Michigan Tech forward Stiven Sardarian controls the puck while looking for an open teammate during a game against Minnesota State Friday, Jan. 16, at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

HOUGHTON — Sweeping teams in the CCHA is no easy task, and for the past two weekends, the No. 20 Michigan Tech Huskies hockey team has failed to do so since sweeping then-No. 17 Minnesota State at home. Last weekend, the Huskies dropped the first game to No. 15 St. Thomas, 4-2, but bounced back Saturday with a 4-3 win.

The win by the Tommies on Friday had been their 11th straight. The win by the Huskies Saturday helped them improve to 18-10-2 overall and 13-5-2 in CCHA play.

“Obviously a quality opponent, right? They’d won 11 games in a row, (and have) a lot of dangerous players,” said Huskies coach Bill Muckalt. “Really, really good team. It’s hard to expect to go into the team that’s in first place and expect to sweep. Would have been nice if it happened.

“You go in to win every game you play in, but I think we learned a lot about ourselves and learned what it takes to play on the road. (We learned) how we need everybody to compete and play it at a high level to have success.”

Muckalt was proud of the way his team performed Saturday in a game where they had four different one-goal leads.

“I just love the way we started the game,” he said. “I thought we started with urgency, physicality. We were on our toes. We were winning a lot of battles. I really liked the way we played 5-on-5. We controlled a lot of the play at times.

“I thought our forecheck, and our offensive zone play, was smothering at times. Obviously, a lot of respect for them and that’s the way it’s going to go. When you play against good teams, you get in there, and you kind of have a boxing match. It’s not one-sided. When you have two great teams, you’re going to get pushed back, and you’re going to get blows. But, I like the way we responded. We kept finding a way to get that next goal, and, ultimately, found a way to close it out.”

One of the biggest moments for the Huskies Saturday was the first career goal of freshman forward Reid Daavettila.

“He’s been playing well for us,” Muckalt said. “He’s finding his way as a freshman. Thought he could have scored a couple goals in the game. I thought that line in particular played well with (Carson) Latimer, Brayden Boehm and him.

“You could see how happy the guys were for him. So, from that aspect, that was really good to see, and obviously it came at a big time, so it was a real big goal for us to give us a 3-2 lead.”

The Huskies’ fourth goal was scored by sophomore forward Elias Janssen. Freshman forward Noah Reinhart had one of the two assists for his second point of the night. He had the game’s opening goal as well.

Add in freshman forward Teydon Trembecky, and the Huskies have a young line that continues to improve with every shift they play together.

“I just like the whole line,” said Muckalt. “From a perspective, when one player is having success, it’s usually the result of all three players. Teydon Trembecky on the first goal, and the game-winner on Saturday night, made terrific plays that impacted both of those goals, but didn’t get on the score sheet. I thought Elias Janssen, obviously, lifted a stick, made a really good play in a danger area on the first goal, and got it over to Jack Anderson, who made a terrific play to Noah going to the net there. Obviously, Noah’s goal on Friday night, that was an absolute laser of a shot right up upstairs. So, it’s good to see that line playing well.

“They seem to have some chemistry. They’re moving the puck well. They’re buying in. We kind of challenged them a little bit, but (they have been a) really effective line for us. It’s good to see. (You have) two freshmen and a sophomore really helping our team right now.”

Scouting the Vikings

The Augustana Vikings come into Winter Carnival weekend 18-7-3 overall and 12-5-3 in conference play, putting them in second place in the CCHA with 41 points. The Huskies are third with 40.

The Vikings are led offensively by junior forward Brett Meerman, who has 10 goals and 22 points in 27 games. Freshman forward Leonid Bulgakov has a team-high 13 goals 20 points in 27 games. Freshman forward Jacob Jastrzebski, a former Wisconsin Windigo skater, has seven goals and 19 points in 28 games.

Junior goaltender Josh Kotai has seen the lion’s share of playing time in net. He has made 26 appearances, starting all of them, going 16-7-3 overall. He sports a 1.99 goals against average and a .935 save percentage.

MacInnes to be honored

The Huskies will host a moment of celebration for the late Jerry MacInnes this weekend. The long-time hockey fan passed away last week.

“Obviously, this one be a kind of a special celebration for the MacInnes family, and for the loss of Jerry, who was such a big supporter of our program,” Muckalt said. “From the first moment I had the chance to meet her, she was just always behind the program, always curious about recruiting, the team, and always wanting the team to do well.”

Game times

The Huskies and Vikings will face off Friday at 7:07 p.m. at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena. Saturday, the two teams will battle starting at 5:07 p.m.