Michigan Tech center Nick Nardella backhands a shot during a game against St. Thomas on Saturday, Jan. 14, at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena in Houghton. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

HOUGHTON — A year ago, the Michigan Tech Huskies hockey team entered Winter Carnival weekend on a roll, having gone undefeated in eight straight games. They split with the Bowling Green State Falcons, losing the Saturday afternoon contest, and then did not win again in regulation the rest of the season.

Fast forward to this season, and the No. 12 Huskies are again on a roll, entering the weekend on a run where they have gone 9-1-1 over their last 11 games as they prepare to face the Falcons for Winter Carnival again.

In Huskies coach Joe Shawhan’s mind, that is where the comparison between the two seasons ends.

“I think a key difference between this year and last year is that we have more balanced scoring,” he said. “Last year, we were very top heavy in some ways in our scoring. This year, it’s more balanced.”

Shawhan feels that balance will play a big part in whether the Huskies continue to find success.

“I think this year’s team probably has, overall, a higher grit factor to it,” he said, “than last year’s team. All indicators, all analytics, show that we play a harder game than we did last year overall, throughout our lineup.”

The Huskies are coming off a sweep of the Bemidji State Beavers this past weekend where senior goaltender Blake Pietila posted his fourth straight Friday night shutout. He now owns the single season record (8) and the career record (18), both set this season.

The backbone of the team, as Shawhan puts it when describing his starting netminder, was named the CCHA’s Goaltender of the Week for the third straight week for his efforts.

With the two wins, the Huskies improved their overall record to 20-7-4 and their CCHA record to 13-5-4. They sit just one point back of No. 14 Minnesota State for the top spot in the conference standings.

However, while they are within striking distance, Shawhan feels that solidifying a home playoff spot is more important than chasing the conference title.

“Getting home ice is the priority,” he said. “We’ve had success on our own ice, so that’s our priority.

“Teams are winning. Teams are splitting. We’ve been fortunate enough to, to get some wins at a critical time. That’s given us an opportunity, as teams still have to make up games against us, a couple games here and there.”

Shawhan admits every point is crucial at this time of year.

“Every point that we can get, again, every point that we can get, just helps us get that much closer to being able to lock up home ice,” he said. “So, last weekend was critical for us.”

Shawhan alluded to his team’s depth, and that depth showed through in the fact that the Huskies had five different goal scorers for their five goals over the weekend. Junior center Nick Nardella scored his first of the season into the empty net on Friday. Sophomore winger Marcus Pedersen scored his first career goal on Saturday, which ended up being the game-winning goal.

“We’re getting it from everybody,” said Shawhan. “Marcus Pedersen got us a goal on Saturday night, his first of his career.

“It’s been like that all year, and obviously very necessary. Any way we can get that puck in the net is the only way we can get up to three goals. (That) is important for us, because that usually gives us a good chance of success with the way that we’ve consistently played this year.”

Another player who scored on Friday was junior winger Jack Works. The winger transferred from Denver over the summer, and has found a home alongside senior center Parker Saretsky and senior winger Tristan Ashbrook in recent games.

“He can score. He can score with range,” Shawhan said. “It seems the further he’s out, the better chance he has of scoring. The tighter he gets, the less net there is there, but he can score with range. He scored some big goals for us. He competes hard.”

Scouting the Falcons

The Falcons enter this weekend fresh off a tough weekend against the Ferris State Bulldogs that saw them escape with just one point at home. They fell to 14-14-2 overall and 11-9-2 in the CCHA play. With the losses, the Falcons have dropped from first place to third, six points back of the Huskies.

When asked about the Falcons’ fall from the top spot, Shawhan said that he feels the CCHA has a lot of parity this season.

“I think what you just said shows our league,” said Shawhan. “We’ve been able to win in these last couple of weeks. It could be flip-flopped the other way. Then we’re trying to hold on to a home-ice position, to fourth place. It can happen that quick.”

The Falcons’ recent struggles, 1-2-1 in their last four CCHA games, come after a sweep of the Beavers at home on Jan. 13 and 14.

Hobey Baker candidate Austen Swankler, a sophomore forward who played a full season of major juniors with the Erie Otters before entering the NCAA, leads the team in goals (16), assists (23), and points (39), in 29 games this season.

“He’s a tremendous player,” Shawhan said. “He’s been a tremendous player for a long, long time.”

Sophomore forward Ryan O’Hara is also off to a good start with 10 goals and 26 points in 30 games this season.

Sophomore goaltender Christian Stoever has taken over the starting job in goal, appearing in 25 games and starting all of them. He is 10-12-2 with a 2.89 goals against average and a .915 save percentage.

The last time the Huskies and Falcons met, the Huskies won the Friday night (Nov. 4) game, 3-2, but lost 6-1 on Saturday, Nov. 5.

“They score and they compete,” said Shawhan. “They have good goaltending. They’re well coached.

“We know they’re going to come in here and have a snarl to them, and that’s good. It’ll make for a good series. They were able to have their way with us on Saturday night down in their building. We’ll see if we can give them a little bit better performance this time.”

Game times

Friday night’s matchup between the Huskies and the Falcons is set to start at 7:07 p.m. at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena. Saturday’s contest is scheduled for 5:07 p.m.