2023–24 Northern Michigan Wildcats men's ice hockey season

The 2023–24 Northern Michigan Wildcats men's ice hockey season was the 48th season of play for the program and 26th in the CCHA. The Wildcats represented Northern Michigan University in the 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season, played their home games at Berry Events Center and were coached by Grant Potulny in his 7th season.
==Season==
Despite high hopes for a squad that was picked to finish second in the conference pre-season poll, Northern Michigan got off to a poor start. With four games against ranked opponents to begin with, the Wildcats had the opportunity to gain some notoriety early in the year, however, Béni Halász struggled in goal and the team was unable to overcome his slump. One bright spot was the stellar debut of Tanner Latsch, who had sat out the entire previous season while recovering from hip surgery. The redshirt freshman recorded a hat-trick in his first college game and then scored in each of the next three as well. Unfortunately, he was bit by the injury bug against Ferris State and played just three games afterwards.
The loss of Latsch was bad enough but the team was also in desperate need for offense. Northern Michigan got a reprieve in mid-November when backup Charlie Glockner turned in a few good performances but those results were unsustainable. Halász did start playing better once he got his starting job back but the scoring never really materialized. Over the course of the season, the Wildcats recorded 40 fewer goals than they had in 2023, which equated to about 0.8 goals per game. Even with the defense improving as the season went along, that missing offense prevented the team from being able to capitalize on its chances and left NMU stuck in neutral. In the second half of the season, Northern Michigan lost just five games, however, the team was unable to break a tie on several occasions and could only manage a .500 mark in the spring semester.
The mediocre results placed the team 5th in the conference and forced them to hit the road for their playoff series with Minnesota State. The first game saw the Wildcats outshoot the Mavericks by a wide margin, particularly in the second, but the pop-gun offense could only muster a single goal and the team fell 1–2. They opened the scoring in the rematch with a shorty from André Ghantous but afterwards NMU could only watch as the Minnesota State offense poured on the offense to the tune of 6 goals. The Wildcats couldn't come close to matching that output and quietly ended their disappointing season.
==Departures==
Nathan Butler 	Forward 		Left program (retired)
Rico DiMatteo 	Goaltender		Transferred to Long Island
Vincent De Mey 	Forward 		Graduation (signed with Kansas City Mavericks)
Alex Frye 	Forward 		Graduation (signed with Orlando Solar Bears)
Jett Jungels 	Forward 		Graduation (retired)
David Keefer 	Forward 		Graduation (signed with Kalamazoo Wings)
Simon Kjellberg 	Defenseman		Graduation (retired)
Joey Larson 	Forward 		Transferred to Michigan State
A. J. Vanderbeck	Forward 		Graduation (signed with Kansas City Mavericks)
Tanner Vescio 	Defenseman		Graduation (retired)
Brett Willits 	Forward 		Left program (retired)
==Recruiting==
Mitchel Deelstra 	Forward 		24	Wallace, ON; transfer from Ferris State
Viking Gustafsson Nyberg	Defenseman 		20	Sweden
Travis Hensrud 	Forward 		21	Thunder Bay, ON
Matvei Kabanov 	Forward 		20	Togliatti, RUS
Kevin Marx Norén 	Forward 		21	Knivsta, SWE
Michael Mesic 	Forward 		19	Plymouth, MI
Jack Perbix 	Defenseman\Forward		22	Elk River, MN; graduate transfer from Western Michigan; selected 116th overall in 2018
Brendan Poshak 	Forward 		21	Green Bay, WI
Grant Slukynsky 	Forward 		21	Edina, MN
Carsen Stokes 	Goaltender 		21	Prior Lake, MN
Jeppe Urup 	Defenseman 		24	Odense, DEN; graduate transfer from Sacred Heart
==Roster==
As of September 18, 2023.
==Standings==
==Schedule and results==
|-
!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season
|-
!colspan=12 style=";" | 
==Scoring statistics==
 	RW 	34	9 	23 	32 	48
 	C 	27	10	13 	23 	23
 	D 	34	3 	17 	20 	20
 	C 	34	6 	13 	19 	6
 	LW/RW	30	4 	13 	17 	14
 	C 	34	7 	6 	13 	40
 	F 	34	7 	5 	12 	6
 	F 	33	4 	6 	10 	55
 	C 	34	6 	3 	9 	6
 	C 	26	4 	5 	9 	8
 	LW 	26	4 	5 	9 	4
 	C 	8 	7 	1 	8 	6
 	D 	34	3 	5 	8 	25
 	D 	26	1 	4 	5 	45
 	C 	17	2 	2 	4 	10
 	D 	17	1 	3 	4 	8
 	D 	28	1 	3 	4 	4
 	D/RW 	31	1 	3 	4 	35
 	C 	33	2 	1 	3 	24
 	LW 	25	1 	2 	3 	8
 	C 	9 	0 	3 	3 	2
 	D 	18	0 	1 	1 	2
 	D 	21	0 	1 	1 	4
 	F 	7 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	8 	0 	0 	0 	2
 	G 	9 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	28	0 	0 	0 	15
Total	 	 	83	138	221	438
==Goaltending statistics==
 	28	1650:30	9 	12	6	78 	707	2	.901	2.84
 	10	405:12 	3 	4 	0	22 	169	0	.885	3.26
Empty Net	- 	19:57 	- 	- 	-	5 	- 	-	- 	-
Total 	34	2075:39	12	16	6	105	876	2	.893	3.04
==Rankings==
Poll 	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week 	Week
Poll 	Pre 	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 	6 	7 	8 	9 	10 	11 	12 	13 	14 	15 	16 	17 	18 	19 	20 	21 	22 	23 	24 	25 	26 (Final)	
USCHO.com	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	– 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	– 	NR 	
USA Today	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	– 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	
Note: USCHO did not release a poll in weeks 11 and 25.Note: USA Today did not release a poll in week 12.
==References==
Category:Northern Michigan Wildcats men's ice hockey seasons
Northern Michigan
Northern Michigan