From left, Northern Michigan University goalie Ethan Barwick and Tynan Ewart get ready to defend a shot contemplated by Michigan Tech’s Stiven Sardarian during the third-place game at the Great Lakes Invitational hockey tournament played at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids on Monday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

Up next: NMU is off until Jan. 10-11 for a home series vs. No. 11 Minnesota State-Mankato; 7:07 p.m. Friday, 6:07 p.m. Saturday; Radio: WUPT 100.3 FM The Point

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GRAND RAPIDS — An uncommon burst of offense wasn’t quite enough for the Northern Michigan University hockey team, which lost 4-3 in overtime to Michigan Tech on Monday afternoon in the third-place game at the 58th edition of the Great Lakes Invitational tournament.

It was only the second time in their past dozen games that the Wildcats scored more than one goal, the other time being just over two weeks earlier with the same score, 4-3, though that time was a loss in regulation played at Bowling Green State.

This time around, NMU had to play catchup for most of the game, pulling into a 1-1 tie in the opening period and 3-3 deadlock with just under five minutes left in regulation.

Northern Michigan Univeristy’s Wolfgang Govedaris, left, passes to a teammate during the Wildcats’ semifinal game against Michigan State at the Great Lakes Invitational tournament played at the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids on Sunday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

But the Huskies had the final answer, just 20 seconds in overtime, when Logan Morrell potted the puck into a wide-open net to end the game.

Getting his third assist of the day, Tech’s Stiven Sardarian set up the score by circling behind the net and catching everyone moving in one direction. He dropped off a pass to Morrell at the back door, and the latter had the big open space to shoot at, according to a game account provided by NMU Sports Information.

The four games at the tournament were played at the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids on an Upper Peninsula-based television broadcast that was sent to other places in the U.S. along with internet. This was the third year for the GLI to play in Grand Rapids after existing almost entirely at various homes of the Red Wings in Detroit before that.

The Wildcats are off this weekend before resuming play at its home Berry Events Center on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 10-11, against CCHA-leading and No. 11 Minnesota State-Mankato, which is 14-4-2 overall and 9-1-2 in the league.

Northern (1-18-1, 0-11-1 CCHA) had a tall task in front of it on Monday without the services of top goaltender Ryan Ouellette, who was taken out late in NMU’s 2-0 loss to No. 1 Michigan State in Sunday’s semifinals with what apparently was an injury. No word has been given about his situation, however.

Ethan Barwick was called on to finish that game and start in goal for the second time this season on Monday as he’s now seen action in five games this fall and winter.

He did a solid job, making a career-high 38 saves as Tech (10-6-2) held a 42-25 edge in shots on goal, about on par with where Northern stands this season in its disparity of shots. That included nine saves during shorthanded situations.

The Huskies employed a pair of goalies, Derek Mullahy working the first period and Ryan Manzella the last two. While Barwick stood in and made 14 saves in the first period and a career high for one period of 17 in the second, the MTU netminders were never called on to make more than eight stops in any period.

And with the short duration of overtime, there were no saves for any of the goalies then.

The brightest spot for NMU’s offense was its power play, with all three goals scored that way in just four man-advantage chances. That bettered this season’s previous best of two power play goals, done on Nov. 2, also against Tech.

Northern’s scores were by Matthew Argentina, Tanner Latsch and Grayden Slipec as Tynan Ewart assisted on the final two goals for NMU’s only multipoint game.

Continuing a tone set the previous day vs. the Spartans, Monday’s first apparent goal scored by MTU was waved off following a challenge by Northern head coach Dave Shyiak. This time, officials saw in the replay that the Huskies were offside on Trevor Kukkonen’s score, after Sunday’s game saw each team’s first goal waved off due to kicking the puck into the net.

That was early, as just 8:12 in, the Huskies also scored the first goal that stood up. From a set play off a faceoff, Sardarian spun and skated to the right faceoff circle, according to NMU SI. He drew a defender’s eyes to him before making a pass across the slot to teammate Matthew Campbell, who was working his way in from the blueline.

Barwick, expecting a shot from Sardarian, wasn’t able to react in time and Campbell converted.

One thing that did change Monday were the penalties. After Sunday’s game saw no penalties called on either team — just the second time in NMU history that’s happened — Monday’s was a more pedestrian 10 calls, though they included a five-major major and 10-minute misconduct whistled on the Wildcats’ Will Diamond for hitting from behind early in the second period.

Tech cashed in just one power play goal after Northern was called for a season-high 23 minutes in penalties.

Well before that, in fact a second shy of six minutes after the Huskies took the lead, Argentina knocked home his first goal as a Wildcat in just his second game with them.

He scored four seconds before NMU’s first power play expired, the Wildcats generating just one shot before that in the nearly two minutes.

At that time, Matthew Romer corralled a puck on the left sidewall, turned and saw a streaking Argentina down the right wing. He was able to catch the puck and release it from in tight to beat Mullahy over the shoulder on the short side, according to NMU SI.

Then with less than a minute left in the first period, Tech retook a 2-1 lead by capitalizing on a broken play. A shot from the point took a strange hop off the end wall, bouncing between the legs of a Wildcat defender and on the stick of the Huskies’ Max Koskipirtti. The Finland native spun and threw a no-look pass to the slot, which took a deflection off a Northern skate and found its way to the stick of Jack Works, who had an open net to look at on the back door, according to NMU SI.

The Wildcats had the first Grade A chances in the second period — Aidyn Hutchinson streaked in on an abbreviated breakaway and sent his backhand shot just high, while Slipec had a wide-open look from the slot that was denied by Manzella, who had come in to control the Huskies net to start the period.

It took less than three minutes of the second period for Tech to kick up its lead to two goals. That’s when Marcus Pedersen finished off a slick passing play with a one-time shot about 40 seconds into its first power play.

Within the next minute, Diamond was called for his major and misconduct, and with another three minors called within the next 20 minutes, gave the Huskies five straight power plays — one of five minutes — from early in the second until early in the third.

Other than Pedersen’s goal, Tech did no damage on the scoreboard with them. In fact, MTU got off only five shots, three on goal, during the major penalty power play.

After all that was said and done, Northern was still down 3-1 with around 15 minutes left. As the midpoint of the third was approaching, NMU started making its move when Tech was called for its second penalty and the Wildcats got their second power play.

To add to it, another Tech penalty was called 41 seconds after that one, giving Northern nearly a minute and a half of 5-on-3 play. With 11 seconds left in the two-man advantage, Latsch finished off a sweet pass from Jakub Altrichter, according to NMU SI, for Latsch’s third goal and Altrichter’s sixth assist of the season.

The penalties continued to even out, with Tech being called for another minor with exactly five minutes left in the third. And 22 seconds into that man advantage, Slipec was johnny-on-the-spot to knock home a rebound that landed in the blue-painted crease, also for his third goal this campaign.

The play began with Northern getting a bounce from the back wall after a shot from the point took a hard bounce off the glass. The puck hit a spinning Manzella in the back, landing near his feet with Slipec knocking it home to finally retie the score 3-3.

In addition to Barwick standing tall, teammate Jesse Tucker led all skaters with 14 faceoff wins, while Ewart and Jakob Peterson led all players with four blocked shots apiece. NMU had a huge 22-6 advantage in blocks, too.

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