The No. 4 Michigan Tech Huskies wanted to finish Saturday night’s game against the Alabama-Huntsville Chargers a little sooner than they had on Friday. With a goal in each period, the Huskies did just that.
“[The Chargers] really played well,” said Huskies coach Mel Pearson. “They came in here and they played extremely hard. I think they taught us something.”
The Huskies earned their 28th win of the season and punched their ticket to the Western Collegiate Hockey Association Final Five in St. Paul next weekend.
The Huskies (28-8-2 overall) went with five new skaters after Friday night’s marathon win. One of fresh skaters, winger Blake Hietala, led the way for the Huskies with the game-winning goal, on the power play, and one assist.
Hietala’s goal looked familiar to fans used to the MacInnes Student Ice Arena’s lively boards. WCHA Player of the Year Tanner Kero fired a shot that deflected off of Guerriero and then off the back boards before bouncing to Hietala. Hietala fired the puck up and over the Chargers netminder at 14:35.
“It was huge,” said Hietala when asked about contributing early. “It was nice having some fresh legs out there. Some guys were pretty tired. I got an opportunity and just tried to take advantage of it.”
“We did what we needed to do,” said Pearson. “I thought we had a business-like approach to the game. We were able to insert some different players into the line-up tonight and I thought they did a tremendous job.”
Huskies goaltender Jamie Phillips made a nice save off a shot from Cody Marooney. The puck bounced off of Phillips’ blocker and right to Johnstone, who skated it to the other end before firing a shot on Guerriero.
“Jamie Phillips has just been so good for us all year,” said Pearson. “I am really pleased with how the weekend went.”
The Chargers made only one line-up change, and it was clear from about the midpoint of the period that they were in for a long night.
“We played hard,” said Chargers coach Mike Corbett. “We did what we had to do. It’s tough when you don’t have the legs to generate some offense against this team. We know one of our biggest issues is our depth. Michigan Tech can throw five fresh bodies in there, and they don’t miss a beat.”
After Richard Buri hit a Huskies’ forward from behind, the Huskies got their third power play of the night. Hietala fed Friday night’s hero, Tyler Heinonen, in the slot. Hienonen’s shot hit the post and caromed over to Kero, who knocked the rebound past Guerriero at 4:43.
The Chargers had a nice scoring chance a couple of minutes later when Marooney got two scoring chances on
The Chargers were awarded a power play just four seconds into the third, but could not find a way to beat Phillips.
The Huskies third goal came off the stick of defenseman Mark Auk, who got the puck at the left point and fired a shot through traffic that beat Guerriero cleanly at 5:45.
Corbett pulled Guerriero with 1:05 left, but his team could not get anything to the net and past Phillips.
Phillips now holds the Michigan Tech record for shutout minutes at 179:39. That is also the fifth-longest in WCHA history.
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