The Michigan Tech Huskies and the Northern Michigan Wildcats faced off in a thrilling hockey game at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena on Friday night. Tech was victorious, allowing the Huskies to improve to 17-7-4, 10-5-4 while the Wildcats dropped to 12-13-0, 8-9-0.
The Huskies’ victory was a team effort with strong performances from Tyroe Bronte, Logan Pietila, and Blake Pietela. MTU goalie Blake Pietila stopped all 20 shots by the Wildcats. Pietila earned his nation-leading seventh shutout this season, the 17th of his career.
The Huskies opened the first period looking strong. In the first five minutes, the Huskies had 5 shots on goal which were all blocked by Northern goalie, Beni Halasz. The Huskies were rewarded with a power play when a penalty was called on Aiden Gallacher for interference. After six shots on goal, the Huskies were unable to score.
After an unsuccessful power play, Blake Pietila closed the 5-hole and blocked a breakaway shot by Aiden Gallacher keeping the score at 0-0. At the end of the period, MTU had outshot NMU 10-5 and the score remained 0-0.
At the start of the second period, within the first minute, NMU had an opportunity to score but it didn’t get past Pietila. Within the next five minutes, the Wildcats got a power play opportunity that they could not convert. The Huskies pressured the Wildcats. Nick Nardella passed the puck from behind the Wildcat’s net to Tyrone Bronte, winning the first goal of the game.
The Huskies then killed a Northern penalty and took a couple of shots on goal that were unsuccessful. When the second period ended, the Huskies outshot the Wildcats 13-8 and led with a score of 1-0.
The Huskies returned to the ice with energy applying offensive pressure on the Wildcats. The Huskies drew a penalty on the Wildcats. Nick Nardella made a shot on goal but missed. The Wildcats played strong defense and killed the penalty.
In the last few minutes of the third period, Logan Pietila scored giving the Huskies a 2-point lead on the Wildcats. Northern left the net empty with less than a minute of the period left. Jed Pietila shot, narrowly missing the open net. Moments later, Kyle Kukkonen scored an empty net goal bringing the final score to 3-0 as the final buzzer sounded.
