PREVIEW: Huskies host Notre Dame and USNTDP

THIS WEEKEND'S SERIES
• No. 16 Michigan Tech hosts No. 17 Notre Dame at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena on Friday for the first time since January 1982. The puck drops at 7:07 p.m.
• The Huskies then host the USA Hockey National Team Development Program on Saturday at 6:07 p.m.
• The Huskies and Fighting Irish last met in the 2018 NCAA Tournament when Notre Dame advanced with a 4-3 overtime victory.

SEASON OPENER
• Tech opened the season with a non-conference sweep at No. 13 Wisconsin the first over the Badgers in Madison since January 1974. Tech won 5-2 Friday and 5-1 Saturday from the Kohl Center.
• Logan Pietila had three goals on the weekend, Alec Broetzman tallied a goal each night while Brett Thorne, Brian Halonen, Trenton Bliss, Tyrone Bronte, and Parker Saretsky also scored. Blake Pietila had 38 saves Friday and 21 saves Saturday.

HUSKIES RANKED
• Tech is ranked No. 16 this week in the USCHO Top 20 Poll. The Huskies received votes in both polls previous to this week.
• Tech is the first team outside of the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine top 15 poll.
• The Huskies were in the top 20 four times last season with the highest ranking of 18 on February 15 and January 25.
• Notre Dame is No. 17 this week.

CCHA PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
• Alec Broetzman is the CCHA Forward of the Week after leading the league with five points last weekend. He had two goals and three assists.
• Blake Pietila is the CCHA Goaltender of the Week. He leads the CCHA with a 1.50 goals-against average and .952 save percentage. Pietila recorded 38 saves Friday in a 5-2 win and stopped 21 shots Saturday in a 5-1 victory at Wisconsin.

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 20th year behind the microphone.

FLOHOCKEY.TV
• All Michigan Tech home and CCHA games during the 2021-22 season will be live-streamed on FloHockey.tv.
• Fans can purchase either annual ($150) or monthly ($30) subscriptions and will have access to all CCHA games along with the full Atlantic Hockey schedule.
• Download the FloSports app today on Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Roku, and the App Store.

SCOUTING THE FIGHTING IRISH
• Notre Dame is 1-0 after a 5-2 win over Long Island on Saturday. The Fighting Irish fell 4-3 to the USNTDP in an exhibition game the week before.
• UND was picked fourth in the Big Ten Preseason Poll after going 14-13-2 overall and 12-10-2 in the Big Ten last season.
• Senior forward Graham Slaggert was named a Preseason Second Team All-Big Ten selection.
• Senior defenseman Spencer Stastney earned Preseason Big Ten Honorable Mention honors.
• Jeff Jackson is in his 17th season as head coach of the Fighting Irish. He was an assistant coach at Lake Superior State during Michigan Tech head coach Joe Shawahan's senior season.

SERIES INFO
• Tech is 24-35-1 all-time against Notre Dame since 1921.
• The Huskies are 16-8-1 in games played as the home team.
• The teams split their series on January 29-30, 1982 at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.

LAST MEETING
• Tech and Notre Dame met on March 23, 2018 in the NCAA Tournament at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
• The Fighting Irish advanced in the game with a 4-3 overtime victory—eventually going all the way to the National Championship Game.
• Jake Jackson scored for the Huskies to tie it with 66 seconds left but UND scored 3:36 into the extra session.
• Joel L'Esperance and Gavin Gould also scored for the Huskies. Patrick Munson stopped 28 shots.

SCOUTING USNTDP
• USNTDP is 6-1 to start the season. They have wins over Michigan State and Notre Dame, three wins over the Muskegon Lumberjacks and one over Sioux City Musketeers. The lone loss is to the Fargo Force.
• The weekend begins for USNTDP with an exhibition game at Northern Michigan.
• Jimmy Snuggerud, Rutger McGroarty, and Frank Nazar III each have 10 points through the first seven games.

NMU EXHIBITION
• The Huskies tied Northern Michigan 4-4 on October 2 at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena in exhibition play.
• Tyrone Bronte, Logan Ganie, Arvid Caderoth, and Tristan Ashbrook scored for the home team. Brian Halonen tallied three assists.
• Tech outshot NMU 37-22. Blake Pietila had 13 saves in the first 30:42. Cayden Bailey finished the final 29:18 and stopped five shots.
• The Huskies and Wildcats play four times in the regular season in CCHA action on November 12-13 and January 21-22.

