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

Despite high hopes for a squad that was picked to finish second in the conference pre-season poll,^[1] 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.^[2] 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.

As of September 18, 2023.^[3]

No.	S/P/C	Player	Class	Pos	Height	Weight	DoB	Hometown	Previous team	NHL rights
1		Charlie Glockner	Junior	G	6' 3" (1.91 m)	181 lb (82 kg)	2000-06-27	Minnetonka, Minnesota	Waterloo (USHL)	—
4		Michael Van Unen	Graduate	D	6' 1" (1.85 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1999-02-26	Kamloops, British Columbia	Merritt (BCHL)	—
5		Colby Enns	Senior (RS)	D	6' 2" (1.88 m)	201 lb (91 kg)	1999-09-16	Minot, North Dakota	Lincoln (USHL)	—
6		Kevin Marx Norén	Freshman	F	6' 1" (1.85 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	2002-07-15	Knivsta, Sweden	Minnesota (NAHL)	—
7		Brendan Poshak	Freshman	F	5' 8" (1.73 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	2002-07-13	Green Bay, Wisconsin	Brooks (AJHL)	—
8		Artem Shlaine (C)	Senior	F	6' 1" (1.85 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	2002-03-07	Moscow, Russia	UConn (HEA)	NJD, 130th overall 2020
9		Josh Zinger	Sophomore	D	5' 11" (1.8 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	2001-08-05	Red Deer, Alberta	Brooks (AJHL)	—
10		Aiden Gallacher (C)	Senior	D	6' 1" (1.85 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	2000-03-20	Rochester Hills, Michigan	Michigan State (Big Ten)	—
11		André Ghantous (C)	Graduate	F	5' 9" (1.75 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	1998-12-07	Glendale, California	Penticton (BCHL)	—
12		Jack Perbix	Graduate	F	6' 1" (1.85 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	2000-09-13	Elk River, Minnesota	Western Michigan (NCHC)	ANA, 116th overall 2018
13		Mikey Colella	Senior	F	5' 7" (1.7 m)	155 lb (70 kg)	1999-06-12	Wenonah, New Jersey	Trail (BCHL)	—
14		Tyrell Boucher	Senior	D	6' 1" (1.85 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	1999-06-03	Nampa, Alberta	Cowichan Valley (BCHL)	—
15		Rylan Van Unen	Senior	F	6' 1" (1.85 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1999-02-26	Kamloops, British Columbia	Merritt (BCHL)	—
16		Kristóf Papp	Senior	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	176 lb (80 kg)	2001-06-27	Budapest, Hungary	Michigan State (Big Ten)	—
17		Luke Gramer	Sophomore	D	5' 9" (1.75 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	2002-07-02	Moorhead, Minnesota	Fargo (USHL)	—
18		Michael Mesic	Freshman	F	5' 9" (1.75 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	2004-08-15	Plymouth, Michigan	Lincoln (USHL)	—
19		Grant Slukynsky	Freshman	F	6' 1" (1.85 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	2002-03-12	Edina, Minnesota	Sioux City (USHL)	—
20		Mitch Deelstra	Senior	F	6' 0" (1.83 m)	191 lb (87 kg)	1999-07-15	Wallace, Ontario	Ferris State (CCHA)	—
21		Connor Eddy	Sophomore	F	6' 1" (1.85 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	2002-04-18	Victoria, British Columbia	Victoria (BCHL)	—
22		Tanner Latsch	Freshman (RS)	F	6' 2" (1.88 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	2002-01-02	Muskegon, Michigan	Des Moines (USHL)	—
23		Jakob Peterson	Sophomore (RS)	D	6' 3" (1.91 m)	172 lb (78 kg)	2002-04-18	Marquette, Michigan	Amarillo (NAHL)	—
24		Isack Bandu	Sophomore	D	6' 2" (1.88 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	2001-05-03	Montreal, Quebec	Victoria (BCHL)	—
25		Jeppe Urup	Graduate	D	6' 2" (1.88 m)	196 lb (89 kg)	1999-03-14	Odense, Denmark	Sacred Heart (AHA)	—
26		Travis Hensrud	Freshman	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	2002-05-02	Thunder Bay, Ontario	Steinbach (MJHL)	—
27		Zach Michaelis	Sophomore	F	6' 1" (1.85 m)	203 lb (92 kg)	2002-05-30	Elk River, Minnesota	Trail (BCHL)	—
28		Viking Gustafsson Nyberg	Freshman	D	6' 6" (1.98 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	2003-09-21		Leksands IF J20 (J20 Nationell)	—
29		Reilly Funk	Sophomore (RS)	F	6' 3" (1.91 m)	194 lb (88 kg)	2000-12-23	Portage, Manitoba	Youngstown (USHL)	—
30		Béni Halász	Sophomore	G	5' 11" (1.8 m)	184 lb (83 kg)	2001-08-13	Budapest, Hungary	New Mexico (NAHL)	—
32		Carsen Stokes	Freshman	G	5' 10" (1.78 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	2002-02-13	Prior Lake, Minnesota	New Mexico (NAHL)	—
33		Matvei Kabanov	Freshman	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	160 lb (73 kg)	2003-01-15	Togliatti, Russia	Amurskie (MHL)	—

^[5]

Note: USCHO did not release a poll in weeks 11 and 25.^[6]
Note: USA Today did not release a poll in week 12.