David Archambeau/Daily Mining Gazette Mchigan Tech’s Jake Lucchini looks for a teammate to pass to during a game against Bowling Green State earlier this season at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Despite dropping a pair of games on the road last weekend to the Bemidji State Beavers, the Michigan Tech Huskies gained some valuable experience being involved in Hockey Weekend in Minnesota.

Coach Joe Shawhan was happy his team got to experience the outdoor game despite the 4-3 overtime loss.

“We thoroughly enjoyed the outdoor game experience,” he said. “Bemidji, the community and all of the organizers, the school, everybody did an excellent job structuring it. It was really a great hockey celebration of an outdoor game that we were able to be a part of.

“It was a good game Friday night. It was enjoyable. It felt like being a kid again, We enjoyed that experience (even though) we lost the overtime game.”

Shawhan was less charitable about his feelings after the Huskies dropped a 3-0 decision indoors on Saturday.

“The Saturday night game we were disappointed in the way that we played and our ability to generate scoring chances,” he said. “We didn’t give up a ton defensively.

“They were able to score on the power play (and) scored a sloppy goal near the end of the period. That made it difficult for us to get back. We really weren’t able to generate any offense so that was disappointing. That’s what we’re going to have to do better. We’re going to have to find ways to generate more offense.”

Shawhan would like to see his team to continue to improve its 5-on-5 play as the second half of the season unfolds.

“(We as a staff are not happy with) our reliance on our power play when it’s not existent,” he said. “We have to be able to generate 5-on-5 offense. We talked about that going in and I think that was a big thing that victimized us. We talked about that (and are) working on that. (We’re) trying to teach ways to create it and continue to grow.”

It was not all bad for the Huskies last weekend though, Shawhan highlighted the play of Houghton native Raymond Brice.

“Of our limited scoring chances last week (Raymond) Brice was in on the majority of them and that’s just through hard work and will,” Shawhan said. “He just has a tremendous passion for the game and tremendous pride in the university.”

The Huskies will travel to face the Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves to finish out their four-game road series. Adjusting to the time change and a new rink, the Olympic-sized Sullivan Arena, will be a focus for Shawhan and the team as they move into the weekend playing against a team that they have traditionally struggled with on the road in recent years.

Center Nicolas Erb Ekholm leads the Seawolves with five goals and four assists. Forward Jeremiah Luedtke has brought in five goals and two assists over 23 games.

“Anchorage is going to give us problems,” said Shawhan. “They handle the puck pretty well (and) have some players that can make plays (and) play on big ice that they practice on all the time. We don’t.

“The big ice is going to prove to be a little bit of an issue for us. We’re going to have to figure out ways eliminate time and space in a competitive environment.”

“It’s going to be tough,” Shawhan said. “We’ve watched a lot of film. I feel they are similar to us in that they (also) have a harder time against highly competitive teams. They had a hard time against Huntsville. We’re going to have try as hard as we can to play a grind game. That’s what we’re going to ask our players to do.”

GAME TIMES

The Huskies and the Seawolves will face off at 11:07 p.m. both nights at Sullivan Arena.