North Michigan News

The Northern Michigan University (NMU) Wildcats men's ice hockey team concluded their opening weekend in Massachusetts with a 4-1 loss to the No. 15-ranked UMass Minutemen on Sunday in Amherst.

UMass took an early lead in the first period when Daniel Jencko scored on a power play five minutes into the game. NMU goaltender William Gramme, who had recently set program records, made 15 saves during the opening period.

The second period saw limited opportunities for NMU, whose first power play was cut short by a penalty of their own seconds later. UMass had four power plays during this frame. A late hit forced NMU's Jakub Altrichter to leave the ice with assistance. Landon Nycz added a second goal for UMass with just 36 seconds left before intermission.

The third period remained scoreless until Caiden Gault scored his second goal as a Wildcat with three minutes left, narrowing the deficit to one. However, UMass secured victory with two empty-net goals from Cam O'Neill and Lukas Klecka in the final minute, ending the game at 4-1.

Tobias Pitka and Grayden Slipec each recorded their second assists of the season on Gault’s goal.

UMass outshot NMU 46-32, helped by having six power plays compared to two for NMU—one of which lasted only 13 seconds before another penalty was called against them. Despite this, NMU led in faceoffs, winning 32 to UMass’s 29.

William Gramme continued his strong performance by setting a new NMU record for most saves in a weekend series with 107 stops across two games, surpassing Jeff Poeschl’s previous mark of 92 set in January 1984.

Gault has started his season scoring goals in back-to-back games for NMU. Both Slipec and Pitka now have two assists each on the year.

After Jencko's initial power-play goal for UMass, Nycz extended their lead late in the second period. Gault put NMU on the board after pulling their goalie late in regulation. Attempts to close the gap further were thwarted by two empty-net goals from UMass.