From left, Northern Michigan University hockey players Tanner Latsch, Jesse Tucker and Grayden Slipec talk during a stop in action in the Wildcats’ game against Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Friday. (Photo courtesy NMU)

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The nearly all-new Northern Michigan University hockey team took nationally ranked Colorado College to the limit in its first regular season game on Friday before succumbing to the Tigers 4-3 in overtime.

CC, ranked No. 12 in the USCHO.com preseason rankings, came back to score a bigger 6-1 victory on Saturday.

Despite the Wildcats being outshot 85-31 over the two games, NMU goaltenders Ryan Ouellette and Ethan Barwick kept their team in it throughout Friday and for two periods on Saturday.

NMU (0-2) returns to Marquette for an early-season five-game homestand starting at 7 p.m. Friday, when the Wildcats host Alaska-Anchorage, a team that new Northern head coach Dave Shyiak was once head coach. The second game is at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Berry Events Center.

The home games continue the following weekend with a third straight nonconference series against Arizona State on Oct. 25-26, then concludes with the first game of a traditional home-and-home series with Upper Peninsula and CCHA rival Michigan Tech at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 1.

The series with the Huskies concludes with a 6 p.m. game on Saturday, Nov. 2, in Houghton, both games of that pair expected to be televised by WLUC-TV6 and/or Fox-U.P.

Here are details from Colorado:

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Colorado College 4, NMU 3 (OT)

On Friday night, Northern opened the scoring, then tied the game twice in third period before the Tigers prevailed less than 30 seconds into overtime.

Ouellette made 45 saves, including 19 in the second period, to help NMU get the game into extra time, as the Northern skaters only made past Hobey Baker Award candidate and goalie Kaidan Mbereko of CC to have to stop 16 shots.

Ouellette’s save total is the most for a Wildcat goalie since All-American Atte Tolvanen made 58 in a 4-2 win over MTU on March 1, 2019. Tolvanen became famous for tying the NCAA record with his five straight shutouts for the Wildcats in January and February of 2017.

Wildcats sophomore forward Matthew Romer, who played sparingly at Arizona State last season, scored his first two collegiate goals — NMU’s opening goal of the season and the one that forced OT in the final minute of regulation.

Sophomore captain Tanner Latsch, one of just four players who return from last year’s Wildcat team, picked up where he left off last year by scoring his team’s other goal while assisting on Romer’s overtime-forcer. Latsch, who was only able to play eight games early last season due to injury, had seven goals in his limited playing time a year ago.

After an abbreviated power play earlier, NMU drew a full two-minute man-advantage 8:36 into the game. Immediately, Northern’s Grayden Slipec gathered the puck at the right half wall, edging toward the faceoff dot, according to a game account from NMU Sports Information.

He froze the CC defenseman in front of him, slipping a pass to teammate Jesse Tucker below the goal line. Tucker immediately found Romer at the back door and Romer beat a sprawling Mbereko just 14 seconds into the power play.

CC tied it up not quite five minutes later when a shot from the point was deflected at the faceoff dot, coming from shoulder height and down on Ouellette, bouncing over his shoulder to tie it 1-1. Bret Link was credited with the goal.

The Tigers needed little time and only their first shot of the second period to take the lead. A streaking CC player dropped a pass to Gleb Veremyev, who had assisted on their first goal. Veremyev found a spot over the glove shoulder of the screened NMU goalie to score 40 seconds into the period.

That’s when the Wildcats had to start playing catch-up. After the rest of the second period went scoreless, Northern tied it not quite six minutes into the third.

That’s when Latsch walked in down the left-wing side on a 2-on-1 with Slipec, according to NMU SI. At the hash marks, Latsch let a wicked wrister fly that beat Mbereko low to the glove side to tie it 2-2.

It stayed that way until 3:58 remained in regulation. CC salvaged a broken play when Zaccharya Wisdom flipped the puck from the goalline to teammate Owen Beckner, who was crashing the net, according to NMU SI. Somehow, Beckner got his stick on the puck and knocked it through Ouellette’s legs.

Then Romer came up with more heroics, as with 43 seconds to go, he got the puck with the CC net vacated and banked his shot off a Tigers defender.

But once OT 3-on-3 started, the home team needed just 21 seconds to score the game-winner. Noah Laba found a burst of speed in the open ice, broke down the left wing side, cut across the crease and beat Ouellette on the short side.

Latsch was joined by Tucker, Slipec, Rasmus Larsson and Danny Ciccarello all picking up assists for NMU, the latter quartet their first point in their inaugural game for the Wildcats.

Latsch led Northern with three shots on goal, while Tucker won the most draws with 13 even as teammate Billy Renfrew was more efficient at winning 9 of 14 (64%). And Nicolas Ardanaz led all players with five blocked shots, while Romer and Joe Schiller each had a plus-minus of plus-1.

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Colorado College 6, NMU 1

On Saturday night, the Tigers jumped out quickly, establishing a 2-0 lead before the game was three minutes old and prompting Shyiak to use his timeout.

Northern then scored the only goal over the next period and a half before CC found its range again and pumped in one later in the second and three more in the third.

NMU goalie Ethan Barwick got his first career playing time and start, making 30 saves as the Wildcats were outshot 36-12.

After CC’s Drew Montgomery scored unassisted 84 seconds in and Stanley Cooley made it 2-0 not quite 90 seconds later, Northern scored just past the halfway mark of the first period.

Five seconds after Northern’s first power play of the night ended, Ryan Duguay walked in from the blue line and fired a shot that took several odd bounces off Mbereko before going in, according to a game account from NMU SI.

Schiller and Jakob Peterson, a Marquette native, earned assists on the goal.

The Wildcats trailed just 2-1 until 7:15 was left in the second. That’s when Northern failed to clear its zone after a CC player batted down a flying puck. A pass went cross ice to Philippe Blais-Savoie, who walked in down the left side and fired a hard wrister past Barwick’s ear.

The floodgates opened early in the third. Twenty-one seconds in, Veremyev, who assisted on the previous goal, received a perfect pass through the slot and one-timed his shot.

Then just over three minutes later, the Tigers caught a tired group of NMU penalty-killers hemmed in their own zone. Ty Gallagher would notch one of his four points during the weekend when he walked in on Barwick through the slot and fired through traffic and in.

CC rounded out the scoring with 1.5 seconds left when Max Burkholder converted a late power play.

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