Northern Michigan University's Vincent de Mey, front center, takes a shot that sails left of the goal during a college hockey game against Bemidji State played at the Berry Events Center in Marquette on Saturday. (Journal photo by Travis Nelson)

MARQUETTE — A single goal was the difference in each game of a relatively high-scoring CCHA hockey series between Northern Michigan University and visiting No. 19 Bemidji State as the Beavers completed the sweep with a 4-3 victory on Saturday night. Bemidji won 5-4 on Friday.

NMU slipped to 2-3 overall and 2-2 in the CCHA, while Bemidji improved to 3-3 and 2-0.

NMU looked to gain the split on Saturday, and things looked good for that to happen when the Wildcats jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period with goals by forwards Mikey Colella and Andre Ghantous.

Then the game changed drastically with two Bemidji goals 50 seconds apart late in the period at 17:35 and 18:25 by forwards Alex Ierullo and Tyler Kirkup.

Ierullo scored again late in the second period to put the Beavers up 3-2, though the ‘Cats responded on a power play with a snipe from forward AJ Vanderbeck to tie it up with about a minute and a half left in the period, with it remaining 3-3 at the second intermission.

A more defensive third period followed, but Bemidji State found an opening off of a puck bounce and forward Austin Jouppi snuck the rebound past Northern netminder Rico DiMatteo for the game-winner at 8:49.

Neither team had many chances after that, though the Wildcats hit two posts during the night and a great chance to tie it late when a shot by NMU forward David Keefer was blocked in front of the net by Lukas Sillinger with 14 seconds left to preserve the Beavers’ win.

The Wildcats held a 38-27 edge in shots on goal, had fewer penalties than what had cost them the night before, but came up short for the third straight game. Bounces seemed to go against Northern again on Saturday, but defensive breakdowns were also a major culprit.

“You look at the game, (Friday) night I talked about self-inflicted wounds, (Saturday) it’s individuals just getting beat,” NMU coach Grant Potulny said. “Whether it’s the first two goals, whether it’s a self-inflicted wound on the third, whether it’s something that you talk about all the time on the fourth one. It just felt like 38 shots, it felt like (NMU) had about 10 scoring chances.

“You hit two pipes, you miss the net, but I feel like I’m just a broken record, it’s four (goals given up) again.”

To say that the Wildcats’ defense hasn’t lived up to their coach’s expectations might be an understatement. There’s changes that need to be made, and that’ll begin at practice this week, Potulny said.

“Obviously, we have not adapted well to the defensive part of our practices, so this week it’s got to get fixed,” Potulny said. “We’re going to defend, we’re going to compete, I’m disappointed we lost the game, I thought we deserved better (on Saturday).

“Yes you want to win every game, but you’re coaching for the end of the year. What we’re doing right now is not going to get it done at the end of the year.

“Here’s the thing about sports, it’s a team game but there’s individuals within the team that I need to help play better. Like, I need to help some guys play better and I mentioned to the team after that it’s going to be hard coaching this week, there’s going to be hard coaching.

“Guys are going to have to understand that it’s not personal, but what’s happening on the rink is not good enough. Either I can fix them and make them better, or we have to play other people.”

Offense hasn’t been an issue as the Wildcats averaging 3.5 goals per game will get it done on most nights. However, giving up five, five and four goals in the three losses has become the issue for Potulny.

It’s not from a lack of effort, however, but the team needs to just stick with it, Ghantous said after Saturday’s game.

“I mean we’re working extremely hard, some bounces aren’t going our way and it just shows that we need to work a little harder,” he said. “We’re playing these top teams and kind of shooting ourselves in the foot most of these games.

“But I think we just need to keep sticking with it, it’s early on in the year. We just need to keep learning from this and we’re being coached to the end of the year and that’s what counts.”

The team’s positive energy and mindset will be important now, Colella added.

With another ranked conference opponent in No. 2 Minnesota State-Mankato waiting in the wings — and on the road for the first time this season — it’s an important factor.

“I think it’s definitely huge for us,” Colella said. “I think our energy is what drives us, we’re a high-energy team, we want to play hard, we want to play fast. Especially when the bench is live, we’re probably as good as any team in the country.

“So I think the matter of keeping the volume on the bench and just making sure that guys are ready to go for every shift and just keep buzzing as hard as we can and working as hard as we can.”

Travis Nelson can be reached by email at tnelson@miningjournal.net.