PREVIEW: Huskies travel to LSSU for WCHA road series

THIS WEEKEND'S GAMES
• Michigan Tech travels to Lake Superior State for a WCHA road series this weekend.
• The puck drops at 7:07 p.m. both nights at Taffy Abel Arena.
• It will be the first of two meetings between the teams. LSSU will be the 2020 Winter Carnival opponent on February 7-8.
• Tech is 3-6 overall and 1-5 in the WCHA. The wins are over Robert Morris in the season-opening series in Pittsburgh and in a split at Bowling Green.

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 18th year behind the microphone.

FLOHOCKEY.TV
• Both games will be live-streamed on FloHockey.tv
• FloHockey.tv. brings more than 180 WCHA games available on the FloSports platform, including all 140 league regular-season games, any preseason, exhibition and non-conference games hosted by a league school, and the entirety of the annual WCHA postseason tournament.
• Fans who subscribe to FloHockey will also have access to additional college hockey coverage, which includes Atlantic Hockey and select Big Ten Conference hockey games through the company's distribution deal with the Big Ten Network.

SCOUTING THE LAKERS
• Lake Superior State is 4-8-0 overall and 2-2-0 in the WCHA. The wins are in sweeps of Merrimack and Ferris State.
• LSSU was picked sixth in both WCHA preseason polls.
• Junior forward Hampus Eriksson (2-10=12) and senior forward Max Humitz (6-5=11) lead the team in scoring. Junior goaltender Mareks Mitens is 4-6 with a 3.60 goals-against average and .874 save percentage.
• Damon Whitten is in his sixth season as head coach and holds a 71-111-20 record.

SERIES INFO
• Michigan Tech is 46-24-7 all-time against Lake Superior State, dating back to the 1969-70 season.
• The Huskies are 15-12-5 in games played in Sault Ste. Marie between the two teams.

LAST MEETING
LSSU defeated Tech three times in 2018-19. The Lakers won the GLI Championship Game 6-3 at Little Caesars Arena and then had a pair of 3-1 wins in the Soo in February.

AGAINST THE LAKERS
• Alex Smith has seven points (4 goals, 3 assists) through 11 games against LSSU. Greyson Reitmeier (7 games), Trenton Bliss (3 games) also have goals against the Lakers.
• Robbie Beydoun has a win, loss, and tie in three games. Matt Jurusik has also started a pair of games against LSSU.

LAST TIME OUT
• The Huskies dropped a pair of games to No. 3 Minnesota State at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena last weekend. The Mavericks won 3-0 Friday and 2-1 Saturday.
• Junior defenseman Seamus Donohue scored for the Huskies on Saturday for his first goal of the season and fifth of his career.
• Junior goaltender Robbie Beydoun had 22 saves Friday in his third straight start.
• Freshman goaltender Blake Pietila had six saves in relief Friday and 18 saves Saturday in his first collegiate start.

STATISTICS RANKINGS
• Seamus Donohue is second in the WCHA and ranks 13th in the country with 19 blocked shots.
• Michigan Tech is 13th in the country and second in the WCHA in scoring defense, giving up 2.11 goals per game. The Huskies haven't allowed more than three goals in any game this season.
• Alex Smith is sixth in the WCHA and 17th in the nation with 99 faceoff wins.

HUSKY HAT TRICKS
• Tommy Parrottino had a natural hat trick Saturday at Bowling Green with two goals in the second period and one in the third.
• It was the second hat trick of the season for the Huskies after Alec Broetzman had one at Robert Morris.
• Tech is the only team in the nation with two hat tricks this season.
• The last time Tech had 2 hat tricks in a season was 2011-12 with Milos Gordic (Denver 10/28) and Jordan Baker (UAA 1/14).

HUSKY BITES
• Alec Broetzman and Logan Pietila have shorthanded goals this season. The Huskies only had two shortys in 2018-19 and one in 2017-18.
• 15 Tech's 19 goals this season have been scored in the first two periods.
• 38 of Tech's 50 points (76 percent) have come from the sophomores and freshmen.

COACH SHAWHAN
• Head coach Joe Shawhan is in his third 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.
• Shawhan won his 30th game as head coach on December 1, 2018, with a 7-2 victory over Bemidji State.

IN THE PRESEASON WCHA POLLS
• Tech was selected fourth in WCHA Preseason Media Poll and fifth in the Mankato Free Press Coaches' Poll.
• Tech finished with a 13-12-3 record in the WCHA last year to earn the No. 6 seed in the conference tournament.

PRESEASON ALL-WCHA
• Brian Halonen and Matt Jurusik received votes on the coaches' Preseason All-WCHA Team.
• Seamus Donohue received votes on the media's Preseason All-WCHA Team.
• Blake Pietila (goaltender), Logan Pietila (forward), and Parker Saretsky (forward) received votes for the WCHA Preseason Media Rookie of the Year.

CAPTAINS
• Senior forward Raymond Brice is the captain.
• Senior forward Alex Smith and junior defenseman Seamus Donohue are the alternate captains.

