PREVIEW: Huskies travel to NMU Tuesday to wrap up CCHA series

THIS WEEK'S GAMES
• No. 14 Michigan Tech travels to Northern Michigan Tuesday to wrap up a CCHA series with the Wildcats.
• The puck drops at 6:37 p.m. at the Berry Events Center in the fifth meeting between the two teams and the fourth in the regular season.
• The Huskies host Bowling Green for the annual Winter Carnival series this weekend.
• Tech is 16-8-2 overall and 13-5-1 in the CCHA and split with NMU on November 12-13.

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 20th year behind the microphone.

FLOHOCKEY.TV
• All Michigan Tech home and CCHA games during the 2021-22 season will be live-streamed on FloHockey.tv.
• Fans can purchase either annual ($150) or monthly ($30) subscriptions and will have access to all CCHA games along with the full Atlantic Hockey schedule.
• Download the FloSports app today on Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Roku, and the App Store.

FOX-UP & TV6 COVERAGE
• FOX-UP will televise Tuesday's game across the Upper Peninsula.
• Mark Evans and Dave Ellis will call all the action.
• TV6 and Fox-UP began broadcasting the Tech versus NMU rivalry during the 2013-14 season.

HUSKIES RANKED
• Tech is ranked No. 14 in this week's DCU/USCHO.com Top 20 poll, jumping one spot from last week.
• The Huskies are also No. 14 in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll for the second week in a row.
• The last time Tech was ranked as high as No. 14 was March 2016.
• Tech has received votes in all 18 USCHO and USA/Today USA Hockey Magazine polls this season.
• Tech was in the top 20 four times last season with the highest ranking of 18 on February 15 and January 25.

CCHA PLAYER OF THE WEEK
• Tommy Parrottino is the CCHA Forward of the Week after he scored four goals in three games last week and added two assists.
• Parrottino scored twice, including the game-winner against NMU, and scored each night at St. Thomas, including the game-winner Saturday.
• Parrottino has scored in four straight games and is on a five-game point streak with five goals and five assists.

BY THE NUMBERS
• Blake Pietila earned his sixth shutout of the season to tie a Michigan Tech record. He has nine career shutouts which is one short of tying the career record
• Coach Joe Shawhn won his 90th game Saturday. He ranks third in wins by a Tech hockey coach.
• The four games in January are the fewest by a Michigan Tech team since 1943 and tied Western Michigan for the fewest amongst college hockey teams in January 2022.
• Tech leads the nation with five losses in overtime.
• The Huskies are second in the nation in regulation losses with three. Quinnipiac has one loss in regulation.
• Michigan Tech ranks second in the nation in power-play percentage (28.9), fourth in scoring defense (1.81), and fourth in penalty killing percentage (89.9).
• Tech leads the CCHA in the fewest penalty minutes.
• Blake Pietila is fourth in the nation in shutouts (6) and fifth in goals-against average.

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
• NMU is 15-12-1 overall and 9-11-1 in the CCHA. The Wildcats are fifth in the CCHA standings with 26 points and have lost four of their last six games.
• Northern was picked one point behind Tech in fourth place in the CCHA Preseason Poll after going 11-17-1 last season and advancing to the WCHA Championship Game.
• Hank Crone leads the Wildcats with 34 points, and AJ Vanderbeck is tied for the national lead with 19 goals.
• Head Coach Grant Potulny is in his fifth season as head coach.

SERIES OPENER
• Tech earned its fifth straight win on February 1, overwhelming Northern Michigan 5-1 at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena.
• Tommy Parrottino and Trenton Bliss each had the first four-point game of their careers.
• Tommy Parrottino (2), Brian Halonen, Logan Pietila, and Trenton Bliss scored. Blake Pietila made 21 saves.

FIRST MEETINGS
• Tech and NMU met in an exhibition game on October 2 at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena. The teams tied 4-4 and didn't play overtime. Tyrone Bronte, Logan Ganie, Arvid Caderoth, and Tristan Ashbrook scored for the Huskies.
• The Huskies and Wildcats split their first regular-season series on November 12-13 with NMU winning 3-2 in overtime Friday at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena and Tech taking Saturday's game 5-2 at the Berry Events Center.
• Trenton Bliss and Logan Pietila had two goals in the series while Ryland Mosley, Arvid Caderoth, and Brian Halonen also found the back of the net.

