No. 18 Huskies fall to No. 20 Lakers

HOUGHTON, Mich. – In a top 20 UP battle, No. 20 Lake Superior State defeated No. 18 Michigan Tech 3-1 Tuesday (Feb. 16) afternoon at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena. The Huskies are now 14-6-1 overall and 4-3 in the WCHA.

“I thought we played well, but we just couldn’t score,” Tech coach Joe Shawhan said. “Other than the 2-on-1 in the second period for a goal, we didn’t give up much in the game. I thought we generated enough offense to win but we didn’t. I credit Lake Superior for the job they did.”

The Huskies found themselves down 2-0 early in the second period before starting a comeback. Trenton Bliss scored his team-leading 10th of the season when he banged in a loose puck at 7:15. Brian Halonen and Justin Misiak assisted as Bliss extended his point streak to seven games.

“Justin had a good jump on the puck and made a nice play to Brian,” Bliss said. “I was the third guy in and stayed patient. I was at the right place at the right time.”

Alec Broetzman almost tied it up moments later as he skated in on a 2-on-1 with Jake Crespi, but Mareks Mitens was there for one of his 35 saves on the night.

Bliss was tripped up on a partial breakaway early in the third. On the ensuing power play, Tommy Parrottino had a backhand chance saved, and Eric Gotz hit the post.

With 2:04 left, Bliss set up Tristan Ashbrook and the Huskies thought they scored the game-tying goal. The officials reviewed the play and called it offside.

“I saw Tristan out of the corner of my eye, but they didn’t blow the whistle so we kept playing,” Bliss added. “It was devasting having it called off, but we had our opportunities all night and weren’t able to capitalize.”

Tech pulled goaltender Blake Pietila late in the game and Yuki Miura pushed it back to a two-goal game to seal the victory with an empty-net goal.

The Lakers opened scoring on a goal by Benito Posa 16:35 into the game. The puck deflected off a linesman’s skate on the sidewall and Posa fired it past Pietila with Lukas Kaelble assisting.

Brian Halonen almost tied it near the end of the first period when he jammed at the puck in front of the crease. The officials reviewed the play but couldn’t see if the puck cross the line.

LSSU (10-4-3, 4-3-0 WCHA) added to its lead 33 seconds into the second when Ashton Calder finished off a 2-on-1 from Pete Veillette and Louis Boudon.

The Huskies dominated in shots 36-20. Pietila had 17 saves.

The teams combined for six penalties. Tech was 2-for-2 on the penalty kill and 0-for-4 on the power play.

Tech resumes its seven-game homestand against Bemidji State this weekend (Feb. 19-20). The puck drops at 7:07 p.m. Friday and 6:07 p.m. Saturday.