PREVIEW: Tech travels to St. Thomas for first time since 1929

THIS WEEK'S GAMES
• No. 15 Michigan Tech takes its five-game, and seven-game CCHA, winning streak on the road to St. Thomas for a CCHA series.
• The puck drops at 8:07 p.m. Friday and Saturday night at St. Thomas Ice Arena.
• The teams met for the first time since 1953 on December 10-11 in Houghton with a Huskies sweep.
• The last Tech road game against St. Thomas was in 1929.
• Tech is 15-8-1 overall and 12-5 in the CCHA and started the week with a 5-1 victory over Northern Michigan.

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. 15 in this week's DCU/USCHO.com Top 20 poll, jumping three spots from last week.
• The Huskies are also No. 14 in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll, climbing into the top 15 for the first time season.
• Tech has received votes in all 17 USCHO and USA/Today USA Hockey Magazine polls this season.
• Tech was in the top 20 four times last season with the highest ranking of 18 on February 15 and January 25.

TUESDAY NIGHT
• Tech earned its fifth straight win Tuesday, overwhelming Northern Michigan 5-1 at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena.
• Tommy Parrottino and Trenton Bliss each had the first four-point game of their careers.
• Tommy Parrottino (2), Brian Halonen, Logan Pietila, and Trenton Bliss scored. Blake Pietila made 21 saves.
• The Huskies and Wildcats will wrap up the CCHA series on Tuesday, February 8 at the Berry Events Center.

CCHA GOALIE OF MONTH
• Blake Pietila was named the CCHA Goaltender of the Month for January.
• He backstopped the Huskies to a 4-0 record in January with a 1.0 goals-against average and .952 save percentage.
• He earned back-to-back shutouts at Lake Superior State (Jan. 14-15), not allowing a Lakers goal for the third straight game. Pietila also stopped 48 shots in a CCHA sweep of Bemidji State on January 28-29.

SCOUTING THE TOMMIES
• St. Thomas is 2-24 overall and 2-18 in the CCHA.
• The first NCAA Division I victory was a 5-2 win over Ferris State on October 23. They also defeated the Bulldogs on January 15.
• The Tommies were picked eighth in the preseason poll only two points behind the Bulldogs.
• Christiano Versich and Matthew Jennings lead the team with 13 points. Kyler Grundy has scored six 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.

HOME ICE FOR BROETZMAN
• Co-captain Alec Broetzman played high school hockey at St. Thomas Ice Arena for St. Thomas Academy.
• Broetzman skated in 75 games for the Academy and scored 62 goals while adding 55 assists.

FIRST MEETINGS
• The Huskies picked up their third sweep of the season with a pair of victories over St. Thomas at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena on December 10-11.
• Tech won 6-1 Friday and 4-3 in overtime Saturday.
• Brian Halonen had three goals in the series, including the game-winner Saturday. Justin Misiak scored twice Friday, and Tommy Parrottino found the back of the net both nights. Colin Swoyer, Tristan Ashbrook, and Logan Pietila also scored in the series.

CURRENT POINT STREAKS
• Brian Halonen – 6 games (5 goals, 4 assists)
• Trenton Bliss – 6 games (1 goal, 10 assists)
• Tommy Parrottino – 3 games (3 goals, 5 assists)

SERIES INFO
• Tech is 11-4-1 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.
• The last time Tech played a road game at St. Thomas was January 1929.

LAST WEEKEND
• The Huskies earned their fourth straight win and third straight CCHA sweep with a pair of 5-2 victories over Bemidji State at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.
• Alec Broetzman, Brian Halonen, and Logan Ganie each had a pair of goals in the series. Eric Gotz, Colin Swoyer, Tommy Parrottino, and Tyrell Buckley also found the back of the net.
• Tech won three of four games over Bemidji State this season.

GAMES PLAYED RECORD
• Justin Misiak broke Richard Novak's record for games played in a Michigan Tech uniform last weekend. Misiak has appeared in 168 career games.
• The fifth-year senior forward has 59 career points with 24 goals and 35 assists.
• Misiak is one short of a career-high with 14 points on four goals and 10 assists this season.
• Novak tallied 77 points as a forward with 35 goals and 42 assists. He had an injury-shortened season in 1986-87 which allowed him an extra year of eligibility.

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 25 points on seven goals and 18 assists.
• Brian Halonen leads the Huskies with 31 points and 16 goals to rank third in the CCHA in goals and sixth in points.
• Pietila is a Hobey Baker candidate for the second straight season. He has started all 24 games for the Huskies and is 15-8-1. He ranks second in the CCHA with a 1.79 goals-against average and .923 save percentage. He ranks fourth in the nation in shutouts (4) and seventh in goals-against average.

50 YEARS AT THE MAC
• Michigan Tech is celebrating 50 years of hockey at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.
• 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.

BY THE NUMBERS
• The four games in January are the fewest by a Michigan Tech team since 1943 and tied Western Michigan for the fewest amongst college hockey teams in January 2022.
• Tech leads the nation with five losses in overtime.
• The Huskies are second in the nation in regulation losses with three. Quinnipiac has one loss in regulation.
• Michigan Tech ranks second in the nation in power-play percentage (29.7), fourth in scoring defense (1.83), and sixth in penalty killing percentage (89.0).
• Tech leads the CCHA in the fewest penalty minutes.
• The Huskies are second in the CCHA in shots on goal per game and blocked shots.
• Blake Pietila is fourth in the nation in shutouts (4) and seventh in goals-against average.

CCHA PLAY
• Michigan Tech was in the CCHA from 1981-84 and holds a 53-45-1 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
• Blake Pietila – CCHA Goaltender of the Week on January 17.
• 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 with only one regulation loss.
• 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.