(Photo Illustration by Adam Niemi/The Daily Mining Gazette; David Archambeau/Photo for The Daily Mining Gazette)

Michigan Tech returns to game action this weekend after being idle last week.

Tech has a chance, at No. 17 Bowling Green, to demonstrate improvements after being swept by Alaska two weeks ago.

The Huskies’ weaknesses had been exposed by the Nanooks. Breakouts, offensive puck possession and penalties put Tech in a rut all weekend.

But it’s a long season and one weekend won’t make or break success.

Tech head coach Joe Shawhan said he saw the team improve as the Alaska series went on. With his team visiting the Falcons, who have been perched atop the WCHA the last few seasons, it’s a prime test for the young Huskies to show their mettle. The weekend off was a chance to regroup and ignite confidence.

“I think the bye week actually for us, you’d think it’d be early in the year, it was good for us actually,” Shawhan said. “We had a couple of weeks to get into it, to compete, to evaluate. It gave us a chance to work with some guys. It gave guys chances to get to work. I thought we utilized it hard. We still have a long way to go to get ready for Bowling Green. There’s a lot of prep still left to do. I think we utilized it in a good way.”

Michigan Tech (2-2) enters this weekend after a season-opening sweep at Robert Morris, and losing a sweep to Alaska on Oct. 11-12.

Bowling Green (3-2) started the season off losing to RIT and Western Michigan on Oct. 11-12. Then the Falcons swept No. 18 Western Michigan last weekend in a home-and-home series. Bowling Green took both games by a 2-1 score with the Saturday win in overtime.

Shawhan said this year’s Falcons team appears to be similar to recent years, even with first-year head coach Ty Eigner.

“Good in every area. They’re aggressive on the penalty kill,” Shawhan said. “(Frederic) Letourneau does a great job for them on penalty kill. They’re veteran up front, a lot of upperclassmen. (Sam) Craggs, Letourneau and (Cameron) Wright, (Brandon) Kruse, plenty of players up front. On the backside they have great players in (Alec) Rauhauser, who’s an All-American player.

“Big wins last weekend against Western Michigan, a couple wins against NCHC teams,” Shawhan added. “They’re good on penalty kill, good on power-play. They pressure you five-on-five, man to man. They haven’t changed much from the way they played in the past. You don’t change a lot on success.”

Opening face-off is at 7:07 p.m. EDT on Friday and Saturday.

Eleven of the Huskies’ 12 goals scored this season have come from freshmen and sophomores. Shawhan said the underclassmen have continued improving through the bye week.

“The freshmen and sophomores are going to continue to get better,” Shawhan said. “They’re going to continue to evolve and I think we’ve gotten really good leadership out of our captains, Ray and Smitty (Alex Smith) and Seamus (Donohue) have done a good job of bringing those guys along. The mood of the team is very good right now. You always like to see them get results to grow and gain confidence. It’s early in the year and we’re still growing. I like the attention to detail.”

Sophomore Alec Broetzman leads Tech with four goals and two assists so far. Freshman Parker Saretsky has one goal and four assists.

Rauhauser has two goals and six points in five games for Bowling Green. Wright has five goals.

Michigan Tech is 3 for 22 on the power play this year, fifth-best in the WCHA. Bowling Green is fourth, scoring 4 of 26 on the power play.

The Huskies are the best in the conference on the penalty kill, at 95 percent (18 of 19). Bowling Green’s penalty kill is fifth (20 of 22).

Bowling Green has put 168 shots on goal in five games, good for second best in the conference. The Huskies have 100 shots, which ranks eighth.

Tech visits North Dakota for the US Hockey Hall of Fame Game on Saturday, Nov. 2. The Huskies are home the weekend after, Nov. 8-9, against Minnesota State.