PREVIEW: Huskies host Bowling Green for Winter Carnival

THIS WEEKEND'S GAMES
• No. 12 Michigan Tech wraps up its home schedule this weekend hosting Bowling Green for the annual Winter Carnival series.
• The puck drops at 7:07 p.m. Friday and 5:07 p.m. Saturday at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena
• The Huskies are 20-7-4 overall and 13-5-4 in the CCHA. BGSU is 14-14-2 overall and 11-9-2 in the CCHA.
• Saturday will be Senior Day as Tristan Ashbrook, Jake Crespi, Logan Ganie, David Jankowski, Chris Lipe, Ryan O'Connell, Blake Pietila, Logan Pietila, Parker Saretsky, and Brett Thorne will be honored after the game.
• The Huskies and Falcons split their first series of the season in Ohio in November.

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 21st year behind the microphone.

FLOHOCKEY.TV
• All Michigan Tech home and CCHA games during the 2022-23 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 USHL, Atlantic Hockey and ECHL schedule.
• Download the FloSports app today on Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Roku, and the App Store.

WINTER CARNIVAL
• The Huskies and Falcons will play a total goal series for the MacInnes Trophy.
• A Winter Carnival MVP will also be presented after Saturday's game.
• Tech has won the Winter Carnival series in eight of the last 10 years.
• The Huskies are 93-57-14 (.611) all-time in Winter Carnival, dating back to 1950.
• Tech outscored the Falcons 6-4 last year and Brian Halonen was named Winter Carnival MVP.

HUSKIES RANKED
• Michigan Tech is ranked No. 12 in this week's DCU/USCHO and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls for the second straight week.
• The No. 12 ranking is the highest for Michigan Tech since March 14, 2016.

CCHA GOALTENDER OF THE WEEK
• Blake Pietila is the CCHA Goaltender of the Week for the third straight week and for the sixth time this season. He earned the 13th weekly conference award of his career.
• Pietila went 2-0 on the weekend with a .969 save percentage at Bemidji State. Pietila stopped 25 shots in a 2-0 shutout win Friday. He pushed his single-season school record mark to eight shutouts and his career record to 18. Pietila made 37 saves Saturday in a 3-2 win, making 30 saves for the eighth time this season and winning his 54th career game. Pietila leads the nation in shutouts (8), is second in wins (19), third in minutes played, fourth in save percentage (.931), and fourth in goals-against average (1.87).

SCOUTING THE FALCONS
• Bowling Green is 14-14-2 overall and third in the CCHA with an 11-9-2 conference record.
• The Falcons are winless in their last five games and are 5-7-1 on the road.
• Head coach Ty Eigneris in his fourth season.
• BGSU was picked third in the CCHA Preseason Poll after going 15-19-3 last season with an 11-14-1 CCHA record.
• Eric Parker and Austen Swankler were named to the All-CCHA Rookie Team last season. Swankler leads the team with 16 goals and 39 points.

HUSKIES AGAINST FALCONS
• Arvid Caderoth – 5 assists
• Logan Pietila – 2 goals, 3 assists
• Parker Saretsky – 2 goals, 1 assist
• Logan Ganie – 1 goal, 2 assists
• Tristan Ashbrook – 2 goals
• Nick Nardella – 2 assists

FIRST MEETING
• Michigan Tech split its first CCHA road series of the season at Bowling Green.
• The Huskies won 3-2 Friday as Coach Shawhan picked up career win number 100. Parker Saretsky, Ryland Mosley, and Logan Ganie scored the goals. Blake Pietila made 41 saves.
• The Falcons won 6-1 Saturday. Trevor Russell scored the lone goal.

SERIES INFO
• Tech is 21-23-5 all-time against Bowling Green since 1972.
• The Huskies are 9-8-4 against the Falcons in Houghton.
• The teams have split their last two meetings.

HOBEY BAKER & MIKE RICHTER WATCH LIST
• Blake Pietila is a candidate for the 2023 Hobey Baker Award, given annually to college hockey's top player.
• Pietila is also on the Watch List for the Mike Richter Award, given annually to the top goalie in men's NCAA Division I hockey since 2014.
• Pietila was named the CCHA Goaltender of the Month for January and October, the CCHA Goaltender of the Week six times, and the Most Valuable Player of the Desert Hockey Classic.
• For his career, he has been a two-time finalist for the Mike Richter Award and a two-time Hobey Baker Award nominee.

