Northwestern drops two to UM-Flint in weekend series

By Jacqueline Klimas

Northwestern took on the University of Michigan-Flint Friday and Saturday but lost both games 10-1 and 10-0.

Friday night at Flint Iceland Arena got off to a shaky start with an overturned Northwestern goal.  After that, Northwestern allowed eight goals in the first period.  The rest of the game, however, was close. UM-Flint scored two more goals and Northwestern answered back with one scored by Jonathan Zeller at 6:08 in the second period, making the final score 10-1.

Head coach Bryan Chamberlain hoped his team could come out and be more physical when they faced UM-Flint again the next day. 

“After the goal was overturned, we had a huge let down and they became a lot more physical than we did,” Chamberlain said.   

Still, after Friday night’s game, UM-Flint’s captain Matt Murdoch was not ready to count Northwestern out just yet.

“We don’t want to take it for granted,” Murdoch said. 

The Cats ended losing both games, with a 10-0 shut out on Saturday afternoon at Perani Arena and Event Center.  Even with Northwestern’s loss, Michigan head coach Bill Golling was impressed with the team.

“They have some very good players,” Golling said.  “I thought both teams played well, it was a very clean game, well-disciplined and that’s what you like to see.”

Northwestern captain Sam Weir kept morale high on the team, despite the disappointing weekend.

“I try to emphasize just having fun out there, not so much the goal differential,” Weir said

Both Weir and Chamberlain agree on what the team needs to work on most: learning to trust each other and work as a team on the ice.

“It’s a lot of individual play and not as much focusing on what we as a coaching staff have been instructing,” Chamberlain said.  “So what I’m asking them to do is to trust and buy into what we have been going over and actually play that for every single game.”

The Wildcats will try to put this practice into action at their upcoming home games this weekend when they take on University of Iowa.  The games are Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. at the Robert Crowne Rink, the team’s new home rink in Evanston.  These games mark the first of the season that are league games and count towards their playoff run.  To view the full schedule or get directions to the rink, please visit the team's website. 

Can’t make it?  Get updates and results by following the team on Twitter.