This story was written by NMU Sports Information

MADISON, Wis.— Mathias Israelsson made 34 saves and Dominik Shine netted two goals to propel the Northern Michigan hockey team to a 5-3 victory over Wisconsin Friday night at the Kohl Center.

After taking a 2-1 lead late in the first period, the Wildcats netted two goals in a two-minute span early in the second to put the game out of the Badgers' reach.

Northern Michigan didn't waste time jumping out to a 1-0 advantage. Like they did in their first meeting with Wisconsin, a 3-2 win at the Resch Center in Green Bay, the Wildcats opened the scoring in the first minute of the game.

Just 33 seconds in, Collin Peters forced a turnover along the boards, and the puck squirted out to Robbie Payne. While getting hit by a Badger, Payne slid a pass to Zach Diamantoni, who fired a wrist shot just under Matt Jurusik's blocker.

Exactly 10 minutes after Diamantoni's strike, Wisconsin capitalized on the game's first power play to even the score. Trent Frederic carried the puck the length of the ice, made a move to get around a defenseman and then wired a shot over Israelsson's shoulder.

Northern Michigan regained the lead at 15:37 on Shine's first goal of the year. Gerard Hanson corralled a loose puck and sent a shot on net from just inside the blue line. Shine, who was screening Jurusik, managed to knock the puck into the net before Jurusik could get a handle on it.

Israelsson made 12 saves in the opening period alone, and one of his biggest came with just 1:19 left on the clock. After a turnover behind the net, Frederic came up with the puck at the right edge of the crease and then slid the puck across to Max Zimmer on the opposite side. Israelsson managed to get across the crease fast enough to deny Zimmer and then sent his attempt to stuff home his own rebound wide.

The Wildcats built their 4-1 lead by netting two goals in the first six minutes of the middle stanza. Shine recorded his second of the game at 3:34, taking a drop pass from Diamantoni at the top of the left circle and roofing a shot past Jurusik. Then, at 5:02, Filip Starzynski deflected a Troy Loggins shot past Jurusik while crashing the net.

The Badgers took advantage of a penalty shot to draw within two at 14:36 of the final frame. They pulled their goaltender with 2:45 remaining in regulation but were unable to get a look on Israelsson thanks to a swarming Wildcat defense.

Connor Frantti, Payne and James Vermeulen all blocked shots before Hanson iced the game by netting an empty net goal with 56 seconds remaining.

With the win, the Wildcats improve to 3-5-1 (1-4-1 WCHA). They close their series against Wisconsin tomorrow at 8 p.m.