CAPTAINS
• Senior forwards Trenton Bliss and Alec Broetzman are the captains of the Huskies. Broetzman wore the C as a junior and Bliss had an A.
• Senior defensemen Eric Gotz and Colin Swoyer are alternate captains for the second straight season.

COACH SHAWHAN
• Head coach Joe Shawhan is in his fifth season behind the bench. He won his 75th career game at Wisconsin on October 8, 2021.
• Shawhan's 22 wins in his first season tied for the most ever by a first-year Michigan Tech coach. Jim Nahrgang won 22 games in 1982-83.
• Shawhan was named the 22nd head coach of the Huskies on May 30, 2017, after serving as an assistant coach for Tech over the previous three seasons.

ALL-CONFERENCE SELECTIONS
• Colin Swoyer – WCHA Second Team (2020-21)
• Trenton Bliss – WCHA Third Team (2020-21)
• Arvid Caderoth – All-WCHA Rookie Team (2020-21)
• Brian Halonen – All-WCHA Rookie Team (2018-19)

NHL TRAINING CAMP
• Seven former Huskies were at NHL Training Camps.
• Pheonix Copley – Washington Capitals
• Tanner Kero – Dallas Stars
• Jujhar Khaira – Chicago Blackhawks
• Joel L'Esperance – Dallas Stars
• Jake Lucchini – Montreal Canadiens
• Mitch Reinke – Pittsburgh Penguins
• Matt Roy – LA Kings

NONCONFERENCE
• Tech plays seven nonconference games this season.
• The Huskies swept Wisconsin on October 8-9 to begin the season.
• Tech welcomes Notre Dame to the MacInnes Student Ice Arena on October 15.
• The Huskies travel to Clarkson for the second time in the last five seasons on October 29-30.
• The GLI will be a showcase with the Huskies playing at Michigan on December 29 and Michigan State on December 30.

TRANSFERS
• Michael Karow comes to Tech after four seasons and 131 games at Boston College. He played against the Huskies in the Ice Vegas Invitational when Tech won 4-3. Karow played youth hockey with Trenton Bliss.
• Matthew Quercia played three seasons and 81 games at Boston University. He comes to Tech with 18 collegiate points (nine goals, nine assists). Quercia and Colin Swoyer were teammates in the USHL at Sioux Falls.
• Tyrone Bronte was an All-WCHA Rookie Team pick at Alabama Huntsville last season. He had 13 points (four goals, nine assists) in 22 games. The Melbourne, Australia native played with Chris Lipe in Dubuque for a couple games.

PRESEASON ALL-CCHA
• Colin Swoyer was named to the Preseason All-CCHA Team, while Trenton Bliss also received votes for the squad.
• Swoyer was named to the All-WCHA Second Team as a junior and was also on the WCHA All-Academic Team, the WCHA Defenseman of the Month for February, and was a four-time WCHA Defenseman of the Week.
• Swoyer was second in the WCHA amongst defensemen with 17 points, scoring three goals and tallying 13 assists. He led Tech skaters with a plus-9 rating and led WCHA blueliners with 71 shots on goal.

IN THE PRESEASON CCHA POLL
• Tech was selected third in CCHA Preseason Coaches' Poll behind Minnesota State and Bemidji State.
• Tech finished the 2020-21 season with a 17-12-1 overall record. The Huskies were 7-7 in the WCHA and placed fifth in the final standings.

RETURNERS
Tech returns 24 players from last season with 14 forwards, 7 defensemen, and all three goaltenders.

FRESHMEN
Tech has five freshmen on the roster. The class consists of forwards Levi Stauber, Alex Nordstrom, Marcus Pedersen and defensemen Grant Docter, and Trevor Russell.

100 YEARS AGO
The Michigan College of Mines played its first collegiate hockey game on January 27, 1921. MCM beat the University of Michigan 3-0 in the first game of the series at the Amphidrome and then lost 4-3 the next night at the Calumet Colosseum.

HOCKEY REUNION
• Michigan Tech will host a 100-year hockey reunion on August 4-6, 2022 in Houghton.
• Very few collegiate hockey programs can celebrate important milestones in their history and Michigan Tech Hockey joined the elite ranks as 100-year-old legends.

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.

2020-21 RECAP
• Tech finished with a 17-12-1 overall record and had a winning season for the first time since 2017-18.
• The Huskies were 6-7-1 in the WCHA and finished fifth in the standings.
• Blake Pietila broke the school records for best save percentage (.934) and goals-against average (1.81) for a season.
• Brian Halonen ranked sixth in the nation with four game-winning goals.
• Arvid Caderoth ranked third amongst all college hockey freshmen with 16 assists.