Michigan Tech defenseman Matthew Campbell celebrates after scoring the game-tying goal in a game against Bemidji State Saturday at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena in Houghton. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

HOUGHTON — Twice the Michigan Tech Huskies hockey team found themselves trailing the Bemidji State Beavers. Twice they found a way to even things up. Friday night, they were trailing 1-0, but were able to complete the comeback and win, 2-1. Saturday, the Huskies came back from a 2-0 deficit, and settled for a 2-2 tie.

The Beavers earned the second point for the CCHA standings Saturday by winning the shootout.

With the win the tie, the Huskies improved to 10-10-5 overall and 7-6-1 in CCHA play. The Huskies are fifth in the CCHA with 23 points, two points behind the Lake Superior State Lakers, who have played three more conference games.

HUSKIES COMPLETE COMEBACK FRIDAY

Trailing 1-0 in the second period, the Huskies struck twice in less than four minutes to earn a 2-1 win over the Beavers on Friday night at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.

Coach Joe Shawhan liked sections of the Huskies’ game, but not necessarily all 60 minutes.

“Everybody that performs, we’re looking for a complete game,” he said. “I think that we have to learn how to just play hockey and finish.

“Play the same way all the time, and we’ll take the results. I thought we made a lot of little mistakes in the last 10 minutes of the game that we didn’t make when we started to get some momentum.”

Freshman winger Isaac Gordon pulled the Huskies even with a wrist shot from the slot at 12:24 of the second period. After getting a pass from junior winger Jack Works, he collected the puck and then beat Beavers goaltender Mattias Sholl with a wrist shot over the glove.

“(Works) and (Logan Pietila) just had a great forecheck. I read that (Works) had the puck, and he was climbing,” Gordon said. “I just went to the net, and he made a great pass.”

For Gordon, the goal, his 12th of the season, also put him at 20 points in his first season in Black and Gold.

The goal was set up by a forecheck from Works, who drew praise from his coach for his efforts.

The Huskies kept the pressure on the Beavers’ defense after scoring, and that led to more scoring chances. Just 3:52 later, they were rewarded for a second time. Sophomore defenseman Matthew Campbell fired a wrist shot from the right circle that beat Sholl at 16:17. Alternate captain Ryland Mosley picked up the primary assist on the goal after a strong forecheck. Freshman defenseman Chase Pietila earned the second assist on the tally.

“We just pushed as a collective,” Campbell said. “You talk about a lot, but just have that kind of inner push, come together as a group, just bring that offense and do everything you can. Tonight it worked out.”

Mosley took a chapter out of Works’ game during the forecheck that helped set up Campbell’s goal. He came up with a big open-ice hit on a Beavers’ defender in the corner to Sholl’s right that caused the puck to loosen up.

“I got tripped in front of the net, then I kind of just saw red, and saw a guy coming with his head down,” said Mosley. “Yeah, I guess it wasn’t too high, but a clean hit. So, it was fun.”

The Huskies and Beavers battled to a scoreless tie after the first period. Michigan Tech fired 11 shots at Sholl, but the two they had in the opening minutes were the most dangerous. The first came off the stick of co-captain Arvid Caderoth less than a minute in. The second off the stick of freshman center Max Koskipirtti on the next shift.

The Beavers had a look of their own on the power play at 12:13 when Jake McLean had a shot from the slot off a pass, but his wrister was stopped by alternate captain Blake Pietila.

In the second period, the Beavers struck just 1:13 in. Eric Martin got the puck on the outside hash marks of the right circle near the boards. He fired a wrist shot that bounced off of Pietila and found the back of the net.

It took the Huskies several minutes to find their footing after the goal, but once they did, the Beavers were pinned for entire shifts in their own end, which eventually led to the two Michigan Tech goals.

In the third period, the Huskies continued to get scoring chances for the first 12 minutes, including scoring chances for both Campbell and Gordon, but neither could find the back of the net. From there, the Beavers forced mistakes by the Huskies over the game’s final eight minutes, but even with Sholl pulled for the game’s final 2:07, they could not find the equalizer.

Blake Pietila finished his night with 23 saves to earn the win.

HUSKIES EARN TIE SATURDAY

Trailing 2-0 with less than seven minutes left in the game, the Huskies went to work, scoring twice in the game’s final 6:14 to force overtime.

Shawhan felt good about how well his team played when the chips were down as they fought back to even things.

“I thought we played well,” he said. “I thought the entire game, I thought the guys pushed. They kept battling back.

“We stole a point tonight. Any time you’re coming back against a good defensive team, and down 2-0 going in third, you come back and tie it, and do a good job. The fact that we got a point helps us. I’d rather have that.”

Needing a spark, the Huskies got it at 13:46 of the third period when senior center Tyrone Bronte’s wrist shot slid through Sholl’s feet and across the goal line. The goal was started behind the Huskies’ net when senior defenseman Jed Pietila moved the puck to Koskipirtti. Koskipirtti skated the puck all the way to the offensive zone before backhanding a pass to Bronte in motion. Bronte fired a shot as he skated past Sholl, and the puck found its way to the net.

From there, the Huskies kept the pressure on, and they drew a power play with just 25 seconds left in regulation while Blake Pietila was off the ice for an extra attacker. With a two-man advantage, 6-for-4, the Huskies went to work. Two shot attempts were blocked, but Gordon got the puck over to Campbell. From the right point, Campbell lifted his stick and fired off a slap shot towards the net. Caderoth slid through the slot, creating traffic as Campbell’s shot found a hole in Sholl and ended up in the net with just 4.9 seconds left.

In overtime, both teams had looks. The Beavers had two looks early, off shots from defenseman Eric Pohlkamp and center Lleyton Roed less than a minute later. From there, Michigan Tech had three different looks themselves, including shots from Works, Koskipirtti and co-captain Logan Pietila.

Mosley scored the only goal for the Huskies in the shootout, but Roed and Martin scored for the Beavers to seal the extra point.

Kirklan Irey got the Beavers on the board 8:00 into the game when he took a pass from Adam Flammang and he wristed a shot that beat Blake Pietila over the blocker.

Roed scored the Beavers’ second goal on a 4-on-3 power play when he found space in front of Blake Pietila. Martin took a cross-slot pass from Pohlkamp and then he found Roed on the back door for the goal at 17:40 of the first.

UP NEXT

The Huskies hit the road next weekend to face the Lakers on Friday and Saturday night at the Taffy Abel Arena in Sault Ste. Marie.