This story was written by NMU Sports Information

HUNTSVILLE, Ala.---John Siemer netted his team-leading sixth goal for the Northern Michigan hockey team in a 1-1 tie with Alabama-Huntsville Saturday night at the Von Braun Canter.
 

With the tie, the Wildcats took three of four points from the Chargers and moved to 5-5-6 (4-4-4 WCHA) on the season.

Strong play in net by Atte Tolvanen and Carmine Guerriero sent the teams to the first intermission locked in a scoreless tie. With just under six minutes to go, Tolvanen, who made 13 saves in the first alone, denied a Charger on a 3-on-2 rush and then smothered the puck on the resulting goalmouth scramble.

Siemer broke the stalemate on a 2-on-1 rush at 4:08 in the second period. Sprung ahead by Connor Frantti, who picked up his first collegiate point with an assist last night, Siemer looked off Darren Nowick on the opposite wing and then beat Guerriero with a low shot glove side.

Tolvanen kept Alabama-Huntsville from notching the equalizer with eight minutes to play in the middle stanza, denying one Charger at the side of the net and then sliding across the crease to turn away a second on the doorstep. Siemer nearly posted his second goal off of a clean draw win by Nowick with 26 seconds left on the clock, but Guerriero swatted his shot to the boards.

Northern Michigan generated plenty of scoring chances in the third, outshooting Alabama-Huntsville by a 15-3 margin, but the Chargers netted the period's lone goal when Chad Brears found Frank Misuraca unchecked in front of the net for the score at 2:00, just as a 4-on-4 expired.

Siemer generated one of the Wildcats' best opportunities at around the 10:35 mark, rifling a shot on net that Guerriero failed to come up with at first; with two Wildcats on the doorstep, he managed to pounce on the puck before one could send it past him. 

Just over a minute later, a Northern Michigan steal sent Zach Diamantoni on a 2-on-1 rush with Filip Starzynski. Diamantoni fed Starzynski, but Guerriero managed to get across the crease fast enough to get his pad on Starzynski's shot and send it skittering out of harms way.

In the final seconds of bonus time, Siemer was sprung on a partial breakaway. With two Chargers closing in on him, he fired a shot that sailed just wide of the net as the buzzer sounded.

The Wildcats return to the ice Dec. 11 and 12 when they host Ferris State.


FRIDAY NIGHT'S GAME SUMMARY:

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — With 17 seconds left on the clock, Dominik Shine capped his first career hat trick with a shorthanded penalty shot strike to lift the Northern Michigan hockey team to a 4-3 victory over Alabama-Huntsville Friday night at the Von Braun Center.

With the win, their first when trailing after two periods this season, the Wildcats improve to 5-5-5 (4-4-3 WCHA).

Shine opened the scoring in the game's first 10 minutes.Seconds before a Northern Michigan penalty kill was set to expire, he was sprung on a breakaway. He picked up Brock Maschmeyer coming out of the box but beat Matt Larose himself to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead at the 8:17 minute mark.

The Chargers evened the score at 15:03 when Max McHugh, who had a hand in every Alabama-Huntsville goal, buried a booming Brennan Saulnier point shot when left alone in tight.

But the game wouldn't be tied for long. Eighteen seconds later,Robbie Payne gained the Charger zone off of the center-ice draw and sent a shot on net. Shine was there to bury the rebound and regain the Northern Michigan lead.

Alabama-Huntsville netted two unanswered goals in the second period to take a 3-2 advantage. After killing off the second half of a five-minute major, Chad Brears netted his fifth goal of the season off a McHugh rebound to tie the game at 1:47.

Then, with the Chargers on a 4-on-3 man advantage, Jetlan Houcher snapped another McHugh rebound past Atte Tolvanen to give his team its first lead of the night at 13:36.

The Wildcats evened the score early in the third period when Kurt Gosselin negated a Charger man advantage by taking a slashing penalty. After winning the resulting offensive zone draw cleanly, Darren Nowick netted the equalizer, skating in on net and rifling a shot past Larose at 4:20.

With 2:08 left in the game, Zach Diamantoni was whistled for tripping, sending the Wildcats to their sixth penalty kill of the game. Tolvanen, who made 44 saves for the Wildcats, was able to come up with a big save on Saulnier in the middle of that kill, setting up Shine's heroics.

Shine earned the penalty shot after picking off a Charger pass and racing back the other way on a breakaway, on which he was tripped up. On the penalty shot, he roofed a shot past Larose to give Northern Michigan its first victory since Nov. 7.

The Wildcats and Chargers return to the ice tomorrow, with puck drop slated for 8:07 p.m.