With his Northern Michigan Wildcats loudly celebrating their grueling three-game quarterfinal of Lake Superior a few steps away, Cats coach Grant Potulny soberly assessed the next round in the CCHA playoffs: a single-game semifinal against the nation’s premier team, Minnesota State.

“We have to be really dialed in," said Potulny, "We have a shorter week because we played today, and with the travel, now it's a lot about the mental side of it." 

The specter of playing Minnesota State is beyond intimidating. The Mavericks are riding the crest of a 13-game win streak—they set a school record Saturday with their 33rd win of the season, one in which they rang up a staggering 101 shot attempts. 

“We kept coming,” said Hastings after Saturday’s chippy clincher, an 8-2 victory after a tight opening stanza. 

“I don’t think we were satisfied.”

The Mavericks are a college hockey machine, one that could plug in spare part Will Hillman for only his second game of the year Saturday, and see him set up the opening goal and record five shots on net. 

“When we’re playing well, we’re utilizing our depth,” said Hastings. 

“That’s when we’re a difficult out.”

The Mavericks ultimate depth player is Czech native Ondrej Pavel, a 6’2” winger who thrives in hockey’s danger zones. 

“It’s the trenches, we call it,” said Pavel, the bottom-six forward who drove St. Thomas defenders to distraction Saturday night with two goals from atop the crease. 

“Hard plays, not pretty ones,” said Pavel. 

“We simplified our game. It all comes down to how hard we play together. [Our] confidence is huge for upcoming games.” 

MSU also has college hockey’s most decorated goalie in Dryden McKay, who will equal the NCAA all-time record for wins in a season (34) with a win over Northern Michigan on Saturday. His opposite number, Wildcats freshman goalie Charlie Glockner, has accomplished something even grander in the eyes of most Minnesotans. In 2018, Glockner led Minnetonka High School to the prestigious Minnesota State championship, a fact Potulny used this past weekend to motivate Glockner when he gave him the starting nod for the third straight night on Sunday.

“I said to him before the game, ‘It’s just like the Minnesota State High School Championship, three games in a row.’”

Glockner made the connection. “I’m going to finish it like I did there.” 

Glockner, however, got off to a nightmarish start Sunday, allowing three goals on the first eight shots he faced. But then he clamped down, and was a difference-maker down the stretch. Facing a crucial penalty shot midway through the third period, the rookie Glockner showed the cool of a veteran with the series on the line. 

Glockner stones Puricelli on penalty shot , remains 5-3 ⁦@NMUHockey⁩ #FloHockey pic.twitter.com/Arh43T4kyW

— Tim Rappleye (@teeraps) March 7, 2022

It was clutch goaltending that allowed Northern to shock 5-1 Minnesota State in Mankato in last year’s league semifinal, nearly identical circumstances to Saturday’s showdown. But Potulny is convinced that his club’s most recent trip to Mankato—an October series in which the Cats were blown out 7-0 in the finale—will prove much more significant. 

“They really gave it to us,” said Potulny. 

“It flipped our season, it allowed us to have our players’ full attention.” 

He knows they will need all of that focus in order to compete against one of the great college teams of recent years. 

Close observers of the CCHA know the Cats have a puncher’s chance against MSU—they were the last team to beat Minnesota State prior to MNSU’s win streak. Additionally, Potulny’s NMU squad swept national powers Duluth and Boston University this season. They have the nation’s leading goal scorer in AJ Vanderbeck (24 snipes), who despite his gaudy numbers, believes that this time of year is about the team, not the individual.

“You know, the stats at this point, they don’t really matter,” said the jacked up Vanderbeck Sunday night. 

“As long as we’re getting wins, and we’re playing the right way, that’s all that matters. We know what it takes to have success; if we stick to it, I like out chances.”

Vanderbeck was more feeder than finisher in Sunday’s clincher, dishing out three helpers in their decisive four-goal second period. Like so many successful playoff teams, Northern got critical goals from unlikely sources. 

“Mack Byers had a huge weekend [goals Friday and Sunday], Alex Frye really stepped up [three-goal weekend], goals by defensemen [Trevor Cosgrove and Tanner Vescio scoring on Sunday], and a big goal from Hank Krone,” said Potulny. 

Incidentally, his top unit did not score all weekend, but the Cats role players saved the series. Potulny will need a contribution from the Mikey Colella, David Keefer and Andre Ghantous trio (35 goals between them) if they are to slow the MNSU juggernaut Saturday. 

Potulny also knows that reaching the semifinals has improved his team’s odds. 

“In a one-game shot, it’s much different than trying to win a series in Mankato. We have to be super dialed in, we have no choice.”

Prediction: The Northern Michigan road magic crashes in a Mankato pothole, as Minnesota State’s power play exploits the Wildcats porous penalty kill. Mavericks by three.