PREVIEW: Huskies open CCHA playoffs hosting BGSU

PLAYOFF HOCKEY
• Michigan Tech hosts Bowling Green this weekend for a best-of-three CCHA Mason Cup Quarterfinal series.
• The Huskies are the No. 3 seed and the Falcons are No. 6.
• The puck drops at 7:07 p.m. Friday, 6:07 p.m. Saturday, and, if necessary, 5:07 p.m. Sunday.
• The Huskies went 3-1 against the Falcons in the regular season with the lone loss in overtime. Tech has outscored BGSU 14-5 in the season series.

OTHER MATCHUPS
• No. 8 Ferris State travels to No. 1 Bemidji State.
• No. 7 Lake Superior State is at No. 2 St. Thomas.
• No. 5 Northern Michigan is on the road at No. 4 Minnesota State.
• The CCHA Tournament Semifinal is March 16 at the two highest remaining seeds.
• The CCHA Mason Cup Championship Game is March 22 at the top remaining seed.

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 22nd year behind the microphone.

FLOHOCKEY.TV
• All Michigan Tech home and CCHA games during the 2023-24 season will be live-streamed on FloHockey.tv.
• FloSports provides each subscriber with access to all content and events with the purchase of a monthly or yearly subscription.
• FloSports is available on iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire, and Chromecast.

THIRD IN NCAA SHUTUOUTS
• Blake Pietila earned his 23rd career shutout Saturday against St. Thomas, placing him in sole possession of third-most in NCAA Division I men's hockey history.
• Only Minnesota State's Dryden McKay (34) and Michigan State's Ryan Miller (26) had more.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
• Bowling Green is 13-20-1 overall and finished 11-12-1 in the CCHA.
• Ty Eigner is in his 5th season as head coach of the Falcons.
• Ryan O'Hara leads the game with 18 points and 10 goals.
• Goaltender Cole Moore is 10-12-1 with a 2.78 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage.
• In the CCHA preseason polls, BGSU was picked third in both the coaches and media polls.

SERIES INFO
• Tech is 25-25-5 all-time against Bowling Green, dating back to 1972.
• The Huskies are 11-10-4 against the Falcons in Houghton.
• Tech is 2-5 against BGSU in the conference tournament with a 1-0 mark at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena when the Huskies won 3-2 in double overtime in the 2017 WCHA Championship Game.
• The Falcons have swept both first-round best-of-three series in 2013-14 and 2018-19.

FIRST MEETING
• Michigan Tech split its weekend with Bowling Green on December 1-2, taking 4-of-6 CCHA points.
• The Falcons won 2-1 in overtime Friday and the Huskies rebounded with a 3-2 win Saturday.
• Logan Pietila, Kash Rasmussen, Max Koskipirtti, and Isaac Gordon scored the weekend goals, and Blake Pietila made 59 saves.

SECOND MEETING
• Tech earned its first six-point CCHA sweep of the season at Bowling Green in the final road trip of the regular season on February 23-24.
• The Huskies won 7-0 Friday and 3-1 Saturday. Nine different players scored the 10 goals with Alex Nordstrom scoring twice on Friday.

SCORING LEADER
• Freshman Isaac Gordon leads the Huskies with 30 points this season. He has 16 goals and 14 assists and ranks third in the CCHA in goals and fifth in points.
• The last time a Michigan Tech freshman had at least 30 points was in 2012-13 when Alex Petan tallied 34.

MISC STATS
• BGSU is 6-10-1 on the road.
• Tech is 8-7-3 at home.
• The Huskies are 7-1-2 when scoring three goals in a game.
• Tech leads the CCHA in shots on goal per game (31.91).
• The Huskies are second in the CCHA in fewest penalty minutes per game (7:58).
• Eight of Isaac Gordon's 16 goals have been scored in the first period.
• 12 of Ryland Mosley's 14 goals have been scored after the first period.
• Tech is 9-1-3 when scoring the first goal of the third period.

