Michigan Tech’s Justin Misiak looks to pass against Alaska Anchorage on Dec. 7, 2019, in Houghton, Mich. (David Archambeau/Daily Mining Gazette)

The Huskies are pretty much where they were at this point last season.

Last year, with a 10-7-1 record going into the final home series before the Great Lakes Invitational, the Huskies barely came away with a split against Alabama Huntsville with a 2-1 overtime win after a 1-0 loss.

This season, the Huskies (10-7, 8-6 WCHA) face No. 4 Clarkson with a chance to extend their recent hot streak having won seven of the past eight games. Puck drop is 7:07 p.m. Friday and 6:07 p.m. Saturday.

Last season, the Huskies’ turning point came after a 6-3 loss to Lake Superior State in the GLI championship game. They won just four games after the holiday break.

The Huskies were also swept in 3-1 losses last season at Clarkson, in northern New York.

This season, the Huskies are hoping for a different series against the Golden Knights and a different end to the 2019 home schedule before the holiday break and GLI.

Tech’s lines have found balance in the past month among physical play, forechecking, scoring chances, and scoring.

“We found something that’s working for us a bit right now,” Huskies head coach Joe Shawhan said. “We’re tweaking some things as the game goes, getting a look at things a shift here, a shift there. It always changes.”

The Golden Knights (11-3-1, 6-1-0 ECAC) are coming off a 3-1 win against St. Lawrence University on Dec. 7. Clarkson has a four-game win streak coming into the weekend series at Michigan Tech.

Clarkson’s success has been keyed by stellar goaltending from senior Frank Marcotte. He ranks sixth in the country in goals-against average (1.72) and his .939 save percentage ranks seventh.

The Golden Knights have the 18th-best offense measured in goals-per-game (3.07), while allowing 1.80 goals, which ranks fifth.

“They’re good in every aspect. Casey (Jones) and his staff do a tremendous job in recruiting and preparing,” Shawhan said of Clarkson’s ninth-year head coach. “They have a good formula to their team — a lot of size and strength on the blue line, still some mobility. Same up front — size and strength.”

Josh Dunne, a 6-foot-4, 210-pound sophomore and Green Bay Gamblers product, leads Clarkson with seven goals and 14 points. Graduate student Devin Brosseau (6-1, 202 pounds) has six goals and 20 points.

“Dunne has certainly evolved into being a great player. Plays every role for them you can play — power-play, penalty kill, 5-on-5, critical face-offs,” Shawhan said. “They’ve got some size at the forward position. They’ve got some skill and speed at the forward position. Some of those things overlap. “They’re very good on the power-play. Good on penalty kill. You can say their top six are dynamic. I’m sure, just like us, in any given game depending what they need, their top six may not be their top six. Their grind may be more their impact players, so you never know going in. There’s no real weaknesses to attack on them. They’re very well balanced.”

Comparitively, Tech has averaged 2.47 goals a game and has allowed 1.94. The Huskies’ offense ranks 38th and the defense ranks ninth.

Shawhan said the players have honed in on the rhythm with preparation during the week leading into the weekend games.

“We focus on what we need to do to have success on that given weekend and everything we do is geared towards that,” Shawhan said. “There’s adjustments that go in all the time. The gameplan is good, but it changes the minute they drop the puck. We get an idea of what we want to do and probably go in and out of what we want to do several times on the weekend based on changes by the opposition. It’s really more or less help teach the players to learn so they can figure things out and I think our guys have done a great job of that.”

In the last eight games, Tech’s best stretch of play this season winning seven of them, the Huskies have outscored opponents 23-13. The numbers average with the offense generating 2.88 goals while allowing 1.63 goals per game.

And the offense is spread out, so no one Tech player has been carrying the team. No Huskies even rank in the WCHA’s top 20 scorers, but four Huskies have at least five goals. Sophomores Trenton Bliss (seven), Brian Halonen (seven), Alec Broetzman (six) and Tommy Parrottino (five) have led the scoring charge. Six Huskies have at least five assists and 10 points.

In other words, the offense is showing up like Tech head coach Joe Shawhan said he hoped it would after the Huskies managed two goals in a three-game stretch in early November. He said it’s come as a result of a combination of confidence and better execution.

“I think they go hand in hand. Confidence is something you get through your preparation and they’re preparing hard,” he said. “That again helps your learning curve, accelerates it. If you fight it or you’re not playing a supportive game, you don’t grow. Being prepared gives you confidence, so I think it’s hand in hand.”