PREVIEW: Huskies and Wildcats meet for WCHA series

THIS WEEKEND'S GAMES
• Michigan Tech plays No. 19 Northern Michigan this weekend in a home and away series.
• The puck drops at 7:07 p.m. Friday at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena and 6:07 p.m. Saturday at the Berry Events Center.
• It will be the first of two meetings between the teams. NMU and Tech will wrap up the regular season on February 28 and 29.
• Tech is 5-6 overall and 3-5 in the WCHA. The wins are over Robert Morris in the season-opening series in Pittsburgh, in a split at Bowling Green and in a sweep at Lake Superior State.

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 18th year behind the microphone.

FOX-UP & TV6 COVERAGE
• FOX-UP will air both games this weekend against NMU.
• Mark Evans and Dave Ellis will call all the action.
• TV6 and FOX-UP began broadcasting the Tech versus NMU rivalry during the 2013-14 season

FLOHOCKEY.TV
• Both games will be live-streamed on FloHockey.tv
• FloHockey.tv. brings more than 180 WCHA games available on the FloSports platform, including all 140 league regular-season games, any preseason, exhibition and non-conference games hosted by a league school, and the entirety of the annual WCHA postseason tournament.
• Fans who subscribe to FloHockey will also have access to additional college hockey coverage, which includes Atlantic Hockey and select Big Ten Conference hockey games through the company's distribution deal with the Big Ten Network.

WCHA FORWARD OF THE WEEK
• Trenton Bliss is the WCHA Forward of the Week after he led the league with three goals last weekend. He had two game-winning tallies (led NCAA) and two power-play tallies (led WCHA).
• Bliss leads the Huskies with five goals and his tied for the team lead with seven points. He is tied for the WCHA lead and ranks second in the nation in game-winning goals with three.

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
• Northern Michigan is 7-3-2 overall and 5-1-0 in the WCHA. The lone league loss was to Alaska.
• The Wildcats are ranked No. 19 in this week's USCHO.com Top 20 Poll.
• NMU was picked fourth in the WCHA preseason coaches' poll and third in the WCHA preseason media poll.
• Sophomore forward Griffin Loughran leads the Wildcats with 17 points and nine goals. Sophomore forward Vincent de Mey has 13 points and goaltender John Hawthorne is 4-2-2 between the pipes with a 2.46 goals-against average and .907 save percentage.
• Grant Potulny is in his third season as head coach and holds a 53-34-7 record.

SERIES INFO
• Tech is 64-75-14 all-time against NMU, dating back to 1979.
• Tech is 24-43-6 in games played in Marquette and 35-31-8 against the Wildcats at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.

LAST MEETING
• NMU won three of the four meetings last year. The two teams split the December series with the Huskies winning 3-1 on December 8 at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.
• Greyson Reitmeier (2), Trenton Bliss (2), Keegan Ford, Alec Broetzman, Seamus Donohue, and Justin Misiak had goals against the Wildcats last season.

AGAINST THE WILDCATS
• Alex Smith (13 games) and Greyson Reitmeier (9 games) both have five points in their careers against NMU.
• Reitmeier (3), Justin Misiak (2), and Trenton Bliss (2) have all scored at least two goals against the Wildcats.
• Robbie Beydoun has one win and Matt Jurusik has played three games.

POINT STREAKS
• Seamus Donohue is on a three-game point streak. He scored against Minnesota State on November 9 and had an assist in each game at LSSU, including on the game-winning goal by Bliss.
• Brian Halonen has scored two games in a row.
• Trenton Bliss has three goals in two games.
• Eric Gotz and Colin Swoyer have an assist in each of the last two games.

LAST TIME OUT
• Tech swept Lake Superior State last weekend in the Soo. The Huskies won 4-2 Friday and 2-1 Saturday.
• Trenton Bliss had three goals on the weekend and Brian Halonen had two. Logan Ganie also scored for his first collegiate goal on Friday. Matt Jurusik won both games between the pipes, stopping 57 shots.
• Tech and LSSU will meet against his season in the annual Winter Carnival series on February 7-8. The two teams will play for the MacInnes Memorial Cup in a total goal series.

STATISTICS RANKINGS
• Tech is seventh in the country in scoring defense, allowing 2 goals per game. The Huskies haven't allowed more than three goals in any game this season.
• Tech is 12th in the nation in penalty kill at 87.5 percent.
• Trenton Bliss is second in the country in game-winning goals (3) and 10th in power-play goals (3).
• Matt Jurusik is ninth in goals-against average (1.8).

HUSKY HAT TRICKS
• Tommy Parrottino had a natural hat trick Saturday at Bowling Green with two goals in the second period and one in the third.
• It was the second hat trick of the season for the Huskies after Alec Broetzman had one at Robert Morris.
• Tech is the only team in the nation with two hat tricks this season.
• The last time Tech had 2 hat tricks in a season was 2011-12 with Milos Gordic (Denver 10/28) and Jordan Baker (UAA 1/14).

HUSKY BITES
• Alec Broetzman and Logan Pietila have shorthanded goals this season. The Huskies only had two shortys in 2018-19 and one in 2017-18.
• 20 Tech's 25 goals this season have been scored in the first two periods.
• 54 of Tech's 64 points (84 percent) have come from the sophomores and freshmen.
• Tech is 3-0 when scoring four or more goals.

