Blake Pietila named CCHA Goaltender of Month

HOUGHTON, Mich. – Michigan Tech senior goaltender Blake Pietila is the CCHA Goaltender of the Month for December the league announced on Wednesday (Jan. 3). It's the seventh time in his career that he has been 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. Pietila anchored Tech to its 12th Great Lakes Invitational Title and was named to the GLI All-Tournament Team after stopping a career-high 54 shots and all three chances in the shootout against No. 7 Michigan State. He made 23 saves the day before in a 3-2 come-from-behind victory over Alaska in the semifinal. The other wins were over Bowling Green (Dec. 2) with 31 saves and Northern Michigan (Dec. 8) with 29 saves. He backstopped the penalty kill which went 14-for-15 in the month.

Pietila ranks ninth in the nation with 503 saves. He is second in the CCHA with a 2.67 goals-against average and fourth with a .913 save percentage. Tech's all-time wins leader (66) is the NCAA's active leader in wins and shutouts (20) and is also third in saves (2,895) and fourth in save percentage (.921).

Tech is 9-8-4 overall and gets back to action with an exhibition game at Northern Michigan on Saturday. The regular season gets rolling again at St. Thomas on January 11 and 13.