PREVIEW: Tech begins WCHA Playoffs at Northern Michigan

THIS WEEKEND'S SERIES
• Michigan Tech opens the postseason as the No. 6 seed in the WCHA Playoffs. The Huskies travel to No. 3 seed Northern Michigan for a best-of-three series.
• The teams will faceoff on Friday at 7:07 p.m., Saturday at 6:07 p.m. and, if necessary, Sunday at 6:07 p.m. at the Berry Events Center.
• Tech finished the regular season with a 19-15-3 overall record and 14-12-2-0 mark in the WCHA.
• The Huskies went 3-1 against the Wildcats in the regular season, including a pair of wins in Marquette.

WCHA FIRST ROUND PLAYOFFS
• No. 8 Alaska Anchorage at WCHA regular-season champions and No. 1 seeded Minnesota State.
• No. 7 seed Lake Superior State at No. 2 Bemidji State.
• No. 5 Bowling Green at No. 4 Alaska.

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 & TV6 will air the series across the Upper Peninsula.
• 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
• The series 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.

HUSKY HAT TRICKS
• Michigan Tech leads the nation with four hat tricks this season.
• Trenton Bliss had a hat trick at NMU on February 28. He scored a power-play goal in the second and third periods and tacked on another in the third.
• 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 four hat tricks in a season was 1991-92 and the last time the Huskies had four hat tricks from four different players was 1983-84.

20 POINT SCORERS
Five Huskies have hit the 20-point mark for the season. Sophomore forwards Trenton Bliss (12-15=27), Alec Broetzman (16-10=26), and Brian Halonen (12-10=22) lead the team. Senior forward Alex Smith also has 22 points on six goals and 16 assists and sophomore defenseman Colin Swoyer has 20 points with four goals and 16 assists.

FIRST MEETING
• The Huskies swept Northern Michigan in the first meeting, winning 3-2 both nights on November 22-23.
• Tech scored twice in the third period for a comeback win on Friday at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.
• Tech jumped out to a 3-0 lead Saturday in Marquette and held on for the 3-2 win.
• Parker Saretsky, Colin Swoyer, and Brian Halonen scored Friday. Raymond Brice, Alec Broetzman, and Eric Gotz scored Saturday.

SECOND MEETING
• Tech wrapped up the regular season with a split with Northern Michigan last weekend.
• The Huskies won 8-4 in Marquette on Friday and fell 3-2 Saturday at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.
• Trenton Bliss had a hat trick Friday and Alec Broetzman added two goals. Alex Smith, Logan Ganie, Brenden Datema, and Tommy Parrottino also scored for the Huskies in the series.
• The Huskies scored their most goals ever in the Berry Events Center with eight on Feb. 28 and tied for the most goals in a single game in the all-time series against NMU.

SERIES INFO
• Tech is 67-76-14 all-time against NMU, dating back to 1979.
• The Huskies are 26-43-6 in games played in Marquette.
• Tech is 3-1 against NMU this season with two wins in Marquette and one in Houghton.

AGAINST THE WILDCATS
• Alex Smith (17 games) and Greyson Reitmeier (13 games) both have recorded eight points in their careers against the Wildcats. Smith has a goal and seven assists and Reitmeier has four goals and four assists.
• Trenton Bliss has seven points with five goals and two assists. Alec Broetzman, Seamus Donohue, Brian Halonen, and Tommy Parrottino have six points against NMU.

STATISTICAL RANKING
• Michigan Tech leads the nation with four hat tricks.
• Michigan Tech is second in the country with 37 games played. LSSU has 38.
• Alex Smith is third in the nation with 450 faceoff wins.
• Alex Smith is seventh in the country in career games played with 153.
• Trenton Bliss is eighth in the nation with 8 power-play goals.
• Alec Broetzman is eighth in the country with 2 shorthanded goals.
• Trenton Bliss is ninth with four game-winning goals.
• Matt Jurusik is ninth in the country in career saves with 2,625.
• Matt Jurusik is 16th in goals-against average (2.12) and save percentage (.922).
• Alec Broetzman is ninth in the nation with 127 shots on goal this season.
• Tech is the 10th fewest penalized team in the country.
• Tech is 13th in the nation in scoring defense (2.3).
• Tech is 15th in the country with its 19 wins.
• Tech is ranked 14th in the country with 453 blocked shots.

SWOYER'S STREAK
• Sophomore Colin Swoyer led all WCHA defensemen with three goals, six assists, and nine points in February. He scored the game-winning goal at Ferris State on Feb. 15 as part of a two-goal game.
• Swoyer has a point in six of the seven games during the month and is currently on a three-game point streak with two goals and four assists.

HUSKY BITES
• The Huskies are 12-6-1 on the road and 14-6-1 in games not played in Houghton.
• Tech is unbeaten when captains Raymond Brice and Alex Smith score a goal with a 10-0-2 record.
• Alec Broetzman (2), Logan Pietila, and Tommy Parrottino have shorthanded goals this season. The Huskies only had two shortys in 2018-19 and one in 2017-18.
• 174 of Tech's 255 points (68 percent) have come from the sophomores and freshmen.
• 76 percent (73 of 96 goals) of the goals are from the underclassmen.
• Tech is 9-0 when scoring four or more goals.

NHL TRADES
• Jake Lucchini was traded from the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Montreal Canadiens on February 20. Joseph Blandisi was also traded in the exchange for Riley Barber and Phil Varone. Both Lucchini reported to the AHL's Laval Rocket.
• Angus Redmond was traded from Anaheim to Edmonton on February 24. Redmond and a conditional seventh-round draft pick in 2022 were swapped for defenseman Joel Persson at the NHL trade deadline. Redmond will stay with the ECHL's Newfoundland Grizzlies after the trade.

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

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)
• Lake Superior State – Trenton Bliss (2 assists)
• Lake Superior State – Brian Halonen (2 goals, 1 assist)
• Ferris State – Tommy Parrottino (scored game-winner)
• Ferris State – Colin Swoyer (scored twice)
• Northern Michigan – Trenton Bliss (hat trick)
• Northern Michigan – Tommy Parrottino (scored late)

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.

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)

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.