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Tech recovers from 2-0 deficit to earn 4-3 victory over Alaska

Michigan Tech’s Seamus Donohue celebrates his goal with Mitch Reinke (middle) and Jake Lucchini against Alaska Saturday at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena. (David Archambeau/Daily Mining Gazette)

HOUGHTON — After two weeks of tough practices, Joe Shawhan isn’t sure how much his players like him. The coach has spent every practice pushing the Huskies into uncomfortable, high-stress situations, because quite frankly, they need it. 

They sit in fifth in the WCHA standings, which is good enough to make the eight-team postseason, but not enough for home ice. 

Do they like him? Maybe not. Does he care? Absolutely not.  

The grueling practices paid off this weekend, as Tech (13-9-5, 9-6-5-2 WCHA) picked up two wins over Alaska (9-15-2, 8-12-1-1 WCHA). On Saturday the Huskies skated away with a 4-3 victory at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena. It came in one of the stressful situations Shawhan has been trying to recreate in practice. 

“What we are trying to do right now is create situations in practice that are really difficult, really frustrating,” he said. “We don’t want it to be easy because I think the obstacle we face is the one between the ears. It is the understanding of what your job is, because when things get tough, you have to find it within yourself.

“We want frustration to set in in practice instead of during the games. Sometimes we need to realize, this is just a battle tonight. There is going to be nothing pretty about it, no highlight reels, ESPN isn’t going to be showing any plays from the game, it is going to be a battle and we have to come out on top.”

This time, they did, but not without a little drama. 

The Huskies trailed by two goals early, then scored three straight to take a 3-2 lead before allowing Alaska to tie it up again in the third period. 

Just over a minute remained on the clock, and with overtime looming, Mark Auk lined up a long shot. It was tipped and ended up on the stick of Joel L’Esperance, who tapped it home. 

Tech fans let out a collective sigh, and once he was done celebrating, L’Esperance did too. The senior winger needed that goal. He needed it so his team could win. But he also needed it to break a 17-game scoring drought. 

“I redirected it through the goalie’s legs, and it was awesome when it went in,” he said. “It has been a little stressful with me not scoring, but you just have to keep playing the right way and stuff will happen. I’m glad it did.”

Tech started play with two defensive miscues that led to easy goals for the Nanooks. The first came after just 1:15 had run off the clock when a turnover in front of the net allowed Tyler Kline to score. Then, at 8:52, Tayler Munson gave Alaska a 2-0 lead. 

Not an ideal situation for Tech, but one the team often thrives in. It was the Huskies sixth come-from-behind win on the season. 

“We certainly don’t want to be down,” Shawhan said. “… But what I like about our team is the resiliency we showed. We didn’t give them scoring chances, and just kind of mucked it out.”

Seamus Donohue put the Huskies on the board with five seconds remaining in the first period. The power-play goal gave Tech momentum going into the second frame. 

That momentum was good for two goals, one by Justin Misiak and another from Thomas Beretta, giving Tech the 3-2 lead. But they didn’t come easily. Instead, Tech had to kill three straight penalties to start the period before getting a good scoring chance. 

“That was everything because we would have gone down by a couple of goals right when we were gaining momentum,” Shawhan said. “And they were not good penalties, they were bad penalties. We have to keep our sticks off people and move our feet.”

Stopping the three Alaska power plays allowed Tech to gain the lead, but Alaska, a team that hasn’t beat Tech in the last 12 meetings, didn’t go quietly. Instead, Zach Frye scored on a power play with 5:26 to play, sneaking the puck past Devin Kero and tying the contest at 3. 

Other than the late-game goal, Kero had a strong performance, collecting 18 saves. 

“He did a good job for us and we protected him pretty well, too,” Shawhan said. “The biggest thing Devin needs to do to gain confidence, to make that next big step, is he has to shut the door. When he gets to that point when he can shut the door and say ‘whatever happens, they are not scoring this period,’ when he has those nights, then he is on his way.”

Kero picked up his third win of the season. 

Next up, Tech hits the road for a two-game series with Ferris State on Friday and Saturday at 7:07 p.m. Ferris State is eighth in the WCHA. 

– – –

Alaska 2 0 1 — 3

Michigan Tech 1 2 1 — 4

First period

Alaska — Tyler Cline (Kylar Hope, Tory Van Tetering), 1:15, 1-0.

Alaska — Tayler Munson (Chad Staley, Zach Frye), 8:52, 2-0.

Tech — Seamus Donohue (Mitch Reinke, Jake Lucchini), 19:55, 2-1.

Second period

Tech — Justin Misiak (Reinke, Greyson Reitmeier), 12:34, 2-2.

Tech — Thomas Beretta (Jake Jackson, Dylan Steman), 18:08, 3-2. 

Third period 

Alaska — Frye (Tristan Thompson, Chad Staley), 5:26, 3-3.

Tech — Joel L’Esperance (Mark Auk, Raymond Brice), 18:54, 4-3.

Saves

Alaska: Nik DellaMaggiore 20; Tech: Devin Kero 18.

Penalties

Alaska: 4/8; Tech: 6/12.

Power plays

Alaska: 1/5; Tech: 1/3. 

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