LAST TIME OUT
• Michigan Tech split with St. Thomas on the final weekend of the regular season. The Huskies fell 2-0 Friday and bounced back with a 6-0 victory on Saturday.
• Logan Pietila, Blais Richartz, Chase Pietila, Levi Stauber, and Nick Williams scored.
• Blake Pietila stopped 43-of-44 shots on the weekend and earned his 23rd career shutout and 72nd win Saturday.

STAT RANKINGS
• Isaac Gordon is third in the CCHA with 16 goals and fifth with 30 points. Gordon is fifth in goals amongst NCAA rookies.
• Chase Pietila leads the team with 17 assists which ranks fourth in the CCHA and eighth in the nation amongst rookie defensemen. He leads the CCHA with 22 penalties.
• Ryland Mosley ranks fifth in the CCHA with three game-winning goals and fourth with six power-play goals.
• Trevor Russell ranks fifth in the CCHA with 50 blocked shots.

GLI CHAMPS
• Michigan Tech won its 12th Great Lakes Invitational Championship on December 29 at Van Andel Arena.
• The Huskies came back from a 2-0 deficit to defeat Alaska 3-2 in overtime in the semifinal.
• Tech tied No. 7 Michigan State 3-3 and then defeated the Spartans 1-0 in the shootout.
• Jack Works had a hat trick in the title game and was named GLI MVP.
• Blake Pietila stopped a career-high 54 shots and then made all three saves in the shootout and was also named to the GLI All-Tournament Team.
• Ryland Mosley and Chase Pietila were also honored on the GLI All-Tournament Team.

KOSKIPIRTTI AT WJC
• Freshman Max Koskipirtti was on Finland's roster for the 2024 IIHF World Championship. Finland fell to Czechia 8-5 in the Bronze Medal game.
• Koskipirtti has skated in 19 games for the Huskies this season at center. He has tallied three goals and nine assists and is a plus-4. Koskipirtti scored the game-winning goal at Minnesota State (Nov. 25) and had a pair of assists against Augustana (Nov. 3).
• Blake Pietila (USA – 2013), Liam Garvey (USA – 1993), Pat Mikesch (USA - 1993), Jim Storm (USA - 1991), and Damian Rhodes (USA - 1988) are the previous five Huskies to play in the WJC.

HAT TRICK NOTES
• Ryland Mosley, Isaac Gordon, and Jack Works have each netted a hat trick this season.
• Bentley, Maine, Northeastern, Penn State, and Wisconsin also have three different players with hat tricks. Bentley leads the nation with four hat tricks.
• The last time Tech had three hat tricks in a season was 2019-20 when the Huskies had five.

HUSKY HAT TRICKS
• Isaac Gordon had a hat trick in the 6-4 win over Augustana on Friday. He scored a goal in each period.
• Ryland Mosley netted a hat trick in Saturday's 4-3 overtime win over the Vikings. He scored Tech's last three goals, including the overtime game-winner.
• The last time Tech had hat tricks on back-to-back nights was October 17-18, 2003 against Northern Michigan. Chris Conner scored a goal each period in a 4-3 OT NMU win in Marquette. Colin Murphy scored four goals the next night in a 7-6 OT win for the Huskies at the Mac. Tech trailed 6-3 with 2:06 remaining. Nick Anderson scored at 17:55, Murphy at 18:34, again at 19:32, and then he won the game 2:58 into overtime.
• Jack Works had a hat trick in the GLI Championship game. He scored on the power play in the first period and added a pair of third-period goals. He was named MVP of the tournament after helping the Huskies to their 12th title.

