MARQUETTE — The offensive woes continued for the Northern Michigan University hockey team on Saturday night as the Wildcats lost 2-1 to Ferris State despite a 28-save performance by NMU goaltender Ryan Ouellette.

Northern was limited to one goal or less for the eighth straight game, all CCHA contests where they’ve gone 0-7-1. The single tie in that time was a 1-1 deadlock at nationally ranked Minnesota State-Mankato on Nov. 16 that became a shootout win and produced the Wildcats’ only two points in the league standings so far this season.

Like the previous night’s 3-1 loss to the Bulldogs, NMU (1-14-1, 0-9-1 CCHA) scored its goal after Ferris scored all its goals. On Saturday, Matthew Romer pumped in his third goal this season with 37 seconds left in the second period, about four minutes after the Bulldogs’ notched their second one of the night.

Also for the second straight night, Northern couldn’t break through with its power play, going 0 of 5 after an 0-for-3 performance the night previous. However, the Wildcats did kill off 3 of 4 shorthanded situations.

Romer’s score began when NMU’s Danny Ciccarello held off a pair of Bulldog defenders along the left boards before dropping a pass to Jakub Lewandowski, according to a game account provided by NMU Sports Information. Lewandowski drove to the post, drawing a defender to him, before slipping a pass to Romer on the back post and burying it in the net.

Before that, the Wildcats garnered the first grade-A scoring chance early in the first period off a 2-on-1 rush. Colby Browne wheeled down the left wing side and slid a pass through a defender to NMU teammate Zach Michaelis on the back post, but Ferris goalie Noah West went post-to-post to make a sprawling save, according to NMU SI.

The Bulldogs flipped the puck out of their defensive zone, appearing to have sprung one of their players for a breakaway. The Wildcats’ Wolfgang Govedaris made a great play defensive play to reach around the attacker and knock the puck off his stick as he was winding up to shoot, nullifying the 1-on-1 chance, NMU SI said.

The Bulldogs were awarded a power play late in the first period. In one of the stranger sequences of events, the Bulldogs scored that went undetected by the officials, and play resumed for another 30 seconds. In that time, NMU had a delayed penalty call. According to the NCAA rulebook, if penalties occur prior to or after an undetected goal, penalties are still enforced.

So the clock was reset to 30 seconds prior, the Bulldogs had a 1-0 lead, and NMU had another penalty to kill, which they did successfully.

After killing two more penalties near the halfway point of the second period, Romer made a slick pass from the left sideboard to a wide-open teammate Grayden Daul walking in from the right point. Daul stepped into a one-timer from atop the circle, but West went side-to-side again to make the save, according to NMU SI.

The Bulldogs scored with 4 1/2 minutes left in the second period off a quick rush. A backhander from the bottom of the left circle was handled by Ouellette, but Ferris’ Holden Doell was crashing the net and made a whack at Ouellette. The puck squirted loose, landed behind the Northern goalie and trickled over the goal line.

After Romer scored to pull Northern within a goal in the last minute of the second period, NMU was whistled for a penalty early in the third. The Wildcats successfully killed the man-short situation thanks to a pair of glove saves by Ouellette, one off a redirect from in tight and another on a one-timer from the slot.

Govedaris had a grade-A scoring chance with just over six minutes remaining. He turned on the jets and beat a defender wide down the left side, then made a cut and drove to the net, freezing West and looking at a wide open net, but the puck rolled just off his stick before he could take his shot.

Seconds later after Govedaris’ opportunity, a Ferris forward skated in on a breakaway. He fired a shot from the right hash marks, but Ouellette closed the five-hole and kept his team in the game.

NMU got a power play opportunity with four minutes remaining, and it started with a real quality chance. Grayden Slipec let go a one-timer from the right circle, but West was able to make the save and corral the rebound. That was the only shot on that chance, and despite pulling Ouellette late, NMU was unable to get the equalizer.

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