With the win, the Huskies improved to 4-4-3-1 on the season.

HUSKIES HOLD OFF BULLDOGS SATURDAY

After Antonio Veunuto scored his third goal of the weekend, and second on the power play, in the first period Saturday, it appeared the Bulldogs were going to be content to try to hold to that one-goal advantage for as long as possible.

Things changed in the second period, as the Huskies scored twice and then added another in the third to earn a 3-2 victory at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.

Michigan Tech center Max Koskipirtti corrals a puck in the offensive zone during a game Friday against Ferris State at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena in Houghton. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

Huskies coach Joe Shawhan felt his team’s competitive effort was where it needed to be for them to win. Especially considering Bulldogs goaltender Logan Stein made 30 saves on the night, and 73 for the weekend on 78 Huskies’ shots.

“We battled,” he said. “We battled hard. I thought the guys competed. Ferris is a good team. They’re hard to play against. They defend really well and their goaltender’s (save percentage is) at 93%. I mean, that’s big time-goaltending. That’s all-league goaltending.

“I thought that it was hard to get it past him, and I thought we got some traffic there and got some really good plays. We were able to get three by him, so five total on the weekend, but we got enough tonight to do it.”

The Huskies’ game-winning tally came in the third period off the stick of junior winger Marcus Pedersen. Pedersen, who had two goals coming into the weekend, outmuscled a Bulldogs defender to get into position when alternate captain Ryland Mosley batted the puck in his direction. Pedersen wasted no time burying the puck into the net at 4:46.

“It feels good,” Pedersen said. “Obviously (I) had a bit of a tough first two years, so (now I am) starting to get into it, getting more and more comfortable offensively, and (it) feels really good.”

Venuto’s tally came just 18 seconds into the Bulldogs’ first power play of the night.

On their second man advantage, Huskies co-captain Logan Pietila stole a pass in the defensive zone, blew past both Bulldogs’ defenders, skated in alone and beat Stein with a wrist shot.

If that goal did not spark the Huskies, certainly the next one almost eight minutes later did. Senior winger Tyrone Bronte crashed the net, and converted on a pass from senior center Blais Richartz.

“(I) saw (the) hard work on the sidewall by Alex Nordstrom,” Bronte said. “He took on two guys there. Then, he put it down the wall to Blais, and Blais, (who seemed to have) eyes on his back of his head, just put it right into the middle to me. So, all I had to do was beat the goalie.”

The Bulldogs evened the game at 2-2 at 16:56 of the second period when Luigi Benincasa found open ice in the offensive zone and beat Huskies netminder Blake Pietila with a wrist shot.

Blake Pietila, an alternate captain, made 26 saves, including 12 in the final frame, to preserve the win.

HUSKIES DROP FRIDAY GAME IN OT

The Huskies threw 45 shots at Stein Friday night at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena. However, it was the 26th shot the Bulldogs had at the other end of the rink that gave them a 3-2 win in overtime.

Huskies goaltender Max Vayrynen made 23 saves in the contest, but when Logan Pietila fell into the corner in the offensive zone after driving hard to the net, the Bulldogs stormed the other way with a 3-on-1. Jason Brancheau looked off a pass, and instead fired a wrist shot from the left circle that got over Vayrynen’s glove and into the net just 1:07 into the extra session.

Shawhan liked a lot of what he saw from his team despite the end result.

“I thought we played well,” he said. “I thought we defended much better. I think we’re a good hockey team that just doesn’t know how to win. You know, we just, we don’t win. We’re in every game, it seems, at the end, and we just don’t know how to win. So, I thought we played well tonight.”

Shawhan feels that it comes down to focus for his group in key moments.

“We just have to keep focus, keep growing, start building some confidence, and start turning some of these games into wins,” he said. “I thought a lot of guys played well.”

Huskies co-captain Arvid Caderoth got the Huskies on the board 11:25 into the contest when he won a position battle near the Bulldogs net. Freshman winger Lauri Raiman got the puck back to freshman defenseman Chase Pietila at the right point. Chase’s shot rebounded right to Arvid, who buried it.

“(Jack) Works and Lauri were battling hard behind the net,” Caderoth said. “They get it up to Chase. I was trying to beat my guy in front. Chase got a shot through, and the puck just showed up, and I had an empty-netter.”

Works took a late first-period major penalty for kneeing, putting the Bulldogs on a five-minute power play, and Ferris State found a way to even the game at 1-1 when Venuto tipped a shot past Vayrynen at 188:39.

Venuto figured into the scoring again just one minute into the middle frame when he buried a one-timer off a pass from Travis Shoudy.

Looking to bounce back from that breakdown in their own end, the Huskies did just that 1:26 later on a power play of their own. Sophomore defenseman Matthew Campbell fired a shot from the point that was blocked in the slot. The puck rebounded back to him, and the second time, he buried a shot through traffic to even the game at 2-2.

Stein held his ground in net for the Bulldogs, making 18 saves in the middle frame and 14 more in the third as part of a 43-save performance.