The Wildcats will take part in the four-team, sixth annual Kwik Trip Holiday Face-Off to be held at the Fiserv Forum in downtown Milwaukee on Tuesday and Wednesday, Dec. 29-30.

Matchups and times have yet to be announced, though there will be semifinal games the opening day and a championship and third-place game on the second.

The tourney also includes Arizona State and the University of Massachusetts, often referred to as UMass.

This will mark the return of NMU to a holiday event after not taking part in one during the 2024-25 season. On Dec. 29-30, 2024, Northern participated in the 58th Great Lakes Invitational in Grand Rapids, and while losing two games, showed a lot of determination in taking No. 1 Michigan State to the limit before falling 2-0 and pushing Michigan Tech to overtime before losing that one 4-3.

UMass' Lukas Klecka, left, and Northern Michigan University’s Mikey Burchill position themselves for a faceoff during their game played in Amherst, Mass., on Oct. 4. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

It was credited as a springboard to a much more successful second half of the season in head coach Dave Shyiak’s first year at the NMU helm.

Before that, the Wildcats had not played in a holiday tournament since the 2017-18 season, when they split a pair of games — losing to Arizona State and defeating Boston College — at the Ice Vegas Invitational in Las Vegas that was actually held the first week of January.

Tickets for the Kwik Trip Holiday Face-Off will be sold at a later date, as in fact, Northern has not even released its full 2026-27 schedule yet. Fans are encouraged to follow the event on social media at @holidayfaceoff to receive up-to-date presale offers.

The host Badgers won the inaugural Holiday Face-Off in 2021, adding titles in 2023 and 2024, while falling in the championship game the other two years, 2022 and 2025.

In last year’s Holiday Face-Off, national No. 7 Western Michigan defeated No. 2 Wisconsin 4-1 in the title game.

The Badgers are also just coming off a 2-1 loss to Denver in the NCAA Tournament championship game at the Frozen Four in Las Vegas on Saturday, just missing their seventh national title in 27 NCAA tournament appearances.

NMU has tangled with Wisconsin 90 times in the past, the most recent series in October 2017 in Green Bay, Wisconsin, when the teams split, Northern winning 5-4 in OT and the Badgers victorious 4-0. The Badgers lead the series, 50-32-8.

Northern played at UMass to start last season, losing 5-3 and 4-1 as new transfer William Gramme — who had previously played at Wisconsin — made a Wildcats’ record 34 saves in the first period and 65 overall in the opening game. UMass leads the overall series with NMU 3-0, the other game a 3-0 win by the Minutemen in December 1999 at the Mariucci Classic in Minneapolis.

Arizona State leads its series vs. Northern 5-0, their most recent meetings on Oct. 25-26, 2024, at the Berry Events Center with ASU victories of 3-1 and 2-0.

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