Spend Valentine’s Day with your true love, SVSU’s club hockey team, when they host their rival Northwood University in a special event at the Dow Event Center on Feb. 14.
Both SVSU and Northwood students will get free entry into the Mid-Michigan Meltdown. Non-students will pay an entrance fee of $10 at the door. Doors to the Dow Event Center will open at 1 pm with puck drop slated for 2:30 pm. Alcohol and concessions will be sold throughout the game.
A trophy will be presented to the winner immediately following the game.
Before the Mid-Michigan Meltdown, the Cardinals and the Timberwolves will face off against each other at Midland Civic Arena on Feb. 13.
Hockey e-board President Brendan Cobb spoke about playoff implications in the upcoming games against Northwood.
“If we don’t win one of the games this weekend, we leave the door open for Western Michigan to take third place [in the division] and we’d have to play Northwood first round in playoffs rather than the University of Toledo.”
On the week of Feb. 6, SVSU played two games against divisional opponent Western Michigan University. That same weekend, Northwood University swept divisional opponent Oakland University, clinching the Great Lakes Collegiate Hockey League Championship and finishing 10-0 in the division ahead of their games against SVSU.
“Nothing is guaranteed when there’s so many things on the line,” said Cobb. “We are going to embrace the underdog mentality and put them to the test this weekend and if we play them in playoffs as well.”
Cobb stated the reason the team is taking the rivalry with Northwood to the next level this season is because they lost matchups with former rivals GVSU and Lawrence Tech when SVSU transitioned from D3 to D1 last year.
“It was super convenient for us to keep Northwood as a rival, especially with how close they are to us, and our other sports are also huge rivals with them as well.”
Sophomore goaltender Nick Pike commented on the heated rivalry between the Cardinals and the Timberwolves.
“We need to find a way to set the tone for the games and the playoffs … Our rivalry with Northwood goes pretty deep. We’ve always viewed them as the rich kids across town that think they’re all that just because they have everything handed to them. This weekend is going to be a great opportunity for us to prove that we are a dangerous team and we’re hard to play against.”
“Us having that blue collar mentality is really what we want to embrace. We have to work for everything we want because we don’t have all of the things that they have such as free gear, being fully funded, then having the ability to persuade those insanely good talents that they have to go there,” spoke Cobb of the rivalry. “We want to host this event because the Dow is Saginaw’s rink. It’s like a second home for us.”
Pike also spoke on the event taking place at the Dow Event Center.
“I feel like it’s a chance for us to just show what we’re made of and what we have.”
SVSU will play their final regular season games on Feb. 13 at Midland Civic Arena vs Northwood University and Feb. 14 at the Mid-Michigan Meltdown at Dow Event Center vs Northwood University.
Danielle Carlisi 
Hannah Dewitt 
Zachary McEvoy