MARQUETTE — After what looked like it could turn into another dry night for the offense of the Northern Michigan University hockey team, the Wildcats perked up in the second half of their series finale against St. Thomas at the Berry Events Center on Saturday night.

But it wasn’t quite enough as NMU’s comeback fell short on Senior Night and the Tommies hung on for a 4-3 victory.

Northern remains buried in last place in the CCHA at 5-26-1 overall and 4-19-1 in league games, while St. Thomas kept its hopes alive for home playoff ice in the first round of the upcoming league playoffs at 14-13-5 overall and 11-9-4 in the conference. The Tommies are in fifth place, just two points behind a pair of teams tied for third, Michigan Tech and Bowling Green State, with four teams earning home advantage in the playoffs’ first round.

After the Wildcats were shut out 3-0 on Friday night by St. Thomas goalie Jake Sibell, it looked to be more of the same through the first half of Saturday’s game.

NMU still hadn’t come up with a goal in the series when Game 2’s midpoint was reached with 10 minutes remaining in the second period.

Not long after that, however, Northern found its goal-scoring prowess again.

Senior alternate captain Jesse Tucker cut into the Tommies’ 3-0 lead with a power play goal with 6:59 left in the second. Teammate Grayden Slipec tracked down a loose puck before sliding a seam pass to the right faceoff dot, where Tucker was waiting as he let go a one-timer to get the ‘Cats on the board for the first time in the fifth period of the series.

St. Thomas answered with about a minute and a half left in the second as Lucas Wahlin redirected a one-timer that NMU goalie Ryan Ouellette had no real chance of stopping.

Now down 4-1, NMU found two goals in a span of 3:04 in the middle of the third to make it a one-goal game.

Three seconds after a Northern power play expired, Marquette native Jakob Peterson was in the right spot at the right time to gather in a loose puck and walk right down the slot. He let go a wicked wrist shot, beating Sibell over the stick side.

Then a few minutes later, with 9:39 left in regulation, Matthew Argentina cleaned up a rebound for Northern’s third goal in a span of less than 20 minutes on the scoreboard clock.

With just 49 seconds remaining, the Tommies’ Chase Foley was whistled for cross-checking, giving the Wildcats a power-play opportunity to tie the game, but they were unable to get past Sibell again.

Ouellette, another one of the seniors being honored on this night, made 30 saves, while senior Jakub Lewandowski had two shots with one blocked shot. Ouellette’s counterpart Sibell made 21 stops.

Back in the first four minutes of the opening period, St. Thomas got on the board when Liam Malmquist crashed the net and found a second rebound opportunity.

The Tommies added to their lead on a power play not quite six minutes later as Ryan O’Neill let go a one-timer that made it 2-0.

The lead stayed that way until the first intermission, but once the second period started, St. Thomas got to 3-0 off an NMU defensive zone turnover and a quick one-two passing play that netted Jake Braccini a goal 5:21 in.

Tucker finished with two points as he also assisted on Argentina’s goal, while Slipec and Anthony Cliche got assists on Tucker’s goal and Zach Michaelis earned the second assist on Argentina’s tally.

Peterson’s goal was unassisted.

The Wildcats, who are locked into ninth place in the CCHA and will miss the eight-team league postseason, complete their campaign this weekend in Big Rapids against Ferris State. Bulldogs’ coach Bob Daniels will be on the bench for his last career regular season games as their head coach with game times at 7:07 p.m. Friday and 6:07 p.m. Saturday.

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