Northern Michigan University’s Ben Newhouse shoots during a CCHA game played against Minnesota State-Mankato on Jan. 15 at the Berry Events Center in Marquette. (Journal photo by Travis Nelson)

MARQUETTE — The Northern Michigan University hockey team will make a final push at the end of the regular season starting this weekend with its final road series at Bowling Green State tonight and Saturday evening.

Opening faceoff each evening is set for 7:07 p.m. and games will be broadcast on radio station WUPT 100.3 FM The Point.

The Wildcats play their final series of the regular season the following weekend, at home against Ferris State.

Northern had a possibly unwanted 10 days off as it still had the taste of an 8-1 home loss to Michigan Tech on Feb. 8, a Tuesday game that was a makeup for a contest postponed from January due to health and safety concerns with the NMU team.

Northern was missing its two Hobey Baker Award candidates, seniors Joseph Nardi and Hank Crone, along with its top two goalies, Rico DiMatteo and Charlie Glockner. No word was available whether any of these players will be available this weekend.

The Wildcats spotted Tech an 8-0 lead before NMU’s Mikey Colella averted the shutout with about 11 1/2 minutes remaining. Northern starting goalie Nolan Kent, the regular starting goalie until the middle of last season, made 28 saves as NMU intramural player Braden Golisek, who played at Marquette Senior High School before becoming a student at Northern, served as emergency backup.

Northern did split its previous series at Bemidji State on Feb. 4-5, beating the Beavers 2-1 in the opener before BSU prevailed 5-3 in the closer.

The Wildcats are 15-13-1 overall and 9-12-1 in the CCHA, good for sixth place in the eight-team league. NMU is also 4-6 overall this season in road games. The Falcons are 14-13-3 overall, but 11-10-1 and in fourth place in the league.

Bowling Green leads the all-time series vs. NMU by a narrow margin, 57-54-11. The Wildcats hosted BGSU back in November with Northern winning the opener 6-3 before they tied 3-3 on Saturday with NMU prevailing in the shootout for the extra league point.

In that series, the Wildcats’ AJ Vanderbeck, Andre Ghantous and Mack Byers each scored two goals as 12 Northern players notched a point. Vanderbeck also scored NMU’s first goal in the shootout.

Despite recent injuries, Nardi and Crone are still up for the Hobey Baker, with online voting available once per day for fans at hobeybaker.com/vote. Nardi had played 170 consecutive games until recently, while Crone is among the nation’s leaders in several offensive categories, including assists.

Here are some other facts about the Wildcats’ rankings nationally as gleaned by NMU Sports Information:

• Vanderbeck is tied for second in goals with 19, while his 135 shots rank No. 1

• Crone has 25 assists in 24 games to rank fourth, while his 34 points are 10th as he also had nine goals. His 1.41 points per game ranks him third

• Senior captain and defenseman Ben Newhouse leads the country in blocks with 93 in 29 games, while fellow blueliner Mike Van Unen is 14th with 52 blocks

• Nardi became NMU’s all-time leader in games played when he hit 169, all consecutive, and is second among active collegians. Hampus Eriksson, a transfer from Lake Superior State during the past offseason, is 18th in games with 155, while Trevor Cosgrove hit the 150-game milestone in a series vs. LSSU

• Vanderbeck’s seven power play goal tied him for eighth

• Crone still has NMU’s only shorthanded goal and it ties him for 15th

• Colella’s 13 goals ranks him 19th, while Ghantous’ 21 assists are 18th

• NMU as a team averages 3.41 goals per game, ninth nationally and second in the CCHA

Wildcat fans can follow the team @NMUHockey on Twitter, @nmu_hockey on Instagram, NMU Hockey on Facebook and @nmuhockey on TikTok.

Along with the games broadcast over the air on the radio this weekend, fans can follow the action online. Radio is available at https://streamdb7web.securenetsystems.net/ce/wupt, video at https://www.flohockey.tv/ and live statistics at https://nmuwildcats.com/sidearmstats/mhockey/summary.

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