Looking for a spark
Michigan?Tech seeks better effort against Minnesota State
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HOUGHTON -- After games against Michigan, No. 16 Western Michigan and No. 12 Notre Dame, the Michigan Tech Huskies returned home this past weekend to face the Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves, and things could not really have gone worse for the WCHA’s second-best team.
It could have been that the Huskies were looking beyond the Seawolves to this weekend’s matchup with the No. 20 Minnesota State Mavericks.
The Huskies and Seawolves limped to a pair of ties, 3-3 on Friday and 1-1 on Saturday. The Seawolves claimed the second point on Friday while the Huskies claimed the second on Saturday.
Huskies coach Mel Pearson was not thrilled with the effort from Michigan Tech throughout the weekend, and felt that the Huskies had trouble ramping up their game to match the intensity the Seawolves -- who are battling just to make the playoffs -- brought throughout the series.
“I think it was a good lesson for us to understand, going forward when we see some of these teams, how we have to play,” said Pearson. “It’s not going to be up and down [the ice], you are not going to get scoring chances. You are going to have to grind, and when you get a scoring chance, you have to take advantage.”
That is not to say the Huskies, who came into the weekend ranked No. 20, did not do some good things despite their struggles. The Huskies scored three times on Friday, which should have been enough to earn the win. Saturday, the Huskies’ penalty kill kept the Seawolves from scoring on any of their nine opportunities.
The best period the Huskies played was the third on Saturday, where the Huskies had numerous looks in positions to score, but were unable to finish the way they wanted to.
Seniors Tyler Heinonen and Alex Gillies had good looks off 2-on-1s, but both missed the net.
“You are not going to get a better chance than Tyler Heinonen on the 2-on-1,” said Pearson. “[Gilies] just blew his wide too. Those are the ones that you have to get.”
One other positive for the Huskies was the fact that freshman Chris Gerrie scored his first career goal Saturday night after sitting out Friday’s contest. Pearson was happy for his young player who has had plenty of scoring chances before finally striking Saturday.
“Guys like him are getting a taste of that playoff experience right now,” said Pearson. “We’ve been forced to play some young people because of guys like Dylan Steman and Brent Baltus being out.”
The Mavericks sit in a tie for third with the Bowling Green Falcons thanks to WCHA record of 10-6-2-0 record, good for 32 points. The Mavericks split last weekend with the Falcons, losing on Friday before winning Saturday.
Including starting the season with a sweep of the Huskies, the Mavericks jumped out of the gates to a 5-0-0 start. Since then, they have struggled in goal and with depth of scoring, but have been playing better of late, going 4-1 in their last five.
“A lot of things have changed,” said Pearson. “It looks like they are healthy and they have their full lineup. They are coming in in good shape where we are trying to keep everything together now.”
The Mavericks’ offense is fueled by their top unit of freshman Marc Michaelis and juniors C.J. Franklin and Brad McClure. Michaelis leads the team most major categories: goals (11), assists (17), points (28) and shorthanded goals (2).
Franklin and McClure are both off to better starts this season. Franklin has 13 assists and 22 points. McClure has 10 goals and 21 points.
In goal, the Mavericks have found themselves in a similar situation to where the Huskies were when they traveled to Mankato earlier this season. Senior Cole Huggins and sophomore Jason Pawloski have both struggled enough to open the door for junior Aaron Nelson to start the last four games. Nelson is 3-1-0 with a 1.97 goals against average and .920 save percentage in that time.
INJURY UPDATE: Baltus has been lost for the season. Steman could possibly return to the lineup this weekend. Winger Joel L’Esperance will likely miss both games due to an injury. Defenseman Matt Roy, who did not play Saturday against the Seawolves, is expected to be back Friday.
GAME TIMES: Game times this weekend are 7:07 p.m. both Friday and Saturday night at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.