Michigan Tech photo Michigan Tech’s Brent Baltus looks to gain possession against Wisconsin, Sunday, in Madison. Tech lost 3-2 in the season debut.

MADISON — With eight faces in the lineup Sunday who weren’t available last season during their run to the WCHA playoff championship, the Michigan Tech Huskies looked like a team with a lot of changeover in their season-opener against the No. 12 Wisconsin Badgers at the Kohl Center. The longer the game went on, however, things got better as the Huskies fought back, but could not overcome a pair of goals five minutes apart in the first period in a 3-2 loss.

Both teams showed flashes of what will make them successful this season in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame game. Huskies coach Joe Shawhan, in his first game in the role, felt good about his team’s final 50 minutes of play.

“We didn’t get the result that we wanted, but we can’t complain about the effort that we had the game,” said Shawhan. “We started out a little tentative. I was extremely happy with the way that we competed.”

Two-thirds of the Huskies’ top line got involved in the offense in the second period.

Down 2-0, the Huskies took advantage of their second power play of the night. After the Badgers cleared the puck down the rink, senior defenseman Mark Auk found assistant captain Joel L’Esperance cutting through the middle of the rink. L’Esperance skated in and roofed a shot over Badgers goaltender Kyle Hayton’s shoulder for the goal at 13 minutes, 13 seconds.

L’Esperance led all skaters in shots on goal in the game with six. He also missed two others over the crossbar.

Trailing by two again late in the middle frame, the Huskies scored on their second consecutive man advantage. Auk found junior Jake Lucchini in close to the net. Lucchini fired a shot over Hayton’s shoulder for the goal at 18:26.

“In a lot of ways, we exerted our will a little bit as the game went on,” said Shawhan. “I give our guys a lot of credit for the effort. We have something to work off of and that was what we were looking for.”

The Huskies had other good scoring chances throughout the night including chances by L’Esperance and sophomore winger Gavin Gould in the first period and one on the second when sophomore forward Ray Brice stole the puck from Hayton behind the Wisconsin net and then fed senior winger Alex Gillies in the slot. Gillies’ shot was blocked by the outstretched hand of Badgers’ defenseman Tyler Inamoto.

Shawhan chose to go with transfer goaltender Patrick “Packy” Munson in goal, and early on, the decision looked like a good one until he had trouble getting across the crease on a wraparound attempt by Badgers winger Will Johnson. Munson leg appeared to get caught as he drove across, allowing Johnson to slide the puck between Munson’s skate and the post for a goal at 5:51.

The game remained 1-0 in favor of the Badgers until junior Jake Jackson took a slashing penalty, putting the hosts on the power play. The Badgers controlled the puck well before moving it over to Linus Weissbach. Weissbach unloaded a shot that was blocked by Huskies’ sophomore defenseman Mitch Reinke. The rebound off the block kicked right back to Weissbach, who fired a second shot that beat Munson at 10:55.

Between Huskies’ tallies in the second, the Badgers picked up their second goal on the young season from Weissbach. Weissbach took advantage of a situation when a pair of Huskies collided near the bench, allowing an odd-man rush to form. Munson pushed across to make the save, but Weissbach did not get as much on the puck as he wanted to and the shot bounced past Munson at 14:48.

Munson, who finished the night with 24 saves, made his biggest save of the night halfway through the third period when he stopped Badgers forward Ryan Wagner on a breakaway.

The Huskies pulled Munson with 1:44 left in the contest, but were unable to find the game-tying goal before the final buzzer sounded.

‘BACKUP PADS’

According to Mix 93.5 FM’s coverage from analyst Dave Ellis prior to the contest, Munson played the contest with junior goaltender Devin Kero’s backup pads, which may have contributed to his issues to get across the crease on the Badgers’ first goal.

DUAL TRANSFERS

In a rare moment in college hockey, both starting goaltenders, Munson and Hayton, were transfers from other NCAA schools. Munson was a member of the NCAA champion Denver Pioneers last season, while Hayton was a member of St. Lawrence, where he was named ECAC Goaltender of the Year. He was able to play immediately this season due to the fact that he graduated from St. Lawrence in just three years.

Scoring

Michigan Tech  0  2  0 – 2

Wisconsin  2  1  0 – 3

First Period

1, UW, Will Johnson (Seamus Malone), 5:51

2, UW, Linus Weissbach (Johnson, Trent Frederic), PP, 10:55

Second Period

3, MTU, Joel L’Esperance (Mark Auk, Patrick Munson), PP, 13:13

4, UW, Weissbach (Ryan Wagner, Frederic), 14:48

5, MTU, Jake Lucchini (Gavin Gould, Auk), PP, 18:26

Saves

MTU, Munson  9  8  7 – 24

UW, Hayton  5  9  8 – 20

Power plays

MTU: 2/4; UW 1/2

Penalties

MTU: 2/4; UW: 4/8