SUPERIOR PLAYER OF THE GAME
• Robert Morris – Matt Jurusik (34 saves)
• Robert Morris – Alec Broetzman (hat trick)
• Alaska – Brian Halonen (scored)
• Alaska – Logan Pietila (scored)
• Bowling Green – Trenton Bliss (scored)
• Bowling Green – Tommy Parrottino (hat trick)
• North Dakota – Justin Misiak (scored)
• Minnesota State – Justin Misiak
• Minnesota State – Seamus Donohue (scored)
• Lake Superior State – Trenton Bliss (2 goals)
• Lake Superior State – Matt Jurusik (34 saves)

COACH SHAWHAN
• Head coach Joe Shawhan is in his third season behind the bench. His 22 wins in his first season tied for the most ever by a Michigan Tech coach. Jim Nahrgang won 22 games in 1982-83.
• Shawhan was hired on May 30, 2017, after serving as an assistant coach for the Huskies over the previous three seasons.
• Shawhan won his 30th game as head coach on December 1, 2018, with a 7-2 victory over Bemidji State.

IN THE PRESEASON WCHA POLLS
• Tech was selected fourth in WCHA Preseason Media Poll and fifth in the Mankato Free Press Coaches' Poll.
• Tech finished with a 13-12-3 record in the WCHA last year to earn the No. 6 seed in the conference tournament.

PRESEASON ALL-WCHA
• Brian Halonen and Matt Jurusik received votes on the coaches' Preseason All-WCHA Team.
• Seamus Donohue received votes on the media's Preseason All-WCHA Team.
• Blake Pietila (goaltender), Logan Pietila (forward), and Parker Saretsky (forward) received votes for the WCHA Preseason Media Rookie of the Year.

CAPTAINS
• Senior forward Raymond Brice is the captain.
• Senior forward Alex Smith and junior defenseman Seamus Donohue are the alternate captains.

RETURNERS
Tech returns 22 players from last season with 11 forwards, nine defensemen and a pair of goaltenders.

NEWCOMERS
• The freshman class consists of goaltender Blake Pietila, defensemen Brenden Datema and Chris Lipe, and forwards Jake Crespi, Logan Ganie, Logan Pietila, and Parker Saretsky.
• Blake and Logan Pietila are twins while Logan Ganie and Parker Saretsky have been teammates for six years, including the last three with Spruce Grove. Logan Pietila and Chris Lipe were teammates at Dubuque.
• Junior forward David Raisanen was also added to the roster after playing two seasons in Minot (NAHL).

ALL-WCHA ROOKIE TEAM
Brian Halonen was named to the WCHA All-Rookie Team last season after he led the Huskies—and all WCHA rookies—with 12 goals. He also added nine assists and was third on Tech with 21 points to rank third amongst WCHA freshmen. Six of his points came on the power play with three goals and three assists. Halonen also ranked third amongst league freshmen with 87 shots on goal.

NHL DEVELOPMENT CAMP ATTENDEES
• Alex Smith – Calgary (2017)
• Cooper Watson – Dallas (2018)
• Robbie Beydoun – Detroit (2019)
• Seamus Donohue – Philadelphia (2019)
• Brian Halonen – Dallas (2019)
• Matt Jurusik – Pittsburgh (2019)
• Colin Swoyer – St. Louis (2019)

NHL ROSTERS
• Matt Roy (LA Kings), Jujhar Khaira (Edmonton Oilers), and Joel L'Esperance (Dallas Stars) have all scored an NHL goal this season.
• Roy played 115 games over three seasons (2014-17) with the Huskies. He was drafted by the Kings in 2015 and appeared 25 NHL games in 2018-19.
• Khaira played one season at Tech in 2012-13. He played in 154 career NHL games in four seasons before the start of the 2019-20 campaign.
• L'Esperance played for the Black and Gold from 2014-18 and appeared in 18 games for the Stars in 2018-19.

FORMER HUSKIES AT NHL CAMP
Eight former Huskies participated in NHL Preseason Training Camps
• Dane Birks (Arizona)
• Pheonix Copley (Washington)
• Tanner Kero (Dallas)
• Jujhar Khaira (Edmonton)
• Joel L'Esperance (Dallas)
• Jake Lucchini (Pittsburgh)
• Mitch Reinke (St. Louis)
• Matt Roy (Los Angeles)

FAMILY AFFAIR
• Tyler Rockwell – Father John played goaltender for the Huskies from 1975-79.
• Cooper Watson – Older brother Cliff was a two-time team captain in his four-year career from 2013-17.
• Blake and Logan Pietila – Twin brothers with numerous cousins who have played for the Huskies
• Brian Halonen and David Raisanen – Brian's father and David's mother are brother and sister from Calumet. Halonen's first cousins Blake, Chad, and Aaron Pietila from his mother's side also played for the Huskies.

WHITE JERSEYS
Tech will wear new white jerseys in 2019-20. The team also brought back white helmets for the first time since the 2005-06 season.

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.

LOOKING AHEAD
• November wraps up at Alaska for the second meeting of the season between the Huskies and Nanooks on Thanksgiving weekend.
• Tech hosts Alaska Anchorage on December 6-7 and then Clarkson on December 13-14.
• The year wraps up at the 55th GLI in Detroit. Tech opens up against Michigan State on December 30.

55th GREAT LAKES INVITATIONAL
• Tech will host the 55th annual Great Lakes Invitational on December 30-31 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. The Huskies will open against Michigan State in the first semifinal at 1 p.m. on Dec. 30. Michigan and Ferris State will play in the second game at 4 p.m.
• LCA will host a tripleheader of hockey action on New Year's Eve, as the third-place game of the GLI will take place at 11:30 a.m. and the winners of Sunday's contests will meet in the GLI Championship Game at 2:30 p.m. Following the GLI Championship Game, the Detroit Red Wings will square off against the San Jose Sharks in the team's annual New Year's Eve game at 7:30 p.m.