Huskies win in OT Saturday to sweep Tommies
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | OT | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
St. Thomas (1-19-0, 1-13-0) | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
|
Michigan Tech (10-7-0, 7-5-0) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
HOUGHTON, Mich. – Michigan Tech earned a CCHA sweep of St. Thomas Saturday, winning 4-3 in overtime. Brian Halonen scored twice, including the game-winner to lift the Huskies to their 10th win of the season.
Tech (10-7, 7-5 CCHA) was winless in four previous overtime games this season and broke through when Halonen caught a pass into the zone from Colin Swoyer, beat his defender, and roofed his 11th of the season. Tyrell Buckley also assisted on the play as Tech gained control in the 3-on-3 and set up the play.
"The win is something we needed but that's pretty poor execution on our part in the last 5:00 of the third to let it go to overtime," Halonen said. "That is our first overtime win of the year, so I guess that is a step in the right direction, but the root cause is that we gave it up with 5:00 left in regulation."
The Huskies held a 3-1 lead late in the third period before the Tommies came storming back. With their goaltender pulled, Christiano Versich made it a one-goal game with 3:12 left.
Versich then tied the game with 30 seconds left with another extra attacker tally. Kyler Grundy assisted on both goals and was involved in all three goals for UST along with Versich.
Brian Halonen opened scoring for the second straight night with a goal similar to the game-winner but he went low on the goaltender for his 42nd career goal. The play was unassisted.
Logan Pietila added to the lead with another unassisted tally at 13:37 of the first after the puck took a weird bounce off the glass. Pietila found himself alone on the goaltender and went low glove just like Halonen for his seventh goal of the season.
Kyler Gundy cut into Tech's lead 7:27 into the second period with a one-timer from Christiano Versich.
Tommy Parrottino scored for the second straight game 11:32 into the second when he rushed up the ice and snuck a puck under the goaltender for his third of the season. Tyrell Buckley picked up the first of his two assists on the play.
"I'm going to focus on one day at a time to continue to grow this team and get better," Tech coach Joe Shawhan said. "We need to figure out who can step up and who can't and maybe start turning some ice time over to guys that we know will be there when we need them the most."
Tech led in shots 42-19. Blake Pietila got the win with 16 saves, including a huge stop on a 2-on-1 in the final stages of the second period. Jacob Berger had 38 saves for the visitors.
Each team was 0-for-3 on the power play with six minor penalties called.
The Huskies are off until December 29 when they travel to Yost Ice Arena to play the Michigan Wolverines as part of the Great Lakes Invitational showcase. Tech will play at Michigan State the following night.
