Northern Michigan University players celebrate the game’s first goal scored by Ryan Duguay, front right, during a CCHA game played against Minnesota State-Mankato at the Berry Events Center in Marquette last Friday. The group includes, from left, Jakub Altrichter, Grayden Daul (partially hidden), Aidyn Hutchison and Tynan Ewart (partially hidden). (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

MARQUETTE — Now that the Northern Michigan University hockey team has another win under its belt, these Wildcats take to the road in Minnesota.

NMU doubled its season win total last weekend in a split with CCHA-leading and national No. 12 Minnesota State-Mankato, improving to 2-19-1 overall and 1-12-1 in the conference.

That victory came at home; now the Wildcats head west to Bemidji, Minnesota, to take on Bemidji State, a team hovering around the .500 mark.

Last Friday’s 3-2 victory over the Mavericks was actually their second league victory, but the first one counted officially as a tie back in mid-November when Jakub Altrichter scored the lone goal of a shootout, also against Mankato, but at that Minnesota’s team rink.

Last Friday was a true win, matched only by a nonconference triumph at home against Alaska-Anchorage, 2-1, way back on Oct. 18.

It may have also produced a true scoring star. Freshman forward Ryan Duguay not only scored all three goals in the victory for his first collegiate hat trick, he also scored Northern’s lone goal in a 6-1 setback the following night.

It had to have been a slam dunk decision when he was named CCHA Freshman of the Week a couple days later, while it also propelled him into the NMU goal-scoring lead with five this season.

No other Wildcat has more than three goals.

They may need Duguay’s kind of firepower against a Bemidji team that averages between 2 1/2 and three goals per CCHA game while giving up exactly three per contest.

NMU, meanwhile, has just 16 goals in 14 conference contests and has given up a league-high 50.

A good sign, however, is that last Friday was the third time in four games that the Wildcats scored three goals, since the nine games before that they had been held to either one or no goals.

Bemidji, which is 8-10-4 overall and 5-6-3 in the CCHA, hosts the games in its Sanford Center at 8:07 p.m. EST today and 7:07 p.m. Saturday.

They will be streamed on MidcoSports Plus and broadcast on the home of the Wildcats, radio station WUPT 100.3 FM The Point. Fans can also visit the NMU athletics website at nmuwildcats.com and look under the hockey schedule for links to live video, live audio, live statistics, a series preview and the matchup history.

Unlike Northern, the Beavers have been somewhat down lately, losing twice and tying this month and going winless in six straight games and 1-4-3 in the past eight. Though 4-4-2 at home overall, they’re just 0-2-1 at home their past three contests there.

Duguay’s hat trick included a pair of power play goals, his hat trick the first by an NMU player since Artem Shlaine turned the trick on Nov. 10, 2023.

He’s at five goals and one assist for six points, trailing a trio of teammates with eight points — Grayden Slipec (three goals, five assists), Altrichter (0-8) and Tynan Ewart (1-7). Altrichter, who doesn’t get credit for a goal when he had one in the Mankato shootout, got to his eight points by assisting on two of Duguay’s goals last weekend, while Ewart had one assist on those goals.

Here’s some other facts gleaned about the Wildcats from NMU Sports Information:

• A quintet of players have three goals — Slipec; Aidyn Hutchinson, who has six points; Matthew Romer, who also has six points; and Tanner Latsch, who has four points; and Anthony Cliche, who has three points.

• Among CCHA freshmen, Duguay is tied for second in goals, tied for third with his one game-winning goal and tied for fifth with two power play goals.

• Also in the freshmen department, Slipec is tied for second with his three power play goals and second with 47 shots.

• Altrichter leads league frosh with his eight assists and 166 faceoff wins and is third in faceoff win percentage at 53.0% and shots with 46, also for rookies. Among all players, he’s 11th in the faceoff wins and seventh in percentage.

• Continuing in the CCHA freshmen category, NMU’s Billy Renfrew is third with 124 faceoff wins and fifth with a 50.0% faceoff win percentage. In blocked shots, Rasmus Larsson with 45 is No. 1, Cliche at 36 is second, Renfrew with 25 is fourth, Altrichter with 18 is sixth and Slipec with 14 is eighth.

• Among all league players, Northern’s Jesse Tucker is second with 210 faceoff wins and 10th with a 51.9% faceoff win percentage. Ewart is third with 50 blocked shots, with Larsson fourth and Cliche eighth.

• And goalie Ryan Ouellette is second in the conference and fourth nationally with 592 saves and third with a .918 saves percentage among those playing at least nine games. His saves percentage also ranks No. 2 in the country for goalies with at least 625 shots faced and 575 saves.

• As a team, the Wildcats lead NCAA Division I with 400 blocked shots, which is 20 more blocks and 159 fewer shots faced than No. 2 Mercyhurst.

This weekend is the only meeting between NMU and Bemidji this season.

The Beavers are winless in their last six games despite scoring at least three goals four times in that span.

Junior Kirkian Irey has nine goals and 10 assists for 19 points to lead them in all three categories, along with a team-high three game-winning goals. Next comes Eric Martin (6-8–14), Jere Vaisanen (6-7–13), Reilly Funk (5-7–12), Jackson Jutting (6-5–11) and Isa Perekh (3-8–11).

Funk, a junior, played at NMU the past three seasons and had just 11 points in that time, while Jutting leads the CCHA with 268 faceoff wins and is 10th with a 51.3% faceoff win percentage.

Bemidji is second in the league with 300 blocked shots, Will Magnuson second individually with 50.

Goalie Mattias Sholl has started and finished all but one BSU game this season, but has allowed the second-most goals and has a 2.84 goals-against average and quite modest .899 saves percentage.

But the Beavers also have the fewest penalty minutes, 140, in the league with the second-fewest power play goals against.

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release previewing the games. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.