The Falcons hockey team swept the Michigan Tech Huskies Friday and Saturday nights, winning 2-1 on Friday before defeating them 3-2 in a shootout Saturday night.
“I’m happy with the series overall,” Falcons head coach Chris Bergeron said. “They’re a good team, it’s a tough place to play, it’s a long trip. To get five out of six points, I’m happy with the trip overall.”
The game on Friday began with Michigan Tech jumping out to the early lead with a power play goal at the 6:04 mark. The Falcons would rebound later in the period with junior forward John Schilling scoring his first goal of the season also on a power play to tie it up going into the second. Both teams were held goalless for much of the second period, however Schilling was able to score again with a power play goal to put his team into the lead.
“He earned his way onto the power play,” Bergeron said. “He took advantage of that opportunity. … it’s nice to see him get rewarded because I know he worked really hard and he wants to be a part of the offense, so it’s nice to see him involved.”
The defense of both teams came up big late in the game, as despite the Falcons getting nine shots and Michigan Tech seven in the third period, none scores in and Falcons held on for the 2-1 victory.
“Once we were in the zone, I thought we did a nice job of taking advantage,” Bergeron said. “I’d like to see us shoot the puck a little bit more, but two for four is a really good percentage. I thought our offense on the power play is where it started.”
On Saturday, the scoring started similarily to Friday’s game, as Michigan Tech took the lead in the first on a power play goal. The Falcons were able to rebound as freshman forward Cameron Wright scored with just 17 seconds remaining in the period, also on a power play chance, to bring the game even once again going into the second.
Midway through the second period, it was senior forward Mitch McLain who grabbed the lead for the Falcons, capitalizing on yet another power play opportunity to make it a 2-1 game. The team held the advantage until just over five minutes remaining in regulation time, as Michigan Tech scored the only even strength goal of the series. With neither team able to score in the final five minutes to break the tie, the teams went into overtime.
The first period of overtime saw both teams get a couple of shots towards the net, but both goaltenders kept the chances out, leading to the teams going into a second period of overtime, this time three on three. However, again neither team was able to put the puck in the net, so the teams went into a shootout to decide the winner.
After the first five rounds, however, no shooters were able to score, until sophomore forward Stephen Baylis came up to start the sixth round. Baylis fired a shot from the right circle past goaltender Devin Kero to give the Falcons the advantage. Michigan Tech sent up Justin Misiak to keep the game alive, but sophomore goaltender Ryan Bednard made the save to complete the 3-2 victory. The game officially counted as a tie in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association standings.
“I don’t think we played as well tonight as we did last night,” Bergeron said. “I thought we were engaged in the battle and all the things we need to be, but I don’t think we were as good as we were five on five.”
The team will play on Friday and Saturday nights at home against the Lake Superior State Lakers.
