MARQUETTE, Mich. — They had been here before, and it showed.
The fifth-seeded Michigan Tech Huskies came into Saturday night’s WCHA Playoff Championship game at the Berry Events Center as a battle-tested group who had spent their entire playoff run on the road and were playing in their second straight playoff title game. That experience showed through as the Huskies earned a 2-0 victory over the second-seeded Northern Michigan Wildcats.
The Huskies blocked 22 shots in the contest, and head coach Joe Shawhan was pleased with the overall effort his team gave defensively.
“The whole team sacrificed,” said Shawhan. “I want to give a lot of credit to the character of the guys in that locker room. This is their third championship in three seasons: a regular season and two playoffs. That’s not easy to do. They know how to get it done.”
With very little difference between the two teams, it came down to a single bounce that changed the course of the game in the Huskies’ favor.
The Huskies drew a power play just 3:21 into the second period and while they were unsuccessful in getting several quality chances, they built momentum, and it was that momentum that proved the difference shortly after.
Defenseman Mitch Meek fired a shot from the right point that hit the boards hard below the goal line. The shot bounced heavily off the boards and winger Justin Misiak scrambled over to get a stick on it.
Misiak knocked the puck out in front of Tolvanen, where winger Greyson Reitmeier was crashing the net. Reitmeier got just enough of the puck to knock up and over a sprawling Tolvanen for the goal at 5:36.
“It was a good job by Mitch Meek to get the puck deep there,” said Reitmeier. “I was fortunate enough to be there when it bounced out.”
The Huskies looked like a calm and collected team much of the night, and that worked to their favor as they were able to turn their fortunes at the Berry, where they had lost the previous two times they had traveled there this year.
“That last series against Northern was a big one for us as a team,” said Huskies captain Brent Baltus. “We came in here and played a really great game.”
For the Wildcats, to play a solid 60-minute game, but ultimately fall due to that bounce, the loss was tough to take.
“Some nights the puck doesn’t go your way and you don’t get the bounces you want,” said Wildcats co-captain Zach Diamontoni. “I think we had a lot of great chances. Credit to them, I thought their goalie played really well.”
From that point forward, the game was taken over by Huskies goaltender Patrick Munson. Thrust into duty in the Saturday night game of the Huskies’ semifinal series against Minnesota State, Munson has been nearly unbeatable since, surrendering just three goals over three games.
The Wildcats challenged him multiple times throughout the contest, but no save was bigger than the one he made to stop a one-timed shot from winger Demico Hannoun with 2:17 left in the middle frame off a pass from Luke Voltin, who had picked off a clearing pass at the Huskies’ blue line.
Munson, who made 21 saves to earn the shutout, credited his young defense corps in front of him for limiting much of what the Wildcats tried to accomplish.
“We have three freshmen defensemen that really developed throughout the year,” said Munson. “You can see that in these last three games, they really have been blocking shots. You could see tonight, that every time I made a save, they were there to clear it out.”
Munson had help. Beyond the blocked shots, Munson was also helped out by the right post when Wildcats co-captain Robbie Payne unloaded a heavy wrist shot just 1:22 into the third.
Payne had a great look in the latter stages of the first period as well when Huskies defender Mark Auk turned the puck over in front of Munson, but the junior transfer set himself up quickly and made the stop.
Wildcats head coach Grant Potulny was pleased with his team’s effort, despite the bad luck when they needed things to bounce their way.
“Tonight, there was one bounce that did not go our way, but that doesn’t change the way I feel about our team,” said Potulny. “I am proud of them and proud to be a Wildcat and I am proud of our community.”
The Huskies added an insurance tally with just 47 seconds left in the contest when assistant captain Joel L’Esperance backhanded a shot into the empty Wildcats’ goal, sealing the contest.
