Northern Michigan University’s Anthony Paskaruk, center, and University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Josh Erickson scramble for the puck after a face-off Saturday night, Feb. 11, 2017, at the Berry Events Center in Marquette. (Journal photo by Rachel Oakley)

MARQUETTE — The Northern Michigan University hockey team is down to its last chance.

NMU heads into this weekend, the final weekend of the regular season, with two games to clinch a WCHA playoff spot. The Wildcats are in eighth place, which is the final spot, but Alabama-Huntsville is just one point behind them.

To clinch a postseason bid, the Wildcats need to pick up a sweep this weekend, or at very least a split, and hope that Bowling Green State can take care of business against Huntsville.

That task will be far from easy as Northern closes out its regular season with a home-and-home series against Upper Peninsula archrival Michigan Tech. Friday’s game is at the Berry Event Center in Marquette with Saturday’s up in Houghton. Game time each night is 7:07 p.m. with Friday’s game telecast on WLUC TV6 and Saturday’s on Fox-U.P.

The Huskies also need points this weekend as they are only up by three on Minnesota State-Mankato in their quest for the No. 2 playoff spot.

The Wildcats had a chance to nail down a playoff spot last week, but were swept at Mankato.

NMU goalie Atte Tolvanen also had an opportunity to set the NCAA record for consecutive scoreless minutes, but the Mavericks blitzed him early and ended his streak less than 3 1/2 minutes into Friday’s game. The Wildcats surrendered a dozen goals over the two games after posting five straight shutouts.

“They (Minnesota State) are really good and they’re probably the best team that we’ve played this year,” NMU head coach Walt Kyle said. “They put a lot of pressure on us and we didn’t handle it particularly well.

“At times, we got caught up a bit thinking about Atte’s streak early and then when that was over, we just couldn’t get in gear.

“It was actually a good matchup for us to play against this time of year to reiterate how we need to play to find success. Now we have another big test with Tech and it will be interesting to see if we have refined that.”

NMU has to regroup against the dangerous Huskies. Tech won the previous two games this season in easy fashion, outscoring the Wildcats 7-1.

The Huskies have a balanced offense, but defense is what they’re known for. MTU is fifth in the nation in total defense and tied for fifth on the penalty kill.

The biggest reason is for goalie Angus Redmond, but the Huskies also have two talented defensemen in Matt Roy and Shane Hanna. Redmond wasn’t supposed to be Tech’s netminder at the start of the year, but has definitely taken over the role after his first start came against Northern during October.

He boasts a 1.77 goals against average, second in the nation, and he only gave up one in his game against NMU.

The good thing for the Wildcats is that their offense has come around in the last month and will definitely test Redmond more than previously. However, NMU will have to be at its best in every area if it wants to take down this rival and get into the playoffs.

“We’re a different team from the one that they saw at the beginning of the year and I think the same could be said about them,” Wildcats forward Zach Diamantoni said. “I think we’re going to bring a much better game than the one we gave at the beginning of the season. I think that the guys are more mature and that we have more of our lines playing well.

“We’re starting to hit our stride and our goaltending has been good, too. I think it’s going to be a better series.”

Kyle says the Wildcats are looking forward to a packed house this weekend, and that their focus should only be on the Huskies, not the standings.

“Unfortunately for us during the first half of the year, we put ourselves in this spot,” he said. “Now we have an opportunity to get in the playoffs and have a fresh season. I guarantee you that the guys in the room are really excited and we hope that we have a great crowd here and that we can take advantage of it Friday.

“Our playoffs really start this weekend because we have to get in first. If we do get in, we’ll have some momentum behind us and it we’ll go from there.”

Ryan Stieg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.