With teammate Vincent de Mey watching at top center, Northern Michigan University's Mitchel Slattery, sitting, looks for a call after being upended by Ferris State's Liam MacDougall in the first period of their WCHA hockey game played at the Berry Events Center in Marquette on Saturday, Feb. 1, 2020. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

MARQUETTE — After having more than a half-dozen hockey games canceled or postponed and a ski meet canceled for this weekend, the Wildcats hockey team will finally see action.

NMU faces Ferris State Wednesday at 6 p.m. (Eastern) in the first of a home-and-home non-conference pair of games.

It’s not a series in the real sense of the word as the games will be played two weeks apart.

The Wildcats make the return trip to Big Rapids on Wednesday, Dec. 30 for a 3 p.m. Eastern matinee.

The Ferris game in Marquette will mark NMU’s first actual game action this season.

This addition to the schedule gives the Wildcats three games in four days with an originally scheduled home-and-home non-conference series against Michigan Tech still on for next weekend. The Friday game will be played in Houghton at 7:07 p.m. Eastern and Saturday game back in Marquette at 6:07 p.m. Eastern.

One other change in Northern’s hockey schedule comes from what will be the first two WCHA games that NMU plays this season. The Friday-Saturday, Jan. 1-2, series against Minnesota State-Mankato has been shifted back a day and will now be played on Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 2-3, at the Berry Events Center. Game times have yet to be announced. The Wildcats didn’t have any Sunday home games in 2019-20.

A previously scheduled league game against Lake Superior State that was set for Dec. 2 was postponed with no makeup date yet announced. The Wildcats were supposed to start their season on Nov. 25, the night before Thanksgiving, but have had all their other games up to this point canceled due to coronavirus pandemic concerns