STAT RANKINGS
• Ryland Mosley leads the nation with three shorthanded goals and is third with four game-winning goals.
• Blake Pietila leads the nation with eight shutouts, is fourth in save percentage (.931), and fourth in goals-against average (1.87).
• Tech is second in the nation in penalty-killing percentage (.885).
• The Huskies are second in the nation in scoring defense (2.00).
• Tech is sixth nationally with five shorthanded goals.

LAST TIME OUT
• No. 12 Michigan Tech earned a CCHA sweep at Bemidji State. The Huskies shut out the Beavers 2-0 Friday and won 3-2 Saturday.
• Jack Works, Nick Nardella, Logan Pietila, Parker Saretsky, and Marcus Pedersen scored.
• Blake Pietila pushed his single-season school record mark to eight shutouts and his career record to 18.

COACH SHAWHAN
• Head coach Joe Shawhan is in his sixth season behind the bench and holds a record of 115-84-20.
• He won his 100th career game at Bowling Green on November 5, 2022, and ranks third in wins by a Tech hockey coach.
• 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.

DESERT HOCKEY CLASSIC CHAMPS
• Michigan Tech won its second Desert Hockey Classic with a 4-2 win over Arizona State in the semifinal and a 3-2 victory over No. 6 Boston University in the title game. Ryland Mosley and Logan Pietila each had a goal and two assists on the weekend. Evan Orr scored his first career goal Friday.
• Blake Pietila was named Desert Hockey Classic Most Valuable Player after going 2-0-0 with a 2.00 goals-against average and a .932 save percentage. He made 24 saves in the semifinal and 31 in the championship game.

NON-CONFERENCE
• Tech finished 7-2 in its non-conference schedule.
• The Huskies swept at Alaska and against St. Lawrence. Tech also defeated No. 11 Michigan State, Arizona State, and No. 6 Boston University.
• The losses were to Ferris State and No. 18 Western Michigan.

LOOKING AHEAD
• The regular season wraps up at Minnesota State on February 24-25.
• The CCHA Mason Cup Playoffs begin with a best-of-three series on March 3-5.
• The CCHA Tournament Semifinal is March 11 with the Championship game on March 18.

GLI RECAP
• Michigan Tech hosted the 56th Great Lakes Invitational at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids.
• Tech won the GLI Third Place Game 3-2 in overtime over No. 11 Michigan State.
• Arvid Caderoth scored the game-winner on the power play in overtime. Brett Thorne tied the game with 1:13 left with a power play goal. David Jankowski also scored.
• The Huskies fell to GLI Champion No. 18 Western Michigan in the semifinal. Kash Rasmussen scored the lone goal for the Huskies.
• Brett Thorne was named to the GLI All-Tournament Team.

CCHA GOALTENDER OF JANUARY
• For January, Pietila held a 1.37 goals-against average and .947 save percentage while going 6-1-1 with three shutouts.
• He led the NCAA in shutouts, goals-against average, and save percentage among goaltenders who played five games.
• Pietila was named the CCHA Goaltender of the Week three times during January and was the MVP of the Deseret Hockey Classic after leading the Huskies to the title with 55 saves on 59 shots.

CCHA DEFENSEMAN OF NOVEMBER
• Brett Thorne was the CCHA Defenseman of the Month for November.
• Thorne helped Tech to a 5-1-2 month, posting league-highs in assists (6) and plus/minus (+6) over six games while ranking sixth in points per game (1.00) and seventh in blocked shots (11).
• Thorne has been an integral part of a Tech defense that ranks fifth in the nation in scoring defense (2.0) and eighth in penalty-killing percentage (.867).

CCHA GOALTENDER OF OCTOBER
• Blake Pietila was named the CCHA Goaltender of the Month for October.
• He earned the monthly honor for the fourth time in his career and was also named a runner-up for HCA National Goaltender of the Month.
• Pietila led CCHA goaltenders in save percentage (.944), goals-against average (1.51), and wins (4) during October.

