played a much closer game holding the Mavs off in a 2-1 win. But that was at home in front of their fans and in their smelly old barn. For the most part, Michigan never faces adversity in CCHA or NCAA playoff games. They always play the early rounds at home, at the Joe, regionals usually in Michigan or the Midwest and then off to the Frozen Four. So even though this is a “high roller” and shiny team, loaded with fantastic takent, it is really made up of a bunch of softies and pretty boys.

In goal, Billy Sauer has been the main man between the pipes. Billy has improved his game from last year and it shows. His goals against are now under 2 (1.94), and his save percentage is .926. He is certainly starting to live up to his hype from a couple years ago. This kid needs to be rattled early otherwise it becomes an uphill battle.

On offense, no one can claim that they are as good as Michigan. Senior Kevin Porter should be easily the Hobey Baker winner. If not, then the NCAA is a bunch of crooked goons. He sports fantastic numbers (28 goals, 28 assists, 56 points) which lead the nation. You’ll see him in the NHL for Phoenix next season. Chad Kolarik is not far behind with 46 points. On defense, Mark Mitera, Carl Hagelin and Chad Langlais are also pretty damn good. The only true weakness really comes down to grit and toughness. All hockey players are tough. But with all this talent and speed, the brain becomes conditioned to playing pretty. So if a team can rough these boys up, then the Wolverines can be pushed around and challenged.

HOWEVER, the key is the refs. We’re not going to mention the Ref by name at the Berry Events Center last fall when NMU and Michigan played. I know this site complains about the refs, but after you read this story, you will know why. Last October, two eye-witnesses saw the Ref in the locker room prior to the NMU-Michigan game on Friday night wearing Michigan Wolverine suspenders. That ref then proceeded to call 10 penalties on NMU, giving Michigan 9 powerplays to NMU’s 5. This was at home mind you. Fans were irate and sick with what was being called. Fortunately, Yoopers are kind souls and easy-going otherwise this Ref would have had the snot kicked out of him in Motown or New York City. SO, next time you don’t believe in CCHA Ref conspiracy, think of this story. This is not a CCHA Democracy, it is a dictatorship of Michigan and Michigan State.

The Predictions
NMU impressed the nation last weekend. Going into Munn Arena–the home of the National Champs, getting blown out 5-1 on Friday, and then turning it all around to win the next two games, shows some major, big time brass. When you think about how young this squad is, it makes it even more impressive. The man of the weekend without a doubt was Brian Stewart. In the final two games, he turned away 82 shots and only allowed 3 goals. All the talk was about Jeff Lerg, but Brian totally outclassed that kid in net. Any NHL scout at the games would have told you the same. But don’t just give credit to Brian. After a debacle in game one, the Cats D-core played unreal. They played hard-nosed man to man and bogged down the MSU offense. Even though they got screwed over many, many times with bad calls by the Ref (name left out), they shut down 5 on 3’s and many high pressure attacks by MSU’s big, talented forwards. Last but not least, NMU got special contributions from guys on all four lines on offense. It was a complete team effort. Overall, the most impressive aspect was the grit and character of the team.

In order to beat Michigan, NMU must come to play with that same exact grit and mental toughness. They know Michigan has more talent by far, but everyone knows that the tougher team is NMU by a mile. Playoff hockey largely comes down to which team wants it more, and who is willing to tough it out. Yes, the Refs will be trying to help out Michigan as always. That is a reality of playing in the CCHA under the Anastos’ regime. Just please leave the damn suspenders at home, eh? But if NMU can come out of the gate, score first and hold the Wolverines to just 1 powerplay goal, they will win this game. They are the tougher team, they have better goaltending, and they want it more. So let’s predict NMU will spring the upset and play Saturday night at 7:35 at the Joe.

NMU 3 Michigan 2