Northern Michigan University’s Tynan Ewart, right, works for the puck against Augustana’s Quinn Rudrud during their CCHA game played in Sioux Falls, S.D., on Saturday. (Photo courtesy NMU)

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — The hockey team at Northern Michigan University got off to a rough start in league play over the weekend, dropping a pair of low-scoring games at Augustana.

The newest member of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, the Vikings are in their second year in the league but already had been nationally ranked throughout the early season until last week.

Augustana defeated NMU 2-1 on Friday night and 3-1 on Saturday, the Wildcats actually leading for nearly a full period in the second game.

But the losses sent Northern reeling to an 0-10 record as it started its CCHA campaign, while the Vikings improved to 5-3 overall and 2-2 in the conference.

NMU has played nothing but nationally ranked and previously nationally ranked teams this season, also getting swept at No. 15 Massachusetts and No. 16 Ohio State and at home to No. 19 Colorado College and No. 1 Michigan State.

The task may not get any easier this week with the Wildcats playing one of their two home-and-home series against their biggest Upper Peninsula rival, Michigan Tech, this weekend.

The Huskies (5-3, 2-0 CCHA), who split games at a pair of upstate New York schools over the weekend — losing to Clarkson 6-4 before blanking St. Lawrence 3-0 — received votes in at least one national poll last week, with the New York state results likely leaving them in a similar situation.

Northern’s game at 7:07 p.m. Friday against Tech will be played in Houghton, with Saturday’s 6:07 p.m. contest back at the Berry Events Center in Marquette.

Here are details from the games at Augustana:

Augustana 2, NMU 1

On Friday night, after more than half the game was scoreless, Augustana jumped out to a 2-0 lead before Northern cut the deficit in half just past the midpoint of the third period.

Goalie William Gramme returned to the form that set records for the Wildcats in their first series this season when he made 107 saves over two games at UMass.

In his fifth start, the transfer from the University of Wisconsin stopped 46 shots while giving his team a chance in the late going, making at least 14 saves each period and a high of 18 in the second.

NMU was outshot 48-25, Augustana netminder Josh Kotai making 24 stops, including 11 in the final period.

Northern’s first power play in the middle of the opening period was indicative of the play, with the Vikings getting the only shot on goal during the Wildcats’ man advantage, according to a game account from NMU Sports Information.

But Augustana could only be denied for so long, finally breaking through with 6:21 left in the second when freshman Leonid Bulgakov received a drop pass at the top of the right circle, gathering the puck and snapping a wrist shot that beat Gramme on his stick side, according to NMU SI.

With just one penalty whistled in the first two periods, the Vikings broke an 0 for 13 power play streak of futility during their first chance with just under six minutes gone in the third. Bulgakov was in on this play, too, firing a hot pass to Brett Meerman in the slot as the latter redirected it past Gramme.

About 2 1/2 minutes later, Augustana was called for minor penalties 33 seconds apart, giving the Wildcats a great 5-on-3 opportunity for nearly 90 seconds.

Leading scorer Caiden Gault, a Ferris State transfer, hit the crossbar as Northern couldn’t convert.

However, 28 seconds after the second of the two AU penalties expired, NMU freshman Tobias Pitka raced from his own end and gained the blue line, sliding a pass to sophomore teammate Grayden Slipec at the left wall. Slipec fired a pass back to Pitka as he crashed the net and knocked the puck in, cutting the Wildcats’ deficit to one.

Gramme then had to defend a Vikings power play on a penalty called with 8 1/2 minutes to go, making four saves, and neither team scored when Northern head coach Dave Shyiak pulled Gramme in favor of an extra attacker over the final minute and a half.

Pitka’s goal was his second as he also has two assists for four points, while Slipec’s assist was his third, tying him for the team lead in that department.

Teammate Warren Clark, a transfer from St. Cloud State, also got an assist on NMU’s goal, his first point as a Wildcat.

Gramme finished with a .958 saves percentage (46 of 48), his saves total second only to his Northern all-time record 65 he had in the opener at UMass.

