PREVIEW: Huskies host LSSU for annual Winter Carnival series

THIS WEEKEND'S SERIES
• Michigan Tech hosts Lake Superior State this weekend for the annual Winter Carnival series at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.
• The two teams will play a total goal series for the MacInnes Trophy with the puck dropping at 7:07 p.m. Friday and 5:07 p.m. Saturday.
• The final Blue Line Lunch of the season is Friday at noon.
• Tech is 15-13-3 overall and 10-10-2-0 in the WCHA. The Huskies are fifth in the league standings with 32 points behind Minnesota State, Bemidji State, Northern Michigan, and Alaska.
• The Huskies swept the Lakers on November 15-16 in the Soo in the first meeting.

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 LAKERS
• Lake Superior State is 8-19-3 and 6-11-3-3 in the WCHA. The wins are in sweeps of Merrimack and Ferris State and also single weekend wins over Bowling Green (twice) and Alaska Anchorage (twice).
• LSSU was picked sixth in both WCHA preseason polls.
• Senior forward Max Humtiz (16-8=24) and junior forward Hampus Eriksson (5-14=19) lead the team in scoring. Junior goaltender Mareks Mitens is 8-17-3 with a 2.77 goals-against average and .901 save percentage.
• Damon Whitten is in his sixth season as head coach and holds a 74-122-23 record.

LAST MEETING
Tech swept Lake Superior State on November 15-16 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.

SERIES INFO
• Michigan Tech is 48-24-7 all-time against Lake Superior State, dating back to the 1969-70 season.
• The Huskies are 30-9-2 in games played against the Lakers in Houghton.

HUSKY BITES
• Tommy Parrottino is on a three-game point streak with two goals and two assists.
• Brian Halonen has scored 7 of his 10 goals this season in the third period. Tommy Parrottino has scored six of his eight goals in the third.
• 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.
• 130 of Tech's 192 points (68 percent) have come from the sophomores and freshmen.
• 77 percent (57 of 74 goals) of the goals are from the underclassmen.
• Tech is 7-0 when scoring four or more goals.

AGAINST THE LAKERS
• Alex Smith has seven points (4G-3A) in 11 career games against LSSU.
Seamus Donohue has five assists in seven games.
• Trenton Bliss (4), Brian Halonen (3), and Colin Swoyer (3) also have more than two points against the Lakers.

STATISTICAL RANKING
• Michigan Tech has played more games (31) than anyone else in the country
• Alex Smith is third in the nation with 361 faceoff wins.
• Trenton Bliss is fifth for the nation's lead with four game-winning goals.
• Alec Broetzman is eighth in the nation with 104 shots on goal this season.
• Tech is ranked ninth in the country with 384 blocked shots.
• Tech is eighth in the nation in scoring defense (2.13).
• Trenton Bliss and Alec Broetzman rank 12th in the nation in power-play goals with six.
• Matt Jurusik is 12th in goals-against average (2.04) and 14th in wins (14).
• Tech is 14th in the country with its 15 wins.

LAST TIME OUT
Tech split at Alabama Huntsville last weekend. The Huskies won 4-1 Friday and fell 3-1 Saturday. Raymond Brice, Parker Saretsky, Brian Halonen, Logan Pietila, and Tommy Parrottino scored the goals. Matt Jurusik stopped 36 shots in the series.

100 GAMES
Matt Jurusik played his 100th collegiate game on February 1 at Alabama Huntsville. He appeared in 50 games for Wisconsin from 2015-17 and 50 for Michigan Tech over the past two seasons.

HOBEY BAKER CANDIDATES
Trenton Bliss and Matt Jurusik are candidates for the 2020 Hobey Baker Award, given annually to college hockey's top player.

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.

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)
• Bemidji State – Alec Broetzman (scored)
• Bemidji State – Alec Broetzman (scored)
• Ferris State – Raymond Brice (scored)
• Ferris State – Tommy Parrottino (scored)
• Alabama Huntsville – Raymond Brice (scored)
• Alabama Huntsville – Tommy Parrottino (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.
• Joe Shawhan won his 50th game as head coach of the Huskies on January 24, 2020 with a 2-1 victory over Ferris State.

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

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
The regular season wraps up with a trip to Ferris State (Feb. 14-15), and a home and away series with Northern Michigan (Feb. 28-29).