Club hockey team looks to secure playoff spot

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The CMU club hockey team looks to secure a playoff spot as it is ninth in the ACHA Central Region with six games remaining.

The team — which has to finish in the top 10 of the region to qualify for the playoffs — plays at Adrian on Friday, then heads home for a rematch at 5 p.m. Saturday at Mount Pleasant Ice Arena.

CMU (7-13-2-2) was swept last weekend against Grand Valley State and is 0-3-1 in its last four games.

“We really haven’t had any consistency this season, and that’s what we need,” said senior forward Jordan Jakubik, who leads the team with 40 points. “When the team’s on the same page, we’ve really got some skill and can hang with the top teams.”

Adrian (11-10) is on a five-game win streak, led by forward Andrew Connelly’s nine points in the last 10 games.

CMU coach Mike Jakubik said the team needs to be more resilient in the course of a game.

“We’re too emotionally attached. We give up a goal and it lets the wind out of everyone’s sails,” he said. “We just can’t get down on ourselves.”

The team will play with a shortened bench this weekend while defensemen Thomas Murphy and Joe VanderMarliere serve suspensions for disqualification penalties given in the games against GVSU last weekend. Another defenseman, Alex Sherman, also is out of the lineup because of personal reasons.

Goaltending

With six games remaining, the team has used a rotation in goal.

“We really need a goalie to take hold and string together a couple good games together,” Mike Jakubik said.

Sophomore goalie Zak Knauss leads the team with 619 minutes played in 12 games. Junior James Bowen has played 436.63 in nine games and freshman Zach Silver has played 392.88 in eight.

CMU is in close competition for the last of the playoff spots with St. Thomas University (18-6-1) and Minnesota (15-5-1-1). The ranking, much like college football, is decided by many factors including wins, losses and strength of schedule.

In the final six games of the regular season, only the two against Adrian and the following two against Lake Superior State will count toward the team’s ranking.

“I have high hopes and expect four wins to end the season,” Mike Jakubik said.