MARQUETTE - Sometimes, you can never tell which Northern Michigan University hockey team will take the ice.

In the Wildcats' Friday night game with the No. 12-ranked University of Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks, the NMU team on display was one that outworked its opponent every shift, held possession of the puck and imposed physicality throughout, all en route to a 5-1 victory.

For two periods on Saturday, the ideal Wildcat team was back in Marquette, and back on the Berry Events Center ice.

Those two periods were enough to lead NMU to the first sweep of the season, as the Wildcats defeated UNO 6-3.

"This is really big for us," NMU junior forward Mark Olver said. "It's not just getting a monkey off our back, it's nice to get a couple wins during a weekend."

Olver was Saturday's first star with two goals and an assist.

"This weekend," Olver said, "we showed - and showed ourselves mostly - that we can play with the big dogs."

But, at the beginning of Saturday night's game, there was a different-looking NMU team on the ice.

In the first period, the Mavericks were the ones with the effort.

The Mavericks, under head coach Dean Blais, were beating the Wildcats to the puck, winning the battles against the boards and outshooting NMU by a wide margin.

Nebraska-Omaha went in to the locker room for the first intermission with a 2-0 lead, outshooting NMU 18-4, including seven shots from directly in front of Wildcat goaltender Brian Stewart.

The Mavericks were frustrating NMU, and the Wildcats were assessed three early penalties as a result.

"That was our strategy. Come out hard," Blais said after Saturday's game, "because we weren't that bad (Friday). They were just real good (and) they made us look bad.

"We knew if we came out, got a couple goals," he added, "then they were going to have a hard time getting back in the game."

The Mavericks did just that, scoring on their first shot