The Michigan Tech Huskies defeated the Northern Michigan Wildcats in hockey twice this weekend, 4-1 on Friday and 4-2 on Saturday. The result drops the NMU record to 0-12 on the season.
SATURDAY'S GAME RECAP COURTESY OF MTU ATHLETICS
MARQUETTE, Mich. – Michigan Tech earned a CCHA sweep of Northern Michigan after a 4-2 victory on Saturday at the Berry Events Center. It was the Huskies' seventh straight win over their rivals.
"Any time you can sweep, it's big," Tech coach Bill Muckalt said. "It's a tough place to play down here, and they found a goal right off the bat. I'm proud of the group for the way we responded.
Similar to Friday night, the home team scored early in the game to get the crowd engaged. Jakub Altrichter found the back of the net 91 seconds after faceoff, capitalizing on a turnover behind the net. Medrick Bolduc was credited with an assist.
The Huskies tied it up midway through the first when Lauri Raiman—playing in his first game of the season—chipped in a centering feed by Carson Latimer for his fourth career goal. Elias Jansson added the second assist.
Tech scored twice in the second period. Carson Latimer made an unbelievable individual effort, beating his defender and scoring his second goal of the season for a 2-1 lead 4:54 after intermission. Tom Leppa and Joe Prouty assisted.
Teydon Trembecky added to the lead with his team-leading sixth of the season at 16:51 of the first. Michael Cicek found an open Trembekcy for the one-timer from the top of the slot. Reid Daavettila picked up his first NCAA point with the second assist.
NMU wouldn't go away in the third, outshooting the Huskies 13-12. Joe Schiller scored four seconds into a power play with 5:13 remaining to make it a one-goal game. Mathew Ward and Tobias Pitka assisted. The Wildcats pulled the goaltender for the extra attacker, and Stiven Sardarian scored into the empty net for the second night in a row to seal the win. It was Sardarian's third goal of the weekend with assists going to Tyler Miller and Tom Leppa.
"Lauri has been so good in practice, and he came in and gave us a great effort," added Muckalt. "I'm happy for him and glad he came through for the team. It was a great individual effort by Latimer. We had a good change by Leppa's group that led to Trembecky's goal, and it was good for Stiv to find the empty net.
"We have a gauntlet coming up over the next three weeks, so we need to keep working in practice and be ready for it."
There were nine penalties called in the game. The Huskies were 0-for-3 on the power play and 1-for-2 on the penalty kill.
Owen Bartoszkiewicz made 23 saves for his seventh win of the season and the 18th of his career. Oliver Auyeung-Ashton made 27 saves for the home team on the other side of the ice. Max Koskipirtti was dominant at the faceoff dot, winning his first 12 and finishing with 15 wins and four losses. Tech is 7-3-0 overall and 4-0-0 in the CCHA and hosts Bemidji State next weekend at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena.
SATURDAY'S GAME RECAP COURTESY OF NMU SPORTS INFORMATION
MARQUETTE, Mich. - The Wildcats lost 4-2 with an empty net goal to round out the weekend series with Upper Peninsula rival, the Michigan Tech Huskies.
The Wildcats (0-12-0, 0-4-0 CCHA) started with a lot of jump in front of the raucous capacity crowd in the Berry Events Center, as Jakub Altrichter scored his second goal of the weekend just a minute and a half into the game, sending the BEC into a frenzy. The 'Cats outshot the Huskies 7-1 to start the game, but extra skater Lauri Raiman, in his first game this season, notched the game level just before the media timeout, and the teams skated to a 1-1 tie into the locker room.
The Huskies (7-3-0, 4-0-0 CCHA) got goals from Carson Latimer and freshman standout Teydon Trembecky in the second period, outshooting the 'Cats 12-3 and taking a 3-1 lead into the second period intermission.
