For the third straight meeting and the second time this weekend, No. 20 Michigan Tech and Alaska-Anchorage skated to a tie after 65 minutes of action Saturday night at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.
Both teams had numerous opportunities to either tie the score or take the lead, but neither converted more than once each in a 1-1 tie.
For the Seawolves, the issue was the power play, where they continued to struggle, going 0-for-8 in the first 65 minutes and then missed another chance in the 3-on-3 overtime as well.
“If there has been a theme to our season, it has been the biggest factor,” said Seawolves assistant coach Louis Mass. “In close games, especially, we have not been able to complete anything on the power play.”
The problems surfaced during their first advantage and only built on themselves over the course of the game.
“I think the frustration level set in early,” said Mass. “We weren’t able to shake it. Largely, it was a big mental thing. We got off of our gameplan and guys started playing as individuals.”
Despite being shorthanded three times in the first and four more times in the second, the Huskies outshot the Seawolves 23-15 through 40 minutes. The slight advantage in shots was not enough for Huskies coach Mel Pearson, who said he could see this weekend was going to be a problem even before it began.
“I did not like our weekend in practice,” said Pearson. “It carried right over into the weekend.”
The Huskies had numerous odd-man rushes, but none were more prevalent than those in the third period when winger Tyler Heinonen took a pass from defenseman Mark Auk, but his shot, which beat Seawolves goaltender Rasmus Reijola, missed the net entirely.
Just 30 seconds later, winger Alex Gillies was fed a puck by Huskies’ goal-scorer Chris Gerrie, but his quick shot also sailed wide of the right post.
“Our third period was really good,” said Pearson. “We out-attempted them something like 28-6. We were hitting posts, crossbars, missing great scoring opportunities. We had a chance to win the game.”
Michigan Tech dominated much of the opening 14 minutes of play, but when Auk scrambled back into his own end to corrale a dump-in from the Seawolves, he was out-muscled by Nicolas Erb-Ekholm, who spun and fired a shot towards Huskies goaltender Angus Redmond. Redmond would have stopped the seemingly harmless shot if not for Cam Amantea crashing the net. Amantea, who did not dress Friday night, chipped the puck past Redmond at 14:11.
Gerrie, who also was held out of Friday night’s game, answered for the Huskies, but not before having a moment that felt in line with how the game went all night.
Gerrie was fed a lead pass by defenseman Chris Leibinger and skated in alone on Reijola in the final minute of the second period. Making a quick move to his forehand, the youngster could not lift the puck over Reijola’s left leg, and the puck skittered into the right corner. Gerrie chased it down, tried to feed it back out front only to find it back on his stick again, and he slid the puck through at 19:39.
In the 5-on-5 overtime, the Huskies had the best scoring chance when a Seawolves defender lost his stick, but assistant captain Shane Hanna’s backhand that had beaten Reijola did not beat the right post, keeping the score even.
Huskies center Jake Lucchini sealed the bonus point for the Huskies with a goal in the shootout.
WCHA roundup
At Minnesota State 5, Bowling Green 3
C.J. Franklin scored twice, including during a 4-on-4 situation at the 9:20 mark of the third period to help the Mavericks earn a key conference victory. Daniel Brickley and Zeb Knutson also found ways to beat Falcons goaltender Ryan Bednard with Marc Michaelis adding an empty-netter. Sean Walker struck twice for the Falcons.
Northern Michigan 1, at Lake Superior 1
For the second straight night, the Wildcats and Lakers skated to a 1-1 tie. Shane Sooth scored just 39 seconds into the contest for the Wildcats. That goal stood as the lone marker in the game until Max Humitz evened things on the power play at 17:21 of the second period.
Alaska 2, at Ferris State 1
Gerald Mayhew gave the Bulldogs the lead just 49 seconds into the contest. The Bulldogs fired 15 more shots at Davis Jones, but Jones kept the Nanooks within striking distance until Tayler Munson evened things at 12:25.
In overtime, Danny Kiraly needed just 25 seconds to stun the crowd at the Robert L. Ewigleben Ice Arena by finding the back of the net and sending the Nanooks scrambling onto the ice to celebrate.
