HOUGHTON – Newcomer Brett Boeing struck twice and veteran winger Brent Baltus added a pair of tallies as the Michigan Tech Huskies defeated the Laurentian Voyageurs Friday night at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.

“It feels great,” said Boeing. “I have been around the team for two months just in practices and stuff, getting to know them. The team is great here. Just to get on the ice with them is really big.”

Boeing, who likens himself to physical NHL forwards like Andrew Shaw, was involved in the offense all night long, which pleased his new coach, Mel Pearson.

“Brett Boeing is good around the net,” said Pearson. “The first thing you notice about him is his stick. He has a great nose for the net. He gave us that spark tonight.”

The Huskies were supported well all night long by the 3,580 faithful hockey fans who were in their seats even before warm-ups began.

“The support we get here is second to none,” said Baltus. “Even in warm-ups, the students were there and they were cheering loud, so it is easy to get up for games here.”

The Huskies jumped out of the gates well as winger Malcolm Gould cut in close to the net and fired a shot on the Voyageurs’ Alain Valiquette. The rebound kicked back out front to winger Tyler Heinonen, but his shot was also stopped.

Just under three minutes later, defenseman Mark Auk took the puck off a faceoff win by assistant captain Mike Neville. Auk cut to the middle of the blue line and fired a shot, but Valiquette was there to make the stop.

The Huskies were awarded the game’s first power play when Sebastien Leroux took a hitting after the whistle penalty. The Huskies controlled the puck for the majority of the two minutes, but only had one really good scoring chance off the stick of defenseman Matt Roy, whose shot handcuffed Valiquette a bit. Valiquette made 37 saves on the night.

About halfway through the opening frame, co-captain Cliff Watson unloaded the Huskies first big check of the season when he lowered the boom on Gary Horic at center ice.

It took nearly 11 minutes for the Voyageurs to get their first shot through to Jamie Phillips.

The Huskies went back on the man advantage just 22 seconds into the second period, but it was the visitors with the best scoring chance as Brent Pedersen cut to the net and attempted to deke Phillips. Phillips finished the night with 16 saves.

The Huskies took the lead 3:49 into the second period when winger Reid Sturos and Boeing skated in on a two-on-one. Sturos waited until the last second and fed Boeing, who buried the one-timer into the net as he was falling down. Center C.J. Eick assisted on the goal.

On that same play, the Huskies were awarded a power play. It took nearly the whole advantage, but the Huskies struck for the second time.

Winger Joel L’Esperance picked up the puck off a save by Valiquette. He found winger Max Vallis along the right boards. Vallis fed Auk at the right point. Auk skated the puck to the middle of the rink and wired a wrist shot into the back of the net at 5:36.

With both teams down a man a couple of minutes later, a scoring chance that Phillips stopped led to a rush the other direction. Roy had the puck at the right point, and fired a shot on goal. The rebound kicked to center Jake Lucchini. Lucchini fed the puck right out front to Baltus, who buried it at 9:22 into a gaping net.

“He is a very easy player to play with,” said Baltus of Lucchini. “He’s good with the puck, he’s fast, he’s smart. It makes my job easy.”

The Voyageurs opened the third period by finding the back of the net on a tip-in just 5:01 in.

The Huskies had a great chance a minute and a half later to regain the lead when winger Alex Gillies fed the puck to center Dylan Steman. Steman’s backhand was stopped by Valiquette.

Phillips made a great glove save on the next scoring chance by the Voyageurs.

The Huskies regained the three-goal lead when Boeing took a pass in the slot from Eick and buried a one-timer at 10:06. Sturos, who was hit at center ice, got the puck to Eick, so he picked up an assist on the goal.

Baltus notched his second of the night on the power play at 17:57. Roy’s shot from the point rebounded out to Baltus, who knocked the puck out of the air for the tally. Lucchini picked up an assist as well.

PETAN’S DEBUT

Co-captain Alex Petan did not dress for the game. He spent Thursday in Boston, watching his brother Nicolas make his NHL debut with the Winnipeg Jets. Nicolas scored the Jets’ sixth goal in a 6-2 victory over the Bruins. Alex is expected to be in the lineup tonight for the Huskies.

POWER PLAYS

The Huskies finished the night two for seven on the man advantage. It took them four tries to finally strike. Pearson attributed some of that to rust and some of it to the absence of Petan. At the same time, he was happy with the effort of Baltus around the net, creating traffic.