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Northern Michigan University hockey team can’t break through Saturday against Arizona State, falling 2-0NMU can’t break through Saturday

Northern Michigan University’s Danny Ciccarello, top center, braces himself to block a shot by Arizona State’s Ryan Kirwan, lower left, during their game played at the Berry Events Center in Marquette on Saturday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

MARQUETTE — Ryan Ouellette had a shutout going for 56 minutes of a 60-minute college hockey game on Saturday night, but Arizona State broke through with the game-winner and then an insurance empty-netter to pull off a 2-0 win on Saturday night.

The Wildcats fell to 1-5 after being swept in this nonconference series by the Sun Devils (3-4-1).

There was certainly no guarantee Ouellette would’ve been done even if he had completely stoned ASU through the end of the third period, considering that Devils netminder Gibson Homer actually did post a shutout after making 22 saves. Ouellette finished with 36 stops a night after he made 37.

For the weekend, the Sun Devils outshot Northern by exactly a 2-to-1 margin, 78-39.

“I thought that was the best game we’ve played this year,” Northern head coach Dave Shyiak in his postgame press conference as reported by NMU Sports Information in an account of the game. “We competed hard, we made it difficult for them to generate plays off the rush, we had some more time of possession … we did everything to win the game except put the puck in the net.”

Northern Michigan University’s Jesse Tucker, left, tries to tip the puck past Arizona State goalie Gibson Homer during their college hockey game played at the Berry Events Center in Marquette on Saturday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

Arizona State made the Wildcats pay for giving them their fifth power play of the evening. NMU’s Grayden Daul was tagged with a boarding minor with 4:20 left in regulation and the Devils’ Ryan Kirwan scored less than 30 seconds later.

Quickly starting the power play, Northern blocked a shot from the point that landed on the stick of ASU’s Bennett Schimek, who then made a cross-crease pass to Kirwan on the left faceoff dot and beat the outstretched Ouellette.

With the net empty in the game’s final ticks, Kirwan collected a loose puck and deposited it into the twine.

“The penalty kill was outstanding, Ryan Ouellette was really good and gave us a chance to win,” Shyiak said of his charges killing off four of five shorthanded situations.

NMU’s Jesse Tucker and Jakub Altrichter had exceptional nights in the faceoff circle, with Tucker winning 17 of 21 draws (81%) and Altrichter 13 of 17 (77%).

Earlier in the opening period, Northern was called for four minor penalties, leaving them shorthanded for almost half the period.

Then in the second, NMU recorded 14 shots on goal as Arizona State had 12. Northern also had five of those shots coming in the high-percentage area of the slot with none for the Devils.

But the score remained 0-0.

Now with an introductory three weeks of nonconference games out of the way, the Wildcats jump both skates first into CCHA games, playing nothing but conference contests the rest of the season except for a break at the Great Lakes Invitational in Grand Rapids between Christmas and New Year’s.

The league season starts with the first of two home-and-home series against Michigan Tech this weekend, the Huskies coming to Marquette at 7:07 p.m. Friday and Northern returning the favor in Houghton at 6:07 p.m. Saturday. Their second series will be played in late January.

“We talked about continuing to use these games as building blocks for next week when we start conference play,” Shyiak said. “To me, conference play is like the start to a new season, and we’ll get back to work on (today).”

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

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