College Hockey Stock Report: November 11, 2019

Sometimes the best-laid plans do not work out.

Before the season began, the entire WCHA women's league scheduled itself to be idle this weekend. The idea was that since many teams would be missing players for the Four Nations Cup,

Turns out, no team was missing players for the Four Nations Cup. The annual tournament ended up canceled by host Sweden after its national team declared its intentions to boycott as part of an ongoing dispute over equal pay and conditions. Instead, only a few players are in Pittsburgh playing in a USA-Canada rivalry series with most of them being on teams playing.

Another team with changing plans was Denver, whose 44-0-0 dream came to an end in Duluth. Kobe Roth and Noah Cates erased a 3-1 third period deficit Friday in a battle of NCHC contenders before the Bulldogs became the other one in Denver's 8-1-1 record.

Each weekend sees ups and downs as players and teams adjust to new situations. That's the fun and joy of the sport and one that bodes well for a handful of new trends on a weekend where not everything went to plan.

As always, here's what is going on throughout the college hockey landscape. This week's stock report recaps who is doing well, who is on their way down, and what trends should be followed.

60 Days. 60 Teams. 600 Words (or Less): Northern Michigan

Northern Michigan

2018-19 Record: 21-16-2 (18-8-2, 2nd in WCHA)
Head Coach: Grant Potulny, 3rd Year
Top returning scorer: Philip Beaulieu (6G-29A)
Top returning goaltender: Nolan Kent (So.)

Let's title this one "Grant Potulny Shows You How to Take Northern Michigan Into A Contender."

Potulny's Marquette tenure featured the first back-to-back above-.500 finishes since 2008-09 and 2009-10. The Wildcats, returning several core pieces from a team that made the WCHA conference championship game, ended up second again. Northern Michigan was taken to the "Danger Zone" by Troy Loggins. Atte Tolvanen even had a goalie goal.

We asked, you (and Atte) delivered!

Take a look back at the Top Moment for @NMU_Hockey in 2018-19 as voted by our fans — the first goalie goal in NMU history, courtesy of Atte Tolvanen. #NMUwildcats #ShareNMU pic.twitter.com/QCX60MAUZI

— NMU Athletics (@NMU_Wildcats) August 6, 2019

These things are like unicorns. You never expect to see one in the wild. When it happens you can't help but stop and stare.

One surprise given who returned was a slow start for NMU to the point where Dalton Craighead and Phil Beaulieu were healthy scratches in late November. While the Wildcats faced a tough non-conference schedule of mostly road games, going 1-6 outside the WCHA made it difficult to move up in the Pairwise.

What's New: The Danger Zone is headin' into twilight (or the AHL). So is the unicorn.

Picking between whether graduating a 23 goal scorer or four-year starting goalie is the bigger loss ends up being a fool's errand. Tolvanen holds several Northern Michigan goaltending records (career shutouts, all-time saves, most saves in a game, most appearances). He played all except 13 minutes last season. Loggins was an All-American and WCHA Player of the Year who led the nation in shots on goal.

Among 12 newcomers include a few of Potulny's big recruits. NMU welcomes Jett Jungels to take up the easy reference mantle from Loggins and be a goal-scoring playmaker. The 5'9", 161 lbs forward helped lead Edina to the 2019 Class AA Minnesota State HS championship. A year earlier, Jungels played on a line with Sammy Walker.

The Wildcats also get Ben Newhouse on defense after the former Union player sat out 2018-19. Newhouse did make the most of his transfer time, representing the US in the World University Games.

As far as non-conference goes, the Spartans are on the highway to Marquette for the first time since 2011 while NMU heads to Boston for the first time since 1985 to play BU.

Closing Thoughts: Much like the Upper Peninsula in a map Mountain Dew makes, Northern Michigan's recent success has been slightly overlooked. Bowling Green making the NCAA Tournament and NMU's poor non-conference record makes it easy to forget the Wildcats were the second-best WCHA team in the regular season.

The job Potulny has done should be applauded, however, it might be good for Northern Michigan to be under the radar. 2019-20 aims to be the biggest challenge of his head coaching tenure. Presumed starter Nolan Kent and/or John Hawthorne have big skates to fill in goal. Three of NMU's top four scorers from last season all graduated, but Craighead could be a bounce-back candidate.

To be a contender once again, NMU's defense and goaltending need to continue being a hallmark after losing Tolvanen and three defenders. (Beaulieu returns and will captain.) The Wildcats were in the top-20 of both team defense and penalty kill. If that continues, Northern Michigan, who lost one game to teams other than Minnesota State or Bowling Green after mid-December, has the group to be in the top half of the WCHA once again.

Recent 60 Days. 60 Teams. 600 Words (or Less) Features
Boston University
Brown
Wisconsin
Michigan
Every Team So Far

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BLOG: Welcome to the Next Chapter of Conference Realignment

Turns out the next chapter of college hockey realignment began, not with a shot across the bow, but with a Friday afternoon news dump.

There was no massive declaration. Instead, it took a six-paragraph press release put out at the latest possible time to watch the whole idea of western conference stability disappear.

Seven like-minded WCHA teams - Bemidji State, Bowling Green, Ferris State, Lake Superior State, Michigan Tech, Minnesota State, and Northern Michigan - are exploring forming a new men's hockey conference beginning in 2021-22.

Each would be leaving at the expense of the conference's two Alaska schools and Alabama Huntsville, all of whom were surprised to find out they were not on the Midwest cool list despite years hanging out together. So was longtime parent WCHA. All four have been left with questions of their future.

Honestly, the same can be said about the departing group of 7. With this newest realignment saga, all is new and up in the air. Yet it feels like history has repeated itself. Schools not happy with the direction of the conference leaving the WCHA to form an elite hockey conference, letting the smaller ones fend for themselves.

Grant Potulny to be named Northern Michigan head coach

Minnesota assistant Grant Potulny is heading to the Upper Peninsula become the next head coach of Northern Michigan.

Northern Michigan has scheduled a press conference for 10 am ET/9 am CT Tuesday morning (April 18, 2017) to announce its third head coach in program history. The Wildcats fired Walt Kyle last month after 15 seasons behind the bench.

At just 37 years old Potulny will be the youngest head coach in the WCHA.