RETURNERS
Tech returns 22 players from last season with 11 forwards, nine defensemen and a pair of goaltenders.

NEWCOMERS
• The freshman class consists of goaltender Blake Pietila, defensemen Brenden Datema and Chris Lipe, and forwards Jake Crespi, Logan Ganie, Logan Pietila, and Parker Saretsky.
• Blake and Logan Pietila are twins while Logan Ganie and Parker Saretsky have been teammates for six years, including the last three with Spruce Grove. Logan Pietila and Chris Lipe were teammates at Dubuque.
• Junior forward David Raisanen was also added to the roster after playing two seasons in Minot (NAHL).

ALL-WCHA ROOKIE TEAM
Brian Halonen was named to the WCHA All-Rookie Team last season after he led the Huskies—and all WCHA rookies—with 12 goals. He also added nine assists and was third on Tech with 21 points to rank third amongst WCHA freshmen. Six of his points came on the power play with three goals and three assists. Halonen also ranked third amongst league freshmen with 87 shots on goal.

NHL DEVELOPMENT CAMP ATTENDEES
• Alex Smith – Calgary (2017)
• Cooper Watson – Dallas (2018)
• Robbie Beydoun – Detroit (2019)
• Seamus Donohue – Philadelphia (2019)
• Brian Halonen – Dallas (2019)
• Matt Jurusik – Pittsburgh (2019)
• Colin Swoyer – St. Louis (2019)

NHL ROSTERS
• Matt Roy (LA Kings), Jujhar Khaira (Edmonton Oilers), and Joel L'Esperance (Dallas Stars) have all scored an NHL goal this season.
• Roy played 115 games over three seasons (2014-17) with the Huskies. He was drafted by the Kings in 2015 and appeared 25 NHL games in 2018-19.
• Khaira played one season at Tech in 2012-13. He played in 154 career NHL games in four seasons before the start of the 2019-20 campaign.
• L'Esperance played for the Black and Gold from 2014-18 and appeared in 18 games for the Stars in 2018-19.

FORMER HUSKIES AT NHL CAMP
Eight former Huskies participated in NHL Preseason Training Camps
• Dane Birks (Arizona)
• Pheonix Copley (Washington)
• Tanner Kero (Dallas)
• Jujhar Khaira (Edmonton)
• Joel L'Esperance (Dallas)
• Jake Lucchini (Pittsburgh)
• Mitch Reinke (St. Louis)
• Matt Roy (Los Angeles)

FAMILY AFFAIR
• Tyler Rockwell – Father John played goaltender for the Huskies from 1975-79.
• Cooper Watson – Older brother Cliff was a two-time team captain in his four-year career from 2013-17.
• Blake and Logan Pietila – Twin brothers with numerous cousins who have played for the Huskies
• Brian Halonen and David Raisanen – Brian's father and David's mother are brother and sister from Calumet. Halonen's first cousins Blake, Chad, and Aaron Pietila from his mother's side also played for the Huskies.

WHITE JERSEYS
Tech will wear new white jerseys in 2019-20. The team also brought back white helmets for the first time since the 2005-06 season.

JOE SHAWHAN HOUR
• The Joe Shawhan Hour can be heard every Monday morning at 10 a.m. on Mix 93.5 FM WKMJ.
• Host Dirk Hembroff and Coach Shawhan talk about the previous weekend and the upcoming matchup.
• Fans can listen live to the Joe Shawhan Hour on the radio at Mix 93.5 FM WKMJ, online at TheMix93.com or Pasty.com, or by using your favorite radio streaming app. The show will also be posted for on-demand listeners at MichiganTechHuskies.com.

LOOKING AHEAD
• The Huskies host Northern Michigan on Friday, November 22 and then the two teams meet in Marquette the next night.
• The month wraps up at Alaska for the second meeting of the season on Thanksgiving weekend.

55th GREAT LAKES INVITATIONAL
• Tech will host the 55th annual Great Lakes Invitational on December 30-31 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. The Huskies will open against Michigan State in the first semifinal at 1 p.m. on Dec. 30. Michigan and Ferris State will play in the second game at 4 p.m.
• LCA will host a tripleheader of hockey action on New Year's Eve, as the third-place game of the GLI will take place at 11:30 a.m. and the winners of Sunday's contests will meet in the GLI Championship Game at 2:30 p.m. Following the GLI Championship Game, the Detroit Red Wings will square off against the San Jose Sharks in the team's annual New Year's Eve game at 7:30 p.m.

2018-19 RECAP
• Tech went 14-20-4 overall last season with a 13-12-3 WCHA mark. The Huskies finished sixth in the league standings and played at Bowling Green in the WCHA First Round.
• Forward Brian Halonen was named to the All-WCHA Rookie Team. Senior forward Jake Lucchini signed an NHL contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins after the season. Senior forward Dylan Steman signed with the Hershey Bears after the season ended.