Having careened off the path with five straight losses and now scrambling to climb out of the ditch, the Seawolves find looming before them a guy wearing a mask and holding a big stick, and who does not really meet their current needs in an opponent.
When you are mired in the collective goal-scoring funk the Seawolves are enduring -- three goals in the last four games, for instance -- Mathias Dahlstrom is not a particularly encouraging sight.
Dahlstrom is the Northern Michigan goaltender UAA is likely to face in a two-game Western Collegiate Hockey Association series that opens Friday night at Sullivan Arena.
The sophomore's numbers are ridiculous: a 0.74 goals-against average that leads the nation, a .970 save percentage that is also tops and three shutouts, which ties him for the national lead.
Only once in eight games has Dahlstrom, who has played every second for the Wildcats, surrendered as many as two goals. He has given up as many even-strength goals (3) as he has special-teams goals (3, two on the power play, one short-handed).
Granted, the No. 17-ranked Wildcats (6-1-1, 3-1-0 WCHA) have not played a particularly demanding schedule -- in terms of difficulty, they rank 38th of 59 Division I teams.
Granted, eight games is not an enormous sample size -- just shy of one-quarter of Northern Michigan's regular-season schedule.
And, granted, Dahlstrom's numbers are certain to slide somewhat.
But it's not as if those numbers are a total fluke. Last season, Dahlstrom posted a .912 save percentage and three shutouts for a team that finished six games below .500.
The Seawolves, meanwhile, have gone 1-6-1 in their last eight games and lost the last five, the longest skid of coach Matt Thomas' two seasons. They have an idle week coming after this series and obviously do not want to lug around a seven-game buzz-kill for two weeks.
Also, they just came off two games against Ferris State's C.J. Motte. He was good enough to be a Hobey Baker finalist last season and he limited the Seawolves to two goals in a series. (Geez, who's in net for the opponent when the Seawolves come back from that idle weekend, Tuukka Rask?)
So, what to do?
Thomas suggests some solid puck possession would help. After all, UAA's opponents average 32.83 shots per game, which leaves the Seawolves 49th nationally in that regard. And UAA averages just 24.25 shots per game, 55th nationally. That margin of minus-8.58 shots per game checks in at 54th nationally.
That's why Thomas said he has spent practices this week trying to get his team to play a sounder defensive structure in all three zones.
"We're chasing the puck and defending too much,'' Thomas said. "You have to learn how to defend, to get the puck back. Everyone needs to step up with a more concerted effort, a smarter effort, a more detailed effort.''
Or as center Blake Tatchell calls it, "a less is more kind of thing.''
Nor would it hurt the Seawolves to be better in the face-off circle, which is one method of obtaining puck possession. UAA's centers -- and, remember, wingers have some responsibility on draws too, especially ones that initially, after the drop, are 50-50 pucks -- win just .475 percent of face-offs. That's 47th nationally.
Hitting the net a little more often wouldn't hurt, either. This one's just anecdotal, but the Seawolves seem to thread things too fine on a decent number of quality chances and hit nothing but glass or end boards. Get it on net. Yeah, the goalie may swallow the puck. He might also kick out a big, fat rebound.
No doubt the Seawolves are, as they say, gripping their sticks tightly of late. Human nature. When things aren't going well, we tend to put pressure on ourselves. We try to do too much. Getting back to basics is never a bad course correction.
Perspective helps too. Tatchell noted that he's played a couple of decades of hockey, so he's endured plenty of slumps and always emerged from them.
"This is supposed to be the part of your life you enjoy,'' Tatchell said. "You have to have fun. There are times when things are really going in for you and you think, 'That shouldn't be happening.' "
The Seawolves need to return to the basics, Tatchell said, and trust the process. Getting all hang-dog isn't going to help.
"I was taught that if you dwell on your lows, you won't get out of them,'' Tatchell said. "You have to stay positive.''
Some points this weekend would make that easier. That will require cracking Mathias Dahlstrom, no small task.
This column is the opinion of Daily News reporter Doyle Woody. He can be reached at dwoody@alaskadispatch.com, check out his blog at adn.com/hockey-blog and follow him on Twitter at @JaromirBlagr
No. 17 NORTHERN MICHIGAN (6-1-1, 3-1-0 WCHA)
at
UAA (4-6-2, 1-5-0 WCHA)
Friday and Saturday, Sullivan Arena, 7:07 p.m.
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TV: Tape delay, GCI Channel 1, 10 p.m.