Senior Matt Siddall went out on a great note by beating the Notre Dame Irish 2-1 in Saturday’s consolation game at the CCHA Final Four. For his great efforts in both games on the weekend, Matt made the All-tournament team as well. Thanks Matt for a fantastic career at NMU. You’ll go down in Wildcat history as one of the toughest players to lace up the skates, and the best wrister ever seen in Marquette.

With the win, the Cats moved their record to 20-20-4. Now what most fans in Marquette don’t realize that if it were not for the two tough losses to Wayne State and that fluke loss at Ohio State just a few weeks ago, the Cats would have possibly made the NCAA tournament. Just check out USCHO.com and see why… Wisconsin and Minnesota both made the tournament. Wisconsin only managed to win 15 games! Their record was 15-16-7. In the history of NCAA D-I hockey, I can’t recall if this has ever happened–a 6th place team get in the dance without winning the league playoff or even getting to the WCHA Final Five. Plus they play the first round in their home arena. That would be deemed as being a crime in D-I basketball. Minnesota finished 7th and only had a 9-12-7 league record. So how did this happen? Beats the hell out of me, but it bodes very, very well for NMU next season. Knowing that those mediocre teams got in ahead of NMU should get fans pumped up for next season. The Cats do lose big time guys like Matt Siddall, Andrew Sarauer, Blake Cosgrove and possibly Tim Hartung, but everyone else should return with a group of highly touted freshmen coming in. Thanks to Coach Walt, Coach John and Coach Rob for a fantastic run this season. After starting 1-8, the Cats went 19-12-4, and next to Michigan and Miami, was the league’s best team. Stay tuned for 2008-09!

NMU 2 Notre Dame 1