CCHA PLAYER OF THE WEEK
• February 6 – Blake Pietila – CCHA Goaltender of the Week
• January 30 – Blake Pietila – CCHA Goaltender of the Week
• January 23 – Blake Pietila – CCHA Goaltender of the Week
• January 9 – Blake Pietila – CCHA Goaltender of the Week
• January 3 – Brett Thorne – CCHA Defenseman of the Week
• November 21 – Kyle Kukkonen – CCHA Rookie of the Week
• November 21 – Brett Thorne – CCHA Defenseman of the Week
• October 17 – Blake Pietila – CCHA Goaltender of the Week
• October 31 – Blake Pietila – CCHA Goaltender of the Week

PRESEASON ALL-CCHA
• Senior goaltender Blake Pietila was named to the Preseason All-CCHA Team.
• He was a semifinalist for Mike Richter Award and was named to the All-CCHA Second Team as a junior.
• Last season, Pietila ranked second in the CCHA in goals-against average (1.99), wins (16), shutouts (5), saves (614), and was fourth with a .911 save percentage in CCHA games last season.

NHL DRAFT PICKS
• Kyle Kukkonen – Picked by the Anaheim Ducks in the 2021 NHL Draft as the 162nd overall pick in the sixth round.
• Ryan O'Connell – Picked by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2017 NHL Draft as the 203rd overall pick in the seventh round.

CAPTAINS
• Senior Logan Pietila along with juniors Arvid Caderoth and Brett Thorne are the captains.
• Junior Ryland Mosley is the alternate captain.

CCHA PLAY
• Michigan Tech was in the CCHA from 1981-84 and holds a 69-52-7 all-time CCHA regular season record.
• The Huskies are 3-6-2 in the CCHA Playoffs with the three wins over Ferris State.

ALL-CONFERENCE SELECTIONS
• Blake Pietila – CCHA Second Team (2021-22)
• Arvid Caderoth – All-WCHA Rookie Team (2020-21)
• Tyrone Bronte – All-WCHA Rookie Team (2020-21) with Alabama Huntsville

TRANSFERS
• Ryan O'Connell played four seasons (2018-22) and 117 collegiate games at Ohio State. He tallied 25 points with two goals and 23 assists for the Buckeyes and was a member of 2019 Big Ten regular season championship and NCAA Tournament squad.
• Jack Works began his collegiate career with 15 games over the past two seasons with Denver. He tallied one assist with the Pioneers in his NCAA debut and was a member of the 2022 NCAA National Championship team. Works was named an AHCA All-America Scholar (2020-21) and was on the NCHC Academic All-Conference Team (2021-22).
• David Jankowski played four seasons (2018-22) and 110 games for St. Lawrence. He tallied 53 collegiate points with 20 goals and 33 assists and was the team captain in 2021-22. The Saints won the 2021 ECAC Tournament Championship. Jankowski was named to ECAC Hockey All-Academic Team.

IN THE PRESEASON CCHA POLL
• Tech was picked fifth in the Preseason CCHA Coaches' Poll.
• Minnesota State, Northern Michigan, Bowling Green, and Bemidji State were picked ahead of the Huskies.
• Lake Superior State, Ferris State, and St. Thomas rounded out the poll.

RETURNERS
• Tech returns 18 players from last season with 13 forwards, four defensemen, and a goaltender.
• Fourteen Huskies returners saw significant ice time last season with Logan Pietila (23), Brett Thorne (17), Tristan Ashbrook (16), Arvid Caderoth (16), Ryland Mosley (13) being the top returning point-getters.

FRESHMEN
• Tech has 10 freshmen on the roster which ranks eighth in the nation for the largest freshmen class.
• Forwards: Kyle and Trevor Kukkonen, Kash Rasmussen
• Defensemen: Oliver Bezick, Frank Dovorany, Topi Heiskanen, Evan Orr, Kasper Vaharautio
• Goaltenders: Michael Morelli, Max Vayrynen

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.

2021-22 RECAP
• Tech finished with a 21-13-3 overall record and was the No. 2 seed in the CCHA Mason Cup Playoffs with a 16-8-2 mark.
• Tech received votes in every poll throughout the season and finished No. 14.
• Tech received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, making its 14th all-time NCAA appearance and the second under head coach Joe Shawhan.
• Seven Huskies signed professional contracts after the season.
• The Huskies finished third in the nation in penalty-killing percentage and were fourth in power-play percentage and scoring defense.