PREVIEW: Huskies host Bemidji State in CCHA Semifinals

CCHA SEMIFINAL
• No. 13 Michigan Tech hosts Bemidji State Saturday in the CCHA Mason Cup Semifinals.
• The Huskies are the No. 2 seed and the Beavers are No. 3.
• The puck drops at 6:07 p.m. Saturday at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.
• Tech is 21-11-3 overall and went 3-1 against Bemidji State in the regular season.

OTHER MATCHUP
• No. 1 seed Minnesota State hosts No. 5 Northern Michigan.
• The Mavericks advanced with a sweep of St. Thomas while the Wildcats defeated Lake Superior State in Game 3.
• The CCHA Mason Cup Championship is scheduled for March 19 at the highest remaining seed.

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.

HUSKIES RANKED
• The Huskies are ranked No. 13 in the USCHO and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls hopping up two spots from last week.
• The last time Tech was ranked as high as No. 13 was March 2016.
• Tech has received votes in all 22 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.

LAST WEEKEND
• The Huskies advanced to the CCHA Mason Cup Semifinals with a sweep of Ferris State at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.
• Tech won 3-2 in overtime Friday after Logan Pietila scored on the power play 2:28 into overtime. Logan Ganie and Tommy Parrottino also scored. Tech outshot FSU 48-17
• The Huskies earned the sweep with a 3-2 double-overtime win Saturday. Parker Saretsky scored 6:34 into the second overtime. Logan Pietila had a shorthanded goal and Jake Crespi scored on a penalty shot in the third. Tech led in shots 56-34.

CCHA GOALTENDER OF THE WEEK
• Blake Pietila is the CCHA Goaltender of the Week for the fourth time this season.
• He backstopped the Huskies to a CCHA Mason Cup Quarterfinal sweep of Ferris State over the weekend.
• Pietila had a .922 save percentage and a 1.61 goals-against average during the playoff-opening weekend.

100 POINTS
• Brian Halonen and Trenton Bliss became the 68th and 69th players in Tech history to hit the 100-point mark for their careers on February 11.
• Halonen and Bliss became the sixth set of active teammates in NCAA Division I men's hockey to have hit that plateau.
• The last Tech player to hit the century mark was Jake Lucchini (2015-19).
• Tanner Kero and Blake  Pietila also both hit the 100 point mark on the same night on January 31, 2015.

MIKE RICHTER SEMIFINALIST
• Blake Pietila has been named a semifinalist for the Mike Richter Award.
• The Hockey Commissioners Association (HCA) announced the 11 semifinalists from the 35 that were nominated.
• Pietila is one of three semifinalists for the second straight year.

BY THE NUMBERS
• Tech has played 13 overtime games this season—a program record.
• Pietila is 21-11-2 this season with a 1.85 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage.
• He broke the Michigan Tech single-season shutout record with seven and ranks fourth in the nation in shutouts, fourth in minutes played, sixth in wins, seventh in goals-against average, 18th in save percentage.
• Tech ranks second in the nation in power-play percentage (26.7). The Huskies are also ranked fourth in scoring defense (1.91) and penalty kill percentage (89.6).
• Coach Joe Shawhan won his 90th game at UST Saturday. He ranks third in wins by a Tech hockey coach.
• The four games in January were 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 six losses in overtime.
• The Huskies are tied for second in the nation in regulation losses with five. Quinnipiac has two losses in regulation and Minnesota State also has five.
• Tech leads the CCHA in the fewest penalty minutes, power play, penalty kill, and shots on goal.
• Brian Halonen ranks fifth in the nation with 44 points. His 21 goals rank fourth nationally.
• Trenton Bliss ranks ninth in the nation in assists (27).

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• BSU is 18-19 overall and went 14-12 in CCHA games.
• The Beavers played Bowling Green in the first round. The Falcons won 2-1 in Game 1 before BSU bounced back with a 4-2 win in Game 2 and a 3-1 victory in Game 3 to advance.
• BSU has won four of its last five games with a sweep of St. Thomas to end the regular season.
• Tom Serratore is in his 20th season as head coach of the Beavers.
• Owen Sillinger leads the team with a school-record 45 points and 16 goals.

BEAVERS SCORING AGAINST HUSKIES
• L. Sillinger 6-6=12
• O. Sillinger 4-8=12
• Ierullo 4-7=11
• Armour 2-6=8

SERIES INFO
• Tech is 19-19-7 all-time against Bemidji State, dating back to 2007.
• The Huskies are 10-5-5 in games played against the Beavers in Houghton.
• The Beavers won five of the six meetings last season, including a sweep of the Huskies in the WCHA Playoffs.

FIRST MEETINGS
• Earlier this season on November 19-20, the Huskies split at Bemidji State. Tech won 4-3 Friday and the Beavers won 4-3 Saturday.
• Tristan Ashbrook scored twice Friday with Ryland Mosley, Tommy Parrottino, Arvid Caderoth, Brett Thorne, and Michael Karow also finding the back of the net in the series.

SECOND MEETING
• The Huskies earned their fourth straight win and third straight CCHA sweep with a pair of 5-2 victories over Bemidji State at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.
• Alec Broetzman, Brian Halonen, and Logan Ganie each had a pair of goals in the series. Eric Gotz, Colin Swoyer, Tommy Parrottino, and Tyrell Buckley also found the back of the net.

SCORING AGAINST BSU
• Brian Halonen (4-8=12)
• Alec Broetzman (7-1=8)
• Tommy Parrottino (5-3=8)
• Colin Swoyer (1-7=8)
• Eric Gotz (2-5=7)
• Tristan Ashbrook (3-3=6)

GAMES PLAYED RECORD
• Justin Misiak broke Richard Novak's record for games played in a Michigan Tech uniform last weekend. Misiak has appeared in 178 career games.
• The fifth-year senior forward has 64 career points with 25 goals and 39 assists.
• Misiak has a career-high with 19 points on five goals and 14 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.
• Brian Halonen is on the ballot for the first time.
• Pietila is a Hobey Baker candidate for the second straight season.

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 56-47-3 all-time CCHA regular-season record.
• The Huskies are 3-5-2 in the CCHA Playoffs with the three wins over Ferris State.

CCHA FORWARD OF THE MONTH
• Brian Halonen was the CCHA Forward of February after he led the Huskies with six goals during the month.
• He added eight assists for 14 points and tallied 45 shots on goal with a +9 rating.
• In CCHA games, he led the conference in points and goals and ranked fifth in assists and plus/minus.

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.

CCHA PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
• Blake Pietila – CCHA Goaltender of the Week on March 8.
• Blake Pietila – CCHA Goaltender of the Week on February 14.
• 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 90th career game at St. Thomas on February 5, 2022 and ranks third in wins by a Tech hockey coach.
• 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.
• 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.