Northern Michigan’s Grant Potulny has been named an assistant coach for the 2022 United States National Junior Team. Potulny replaces Harvard’s Ted Donato, who is not available to participate in the tournament, according to a USA Hockey announcement. The World Junior event takes place Aug. 9-20 in Edmonton, Alberta. The tournament was originally scheduled for … Read more
The CCHA has announced its two all-CCHA teams for the 2021-22 season. 2021-22 All-CCHA First Team F – Nathan Smith, Minnesota State – 41 points F – Brian Halonen, Michigan Tech – (35) F – Julian Napravnik, Minnesota State (26) D – Jake Livingstone, Minnesota State (22) D – Elias Rosén, Bemidji State (18) G … Read more
The CCHA announced Monday its 2021-22 all-rookie team. 2021-22 CCHA All-Rookie Team F – Bradley Marek, Ferris State – 16 points F – Austen Swankler, Bowling Green – (13) F – Josh Nixon, Lake Superior State – (12) D – Eric Parker, Bowling Green – (12) D – Bennett Zmolek, Minnesota State – (9) G … Read more
Three times this season, Northern Michigan has knocked off the No. 1 team in the country. They’ll get a chance to do it for a fourth time on Saturday night when they take on No. 1 seeded Minnesota State, the nation’s top-ranked team. The fifth-seeded Wildcats defeated fourth-seeded Lake Superior State in a tough three-game … Read more
The Mason Cup is back. After a nine-year absence, the CCHA will award the championship trophy once again to the winner of its conference tournament, which begins with quarterfinal action this week. The trophy, named after famed Bowling Green, Lake Superior State and Michigan State coaching legend Ron Mason, was created in 2001. “We were … Read more
It’s already February, which I understand seems strange to everyone (if there’s anything the pandemic has taught us, it’s that time is essentially meaningless). But it’s true. It’s February, which means there’s just one month of CCHA regular season left until the playoffs. And because it’s almost the postseason, it’s about time that we start … Read more
The CCHA announced Monday the makeup dates for the Michigan Tech-Northern Michigan home-and-home series, originally scheduled for Friday, Jan. 21 in Marquette, Mich., and Saturday, Jan. 22 in Houghton, Mich. Michigan Tech will host Northern Michigan Tuesday, Feb. 1 at 6:07 p.m. EDT at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena in Houghton, Mich., televised on … Read more
The CCHA announced Friday that the Michigan Tech-Northern Michigan home-and-home series, originally scheduled for Friday, Jan. 21 in Marquette and Saturday, Jan. 22 in Houghton, has been postponed due to health and safety precautions within Northern Michigan’s hockey program. The CCHA, Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan are working together to reschedule the two games for … Read more
The Michigan Tech at Northern Michigan hockey game, originally scheduled for Friday, Jan. 21 at the Berry Events Center in Marquette, Mich., has been moved to Sunday, Jan. 23 at 6:07 p.m. EDT. The NMU at Tech game, set for Saturday, Jan. 22 at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena in Houghton, Mich., will still … Read more
There’s been a lot of talk about the “curse” of the top-ranked team this college hockey season, but after this past weekend, I’m thinking we should amend this “curse” to something else: If you’re the No. 1 team in the country, you might not want to play Northern Michigan. The Wildcats, who beat Minnesota State … Read more
When the season started, Northern Michigan had something of a defensive crisis. The Wildcats barely had enough healthy bodies to field a full defensive unit. At one point, they had just four regular blueliners. Adding to that, the team’s No. 1 goalie, Rico DiMatteo, wasn’t 100 percent after recovering from surgery. “We played a series … Read more
A quick look up and down Bemidji State’s roster would reveal a lot of familiar names: Ethan Somoza. Owen Sillinger. Alex Ierullo. Tyler Kirkup. All have been contributing to the BSU program consistently since their freshmen seasons, and their presence in the lineup this year — a few back for an extra year of eligibility … Read more
Losing isn’t usually the norm for a Bob Daniels-coached team. The Ferris State head coach has been behind the bench for 29 seasons. He’s guided his Bulldogs teams to three conference titles, four NCAA tournament appearances and one Frozen Four in that time frame. The usual expectation for the Bulldogs is to be competitive at … Read more
When members of the media were looking at the teams in the newly-reconstituted CCHA this fall as we started to do our preseason picks and previews, one team made it easiest on everybody. And maybe it wasn’t the team you think. Have your guesses in? It might shock you to know that it was Michigan … Read more
It might have been reasonable to assume at the start of the 2021-22 season that Lake Superior State might have some issues scoring goals this year. After all, the Lakers lost four of their top five scorers (Ashton Calder, Pete Veillette, Hampus Eriksson and Will Reidell) either to graduation or the NCAA transfer portal (in … Read more
After some time away, there’s one thing Rico Blasi noticed about the familiar rinks of the CCHA. “The smell is still the same,” the first-year St. Thomas coach joked in a phone interview Tuesday, reflecting on his team’s recent road trips to Northern Michigan and Lake Superior State. Blasi, who played at Miami in the … Read more
The CCHA announced Sunday a two-game suspension for Northern Michigan sophomore defenseman Michael Van Unen. The suspension is a result of Van Unen’s five-minute major penalty and game misconduct infraction for contact to the head, which occurred at the 18:25 mark of the first period in Northern Michigan’s home game on Saturday, Oct. 9 against … Read more
For the casual fan watching on a Friday or Saturday, chances are high that the inaugural season of the new CCHA won’t look much different than the final season of the WCHA. Seven of the eight teams were together in the WCHA, so the matchups, coaches and arenas are largely the same. And the league’s … Read more
Northern Michigan has announced that Nick Peruzzi has been named a new assistant coach for the Wildcats. “We are very excited to add Nick to our coaching staff,” NMU coach Grant Potulny said in a statement. “Throughout the interview process, Nick displayed his knowledge and passion for the game. His energy, preparation and work ethic … Read more
The WCHA announced Monday that conference supervisor of officials Greg Shepherd has been voted unanimously by the league’s 10 teams as the 2021 recipient of the Otto Breitenbach Distinguished Service Award. “The WCHA was and always will be the best league in college hockey and I am truly honored and humbled to receive this award,” … Read more