Huskies Tie Seawolves Saturday; UAA Earns Extra Point in Shootout

Play Video

• Game Highlights
• Joe Shawhan Audio Interview

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Michigan Tech and Alaska Anchorage skated to a 1-1 tie Saturday (Nov. 19) at Sullivan Arena. The Seawolves earned the extra WCHA point with a 1-0 win in the sudden death shootout after the 5-minute overtime and 3-on-3 overtime. The Huskies are undefeated in the last five games and are 7-6-3 overall and 6-2-2-1 in the WCHA.

"We didn't play with the urgency or compete in the first period like we did last night, but we played well the rest of the night. We just couldn't score," Tech assistant coach Joe Shawhan said. "We got a lot of scoring chances, but Mantha was on tonight, and we ran it to a hot goalie."

Gavin Gould scored Tech's only goal of the night with a power play tally 4:48 into the second period. Matt Roy took a long shot from the point that was saved. Joel L'Esperance picked up the rebound and fed Gould out front for his third of the season. L'Esperance and Roy both extended their point streaks to six games.

UAA (1-10-1, 0-4-1-1 WCHA) tied it up with a power play goal by Jonah Renouf 2:30 into the third.

Tech's best chance for the go-ahead goal came 7:00 into the third when Mantha stoned L'Esperance.

Tech outshot UAA 5-1 in the first overtime with two come from Alex Smith. He took a shot on a rebound off Mark Auk's backhanded try with 3:03 left and then had a rush to the net with 20 seconds to go. UAA goaltender Olivier Mantha stood tall on both tries and finished the night with 34 saves.

In Tech's second 3-on-3 overtime of the season, the Huskies generated three shots. Tyler Heinonen had a partial breakaway that was steered away, and Shane Hanna was alone in front of Mantha but had his shot deflected into the netting.

Aleksi Ainali opened the shootout with a goal, and Mantha stopped Auk's attempt to end the game.

Tech outshot UAA 35-21, including a 17-4 advantage in the second period alone. Angus Redmond had 20 saves for the Huskies.

Both teams were whistled for four minor penalties and both were 1-for-4 on the power play.

Tech and UAA will wrap up the season series on January 13-14 at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena.

The Huskies remain in Alaska all week, traveling north to Fairbanks for a WCHA series against the Alaska Nanooks next weekend. The puck drops at 11:07 p.m. both nights from the Carlson Center.

"We need to get some good individual film sessions in this week," added Shawhan. "We also need to work on our offense formation to get some better scoring chances that will challenge the other teams goaltender."