HOUGHTON — It’s a rivalry weekend unlike any other.

Michigan Tech (2-3-1) hosts arch-rival Northern Michigan (1-0) in a nonconference home and away series starting tonight at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena. The Huskies will visit the Wildcats on Saturday night.

It’s the first series in the rivalary’s history where fans won’t be in attendance because of COVID-19 restrictions.

The Huskies are coming off a nonconference split at Bemidji State last weekend. Tech lost 6-3 in the opener. Huskies sophomore goaltender Blake Pietila made 31 saves for his first shutout of the season in a 3-0 win in the weekend finale. He was named the WCHA Goaltender of the Week for the second straight week. Junior defenseman Colin Swoyer was named the conference’s Defenseman of the Week.

Going into this weekend’s series against Northern, Pietila’s .967 save percentage is the the second-best in the country among goalies that have played more than one game. Dryden McKay’s save percentage is just a tenth of a percentage point better than Pietila’s, at .968. But Pietila has played 33 more minutes and has 58 more saves than McKay. Army’s Justin Evenson’s save percentage is 1.000 after a 24-save shutout in his only appearance this season.

The Huskies are 11th in the country in goals allowed per game, at 2.17. They’re 42nd in goals scored per game at 1.67.

The Wildcats finally got a game under their belts with a 5-4 win over Ferris State on Wednesday. NMU scored three goals in the first and added two more in the second, holding off the Bulldogs, who scored twice in the third to tighten the deficit.

A.J. Vanderbeck scored twice for the Wildcats. Brandon Schultz, Colby Enns and Joseph Nardi also scored goals. Connor Ryckman made 26 saves in goal to get his first career win for the Wildcats.

It was the first game for the Wildcats since a 4-3 triple-overtime loss to the Huskies in the WCHA tournament on March 7. Michigan Tech won five of six games against the Wildcats last season.

The Huskies are 69-76-14 all-time against Northern Michigan since 1979. Tech is 36-32-8 at home and 28-43-6 in Marquette.