The hockey team at Northern Michigan University was playing shorthanded with 17 skaters and two goalies due to injuries, but still found a way to gut out its first win after the season has been underway for a little more than two months.

NMU traveled to Bowling Green, Ohio, and defeated the Falcons 3-2 on Friday night. The Wildcats couldn’t make it a sweep, however, losing 4-3 in overtime on Saturday to still garner another point in the standings of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association.

NMU improved to 1-17 overall and 1-9 in the CCHA. While it wouldn’t be surprising that Northern is still mired in last place in the league, it might be a bit of surprise to learn that the Wildcats, with four points, are just another four points behind the next team ahead of them, Ferris State. The eighth-place Bulldogs are 3-7 in league contests but only have eight points.

Maybe this isn’t coming at the right time, but the holiday break is just around the corner for NMU, with a home series against CCHA sixth-place St. Thomas at the Berry Events Center this weekend, Friday’s game at 7:07 p.m. and Saturday’s at 6:07 p.m.

Northern Michigan University’s Caiden Gault, left, and Michigan State’s Sean Barnhill vie for the puck during their game played at the Berry Events Center in Marquette on Oct. 24. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

The final pre-holiday series at home also means the annual Teddy Bear Toss at Friday’s contest and Sock Toss during Saturday’s encounter.

The Wildcats don’t pick up their sticks for another game until Jan. 3-4, when they travel to Sault Ste. Marie to take on seventh-place Lake Superior State.

But maybe this is the right time for a lengthy break, considering Northern was missing two more players from its already depleted roster for Saturday night’s game at Bowling Green.

Here is more about the series:

NMU 3, Bowling Green 2

On Friday, the Wildcats jumped out to a 3-0 lead early in the third period and held off their host’s furious comeback attempt down the stretch.

NMU Sports Information in its game report credited the Northern team with scoring across the lineup and timely penalty killing for getting this win, the first in regulation or overtime since a 3-2 OT victory at LSSU on Feb. 8. The winless streak had stretched to 20 games overall, which included a shootout win for the Wildcats at the end of last season that officially counted as a tie.

In this latest win, NMU dominated the first period with the only power play of the frame, though every goal scored in this contest came even strength.

Northern outshot the Falcons 14-8 in the opening period, including 7-4 in shots on goal with multiple shots ringing off the crossbar or narrowly missing.

Caiden Gault, a transfer after leading Ferris State in scoring a season ago, added to his NMU

-leading goal total with three goals across the two contests in Ohio, his first one also the Wildcats’ first one on Friday.

Though Bowling Green bounced back for a 22-11 shots on goal edge in the middle period, it was again only NMU scoring from Landon MacDonald getting his second of the season, each goal so far coming with around 6 1/2 minutes left in their respective periods.

Then Northern made it an insurmountable-looking 3-0 when Girts Silkalns scored barely two minutes into the third on “one of the prettier goals you’ll see this season,” according to NMU SI.

But the lead wouldn’t look so insurmountable when the Falcons got one back about 3 1/2 minutes later, then got within one goal with 1:04 left after pulling its goalie in favor of an extra attacker.

It could’ve been worse, as the Wildcats had to kill 5-on-3 shorthanded situations twice over a handful of seconds between those goals.

In the end, Northern goaltender William Gramme made 34 saves, including a whopping 20 in the third, to preserve his first NMU victory and the Wildcats’ first of the season. Northern was outshot 36-20 as BGSU netminder Tyler Palmer only made 17 saves, never more than eight in any one period.

Gault might’ve been licking his chops to get the game started, considering that before this game during his previous time at Ferris, he had five points in 12 career games against the Falcons.

His goal wouldn’t have happened without Silkalns, who foreshadowed his later goal by forcing a turnover in the NMU zone and springing Gault and Aidyn Hutchinson on a 2-on-1 break. Gault’s scoring shot came from the left circle on a wicked wrist shot past Palmer’s ear.

Previous to that, MacDonald, also doing a little foreshadowing, walked into the BGSU zone on a 2-on-1, but caught the crossbar over Palmer’s left hand.

Ferris had an excellent chance to tie the game midway through the second when Tyler Hotson received a stretch pass and walked in on a breakaway against Gramme, who stoned him.

Not long after, MacDonald took advantage of a bouncing puck off a long flip from teammate Danny Ciccarello that skipped over a defender’s stick at the Falcons’ blueline, according to NMU SI. Playing in his seventh straight game, MacDonald just had to walk between the hashmarks and take a decisive shot over the goalie’s pad and under the blocker on the far side.

The third goal from Silkalns came after he gained the blue line, toe-dragged a defender and outwaited Palmer and some sliding defenders before guiding in a backhand into a wide-open pit.

The insurance goals sure came in handy, as the home team made it 3-1 with 14:27 left when Connor Levis jammed home a rebound out of midair from right at the edge of the crease.

After NMU killed off three penalties called barely 3 1/2 minutes apart — creating 5-on-3’s of 22 and seven seconds in the process — Palmer was pulled with three minutes left as it paid off when Brody Waters shot toward the net and got the puck past Gramme with 1:04 to go.

