HOUGHTON, Mich. — Three seniors had banner nights for Michigan Tech as the Huskies earned arguably their biggest win of the season Saturday night at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.
The Huskies had two goals from co-captain Alex Petan, a three-point night from Malcolm Gould and a 25-save performance from Jamie Phillips in a 3-1 win over No. 19 Minnesota State.
The win was the first by the Huskies against the Mavericks since Feb. 4, 2012.
“I am really happy with the result,” said MTU coach Mel Pearson. “I thought we played the right way. I thought we got some bounces tonight. Just a real good hockey game.”
The Huskies, who improved to 11-0-1 when scoring three goals, got the game-winning tally in the second period off the stick of Petan.
Dylan Steman carried the puck over the blue line before feeding a backhand pass to Gould, who waited before feeding the puck across the rink to Petan, who was driving to the net. Petan released a one-timer that beat Jason Pawloski at 15:51.
Gould was excited to be reunited with Petan for the weekend.
“Alex is a really skilled player,” said Gould. “He works hard. With him, you just have to find an open area. He’s going to get you the puck. I think we are just gelling really well right now.”
The teams started the game with just one whistle in the first six minutes of play. Both teams had chances at each end during the stretch. The best opportunity for the Huskies (13-7-4 overall, 10-6-2 WCHA) came off the stick of Alex Gillies, who took a drop pass from Brent Baltus and then fired a backhand that was stopped by Pawloski.
The Mavericks (11-8-5 overall, 10-3-5 WCHA) had a good scoring chance for Ryan Schwalbe, but his shot was kicked away by Phillips. The Huskies moved the puck the other way and Joel L’Esperance took a pass and fired a shot from the slot that Pawloski stopped.
Michigan Tech broke the scoreless tie when C.J. Eick carried the puck into the corner to Pawloski’s left. He tried to bring the puck back out front, but lost control of it. The puck traveled to Gould, who fired a shot over the left shoulder of Pawloski at 9:09.
“I think you have to give credit to Tech,” said Mavericks coach Mike Hastings. “The first two goals that they scored were in between the hash marks. Their best player, Petan, had two of them. I thought he was the difference-maker on the weekend.”
A minute later, the Mavericks had some good pressure in the Huskies’ zone. Bryce Gervais attempted a wraparound, but was stopped. A minute after that, Dylan Margonari also tried a wraparound, but was stopped by Phillips.
Just 25 seconds later, Zeb Knutson skated in a on a two-on-one with Teddy Blueger. He released a quick wrist shot that beat Phillips, but not the crossbar.
A minute and a half after that, the Huskies had a nice chance when Gillies found Jake Lucchini in the slot. Lucchini’s one-timer was stopped by Pawloski. Just 30 seconds later, Eick beat everyone to a loose puck and skated in on Pawloski alone, but the Mavericks’ netminder kicked the wrist shot away.
The Huskies had a late-period power play and set up Baltus on the right side of the net. He had three looks in quick succession, but all three were stopped by Pawloski.
After a wide-open first period, the teams settled into a tightly-checked second.
Michael Huntebrinker had the Mavericks’ first good scoring chance when he got loose in front, took a pass and fired a shot on goal.
The next good scoring chance came off the stick of Brad McClure. A Huskies’ turnover led to McClure picking up the puck and attempted a stuff on the short side, but his shot was stopped by Phillips.
Eick had another quality scoring chance for the Huskies just over halfway through the period when he took a pass in the slot and fired a shot that Pawloski was forced to stop.
McClure had another scoring chance just over a minute later, but his shot rebounded out to Alec Vanko at the left point. Vanko also fired a shot, which Phillips stopped.
A strong offensive shift for the Huskies led to a quality scoring chance for defenseman Dane Birks, who took a pass at the blue line from Lucchini and fired a low shot that Pawloski kicked away. Shortly after the Mavericks cleared the puck, the Huskies drove it back in and Petan notched his first of the night.
The Mavericks cut the Huskies lead in half 4:46 into the third period when a shot from the left point deflected into the corner to Phillips’ right. Chandler Madry got the puck and fired from a tough angle to beat the Huskies goaltender.
During a lengthy four-on-four situation, the Mavericks skated in on a three-on-two. Zach Stepan took a pass on the right side and fired a shot that Phillips came across to stop.
Just after the two penalties ended, Hunterbrinker wired a shot off the crossbar with seven and a half minutes remaining.
The Huskies regained their two-goal lead when Shane Hanna took a cross-ice pass and fired a shot from the left point just wide of the goal. Making use of the MacInnes’ lively boards, the puck bounced to Gould, who quickly fed the puck out to a waiting Petan in the slot. Petan beat Pawloski with the shot at 12:15.
Hastings pulled Pawloski with 3:14 left and a faceoff in the offensive zone. Playing most of the rest of the game with the extra attacker, the Mavericks could not muster up a quality scoring chance over the remainder of the game.
