Southern leads Northern past Warriors

The Northern Michigan Wildcats (16-12-2, 10-10-2, CCHA) continued their domination of the Wayne State Warriors (5-16-5, 2-6-4 CHA) by sweeping a two game bill at the Berry Events Center in Marquette, MI over the weekend.

Friday- Dirk Southern (pictured) was just about all Northern Michigan needed in the series opener as he notched a hat trick in the Wildcats 3-1 win over the Warriors.

The ‘Cats senior scored his first goal shorthanded in the first period, picked up the game winner on the power-play in the second, and then closed the night with a 4 on 4 marker in the third.

The outburst put Southern in the’ Cats scoring lead with 28 points (10-28—28) and fourth on the goal scoring chart.

Derek Janzen steered away 24 shots in the NMU net for his 4th win of the year.

Freshman Mark Cannon scored the lone Wayne State goal and Matt Kelly turned aside 31 shots in net.

Saturday- If the Wildcats only needed one player to seal the win on Friday, then they only needed 10 minutes of play on Saturday as they swept the series with a 2-1 victory over the Warriors.

After a scoreless first period, NMU jumped out to a 2-0 lead as Mike Santorelli scored just :56 in and Nathan Oystrick picked up a 5 on 3 goal at 9:57 of the second.

Jason Bloomingburg scored Wayne State’s only goal at 8:47 of the third.

Will Hooper stopped 30 shots in the WSU net and Bill Zaniboni stopped 20 in the NMU net.

Counting the 6-2 win at this year’s Badger Showdown, Northern went 3-0 vs. Wayne State this year and owns an all time record of 7-0-0 vs. their Motown rivals.

NMU returns to CCHA action this weekend by hosting Nebraska-Omaha for a pair of games.

Wayne State stays on the road with two CHA conference games against the Robert Morris Colonials in Moon Township, PA.