Michigan Tech sophomore forward Arvid Caderoth (20) battles for the puck against Notre Dame on Friday, Oct. 15, 2021, in Houghton, Mich. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

HOUGHTON — There is an old adage in sports. Essentially, it says teams have to learn how to win.

For Michigan Tech Huskies hockey coach Joe Shawhan, the adage is very similar to the even older concept of, “Give a man a fish and he can eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and you will feed him for a lifetime.”

For Shawhan and his staff, the Huskies are learning how to “fish,” or rather, how to win.

After Saturday night’s 2-1 exhibition loss to the U.S. National Development Program, Shawhan seemed surprisingly pleased with the effort he saw from his squad.

“I was pleased with the Saturday performance overall, because I was really happy with some of the guys we put in, in the play that they gave us,” he said. “I thought it changed our look. It changed our look a bit, and we got some energy in that regard.”

While losing 2-1 for the second straight night, considering the Huskies lost to then-No. 18 Notre Dame on Friday, might be seen as a negative, Shawhan and his staff are spending this week, an off-week for the team in terms of games, focusing on how to build better habits for the players. Having played three games and two exhibitions has given Shawhan plenty of material to work with, and he remains excited to spend time with his players in individual meetings working through each of their games.

“We’ve been able to put a lot of work into analyzing our game and, and analyzing our individual players, and this is going to be a good exercise for us,” he said. “It’s a good time to be able to do this. We’ve got (three) games and now five with an exhibition, and we’re seeing the tendencies and things.”

Shawhan has specific goals for his team, and he feels that the group got away from those goals last weekend, which is why, after sweeping then-No. 13 Wisconsin the weekend before, the Huskies struggled to find success this past weekend.

“This is a very good time for us with with a short, little body of work, to be able to see tendencies, be able to make corrections, and be able to do really do some teaching,” he said, “both showing the younger guys what we’re after, and showing some of the veteran players, if not all the veteran players, the consistencies, and inconsistencies of where they still need to go in our eyes as a staff.”

Right now, the game is not about results, which seems counterintuitive on the surface, but Shawhan has his team facing Top-20 teams early in the season, both to gauge where his team is at, and to see what other teams do effectively, so that the Huskies can work to incorporate that into their games.

Some players are already showing signs of exactly what Shawhan wants to see. A great example of that is senior winger Brian Halonen. Halonen has a goal and three assists in three games, and has a goal and three more assists in the two exhibition games. 

“Brian Halonen is taking care of the puck, in a great way for us right now,” said Shawhan. “Now it’s up to guys to get open for him.”

What Shawhan likes in Halonen’s game is how he is using his body to protect the puck. Because he is doing that, it forces opposing teams to have to change their defensive coverage to try to help their teammates out, which means that he is drawing extra defenders. With multiple skaters trying to get the puck from him, Halonen’s teammates on the ice have more time and space to get open for him to find with a pass.

“We need 19 more Brian Halonens right now, because he’s taken on checks, and he’s having success by it,” said Shawhan. “What his linemates need to do is get open. He needs to find those linemates because it’ll explode for him. The game will explode for him, because he’s drawing triple coverage at times.”

What Halonen is doing effectively in the offensive zone, some of the Huskies defenders are doing in their own end to keep forecheckers away from the puck. The issue, at this point, is getting all of the players to buy into working on protecting the puck day in and day out, building the types of habits that Shawhan and his staff want to see.

“That’s what we’re looking for,” he said. “I call that the hard skill. That’s the hard skill. There’s bodies on these guys, and they have to manage the puck.

“That’s what we’re trying to develop is the guys that play with that all the time. That’s why this week off is so good to be able to sit down with the group, take the time, and go into video and find clips, pull them out and archive them and teach. That’s what the excitement is about this week off, that we, as a staff, feel we have a direction that we can go with.”

The other piece of the puzzle for Shawhan at this point in the season is developing an accountability structure, as he calls it.

“What we really need is not for them just to play well, but we need an accountability structure, and an example from our upper class,” he said. “Not what’s an easy way, but a better way. That’s really what we’re trying to drive. That’s really what culture is all about.”