Huskies shutout Ferris State Saturday for series sweep
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Michigan Tech (18-14-3, 13-11-2WCHA) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
|
Ferris State (7-22-2, 5-17-2 WCHA) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
BIG RAPIDS, Mich. – Michigan Tech shutout Ferris State 2-0 Saturday (Feb. 15) and swept the Bulldogs at Ewigleben Ice Arena for the second straight season. Colin Swoyer scored both goals for the Huskies, and Matt Jurusik made a season-high 36 saves for his second shutout of the season.
Tech improved to 18-14-3 overall and 13-11-2 in the WCHA after earning its fourth WCHA sweep of the season.
"That was a lot of fun," Tech coach Joe Shawhan said. "This weekend made us better for sure. I like what we did in the third. We didn't give up very much and capitalized on our one great chance. I thought our defensive corp did a really good job, and we got a great weekend out of Jurusik"
Swoyer scored the game-winner 11:38 into the third for his third of the season. He carried the puck into the zone and slid a pass over to Bliss. A wrist shot deflected off a Ferris State stick. Swoyer turned and whacked in the bouncing puck to send the Tech dominate crowd into a frenzy. Logan Pietila added the secondary assist.
The Huskies were then whistled for a penalty with 5:06 remaining and had to go to work on the penalty kill. Like they did Friday night, the Huskies killed it off with blocks from defensemen Eric Gotz and Keegan Ford. Jurusik had to make only three saves in the final 6:00.
With 44 seconds left, FSU pulled its goaltender for the extra attacker after a whistle. Alex Smith won a faceoff back to Swoyer. He had time to gather the puck and rip a long wrist shot from the faceoff circle in his own zone for his second of the night, fourth of the season, and first multi-goal game of his career.
"We were good on draws and Smitty won it clean," added Shawhan. "Colin had ample time to get a good shot off, and we were good with him taking that shot to go ahead and end the game."
The Bulldogs outshot the Huskies 36-32 on the night. Jurusik stopped 16 saves in the first, six in the second, and 14 in the third. He improved his record to 16-9-3 and now ranks third in the WCHA in wins.
Austin Shaw had 30 saves for the home team. He had an amazing save on Jake Crespi with 2:00 left to keep it a one-goal game. He had 14 saves in the second when the Huskies peppered right from the drop of the puck, including a redirect chance by Bliss.
Each team was 0-for-2 on the power play after four penalties were called in the game.
Bliss had an assist in both games on the weekend and now has six assists in the last seven games. Pietila has five points in the last seven games.
The Huskies have next weekend off before wrapping up the regular season against Northern Michigan on February 28-29.
"Bemidji gave us some help with the sweep of Northern, so we're still in the hunt for home ice," said Shawhan. "We took care of our end, so I'm very happy about that."
The two teams will meet in Marquette on Friday and Houghton Saturday.
