Two of the four returning NMU players from last year’s team scored their first collegiate goals over the weekend as Northern was swept at newest CCHA member Augustana by a pair of 4-1 decisions in their only meetings this season.

Junior defenseman Jakob Peterson, a native of Marquette, and sophomore forward Brendan Poshak netted those first-ever NMU goals in the Wildcats’ venture west to the confluence of South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa.

Northern (1-12-1, 0-7-1 CCHA) returns home this weekend, their final time before Christmas, to host Ferris State at 7:07 p.m. Friday and 6:07 p.m. Saturday.

Holiday-theme promotions will include a teddy bear toss on Friday and sock toss on Saturday, both during intermissions of those games, along with a Skate with the ‘Cats after Saturday’s game.

Northern Michigan University goalie Ryan Ouellette looks up at the scoreboard after Arizona State scored with about three minutes remaining to go up 2-1 during their game played at the Berry Events Center in Marquette on Oct. 25. (Journal photo by Caden Sierra)

Here are details from each game in South Dakota:

——————-

Augustana 4, NMU 1

On Friday, Peterson scored the only goal of the second period to pull Northern within 2-1.

With just under five minutes remaining in the period, Peterson picked up the puck in his own end and walked the length of the ice before stepping into the top of the right circle. He fired a wicked wrist shot to beat Augustana goalie Josh Kotai over the pad on the short side, according to a game account from NMU Sports Information.

The Vikings got their first-period goals about six minutes apart off the sticks of Hunter Bischoff and Payton Matsui.

They added got two more in the third, the first on what was referred to as a fluky play as an Augustana power play was ending with the puck bouncing off the end boards right to a Vikings’ player. Those goals were scored by Uula Ruikka and Simon Falk.

Ryan Ouellette was pulled from the NMU net after the final goal was scored as he made 22 saves, including 12 in his shutout second period. Ethan Barwick came on after that and stopped all four shots he saw. Kotai finished with 24 saves, also making 12 stops in the second.

Faceoff-wise, Northern’s Billy Renfrew had an excellent night, winning 11 of 15 (73.3%) as NMU overall had a narrow 25-24 edge there.

——————-

On Saturday, Augustana improved to 8-6 overall and 5-3 in the CCHA by taking a 3-0 lead before Poshak broke the seal on a shutout by scoring with exactly four minutes left.

This goal was set up by Peterson, Friday’s Wildcat scorer, when he made a great play in the defensive zone to steal the puck and feed Zach Michaelis for a 2-on-1 with Poshak, according to NMU SI. Poshak toe-dragged a sliding defender, walked in between the hash marks and beat Kotai over the pad and under the arm on the far side.

Unfortunately, it only pulled NMU within 3-1 as Northern head coach Dave Shyiak pulled Ouellette for an extra attacker that resulted in the Vikings’ final goal by Luke Mobley with 1:45 left.

Ouellette, who stayed in net throughout on this night, had 25 saves, including 12 in the third, while Kotai had 29 stops, a dozen coming in the first period. The Wildcats had a 30-29 shots advantage, the second time this season they’ve held that edge.

That came about as the Wildcats controlled play for a majority of the first 30 minutes as they amassed 16-6 shots-on-goal edge by the midpoint of the second.

At that point, Augustana had just a 1-0 lead, that goal scored late in the first period by Joey DelGreco on the Vikings’ only power play of the night.

Unfortunately for NMU, Augustana found some offense for barely 30 seconds just past the midpoint of the second, scoring goals 32 seconds apart to take control. Quinn Rudrud scored with 8:52 left, then Bischoff tacked on another with 8:20 left that made it 3-0.

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