Sardarian scores three goals in the sweep for the Huskies
MARQUETTE, Mich. – Michigan Tech earned a CCHA sweep of Northern Michigan after a 4-2 victory on Saturday at the Berry Events Center. It was the Huskies’ seventh straight win over their rivals.
“Any time you can sweep, it’s big,” Tech coach Bill Muckalt said. “It’s a tough place to play down here, and they found a goal right off the bat. I’m proud of the group for the way we responded.”
Similar to Friday night, the home team scored early in the game to get the crowd engaged. Jakub Altrichter found the back of the net 91 seconds after faceoff, capitalizing on a turnover behind the net. Medrick Bolduc was credited with an assist.
The Huskies tied it up midway through the first when Lauri Raiman—playing in his first game of the season—chipped in a centering feed by Carson Latimer for his fourth career goal. Elias Jansson added the second assist.
Tech scored twice in the second period. Carson Latimer made an unbelievable individual effort, beating his defender and scoring his second goal of the season for a 2-1 lead 4:54 after intermission. Tom Leppa and Joe Prouty assisted.
Teydon Trembecky added to the lead with his team-leading sixth of the season at 16:51 of the first. Michael Cicek found an open Trembekcy for the one-timer from the top of the slot. Reid Daavettila picked up his first NCAA point with the second assist.
NMU wouldn’t go away in the third, outshooting the Huskies 13-12. Joe Schiller scored four seconds into a power play with 5:13 remaining to make it a one-goal game. Mathew Ward and Tobias Pitka assisted.
The Wildcats pulled the goaltender for the extra attacker, and Stiven Sardarian scored into the empty net for the second night in a row to seal the win. It was Sardarian’s third goal of the weekend with assists going to Tyler Miller and Tom Leppa.
“Lauri has been so good in practice, and he came in and gave us a great effort,” added Muckalt. “I’m happy for him and glad he came through for the team. It was a great individual effort by Latimer. We had a good change by Leppa’s group that led to Trembecky’s goal, and it was good for Stiv to find the empty net.
“We have a gauntlet coming up over the next three weeks, so we need to keep working in practice and be ready for it.”
There were nine penalties called in the game. The Huskies were 0-for-3 on the power play and 1-for-2 on the penalty kill.
Owen Bartoszkiewicz made 23 saves for his seventh win of the season and the 18th of his career. Oliver Auyeung-Ashton made 27 saves for the home team on the other side of the ice.
Max Koskipirtti was dominant at the faceoff dot, winning his first 12 and finishing with 15 wins and four losses.
Tech is 7-3-0 overall and 4-0-0 in the CCHA and hosts Bemidji State next weekend at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena.
