Great Lakes Wire

The Northern Michigan University Wildcats are set to face the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves in their first home games of the hockey season. The matches will take place at 7:07 PM on Friday and 6:07 PM on Saturday, with broadcasts available via Midco Sports Plus and local radio station 100.3 The Point.

The Wildcats return from a challenging series against Colorado College, one of the top-ranked teams nationally. Despite two losses, the coaching staff found several positives to build upon. Head Coach Dave Shyiak commented, "I liked what I saw from our young group… that's one of the best teams in the NCHC and a group that's looking to get into the NCAAs. We showed real good resiliency, good resolve, and no quit… We've talked about taking steps forward and building blocks, and we're going to use the positives from that series to help prepare for Anchorage."

This weekend marks Shyiak's first home series as head coach. He expressed optimism about his team's development: "I'm looking forward to this weekend. Everyone knows we've got a lot of youth, and seeing their growth week-to-week has been a positive for me. It's another weekend for us on Friday night, so how do we get better and win our first game? It's about the process for us right now, and I see us trending in the right direction."

Historically, NMU holds a strong record against Alaska Anchorage with an all-time standing of 29-13-1 and an impressive 21-4-1 at home.

In addition to the games themselves, Saturday features a post-game event known as the "4th Period Party" at Slabz Bar & Grill located within Ramada at 412 West Washington Street. There will also be faculty/staff appreciation events offering discounted tickets.

Coach Shyiak also provided insights into his team's focus areas ahead of facing Anchorage: "We're really concentrated on what we need to do to get better...Anchorage is a big team; they get after you physically...We're going to have to make a lot of plays under pressure."

Fans can follow @NMUHockey on X (formerly Twitter) for updates throughout the week leading up to these games.