Bryce Cockburn scored two goals and Craig Kowalski stopped 30 shots to lead No. 15 Northern Michigan to a 5-2 win over Upper Peninsula rival Michigan Tech on Saturday night.
The win allowed the Wildcats (9-5-5, 5-5-4 CCHA) to earn a weekend sweep over the visiting Huskies, after NMU beat Tech (3-13-1, 3-11-0 WCHA) 4-1 on Friday in Houghton. It also extended the Wildcats’ unbeaten streak against MTU to 10 games.
Both Chad Theuer and Jimmy Jackson added a goal and an assist in the game, while Michigan Tech’s Justin Brown led the Husky attack with a goal and a helper himself.
The Wildcats outshot MTU, 34-32, in the game.
Brown opened the scoring midway through the first period, giving Tech an early 1-0 lead off of a nice cross-crease pass from Matt Ulwelling. But Cockburn tied the game with his 12th of the season at 13:10, placing himself in perfect position to tip a point shot by defenseman Sean Owens, and beating Michigan Tech goalie Brian Rogers to earn NMU a power-play goal.
The Wildcats added to their advantage at 15:16 of the first, when sophomore forward Peter Michelutti scored to make it 2-1.
Cockburn added his second of the game - and the eventual game-winner — eight minutes into the second period.
Michigan Tech’s Paul Cabana made it a one-goal contest at 11:34 of the second, but that is as close as the Huskies would come. NMU added third-period goals by Jackson and Theuer to give itself a comfortable 5-2 win.
Rodgers stopped 29 Wildcat shots in the game.
Northern Michigan is now idle until Jan. 5 when it again hosts the Huskies at the Berry Events Center. Michigan Tech, meanwhile, will compete at the 36th annual Great Lakes Invitational on Dec. 29 and 30 in Detroit.
