Michigan Tech forward Isaac Gordon celebrates one of his three goals in a game Friday against Augustana at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

HOUGHTON — After starting the season 0-4-3, the Michigan Tech Huskies hockey team broke through in a big way with a pair of wins over the Augustana Vikings, whom the Huskies were playing for the first time in program history. The Huskies came back from a 4-2 deficit Friday, thanks, in part to a hat trick from freshman winger Isaac Gordon. Saturday, the Huskies came back from a 3-2 deficit to win 4-3 in overtime thanks to a hat trick from alternate captain Ryland Mosley.

MOSLEY LIFTS HUSKIES TO WIN

Michigan Tech trailed 2-1 in the third period before Mosley brought the 3,021 fans at MacInnes Student Ice Arena to their feet with a power play goal at 8:38 of the third period. Mosley then struck twice more to lift the Huskies to the win.

Mosley’s first goal came during a two-man advantage. He drove the puck into the left corner, and it bounced out into the crease. He went hard to the net and knocked the loose puck past Vikings goaltender Josh Kotai.

While Mosley was happy to score, he admitted that he felt he had to do something to make up for a mistake prior to the tally.

“I had a bad turnover on the 5-on-3, so I was a little bit mad,” he said. “So I just tried to skate as fast as I could, got lucky with the bounce off the boards, and poked it in.”

Mosley’s second goal came with just 20 seconds left in the contest and Huskies goaltender Max Vayrynen pulled for an extra attacker. Mosley got a pass from freshman defenseman Chase Pietila in the right circle. He then skated the puck closer to the slot and found a hole in Kotai to even the game.

In overtime, Chase Pietila, who had already assisted on the previous two goals by Mosley, was at it again as he moved the puck over Mosley near the right point. Mosley circled around and near the hash marks on the left circle before wristing a shot past Kotai to win the game at 1:39.

“I’m not too sure what even happened,” Mosley said. “It was a good win by Jack (Works), and then Chase made a good play. He set a little pick on the guy. I just had a lane to the net and fired it five-hole.”

Chase Pietila, who finished his night with three assists, simply credited Mosley for helping him get on the scoresheet at all.

“(I) just tried to make it simple,” he said. “Just give it to Ryland Mosley. I mean, he did all the work. I just passed him, and he just made it work. So, all the credit goes to him.”

Huskies coach Joe Shawhan felt that his team did not play a particularly great game, but it got timely goaltending from Vayrynen, and then Mosley broke through in a big way on the scoreboard.

“I didn’t think we played particularly well,” said Shawhan. “I think our players would say they didn’t play particularly well. I thought we got good goaltending, and good, timely goaltending. I thought that we got a really good effort out of our top guys, especially Mosley with a natural hat trick in the third and in overtime.”

The first Huskies’ goal of the night came off a power play by Gordon, who struck for the fourth time in the series. He took a pass in the neutral zone from freshman center Max Koskipirtti, and he carried the puck into the offensive zone before beating Kotai with a wrist shot 4:02 into the game.

Shawhan liked that the Huskies got contributions throughout the weekend from both veteran players and freshmen, giving them some balance to their offense.

“It’s nice to be developing a team, developing as a team and not as this group, or that group, or whatever,” he said. “It’s nice to have that support as a team. We’re all in this together.

“We still have a lot of room to grow. Our guys, the mood’s been good through tough times at the beginning. Being nationally ranked in the Top 10, to not being able to win in our first seven. That takes a toll on a young group, and I take my hats off to them for the resiliency that they’ve been going and battling back.”

Vayrynen finished his night with 26 saves to earn the win.

HUSKIES GET FIRST WIN ON FRIDAY

The Huskies earned their first win Friday night, 6-4, the Vikings. The Huskies scored twice in the first period and then three times in the second period in order to earn the win.

Gordon was a big part of the effort, scoring three goals and adding an assist in the win.

“It feels great,” said Gordon. “I mean, we’ve been building every week and kind of implementing how we play. Coach has been pretty good with encouraging us, and keeping us on track, just the motto of building every day and building every weekend. It paid off for us tonight.”

Gordon’s first goal tied the game at 1-1 12:19 into the opening frame. He drove from the left boards to the net, and buried a pass from junior winger Marcus Pedersen to get the goal. His second goal came 11:23 into the second period on a power play, when he got to a puck along the goalline and threw it at the net, and somehow the puck found a hole between Vikings’ goaltender Zach Rose’s leg and the post.

“Honestly, I was just trying to bank it in, get behind their (defense), and gain possession of the zone. (It was) just a lucky bounce, and then I’ve never scored (like that).”

His hat trick tally sealed the win for the Huskies with 1:26 left as he scored into an empty net.

Despite the first goal by Gordon, and a slap shot goal from senior winger Blais Richartz 2:16 later, the Huskies trailed by two after one period.

Shawhan felt that his team was sparked by their strong play in the second period, and the effect of having the home crowd getting louder with every shift of the second period, where the Huskies threw 23 shots at the Vikings’ goaltenders.

“I think that we really played off of our base,” he said. “Our extra player up in the stands tonight, they did a great job in supporting us. The student section was great. The band was good. The local support was outstanding. We felt that. I certainly felt it. I know the players did. So, it was an enjoyable game.”

Sophomore center Kash Rasmussen, who took a major penalty in the first period, started the comeback for the Huskies in the middle frame with a rebound goal he poked home at 5:36.

After Gordon’s power play marker, junior winger Jack Works then buried a loose puck behind Rose 29 seconds later to give the Huskies their second lead of the night.

With three points from Rasmussen and two from Richartz, along with points from Petersen, sophomore defenseman Evan Orr, and Koskipirtti, the Huskies’ depth made a huge difference in the outcome of the game.

“We got some depth scoring tonight,” Shawhan said. “When you get that secondary scoring, it leads to a win, and a comeback win.”

Richartz felt happy he was able to contribute on the scoresheet in the Huskies’ first win of the season.

“Honestly, it feels great,” he said. “I just do anything I can to try to help the team every night, and it obviously worked out tonight. (I am) so glad to help the team.”

The win was Huskies alternate captain Blake Pietila’s 59th career victory, which set a new school record, passing Bruce Horsch.

“Extremely proud of Blake Pietila,” said Shawhan. “When you think about that, Jim Warden, Bruce Horsch, John Rockwell, Tony Esposito, Jamie Ram, I mean, you could go through so many that have been such great goaltenders, Olympians, pros. So, (I am) extremely proud of him. It’s been just a pleasure to watch each one of those wins.”

Blake Pietila finished the night with 19 saves.

UP NEXT

The Huskies hit the road to open the CCHA portion of their schedule. They face the Bemidji State Beavers on Friday and Saturday night.