This story is courtesy of NMU Sports Information
 

MARQUETTE---The Northern Michigan hockey team dropped a 2-0 decision to Omaha Saturday night at the Berry Events Center.

The first period was a defensive struggle, with the teams combining to take only 12 shots on net. The Wildcats' best chance came on their second power play of the frame when Luke Voltin took a centering feed in the slot. Voltin batted the puck on net, and

Evan Weninger managed to snare it before he or Darien Craighead could stuff home the rebound.

In the middle of the second period, the Mavericks struck twice in 14 seconds to build their 2-0 lead. First, at 7:55, Tyler Vesel raced down the left wing and dropped a blind pass back to Jake Randolph right before skating behind the net. Randolph one-timed the puck past Atte Tolvanen glove side.

Then, at 8:09, Randolph got a stick on a Northern Michigan breakout pass. The puck deflected over to Justin Parizek, who fired a shot past Tolvnen into the lower left corner of the net. With just over six minutes remaining in regulation, Collin Peters nearly cut the deficit to one. After Craighead fired a shot on net from the right circle, Weninger bobbled the puck. It bounced out to Peters in the slot, and Peters took two whacks at it that Weninger managed to stop.

The Wildcats pulled Tolvanen for the extra skater with 2:55 remaining in regulation. Weninger made two saves, and the Mavericks blocked three shots, to keep Northern Michigan off the board.

With the loss, the Wildcats fall to 3-11-2 on the season. They return to action next weekend, traveling to Alaska-Anchorage for a series on Dec. 2-3.

NOTES: Omaha leads the all-time series, 18-17-3 ... Northern Michigan held Omaha scoreless on four power-play opportunities this game; the Mavericks entered the series as the nation's top power play unit, with a percentage of .353, and only scored once on nine opportunities ... Dominik Shine led the Wildcats with five shots ... Northern Michigan blocked 18 shots, with Philip Beaulieu, Robbie Payne, James Vermeulen and Rylan Yaremko each stopping three ... Tolvanen finished with 21 saves while Mathias Israelsson, who started the game but left after the first period, made seven ... This was NMU's fifth shutout loss of the season; all five were by a 2-0 result.


The following is a recap of Friday night's game:

MARQUETTE---The Northern Michigan hockey team skated to a 2-2 draw with Omaha Friday night at the Berry Events Center.

The two teams played a three-on-three overtime following the regular overtime period with the Wildcats winning the exhibition frame with 8.3 seconds to go on a goal by Robbie Payne.  The goal did not change the outcome of the game and remains a tie by NCAA rules. Northern is now 3-8-2, while Omaha is now 6-5-2.

Omaha jumped out to a 1-0 lead at the 10-minute mark of the first. On a dump in, Teemu Pulkkinen kicked the puck out to Justin Parizek, who stuffed it inside the left post.

Just 42 seconds later, Northern Michigan responded with a textbook 2-on-1 goal to even the score. Gerard Hanson initiated the play by scooping the puck off of the boards in the neutral zone and playing it ahead to Shine. Shine dished it to Brock Maschmeyer on the left wing, and Maschmeyer gave it right back to him to roof past Kris Oldham.

Less than a minute later, Troy Loggins struck to give the Wildcats a 2-1 edge. After Zach Diamantoni took a shot right off of a face-off, he corralled his own rebound and fed Payne behind the net. Payne wired a backhanded pass to Loggins, who chipped it past Oldham mid-stride.

During the second period, the Mavericks took advantage of Loggins's five-minute major penalty to net the equalizer. On the resulting man advantage, seconds after Atte Tolvanen denied David Pope on a partial breakaway, Tyler Vesel took a centering feed from Austin Ortega and fired a shot past Tolvanen that nearly popped the water bottle.

Northern's best chances of the middle stanza came in the final seven minutes. First, with 6:01 on the clock, Oldham stopped a Shine bid from the middle of the right circle and then pounced on the puck before Sami Salminen could send it home. Then, with 1:52 to play, Shine stripped a Maverick of the puck at the blue line and then raced down the ice on a shorthanded breakaway. He ultimately sent his shot just wide of the post.

The Wildcats outshot the Mavericks, 11-5, in the third period but couldn't solve Oldham to pull ahead. Shine had five of those shots, including two point-blank tries with 10:28 to play that Oldham managed to turn aside.

The tables turned in the overtime period, and Tolvanen was forced to make seven of his 37 saves to maintain the 2-2 tie. One of his more impressive stops came on Tyler Vesel, who skated in on a 1-on-1, used Maschmeyer as a screen and snapped a wrist shot on net that Tolvanen managed to stop; he then covered the rebound before a trailing Jake Randolph could send it home.

NOTES: The teams are tied in the all-time series, 17-17-3 ... Six Wildcats recorded points in the game ... This was only the second time Northern Michigan went into overtime this season; in their last overtime game, on Oct. 22, the Wildcats battled Ferris State to a 2-2 draw and ultimately lost in the shootout ... Shine led all players with 10 shots, a new career high; his previous career high was eight, accomplished twice ... Shine and Jordan Klimek had the assists on Payne's three-on-three overtime goal ... This was Tolvanen's 18th-career 30-save effort ... The tie snapped a five-game losing streak that dated back to Nov. 5.