'Cats Lose On Road; Marquette's Peterson Scores

This story was wrtten by NMU Sports Information. Click the AUDIO btton t hear Garrett Seright''s call of Jake Peterson's first-ever NMU goal.

SIOUX FALLS, N.D. - The Northern Michigan University hockey team was on the road for Thanksgiving, coming off a bye weekend. In the first game of the road trip, the team lost 4-1 to the Augustana Vikings.

After being down 2-0 after the first, the Wildcats had a great second period as Peterson scored a beautiful goal to cut into the lead. The Vikings two goals in the third came from a fluky bounce as an NMU penalty was expiring and a fortunate kick from the end boards that landed perfectly on a Viking stick, and Augustana walked away with its fourth conference win of the season.

The Wildcats (1-11-1, 0-6-1) lone goal scorer was Marquette native and alternate captain Jakob Peterson, who scored his first career collegiate goal in the final minutes of the second period off an end-to-end rush, making it a 2-1 game at the time. The Vikings (7-6-0, 4-3-0) had 10 different skaters record a point: Bischoff, Matsui and, Ruikka scored their second goals of the season, and Falk scored his first of the season.

Ryan Ouellette was relieved for just the second time this season, being replaced by Ethan Barwick just under halfway through the third period. Ouellette made 22 saves with Barwick making four.

While faceoffs were even at 25-24 in favor of NMU, Billy Renfrew had a career night in the circle, winning 11 of 15 draws (73.3%) to lead all skaters in faceoff wins and percentage.

The Wildcats did not have an opportunity on the man advantage, but went 3/3 on the penalty kill and have now gone three straight games without allowing a powerplay goal.

NMU now looks for a split tomorrow night from Midco Arena; The Vikings have only swept one regular-season weekend this year, coming back in October on the road in Omaha. Puck drop is set for 7:07 PM ET with streaming coverage on Midco Sports Plus and radio coverage on 100.3 The Point.

The Wildcats found themselves in a 2-0 hole after the first and for a majority of the second, but it was Marquette native and alternate captain Jakob Peterson who got the 'Cats on the board to cut the lead in half. Peterson picked up the puck in his own end and walked the length of the ice before stepping into the top of the right circle and firing a wicked wrist shot that beat the netminder over the pad on the short side, the first goal of Peterson's collegiate career.