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The Wildcats return to two packed barns for the first time since the 2020 WCHA Quarterfinals in a series sweep against the new kids St. Thomas. The Cats’ had a ton of returning players and 4 new graduate transfers from Colgate, Denver, and Lake Superior State.

In Friday’s game the wildcats came out strong With goals from Michael Colella which was the first conference goal in the CCHA since 2013 and David Keefer in the first. In the 2nd the Tommies answer back with one from Luke Manning but the Wildcats also get one in the 2nd thanks to Rylan Van Unen. The Tommies couldn’t put up a comeback and the Wildcats get an empty net goal from Michael Colella to secure a 4-1 win on Friday. Michael Colella got 2 goals in the game, Tim Erkkila gets 2 assists and Rico Dimatteo stopped 21 out of the 22 shots he faced.

On Saturday it was a pretty even game until the 3rd. In the 1st period, both teams got 2 goals each AJ Vanderbeck and Connor Marritt got their first goals of the season and Marritt’s first of his college career and Kyler Grundy got both goals in the 1st for the Tommies. Late in the first Michael Van Unen got an open ice hit against Christiano Versich that resulted on a 5 minute major and ejection for contact to the head. St. Thomas got a goal early in the 2nd to secure their first lead in their short D1 career, that lead didnt last long when a little over 3 minutes later AJ Vanderbeck got a power-play goal to re tie the game. In the 3rd the Cats’ blew open the lead with a 5 goal period with goals from Hank Crone (2), Trevor Cosgrove, David Keefer, and Rylan Van Unen. The Wildcats won with a commanding 8-3 win to secure the series sweep.

The Wildcats stay home with an exhibition game against USTNDP and their first non-conference game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

I haven’t posted on this in a long time so my first post in about 3 months will be my early power rankings for the CCHA, the new rebranded D1 hockey conference consisting of Bemidji State, Bowling Green, Ferris State, Lake Superior State, Michigan Tech, Minnesota State, Northern Michigan, and St. Thomas. Were a little over a month away from the start of the 2021-22 College Hockey season and the first time with full attendance since March 2020. These rankings will be based off last seasons play, roster moves, and playoff play.

8. Ferris State

I choose Ferris State at 8 because they haven’t really improved their roster in any shape, but they will be getting Team USA back up goalie Logan Stein in between the pipes for the full season instead of basically half. The bulldogs went 0-13-1 in conference play last season so I’m not expecting much from them this year again and I’m guessing that they will be at the bottom of the conference again and most likely get swept in the playoffs.

7. St. Thomas

Coming in at number 7 is the new kid on the block, St. Thomas. I’m not sure what I’ll be expecting from them this season but I wont have high hopes for them this season. During the off-season, They picked up a ton of transfers and have “Tik Tok Star” Joey Sofo coming back. I think they’ll still do pretty good in their inaugural season but they’ll still have to face a ton of power houses including Minnesota State. They could be an underdog and prove me wrong but My expectations are pretty low and I can see them maybe taking a playoff series to game 3 but in the end losing the series.

6. Lake Superior State

This one may seem surprising but number 6 is Lake Superior State. Even though they won the WCHA Championship last season, they lose their top players including Marek Mittens, Ashton Calder, and Assistant Captain Hampus Eriksson. I still have some high expectations from the champs but they may have a season like Northern Michigan’s last season. I predict that they’ll finish barely under .500 and maybe they can win a series in the playoffs but that’s about it.

5. Michigan Tech

Coming in at number 5 is the Huskies. They lost their NHL prospect Carson Bantle. They have Blake Pietlla coming back to their team so they’ll have their goaltender locked up but besides that I honestly have no idea how they’ve improved so Ill see when the season starts but im predicting maybe a little over .500 and a series sweep in the playoffs.

4. Bowling Green

At number 4 I choose Bowling green. Just like Lake State, they also lost a ton of star players to the transfer portal. I think they’ll be just a little bit better than Tech and Lake State because they still have better players than both of them. They’ll have a over .500 record but will end up losing first round to Michigan Tech.

3. Bemidji State

Coming in at number 3 is Bemidji State. They Have some good talent coming back but they did lose starting goaltender Zach Driscoll to the transfer portal. They have a good amount of offense and defense coming back but they might just have a goalie problem like nmu did when Atte Tolvanen graduated. I still think they can do damage during the season and I do think theycould be in the top 20 in D1 but they wont have enough to reach the NCAA Tourney.

