PREVIEW: Tech opens WCHA playoffs at Bemidji State

Courtesy of Michigan Tech Huskies

THIS WEEKEND’S SERIES
• Michigan Tech opens the 2021 WCHA Playoffs at No. 15 Bemidji State in a best-of-three series at the Sanford Center.
• The puck drops at 8:07 p.m. Friday, 7:07 p.m. Saturday and, if necessary, 6:07 p.m. Sunday.
• The Huskies will be the fifth seed and the Beavers will be the fourth in the best-of-three quarterfinal round.
• MSU will host Ferris State, Lake Superior State will host Alabama Huntsville, and Bowling Green will host Northern Michigan in other matchups.
• The Huskies finished with a 17-10-1 overall record and a 7-7-0 mark in the WCHA. The Huskies were four points behind BSU for the No. 4 seed.

100 YEARS AGO
The Michigan College of Mines played its first collegiate hockey game on January 27, 1921. MCM beat the University of Michigan 3-0 in the first game of the series at the Amphidrome and then lost 4-3 the next night at the Calumet Colosseum.

ON THE RADIO
• Mix 93.5 FM WKMJ broadcasts all Michigan Tech hockey games. Fans can listen live on the radio at Mix 93.5 FM WKMJ, online at TheMix93.com or Pasty.com, or by using your favorite radio streaming app.
• Dirk Hembroff will call all the action in his 19th year behind the microphone.

FLOHOCKEY.TV
• All Michigan Tech hockey games during the 2020-21 season will be live-streamed on FloHockey.tv.
• Fans can purchase either annual ($150) or monthly ($29.99) subscriptions and will have access to all WCHA games along with the full Atlantic Hockey schedule and select Big Ten Conference hockey games.
• The subscription also includes all of the WCHA Playoffs.
• Download the FloSports app today on Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Roku, and the App Store.

ALL-WCHA SELECTIONS
• Colin Swoyer – All-WCHA Second Team
• Trenton Bliss – All-WCHA Third Team
• Arvid Caderoth – All-WCHA Rookie Team

RICHTER WATCH LIST
Blake Pietila is one of the nine finalists for the 2021 Mike Richter Award. He has started 20 games in his second season and leads the WCHA with a .937 save percentage to rank fourth nationally and is also fifth in the country with a 1.74 goals-against average.

HUSKIES FOR HOBEY
• Trenton Bliss is a candidate for the second year in a row. He has a team-high 25 points this season with 12 goals and 13 assists.
• Blake Pietila has started 20 games in his second season and leads the WCHA with a .937 save percentage to rank fourth nationally and is also fifth in the country with a 1.74 goals-against average.

SERIES INFO
• Tech is 16-16-7 all-time against Bemidji State since 2007.
• The Huskies are 8-11-1 against the Beavers in Bemidji.

FIRST MEETING
• Tech went 1-3 against Bemidji State in the regular season.
• The teams split a nonconference meeting in Minnesota on December 12-13. The Beavers won 6-3 the first night before Tech bounced back with a 3-0 shutout Saturday.
• BSU won 4-1 and 2-1 in the WCHA games in Houghton. The Huskies outshot the Beavers 82-40 in the two games but couldn’t solve Zach Driscoll.

LAST PLAYOFF MEETING
• The two teams opened the 2018 WCHA Playoffs against each other at the Sanford Center.
• The Huskies advanced with a 5-3 win Friday and a 5-4 victory to sweep the Beavers.
• Tech went on to win the Jeff Sauer Trophy.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• Bemidji State is 13-8-3 overall and 8-5-1 in the WCHA.
• The Beavers are ranked No. 15 in this week’s USCHO.com Top 20 Poll.
• BSU finished fourth in the league standings after being picked second in both the media and coaches’ preseason polls.
• Junior forward Alec Ierullo leads the team with 20 points and senior forward Ethan Somoza leads with 11 goals.
• Goaltender Zach Driscoll is 12-8-3 with a 2.3 goals-against average and .922 save percentage.
• Head coach Tom Serratore is in his 20th season.

SCORING LEADERS
• Trenton Bliss leads the Huskies with 25 points after 12 goals and 13 assists.
• Alec Broetzman has 21 points with a team-leading 13 goals and eight assists.
• Arvid Caderoth leads the team with 16 assists.

LAST TIME OUT
• Tech lost a pair of games at No. 4 Minnesota State to wrap up the regular season.
• The Mavs won 2-1 Friday and 3-2 Saturday.
• Trenton Bliss scored Friday. Alec Broetzman and Tristan Ashbrook found the back of the net Saturday.

