Huskies hockey hits the road to face St. Cloud State
Michigan Tech looks to build off opening weekend success
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HOUGHTON -- For all but five minutes at the start of the game Saturday night, the then-No. 19 Michigan Tech Huskies hockey team was the better of the two teams on the ice during their weekend series with the then-No. 14 Minnesota Golden Gophers. After the Huskies stopped turning the puck over, and started skating with Minnesota, they found ways to get to areas of the ice the Gophers weren't, and from there, they found ways to score enough goals to win both nights.
"It started off a little rocky on Friday, but a huge shout out to our leadership group and everybody at the 'Mac' for getting the ice back to the conditions that (we) needed (it) to be," said Huskies coach Bill Muckalt. "Huge weekend for our team. Any time you can sweep in college hockey, it’s huge. Minnesota, they’re a very well-coached team. They’re going to win a lot of hockey games.
"I was really proud of our group finding a way to come out on top both nights."
The Huskies won Saturday, 3-2, before defeating the Gophers, 3-1, Sunday. More impressive was the fact that the Huskies scored six goals over two games against Minnesota without the services of co-captain Isaac Gordon.
"It’s the next-man-up mentality," said Muckalt. "They had a couple players out, as well, with (LJ) Mooney. The game’s played and injury is part of the game. But, (I'm) proud of our group collectively up and down the lineup, a lot of bright spots."
Muckalt was especially happy with the line of sophomore wingers Carson Birnie and Matthew Van Blaricom, who both flank junior center Tom Leppa.
"He’s (Van Blaricom) has had tremendous growth in his game," Muckalt said. "He’s physically stronger. He looks faster. He’s more confident. He’s a different player than he was last year. To expand on that a little bit further, I just thought Tom Leppa, Carson Birnie, that line, not just checking the top players on Minnesota, but also creating offense. They’re just so tenacious.
"They’re a pack of dogs. They get along so well. They have chemistry. They play so hard. They play the way we’re asking them to. They play the right way. They don’t cheat. They’re on top of it and they just play a heavy game."
Muckalt also was very impressed with his defense from top to bottom.
"There’s a lot of bright spots when you have success," said Muckalt. "I thought that this wasn’t like a traditional opening weekend. Just the pace of both teams, the quality of play, and how hard it was, how fast it was, up and down the lineup (we had special performances). I mean Owen Bartoszkiewicz, you can start there, was rock solid. Any time your team defense gives up three goals on a weekend, you’re going to have a really good chance to win.
"You look at our back end, I thought Lucas Brenton was a monster for us out there. He killed plays. Luca Fasciano, Tyler Miller made a great play to Connor Roulette on his first goal. I thought Luke Shipley had a great weekend. Kalem Parker was fantastic. Reid Andresen was just steady eddie solid, just keeps getting better and better. So that whole 'D' core, all six of those guys, were fantastic for us."
One more player that Muckalt was really pleased with was junior forward Elias Janssen. Janssen made a key play defensively that helped spring Van Blaricom for an empty net goal Sunday.
"There’s no question of the growth in him," Muckalt said. "Just so amazing in his growth to be unselfish and give that up when he probably could have tried to score for the empty net, or ice it if he missed, and he didn’t. He made an amazing, unselfish play. Really happy with his game.
"He’s a fun player to coach. He adds a lot, and the goal he scored Saturday was tremendous. It was just a rip, but he looks a little bit stronger, a little bit faster, and he’s hard. He’s heavy on some puck battles. It was evident in watching the games back."
Scouting St. Cloud
The St. Cloud State Huskies have played just one game to start the season, Saturday night against Bemidji State. They lost 3-2 in overtime at the Sanford Center in Bemidji, Minnesota.
St. Cloud State will be the second straight team Michigan Tech has played with a new head coach, as their previous coach, Brett Larson, is now in the same position at Minnesota.
Senior forward Charlie Lurie and sophomore forward Nolan Roed both scored in the game.
In net, sophomore Yan Shostak got the start. He gave up all three goals on 31 shots against.
Game times
Michigan Tech and St. Cloud will battle Friday night at 8 p.m. Eastern at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center. Saturday, the teams will battle again at 7 p.m. Eastern.