CCHA PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
• Feb. 26 – Blake Pietila – CCHA Goaltender of the Week
• Feb. 26 – Jack Works – CCHA Forward of the Week
• Jan. 29 – Isaac Gordon – CCHA Rookie of the Week
• Jan. 22 – Isaac Gordon – CCHA Rookie of the Week
• Jan. 2 – Jack Works – CCHA Forward of the Week
• Jan. 2 – Blake Pietila – CCHA Goaltender of the Week
• Jan. 2 – Chase Pietila – CCHA Defenseman of the Week
• Jan. 2 – Chase Pietila – CCHA Rookie of the Week
• Dec. 4 – Blake Pietila – CCHA Goaltender of the Week
• Nov. 27 – Ryland Mosley – CCHA Forward of the Week
• Nov. 27 – Matthew Campbell – CCHA Defenseman of the Week
• Nov. 6 – Isaac Gordon – CCHA Rookie of the Week
• Nov. 6 – Chase Pietila – CCHA Defenseman of the Week

CCHA GOALTENDER OF THE MONTH
• Blake Pietila was the CCHA Goaltender of the Month for February.
• It's the second time this season and the eighth time in his career that he has been named the conference goaltender of the month.
• Pietila went 3-2-1 during February with a 1.99 goals-against average and a .925 save percentage. He earned one shutout and stopped over 25 shots four times with three 31-save games.

CCHA GOALTENDER OF THE MONTH
• Blake Pietila was named the CCHA Goaltender of the Month for December.
• It's the seventh time in his career that he was named the conference goaltender of the month.
• Pietila went 3-2-1 between the pipes with only one regulation loss in December. He held a 2.31 goals-against average and a .932 save percentage.

CCHA ROOKIE OF THE MONTH
• Isaac Gordon was named the CCHA Rookie of the Month for November after he tallied nine points for the Huskies in the second month of the season.
• Gordon scored seven goals and added a pair of assists in November. He had 23 shots on goal and was a plus-3.

GAMES WIN RECORD
• Fifth-year goaltender Blake Pietila set a school record with his 59th career win on November 4 with a 6-4 victory over Augustana. He stopped 19 shots to earn the victory.
• Pietila won 14 games as a sophomore, 21 as a junior, 23 as a senior, and 14 so far this season.

CCHA STUDENT-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
• Blake Pietila has been named the CCHA Student-Athlete of the Year.
• He earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in the spring and is currently pursuing a Master of Business Administration, holding a 3.62 cumulative grade-point average.
• Other Huskies to be honored as the conference student-athlete of the year are Jamie Phillips (2015-16), Tanner Kero (2014-15), Eli Vlaisavljevich (2009-10), and Geoff Sarjeant (1991-92).

IN OVERTIME
• Tech has played 11 overtime games this season and is 3-2-6 in the extra session.
• The three wins are over Augustana (Ryland Mosley), Minnesota State (Ryland Mosley), and Alaska (Logan Pietila).
• The overtime losses are to Ferris State and Bowling Green.

IN THE SHOOTOUT
• Tech has been to six shootouts this season and is 2-4.
• The Huskies won 2-1 in a shootout against Alaska with Max Koskipirtti and Logan Pietila scoring.
• Tech won the GLI Championship with a 1-0 shootout win over Michigan State. Ryland Mosley scored the goal.
• The Huskies lost in a shootout at Minnesota Duluth, at St. Lawrence and home against Bemidji State and Northern Michigan. Kyle Kukkonen scored in the 2-1 loss to UMD and the Huskies didn't score in the shootout against the Skating Saints. Ryland Mosley scored in the shootout against the Beavers. Isaac Gordon scored against NMU.

PIETILA NOTES
• Blake Pietila ranking amongst active goaltenders
    72 wins – leads nation
    137 games played – leads nation
    23 shutouts – leads nation
    3,239 saves – third nationally
    .922 save percentage – sixth nationally
• Logan Pietila ranking amongst active players
    5 shorthanded goals – second nationally
    11 game-winners – third nationally
    175 games played – second nationally

COACH SHAWHAN
• Head Coach Joe Shawhan is in his seventh season behind the bench and holds a record of 134-102-26.
• He was named the 2023 CCHA Coach of the Year and is one of only two coaches to take three different Michigan Tech teams to the NCAA Tournament.
• He won his 100th career game at Bowling Green on November 5, 2022, and ranks second 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.

