MARQUETTE – Northern Michigan University’s hockey Wildcats may have paid a big price for a 5-3 WCHA win over visiting Alaska-Anchorage on Friday night.

Starting sophomore goaltender Mathias Dahlstrom was helped off the Berry Events Center ice just two minutes into the game following a player pileup in the NMU crease.

Though Dahlstrom appeared to favor a leg and/or a knee, Wildcats head coach Walt Kyle said he wasn’t sure what the injury was, or the extent of any possible damage.

“I don’t know. We’ll find out,” he said after NMU improved to 10-9-6 overall and 7-8-4 in the WCHA. “He’ll be evaluated (today).”

“The way it looked, he certainly won’t play (tonight).”

Dahlstrom gave way to sophomore Derek Dun. Making just his third NMU career appearance, he earned his first collegiate victory with 23 saves.

“You have to prepare (in practice) like you’re ready to play,” he said. “You have to play focused because you want to do a good job.”

Kyle said he was proud of Dun.

“He shows up every day,” the 13th-year NMU coach said. “I like the way he competed. He came in an adverse situation. He’s one of those guys with not a lot of experience, but he’s always there.”

Wildcat sophomore defenseman Brock Maschmeyer, who notched the winning goal at the 8:29 mark of the third period while NMU was on the power play, said it was rough to see Dahlstrom go down.

“The whole bench … it’s just a bad feeling in your stomach,” the blueliner said. “But (for us) to back him up and for him to play as well as he did, it was nice to see.”

Gerard Hanson, Shane Sooth and Sami Salminen all recorded a goal and an assist for NMU, which couldn’t hold three one-goal leads before pulling away.

“I loved our competitiveness and resiliency,” Kyle said. “Our penalty killing was good … and we played good defense. If we can do that, it leads to (scoring) opportunities.”

Austin Azurdia notched a goal and as assist for the Seawolves (7-12-4, 4-11-2).

Ryan Kesti gave NMU a 1-0 lead just 23 seconds into the game on a low one-timer that beat UAA goaltender Olivier Mantha, who posted 19 saves.

Azurdia tied it for AA on a 2-on-1 break, but Hanson made it 2-1 by deflecting a point shot into the Seawolves’ net. AA’s Brad Duwe notched an unassisted goal on a breakaway after blocking a shot, however, to make it 2-2.

Sooth jammed a puck in a crowd while Northern had a two-man advantage at 1:04 of the third period to give NMU a 3-2 lead.

But again, AA tied it when Austin Caldwell took a nice cross-ice pass to Dun’s left and whipped a shot into an open net.

Then Maschmeyer blasted a shot from the point through a maze of players to give the Wildcats a 4-3 advantage.

“It was nice to finally hit the net,” he said. “I usually try to go to the (goalie’s) blocker side. But having a screen in front, I can pretty much shoot anywhere.”

Salminen then iced the win at the 14:37 mark with his goal and fourth point – including his second marker – in three games.

The two teams will play again at 7:07 p.m. today at the BEC.

“We can’t be in the (penalty) box like we were tonight,” Kyle said. “We have to get some momentum (too).”

Craig Remsburg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 251. His email address is cremsburg@miningjournal.net.