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Huskies hockey looks forward to new season

Michigan Tech forward Isaac Gordon battles for behind the Northern Michigan net during an exhibition game Saturday at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

HOUGHTON — The Michigan Tech Huskies hockey team starts its defense of their CCHA playoff title this weekend with a pair of games at home against Alaska. They don’t leave the Upper Peninsula until Nov. 8-9 when the travel to face Ferris State, and they do not leave the state of Michigan until Nov. 29-30 when they head to Ohio to face Bowling Green State.

So, how far will this year’s Huskies squad go? They qualified last season for their third NCAA Tournament, and found themselves in a battle in the third period with No. 1 Boston College. The final frame did not go as the Huskies had hoped, however, as they lost 6-1.

The Huskies lost some contributors from that squad, including forwards Ryland Mosley and Kyle Kukkonen, but the core remains intact, which should be helpful.

“In honesty, every year has its own identity,” said Huskies coach Joe Shawhan. “It’s just a constant pursuit of putting it together.”

For Shawhan, the end goal is the same. He wants the Huskies to be playing their best hockey at the end of the season. Given that they have competed in three straight national tournaments, he has been largely successful at that goal.

Michigan Tech forward Elias Janssen celebrates after scoring a power play goal during an exhibition game against Northern Michigan Saturday at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

“We played to be our best at the end of the year,” he said. “We had a great run last year at the end that got us, actually ended up tied for second, and then (we) had a nice playoff run.”

What Shawhan asks of his players is that they learn from their mistakes along the way, and grow from them. While that style of coaching can lead to more losses during the season than he might like, what Shawhan has found is that his teams grow from those mistakes.

“You have to get that mindset that the only loss is if you don’t learn something from it,” he said. “We’ve had such great leadership. We went to a lot of stuff in the first part of that last year, a lot of stuff that kind of hardened the group, numbed the group, maybe, to the adversity side of it, and (we) just (said), ‘OK, let’s just get better. Let’s just get better.’ Which they did.”

Beyond the losses of Mosley and Kukkonen, who both transferred in the offseason to Wisconsin, the Huskies lost two key components in the Pietila twins, Logan and Blake. Both players were five-year players for the Huskies. Logan had his best offensive season in his final year, and Blake set most goaltending records at Michigan Tech during his tenure.

When Blake first earned the starting role, the Huskies brought in an experienced goaltender in Mark Sinclair as a transfer from Alabama-Huntsville. While junior Max Vayrynen appears to have the inside track to the starting role this season, the Huskies brought in a fifth-year transfer in Derek Mullahy from Harvard.

Shawhan likes what he sees out of both Vayrynen and Mullahy so far in practice.

“We’re all figuring it out, but they’re working hard,” he said. “They’re competing hard, and they look good in practice. So, we’ll see when the rubber hits the road how we do.”

Mullahy has 30 games of experience from his time at Harvard, where he went 10-14-4 with a 2.69 goals against average.

“He’s got a good compete level,” said Shawhan. “He’s got good structure to his game. He seems to be like a good athlete. He seems to compete hard for pucks.”

The Huskies also added another goaltender in freshman Bryant Lee from Houghton, who backstopped the Gremlins through the best season in school history, but ultimately came up short in the state tournament.

“It’s a big adjustment,” said Shawhan. “if you haven’t played with top end players like that. So, he’s actually acclimating very well. Every day he gets a little bit better. Seems to be a pretty good athlete, and he’s a tremendous kid. He’s doing a good job. We’re happy with him.”

In front of the goaltenders, the Huskies return a group that went through a lot of growing pains last season, but came out at the end of the season a lot stronger for it. The defense is led by sophomore Chase Pietila, an alternate captain, junior Matthew Campbell, sophomore Nick Williams, and senior Trevor Russell, an alternate captain. Also in the mix this season is junior Viktor Hurtig, a transfer from Michigan State.

“There’s tremendous mobility there,” Shawhan said. “There’s certainly a high compete level. We have a good shutdown unit in Kasper (Vaharautio) and Victor right now that aren’t easy to play against.”

Shawhan likes how the group’s overall skill level.

“We have pretty good skill set,” he said. “I mean, Chase is a big, rugged, physical defenseman that can make a play with the puck. We saw Willie’s growth last year, when he started playing. We were immediately better when he got to the point where he was playing all the time, and you’ve got Soupy (Campbell), who’s another talented veteran defenseman back there.”

Two freshmen who could have an impact with the team are Rylan Brown and Tyler Miller.