Sophomore defenseman Joe Schiller scored his second goal of the season to bring the game within one as the final five minutes drew near. NMU pulled the goalie, and Stiven Sardarian added the empty netter with half a minute left to seal the deal. The Huskies outshot the Wildcats 31-25 despite both teams having 54 attempts. The Wildcat special teams had a terrific night, going 1/2 on the man-advantage and killing all three of Tech's power plays.
FRIDAY'S GAME RECAP COURTESY OF MTU ATHLETICS
HOUGHTON, Mich. – The Michigan Tech hockey team defeated rival Northern Michigan 4-1 on Friday at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena. The Huskies scored 22 seconds into the game, winning their third home game of the season and beating the Wildcats for the sixth straight time.
"It feels good to get a win," Tech coach Bill Muckalt said. "Credit Northern. They played hard all night. We got the separation early from our top line, and that was critical. I didn't like some of our line changes, we took some bad penalties, and our power play also needs to be better, but it was a good team win."
Stiven Sardarian had two goals and an assist and leads all CCHA players with 14 points. He opened scoring only 22 seconds into the game when he backhanded in his first goal of the season after Max Koskipirtti centered the puck out front. Noah Reinhart added the second assist.
Brayden Boehm scored for the third straight Friday night, giving the Huskies a 2-0 lead with 2:20 left in the first period. Carson Latimer and Elias Jansson created a turnover behind the net, and Boehm gathered the puck and ripped it over the goaltender's shoulder for his third goal of the season.
Reid Andresen made it a three-goal lead 10:48 into the second period when he finished off a backdoor feed from Teydon Trembecky as an NMU penalty expired. Stiven Sardarian added the second assist on Andresen's first NCAA goal.
NMU (0-11-0, 0-3-0 CCHA) got on the board 12:01 into the third period with a shorthanded goal by Jakub Altrichter from Mathew Ward.
The Wildcats had a later power play and went on a 6-on-4 advantage after pulling their goaltender. Owen Bartoszkiewicz made a couple of big saves before Isaac Gordon cleared the puck over to Stiven Sardarian. He took his time and wristed a long shot from his own blueline and into the empty net for the final tally.
Shots favored the Huskies 31-27. Owen Bartoszkiewicz earned his sixth win of the season and the 17th of his career with 26 saves. He was inches away from a goalie-goal late in the third, but the puck hit the outside post and was called icing.
NMU starter William Gramme had nine saves on 12 shots. Oliver Auyeung-Ashton finished the game for the visitors, making 18 saves.
The teams combined for 13 penalties, and both were 0-for-5 on the power play.
FRIDAY GAME RECAP COURTESY OF NMU SPORTS INFORMATION
HOUGHTON, Mich. – Rivalry weekend opened in the Copper Country on Friday night, as the Northern Michigan hockey team fell 4-1 to the Michigan Tech Huskies at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena.
Jakub Altrichter notched his first goal of the season and NMU's lone tally of the night, coming shorthanded midway through the third period off a beautiful lead pass from Mathew Ward. The Huskies were led by Stiven Sardarian, who recorded two goals and an assist to pace Tech's offense.
Michigan Tech jumped out early, scoring just 22 seconds into the game, and carried a 2-0 lead after the first period, holding a narrow 9-7 edge in shots. Northern responded with a stronger second frame, outshooting the Huskies 9-8, but trailed 3-0 heading into the third. Both sides found the net in the final 20 minutes, where MTU held a 14-11 advantage in shots on goal to close out the night. Overall, Tech led 31-27 in shots on target.
Despite a combined 13 penalties and five power-play chances for each side, the only special-teams strike came shorthanded from Altrichter. Northern blocked 20 shots to Tech's 14, led by Tynan Ewart with five. Between the pipes, William Gramme started for the Wildcats and made nine saves while allowing three goals before being relieved by Oliver Auyeung-Ashton midway through the second. The freshman was perfect in relief and in his rivalry debut, turning aside all 18 shots he faced. At the other end, MTU netminder Owen Bartoszkiewicz stopped 26 of 27 attempts and nearly added a goalie goal late in the contest.
