David Archambeau/For the Gazette Michigan Tech’s Alec Broetzman protects the puck in the offensive zone from Bowling Green State’s Gabriel Chicoine (26) while Brayden Kreiger (16) and Christian Stoever (30) look on during a game at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena in Houghton.

HOUGHTON — Thanks, in part, to a difficult weekend against the Ferris State Bulldogs, the No. 14 Michigan Tech Huskies lost out on their chance at the MacNaughton Cup. However, they did come away with a win and a tie from the trip. The Huskies hope to carry the momentum they built in the third period of the Saturday night tie into their final home weekend of the season against the No. 1 Minnesota State Mavericks this weekend.

The Huskies (19-9-3 overall, 16-6-2 CCHA) have been on, as head coach Joe Shawhan puts it, a pro-type schedule since late January, and that has both its advantages and disadvantages.

Looking back a little further, the Huskies have played a lot of hockey since Jan. 14 as they have played 12 games in six weekends. A weekend delayed against the Northern Michigan Wildcats due to COVID testing within the Wildcats’ program caused the Huskies to play eight games in a 16-day span, which caused Shawhan and his staff to change how they approached practice.

“The emphasis is more on recovery at that time, and then trying to get more teaching off ice with video and things like that, than it really is being able to spend that time on the ice and (being) able to teach things,” said Shawhan.

With that change, little areas of players’ games changed. Shawhan likens those changes to the way a relationship might change over time, where one partner stops paying attention to the other, causing the other to drift towards an outside person who shows some attention. In hockey, that translates to players losing their focus on team-first play, and instead focusing on their individual achievements instead.

He’s not wrong, especially given how the Huskies struggled with the Bowling Green State Falcons at home during Winter Carnival.

Friday night against the Bulldogs, those struggles continued as the Huskies gave up two one-goal leads, allowing Ferris State to force overtime. In the extra session, senior defenseman Michael Karow struck just 1:24 in to give the Huskies the win.

Saturday, the Huskies blew a 2-1 lead by surrendering two goals in 100 seconds, ending junior goaltender Blake Pietila’s night. Senior Mark Sinclair took over from there. He gave up a goal in the second period and one more shorthanded in the third, but his play throughout the second period helped provide a spark. The Huskies struck three times in the third to help Sinclair out.

With the comeback, the Huskies signaled to their coaching staff that they wanted to get back to playing the way they had prior to their Winter Carnival weekend.

“I think we got better, which was what was most important to me,” Shawhan said. “What I was most pleased with is how we performed after we went down 4-2 on Saturday. (It’s a) hard rink to play in all the time. We were able to battle back in that game from two goals down, then they score a shorthanded goal with under three minutes, while we’re in a power play. We come right back, while on that same power play, to score. So I think we found our game a little bit. It gives us a starting point going forward again, at the right time.”

Sinclair steps up

When the Huskies added Sinclair via transfer from the Alabama-Huntsville Chargers, the expectation was that he was going to challenge for the starting job with Pietila, who struggled in some of his starts as a freshman in the latter half of the season.

Just as he was adjusting to his new surroundings and new teammates, COVID-19 stuck, throwing much of the 2020-21 season into chaos. Sinclair saw action in eight games, starting six, but he could not establish himself as the go-to guy for Shawhan and his staff. Instead, Pietila exploded onto the scene and took advantage of the opportunities he earned, relegating Sinclair to a backup role.

As a senior, Sinclair appeared ready to again challenge for playing time during the opening weekend at Wisconsin when he went down with an injury that cost him the first half of the season.

He continued to work his way back from injury, but with the Huskies starting to heat up, Shawhan and his staff continued to ride the hot hand in Pietila.

“Mark’s a quality goaltender,” Shawhan said. “The situation we ran into with Mark is that he was injured and couldn’t play for the first half of the year. Then there was conditioning there where (he) had to get back in shape. Then, we’re chasing a league title and an NCAA berth. So, you’re trying to be as consistent as you can with your lineup, as long as players are performing. Blake was performing.”

An opportunity finally presented itself during the Huskies’ 8-1 win in Marquette on Feb. 8. Sinclair made four saves in 11:35 of ice time.

With the Huskies trailing 3-2 late in the first period Saturday, Sinclair got the call to step in and give the Huskies a chance to turn things around. He made 15 saves on 17 over the game’s remaining 49:12 to help preserve the 5-5 tie.

Shawhan was proud of the effort shown by Sinclair.

“I think it was really important for the whole group,” said Shawhan. “Circumstances being what they are, it was a really good opportunity to get Mark in and the team responded. Mark played well. He didn’t have a ton of action, but he certainly had the shootout shots. He played very well for us.”

Mavericks come to town

With the overtime win and the shootout win against the Bulldogs, the Huskies improved to 5-1-2 in February, and 9-1-2 since the start of 2022. In fact, their last regulation loss came back on Dec. 4 at Minnesota State, when the Huskies fell 3-1.

The top-ranked Mavericks bring their game to Houghton this weekend. They are 29-5-0 on the season overall, and 21-3-0 in CCHA play.

Much of the Mavericks’ success revolves around the play of senior netminder Dryden McKay. IN 33 starts this season, he is 29-4 with nine shutouts, a 1.26 goals against average and a .934 save percentage. As impressive as his numbers are, Shawhan feels that a significant part of McKay’s success comes from how disciplined the Mavericks play in front of him.

“We first have to get at him,” said Shawhan. “That’s the hard part. They average something 16 shots against a game, 15.7 or something like that, shots against per game. So you first have to get to Dryden McKay, and then beat him.”

When they are not defending, the Mavericks’ attack in numbers. Junior forward Nathan Smith, fresh off the Olympics for Team USA, has 15 goals and 41 points in 28 games. Senior forward Julian Napravnik has also been strong, with 16 goals and 41 points in 30 games.

Junior forward Ryan Sandelin has a team-high 19 goals, but is fifth on the team in scoring with 30 points in 33 games.

Sophomores Jake Livingstone and Akito Hirose both chip in offensively. Livingstone leads the Mavericks blueline with nine goals and 26 points in 34 games. Hirose has two goals and 20 points in 28 games.

Game times

The Huskies and Mavericks face off at 7:07 p.m. Friday night at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena in Houghton. Saturday’s tilt is set to start at 6:07 p.m.