NMU lost despite a plus-12 on faceoff draws, 35-23, with the 35 wins its third highest total this season.

Northern’s Jakub Altrichter won 68% of his faceoffs, 17 of 25, the 17 the most for a Wildcat this season, as he also had a team-high three blocked shots. And teammate Girts Silkalns was even better if not as prodigious on faceoffs, winning 11 of 14 for 79%.

Augustana 3, NMU 1

On Saturday night, the Wildcats opened the scoring early in the second period on another Pitka goal as their 1-0 lead held up until about a minute into the final period.

But Augustana bagged a trio of scores in a span of barely more than eight minutes to spoil what had been a superb outing by freshman goalie Oliver Auyeung-Ashton, who stopped all 22 shots on goal he faced in the opening two periods before finishing with 29.

In what might be a first this season, Northern held a decisive 42-32 shots advantage, but Kotai for the most part stoned the Wildcats, especially during a 24-shot second period even as the team had 95 seconds of penalty kill at the end. That marked NMU’s second-most shots in the NCAA “modern” era (2004 and later), only exceeded by the 27 taken in the middle period vs. Minnesota-Duluth on Oct. 13, 2023.

While the barrage got the Wildcats the lead, it could’ve but didn’t put the game out of reach, leaving it just 1-0 entering the final 20 minutes.

On the goal scored with 15:32 left in the second, Pitka won a faceoff in Augustana’s defensive zone, getting the puck to Matthew Argentina. The South American-sounding player shoveled it at Kotai, and while not scoring, produced a rebound that Pitka pounced on for what is now a two-game goal-scoring streak.

Then a bit past the midpoint of the period, the Wildcats’ Kyle Betten, a Minnesota-Duluth transfer, had an excellent chance on his shot that Kotai made a desperation save on, according to NMU SI.

Not long after Augustana’s carryover power play ended 25 seconds into the third, the Vikings scored the tying goal even strength. Auyeung-Ashton was interfered with on a shot from the point, according to NMU SI, but Shyiak’s follow-up challenge was overruled mainly because the goalie was outside the blue-tinted crease.

Then Bulgakov and Joey DelGreco put together goals 71 seconds apart by the midpoint of the third to give the home team a two-goal bulge. Auyeung-Ashton thought he had the puck after a shot from the point, but instead it took an odd bounce to Bulgakov’s stick for the first of the pair. And the second came when DelGreco finished off a mad scramble on the Northern goalie’s stick side.

After Shyiak pulled Auyeung-Ashton with about 2 1/2 minutes left, Gault again hit a post but was unable to get a score.

On this night, Silkalns had another dominating night on faceoffs, winning 12 of 15 (80%).

Argentina’s assist was his first point of the season as Northern scored first in a game for just the second time this season

Augustana 2, NMU 1

Friday at Sioux Falls, S.D.

Summary:

First period — No scoring

Second period — 1. AUG, Leonid Bulgakov (Meerman, Baumgartner) 13:39

Third period — 2. AUG, Brett Meerman (Bulgakov, Baumgartner) ppg 5:54; 3. NMU, Tobias Pitka (Slipec, Clark) 10:50

Penalties-minutes: NMU 2-4, Augustana 3-6

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

Goalie saves: NMU, William Gramme 46 (14-18-14); Augustana, Josh Kotai 24 (6-7-11)

Augustana 3, NMU 1

Saturday at Sioux Falls, S.D.

Summary:

First period — No scoring

Second period — 1. NMU, Tobias Pitka (Argentina) 4:28

Third period — 2. AUG, Cole Burtch (Hennen, Young) 0:58; 3. AUG, Leonid Bulgakov (Fandel, Jastrzebski) 7:52; 4. AUG, Joey DelGreco (Howard, Troumbly) 9:03

Penalties-minutes: NMU 2-4, Augustana 2-4

Power-play opportunities: NMU 0 of 2, Augustana 0 of 2

Goalie saves: NMU, Oliver Auyeung-Ashton 29 (11-11-7); Augustana, Josh Kotai 41 (7-23-11)

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.