PREVIEW: Huskies open 2022 at LSSU for CCHA series

THIS WEEK'S GAMES
• No. 19 Michigan Tech travels to Lake Superior State for a CCHA series and the first games of 2022.
• The puck drops at 7:07 p.m. Friday and 6:07 p.m. Saturday at Taffy Abel Arena.
• The Huskies are 10-8-1 overall this season and 7-5 in the CCHA.
• The Huskies and Lakers split their series in Houghton on November 5-6.

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.

HUSKIES RANKED
• Tech is ranked No. 19 in this week's DCU/USCHO.com Top 20 poll.
• Tech has received votes in all 14 USCHO polls this season and was ranked as high as No. 16 on October 11.
• Tech was in the top 20 four times last season with the highest ranking of 18 on February 15 and January 25.

50 YEARS AT THE MAC
• The first game at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena was played on January 14, 1972.
• Tech defeated Minnesota Duluth 6-5.

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.

SERIES INFO
• Tech is 51-28-8 all-time against LSSU dating back to 1969.
• The Huskies are 17-13-6 against the Lakers in the Soo.
• Tech is 5-4-1 in its last 10 games with LSSU.

LAST MEETINGS
• The Huskies and Lakers split their series in Houghton on November 5-6.
• LSSU won 3-2 in overtime Friday and Tech earned a 2-0 shutout Saturday.
• Tristan Ashbrook, Brian Halonen, Trenton Bliss, and Colin Swoyer scored in the series for the Black and Gold. Blake Pietila stopped 38 shots on the weekend and earned his second shutout of the season and fifth of his career Saturday.

LAST SEASON AGAINST LSSU
• Tech went 1-2-1 against LSSU last season.
• The teams met to open the season in the Soo. There was a scoreless tie in the first game followed by a 4-1 LSSU win.
• Tech split a WCHA series at home in February. The Huskies fell 3-1 the first night on Tuesday, February 16 and won 4-1 the second night on Tuesday, February 23.
• Trenton Bliss had two goals against LSSU last season. Eric Gotz, Brian Halonen, Nick Nardella, and Alec Broetzman also found the back of the net.

SCOUTING THE LAKERS
• LSSU is 11-12-1 overall and 7-9 in the CCHA. The Lakers are fifth in the conference standings, three points behind Tech.
• The Lakers went 19-7-3 overall last season and 13-6 in the WCHA. They won the WCHA Playoff Championship
• Head Coach Damon Whitten is in his eighth season as head coach and is 110-145-28 overall.
• Junior Louis Boudon leads the team with 27 points and 11 goals.

HUSKIES FOR HOBEY
• Trenton Bliss is a Hobey Baker candidate for the third year in a row. The co-captain is second on the Huskies with 15 points on six goals and nine assists.
• Brian Halonen leads the Huskies with 23 points and 12 goals to rank sixth in the CCHA in goals and ninth in points.
• Pietila is a Hobey Baker candidate for the second straight season. He has started all 19 games and ranks second in the CCHA in goals-against average (1.99) and save percentage (.916).

BY THE NUMBERS
• Michigan Tech ranks sixth in the nation in scoring defense (2.05), seventh in penalty kill percentage (89.5), and 11th power-play percentage (24.1).
• Brian Halonen is ninth in the nation in goals per game (0.63). He leads the Huskies with 12 goals, 11 assists, and 23 points.
• Justin Misiak is inching his way towards the Michigan Tech games played record of 165 set by Richard Novak (1984-89). The fifth-year senior has played in 163 career games.
• Tech leads the CCHA in penalty kill percentage, and fewest penalty minutes.
• The Huskies are second in the CCHA in shots on goal per game.

LAST TIME OUT
• No. 18 Tech and No. 3 Michigan skated to a scoreless tie on December 29 in a Great Lakes Invitational Showcase game at Yost Ice Arena. Blake Pietila earned his third shutout of the season and the sixth of his career with 30 saves.
• The Huskies fell 3-2 in overtime the next night at Michigan State. Brian Halonen and Nick Nardella scored for the Huskies in the third OT game in a row.

CCHA PLAY
• Michigan Tech was in the CCHA from 1981-84 and holds a 48-45-1 CCHA record.
• The last CCHA game Tech played before this season was on February 25, 1984, against Lake Superior State.

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 went 3-3-1 in the non-conference schedule.
• The Huskies swept No. 13 Wisconsin on October 8-9 to begin the season.
• Tech fell 2-1 in overtime to No. 17 Notre Dame on October 15 in the home-opener.
• The Huskies split at Clarkson on October 29-30.
• Tech tied No. 3 Michigan and fell to Michigan State in overtime in the GLI Showcase.

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.