Northern Michigan University’s Garrett Klee, left, battles for the puck against Michigan Tech’s Brenden Datema in their WCHA game played at the Berry Events Center in Marquette on Friday night. (Journal photo by Kat Torreano)

MARQUETTE — The Northern Michigan University hockey team had a lot going for it heading into Friday night’s Upper Peninsula rivalry showdown with Michigan Tech.

It was Senior Night and a victory over the Huskies would clinch home ice in the first round of the WCHA playoffs.

But it wasn’t to be as Tech blew out NMU 8-4 and spoiled the occasion. Forward Trenton Bliss picked up a hat trick for the Huskies, while Wildcats seniors Phil Beaulieu and Darien Craighead each had a power play goal.

For Northern head coach Grant Potulny, the game all came down to special teams as the Wildcats’ penalty kill unit struggled mightily as the Huskies were 3 of 5 on the power play, but at the same time, NMU had some goals itself with the man advantage.

“We looked great on the power play,” he said. “We made one mistake on their shorthanded goal. It was an individual mistake. It wasn’t a systematic deal.

“We scored three power play goals, but the penalty kill and the defense of our team, wherever you want to start with it, we’re at the point where we have to take as few penalties as possible and we have to block as many shots as possible and try to hold teams to 20 shots or less.

“Some of the penalties that we’ve taken, it’s maddening for me. I’ve talked about it in here since October and we’ve skated for them. Players have sat for it.

“I wish I had a reason that we take these penalties and I wish I could fix it. And when the penalty kill (is) doing as poorly as it is, it compounds the problem. I can’t sit anybody. I don’t have any extra players. So I’ve got to play the guys I’ve got. It’s maddening to me.”

The first period was about as up and down as it could get for the Wildcats. It started off in the negative with the Huskies getting on the board first as Tech’s Greyson Reitmeier had a shot go off a NMU defenseman and past goalie Nolan Kent at the 10:52 mark.

MTU wasn’t finished, though. With 7:17 left and Northern trying to kill off an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, Huskies forward Alec Broetzman flipped a shot over Kent as the goalie was trying to cover a loose puck and it was 2-0 Tech. The Huskies’ surge was capped off with 3:32 left as Alex Smith snuck a shot past Kent.

Then the penalties piled up for Tech. With the Wildcats on a 5-on-3 power play, Beaulieu got a pass in the slot from Craighead, paused and then snapped a shot over Huskies goalie Matt Jurusik. Tech was called for another penalty during that power play and with another 5-on-3 advantage, Craighead beat Jurusik low to cut Northern’s deficit to one at 3-2 going into the second period.

Whatever momentum NMU may have had after those two quick goals disappeared early in the next period. After turning the puck over three times in the opening two minutes, the Wildcats were whistled for a costly high sticking penalty.

On the ensuing power play, Kent made a sprawling save to deny Keegan Ford, but Trenton Bliss was there for the rebound and tapped it into the net to pad Tech’s lead to 4-2.

With about 12:25 remaining, the Wildcats had a good chance to trim the Huskies’ advantage to one again as Mitch Slattery almost beat Jurusik, but the goalie’s mask fell off, stopping play. Northern fans said Jurusik purposefully knocked off his own mask, but they didn’t get the call.

NMU cashed in on its next scoring opportunity as Joe Nardi sent a cross-ice pass to a waiting Griffin Loughran at the right post and he went top shelf on Jurusik. Northern trailed the Huskies 4-3 going to the third.

Tech wouldn’t be denied, though. A careless play by Kent got the Huskies their fifth tally as he poke-checked the puck right to Logan Ganie, who shot the puck into the wide-open net at the 4:47 mark.

Less than a minute later, MTU struck again as Bliss tipped a Brenden Datema shot past Kent and just like that, the Wildcats were down by three. The Huskies added another goal at the 11:17 mark on a nice shorthanded rush as Smith sent a pass over to Broetzman and he beat Kent blocker-side.

Northern got one back on a goal by Vincent de Mey, but the Huskies ended any hopes of a massive comeback with Bliss getting his third goal of the night at 16:51.

“I feel bad for our guys,” Potulny said. “I thought we started the game playing very well and we scored four goals. We had some bad luck, both offensively and defensively.

“And then going into the third period, you’re down a goal. It’s OK. It’s one thing if you’re down 2-1, or down 1-0 and you haven’t scored. You’ve scored three already, you know you’re probably gonna get a chance to score another one. You outshoot them 16-8 and they outscore you 4-1. That’s hockey sometimes.

“I’ve sat in here with you before and I’ve been really upset and I don’t feel that way tonight. Even though it’s the most goals we’ve given up all year, I don’t feel like I’m disappointed in the guys or disappointed in the effort. Am I disappointed in the outcome and some things within it? Yep.

“We’ve got to worry about ourselves. We’ve given up so many goals in the last month of the year. It doesn’t matter who we play in the playoffs. We know we’re in and it doesn’t matter who we play. If we can’t start holding people to two, it’s gonna be really hard.”

NMU holds the third seed in the WCHA standings by just a single point over Bowling Green State with tonight’s contest against the Huskies closing out the regular season.

Ryan Stieg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.