NON-CONFERENCE
• Tech went 3-4-4 in the non-conference.
• Tech tied Minnesota Duluth 2-2 in the season-opener.
• The Huskies lost and tied Alaska in the home-opening series on October 13-14.
• Tech dropped a pair of games to Wisconsin on October 20-21 at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.
• The Huskies tied 2-2 at St. Lawrence (Oct. 27) and fell 3-1 at Clarkson (Oct. 28).
• Tech swept Augustana in the first-time meeting with 6-4 and 4-3 overtime wins on November 3-4 in Houghton.
• In the 57th annual Great Lakes Invitational (Dec. 28-29) Tech defeated Alaska 3-2 in overtime and tied No. 7 Michigan State 3-3.

SPORTSCENTER TOP 10
• Logan Pietila's shootout game-winner against Alaska on October 14 was No. 8 on ESPN Sportscenter's Top 10 Plays of the night.
• Logan scored on a between-the-legs goal in the 2-1 exhibition shootout win.

PRESEASON ALL-CCHA
• Senior goaltender Blake Pietila was named the Co-Preseason Player of the Year by the coaches.
• Blake Pietila was on the Preseason All-CCHA Team for both the coaches and media.
• Sophomore forward Kyle Kukkonen joined the Preseason All-CCHA Team for both coaches and media.
• Senior defenseman Jed Pietila was named to the media's Preseason All-CCHA Team.

NHL DEVELOPMENT CAMPS
• Kyle Kukkonen – Anaheim Ducks (2022, 2023)
• Blake Pietila – Dallas Stars (2023)
• Austen Swankler – Nashville Predators (2022), Vegas Golden Knights (2023)
• Trevor Russell – New Jersey (2022, 2023)
• Max Vayrynen – Calgary Flames (2023)

NHL DRAFT PICK
• Kyle Kukkonen – Picked by the Anaheim Ducks in the 2021 NHL Draft as the 162nd overall pick in the sixth round.
• Kukkonen is the 84th Michigan Tech player to be drafted by an NHL club.

CAPTAINS
• Seniors Logan Pietila and Arvid Caderoth are the captains.
• Seniors Ryland Mosley and Blake Pietila and sophomore Kyle Kukkonen are alternate captains.

TRANSFERS
• Tyrone Bronte played at Alabama Huntsville in 2020-21. He was named to the WCHA All-Rookie Team after tallying 13 points on four goals and nine assists in 22 games.
• Matthew Campbell was a member of the NCAA National Championship Quinnipiac Bobcats during the 2022-23 season. He appeared in one game.
• Lachlan Getz played one season at Boston University, appearing in 16 games. He played against the Huskies in the Desert Hockey Classic Title game.
• Austen Swankler played 71 games over the past two seasons with Bowling Green. He has tallied 70 collegiate points with 27 goals and 43 assists. He was named to the All-CCHA First Team in 2022-23 and to the CCHA All-Rookie Team in 2021-22.
• 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.

ALL-CONFERENCE SELECTIONS
• Blake Pietila – CCHA Player of the Year (2022-23), CCHA Goaltender of the Year (2022-23), CCHA First Team (2022-23) & Second Team (2021-22)
• Ryland Mosley – CCHA First Team (2022-23)
• Kyle Kukkonen – CCHA Rookie of the Year (2022-23) & All-CCHA Rookie Team (2022-23)
• Arvid Caderoth – All-WCHA Rookie Team (2020-21)
• Tyrone Bronte – All-WCHA Rookie Team (2020-21) with Alabama Huntsville

2022-23 RECAP
• Tech made its second straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 2022-23 and its third under Shawhan.
• The Huskies finished 24-11-4 overall and second in the CCHA with a 15-7-4 record.
• Tech won the Desert Hockey Classic with wins over Arizona State and No. 6 Boston University and went 7-2 in its non-conference schedule.