PREVIEW: Hockey travels to Bemidji State

THIS WEEKEND'S SERIES
• Michigan Tech travels to Bemidji State for the only meeting of the season with the Beavers. BSU is just outside the USCHO poll and ranked No. 21 in the PairWise.
• The puck drops at 8:07 p.m. Friday and 7:07 p.m. Saturday at the Sanford Center.
• Tech is 13-10-2 overall and unbeaten in 12 of the last 16 games.
• The Huskies are sixth in the WCHA standings with an 8-7-1-0 record.

HUSKIES RANKED
• Tech is ranked No. 19 in this week's USCHO poll. The Huskies were ranked No. 17 last week, joining the polls for the first time after receiving votes in the previous five rankings.
• The Huskies are tied with Harvard in the PairWise rankings at No. 18 entering the weekend.

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.

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.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• Bemidji State is 12-7-3 overall and 12-3-1 in the WCHA. The Beavers have won four straight with a sweep over Ferris State on January 3-4 and a sweep of Alabama Huntsville last weekend at the Sanford Center.
• The Beavers were picked third in the preseason coaches' poll and fifth in the media poll after going 15-17-6 overall and 13-11-4 in the WCHA last season.
• Tom Serratore is in his 19th season as head coach. His overall record is 309-294-87 all-time.
• Junior forward Aaron Miller leads the team with 21 points (10 goals, 11 assists) and Adam Brady has 11 goals along with 20 points. Junior goalie Zach Driscoll is 11-5-2 with a 1.77 goals against average and .928 save percentage.

LAST MEETING
Tech lost a pair of games at Bemidji State in January 2019. The Huskies fell 4-3 in overtime Friday in an outdoor game as part of the 13th annual Hockey Day in Minnesota. The Beavers never led in the game, scoring the game-winner on the power play with 1:55 remaining in overtime. Brian Halonen and Todd Kiilunen scored in the game and Robbie Beydoun had a career-high 39 saves. Tech fell 3-0 Saturday at the Sanford Center.

SERIES INFO
• Tech is 15-11-6 all-time against Bemidji State in a series that dates back to the 2006-07 season.
• The Huskies are 7-9-0 in games played in Bemidji.

AGAINST THE BEAVERS
• Seamus Donohue leads the Huskies with five points against the Beavers in eight games.
• Eric Gotz and Greyson Reitmeier have four points and Alec Broetzman and Brian Halonen have three.
• Alex Smith has played BSU nine times in his career and has two goals.

STATISTICAL RANKING
• Alex Smith is third in the nation with 288 faceoff wins.
• Trenton Bliss is fourth for the nation's lead with four game-winning goals.
• Trenton Bliss ranks eighth in the nation in power-play goals with six.
• Matt Jurusik is tenth in wins (12).
• Tech is 10th in the country with its 13 wins.
• Tech is 12th in the nation in scoring defense (2.16)

LAST TIME OUT
• Tech had a loss and tie with Bowling Green last weekend at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena. The Falcons are No. 15 this week.
• The Falcons won 3-2 Friday and the two teams tied 2-2 Saturday with BGSU scoring in the 3-on-3 overtime.
• Parker Saretsky and Seamus Donohue scored Friday. Raymond Brice and Brian Halonen found the back of the net Saturday.

NCAA TOP PLAY
• Brian Halonen's goal on Saturday is the second-ranked play in the weekly NCAA Hockey Top plays.

HUSKY HAT TRICKS
• Logan Pietila had a hat trick in the GLI Championship Game with a goal in the second period and a pair in the third.
• Tommy Parrottino had a natural hat trick Saturday at Bowling Green with two goals in the second period and one in the third.
• Alec Broetzman had a natural hat trick on October 6 at Robert Morris.
• The last time Tech had three hat tricks in a season was 2003-04 when Chris Conner had two and Colin Murphy added one.
• The last time Tech had three hat tricks by three different players was 1991-92 with Jim Storm (twice), Jamie Steer, and John Young.

HUSKY BITES
• Tech is tied with Minnesota State and Sacred Heart for the most wins away from home ice this season. The Huskies have eight road wins and two neutral-site victories.
• Alex Smith has nine points in the last nine games with three goals and six assists.
• Alec Broetzman, Logan Pietila, and Tommy Parrottino have shorthanded goals this season. The Huskies only had two shortys in 2018-19 and one in 2017-18.
• 110 of Tech's 163 points (67 percent) have come from the sophomores and freshmen.
• 78 percent (50 of 64 goals) of the goals are from the underclassmen.
• Tech is 6-0 when scoring four or more goals.

WCHA PLAYERS OF MONTH
• Tech led the WCHA with a 4-1-1 record in December.
• Eric Gotz led WCHA players with seven points and was named the WCHA Defensive Player of the Month
• Matt Jurusik led the league with four wins and was named the WCHA Goaltender of the Month.
• Logan Pietila led the rookies with three goals and received WCHA Rookie of the Month honors.
• All three were named to the GLI All-Tournament Team.

NONCONFERENCE
Tech finished 5-3-1 in nonconference play with wins over Arizona State, Michigan, Michigan State, Robert Morris, a tie with Clarkson, and losses to North Dakota and Clarkson, and ASU.

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 Anchorage – Eric Gotz (2 assists)
• Clarkson – Greyson Reitmeier (scored to tie)
• Clarkson – Alec Broetzman (2 goals)
• Michigan State – Eric Gotz (1 goal, 2 assists)
• Michigan – Logan Pietila (3 goals)
• Arizona State – Justin Misiak (1 goal, 1 assist)
• Arizona State – Trenton Bliss (1 goal, 1 assist)
• Bowling Green – Parker Saretsky (scored)
• Bowling Green – Raymond Brice (scored)

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.

CAPTAINS
• Senior forward Raymond Brice and Alex Smith are the captains.
• Junior defenseman Seamus Donohue and Alec Broetzman are the alternate captains.

100 GAMES
• Junior Seamus Donohue played his 100th game on January 4 at Arizona State.
• Juniors Justin Misiak and Greyson Reitmeier each played their 100th game for the Huskies on December 30 at the GLI.
• Senior Alex Smith (141) with the milestone.

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.

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)

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) – ACTIVE
• Joel L'Esperance (Dallas)
• Jake Lucchini (Pittsburgh)
• Mitch Reinke (St. Louis)
• Matt Roy (Los Angeles) – ACTIVE

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.

LOOKING AHEAD
• January continues with a home series with Ferris State (Jan. 24-25) followed by a road trip to Alabama Huntsville (Jan. 31-Feb. 1).
• The regular season wraps up against Lake Superior State (Feb. 7-8) for Winter Carnival, a trip to Ferris State (Feb. 14-15), and a home and away series with Northern Michigan (Feb. 28-29).