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MARQUETTE — Northern Michigan University begins its new hockey era in an official way tonight in Colorado Springs, Colorado, for its season-opening series against Colorado College.

Games are at 9 p.m. EDT today and 8 p.m. EDT Saturday after the Wildcats had a “soft” opening to the season on Saturday with an exhibition — meaning it doesn’t count in any way in the standings — at Michigan Tech in Houghton.

New head coach Dave Shyiak, he of 1991 NMU national championship fame, begins his tenure on the Northern bench with a 28-man roster that includes only four players from last year’s team.

Northern Michigan University head coach Dave Shyiak, center, talks to his Wildcats during a timeout in a college hockey exhibition game played against Michigan Tech at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena in Houghton on Saturday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

CC also played an exhibition on Saturday, so both teams are officially opening their seasons tonight.

The game will be broadcast on radio station WUPT 100.3 FM The Point, while fans can follow @NMUHockey on X, formerly Twitter, to get updates leading up to the games and for live updates while the Wildcats are on the ice.

Or visit the NMU athletics website at nmuwildcats.com and look under the hockey schedule for links to live statistics, live video, live audio and game notes.

Shyiak has assistant coaches Andy Contois, Phil Fox and Ben Russell helping in this quest to fashion a competitive team whose majority was put together after Shyiak’s hire in late June.

Shyiak played for the Wildcats from 1987-91, with his senior year — a year he was captain — the memorable national title team that won 8-7 in triple overtime over Boston University in the finals in St. Paul, Minnesota, in March 1991

Northern Michigan University’s Jakub Altrichter, left, and Michigan Tech's Viktor Hurtig jockey for position in front of the Huskies net during their college hockey exhibition game played at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena in Houghton on Saturday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

The returnees to this year’s NMU team are redshirt sophomore forward Tanner Latsch, Marquette native and redshirt junior defenseman Jakob Peterson, junior forward Zach Michaelis and sophomore forward Brendan Poshak.

Of the 28 players, 20 are underclassmen and 16 are freshmen.

Latsch easily has the most sizzle of the returnees, and not just because he was named team captain recently. Before his first college season was cut short after eight games a year ago due to injury, Latsch set the college hockey world on fire with seven goals and an assist in the season’s first month, earning multiple CCHA player of the week awards, the CCHA Rookie of the Month for October and even being runner-up for the national Hockey Commissioners Association Rookie of the Month.

Newcomer and left-shot center Jesse Tucker, an assistant captain, brings the most past college experience to NMU with 101 games played between stints at Michigan State and Clarkson.

Peterson and Michaelis have the most career games at Northern, with Peterson also an assistant captain.

Joining Peterson on the blueline will be New York Rangers draft pick Rasmus Larsson, who is an imposing presence at 6-foot-3, 205 pounds from Stockholm, Sweden.

Last weekend’s goalie at MTU, Ryan Ouellette, is the lone netminder with collegiate playing experience.

As far as Colorado College goes, the Wildcats and Tigers are past members of the WCHA, but haven’t faced each other since December 1996. NMU has a 31-22-1 record all-time vs. CC, though only 9-17 in Colorado. They also score lots in their games, averaging 8.74 combined goals per game.

CC was picked to finish third in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference this season, its highest-ever predicted finish in this relatively new league. The Tigers are coming off their first 20-win season and top-20 national ranking in a dozen years.

The Tigers received one first-place vote in the NCHC media poll and picked behind top selection Denver and No. 2 pick North Dakota.

CC juniors Noah Laba and Kaidan Mbereko were named to the NCHC preseason all-conference team.

Laba, a forward from downstate Northville, was named to the 2023-24 CCM-AHCA Second Team All-America by the American Hockey Coaches Association after leading the Tigers with 20 goals and 37 points and tying for the team high with 17 assists. The first-team All-NCHC selection finished fourth in the country with seven game-winning goals, including a nation-leading four in overtime.

Mbereko, a goaltender from Aspen, Colorado, was a First Team All-American in ’23-24. He was stellar all season for the Tigers, starting all 37 games and earning the NCHC Goaltender of the Year Award by a unanimous vote.

He finished with 21 wins, the most by a CC goalie since 2007-08, and led the NCHC with a 2.40 goals-against average and .915 saves percentage. A first-team All-NCHC pick, he was one of three finalists for the Mike Richter Award as the nation’s top NCAA Division I goalie.

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