NMU vs MSU Hockey Preview
NMU
Replacing Atte
By far the biggest question heading into the season for Grant Potulny’s Wildcats is goaltending situation. While it’s damn near impossible to replace someone like Atte Tolvanen, who was one of the best goalies in Northern Michigan history, the cold reality of college sports is that even the greats run out of eligibility. The Wildcats have four goalies on the roster this season, including Sophomore Nolan Kent, Division III transfer Connor Ryckman and freshmen John Hawthorne and John Roberts. Both Kent and Hawthorne saw action last week in the exhibition game against the USNDTP in Plymouth, but Potulny has yet to name a starter. It seems that Kent, who served as Tolvanen’s back up last season, has the edge on the job for now, but don’t expect either to log the kind of minutes that the stellar Finn did a year ago.
New Kids
NMU is certainly a much younger team this season, as several highly skilled players, such as Troy Loggins, Adam Rockwood and Denver Pierce have graduated. Sophomores such as Griffin Loughran and Vincent De May will have to take a step forward in helping to carry the load on offense this season for the Wildcats, while several freshmen might be able to jump into the mix as well. Former Edina High School star Jett Jungels could be a bright new face for NMU, while former Penticton Vees forward Andre Ghantous has the potential to make an immediate impact as well. There are a few transfer students on the roster as well. Junior defenseman Ben Newhouse will make his NMU debut after sitting out last season since transferring from Union. Brandon Schultz from Northeastern and Taylor Keefer from Michigan State are both junior forwards. There are plenty of new faces this who will all need to contribute going forward for this team to be successful.
Veteran Presence
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The obvious leaders for this years’ Wildcats squad are seniors Philip Beaulieu and Darien Craighead. Beaulieu was named to College Hockey News’ All-CHN Pre-season Second Team. Beaulieu’s 29 assists a season ago put him in the top five defenseman in the nation in that category. Craighead had a great year last season as well with ten goals and ten assists. The only other seniors on the roster are defenseman Rylan Yaremko and forward Luke Voltin. Yaremko was out last season with an injury, so he is hoping to come back for strong final year. Voltin had three goals and four assists last season. He contributed a goal last week against the National Development Team. Outside of seniors, some of the players with experience from last year will need to continue to step up in order to help this young team be successful. Continued growth from players like sophomores Griffin Loughran, Grant Loven, and Ty Readman will be essential going forward.
MSU
KHL Line
Michigan State had one of the most dominant lines in all of college hockey last season in the “KHL Line.” Named for Patrick Khodorenko, Taro Hirose and Mitchell Lewandowski, this line scored a total of 49 goals and 72 assists last season. While two members of the KHL Line are returning this season, Michigan State will be moving forward without Hirose, who is now with the Detroit Red Wings. In their exhibition game last week against Western Ontario, freshman Nicolas Muller played right wing on this line. Muller has experience playing for Switzerland in World Juniors, so he should be capable of filling the void left by Hirose.
New Kids
There are only a few freshmen on MSU’s roster this season. Besides, Muller, there is Josh Nodler and Jagger Joshua. Nodler is a Calgary Flames draft pick who played for one season for the Fargo Force of the USHL last year, where he was a scoring sensation. Joshua comes to East Lansing by way of the Muskegon Lumberjacks. College hockey fans, specifically Big Ten fans, might recognize the Joshua name from his older, Dakota, who played at Ohio State. If the kids can contribute, the Spartans might surprise some people this year.
Season Outlook
Despite having somewhat better results than many suspected a season ago, Michigan State was still ranked last in the Big Ten preseason poll. They will surely have a handful of players who will have stellar individual seasons, but the talent in the conference from teams such as Penn State, Notre Dame, Wisconsin and Ohio State may prove too much for the Spartans to overcome this season.
Weekend Predictions
The one thing that really held Northern Michigan back a year ago was their non-conference play. Though they showed glimmers of hope against Notre Dame, their only non-conference win last year came against the Spartans in East Lansing. NMU should be able to capitalize on the home-ice advantage against the Spartans, but there are still an awful lot of question marks for the Wildcats heading into the new season. I’ll make two predictions: 1. These two teams split the weekend. 2. Nolan Kent emerges as the front runner for the starting goalie position.
