Michigan Tech forward Owen Baker (11) celebrate after scoring a goal against St. Thomas in a game Friday at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena. Also in the picture are defenseman Rylan Brown (3), forward Stiven Sardarian (6), and forward Max Koskipirtti (14).

By DAVER KARNOSKY

dkarnosky@mininggazette.com

HOUGHTON — With a 2-1 win on Friday and a 4-1 loss Saturday, the Michigan Tech Huskies hockey team earned a split at home at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena this weekend against the St. Thomas Tommies.

The Huskies improved to 8-5-1 overall and 6-3-1 in CCHA play with the split.

HUSKIES HOLD OFF TOMMIES FRIDAY, 2-1

On Friday night, the Huskies trailed 1-0, but scored the game’s next two goals to earn a 2-1 win over the Tommies.

Huskies coach Joe Shawhan felt there was a lot to like about how his team played.

“Really happy for the guys,” he said. “There are a lot of components to that game. I thought it was a real good battle. The penalty kill was outstanding. I thought that our defense played big and strong, and even with their goalie out, which is basically a penalty kill. Derek (Mullahy)’s giving us a chance every night. Great shot on the one that beat him. Outstanding shot, actually, right up grandma hides the cookie jar, right up in the corner, and good goal on that. So, I think goaltending, you have to have that. Our power play, it got the goal when we needed it.

“A week ago, we came back down two, and scored two and a third and got that tie. So, the resilience of that effort, and winning the third period at home for our people, that’s another, I think, outstanding part.”

The Huskies fell behind just 11:34 into the game when a shot from Mason Poolman found its way into the corner of the net over the glove of Mullahy. However, that was the only shot that beat him on the night. He stopped all 25 other shots the Tommies threw his way.

Sophomore forward Owen Baker evened the game just 2:31 later when he batted a rebound past Tommies goaltender Aaron Trotter. He went to the net while junior forward Stiven Sardarian carried the puck through the right circle. Sardarian attempted a backhand shot that bounced off of Trotter and right to Baker, who got to the puck and knocked it home.

The game remained 1-1 into the third period before the Huskies were awarded just their second power play of the night. On the advantage, sophomore center Max Koskipirtti and alternate captain Chase Pietila worked the puck on the right side of the ice. When nothing opened up, Pietila shifted the puck over to freshman defenseman Rylan Brown at the left point. Brown took advantage of the momentary opening the Tommies’ penalty kill left, and he buried a wrister over Trotter’s blocker at 10:13.

“We kind of changed up our power play a little bit, and then Chase threw it over to me and they had all their guys stuck on that side,” Brown said. “So, I decided to walk in and the top corner was wide open. Elias (Janssen) had a good screen, so I just let her go.”

Mullahy was tested multiple times after that, but the Huskies’ netminder kept pucks in front of him, and the Huskies’ defense battled to the final buzzer to hold on for the win.

“A huge win for us,” said Huskies junior defenseman Kasper Vaharautio. “St. Thomas is a good team, and we have a tough schedule before Christmas, and just an overall big win.”

Vaharautio was part of the Huskies’ penalty kill throughout the night. The Huskies held the Tommies, who entered the night with one of the top power plays in the country, to 0-for-5 on the night.

“I feel like PK is just great to play,” Vaharautio said. “I think I’m good at that, and I just want to help the team win.”

Shawhan agreed.

“They’re No. 10 in the country,” he said. “I think they have nearly 50% of their goals on the power play. Our guys threw a goose egg at them, including some criticals in the third, and with a couple minutes left in the game. So, full compliments to everybody that was involved in getting that job done.”

TOMMIES OUTSCORE HUSKIES ON

SATURDAY

Essentially all of the scoring Saturday night came in a stretch of 11:23 as the Tommies jumped out to a 3-1 lead after 20 minutes. From there, the Huskies poured shots on both St. Thomas goaltenders, but could not find one more in a 4-1 loss.

The Tommies added a fourth goal with 3:29 left to seal the win.

“Halfway through the game, they had eight shots on goal,” said Shawhan. “They scored on three of them. So I think (Lucas) Wahlin got a goal. I think (Liam) Malmquist got a goal. Their top guys got them a lead. I thought our guys battled hard, tried to get back.

“We had great momentum in the third period like we did a week ago going into the TV timeout. Then that TV timeout seemed to kind of zap it from us a little bit. We were getting it. We would like to have gotten that energy out of some other players that can get a good look at the net. But, we had some great scoring chances tonight. Really, a credit to St. Thomas. They blocked a ton of shots in front, even pucks that bounced back out to us, they were diving in front of those.”

The Tommies 8:36 in when Wahlin took a cross-slot pass from Matthew Gleason and buried a wrist shot.

Then St. Thomas’ power play took advantage. Malmquist scored on a wrister from the middle of the left circle at 11:53.

The Huskies got one when freshman center Logan Morrell drew a major power play. He was then on the ice for the power play, and he buried a shot at 12:58 to pull the Huskies back within one. Captain Jack Works and alternate captain Isaac Gordon both earned assists on the play.

The backbreaker for the Huskies came with just 0.4 seconds left in the opening frame with the Tommies on another power play. A shot from Malmquist bounced back out front to Gleason, who backhanded it past Mullahy for a goal before the period came to an end.

“Again, I give a ton of credit to St. Thomas on the way that they played,” Shawhan said. “I thought our guys played a good, solid weekend of hockey, and you’re going to win some, you’re going to lose some. They’re a good hockey team, and I thought our guys played well.”

Shawhan felt the Huskies struggled controlling the puck.

“We need to do a better job of handling that puck, and getting that puck, being able to carry it through the neutral zone,” he said. “I don’t think that I thought we had times we did that really well. I think if we get the second goal, we could maybe change things a little bit, but we weren’t able to do that.”

UP NEXT

The Huskies head back out on the road to face Bemidji State in a rematch of the Mason Cup championship game from last season.