(Photo illustration by Adam Niemi/The Daily Mining Gazette; Michigan Tech University/Courtesy Photo)

Michigan Tech started off the new season the way it wanted.

Simply and confidently. And hopefully with a couple wins.

With a weekend sweep over Robert Morris on Saturday and Sunday, the Huskies did all three in convincing fashion.

The Huskies (2-0) outscored the Colonials 9-1 on the weekend, including a 2-1 overtime thriller Saturday followed by a 7-0 rout on Sunday. Tech scored five goals alone in the first period on the strength of Alec Broetzman’s hat trick. He also scored the Huskies’ OT winner on Saturday night.

Here are three things that stood out from Tech’s weekend sweep:

Offense

The best performance of the weekend was the Huskies’ first line, composed of Broetzman, Alex Smith and Parker Saretsky. The trio combined for 11 points on the weekend and had a hand in seven of the team’s nine goals.

Tech peppered the Colonials goaltenders with 58 shots on the weekend. But many shots came from a Huskies offense that appeared calm and poised in the offensive zone. The forwards involved defensemen often, with passes back to the point to spread out the defense and open up frequent passing lanes across the slot.

Tech cycled the puck and looked for scoring chances from every angle, including from behind the net and goal line where it opened up back-door chances, like Trenton Bliss’ goal that first got MTU on the board Sunday. Tech won a battle in the corner and the puck came back to defenseman Cooper Watson. He found Brian Halonen breaking towards the net, who then tipped the puck back to Greyson Reitmeier. Reitmeier drew the puck back in a loaded position at the bottom of the left faceoff circle near the goal line, causing RMU goaltender Reid Cooper to drop down for a shot. But Reitmeier slid the puck past a Colonial defender through the slot to Bliss, wide open at the top of the crease with a yawning net.

The goal came from the kind of awareness and vision the Huskies displayed in setting up many of their goals and scoring chances.

Halonen’s goal in the second period came from another battle for the puck that Tech won on the end boards behind the Robert Morris net. Logan Pietila got to the puck freed from Trenton Bliss, who was pinned to the boards. Pietila’s possession behind the left side of the net drew the eyes of Robert Morris defenders. Halonen streaked behind a defender to the far side of the net and put home the shot on a perfect pass from Pietila.

Offensive puck possession, being an obvious key for any team wanting to be successful, was not an issue for Tech. The Huskies smartly navigated open areas, seeming to operate on the saying that “slow is smooth, smooth is fast” rather than panicking with the puck, skating full-on into turnovers and having limited possession. With Tech’s roster composed mostly of underclassmen, it’s a promising start.

Special Teams

Despite playing a man short, Tech was simply dominant on the penalty kill. Robert Morris went 0 for 8 on its power play all weekend. The Huskies’ penalty kill even tallied a short-handed goal with Broetzman’s overtime winner.

The Tech power play also found success. The Huskies’ power play was average at 19.4 percent last season, scoring 33 times in 170 power-play opportunities. The Huskies showed early improvements this weekend.

Although it’s an extremely small sample size, the Huskies converted 3 of 9 power-play chances over the weekend and, for the most part, looked organized in their man-advantage sets. They nearly had more success, had it not been for Colonials’ goaltenders coming up with some big saves.

With the kind of passing and use of open ice the Huskies showed on even-strength offense throughout the dominant win Sunday, Tech found more success in that game than the overtime win.

The Huskies gradually got more used to the game speed in the season opener, hanging around with the Colonials the whole way in an end-to-end game. But their timing was off. Passes weren’t always tape to tape and forwards were just out of position on rebounds. Tech went 1 for 5 on the power play.

You could argue that part of Tech getting fatigued, and forcing Shawhan to take a timeout in the third, was the 10 combined penalties between teams. Tech seemed to tire partly from being a man short and covering more ice, and also being stretched the full length of the ice on the power play when the Colonials were able to clear the puck out of the defensive zone. There were penalties every three or four minutes of the first and second periods. And with the game tied in the third, both teams exhausted each other looking for the go-ahead goal.

Goaltending

Matt Jurusik watched his teammates dominate Sunday, keeping the action on the opposite end of the ice from him. Which can sometimes be difficult for a goalie when opposing team’s chances finally come around. But Jurusik stood on his head, stopping all 25 shots on Sunday.

Jurusik made 34 saves on Saturday. The lone goal was a rebound off a shot from the point. A battle for the puck ended up with a scrum in front of the net and before Jurusik knew, Robert Morris forward Justin Addamo was celebrating a goal. Jurusik stood up immediately and pleaded his case with the referee behind the net. Officials reviewed the play and confirmed the goal. It was the only blemish to a strong weekend for Jurusik, a senior transfer from the University of Wisconsin.

Jurusik’s shining moment of the weekend came in the overtime Saturday when a Huskies’ giveaway in their own zone led to a Robert Morris player bearing down on the net. Jurusik gloved the shot with a minute and a half left in the overtime.

It ended up being a key save because 30 seconds later, Broetzman barreled down the right side of the ice on a two-on-one break and wristed home the winning goal.

Early Look

Alaska Fairbanks will cross four time zones to play at Michigan Tech this weekend. Friday’s game starts at 7:07 p.m. and Saturday’s game starts at 6:07 p.m.

The Nanooks were swept by Denver last weekend. The Pioneers broke the tie with the winning goal late in the third of a 4-3 win Saturday and followed with a 3-0 win Sunday.