He said he did not know it was coming.

“It’s pretty cool,” Chase said. “I mean, it’s not something that happens every day. I wasn’t expecting it, so, when I found out and got the call, I was, obviously, super happy. It just feels good that they are willing to invest those resources into me and just do their best to help me develop and get to the next level.”

Chase was not surprised that he was drafted by any means, but he was not expecting it to be the Penguins, who hid their interest in him until the moment they called his name.

“It just sort of happened,” he said. “I talked to other teams, but Pittsburgh was not one of them. Then (general manager Kyle) Dubas called me after they selected me. He just said, ‘We were super interested in you. We kind of wanted to fly under the radar. We didn’t want other teams knowing that we were going to pick you.’ So, they didn’t talk to me at all, and then they picked me, and then they sounded super excited.”

Mcihigan Tech forward Ryland Mosley (11) and defenseman Chase Pietila (17) celebrate Logan Pietila’s game-winning goal during the second game of a CCHA quarterfinal series against Bowling Green on Saturday, Mar. 9, at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena in Houghton. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

The Penguins, who have a veteran-heavy roster with players like Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin amongst their forwards, and Kris Letang and Erik Karlsson among their defense, have a number of players that Pietila hopes to learn from as he goes through his career.

“They have just huge names with that organization,” he said. “They’re just stacked with all these guys that are just players that have played for a long time. I mean, Crosby’s been like the best in the world for the longest time, and he’s just been a player to just change the game. So, being a part of the same organization as guys like that is super, super special.”

Chase is especially interested in learning from Letang and Karlsson, two puck-moving defenders who help create a lot of offense, an area of his game he is still learning to improve.

“It’s something that I can watch, look up to, and try to try to match their game, because, obviously, they’re the players that Pittsburgh wants in their game. So, I’ll just try to just learn from them, just watch their games, and just kind of just try to adapt and just develop into players that, like Pittsburgh wants. (I want to) just do the best I can to kind of play like them.

“Then, I think it will go a long way with them.”

In the week following the draft, Chase got to share a special week with one of his older brothers, Logan, at the Penguins’ development camp. Logan and his twin brother Blake had just finished their fifth seasons at Michigan Tech.

“Yeah, it was super, super fun,” said Chase. “I learned a lot about the organization and about things they want me to work on. They seemed happy and pleased with how I was playing, and I was happy with how I played.

“It was super cool to be able to share that experience with my brother Logan. That was something that I don’t really get to do every day. It was a really good learning experience and kind of just got things going on where the level of talent is, what I need to work on, and things like that.”

Chase and Logan stayed together at the camp, which gave the younger Pietila another chance to spend time with his older brother before returning to Houghton this fall.

“It helps a lot having a familiar face, especially someone that I’ve known for so long,” Chase said. “(It) makes it easier to always have someone to talk to. I roomed with him, so it was super fun. There were super great guys that made it easy, too, but, for sure, (it) makes it easier traveling out there, and kind of just having someone that you’ve known all your life being able to go through it together.”

As a freshman last season, Chase had a chance to play an entire season with Logan and Blake, which made his first year of college hockey even more memorable.

“I always wanted to play with them, but being four years apart is always tough,” said Chase. “When they came back for their fifth year, and I was coming in, I was super, super excited, and (it) ended up working out great.

“We all had a blast. It was something that we kind of dreamed of when we were playing outside in our backyard, playing against each other, but kind of doing it at full scale at college was super cool. It’s something that I’ll never forget, for sure.”

For Chase, Michigan Tech was where he wanted to pursue his collegiate career, should he be lucky enough to earn the chance to. The fact that the twins were still there made that decision even easier for him.

“It’s kind of where I always wanted to go,” Chase said. “I mean, my family, we all like to go to Tech. I have so much family and friends up there. There’s kind of like a legacy up there for us. It’s kind of where I wanted to go ever since I was super little. I kind of had my heart set on it.

“Whether I was going to be able to play with Blake and Logan, I was wanting to go there, and (it) ended up working out, so, yeah, so it worked out both ways.”

