Huskies take down Mavs in top 20 battle
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Minnesota State (8-5-0, 5-2-0) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
|
Michigan Tech (9-3-2, 5-2-2) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
HOUGHTON, Mich. – No. 20 Michigan Tech dominated the first two periods and held on for a 3-2 win over No. 10 Minnesota State Friday at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena. Logan Ganie, Kyle Kukkonen, and Kash Rasmussen scored as the Huskies improved to 9-3-2 overall and 5-2-2 in the CCHA.
"Great win against a top 10 team," Tech coach Joe Shawhan said. "We had a great goaltending performance in the third and got some big minutes out of our top guys. It was a big night for us."
The Huskies dominated the first period, outshooting the Mavericks 18-3 with great scoring chances left and right. Brett Thorne had a pair of early breakaways and a tip by Kyle Kukkonen hit the crossbar.
Finally, Logan Ganie broke the ice with his third of the season and 14th of his career to give the Huskies the lead. He finished off a centering feed from Tristan Ashbrook and Parker Saretsky with 2:59 left in the first.
The second period was more of the same and the Huskies made it 2-0 with a power play goal by Kyle Kukkonen 6:20 after intermission. Brett Thorne took a shot that was blocked and Kukkonen was at the doorstep to clean up the play for his sixth of the season and fourth on the power play. Ryland Mosley also assisted as all three extended their point streaks to three games.
MSU (8-5-0, 5-2-0 CCHA) became the MSU of recent years with a ton of offensive pressure in the third. Christian Fitzgerald drew the Mavs to within one only 46 seconds after the second intermission when he stole a puck and buried it under the goaltender.
Tech had to kill off a penalty with 7:52 remaining in the third. MSU Coach Mike Hastings added the extra attacker with 2:14 left and Kash Rasmussen scored into the empty net to push it back to a two-goal game with 2:07 on the clock with his second of the season. David Jankowski assisted for a point in his fourth straight game.
The Mavs weren't done and cut it back to a one-goal game with 53.1 seconds left when David Silye scored after Blake Pietila lost his stick in the corner.
Arvid Caderoth won a late faceoff, his 20th of the night, and the Huskies milked the clock away.
"Mankato is a really good team, but I feel like we were well prepared," Caderoth said. "We knew they're really good on faceoffs, so we watched a lot of video and got some good scouting reports."
Blake Pietila finished with 33 saves, including 24 in the third period alone. Keenan Rancier had 30 saves for the Mavericks.
"I thought we played very well through the first two periods. They're a really good team and got a push in the third. I thought we did a good job packing it in and squeaking out the win," Blake Pietila said. "I think the fourth period is the biggest period of the weekend when you're trying to get a sweep. I think if we play like we did the first two periods then we can beat anybody."
Tech was 1-for-4 on the power play and 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.
The two teams will wrap up the CCHA series at 6:07 p.m. on Saturday.
