NMU Men’s Hockey traveled to South Bend, IN this past weekend to face off against No.14 Notre Dame. The ‘Cats were coming off a strong two-win weekend at Colgate University but were unable to ride the momentum as the Fighting Irish cooled NMU down.

“We were a little starstruck Friday night,” Coach Grant Potulny said. “I thought we were kind of stuck in the mud for the first 10 minutes.”

After the ‘Cats gave up two early goals in the first 8:34 of game one, NMU held their own and held the Fighting Irish to one goal after that, winning the match 3-1. Simon Kjellberg was the lone Wildcat to score on the night.

NMU was able to tie the game up 3-3 midway through the third period, but the ‘Cats fell short last Sunday as the Fighting Irish scored two goals in the final three minutes of the match. Notre Dame won the match 5-4 and completed the weekend sweep. The Wildcats had four players score a goal on the night with freshman standout Joey Larson tallying his fourth assist of the season.

“There are some things that I haven’t necessarily liked about our team,” Potulny said. “Even when we were winning, I think [when] playing championship-level teams … Those problems get exposed.”

The Wildcats will try to get back on track as they look ahead to playing the University of Alaska Anchorage at home Friday and Saturday, Oct. 21 and 22. The two teams have not played against each other since 2020 when NMU was able to beat Anchorage in back-to-back matches.

“All these are going to be big games for them,” Potulny said. “So, if anybody thinks any of these games are anything other than dogfights, you’re going to be in trouble.”