2. Northern Michigan

At number 2 is NMU. I think they’ll have a breakout season since they barely lost any players. The biggest blow to the roster is the departure of star Griffin Loughran to the transfer portal. They have both captains and surprise star Rico Dimatteo coming back to the team. NMU had a great playoff run last year with beating Bowling Green in the best of 3 and stunned everyone in beating Minnesota State 5-1 in Mankato before losing 6-3 in a heartbreaking WCHA Championship defeat to UP rival Lake Superior State. I think they’ll make a statement this year but finishing 2nd in the CCHA and making a deep run in the playoffs, winning the CCHA championship for the first time since 1980 and make the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 12 years.

1. Minnesota State

If I need to explain why Minnesota State is number one, I’m just going to assume that you don’t watch college hockey at all. They have one the the greatest college hockey goalies of all time coming back for his senior year and the mavericks have a deep arsenal of very talented players on their lineup, They’ll finish top 5 in the nation again and will sweep every team they face in the CCHA playoffs, until they face NMU in the CCHA Championship. They’ll have a pretty close score but Mckay will think too much about last season game and the Wildcats will get to him again.

Well that’s my rankings, the first conference game is October 8th with a slate between St. Thomas and Northern Michigan set to start at 6:37.

The Tigers lose game 1 of the inter league series against the Brewers in walk off fashion (thanks extra inning rule) 3-2. The game was a pitching duel and the scoring didn’t even start until the 6th inning when Johnathan Schoop singled in the first run to make the lead 1-0. The Brew Crew answered back also in the 6th with a 2-run shot from former Tiger Willy Adames. In the 7th, rookie sensation Akil Baddoo hits a solo shot to tie the game and that home run would be his first since April 13th in Houston.

There would be no more scoring until the bottom of the 10th when Luis Urias singled to deep right to win the game for the Brew Crew. The Tigers would finish may with an above .500 record for the third time in 5 years finishing with a 14-13 record.

Tigers try to split the series tomorrow at 7:40.

The Vegas Golden Knights get a beating in game one against the Colorado Avalanche. Robin Lehner was in between the pipes for vegas and Philipp Grubauer for the Avalanche. Colorado started off the scoring with a backhander goal by Mikko Rantanen 5 minutes into the first period. 5 minutes later Gabriel Landeskog get an open net to make the score 2-0 Avs. In the second period the Avalanche get 4 goals thanks to Landeskog, Nathan McKinnon (2), and Brandon Saad. Vegas would get one back from William Karlsson but would be the only goal they’d get.

The third period would only have one goal from UMass alumni Cale Makar. The three stars of the game in my opinion are Nathan MacKinnon ( 2 G, 1 A) Cale Makar (1 G, 3 A) and Gabriel Landeskog (2 G, 1 A).

Next game is Wednesday June 2, in Colorado at 10 PM EST.

NMU Hockey released the long awaited 2021-22 schedule and oh boy its a beautiful one. Not only do they only have just 5 road series, they have 11 home series and all of our non conference series are at home. Someone needs a fat raise for putting together that schedule AND scheduling Norte Dame, Boston Univ., Minnesota Duluth, and Colgate.

Their first series is against brand new D1 school St. Thomas and former Wildcat Grant Loven. They are at home all of January and almost all of October. I’m very excited for this season and they have potential after coming off last years WCHA Championship loss to UP Rival Lake Superior State.

NMU’s Home & season opener is October 8th against St. Thomas

Mark Stone and the Vegas Golden Knights will face off against Nathan McKinnon and the Colorado Avalanche. Vegas comes off a Game 7 win against the Minnesota Wild, while the Avalanche have had a 7 day rest after they swept the St. Louis Blues. While Colorado really didn’t have too many problems, Vegas had many in the series. In games 5 and 6, Mark Andre-Fleury had to scoring help as Vegas could only put up 2 total points in the two games combined. To be fair Cam Talbot is a astounding goalie and the wild were one of the best teams at home this season.

Robin Lerner will be in net for Vegas to give Andre-Fleury a much needed rest. The Avalanche will be easily the biggest challenge in the Golden Knights path and this series is a big one.

Puck Drop is tonight at 9 PM EST.

Hello, My name is Evan and I’m a incoming freshman at Northern Michigan University. I wanted to create this blog so share to others about my life and what I like doing. This blog will mostly cover NMU Hockey, Detroit Tigers, Vegas Golden Knights, and Green Bay Packer content.

Some times I may do the causal what’s going on in my life type of blog so look out for that content. So anyways Welcome to my Blog and I hope you enjoy it!