That’s evident with several extra events planned around tonight’s and Saturday night’s games against CCHA foe Augustana.

First off will be the second and final Blue Line Luncheon of the season scheduled for the Slabz Bar & Grill at the Ramada Inn of Marquette on West Washington Street.

Doors open at 11:45 a.m. with lunch to be served promptly at noon and the program to begin at 12:15 p.m. Cost is $25 per person to include lunch and the program, which will feature Wildcats’ top scorer Caiden Gault and the NMU coaching staff.

With seating limited, tickets can be purchased online at the NMU Tickets website at tickets.nmu.edu.

Watching above their heads, Lake Superior State University’s Carter Batchelder, left, looks for the puck along with Northern Michigan University goaltender Oliver Auyeung-Ashton, right, and the Wildcats’ Warren Clark, top center, during their CCHA game played at Taffy Abel Arena in Sault Ste. Marie on Saturday. Also in on the play is NMU’s Michael Burchill, bottom center. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

The hockey games will be played at 7:07 p.m. today and 6:07 p.m. Saturday. Games can be found streaming on Midco Sports Plus or on radio station WUPT 100.3 FM The Point. Visiting the Wildcats’ athletics website at nmuwildcats.com and looking under the hockey schedule will give links to ticket information, live video, live audio, live statistics and a preview.

Tonight’s game is Marquette Junior Hockey Night, while Saturday’s is NMU Faculty & Staff Appreciation Night, featuring ticket discounts, concessions special, and a giveaway for faculty and staff.

This weekend’s opponent is the newest member of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association; in fact, originally this was supposed to be Augustana’s first year as a full member of the league.

That got pushed up by a year to last season even as the Vikings only played just a bit more than half the games that other league members did as that decision was made well after schedules had been made.

This season, though, Augustana has played 13 league games with other CCHA schools having now played 12 to 14 games. The Vikings are in fourth place with 24 points, in the middle of a logam at the top of the league with the top six teams only separated by seven points.

Unforuntately for Northern, the Wildcats aren’t part of that situation, instead the Wildcats struggling at 1-21 overall and 1-13 in the league, though they’re only three points — the value of one regulation win — behind eighth-place Ferris State, the holder of the final CCHA Tournament position.

As has been mentioned before, despite their quite modest record, NMU has been no worse than one goal behind with one minute left in regulation in 13 of its 22 games this season. Empty-net goals have made final results look worse, though.

The first series against Augustana, the Wildcats’ opening CCHA series this season played back on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, is a case in point.

Competing in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, NMU lost the opener 2-1 after Tobias Pitka — who just wrapped up playing in the world junior championships for his home country of Slovakia in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota — scored about halfway through the third period to pull Northern within a goal. But they couldn’t get one more tying tally to force overtime.

The following night, a 3-1 loss, Pitka scored again, but his late second-period goal actually broke a scoreless deadlock before the Vikings scored three unanswered goals in the first 10 minutes of the third for that victory.

Moving ahead to last weekend, the Wildcats again lost 2-1 — but on two nights in a row — in Sault Ste. Marie to Lake Superior State.

In addition to Pitka, Northern got several players back from injury against LSSU, including freshman sensation goaltender Oliver Auyeung-Ashton, along with captain Nicolas Ardanaz and defenseman Joe Schiller.

And that doesn’t even count the midseason addition of freshmen defenseman Olivier Beaulieu and goalie Max Weilandt.

Augustana has risen in the rankings to where the Vikings are now Nos. 17 and 18, depending on the poll, in the nation.

Last weekend, the Vikings swept at home 3-2 and 4-2 over Colorado College, a team that downed the NMU 2-1 in overtime and 6-2 back in October.

Augustana’s Brett Meerman and Jacob Jastrzebski both were recognized as CCHA Players of the Month in December, Meerman leading the league with five goals and nine points that month, while Jastrzebski was named top rookie with five assists and seven points and a plus-4 rating for December.

In the brief history between NMU and Augustana, the Vikings have dominated with five wins and a tie without a loss with this being their second visit to Marquette, the first time in the 2023-24 season.

Scoring Northern’s only two times last weekend at Lake State, Gault now has just slightly more than a third of NMU goals, 12 of 35, though curiously he doesn’t have an assist.

His 12 points still lead the team, though, with Jakub Altrichter next with nine points on three goals and six assists, while Kyle Bettens has eight points, all assists.

Auyeung-Ashton has a 2.52 goals-against average and sterling .932 saves percentage, while fellow goalie William Gramme is at 3.83 goals against and .904 saves percentage.

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release p

reviewing the games. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.