MARQUETTE, Mich. — The Northern Michigan hockey team dropped a 2-0 decision to Omaha Saturday night at the Berry Events Center.

The first period was a defensive struggle, with the teams combining to take only 12 shots on net. The Wildcats' best chance came on their second power play of the frame when Luke Voltin took a centering feed in the slot. Voltin batted the puck on net, and Evan Weninger managed to snare it before he or Darien Craighead could stuff home the rebound.

In the middle of the second period, the Mavericks struck twice in 14 seconds to build their 2-0 lead. First, at 7:55, Tyler Vesel raced down the left wing and dropped a blind pass back to Jake Randolph right before skating behind the net. Randolph one-timed the puck past Atte Tolvanen glove side.

Then, at 8:09, Randolph got a stick on a Northern Michigan breakout pass. The puck deflected over to Justin Parizek, who fired a shot past Tolvanen into the lower left corner of the net.

With just over six minutes remaining in regulation, Collin Peters nearly cut the deficit to one. After Craighead fired a shot on net from the right circle, Weninger bobbled the puck. It bounced out to Peters in the slot, and Peters took two whacks at it that Weninger managed to stop.

The Wildcats pulled Tolvanen for the extra skater with 2:55 remaining in regulation. Weninger made two saves, and the Mavericks blocked three shots, to keep Northern Michigan off the board.

With the loss, the Wildcats fall to 3-11-2 on the season. They return to action next weekend, traveling to Alaska-Anchorage for a series on Dec. 2-3.

NOTES: Omaha leads the all-time series, 18-17-3 ... Northern Michigan held Omaha scoreless on four power-play opportunities this game; the Mavericks entered the series as the nation's top power play unit, with a percentage of .353, and only scored once on nine opportunities ... Dominik Shine led the Wildcats with five shots ... Northern Michigan blocked 18 shots, with Philip Beaulieu, Robbie Payne, James Vermeulen and Rylan Yaremko each stopping three ... Tolvanen finished with 21 saves while Mathias Israelsson, who started the game but left after the first period, made seven ... This was Northern Michigan's fifth shutout loss of the season; all five were by a 2-0 result.