No. 16 Huskies Open with 5-1 Win at Ferris State

BIG RAPIDS, Mich. – Senior captain Alex Petan scored two power-play goals and freshman forward Brett Boeing had four assists in his Michigan Tech debut to help the Huskies open their 2015-16 regular-season schedule with a 5-1 win over Ferris State at Ewigleben Arena tonight (Oct. 16).

The win was Tech's seventh in a row during the month of October and marks the fifth time in six seasons that the Huskies have opened their WCHA schedule with a victory.

Tyler Heinonen, Brent Baltus and CJ Eick also scored for Michigan Tech (1-0-0 overall; 1-0-0 WCHA), while senior goaltender Jamie Phillips turned in an impressive 31-save performance.

"I thought our guys did an outstanding job overall," said head coach Mel Pearson, who is now 5-3-0 in his career vs. Ferris State. "It was our first real game at this speed and it's never easy on the road and Ferris is a good team. For a first game we found a starting point and now we need to grow as a team from there."

The Huskies opened the scoring midway through the first period when Heinonen sent a backhander into the net from the edge of the crease. Heinonen took a pass from Boeing in front of the net, moved to his right and beat Ferris State goalie Charles Williams on the glove side.

Baltus notched the eventual game-winner just 1:06 later with a laser from the slot. Dane Birks carried the puck into the zone after a turnover at center, delayed and floated a perfect pass to Baltus between the circles. Baltus quickly fired and snuck a shot inside the far post to make it 2-0.

Michigan Tech doubled its lead in the second thanks to goals by Eick and Petan. Eick made it 3-0 when he took a beautiful outlet pass from Boeing, flew into the zone and picked a corner. Petan notched his first of the night on a one-timer blast from the right dot to make it 4-0 with just 1:01 to play in the period.

Ferris State found the back of the net 16 seconds into the third, but Petan answered three minutes later to close the scoring. A loose puck bounced behind the net to Petan, who scooped it up, wheeled around the goal and stuffed it home before Darren Smith could get back to the post.

Nine Michigan Tech players collected at least one point in the contest, including Chris Leibinger, Mark Auk and Malcolm Gould who each had one assist.

The Huskies conclude their two-game WCHA series with Ferris State tomorrow (Oct. 17) at 7:07 p.m.

Notes: Shots on goal favored Michigan Tech, 35-32 ... The Huskies were 3-for-6 on the power play and had eight shots, while Ferris went 0-for-4 on the man advantage ... Boeing is the first Tech player to have a four-point game since Tanner Kero notched two goals and two assists on Jan. 31, 2015 against Alabama-Huntsville ... Phillips has now won four consecutive games against the Bulldogs ... Michigan Tech is now 12-2-1 in its last 15 games against teams from Michigan, including eight wins away from Houghton.