Chase admits he leaned on his older brothers’ experience early on last season.

“They helped a lot, for sure,” he said. “It’s always easy when you’re going in somewhere new, and you have familiar faces, (to) kind of show you the ropes. They obviously had to do their own thing, so I had to kind of adapt at times, as well. But, I mean, they’re there kind of just for someone to lean on if I ever needed help or any questions.”

The Huskies as a team struggled to put together a consistent game. As the season progressed, Chase felt more comfortable and realized that he could be a difference maker for the team.

“I think it was after the first few games we had, we had a slow start, and our coaches were giving opportunities to everybody,” said Chase, when asked about when he started to feel like the game was slowing down for him. “I was super lucky for them to give me just a pretty big opportunity in some of the starting games, and kind of just show that they believed in me. I just continued to start to believe in myself, and I was able to kind of use that opportunity and let it kind of run.

“I was able to gain more and more opportunity, and I just kind of ran with it. (I was able to) give everything I had for it. From there, I just kind of just built brick by brick, and just tried to get better every single day. I was able to play a big role for a team that went far.”

As the season progressed, he had multiple opportunities to start games, and log top-pairing amounts of ice time, which helped him develop his skills. Looking back on the season as a whole, he can laugh about the amount of ice time he received and how he found ways to rest.

“I was either on the ice or in the penalty box,” he said. “I needed a breather sometimes. They were willing to put me out there every chance that they could get. So, I just tried to do the best I could with it, keep the game simple, and just take advantage of all the minutes that they give me.”

One of his most memorable moments of the season came in the first period of the CCHA Mason Cup Championship Game at Bemidji State. With the Huskies trailing 1-0, he jumped up into the play offensively and scored the game-tying goal just 52 seconds after the Huskies fell behind.

What makes the play more memorable for him was the fact that just prior to his goal, he nearly made a costly mistake at his own blueline. However, the play worked out in his favor, and allowed the Huskies to go on the attack.

“I kind of got lucky with this with a stick, and if I would have missed it, (it) probably would have been a 3-on-0 the other way, but (I) ended up getting a stick on it, and joined the rush for a 2-on-1. (Alex) Nordstrom made a really, really good pass, and it was kind of just laying at my feet, and I was able to slap it in.”

While playing with his brothers was fun, and the team coming together to win the CCHA playoff title was also special, Chase had one more really neat thing happen in that he had a front-row seat to the emergence of his junior teammate Nick Williams. Williams and Chase had played together in the United States Hockey League for Youngstown, where they won a Clark Cup together. However, Williams, who also came to Michigan Tech, struggled to find his place in the lineup until the second half of the season.

Chase and Williams ended the season as defensive partners, which was fun for both players.

“He’s a really special player, and I played with him two years previous, so I knew the potential and the skill that he had,” Chase said. “I was just waiting for the coaches to give him the chance and they did. They gave him the chance and he ran with it as well.

“We started playing together. We had that chemistry of being on the same team, and kind of just being close, and it kind of helped us a lot just playing. We kind of just went back to our roots like we did two years ago, and he was able to fit right in and show everybody how talented he really is.”

While some familiar faces to Huskies fans will not be returning to Houghton this fall, Chase is excited to get back to work. He said that he did not consider joining teammates who left the program, because if the Penguins were interested enough in him to draft him after his freshman year, then he was in the right place for his development already.

Now, he plans to continue to work on improving his game so that the Penguins will sign him and he can continue to play the game he loves for years. Of course, if that means a chance to defend the Huskies’ CCHA playoff title in the process, that is icing on the cake.

“I’m just hoping to keep the development process on an incline, and just kind of keep working on my own game, keep helping other teammates and just kind of having other teammates help me,” he said. “(I want to) just work with the coaches, kind of just do everything I can, just to kind of just keep those steps just moving in the upward trend, and just kind of just continue to develop and work myself to the next level, but also stay focused on the goals that Tech wants to achieve next year.”