The Wildcat men’s club hockey team went 3-0 this weekend against two U.P. rivals: Lake Superior State University and Michigan Technological University.

The first game was on Friday night against LSSU and ended in a Wildcat win. Even with first- game jitters hitting the team, captain and senior left wing Robby Bissett was pleased with the way the rookie players pulled through.

“We tried to keep it simple for the freshmen because a lot of them haven’t played at this level before,” Bissett said. “It’s a faster pace and they were clearly nervous, but I was really impressed at how they responded to the pressure.”

The final score of the game was a win for the ’Cats at 5-1 with a shot-on-goal count of 53 compared to LSSU’s 20.

Freshman forward Chris Adam said he was excited to see the new systems his team is working on coming together as well as seeing the veterans working hard to motivate the team.

“The new systems are helping us create turnovers we are destroying in the neutral zone,” Adam said. “Our captain, Bissett, stepped up and helped get the team together when we got rattled in the second period after a penalty.”

Head coach Carl Trosien said he was impressed with freshmen goalie Jeff Ryan who, didn’t have a lot to defend, but did make some big saves for the team.

“Ryan had a huge save in the second period,” Trosien said. “All we ask of our goaltenders is to make the saves they should make and obviously he did exactly that.”

The Wildcats second and third games of the weekend were against the Michigan Tech Huskies. At the end of two periods of play on Saturday, the score was tied 3-3. The ’Cats had two goals from sophomore Mike Baudino and one from freshman Tom Castle.

There were two Michigan Tech goals at the two and three minute mark in the third period. The Wildcats dominated the remaining 10 minutes of the third period with five unanswered goals: two from junior forward Kellen Michalak and one each from Bissett and freshman forward Cody Funk.

Baudino said that his line, which includes Michalak and Castle is playing very well together, especially considering how short they’ve been practicing together.

“We’ve only had a few practices together and so far it’s awesome,” Baudino said. “We’ve already put up five goals the first time playing together.”

Freshman goalie Max Laughlin said his big save in the second period was a confidence booster.

“I got the first couple shots under my legs and tried to spread out and cover low, Laughlin siad. “There were four or five shots one right after the other. The last one skipped over me and hit net.”

The Wildcats won their second game against Tech 6-1. Trosien said their opponents were getting frustrated and getting called for penalties.

“Power play goals and special teams were huge in the first 40 minutes,” Trosien said. “We got the kill and took advantage of every power play.”

Senior defenseman Mark Novak said that there was a difference in intensity in between the two games against Tech, since the previous year NMU won 8-1 in the beginning of the season.

“We all went in against them in the first game thinking they wouldn’t be too good, and they ended up keeping up with us,” Novak said. “Going into the second game, we knew we had to skate hard and work hard. We came out flying and ended the second game the way the first one should have ended.”

Novak said his team as a whole is working hard to focusing on the new systems so they can go into the games against University of Wisconsin-Madison next weekend with confidently.

“As long as we stick to our new systems we will win the game against the University of Wisconsin-Madison,” Novak said. “Everyone’s definitely really motivated and going to come ready to work; everyone’s really excited for the games next weekend.”

Trosien said that while the team is excited for the game, he is working on mentally preparing them for the higher intensity and faster team.

“Mentally, we are keeping them grounded, but we still have a lot of hockey left,” Trosien said. “When it comes to this past weekend, it was a good start but we haven’t won anything yet.”

The Wildcats play the Wisconsin Badgers at 9 p.m. Friday Sept. 23 and again at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 24. Both games will be played at the Berry Events Center.