PREVIEW: Huskies host newest NCAA Division I team

THIS WEEKEND'S SERIES
• Michigan Tech hosts the newest NCAA Division I program St. Thomas this weekend for a CCHA series.
• The puck drops at 7:07 p.m. Friday and 6:07 p.m. Saturday at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.
• The Huskies and Tommies will meet in St. Paul on February 4-5.

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.

MICHIGAN TECH HOCKEY BOOK
• University Images has a new book on sale, "Michigan Tech Hockey, 100 Years of Memories."
• You can purchase the book for $29.95 in the store or online at MichiganTechHuskies.com/HockeyBook.
• Proceeds from the book will benefit the Michigan Tech Hockey program.

TADYCH'S KIDS DAY
Saturday is the annual Tadych's Marketplace Foods Kids Day at Michigan Tech. Tadych's Marketplace Foods of Houghton has purchased 500 youth tickets for Saturday's Michigan Tech Athletic events that it will give away beginning Friday (Dec. 10) at noon.

SERIES INFO
• Tech is 9-4-1 all-time against St. Thomas, dating back to 1922.
• The two teams played from 1922 until 1953.
• The Huskies are 9-4-1 in home games, 2-0 in away games, and lost 8-1 in a neutral site game in Calumet.

CCHA PLAY
• Michigan Tech was in the CCHA from 1981-84 and holds a 46-45-1 CCHA record.
• The last CCHA game Tech played before this season was on February 25, 1984, against Lake Superior State.

SCOUTING THE TOMMIES
• St. Thomas is 1-17 overall and 1-11 in the CCHA.
• The first NCAA Division I victory was a 5-2 win over Ferris State on October 23.
• The Tommies were picked eighth in the preseason poll only two points behind the Bulldogs.
• Christiano Versich leads the team with 10 points. Kyler Grundy has scored five goals.
• Rico Blasi is in his first season as head coach of the Tommies. Blasi coached Miami for 20 years and had 11 NCAA Tournament appearances and a pair of Frozen Fours.

POINT STREAK
• Three Game – Justin Misiak (1 goal, 2 assists)

BY THE NUMBERS
• Michigan Tech ranks fifth in the nation in penalty kill percentage at 88.9 percent to lead the CCHA.
• Justin Misiak has eight points in the last seven games with a goal and seven assists. The senior has played in 159 career games.
• Tech ranks ninth nationally in scoring defense (2.13) and power-play percentage (26.8 percent).

GLI TICKETS
• Tickets for the Great Lakes Invitational are now available through the University of Michigan ticket office and Michigan State University box office.
• Michigan Tech will play at Yost Ice Arena against the Wolverines on December 29 at 7 p.m. Tickets at Yost Ice Arena are $30 each, plus a $5 service charge per order. To sit in a Michigan Tech block of seats use promo code MTU at mgoblue.com/go/promo.
• The Huskies then head over to Munn Ice Arena on December 30 to play the Spartans at 5 p.m. A game time at MSU has not yet been set. Tickets at Munn Ice Arena are $25 for reserved chairback seats and $20 for bench seats. Online orders can be placed at msuspartans.com.

LAST TIME OUT
• The Huskies had a pair of losses at No. 2 Minnesota State last weekend. The Mavericks won 2-1 in overtime Friday and 3-1 Saturday with an empty-net goal.
• Logan Pietila scored a shorthanded goal Friday and Justin Misiak had a power-play goal Saturday.

CCHA PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
• Tristan Ashbrook – CCHA Forward of the Week on November 29.
• Alec Broetzman – CCHA Forward of the Week on October 11.
• Blake Pietila – CCHA Goaltender of the Week on October 11.

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 80th career game at Bemidji State on November 19, 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)

NONCONFERENCE
• Tech plays seven nonconference games this season.
• The Huskies swept Wisconsin on October 8-9 to begin the season.
• Tech fell 2-1 in overtime to Notre Dame on October 15 in the home-opener.
• The Huskies split at Clarkson 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 came 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 of 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.