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

HOUGHTON — Michigan Tech did something last weekend it hasn’t done since the 2015-16 season: win two hockey games to start the season.

The Huskies (2-0) swept Robert Morris last weekend, including an overtime win and a blowout.

With the sweep and receiving seven votes in this week’s USCHO Div. I Top 20 hockey poll, the Huskies are bringing momentum and confidence into this weekend’s opener against Alaska.

They might need all they can get on Friday (7:07 p.m. face-off) and Saturday (6:07 p.m.).

Alaska (0-2) was swept by No. 2 Denver last week by a combined four goals. The series opener was a thriller, with Denver notching the winning goal with a minute left in the third period. But the Pioneers shut out the Nanooks 3-0 on Sunday.

The one-goal game showed Michigan Tech head coach Joe Shawhan that this weekend’s home opener with the Nanooks won’t be a given.

“They do a lot of things well. They’re big, they’re strong,” Shawhan said. “Their centers win draws, move the puck well, flood areas, get bodies in areas to come up with pucks. D are very active and jump up in the play, jump up in the forecheck, jump up with the puck. They’re very active in the game. They interchange between the D and their forwards really well. There’s a lot of cycling to their game. They play on big ice a lot so they bring that. I think it’s a lot easier. I’ve always found it a lot easier to transition from Olympic ice, big ice, to NHL ice. I don’t think the adjustment will be that much for them to come in. They compete harder than teams from Fairbanks I’ve seen in the past. They’re a physical team and seem to have a bit more size as well … They’re a good hockey team — veteran. We have our hands full for sure.”

But Tech brings weapons of its own into the weekend, namely the top forward line including Alec Broetzman, Alex Smith and Parker Saretsky. The two combined for 11 points in last weekend’s sweep. Broetzman tallied four goals, including Saturday’s OT winner and a hat trick on Sunday. Saretsky, a freshman, notched his first goal and had three assists.

The Huskies’ defense had an overall strong weekend with limiting Robert Morris scoring chances and came up big in Tech successfully killing off all eight penalty kills.

Broetzman said the last month of practice has helped forge team chemistry.

“It was a good weekend, good first weekend of the year,” Broetzman said. “We had a good couple weeks leading up to it. Just showed up and things started to click and we got better over time.”

Matt Jurusik allowed one goal on 58 shots last weekend. The senior transfer from Wisconsin is a leader, Shawhan said.

“He does a lot for us. All of our goaltending is good. Matt provides us great leadership though as a senior,” Shawhan said. “He’s always looking after the other guys. He plays for the team. He had a great offseason. He’s been our most consistent goaltender in fall camp. Like the other guys, when guys do well, it’s nice to see them get rewarded for the efforts they put in and to get off on the right foot to start their season in a positive way. There’s energy and excitement going forward.”

Despite all the areas Tech had success last weekend, Shawhan said there are still improvements to make.

“There’s areas we have to get better at with our puck possession,” he said. “I thought we did a pretty good job in the offensive zone of creating scoring chances. Getting some spread to our offense, to getting traffic in front of the net. Some are big strong guys that won battles in front of the net and got us some goals. Anytime you come out with nine goals in a weekend it’s a pretty good weekend.”

The Huskies were 3 for 9 on the power play last weekend.

“There’s no secret to it early in the year,” Shawhan said. “We just had some guys used to the sets a little bit. We had limited time going into the weekend. There’s no magic, just some guys just happened to find the net.”

Broetzman was one of those guys, with four goals on the weekend.

“He’s a tremendous hockey player. He does a lot of things really well — all the little details,” Shawhan said. “It’s nice to see a guy like that get rewarded. He’s smart. Puts his time in on the ice, off the ice, studying the game. You want to see those guys get rewarded. It sends the right message to the group.”

Broetzman said playing home in the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena is a special experience.

“It’s always awesome to play at home, especially for the home opener,” he said. “It’s something super exciting, something to look forward to and should be a lot of fun.”