MARQUETTE, Mich. â€Ã‚“ The Wildcats exploded for fourgoals in the first period, as three of the goals were on the power play, tocruise to a 7-3 non-conference victory over the visiting University ofAlabama-Huntsville Chargers on Friday night at the Berry Events Center.  For NMU this was their first home game sinceDec. 13, 2002 when they faced Michigan Tech. The seven goals was the second highest goal count for the Wildcats in agame this season.  They scored 10 goalson Michigan State in October.  TheChargers entered the game with a nine-game winning streak and a 13-gameunbeaten string (11-0-2).  NMU with thewin improves to 12-10-1 overall while UAH is now 13-8-2.

Terry Harrison picked up his first collegiate hat trick onthe night as he had two of the four goals scored in the first period and pickedup his third goal in the second period. He also had an assist on the night to have four points on theevening. Ã‚  Cockburn knocked on the doorof a hat trick also as he had two goals on the night.  He picked up three points on the night with an assist. 

The first period saw Dirk Southern score a goal at 14:22 onthe power play to get the â€Ã‚˜Cats rolling. Bryce Cockburn and Peter Michelutti assisted on the goal. The secondgoal of the period came at 14:41 when Harrison scored his first goal of thenight also on the power play.  JamieMilam and Kevin Gardner assisted.  Thethird goal of the period and his second of the game was scored by Harrison at17:05 for the third power-play goal of the period.  Andrew Contois and Juha Alen assisted.  The final goal of the first 20 minutes came when Gardner scoredhis second goal of the season at 19:29. Milam and Harrison assisted.

The middle 20 minutes of action saw Cockburn score his firstgoal of the night at 00:29.  MikeStutzel and Southern assisted.  Cockburnwould follow that goal up with his second of the night at 8:24.  â€Ã‚œGetting the three goals on the power playreally got us going,â€Ã‚ Cockburn said. Geoff Waugh and Stutzel assisted. For Stutzel it was his second assist of the night.  Harrison got the hat trick with a goal at15:28 of the second period on the power play for his 11^th goal ofthe season.  â€Ã‚œI have been in a slump oflate,â€Ã‚ Harrison said.  â€Ã‚œIt feels good toget it off my chest and just keep working hard.â€Ã‚ÃƒÃ‚ƒÃƒ‚‚ ÃƒÃ‚‚  Contois and Gardner assisted. Gardner ended the night with three points.  Milam (0-2-2) and Southern (1-1-2) both had two points on thenight.  Stutzel now leads the â€Ã‚˜Cats with27 points for all games (16-11-27). 

UAH got on the board with a goal at 19:12 of the secondperiod by Jared Ross.  They would addtwo more goals in the third period as Jason Tinwick scored at 6:28 and JeremySchreiber would light the lamp at 16:48.

Craig Kowalski went the distance for the â€Ã‚˜Cats as he had 21saves on the night.  The â€Ã‚˜Cats ended thenight by going four of seven on the power play.  â€Ã‚œHe had a great effort,â€Ã‚ Walt Kyle, NMU head coach, said.  â€Ã‚œWithout Kowalski this would have been amuch closer game.â€Ã‚

The two teams will meet again on Saturday night (Jan. 25) at7:05 p.m. at the Berry Events Center.