After falling behind 3-0 in the first period, the Michigan Tech Huskies eventually came back to defeat American International 4-3 on Friday.
Blake Pietila scored twice to kick off the comeback, while Steven Seigo and Jordan Baker scored in the final three minutes to give the Huskies the victory.
“They played with a lot more desperation as a team and they were repaid for their hard work,” Michigan Tech coach Mel Pearson said of his team’s third-period play.
Pearson changed the line combinations for the final period, making an all-freshman line out of David Johnstone, Pietila and center Tanner Kero.
The change up proved to be effective for the Huskies. Pietila scored his second power-play goal of the game to make it 3-2.
Seigo, a junior defender and a Huskies alternate captain, tied the game at 17:47 of the third when his blast from the blue line soared over American International goaltender Ben Meisner’s shoulder.
Senior forward Baker, another alternate captain, got the winner after forcing the puck past Meisner’s foot during a scrum in front of the net with a minute to play.
The rally negated a good start by the Yellow Jackets. Steve Mele scored on their first shot of the night, beating Kevin Genoe through the pads 9:13 into the first period.
The goals kept coming for the Yellow Jackets when only two minutes later — and on their second shot of the game — sophomore forward Jon Puskar sent a rocket from the point over Genoe’s glove and into the net at 11:37.
Jeff Ceccacci deflected a shot past Genoe late in the first period for a 3-0 lead.
Michigan Tech made it 3-1 on Pietila’s first goal, on a power play with just under two minutes left in the second period. His shot deflected off a Yellow Jackets defenseman and past Meisner.
Meisner made 33 saves for the Yellow Jackets. Genoe stopped 17 shots.
