Northern Michigan University’s Medrick Bolduc, center, and Mathew Ward, second from right, get in front of Michigan Tech goaltender Owen Baroszkiewicz, partially hidden at right, to screen or look for a tip-in during their CCHA hockey game played at the Berry Events Center in Marquette on Saturday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

MARQUETTE — The Wildcats hockey team will have a chance to lick its wounds after suffering its sixth straight sweep to open the season over the weekend.

Northern Michigan University took losses of 4-1 and 4-2 against its top Upper Peninsula rival, Michigan Tech, in a traditional home-and-home series to fall to 0-12 for the season, 0-4 in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association.

The Huskies were the first NMU opponent not to be either currently or previously ranked nationally among its half-dozen opponents, though MTU has been receiving votes in various national polls all along in this young season.

The Huskies (7-3 overall) are now in second place in the CCHA with 12 points, but have the only perfect league record at 4-0, as they’ve played two fewer games than the other three teams also near the top.

Northern now gets a week off after its rugged early schedule, returning to play the weekend before Thanksgiving, Nov. 21-22, with CCHA games at league-leading Bemidji State in Bemidji, Minnesota.

The Wildcats’ next home games are the following weekend, Nov. 28-29, against conference foe Minnesota State-Mankato. They will have regular home starting times of 7:07 p.m. Friday and 6:07 p.m. Saturday.

Here are details from the series vs. Tech:

MTU 4, NMU 1

On Friday in Houghton, the Wildcats didn’t dent the scoreboard until the final eight minutes after the Huskies had built a 3-0 lead.

With 7:59 left, Jakub Altrichter scored his first goal this season as Northern was shorthanded after he took a “beautiful lead” pass from Mathew Ward, as NMU Sports Information described it in its game report.

Both before and after that, Tech’s Stiven Sardarian accounted for a pair of goals and an assist.

Junior William Gramme started in the Wildcats’ net, giving up the opening three goals on just 12 shots before he was pulled near the midpoint of the second period in favor of freshman Oliver Auyeung-Ashton, who didn’t allow any scores while making 18 saves, including 13 in the third period.

NMU for the most part couldn’t solve the Huskies defense nor netminder Owen Bartoszkiewicz, who had 26 saves.

Tech wasted no time at its MacInnes Student Ice Arena, scoring just 22 seconds in on Sardarian’s first goal as he corralled a loose puck at the top of the crease and buried it into an open net.

Northern’s first quality chance happened about six minutes in when Michael Burchill broke through with a wrister on a clean breakaway look that the MTU goalie stoned.

NMU killed off back-to-back penalties that didn’t quite overlap enough for a 5-on-3 as Tech got just three shots on goal between them.

Instead, the Huskies scored again even strength with 2:20 left in the opening period on a sniper shot by Brayden Boehm top shelf.

The Wildcats got back-to-back power plays early in the second period, eerily similar to how Tech did in the previous period, but also like the Huskies, they couldn’t score on them even while taking the first seven shots on goals of the second.

MTU found its legs later in the period, making it 3-0 with 9:12 left on a Reid Andresen goal that prompted NMU coach Dave Shyiak to make his goalie change.

Strangely enough, even though the teams combined for 11 power-play chances, the only goal during them was scored shorthanded by Altrichter after Ward collected a loose puck in front of his bench and got it past a defender to Altrichter.

Shyiak pulled Auyeung-Ashton in the waning seconds, but instead, Bartoszkiewicz almost made history with a full-rink shot that missed the empty net by inches before Sardarian punched it in for the final goal with exactly 60 seconds left.

MTU 4, NMU 2

On Saturday at the Berry Events Center, the Wildcats turned the tables on Tech, scoring within the first two minutes.

But the Huskies again came up with there straight goals to clinch their win, even after NMU got another third-period goal that pulled the Wildcats within a single goal for the waning minutes.

Altrichter got his second goal of the weekend just 91 seconds in as Northern dominated play early.

Ward had a breakaway opportunity that was saved a few seconds earlier. Teammate Medrick Bolduc dumped the puck back into the MTU end, and after Tech goalie Bartoszkiewicz couldn’t corral a bouncing puck, Altrichter found it and a wide-open net and he didn’t miss.

Just before the halfway point of the opening period, the Huskies’ Carson Latimer took advantage of a fortunate bounce, moving the puck behind the net and finding Lauri Raiman out front for his one-timer goal that tied it.

The score remained that way until nearly five minutes was gone in the second, even though Northern’s Joe Schiller hit a post about 30 seconds into the period.

Tech made it 2-1 on a Latimer one-man effort, then got it to 3-1 about 12 minutes later, with 3:09 left in the second, after converting a forecheck win. Freshman Reid Daavettila won a puck battle at the boards, passing to another frosh, Michael Cicek, who found a third first-year player, Teydon Trembecky, who pumped it in the net.

Schiller then pulled the Wildcats within one with 5:13 remaining, immediately after his team went on the power play. The faceoff in the MTU zone went back to Schiller, who gathered it in and zipped a shot from the top of the right circle.

Shyiak pulled Auyeng-Ashton, who finished with 27 saves, with just over a minute to go, but Sardarian netted his second straight empty-netter, this time with 25 seconds to go.

MTU 4, NMU 1

Friday at Houghton

Summary:

First period — 1. MTU, Stiven Sardarian (Koskipirtti, Reinhart) 0:22; 2. MTU, Brayden Boehm (Latimer, Jansson) 17:40

Second period — 3. MTU, Reid Andresen (Trembecky, Sardarian) 10:48

Third period — 4. NMU, Jakub Altrichter (Bolduc, Ewart) shg 12:01; 5. MTU, Sardarian (Gordon) eng 19:00

Penalties-minutes: NMU 7-14, Michigan Tech 6-12

Power-play opportunities: NMU 0 of 5, Michigan Tech 0 of 6

Goalie saves: NMU 27 (William Gramme 7-2-x–9, Oliver Auyeung-Ashton x-5-13–18), Michigan Tech, Owen Bartoszkiewicz 26 (7-9-10)

MTU 4, NMU 2

Saturday at Berry Events Center

Summary:

First period — 1. NMU, Jakub Altrichter (Bolduc) 1:31; 2. MTU, Lauri Raiman (Latimer, Jansson) 10:09

Second period — 3. MTU, Carson Latimer (Leppa, Prouty) 4:54; 4. MTU, Teydon Trembecky (Cicek, Daavettila) 16:51

Third period — 5. NMU, Joe Schiller (Ward, Pitka) ppg 14:47; 6. MTU, Stiven Sardarian (Miller, Leppa) eng 19:35

Penalties-minutes: Michigan Tech 4-8, NMU 5-10

Power-play opportunities: Michigan Tech 0 of 3, NMU 1 of 2

Goalie saves: Michigan Tech, Owen Bartoszkiewicz 23 (8-3-12); NMU, Oliver Auyeung-Ashton 27 (6-10-11)

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press releases reviewing the games. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.