“Miller and Brown are both very talented,” Shawhan said. “Miller’s got a high compete level, extremely tremendous skater who was a big time performer in USHL last year with Waterloo. He’s an Alberta kid, started out in the Alberta league.

“Brown is a gifted offensive defenseman that’ll still have to, as many will have to learn to, defend better. What he does with the puck, the closest I’ve seen that we’ve had here of that type of player is Mark Auk with that vision and that creativity.”

Up front, the Huskies return the CCHA Rookie of the Year in sophomore Isaac Gordon, who will serve as an alternate captain, as well as sophomore center Max Koskipirtti and captain Jack Works, who made up the top line for the exhibition game against Northern Michigan.

Behind that group is unit made up of a freshman and two transfers in freshman Elias Janssen, junior Stiven Sardarian, from New Hampshire, and sophomore Owen Baker, a transfer from Michigan State.

“We have a new addition, great addition, who I think is going to be a good player for us, Stiven Sardarian,” Shawhan said. “He’s a really good player.”

Sardarian is a draft pick of the Buffalo Sabres, and Shawhan feels that he is offensively gifted.

“Stiven may be the best passer that I’ve seen that we’ve had here in quite some time since Tanner Kero and those guys,” said Shawhan. “If he will play with compete, and defend as well, and keep it simple, he really has pro ability.”

Baker has already shown flashes of tremendous speed in practice, which Shawhan loves.

“Baker’s got elite speed,” he said. “Baker, I compare him to Bronte. He’s got that Bronte-type speed. Bronte ended up having a breakout year last year, and it turned him into getting an opportunity to play some pro hockey.”

Having Works back for one more season is a huge positive for the Huskies. Shawhan loves how he plays the game, and feels that he is an example of exactly how he wants all the younger players to approach the game.

“He wears his emotions on his shirt sleeve,” said Shawhan. “He leads by example. He’s snarly. He’s a tough, hard-nosed, throwback hockey player. Likes the hard-ice areas, likes to throw a puck in the corner and bet on himself that he’s coming out with it against anybody. He’s an incredible competitor.”

In Janssen, much like Koskipirtti, the Huskies have found another skilled Finnish forward, who should find success in the North American game.

“Ellis Janssen is going to be a phenomenal player for us to go along with Max Koskipirtti, who’s a world-class player.”

The rest of the Huskies’ forward corps is filled with players like that as well, especially when considering fifth-year Blaise Richartz, senior Alex Nordstrom, sophomore Henry Bartle, junior Trevor Kukkonen, and sophomore Lauri Raiman. Richartz, Nordstrom and Bartle formed a key line for the Huskies last season down the stretch, and were instrumental in helping the Huskies earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

“The good thing about this year is everybody’s playing with that same type of compete,” said Shawhan. “So, it’s going to come down to who has the ability to make plays, because they’re all competing extremely hard. No one is standing out above anybody else as far as compete.

“It comes down to who’s making plays. Can you make plays and can’t you make plays? That’s what we’re going to go with. That’s actually great competition.”

GETTING STARTED

This weekend, the Huskies open the season with the Nanooks, who dropped a pair of games last Saturday and Sunday to Penn State. The Nittany Lions won the opener in overtime, 4-3, and then came back with a 5-0 win on Sunday.

The Nanooks brought in nine new faces through the transfer portal for head coach Erik Largen. One of the most intriguing is junior forward Luke Johnson, who scored in the NAHL and in the USHL, but struggled in two seasons with Minnesota-Duluth, scoring just two goals and six points. He already has a goal this season.

“They skate. I mean, they skate, they compete,” Shawhan said. “I really have an admiration for what Large gets out of his group. I watch the energy that they play with, and you have to execute or else they’re going to have a lot of pucks. They bring them to the net quick, and they get a lot of traffic at the net. They don’t spend a ton of time in their zone.”

Looking at video, Shawhan was impressed by how quickly the Nanooks get pucks deep and attack on the forecheck.

“They don’t play with it in the neutral zone,” he said. “They get it in quickly and get on top of you with three (forwards). There were some times when I was doing prep work where I rewound, or played it back, twice. They sent three guys in a four check, pinched a (defenseman) and still had a forward back backing up the ‘D’.

I’m watching that guy came from the far corner all the way over to back up the ‘D’ without any hesitation on a quick side-to-side type of a play. Their work ethic is off the chart.”

GAME TIMES

The Huskies and Nanooks will face off on Friday at 7:07 p.m. at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena. Saturday, the two teams will meet again, this time at 6:07 p.m.

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