Huskies edge Ferris State 2-1 Friday at home Play Video

Huskies edge Ferris State 2-1 Friday at home

HOUGHTON, Mich. – Michigan Tech defeated Ferris State 2-1 Friday (Jan. 24) in WCHA play at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena. The Huskies improved to 14-11-3 overall and 9-8-2 in the WCHA with the victory.

"It's a huge win as long as we take it and grow from it," Tech coach Joe Shawhan said after his 50th career win. "We're capable of playing a better brand of hockey. We had a lot of guys play really well tonight, and we played well as a team in the first period and into our 2-0 lead. We got away from it in the third. We just need to find that consistency and compete for a full 60 minutes."

The Huskies had a number of opportunities in the first period, racking up 14 shots on goal while also hitting iron three times. Tech finally broke through with a pair of goals in the second period.

Brian Halonen sprung Raymond Brice on a breakaway and he fired in a wrist shot five-hole as he was falling to the ice 1:31 after intermission. It was the fourth goal of the season for the captain and 11th of his career.

"I came off the bench and Brian made a great pass forward," Brice said. "I was falling down and happened to get the puck on net. Luckily it went in."

"Great individual effort by Ray," said Shawhan. "He kept it simple and scored a big goal for us. That's Ray being Ray."

Seamus Donohue added to the lead 4:00 later with a shot through traffic that was deflected off a Bulldog defenseman. Logan Ganie and Parker Saretsky assisted on Donohue's third of the season and seventh of his career.

The Bulldogs (6-18-2, 4-13-2 WCHA) got on the board 14:31 into the second when Jason Tackett stole the puck and found Marshall Moise for his ninth of the season.

Ferris outshot the Huskies 24-16 in the final two periods and got a late power play with 3:53 left. Matt Jurusik stood tall and made 30 saves for the fourth time this season and won his 13th game.

"I felt pretty comfortable," Jurusik said. "It was a good game and good win. The guys played really well in the D zone. We've been struggling a bit losing one-goal games. It was good to get back on track."

Roni Salmenkangas stopped 28 shots for the visitors.

Tech was 2-for-2 on the penalty kill and never got a chance on the power play.

"We got a little too complacent and too comfortable," added Brice. "That's a huge win for us. It was an ok effort, but we have more in the tank for Saturday."

The two teams play Game 2 of a four-game season series Saturday at 6:07 p.m. It will be Junior Hockey Night with Skate With The Huskies after the game.