PREVIEW: Huskies host No. 4 Clarkson in nonconference series

THIS WEEKEND'S GAMES
• Michigan Tech hosts its only nonconference home series of the season this weekend against No. 5 Clarkson.
• The puck drops at 7:07 pm. Friday and 6:07 p.m. Saturday at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.
• This weekend's series wraps up a four-game homestand and are the final home games of the 2019 calendar year.
• Tech is 10-7 overall and 8-6 in the WCHA, having won seven of the last eight games. The Huskies received votes in both polls for the third week in a row.

BLUE LINE CLUB LUNCH
• The Blue Line Club is hosting its second luncheon of the season on Friday at noon.
• The event is open to the public and costs $10 per person. RSVP to blueline@mtu.edu by Thursday at noon to reserve your seat.
• Tech head coach Joe Shawhan and Clarkson head coach Casey Jones will both be on hand to talk about the series.

JAM THE STANDS
• Keweenaw Chevrolet is sponsoring Saturday's game.
• They will hand out 400 reserved seating tickets to the game at noon on Thursday during a live Mix 93 WKMJ radio remote at the dealership. Tickets are limited to two per customer and are not for resale.
• Fans to the game can pick up a ticket inside the main entrance to the MacInnes Student Ice Arena for a chance to take a shot during the second intermission with a $50,000 vehicle from Keweenaw Chevrolet on the line.
• There will also be an appearance by Santa Claus and a concert on the concourse after the game featuring Outlaw'd.

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.

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.

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN KNIGHTS
• Clarkson is 11-3-1 overall and 6-1-0 in the ECAC. The Golden Knights have won their last four and eight of the last nine.
• Clarkson is ranked No. 4 this week in the USCHO Poll and No. 5 in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll.
• The Golden Knights were 26-11-2 last season and advanced in the NCAA Tournament before falling to Notre Dame in the regional semifinal
• Head coach Casey Jones is in his ninth season and is 157-130-39.
• Senior forwards Devin Brosseau (6-14=20) and Haralds Egle (5-12=17) lead the team in scoring.
• Senior Frank Marotte has played all the minutes with an 11-3-1 record, 1.72 goals-against average, and .939 save percentage.

SERIES INFO
• Tech is 2-3 all-time against Clarkson with two of the five meetings coming in the NCAA Tournament.
• The Huskies won their first NCAA Championship in 1962 with a 7-1 victory over Golden Knights.
• Tech won 4-3 in a regular-season matchup in 1966 and the Golden Knights advanced to the NCAA Championship Game in 1970 with a 4-3 win over Tech.

LAST MEETING
• Last season in Potsdam, New York, the Golden Knights swept the Huskies with a pair of 3-1 wins after empty-net goals on November 16-17.
• Raymond Brice and Jake Lucchini scored for the Huskies.

LAST TIME OUT
• Tech picked up its third WCHA sweep of the season last weekend with a pair of come-from-behind victories over Alaska Anchorage at the Mac. The Huskies won 2-1 Friday and 4-1 Saturday.
• Brian Halonen scored both goals Friday and Tyler Rockwell, Trenton Bliss, Tommy Parrottino, and Alec Broetzman found the back of the net Saturday. Matt Jurusik stopped 38-of-40 shots on the weekend.

STATISTICAL RANKING
• Trenton Bliss is tied for the nation's lead with four game-winning goals and 12th with four power-play goals. The sophomore forward is tied for the team lead with 11 points on seven goals and four assists.
• Tech is eighth in the nation in scoring defense, allowing 1.94 goals per game. The Huskies have allowed more than three goals only once.
• Matt Jurusik ranks ninth in the nation with a 1.86 goals-against average. He is 11th in winning percentage (.692) with his 9-4-0 record. He also ranks 13th nationally with a .930 save percentage.
• Alex Smith is 10th in the country with 179 faceoff wins.
• The Huskies penalty kill ranks 16th in the country at 85.2 percent.

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.
• 18 of Tech's 42 goals this season have been scored in the second period.
• 78 of Tech's 107 points (73 percent) have come from the sophomores and freshmen.
• 83 percent (35 of 42 goals) of the goals are from the underclassmen.
• Trenton Bliss is on a four-game point streak with two goals and two assists in the span.
• Tech is 4-0 when scoring four or more goals.
• Senior forward Raymond Brice has two goals in his last three games. He scored the game-winner at Alaska with a second-period tally at 14:19.
• Eric Gotz has eight points in the last eight games with two goals and six assists. The sophomore defenseman has 10 points on three goals and seven assists.

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)
• Northern Michigan – Parker Saretsky (1 goal, 1 assist)
• Northern Michigan – Matt Jurusik (33 saves)
• Alaska – Trenton Bliss (scored)
• Alaska – Eric Gotz (scored)
• Alaska Anchorage – Brian Halonen (2 goals)
• Alaska Ancorage – Eric Gotz (2 assists)

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 40th game as head coach on November 15, 2019, with a 4-2 victory at Lake Superior 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
• The year wraps up at the 55th GLI in Detroit. Tech opens up against Michigan State on December 30. Michigan and Ferris State faceoff in the second semifinal.
• The New Year begins with the final nonconference series of the season at Arizona State on January 4-5.

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.