ASHLAND, Wis. – The Northland College Men's Hockey team starts Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play this week when they start the weekend hosting No. 6 University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire on Friday at 7 p.m., followed by a road game against No. 14 University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point also at 7 p.m.
 
To watch the livestream of Northland and UW-Eau Claire click here and to follow the live stats click here. For Northland and UW-Stevens Point livestream click here and live stats click here.
 
After starting 3-0 the No. 6 Blugolds tied Bethel University 2-2 and then fell in their first conference game 3-5 to UW-Stevens Point. Last season UW-Eau Claire finished with a record of 18-9-1 overall and 9-5-1 in the WIAC, falling to UW-Stevens Point in the WIAC Championship. Sophomore Leo Bacallao leads the Blugolds in goals with three on the season, all coming in different games. Junior Kyler Grundy has the most points on the team with seven coming two goals and five assists.
 
The Jacks have been close to taking a win over the Blugolds, only losing by one goal in three of their last four matchups with the most recent game ending 5-3 with UWEC scoring in the final seconds on an empty net.
 
The Pointers started the season 4-2 overall and won their first conference game 5-3 over UW-Eau Claire. UWSP last season finished atop the WIAC standings at 12-2-1 and won the 2022-23 WIAC Tournament to make the NCAA Tournament. At the tournament, they defeated Augsburg 2-1 in four overtimes but lost the following game 2-3 to Adrian College in overtime. Senior Noah Finstorm paces the Pointers with four goals on the season with two two-goal games. Sophomore Alex Proctor has been in net for five of the six games where he has a record of 4-1 with 121 saves.
 
Last week Northland played two Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference schools where they were close but fell shot in both games. The Jacks started with Hamline University falling 1-4 and then dropped the game against Augsburg 3-5 and in both games gave up an empty net goal. Sophomore Camille Marcoux scored in both contests and started a three-goal run against the Auggies.
 
Last week Marcoux scored his conference-leading fifth goal of the season.  Senior Jackson Breton is the only other LumberJack with multiple goals this season with three. Senior Bryson Cecconi and freshman Ben Stewart are leading Northland in assists with five and four respectively. Senior Viktor Wennberg has made five starts this season and has totaled 163 saves with a save percentage of 90.1.
 
Northland College is an NCAA Division III institution located in Ashland, WI. The LumberJacks and LumberJills sponsor 14 varsity sports and compete in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference, Midwest Lacrosse Conference, and the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.