MARQUETTE, Mich. â€Â“ Thursday night in Houghton it wasNathan Oystrick with the hat trick, tonight in Marquette it was Darin Olver whoturned the light on three times. For the game the â€Â˜Cats defeated the Huskies6-3. Â The win was NMUâ€Â™s seventh straight without a loss as their record is now5-1-2 overall on the season. The Huskies fall to 1-6-1 on the season. Thecrowd of 4,197 set a new Berry Events Center record for a hockey game as theold record of 4,163 was set a couple of weeks ago on Oct. 23 against MichiganState. â€ÂœWe got three out of four points against a big rival,â€Â Walt Kyle said.ÂÂÂ
Pat Bateman scored the first goal of the game, his second onthe season, on the power play at 4:21 of the first period. Olver and JamieMilam assisted on the goal. Tech would tie the game on a goal by Lars Helminenon the power play at 9:34 of the opening period. Olver would score less thanfour minutes later (13:23) his first goal of the game and season to give theâ€Â˜Cats the 2-1 lead. Andrew Sarauer and Milam assisted.ÂÂÂ
Olver scored his second of the game, a shorthanded goal, at00:47 of the second period from Bateman and Zach Tarkir. Chris Conner made thescore 3-2 in favor of the â€Â˜Cats with a goal at 8:56 of the second period. DirkSouthernâ€Â™s power-play goal at 17:44 of the second period gave the â€Â˜Cats the 4-2advantage. Nathan Oystrick and Mike Santorelli assisted.
The final 20 minutes of play saw Clay Wilson score at 3:47of the period to get the Huskies within one at 4-3. But, Olverâ€Â™s third goal ofthe night at 16:19 gave the â€Â˜Cats a two-goal lead at 5-3. Sarauer was giventhe lone assist on the goal. â€ÂœIt was good to see (Darin) Olver come out and dowhat he did tonight,â€Â Kyle added. â€ÂœWe all know he is capable of that.â€Â MattSiddall scored the final goal of the game for the final margin at 17:00 of thefinal period. Rob Lehtinen and Bateman assisted.
Tuomas Tarkki in goal for the â€Â˜Cats on the night had 31saves. Bryce Luker turned away 28 shots. MTU was 1-9 with the extra attackerwhile the â€Â˜Cats were 2-5. Shots were dead even at 34 for each side.
NMU jumps back into CCHA play next weekend with two games at Ohio State. The games are Saturday (Nov. 13) at 7:05 p.m. and Sunday (Nov.14) at 2:05 p.m.