HUSKIES AND NANOOKS SKATE TO TIE

Fifth-year center Logan Pietila struck twice Saturday night, including once on the power play to help the Huskies to a 2-2 tie with the Nanooks.

For the most part, Huskies coach Joe Shawhan was happy with what he saw from his team.

“I thought that we had a pretty good 15 minutes to start the third period,” he said. “We gave up some chances, I thought. We’ll take a look at that in the last five minutes, with the game on the line. We’ll see why that happened, and what we have to do to try to rectify it. Right now, a lot of it is just trying to teach guys the game, and trying to simplify the game, so that they can put themselves in position to have some success again.

Michigan Tech center Logan Pietila beats Alaska goaltender Pierce Charleston with a deke through his own legs during a shootout Saturday at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena in Houghton. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

“I’m proud of the resilience that we showed tonight.”

Logan Pietila’s first goal of the night came on a 4-on-3 in the late stages of the first period. Sophomore winger Patriks Marcinkevics got the puck in the right circle. He fed back to freshman defenseman Chase Pietila at the point. Chase’s shot was stopped by Nanooks’ goaltender Pierce Charleston, but the rebound bounced right to Logan, who buried it at 18:19.

His second goal came in third period when he took a pass from sophomore winger Kyle Kukkonen on the rush and he buried a one-timer from the slot 4:10 in.

“It feels good,” said Logan. “Offense was struggling a little bit (in the) first couple games. So, it’s good to help the team kind of get in the right direction, but we have a lot of work to do.”

Pietila did technically score a third goal, to win the shootout, but that goal does not count in his season numbers.

The Nanooks scored twice in the second period to take the lead heading into the third. The first came just 1:33 in when Brayden Nicholetts found space in the slot and he buried a one-timer off a pass from behind the Huskies’ goal line. The second goal came on the power play when Anton Rubtsov found time and space to fifth-year goaltender Blake Pietila’s left, took a pass and buried a quick shot at 12:04.

Shawhan liked the growth his players showed in the game.

“Every instance that we can grow right now is important to us,” he said. “Again, we’ll look at what happened in the last five minutes, but every instance for us where we see growth, some consistency and growth, and some sort of identity within our group is really important to us right now.”

HUSKIES FALL TO NANOOKS FRIDAY

Despite 20 saves by Blake Pietila and six more by sophomore Max Vayrynen, the Huskies fell to the Nanooks, 4-1, Friday night at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.

Unlike in their season-opening tie with the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs, the Huskies got off to a good start to the game, scoring in the first period when freshman center Max Koskipirtti knocked a rebound home at 18:10. However, the Huskies were unable to build off that start.

Shawhan shouldered the blame for the loss.

“I thought we weren’t prepared,” he said. “I don’t know what we are yet. We don’t know what we are yet. We have a long way to go. We’re not going to win many hockey games playing the way we played against Duluth, and the way we played today. So a lot of that falls on me for sure.”

Shawhan did like the way the Huskies started the game.

“I thought we had good energy to start the game,” he said. “We had good secondary support to start the game. We were playing with some speed.”

In the second period, the Nanooks took advantage of mistakes by the Huskies and struck four times.

The first came just 2:40 in when Nicholetts tipped home a shot from the point. The second goal came shorthanded when co-captain Harrison Israels one-timed home a pass from Risk at 3:47. Israels scored his second of the night on a tip on the man advantage at 11:31.

Rubtsov poked the fourth goal into the net with 3:02 left in the period.

“I thought we slowed the game right down, and that’s kind of the way we are,” Shawhan said. “That’s what I see in practice, too. We have to slow the game down to try to make offense. Oftentimes, the play is gone by that point.

“We have a lot of work to do. It’s a long season, and they were able to get goals tonight. It certainly frustrated guys, for sure.”

TWO FRESHMEN STAND OUT

Shawhan liked what he saw this weekend from Koskipirtti and freshman winger Lauri Raiman, who both found ways to impact the game. Koskipirtti had one assist Friday, while Raiman had multiple scoring chances Saturday.

“I think Koskipirtti is the real deal,” said Shawhan. “He’s a big-time player. I thought Lauri Raiman is a good young player.

“Those guys are going to need to grow for us to give us some really good supportive element (to our game).”

UP NEXT

The Huskies remain home this weekend as they host the Wisconsin Badgers for a pair of non-conference matchup. Opening faceoff is set for 7:07 p.m. Friday night and 6:07 p.m. Saturday at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.