POINTS AGAINST NMU
• Tommy Parrottino – 8 goals, 10 assists
• Trenton Bliss – 8 goals, 9 assists
• Alec Broetzman – 7 goals, 6 assists
• Brian Halonen – 4 goals, 9 assists
• Colin Swoyer – 2 goals, 11 assists

CURRENT POINT STREAKS
• Brian Halonen – 8 games (5 goals, 7 assists)
• Trenton Bliss – 8 games (2 goals, 12 assists)
• Tommy Parrottino – 5 games (5 goals, 5 assists)
• Brett Thorne – 3 games (1 goal, 2 assists)
• Justin Misiak – 2 games (1 goal, 1 assist)

SERIES INFO
• Tech is 77-77-14 all-time against NMU, dating back to 1979.
• The Huskies are 40-33-8 in games played at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.
• Tech is 32-43-6 in Marquette.
• The Huskies have won the last ten of the last 11 games and nine straight at the Berry Events Center.

LAST WEEKEND
• The Huskies earned 5-of-6 CCHA points at St. Thomas over the weekend in the first road game against the Tommies since 1929.
• Tech won 4-3 in a shootout Friday and 2-0 Saturday.
• Tommy Parrottino (2), Trenton Bliss, Justin Misiak, and Brett Thorne scored. Blake Pietila made 24 saves in the series and earned his sixth shutout of the season Saturday.
• Brian Halonen and Trenton Bliss scored in the five-round shootout Friday with Blake Pietila stopping 4-of-5 chances by the Tommies.
• Tech went 3-0-1 against St. Thomas this season.

CCHA GOALIE OF MONTH
• Blake Pietila was named the CCHA Goaltender of the Month for January.
• He backstopped the Huskies to a 4-0 record in January with a 1.0 goals-against average and .952 save percentage.
• He earned back-to-back shutouts at Lake Superior State (Jan. 14-15), not allowing a Lakers goal for the third straight game. Pietila also stopped 48 shots in a CCHA sweep of Bemidji State on January 28-29.

GAMES PLAYED RECORD
• Justin Misiak broke Richard Novak's record for games played in a Michigan Tech uniform last weekend. Misiak has appeared in 170 career games.
• The fifth-year senior forward has 61 career points with 25 goals and 36 assists.
• Misiak has a career-high with 16 points on five goals and 11 assists this season.
• Novak tallied 77 points as a forward with 35 goals and 42 assists. He had an injury-shortened season in 1986-87 which allowed him an extra year of eligibility.

HUSKIES FOR HOBEY
• Trenton Bliss is a Hobey Baker candidate for the third year in a row. The co-captain is second on the Huskies with 28 points on eight goals and 20 assists.
• Brian Halonen leads the Huskies with 34 points and 16 goals to rank third in the CCHA in goals and fourth in points.
• Pietila is a Hobey Baker candidate for the second straight season. He has started all 26 games for the Huskies and is 16-8-2. He ranks second in the CCHA with a 1.76 goals-against average and .921 save percentage. He ranks fourth in the nation in shutouts (6) and fifth in goals-against average.

50 YEARS AT THE MAC
• Michigan Tech is celebrating 50 years of hockey at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.
• The first game at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena was played on January 14, 1972.
• Tech defeated Minnesota Duluth 6-5.

MICHIGAN TECH HOCKEY BOOK
• University Images has a new book on sale, "Michigan Tech Hockey, 100 Years of Memories."
• You can purchase the book for $29.95 in the store or online at MichiganTechHuskies.com/HockeyBook.
• Proceeds from the book will benefit the Michigan Tech Hockey program.

CCHA PLAY
• Michigan Tech was in the CCHA from 1981-84 and holds a 54-45-2 CCHA record.
• The last CCHA game Tech played before this season was on February 25, 1984, against Lake Superior State.

CCHA PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
• Tommy Parrottino – CCHA Forward of the Week on February 7.
• Blake Pietila – CCHA Goaltender of the Week on January 17.
• Tristan Ashbrook – CCHA Forward of the Week on November 29.
• Alec Broetzman – CCHA Forward of the Week on October 11.
• Blake Pietila – CCHA Goaltender of the Week on October 11.