WCHA PLAYOFF FORMAT
• March 12-14 – WCHA First Round best-of-three series hosted by top four seeds.
• March 19 – WCHA Semifinal at the highest remaining seed.
• March 20 – WCHA Championship.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• Arvid Caderoth leads WCHA rookies with 18 points this season. He is third amongst college hockey rookies with 16 assists.
• The Huskies penalty kill ranks third at 89.5 percent.
• Colin Swoyer is second in the WCHA amongst defensemen with 16 points.
• Brian Halonen is fourth in the nation with four game-winning goals.
• Blake Pietila is fourth in the nation with a .937 save percentage and fifth a 1.74 goals-against average.
• Tech is sixth in scoring defense, allowing 2.00 goals per game.
• Alec Broetzman is seventh in the nation in power-play goals (6) and 10th in overall goals (13).
• The Huskies power play is 12th at 22.8 percent.
• Joe Shawhan won his 70th game on February 12 against Ferris State.
• Mark Sinclair entered the season fourth in the nation in career saves with 1,967.
• Tech is third in returning goal percentage (83 percent) and returning points (80 percent).
• The Huskies return 8 of their top 9 scorers from last season.
• Tech is fifth in the nation in returning goals (86) and seventh in returning points (220).

WCHA PLAYERS OF THE MONTH
• Colin Swoyer is the WCHA Defenseman of the Month after he led WCHA defensemen in February with eight points, three goals, two power-play goals, five points on the power play, and 34 shots on goal.
• Blake Pietila is the WCHA Goaltender of the Month after he led WCHA goaltenders with eight wins and a 1.7 goals-against average in February. He also ranked second with a .928 save percentage.
• Arvid Caderoth is the WCHA Rookie of the Month for the second straight time after he led WCHA Rookies in February with seven assists, eight points, six points on the power play, 20 shots on goal, and 90 faceoff wins.

WCHA ROOKIE OF THE MONTH
Arvid Caderoth was named the WCHA Rookie of the Month for January. He led WCHA Rookies with seven points, six assists, and three assists on the power play in January. He ranked second amongst newcomers with 39 faceoff wins and was third in plus/minus (+4) and blocked shots (8).

HCA NATIONAL GOALTENDER OF THE MONTH
• Blake Pietila was named the HCA National Goaltender of the Month for December after he led the WCHA with his .955 save percentage during the month. Pietila tied for the league wins lead with four and was second in the WCHA in goals-against average over the month at 1.52.
• Pietila was named the WCHA Goaltender of the Week on December 8 and 14 and the WCHA Goaltender of the Month.

CAPTAINS
• Junior forward Alec Broetzman is the captain of the Huskies. Broetzman wore an A as a sophomore.
• Junior forward Trenton Bliss and junior defensemen Eric Gotz and Colin Swoyer are alternate captains.

100 YEAR UNIFORMS
• Michigan Tech will celebrate 100 years of hockey over the next two seasons.
• The Huskies will wear special jerseys at select games to commemorate the anniversary. The design was inspired by the uniforms worn by the 1926-27 Michigan College of Mining & Technology Huskies.
• The 1926-27 team only played six games and went 5-1 with wins over Notre Dame and Marquette University and a split at Michigan.
• The 1926-27 season was the first one as Huskies.

WCHA PRESEASON ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
• Carson Bantle was named the WCHA Preseason Media Rookie of the Year. He also had a pair of votes from the coaches for the honor.
• Bantle was drafted by the Arizona Coyotes in the fifth round of the 2020 NHL Draft in early October. He was the captain of the Madison Capitols in the USHL last year and had 49 points in 49 games.
• The Hockey News highlighted 100 NCAA players to watch in 2020-21 and Bantle is No. 56.

NHL DRAFT PICK
• Carson Bantle became the 82nd Husky picked in the NHL Draft on October 7, 2020.
• The Arizona Coyotes picked Bantle with the 142nd pick in the fifth round.
• Bantle’s fifth-round pick was the highest for a Husky since Jujhar Khaira’s third-round selection in 2012.
• Matt Roy was the last Husky selected in the NHL Draft in 2015.
• Bantle was the 1,114th player from a WCHA school to be chosen since the Draft’s inception in 1963.

COACH SHAWHAN
• Head coach Joe Shawhan is in his fourth season behind the bench. His 22 wins in his first season tied for the most ever by a Michigan Tech coach. Jim Nahrgang won 22 games in 1982-83.
• Shawhan was hired on May 30, 2017, after serving as an assistant coach for the Huskies over the previous three seasons.
• Joe Shawhan won his 50th game as head coach of the Huskies on January 24, 2020, with a 2-1 victory over Ferris State.

WCHA PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
• Mar. 1 – Blake Pietila (Goaltender)
• Mar. 1 – Colin Swoyer (Defenseman)
• Feb. 15 – Colin Swoyer (Defenseman)
• Feb. 8 – Arvid Caderoth (Rookie)
• Jan. 26 – Arvid Caderoth (Rookie)
• Dec. 21 – Colin Swoyer (Defenseman)
• Dec. 14 – Colin Swoyer (Defenseman)
• Dec. 14 – Blake Pietila (Goaltender)
• Dec. 8 – Blake Pietila (Goaltender)