Silkalns had his first multipoint game at NMU, while teammate Tyler Stern got his first point with the Wildcats, the second assist on MacDonald’s goal, and Warren Clark got his second point, the second assist on Silkalns’ goal.

Bowling Green 4, NMU 3 (OT)

On Saturday, the Wildcats had a shot for the unlikeliest of sweeps after a couple more players became unavailable since the start of Friday’s game.

After Gramme gave up the only goal of the opening period with just 53 seconds left, NMU notched back-to-back tallies in the first 11 minutes of the second period to go up 2-1.

The Falcons (8-5-3, 6-3-3 CCHA) twice tied it in the third, the last time with 1:15 left, to force OT. And in the extra five minutes, Bowling Green’s Jaden Grant was called for a slashing penalty, though the Wildcats couldn’t capitalize on it before the home team scored the winner more than a minute after its shorthanded situation expired.

Gramme made 35 saves on this night, one more than the night before, with none in OT. NMU was outshot 39-27 as a different Bowling Green goalie, Jacob Steinman, finished with 24 stops, including two in the extra period.

Northern scored the only power play goal on this night, meaning the Wildcats penalty killers were 7 for 7 for the weekend against one of the CCHA’s top power-play units.

The opening period was a tale of two games, the Falcons outshooting NMU 7-0 in the first eight minutes before NMU turned it around for an 11-3 advantage over the second half of the period.

But the Falcons still managed to break the scoreless deadlock with seconds remaining before the first intermission. A “seemingly nothing-shot from Ivan Korodiuk found the stick of (Jeremie) Minville on the side of the net” NMU SI relayed, and the puck deflected right into the net for a 1-0 lead.

Northern wasted no time evening the score once the second period began. Just 35 seconds in, Gault buried a pass from teammate Kyle Bettens, who had spun off a defender and made a good move behind the net to set up his pass. Gault fired as he turned to face the net.

Then with 9:11 remaining in the second, the Wildcats took advantage of major and minor penalty calls on the Falcons for a full two minutes of 5-on-3 power play. However, Gault needed just five seconds of that bonus time after NMU’s Jakub Altrichter won a faceoff in the left circle and teammate Matthew Argentina played a pass to Tynan Ewart, who slid the puck to Gault in the right circle.

Gault’s one-timer gave NMU the lead, 2-1, where it remained through the next intermission.

Not quite three minutes into the third, an initial shot by BGSU’s Grant was blocked by Stern, but bounced right to Korodiuk, who slapped it quickly home to retie it.

Northern got the lead back with 4:17 to go in regulation. On just its fourth shot of the third period, Hutchinson sprung Clark through the neutral zone, galloping to the right faceoff circle, according to NMU SI. Still on the move, Clark took his shot to the far side of Steinman, over his pad and below the blocker.

Then the Falcons tied it for the final time with 1:15 left, just seconds after pulling Steinman for an extra attacker. An initial slapshot from the point was wide, careening off the endwall directly to Gramme. But Bowling Green’s Quinn Emerson was also there to bang it home.

In OT, the BGSU penalty created several Northern shots on goal, but not the winner; then with 1:03 left, the Falcons’ Breck McKinley knocked in the game-ender for the extra point in OT.

NMU 3, Bowling Green 2

Friday at Bowling Green, Ohio

Summary:

First period — 1. NMU, Caiden Gault (Silkalns) 13:23

Second period — 2. NMU, Landon MacDonald (Ciccarello, Stern) 13:42

Third period — 3. NMU, Girts Silkalns (Slipec, Clark) 2:01; 4. BG, Connor Levis (Blake) 5:33; 5. BG, Brody Waters (Doran, Minville) 18:56

Penalties-minutes: NMU 5-10, Bowling Green 5-10

Power-play opportunities: NMU 0 of 3, Bowling Green 0 of 3

Goalie saves: NMU, William Gramme 34 (4-10-20); Bowling Green, Tyler Palmer 17 (6-8-3)

Bowling Green 4, NMU 3 (OT)

Saturday at Bowling Green, Ohio

Summary:

First period — 1. BG, Jeremie Minville (Korodiuk, Grant) 19:07

Second period — 2. NMU, Caiden Gault (Bettens) 0:35; 3. NMU, Gault (Ewart, Argentina) ppg 10:49

Third period — 4. BG, Ivan Korodiuk (Grant, McKinley) 2:48; 5. NMU, Warren Clark (Hutchinson) 15:43; 6. BG, Quinn Emerson (McKinley, Rymon) 18:45

Overtime — 7. BG, Breck McKinley (Emerson, Rymon) 3:57

Penalties-minutes: NMU 4-8, Bowling Green 5-21

Power-play opportunities: NMU 1 of 4, Bowling Green 0 of 4

Goalie saves: NMU, William Gramme 35 (9-11-15-0); Bowling Green, Jacob Steinman 24 (11-7-4-2)

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.