Oct 28, 2024
David Archambeau/For the Gazette Michigan Tech defenseman Chase Pietila celebrates after scoring a goal in a game against Clarkson Saturday at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena in Houghton.
By DAVER KARNOSKY
dkarnosky@mininggazette.com
HOUGHTON — Despite playing better hockey over the weekend than they had in their previous weekend of action, the Michigan Tech Huskies hockey team fell to 2-2 overall after dropping a pair of games to the visiting Clarkson Golden Knights, 4-1 Friday and 2-1 in overtime Saturday at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.
HUSKIES FALL IN OVERTIME SATURDAY
The Huskies fired 35 shots at Golden Knights goaltender Ethan Langenegger Saturday night, but were only able to get one past him in nearly 65 minutes of action as they fell in overtime on a power play goal by forward Ryan Richardson on a one-timer off a pass from Ayrton Martino on the 4-on-3 advantage after Huskies winger Stiven Sardarian was whistled for hooking 40 seconds before the game-winning tally.
Despite the loss, Huskies coach Joe Shawhan liked a lot of what he saw in the game.
“I thought we played well,” he said. “I thought guys grew. I thought that we established a little bit of an identity. We did some line juggling, and I think we got some good things out of that.”
The Huskies started fifth-year goaltender Derek Mullahy, who made 31 saves in his debut in Black and Gold.
“I thought that both goaltenders played really well,” Shawhan said. “They got one more save. We didn’t get that one more save, but it wasn’t his fault.”
The Golden Knights’ first goal came on the power play in the second period when forward Ryan Taylor fired a shot through traffic that found a way through Mullahy. The puck stopped just short of the goal line, but winger Ellis Rickwood pounced on it and knocked it home.
Shawhan felt that Mullahy would probably like to have that one back, if he could.
“He looked really confident to me tonight,” said Shawhan. “He looks really confident. He’d probably like to have that one back that snuck between his legs, but it’s a quick bang, bang, and anytime you make a goalie move, things can happen.”
The Huskies were able to answer that tally with one of their own at 15:28 of the second. Sophomore defenseman Nick Williams carried the puck deep into the corner to Langenegger’s right. He tried to pass it out to junior winger Trevor Kukkonen, but his one-timed attempt did not touch the puck. As Kukkonen fell after missing the shot, the puck deflected off his skate and right to alternate captain Chase Pietila, who beat the Golden Knights’ goaltender with a wrist shot.
“I really appreciated first of all what (Tom) Leppa did individually, and then what his line did with Lauri Raiman and ‘Kooks’ (Kukkonen),” Shawhan said. “I thought they did an outstanding job for us, and I don’t know who got the assists on that goal that we got, but it was Kukkonen, and good for ‘Kooks.’ That’s probably his first point in college hockey.”
While the Golden Knights finished 2-for-3 on the man advantage, the Huskies went 0-for-7.
HUSKIES FALL ON FRIDAY, 4-1
Despite getting a goal from junior center Stiven Sardarian for the second straight game, the Huskies dropped their first game of the season Friday night against the Golden Knights, 4-1.
The Huskies controlled large sections of the play in each period, and finished with a 28-20 edge in shots on goal, but the only puck that found its way past Langenegger was a deflection off a defender during a power play in the second period as Sardarian struck at 6:43 in the middle frame.
Sardarian was trying to get a pass across the slot at the time, but the puck bounced into the net instead. Pietila and captain Jack Works both earned assists on the play.
While that was the lone goal the Huskies scored, Shawhan felt that his team took some big steps.
“I thought we were a much better team than we were a couple weeks ago on Saturday night against Alaska,” he said. We won that game. We didn’t win this hockey game, and that’s the way the game goes. But, all in all, I’d rather have the performance that we had tonight, something I feel we can build on.”
Shawhan pointed out the efforts of the Huskies’ line of sophomore winger Lauri Raiman, freshman center Tom Leppa, and junior winger Trevor Kukkonen, who he felt did a lot of things well in the contest.
“We saw some really good growth in some players that excites me a little bit, if those guys can continue to (grow),” said Shawhan. “I’m speaking specifically of Leppa, Lauri Raiman, and Trevor Kukkonen. I thought those guys played tremendous.
“We’ve been seeing that in practice consistently, that they’re generating what they generated tonight. The only hope is at some point they’ll start equating into goals. They’re not big forwards. They’re going to muscle their way in and fight for those rebounds. When they get those good looks, you want them to start getting rewarded with some of those going in the net.”
At the same time, the Huskies had four power plays on the night, and only scored on the first one, where they had four shots on goal, a puck they did not shoot went in. After that, on Michigan Tech’s other three advantages, Shawhan felt that the team tried to stick to what worked the first time, rather than find other options.
“I thought our power play moved the puck pretty well,” he said. “(We) got a little predictable, I thought, as the game went on, because we scored on the first one, we just kept trying to jam the same thing down their throat. They just played for that, played for the one-time hit by ‘Gordo’ (Isaac Gordon), played for the quick little play, that goal line play from down at the goal line.”
Clarkson struck first at 5:21 of the second period when defenseman Ty Brassington took a pass from center Ryan Bottrill while in the right circle and beat Huskies goaltender Max Vayrynen with a wrist shot.
The game was 1-1 in the latter stages of the second when the Golden Knights struck again on a shot from the right point by defenseman Jack Sparkes at 18:27.
Clarkson held a 2-1 lead in the third when forward Garrett Dahm was sprung for a shorthanded chance that he scored on at 11:11.
The Huskies pulled Vayrynen late, but winger Shawn O’Donnell got in on a 2-on-0 in the final minute and he buried a puck into the empty net at 19:13.
Vayrynen made 13 saves in the loss for the Huskies. Langenegger, a transfer from Lake Superior State, stopped 31 from the Huskies.
UP NEXT
The Huskies will be back in action this weekend as they have a home-and-home series with their rivals, the Northern Michigan Wildcats. The two teams will meet first in Marquette Friday and then at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena on Saturday.
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