Box Score MARQUETTE, Mich.—Northern Michigan University Men's Ice Hockey (8-8, 6-4 WCHA) settled for their sixth series split of the season with a 3-2 loss to the University of Alabama-Huntsville Saturday evening in the Berry Events Center.
A scoring frenzy in the final half of the first period began with sophomore forward Darien Craighead (Surrey, British Columbia) finding the back of the net for the fifth time this season. Junior defenseman Ryan Black (Stillwater, Minnesota) and senior defenseman Jordan Klimek (Langley, British Columbia) recorded assists on the power play goal, their fourth and fifth of the year, respectively.
UAH evened the game at one score each at the 17:01-mark of the period, but the tie was short lived as the Wildcats found their second goal of the game less than a minute later. Junior forward Troy Loggins (Huntington Beach, California) scored his second goal of the series with assists from Klimek and junior forward Adam Rockwood (Coquitlam, British Columbia). The goal was the fourth of the season for Loggins, while Klimek earned his sixth assist and Rockwood earned his 11th.
With a pair of assists over the weekend, Rockwood moved into a tie for third in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association with 11. He sits four behind the conference leader.
That lead also turned out to be short lived for the NMU, as the Chargers scored with three seconds remaining in the opening period to tie the game at two scores each.
Less than two minutes into the second period, Huntsville regained the lead with their third score of the game. The 3-2 Charger advantage would stand the rest of the way, with Huntsville securing a conference split.
Despite being outshot in the first period, the Wildcats found more chances in the second and third. NMU finished with 24 shots, outshooting UAH by three. It was the seventh time this year, the Wildcats have outshot their opponents.
In goal, sophomore goaltender Mathias Israelsson (Ytterby, Sweden) took the loss falling to 2-4 on the year. Israelsson's 18 saves increased his season total to 147. His season save percentage sits at .916, while his goals against average is now 2.78.
The Wildcats scored a power play goal for the second-consecutive contest while holding UAH to one power play score in five chances. In the past five series, NMU has gone a combined 48-of-52 in the penalty kill, improving their penalty-kill percentage from 70% to 84.1% over that span.
NMU will head to Bemidji State University next weekend for a WCHA series with the Beavers Friday and Saturday. Both contests are scheduled to begin at 8:07 p.m.
