While Bowling Green Hockey comes off a bye week, Michigan Tech Hockey comes off maybe their most difficult series of the season, a two-parter against Minnesota State.
It’s fair to say Minnesota State is the best team in the CCHA with four ranked wins as well as six games played against Bemidji State, St. Thomas, and now MTU, three of four teams with 10+ points in the CCHA.
Even considering a great team, Michigan Tech did not necessarily play well. Minnesota State scored eight goals in two games, the most goals they’ve scored in a weekend all season. Just the same, MTU scored the second least goals of their season’s weekends (3) against MSU.
Scoring problems for the Huskies mainly stem from powerplays, an area that has fallen below .200 this season. This series saw 12-man advantages, with only one score coming on the first attempt of the weekend. They allowed a score on six powerplays for MSU, which increased their penalty-kill percentage to seventh in the conference at only .773.
On the season, Michigan Tech seems to be a very good team. They are not statistically bad in any category and look pretty strong in everything but saves per game in which they are last (but high in save percentage and goals allowed per game). This is deceiving, however, when looking at the Huskies’ schedule this season.
The hardest competition for Michigan Tech was the Mavericks and unranked (now ranked 20) Clarkson, in which they lost two games by a combined score of 6-2. Outside of these, they swept Ferris State and Northern Michigan, the two worst teams in the CCHA, and two one-score wins against Alaska Fairbanks, who are only a 4-6-2 team.
Bowling Green will be a fair conference test for Michigan Tech. They are a 6-4 team who have won all six games they should win and lost all four games against teams better than them. BG is neither a team they should beat nor lose to, meaning it should be their most telling series of the season.
Players to watch
Junior Husky Stiven Sardarian has been a welcome addition to Michigan Tech, a transfer from New Hampshire. He has sparked the offense with six goals and three assists, tied for the most points of any Husky with Max Koskipirtti (3G/6A/9P). He has half of the game-winners for Michigan Tech (3) with two powerplay goals on top and a .250 hitting percentage.
Sophomore Isaac Gordon lit up the CCHA in his freshman season with Michigan Tech, scoring 18 goals and 18 assists for a CCHA Rookie of the Year through a Mason Cup-winning team. Yet he’s entered somewhat of a sophomore slump in 2024-25 with only five assists in ten games.
His breakout ability is always present, however. He’s taken a team-most 31 shots this season and landed none, meaning for a guy who scored 18 goals in his last season, he’s extraordinarily due for a goal. Very similar to BG’s Ryan O’Hara.
A senior Falcon, O’Hara is in essentially the same situation as Gordon. A similar playing forward who has a team-leading number of shots, landing none this campaign. He is especially due after being the leading goal scorer for Bowling Green in 2023-24, even with ten games missed.
Cole Moore is the best netminder in this series. He has a .908 save percentage and 2.87 goals allowed per game, with over a third of goals allowed being on powerplay. It is nearly guaranteed we will see Moore in both games, while MTU has split their goaltenders 60/40 this season.
