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Hockey 11/4/2026 4:50:00 PM Braden Golisek - Assistant Director of Sports Information

PREVIEW: Wildcats welcome (RV/RV) Mavericks to Marquette

MARQUETTE, Mich. -- The NMU men's hockey team opens its two-week home stand with a meeting against the (RV/RV) Minnesota State Mavericks.

Puck drop between the Wildcats (2-6-0, 0-2-0 CCHA, 8th - 0 pts) and (RV/RV) Mavericks (2-4-2, 0-0-2 CCHA, 2 pts - 6th) is set for 7:07 ET on Friday, November 6, and 6:07 ET on Saturday, November 7 from the Berry Events Center in Marquette, Michigan.

To purchase tickets for this weekend, head to tickets.nmu.edu.

Fans can live stream both games through MidcoSports Plus or tune in to 100.3 The Point of the Radio Results Network. Fans can also follow along with live stats and post-game coverage provided through nmuwildcats.com, and subscribe to the official NMU hockey social media accounts for coverage all throughout the weekend.

The 'Cats return home from a long road trip to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where the team dropped its opening two CCHA games to the #11/11 Augustana Vikings.

"We obviously, you know, were humbled after Friday," added head coach Dave Shyiak in his weekly media availability. After netminder Oliver Auyeung-Ashton became unavailable for the weekend, the Wildcats flew out Jack Fuller on Friday morning to back up Max Weilandt, who got his first start sof the season on Friday and Saturday night

After being on the wrong side of a historic evening on Friday, NMU played the Vikings to a 1-1 game going into the third period on Saturday, before two goals and an empty netter gave the Vikings the weekend sweep at the final whistle.

"Sometimes you can't bounce back from [a tough game on Friday] mentally, and we talked about that as a group; you got to show some type of resolve and resiliency, and I thought we did a real nice job of that in the second game on Saturday night."

Merril Steenari rejoined the Wildcat lineup since the season opener, and scored his second tally in his four games as a member of the Green and Gold. Newly appointed alternate captain Branden Piku added an assist after playing in his 100th career collegiate game the night prior.

The Wildcats now look ahead to the first of back-to-back home weekends against CCHA foes, starting with Minnesota State. The Mavericks are coming off two ties to start the conference slate, defeating the Lake Superior State Lakers in shootouts last weekend.

"They've got a winning pedigree (in Mankato). They've won for many, many years. They're very structured, they play within themselves, they wait for their opportunities, and they just play a really simple structured game and they they adhere to it and that can be difficult to play against. So, it'll be a good matchup… we have to take another step forward and for us to do that we got to focus on ourselves."

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Players Mentioned

#30 Oliver Auyeung-Ashton: G; 5' 10"; Sophomore

#31 Jack Fuller: G; 5' 10"; Sophomore

#32 Max Weilandt: G; 6' 1"; Sophomore

#7 Branden Piku: F; 5' 8"; Senior

#26 Merril Steenari: F; 5' 10"; Sophomore

Players Mentioned

#30 Oliver Auyeung-Ashton
: 5' 10"; Sophomore
: G

#31 Jack Fuller
: 5' 10"; Sophomore
: G

#32 Max Weilandt
: 6' 1"; Sophomore
: G

#7 Branden Piku
: 5' 8"; Senior
: F

#26 Merril Steenari
: 5' 10"; Sophomore
: F