PREVIEW: Hockey Opens 96th Season at Minnesota Duluth

THIS WEEKEND'S NOTES

ONE OF A FEW
Saturday's game is one of only three regular season games in all of NCAA Division I and Sunday's is one of two. Alabama Huntsville and Ferris State open up WCHA play with a conference series in Big Rapids. Army at Colgate on Saturday is the only other regular season game of the weekend.

COACH PEARSON
• Mel Pearson is in his sixth season as Michigan Tech's head hockey coach in 2016-17. His record with the Huskies is 95-77-22. He was named the WCHA Coach of the Year in 2015-16 and 2011-12—his first with the Huskies.
• Pearson's 95 wins rank him second all-time at Tech. John MacInnes (555-295-39) is the leader, while Jamie Russell (70-197-37) and Herb Boxer (66-129-8) are ranked behind Pearson.
• Pearson played at Michigan Tech from 1977-81. A forward, Pearson put up 56 points (21-35=56) in 97 career games in a Black and Gold sweater and also earned a degree in business administration.
• Pearson has been a part of 22 NCAA Tournament Teams. He was a senior on Tech's 1981 team that finished third. As an assistant coach at Michigan, Pearson went to 21 tournaments and won the NCAA Championship in 1996 and 1998.

THIS WEEK'S RANKING
Michigan Tech is ranked No. 17 in the preseason USCHO.com Top 20 Poll. The Huskies were ranked in the Top 20 in the final 11 polls last season, finishing at No. 16.

RETURNERS
The Huskies return 19 letterwinners from last year's MacNaughton Cup winning team with 11 forwards, six defensemen and two goaltenders. Matt Roy, Jr., D (All-WCHA Second Team), Tyler Heinonen, Sr., F (All-WCHA Third Team), Shane Hanna, Sr., D (All-WCHA Third Team), and Jake Lucchini, So., F (WCHA All-Rookie Team) all were honored by the WCHA in postseason awards.

BETWEEN THE PIPES
Senior Matt Wintjes has appeared in eight games over his career with one start. He has an .889 career save percentage. Sophomore Devin Kero and freshman Angus Redmond will also be in the mix for playing time between the pipes. Kero has played in exhibition games during his career.

TOP POINT GETTERS
The top returning point getters for the Huskies are Tyler Heinonen, Sr., F (15-12=27), Joel L'Esperance, Jr., F (16-10=26), Matt Roy, Jr., D (7-13=20), and Brent Baltus, Sr., F (9-10=19).

IN THE PRESEASON WCHA POLLS
Tech was selected second in both the Mankato Free Press Coaches' Poll and the Bemidji Pioneer Media Poll. Bowling Green received the nod in both polls.

PRESEASON ALL-WCHA
Matt Roy was named to the Preseason All-WCHA Team as a defenseman in both polls. The junior had a breakout season last year, finishing third among WCHA defensemen in points with 16 while posting a league-high seven goals from the blue line.

SERIES INFORMATION
• Tech leads the all-time series against Minnesota Duluth 120-86-20, dating back to 1952. The Huskies are 59-51-8 vs. the Bulldogs in games played in Duluth. Tech last won in Duluth on Jan. 28, 2012.
• Tech and UMD last met in Duluth to begin the 2013-14 season. The Bulldogs won 2-1 Friday, and the two teams tied 1-1 Saturday. Chris Leibinger and Michael Neville scored that weekend, and Tech won a meaningless shootout on Saturday with goals by Tyler Heinonen and Tanner Kero and two saves by Jamie Phillips.

LAST MEETING
Michigan Tech opens its 96th season of hockey this weekend at Minnesota Duluth. The two teams last met during the 2014-15 season in Houghton. UMD was No. 9 in the country and Tech was No. 4. The Bulldogs won 3-1 Friday with the Huskies earning the split with a 4-3 win Saturday.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
• Minnesota Duluth is ranked No. 6 in the Preseason USCHO.com Top 20 Poll after finishing at No. 9 last year. The Bulldogs begin their 73rd season of hockey.
• Scott Sandelin is in his 17th season as head coach of the Bulldogs. He led UMD to its first NCAA National Championship in 2011.
• The Bulldogs were 19-16-5 overall last year and 11-10-3 in the NCHC. They defeated Providence in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before bowing out to Boston College in the Northeast Regional Championship Game.

NEWCOMERS
Tech has nine incoming freshmen for the 2016-17 season. The class consists of six forwards, two defensemen and a goaltender.

NHL DRAFT PICKS
• Senior defenseman Cliff Watson was selected in the sixth round of the 2012 NHL Draft by the San Jose Sharks (168th overall).
• Junior defenseman Matt Roy was selected by the Los Angeles Kings in the seventh round (194th overall) of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft
• Sophomore defenseman Dane Birks was drafted in the sixth round (164th overall) by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2013 NHL Draft.
• Sophomore Jake Jackson was selected by the San Jose Sharks in the seventh round (201st overall) of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft.

CAPTAINS
Senior defenseman Cliff Watson is this season's captain. Seniors Brent Baltus, Shane Hanna, and Michael Neville will serve as assistant captains.

NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
After this weekend, the Huskies also travel to Michigan (Oct. 21-22) and Michigan State (Nov. 4-5) in nonconference play before the GLI. Michigan, Michigan State and Western Michigan are this year's GLI field, and Tech rounds out nonconference play at Notre Dame on Jan. 6-7.

ON THE RADIO
Mix 93.5 WKMJ broadcasts all Michigan Tech hockey games. Dirk Hembroff will call all the action in his 15th year behind the microphone. You can also listen to the game online at Pasty.com.

MEL PEARSON SHOW
The Mel Pearson Show can be heard every Monday morning at 10 a.m. on Mix 93.5 WKMJ. Host Dirk Hembroff and Coach Pearson talk about the previous weekend and the upcoming matchup. You can also listen live online at Pasty.com or visit MichiganTechHuskies.com for the full audio recording.

WCHA.TV
Fans of the WCHA can take the league and their favorite team with them wherever they go via WCHA.tv. In partnership with industry leader Stretch Internet, WCHA.tv allows fans to stream all 10 league teams and up to 191 games during the 2016-17 season on just about any device – computer, tablet, phone and many Smart TVs. Many different packages and rates are available from league to single team deals to season, monthly or nightly options.

LOOKING AHEAD
Michigan Tech opens WCHA play at Minnesota State next weekend before its home opener on Oct. 14-15 at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena against Alabama Huntsville. The Huskies round out the month at Michigan (Oct 21-22) and with a home and away series with Northern Michigan (Oct. 28-29)