Huskies overwhelm Saints in 6-0 shutout
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
St. Lawrence (3-3-0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
Michigan Tech (3-2-1) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
HOUGHTON, Mich. – Michigan Tech overwhelmed St. Lawrence 6-0 Friday at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena to begin a non-conference series. Six different Huskies scored, 12 tallied a point, and Blake Pietila made 18 saves to extend his school record with the 12th shutout of his career. Tech improved to 3-2-1 on the season.
"I'm happy with the win, and I thought our guys played hard," Tech coach Joe Shawhan said. "We got better as the game went on and our goaltending was tremendous. A big difference was special teams, and I also think the guys fed off the energy in the building."
The Huskies scored a goal in the first, two in the second, and three power-play goals in the third. Logan Pietila gave the home team the lead 17:13 into the game. A shot by Ryland Mosley was blocked by a defenseman and Pietila blasted in the loose puck as a pair of Saints started to converge on him. Jed Pietila assisted on Logan's third of the season for Jed's first collegiate point.
Tristan Ashbrook made it 2-0 1:32 into the second when a shot by Parker Saretsky deflected off of Ashbrook and into the net. Kash Rasmussen earned his first collegiate point with the secondary assist on Ashbrook's first of the season.
Jake Crespi put the Huskies up by three less than three minutes later. He skated the puck across the top of the zone and fired it through traffic for his second of the season. Kyle Kukkonen and Ryan O'Connell assisted.
Tech was whistled on four minor penalties in the first 40:00 but hadn't yet received a power play. That changed in the third, as the Saints took five penalties, and the Huskies cashed in on three power-play goals.
Kash Rasmussen scored his first collegiate goal 1:21 after the second intermission when he whacked a puck out of the air into the back of the cage. Parker Saretsky and Topi Heiskanen assisted. It was Heiskanen's first collegiate point.
"The puck popped up in the air, and I took a swing at it," Rasmussen said. "I thought maybe they would review it again tonight like they did last weekend, but they didn't, and it felt good."
In his 100th game as a Husky, Parker Saretsky finished a three-point night—his second of the season—when he scored on the power play 3:46 into the third. He walked in from the top of the zone and fired it low blocker for his third goal of the season from Topi Heiskanen and Arvid Caderoth.
"I thought it was a lot better effort than last weekend," Saretsky said. "We have all the skill, but we just need to bring that effort every night."
Chris Lipe finished scoring with a power-play goal at 12:03 of the third. He took a shot from the top of the circle through traffic for his first of the season from Kyle Kukkonen and Ryland Mosley.
Tech led in shots 37-18. Blake Pietila earned his second shutout of the season after stopping 10 in the first, seven in the second, and one in the third. Emil Zetterquist started the game for the Saints and stopped 16 shots in the first 43:46. Francis Boisvert made 15 saves in the final 16:14.
The Huskies were 4-for-4 on the penalty kill and 3-for-5 on the power play.
The teams will wrap up the series at 6:07 p.m. Saturday. Saturday is the annual Tadych's Kids Day at Michigan Tech. Tadych's Marketplace Foods of Houghton has purchased and gave away 500 youth tickets for Saturday's Michigan Tech football and hockey games.
