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Golden opportunity

HOUGHTON – The Michigan Tech Huskies returned home Friday night for a key home matchup with their rivals from just down the road, the Northern Michigan Wildcats. Playing in front of a capacity crowd, the Huskies did the things they needed to do to be successful in a 2-0 win at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.

During the week, Huskies coach Mel Pearson challenged his goaltenders to be better. By the time the 60 minutes were over, he appeared to get just what he was looking for from freshman Angus Redmond. Redmond stopped all 19 shots the Wildcats threw his way to earn his first win and his first shutout in his first career start.

“It felt awesome,” said Redmond. “I’ve been practicing really hard and just waiting for my opportunity. It felt good to finally get the call tonight and the guys played great in front of me.”

Another area of the Huskies’ game that Pearson was looking for improvement was in the offensive production from some key skaters: winger Joel L’Esperance, center Jake Lucchini and winger Jake Jackson.

All three managed to figure in the scoring.

“Our schedule has been tough,” said Pearson. “We’ve played three of the top 11 teams in the country on the road, so you are not going to go in there and put up a lot of goals on those teams. I think we have to be patient and understand that.”

With the Wildcats’ Collin Peters off the ice for elbowing, L’Esperance tipped a shot from defenseman Mark Auk at the left point. The puck made its way back out to Auk, who passed it just to the right of Tolvanen and L’Esperance could get to it. L’Esperance fired quickly and the shot rebounded out to the right where Lucchini jumped on it and buried it into the open goal at 8:28.

“Those are pretty lucky ones,” said Lucchini. “We were moving the puck around really well. We practiced our power play a lot during the week.”

With the game 1-0 in Michigan Tech’s favor late in the third period, winger Jake Jackson gave them some breathing room with less than four minutes remaining in regulation when he picked up a loose puck in the offensive zone, cut to the net and beat Tolvanen with a shot that seemed to sneak through an unseen hole.

Both teams skated the opening minutes back and forth with neither gaining much of an advantage. It took Michigan Tech (2-5-2 overall, 2-2-1-1 WCHA) over five minutes to establish consistent pressure in the Wildcats’ zone. Once they did, the all-senior line of Tyler Heinonen, assistant captain Mike Neville and Reid Sturos nearly found an opening behind goaltender Atte Tolvanen, who was the Wildcats’ best player on the night, according to coach Walt Kyle.

“Atte was our best player for sure,” said Kyle.

Kyle was also quick to point out that the Wildcats’ power play needs to be better than 0-for-5.

“Our power play let us down tonight,” said Kyle. “We had a number of opportunities and they have to find a way to get the job done if they are going to be out there.”

The Wildcats’ first good shot on goal came two-and-a-half-minutes later when Peters skated over the Huskies’ blue line and wired a low wrist shot that Redmond fought off. Peters continued into the zone on the forecheck and was eventually whistled for his penalty, which proved costly.

Just as the Huskies’ second power play expired, Huskies’ assistant captain Shane Hanna came down the right side of the slot. As he cut to the net, he fed the puck across the slot to winger Chris Gerrie on the left side who unleashed a quick shot. Tolvanen pushed hard across to make the save.

The Wildcats (2-4-1 overall, 1-3-1-0 WCHA) had some pressure in the Huskies’ zone with just under four minutes left in the first. Redmond made two quick saves in succession.

The Huskies started the second period strong and it took four minutes for the Wildcats to recover and start to put pressure of their own on the Michigan Tech defense. Gerard Hanson had a golden opportunity with a one-timer off a pass from assistant captain Dominic Shine, who was playing his first game of the season. Redmond was there to make the save.

The teams traded chances for the next six minutes before Darien Craighead found Peters in the corner to Redmond’s right. Peters skated the puck out into the slot before firing a shot a shot that Redmond stopped. On the ensuing faceoff, Troy Loggins got the puck from Filip Starzynski. Loggins rifled a shot, but Redmond saw it all the way and made the stop.

The Huskies were back on the attack just over a minute into the third period when Gerrie tipped a shot from Roy at the right point, but Tolvanen again was there to make the save.

With Tolvanen pulled late, the Huskies managed to kill off a 6-on-3 advantage to preserve the shutout.

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