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MARQUETTE — There shouldn’t be enough time for envy to creep into the psyches of Northern Michigan University hockey players this weekend.

But they could look across the Berry Events Center ice to the Minnesota-Duluth bench tonight and Saturday night and see what it looks like to be the No. 1 team in NCAA Division I.

The Bulldogs are 10-3-1 with their losses coming to Michigan, Western Michigan and North Dakota, and despite a modest 3-2-1 record in the National Collegiate Hockey Association, still retain that top ranking.

Northern Michigan University's Andre Ghantous skates along the boards looking for a shot or a teammate against Bowling Green State at the Berry Events Center in Marquette last Friday. (Journal photo by Travis Nelson)

NMU is 8-6-1 overall and 6-5-1 in the CCHA with this weekend’s nonconference games both starting at 6:37 p.m.

The last time Northern played the No. 1 team in the nation was a December 2019 home series against Minnesota State-Mankato in the WCHA, when they split a pair of games, gaining a 4-1 win in the second game.

And the last time NMU played Duluth was in January 2016 as they’ve only played UMD four times ever.

The Wildcats are on a four-game unbeaten streak with three wins and Saturday’s 3-3 tie that NMU won in a shootout over Bowling Green State. The series opener was an Northern 6-3 victory.

In the win, six Wildcats scored the half-dozen goals with three players scoring in both games — AJ Vanderbeck, Mack Beyers and Andre Ghantous.

Team captain and senior Joseph Nardi also had three assists, two in the win, while David Keefer had a goal and an assist in the win. Trevor Cosgrove had two assists in the tie, while Vanderbeck and Mikey Colella scored goals in a shootout that Northern prevailed 2-1.

NMU sophomore goaltender Rico DiMatteo

made 38 saves over two games, allowing four goals. Freshman Charlie Glockner worked the first 25-plus minutes on Saturday with 10 saves.

Here are some facts gathered by NMU Sports Information:

• The Wildcats’ 4.07 goals per game rank fourth in the nation;

• Their 17 power play goals are eighth in Division 1;

• Vanderbeck’s five power play tallies lead the team and the CCHA while ranking fifth nationally;

• Ghantous and Hank Crone are both in the top 25 in the nation in assists, Crone’s 1.0 per game fifth along with No. 1 in the CCHA, while Ghantous’ 0.87 per-game rate is 17th nationally;

• Nardi ranks 17th in the nation in faceoff wins with 160 in 15 games;

• Vanderbeck also ranks nationally in game-winning goals as his two lead the CCHA and are 19th in the D-1;

• In per-game goals, Vanderbeck ranks sixth nationally with 0.80 and Colella ninth at 0.73;

• Crone’s 1.40 points per game puts him 12th in the D-1, while Ghantous and Vanderbeck are at 1.27 to tie for 22nd;

• Alternate captain and senior defenseman Ben Newhouse leads the nation with 50 blocked shots, averaging 3.33 per game;

• After never missing a game in his collegiate career, Nardi is second among all active players nationally with 164 games played. That streak of 164 in a row is the NMU all-time record while he is just two short of becoming the Wildcats’ all-time leader in games played.

Fans can follow the team 24/7 @NMUHockey on Twitter, @nmu_hockey on Instragram, NMU Hockey on Facebook and @nmuhockey on TikTok.

This weekend’s games will be broadcast on radio station WUPT 100.3 FM The Point and online at streamdb7web.securenetsystems.net/ce/wupt. Video is available at www.flohockey.tv/ and live statistics at nmuwildcats.com/sidearmstats/mhockey/summary.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.

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