Northern Michigan University’s Joseph Nardi, left, takes a faceoff against Bemidji State’s Owen Sillinger during their CCHA series played at the Berry Events Center in Marquette on Oct. 22-23. (Photo courtesy NMU)

Up next: NMU is off until after the holidays with the next games on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 7-8, at home vs. Colgate of the ECAC

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SAULT STE. MARIE — The Northern Michigan University hockey team ended the 2021 calendar year with a resounding thud after getting swept on the road by Lake Superior State over the weekend.

The Lakers, who improved to 11-10-1 overall and 7-7 in the CCHA with the sweep, scored four goals in the first period to win 7-2 Friday.

Saturday’s game was much closer until the final five minutes, when LSSU broke a 1-1 tie by scoring three times to take a 4-1 victory.

NMU slipped to 10-8-1 overall and 6-7-1 in the league, endangering their position in the national top 20 after just entering the USCHO.com rankings at No. 19 last week.

The Wildcats fell to sixth place in the eight-team CCHA with 18 points as LSSU rose from that spot up to fourth with 20 points.

Joe Nardi skated in his 167th and 168th consecutive games for NMU, breaking the school record for games played and easily holding the Wildcats’ consecutive-games played streak. He is also the national leader among current players for games played.

Northern is off until the calendar turns to 2022 and has its first five games of January at home, starting with a nonconference series against Colgate on Jan. 7-8. CCHA leader Minnesota State-Mankato then comes to the Berry Events Center on Jan. 14-15, followed by a home-and-home series with Michigan Tech, the opener also in Marquette on Jan. 21.

Here is a synopsis of last weekend’s games:

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Lake Superior St. 7, NMU 2

On Friday, though the Wildcats were outscored in every period, it was the opening 20 minutes that doomed them as Lake State scored four goals.

It also chased NMU high-flying goalie Rico DiMatteo, who was pulled after the Lakers’ third goal with 2:47 left in the first in favor of freshman Charlie Glockner.

Timo Bakos cashed in on an odd-man rush just over two minutes into the game. DiMatteo made a huge save on Bakos’ original shot, according to an account from NMU Sports Information, but the LSSU skater knocked in the rebound.

The Lakers made it 2-0 exactly seven minutes in and with one second remaining on a power play during an NMU player change. Miroslav Mucha scored that goal.

Northern got on the board, cutting the home team’s lead in half, when AJ Vanderbeck scored his seventh power play goal of the season at 10:28. With Alex Frye also getting an assist, Hank Crone earned his helper by feeding a pass back to Vanderbeck at the point as the latter took a long shot past LSSU netminder Ethan Langenegger.

With his 15th goal this season, Vanderbeck extended his goal streak to six games as he is also second in the nation in power play goals. Crone’s assist extended his point streak to four games and gives him 28 points, tops in the country.

But the Lakers were far from done scoring in the period. The home team put in goals 44 seconds apart, one each off of DiMatteo and Glockner, to make it 4-1 after one. The goal that chased DiMatteo was scored by Mitchell Oliver, while the second was by Dustin Manz.

LSSU made it 5-1 just 2:01 into the second on a goal by Josh Nixon, answered by Northern’s Mikey Colella barely more than two minutes later on another Wildcats’ power play goal. With Trevor Cosgrove also getting an assist, Northern’s Andre Ghantous got his assist when he centered the puck for Colella, who scored his 12th goal this season.

That was all Northern would get as LSSU made it 6-2 before the second period ended on Manz’ second goal of the night with 3:09 remaining. Glockner did fend off a 2-on-none opportunity during the period, however, according to NMU SI.

The only goal of the third came from Lake State’s Jake Willets with 5:29 to go on a power play. The period featured three NMU minor penalties, along with a major and game misconduct called on the Wildcats’ Mack Byers for hitting from behind at 8:29.

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Lake Superior St. 4, NMU 1

On Saturday, the Wildcats got off to a fast start and were still tied 1-1 until the Lakers scored three goals in less than three minutes down the stretch.

Alternate captain and senior defenseman Ben Newhouse got NMU on the board just 29 seconds in with his third goal this season. His shot came from a near-impossible angle, bouncing off the far post, according to NMU SI. David Keefer and Crone earned assists, Crone extending his point-scoring streak to five games.

The Lakers needed less than five minutes to knot the score 1-1 on a goal by Louis Boudon. A redirected pass out front beat the right pad of DiMatteo, according to NMU SI.

NMU was unable to take advantage of three second-period power plays, then had tried to fend off three man-short situations in the third.

The Wildcats killed off the first one before Rylan Van Unen and Keefer were each called for penalties with 5:11 to go.

That’s when LSSU pounced on the 5-on-3 situation, Boudon scoring about a minute in and Jacob Nordqvist making it 3-1 with three seconds left on the remaining 5-on-4 with 3:14 to go.

When Lake State was whistled for its own penalty with 1:55 left, Northern head coach Grant Potulny pulled DiMatteo about 20 seconds after that for a 6-on-4 situation. Instead, though, Boudon completed his hat trick with 1:11 left into the empty net.

In a game without many shots, DiMatteo made 18 saves and Lake State’s Seth Eisele had just 14. However, the teams combined for 27 blocked shots, including 12 by NMU. Newhouse, who has been the national leader, had three blocks.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.