Don’t count out Northern Michigan just yet.
Sure, the Wildcats struggled mightily to start the 2024-25 season, but that was to be expected. The coaching change at the end of the spring — Grant Potulny left to coach in the AHL and Dave Shyiak was hired to take his place in June — also caused a massive roster turnover.
Just four players returned from seasons past. Twenty-four Wildcats were new, and most of them didn’t set foot on campus in Marquette until enrolling for school in the fall.
It led to some predictable results. NMU went 1-18-1 in the 2024 portion of the season. Their lone win came Oct. 18 against Alaska Anchorage, while their only conference points were Nov. 16, when they managed to tie Minnesota State and win a shootout.
But it seems that the start of 2025 has given the Wildcats a new outlook, as NMU is 3-1-0 in its last four games. This included an upset win over Minnesota State followed by a series sweep (their first of the season) at Bemidji State.
“I actually think we’ve been playing real well for a while now, but the wins just haven’t been adding up for us,” said NMU freshman forward Ryan Duguay. “It’s nice to finally get those wins now.
“Obviously, at the start of the year, it was a big change for a lot of us. We’re a brand-new group here. So, it took a little while to maybe get used to each other. But for the last probably two, three months, I think we’ve been in every game. We’re competing with every team, from the ones on top all the way down to maybe some not as good teams. And I think we’re putting together some good efforts and just needed to get those wins. They have been adding up lately, so it’s been great.”
Duguay has had a big part in these past few Wildcat wins. The Edmonton native scored all three goals against Minnesota State on Jan. 10, helping the Wildcats earn a 3-2 victory over the nationally-ranked Mavericks. He added another the next night (a 6-1 MSU win) then got yet another this past Saturday–the first goal in a 3-1 win against Bemidji State. In all, Duguay currently leads the Wildcats with six goals on the season.
“I think it was a bit of an adjustment for me,” Duguay said of finding his scoring touch. “You know, it’s a tough level. It took me a little while, but I feel like my conference has finally got up. I usually consider myself a goal scorer, so it was a little hard not being getting a lot of chances at the start of the year, but I’m getting opportunities now, and finally finding my game again. And the wins make it feel a whole lot better.”
It’s been a struggle for the Wildcats to score in general this season–netting just 36 goals in 24 games (1.50 goals per game). However, they’ve been able to keep games close for the most part thanks to the stellar goaltending of Ryan Ouellette. The transfer from Niagara has faced more shots than any other goaltender in the CCHA, and his save percentage is at .922.
“Yeah, he’s been amazing. He’s been the backbone of our team all year long,” Duguay said of his goaltender. “He’s kept us in a lot of games, probably a bit too many at times, because at times we’re not the best in front of him, so it’s always good to trust the goalie back there. He has good games every night.”
So now that the Wildcats are playing their best hockey of the season, it seems like they are finally ready to make a push for a playoff spot. For a long time, it’s looked like they weren’t going to be able to make up any ground on the teams in front of them, but all of a sudden, it looks like there’s an opportunity. Ferris State is just seven points in front of them.
“We dug ourselves a bit of a hole at the start of the year with a lot of the games that we dropped, but we’re finally finding ourselves as a team,” Duguay said. “But we obviously want to make a playoff push. We’re going to keep pushing, keep getting those points back and stringing those wins together.”