CAPTAINS
• Senior forwards Trenton Bliss and Alec Broetzman are the captains of the Huskies. Broetzman wore the C as a junior and Bliss had an A.
• Senior defensemen Eric Gotz and Colin Swoyer are alternate captains for the second straight season.

COACH SHAWHAN
• Head coach Joe Shawhan is in his fifth season behind the bench. He won his 80th career game at Bemidji State on November 19, 2021.
• Shawhan's 22 wins in his first season tied for the most ever by a first-year Michigan Tech coach. Jim Nahrgang won 22 games in 1982-83.
• Shawhan was named the 22nd head coach of the Huskies on May 30, 2017, after serving as an assistant coach for Tech over the previous three seasons.

ALL-CONFERENCE SELECTIONS
• Colin Swoyer – WCHA Second Team (2020-21)
• Trenton Bliss – WCHA Third Team (2020-21)
• Arvid Caderoth – All-WCHA Rookie Team (2020-21)
• Brian Halonen – All-WCHA Rookie Team (2018-19)

NONCONFERENCE
• Tech went 3-3-1 in the non-conference schedule with only one regulation loss.
• The Huskies swept No. 13 Wisconsin on October 8-9 to begin the season.
• Tech fell 2-1 in overtime to No. 17 Notre Dame on October 15 in the home-opener.
• The Huskies split at Clarkson on October 29-30.
• Tech tied No. 3 Michigan and fell to Michigan State in overtime in the GLI Showcase.

TRANSFERS
• Michael Karow came to Tech after four seasons and 131 games at Boston College. He played against the Huskies in the Ice Vegas Invitational when Tech won 4-3. Karow played youth hockey with Trenton Bliss.
• Matthew Quercia played three seasons and 81 games at Boston University. He comes to Tech with 18 collegiate points (nine goals, nine assists). Quercia and Colin Swoyer were teammates in the USHL at Sioux Falls.
• Tyrone Bronte was an All-WCHA Rookie Team pick at Alabama Huntsville last season. He had 13 points (four goals, nine assists) in 22 games. The Melbourne, Australia native played with Chris Lipe in Dubuque for a couple of games.

PRESEASON ALL-CCHA
• Colin Swoyer was named to the Preseason All-CCHA Team, while Trenton Bliss also received votes for the squad.
• Swoyer was named to the All-WCHA Second Team as a junior and was also on the WCHA All-Academic Team, the WCHA Defenseman of the Month for February, and was a four-time WCHA Defenseman of the Week.
• Swoyer was second in the WCHA amongst defensemen with 17 points, scoring three goals and tallying 13 assists. He led Tech skaters with a plus-9 rating and led WCHA blueliners with 71 shots on goal.

IN THE PRESEASON CCHA POLL
• Tech was selected third in CCHA Preseason Coaches' Poll behind Minnesota State and Bemidji State.
• Tech finished the 2020-21 season with a 17-12-1 overall record. The Huskies were 7-7 in the WCHA and placed fifth in the final standings.

RETURNERS
Tech returns 24 players from last season with 14 forwards, 7 defensemen, and all three goaltenders.

FRESHMEN
Tech has five freshmen on the roster. The class consists of forwards Levi Stauber, Alex Nordstrom, Marcus Pedersen and defensemen Grant Docter, and Trevor Russell.

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.

HOCKEY REUNION
• Michigan Tech will host a 100-year hockey reunion on August 4-6, 2022 in Houghton.
• Very few collegiate hockey programs can celebrate important milestones in their history and Michigan Tech Hockey joined the elite ranks as 100-year-old legends.

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.

2020-21 RECAP
• Tech finished with a 17-12-1 overall record and had a winning season for the first time since 2017-18.
• The Huskies were 6-7-1 in the WCHA and finished fifth in the standings.
• Blake Pietila broke the school records for best save percentage (.934) and goals-against average (1.81) for a season.
• Brian Halonen ranked sixth in the nation with four game-winning goals.
• Arvid Caderoth ranked third amongst all college hockey freshmen with 16 assists.