Huskies, Wildcats Tie Friday in Marquette
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | OT | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Michigan Tech (15-5-1, 10-2-1 WCHA) | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
|
Northern Michigan (8-6-5, 5-6-4 WCHA) | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
MARQUETTE, Mich. – No. 8-ranked Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan skated to a 3-3 tie on Friday (Jan. 9) at the Berry Events Center. The Huskies came back from a 3-1 deficit, scoring two power play goals in the third period to tie it up and take the game to their first overtime of the season.
Tech is now 15-5-1 overall and 10-2-1 in the WCHA. Northern, who played in its sixth overtime game this season, is 8-6-5 overall and 5-6-4 in league play. The two teams meet at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena on Saturday (Jan. 10) with the puck dropping at 7:37 p.m.
Down 2-1 entering the third—and then with the Wildcats adding on another goal making it 3-1—the Huskies capitalized on the man advantage after a 5-minute major for kneeing called on the home team.
Tyler Heinonen drew the visitors to within one on a shot out front. Alex Petan fed it out to Heinonen for the second of three assists on the night.
Shane Hanna tied it at three 2:27 later on a 5-on-3 power play after continuing the 5-minute major and NMU adding another minor. Petan set him up with a pass from behind the net. David Johnstone added the secondary assist.
In the overtime session, the Huskies had a pair of chances in front of Mathias Dahlstrom. Johnstone had a backhanded tap midway in and then Reid Sturos tipped a shot wide that was setup by Johnstone a few minutes later.
In the final seconds of the game, NMU's Robbie Payne went one on one with Chris Leibinger who was at the end of a long shift. Jamie Phillips was there to steer the puck away to preserve the tie.
"It's a huge point," Tech coach Mel Pearson said. "Normally you're not pleased with a tie, but we were down the whole game and battled back.
"We had a short bench and were playing from behind. When we killed off their 5-minute power play that was a key to the game. We were fortunate and got call in the third and capitalized on our chances."
Brock Maschmeyer scored NMU's two first period goals. He made it 1-0 9:43 into the game with a blast from the blue line that was screened out front of Jamie Phillips.
The Huskies tied it up on a goal by Tanner Kero at the 10:16 mark of rht efirst. Petan caught a long stretch pass from Matt Roy deep in the NMU zone and waited for a streaking Kero who one-timed a shot under Dahlstrom's arm.
With 9.2 seconds left in the first period, Maschmeyer blasted a bouncing puck over the glove of Phillips from just inside the dot to make it 2-1.
The Huskies outshot NMU 31-24. Phillips stopped four shots in the first, six in the second, 10 in the third, and one in overtime. Dahlstrom (10-9-8-1) had 28 saves.
Saturday's game marks a stretch of nine straight home games. Tech is offering a special ticket price of $120 for reserved seats for the final 10 home games. It's a savings of $50 off the regular price. Youth tickets are also $5 for the remaining home games.
The final 10 game ticket package can't be purchased online. Get your tickets now by stopping in at the Central Ticket Office in the SDC or calling 906-487-2073. Single game tickets can be purchased online at BuyHuskiesTickets.com.
GAME NOTES: Petan has tallied three points in two of the last three games…Kero has a goal in three of the last four games…The two teams are 33-33-3 all-time against each other in conference play…The Huskies have yet to give up more than three goals in a game this season.