The Michigan Tech Husky hockey team (15-13-5, 11-10-5 WCHA) split with the Bemidji State Beavers (15-11-6, 12-8-4 WCHA) in the Winter Carnival series this past weekend. The Beavers played spoiler Friday night as they overpowered the Huskies for a 4-2 win. However, Saturday, the Huskies played looking for revenge, defeating the Beavers 5-1. Since the declared winner of the Winter Carnival series is by total goals scored, the Huskies kept the MacInnes Cup for the sixth straight year scoring seven goals, while allowing only five.
On Friday, Feb. 9, Junior Jake Lucchini discovered the back of the net for the Huskies not even a minute into the game, assisted by senior Joel L’Esperance and sophomore Gavin Gould. However, the Beavers responded ten minutes later by slipping the puck past Tech goaltender, freshman Robbie Beydoun to tie it up at one apiece. Just over a minute later senior Mark Auk received a game misconduct penalty for contact to the head, resulting in him being ejected from the game.
The first half of the second period produced no action. It was at the 10:44 mark however, that the Beavers struck again beating Beydoun for the 2-1 lead. Less than a minute and a half later, the Beavers added to their lead making it 3-1. At the 15:46 mark, senior Dylan Steman made it a one goal game, as he cashed in, assisted by junior Jake Jackson and freshman Seamus Donohue.
The Huskies saw the momentum they built at the end of the second period come to a crashing halt, as the Beavers netted yet another goal just two minutes into the third period. The Huskies couldn’t get anything going offensively the rest of the third, resulting in a 4-2 win for Bemidji State.
“With our season being on the line and a chance to have home ice in the playoffs, I thought we gave a terrible effort,” Tech coach Joe Shawhan said. “It’s my job to have the team ready and that’s on me. I’m disappointed. We have to find the way to get the absolute most dedicated effort out of our hockey team. It’s in that locker room. We’ve shown in many games this year that we are more than capable of being a quality team.”
Beydoun made 34 saves on the night, while the Huskies were outshot by the Beavers 38-25. Tech was 0-3 on the powerplay, and spent 19 minutes in the penalty box on four penalties.
On Saturday, Feb. 10, senior Devin Kero started in goal for the Huskies. The Huskies once again got on the board first at the 5:25 mark, sophomore Mason Blacklock whizzed the puck past the Bemidji State goaltender for the 1-0 lead. However, a penalty on L’Esperance provided the opportunity for the Beavers to capitalize and make it a tied game at one apiece.
The second period started off with the first penalty assessed to the Beavers on the night. A minute and ten seconds in the powerplay for the Huskies the captain, senior Brent Baltus gave the Huskies the 2-1 lead, assisted by L’Esperance.
Just over a minute later the Beavers received another penalty, and Auk made up for missing out on most of Friday nights game by adding to the Huskies lead making it 3-1, assisted by Lucchini and Donohue. Two minutes later Gould netted another goal to make it 4-1 Tech, assisted by L’Esperance and Auk. Bemidji State changed goalies following the goal.
The third period didn’t see nearly as much action, until freshman Greyson Reitmeier came out of the penalty box, received the puck and slid it past the Bemidji State goaltender for the 5-1 lead.
Tech was once again outshot, 37-24, as Kero made 36 saves in net. Tech went 2-3 on the powerplay and spent eight minutes in the penalty box off of four penalties.
“I’m extremely proud of the guys,” Tech coach Joe Shawhan said. “They competed hard tonight and played with a lot of pride and courage from the goaltender on out. I’m happy for the seniors for winning their fourth straight Winter Carnival. I want them to enjoy this.”
“That was as good of a college game as you’re going to see a goalie play,” Shawhan added. “He was on every puck tonight. He shut the door for us.”
The Huskies will be home again next weekend as they play a couple of non-conference games against the Arizona State Sun Devils (7-18-5), with the puck dropping at 7:07 p.m. both Friday and Saturday in the Mac. The Sun Devils defeated the Huskies earlier this year in a heartbreaking loss in the Vegas Invitational championship game 3-2. However, the Sun Devils will be looking to rebound after being swept on the road at Yale this past weekend, losing 3-2 in overtime Friday and 4-3 in overtime Saturday.
