Huskies remain home to face Saints in nonconference series
Trending
HOUGHTON -- The Michigan Tech Huskies hockey team is still searching for its identity in their relatively young season. The Huskies have come out of the gates well at 2-2-1 on the season overall, but are 0-1-1 in CCHA play thanks to a tough weekend with the Bemidji State Beavers.
However, after blowing a two-goal lead on Friday against the Beavers and watching the visitors strike five straight times, the Huskies flipped the script on Saturday with two third-period tallies on the power play to earn their first tie of the season.
Coach Joe Shawhan was very encouraged by the level of what he saw, to a man, in Saturday's comeback.
"I thought the whole game was well-contested," he said. "It was an even hockey game, and I think the score reflected that."
The important aspect of Saturday's game, according to Shawhan, was the fact that the effort level was there from the beginning of the contest to the end and from each and every Huskies player who touched the ice.
"I thought as a group as a whole, we competed hard," he said. "Bemidji is a really good hockey team. I think they'll be a Top 4 hockey team. They'll have home ice advantage. So, I think they're very good.
"The important thing is to get a baseline that we can hopefully grow from, that's somewhat competitive with that. I think that we got that. I thought, again, we competed hard. I thought we managed the puck well."
Shawhan feels like the growth the Huskies showed, in pushing their effort from Friday night out of their minds and focusing on what they needed to do Saturday to be successful, is repeatable.
Assistant captain Ryland Mosley is one player who continues to garner praise from Shawhan for the way he approaches nearly every moment he is on the ice.
"He's a driver," Shawhan said. "He's always got one direction, that's forward and that's what's helping him this year progress."
Mosley's hard work is paying off. Through his first two seasons with the Huskies, he had six goals and 24 points in 49 games. Through the first five games this season, he leads the team with two goals and five points.
Another player who showed great strides in Saturday's contest was co-captain Arvid Caderoth. The 6-foot-5 junior forward spent the weekend on the wing, rather than at center, and Shawhan felt that he was the most effective he has been throughout the season.
"We had some major growth, I thought, last week and out of Arvid, as far as being a driver, and a pusher," said Shawhan. "He was involved in more scoring chances on Saturday night than he's been involved in in the entire year so far. He was involved in more scoring opportunities, and had more primary scoring chances, than he's had in all the other games combined against a really good team that defends extremely well."
Another skater who had a tremendous night on Saturday was senior Jake Crespi. A natural winger, Crespi played nearly the entirety of Saturday's game on the blue line alongside senior defenseman Ryan O'Connell, whom he leaned on for support throughout the contest.
Shawhan likes Crespi's skating ability and feels that he can be a real asset to the Huskies by taking control of the puck and driving the offense from the back end.
"He did more than his job," said Shawhan. "He was special. He had the mindset that he still wanted to score."
Giving Max a chance
After senior goaltender Blake Pietila surrendered five goals on Friday night, Shawhan and his staff turned to freshman Max Vayrynen on Saturday. Pietila made 37 saves in the loss on Friday, while Vayrynen made 24 in the tie on Saturday.
While the Huskies did a better job defensively in front of Vayrynen than they had on Friday for Pietila, Shawhan liked what he saw from the young netminder.
Shawhan is also quick to point out that the net is still Pietila's. He got Vayrynen in to give him a chance to play his first official game of his career at home, rather than on the road in a hostile environment like he might encounter in a rink like the one at Bowling Green.
"Blake's our guy," Shawhan said. "Blake's proven, and consistent, tremendously consistent, over time."
Staying home
The Huskies will remain home this weekend as they face the St. Lawrence Saints. The Saints come to Houghton with a 3-2 record on the season, but last played on Oct. 14 and 15 when they swept an improved Colorado College Tigers squad.
The Saints play a very similar styled game to the Beavers in that they will be extremely aggressive, especially, as Shawhan explains, in their defensive zone.
"They like to pressure, so that creates a problem in itself," he said. "Their (defense), and the whole structure, is good at defending, and keeping the puck out of their zone.
"Those are issues that we have to solve."
The Saints are led offensively by senior forward Jordan Steinmetz, who has a goal and three points on the season, and junior Tucker McIntosh, who also has a goal and two assists.
In goal, senior Emil Zetterquist has played in all five games. He has a 2.02 goals against average and a .915 save percentage.
Game times
The Huskies and Saints will face off on Friday night at 7:07 p.m. at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena. Saturday, the two teams will face off at 6:07 p.m.