The NIU hockey club suffered its first loss of the season to conference rival DePaul University Saturday.

The Huskies traveled to Chicago to face the Blue Demons and ended up in an offensive contest aided by many defensive mistakes. “They (DePaul) did not earn much, we gave them all of the goals they scored,” remarked head coach Greg Vanco.

The Huskies led 3-1 in the first period but DePaul soon narrowed the margin. In the end NIU lost its first game 7-6.

The Huskie goals came from four players. Leading scorer Ralph Pike and freshman Sean Brown each scored twice. Rob Madrigal and Steve Neuega both found the net one time each.

The Blue Demons were not in top form and NIU failed to take advantage. “It was disappointing because we caught them on a day when we could have beaten them, but didn’t,” added Vanco.

The loss put the Huskies in second place in their conference. However, NIU is not out of contention just yet. “If we (NIU and DePaul) go undefeated and we beat DePaul by more than one goal, we would win conference,” said NIU’s Jim Kopka.

On home ice Friday night the Huskies easily defeated the Milwaukee School of Engineering 11-4. Senior Kevin Flynn scored four goals to boost the Huskies to a conference win.

NIU has a full schedule this coming weekend going to the University of Wisconsin-Platteville Friday night and playing at IIT Sunday afternoon.