Huskies Win Seventh Straight, Defeat UAA Friday

Play Video

• HIGHLIGHTS
• COACH PEARSON INTERVIEW

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The fifth-ranked Michigan Tech hockey team won its seventh game in a row with a 5-1 victory over Alaska Anchorage on Friday (Feb. 13) at Sullivan Arena. The Huskies improved to 23-7-1 overall and 18-4-1 in the WCHA.

The last time Tech won 23 games was during the 1981-82 (23-14-3) season. The Huskies also remain unbeaten on the road in WCHA play with a 9-0-1 record.

"I thought we were ready to play tonight," Tech coach Mel Pearson said. "We earned our goals in the first period and things went in with three goals on five shots in the second.

"It was a good win. A tough win. It's always hard to come in here, we haven't played very well up here in recent years and to come in and get a big win and get off to a good start was important."

In the first period, the Huskies scored on a pair of power plays in a 90-second span. Twenty-seven seconds into their second man advantage of the game, Malcolm Gould buried his 11th of the season and fourth on the power play. Joel L'Esperance started the play by feeding a pass form behind the net out to Blake Pietila. A long shot by Pietila rebounded out to Gould who finished the play.

Shane Hanna made it 2-0 with his first of two goals in the game on a one-timer from Alex Petan. It was Hanna's fifth of the season and Petan's 22nd assist as he inches towards 100 points for his career. He has 97 points on 39 goals and 58 assists.

Tech outshot UAA 18-2 in the first period. The Seawolves didn't register their second shot on goal until 17 minutes into the frame.

After a 5-minute major was called on Tech late in the first period, UAA began the second with 3:11 of power play. The Huskies killed it off with big saves by Jamie Phillips who finished with 10 stops in the second.

Michael Neville scored his second of the season to make it 3-0 5:41 into the middle period. Neville won the draw to Hietala. Hietala's pass out front was deflected, but Neville picked up the loose puck and fired it under UAA goaltender Olivier Mantha.

Just over two minutes later (7:55), Dylan Steman and Tyler Heinonen connected on a 2-on-1 for a four-goal lead. Steman slid the puck over to Heinonen for the one-timer and his eighth goal of the season. Reid Sturos added the secondary assist.

Late in the third period, Matt Roy saved a Seawolf goal. A shot got under Phillips and crept towards the goal line, but the freshman defenseman was there to sweep it out of the crease.

Hanna scored his second of the game 12:32 into the second. Neville dropped a pass to Hanna who walked in and fired the puck past a mess of players in front of the UAA net. It was Neville's first mutliple point game of the year and Hanna's fifth.

The Seawolves ended their scoring drought 4:54 into the third period on a goal by Blake Tatchell. Austin Azurdia fed the puck out front to Tatchell. Also assisting on the play was Austin Sevalrud.

Phillips finished with 22 saves, including 10 in each of the final two periods.

Mantha had 17 saves in the first period and a half. He was relieved after Tech's fourth goal. Jared D'Amico finished the game between the pipes for the home team, making nine saves.

The Huskies were 2-for-3 on the power play and 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.

"There's a lot of good things going on with this team, but we have to correct some things if we want to continue to get better," added Pearson.

The Huskies and Seawolves wrap up the WCHA series on Saturday at 11:07 p.m. Fans can listen to the replay of Friday night's game at 8 a.m. Eastern on Mix 93.5 WKMJ and Pasty.net. Saturday night's game will be replayed at 11 a.m. on Sunday.

GAME NOTES: Tech has now beaten UAA three times this season, outscoring the Seawolves 10-2…Tech last won at the Sullivan Center in November 2011…Tech is now 15-1-0 when scoring four or more goals…Heinonen has a point in five of his last six games played.