Michigan Tech senior Brian Halonen (12), sophomore Ryland Mosley (2) and junior Parker Saretsky (15) celebrate a goal with teammates during an exhibition game Saturday, Oct. 2, 2021, against Northern Michigan in Houghton, Mich. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

HOUGHTON — Just six and a half minutes into Saturday’s exhibition match between Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan, it appeared that while the Huskies were getting the chance to play in front of their home crowd, it was the Wildcats who took advantage of the energy on display in the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.

Huskies coach Joe Shawhan, who took the blame squarely on his shoulders for not having the team ready to start the game on time, was extremely happy to see how the hosts responded, battling back and forcing a 4-4 tie in the end.

“I didn’t think we’re ready to start the game,” he said. “I don’t know what reason that is. Maybe nerves or whatever, but I thought that the last half of the game, we had more structure to it and saw a little bit more of what we’re looking for.”

Mikey Colella and Tanner Vescio scored just 2:29 apart to put the Wildcats ahead in the opening frame. Colella’s goal came on a blown coverage in the Huskies’ defensive zone as he found some quiet ice in the high slot, took a pass from captain Joseph Nardi and beat Huskies goaltender Blake Pietila with a wrist shot. 

Vescio had a similar find in the right circle when he found a soft spot in the Huskies’ defensive setup and fired a wrist shot that found a way through Pietila.

Just 30 seconds later, the Wildcats held an 8-2 advantage in shots. That was about the time the Huskies started to respond.

New addition Tyrone Bronte, a sophomore center who transferred in the offseason from Alabama-Huntsville, got the Huskies on the board with a power play marker at 9:13. He jumped on a rebound off a shot from sophomore winger Ryland Mosley, and buried a backhand behind Wildcats starter Rico DiMatteo.

“For me, it was, you know, you got to prove yourself wherever you go,” Bronte said. “Coming here, I’m a new guy, so I just got to do what I can to help the team.”

The game seemed to tilt in the Huskies’ favor after the Bronte goal, and thanks to some hard work from junior winger Logan Ganie, the hosts were able to even things with just 12.7 seconds left in the opening frame. Ganie skated the puck down the left boards, dropped it back to junior center Parker Saretsky, who fired a shot that rebounded right to Ganie, who buried it to even things.

The Wildcats jumped out quickly in the second period and struck just 1:57 in when Trevor Cosgrove’s shot from the left point made it’s way through traffic and through Pietila.

The Huskies controlled much of the play in the second half of the second period. By the time the period was stopped due to fog on the playing surface, Wildcats goaltender Nolan Kent, who entered the game at the start of the period, had 14 saves.

Looking to cash in off of that momentum the Huskies had built, senior winger Brian Halonen, who already had two assists on the night, found sophomore center Arvid Caderoth crashing the net. Caderoth redirected the pass past Wildcats goaltender Charlie Glockner just 1:08 into the third.

Bronte and Mosley then reconnected again just over a minute later, leading to a goal for junior winger Tristan Ashbrook at 2:09.

Bronte, who is playing just his second year of college hockey, was excited to get the chance to play in front of a nearly packed MacInnes Student Ice Arena.

“(It was) unbelievable,” he said. “Never seen a crowd like that or let alone play with a crowd like that. It was crazy. It’s awesome.”

The Huskies surrendered a power play goal to the Wildcats a little over seven minutes later when A.J. Vanderbeck wired a wrist shot past Huskies goaltender Cayden Bailey at 7:25.

From there, Glockner and Bailey shut the doors, forcing the two teams to run out the clock tied at 4-4.

All four of the Huskies’ goals came from about 20 feet in or less, something that Shawhan feels will be important to his team’s success this year. A player that Shawhan was really impressed with was Mosley, who was around the net much of the night.

“That’s always been my goal,” said Shawhan. “That’s the point of emphasis. That’s more important to me than anything else.

“A guy that stood out to me tonight, big time, if you can get that type of growth, and we’ve been seeing it right on through, was Ryland Mosley. He has motor, and his compete level, that if we can get that throughout the board, and his attention to detail was outstanding, that’s our objective: to get more more of that.”

The Huskies open the regular season this weekend at Wisconsin for a pair of non-conference games Friday and Saturday at the Kohl Center.

NMU 2 1 1 — 4

MTU 2 0 2 — 4

First Period–1, NMU, Colella (Nardi, Ghantous), 4:02. 2, NMU, Vescio (Ghantous, Colella), 6:31

3, MTU, Bronte (Mosley, Halonen), PP, 9:13. 4, MTU, Ganie (Saretsky, Halonen), 19:47.

Second Period–5, NMU, Cosgrove (Keefer), 1:57.

Third Period–6, MTU, Caderoth (Halonen, Thorne), 1:08.

7, MTU, Ashbrook (Mosley, Bronte), 2:09.

8, NMU, A.J. Vanderbeck (Van Unen, Eriksson), PP, 7:25.

Saves–NMU, DiMatteo 12-0-0–12, Kent 0-14-0–14, Glockner 0-0-7–7, Pietila 8-5-0–13, MTU, Bailey 0-2-3–5.

Penalties-minutes–NMU 5-10. MTU 7-14.

Power plays–NMU 1-5. MTU 1-3.