Andresen, Leppa score for Huskies
MANKATO, Minn. – The Michigan Tech hockey team fell 3-2 to No. 14 Minnesota State on Saturday at the Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center. The Huskies scored a pair of power-play goals and outshot the Mavericks 29-20 but couldn’t find the equalizer late in the third period.
“We had two great periods but had a bad start to the third,” Tech coach Bill Muckalt said. “You can’t play 55 minutes on the road against a great team and give credit to Tracy. He was outstanding in net and was the difference in the hockey game.
“Our whole team played much better tonight. If we play a full 60 minutes, we can beat anybody. We just had the five-minute lapse.”
MSU (8-2-4, 5-1-2 CCHA) opened the scoring 4:14 into the game when Jacob Conrad took a blast from just inside the blue line that found its way through traffic and into the back of the net. Evan Murr and Alex Zetterberg were credited with the assists.
The Huskies (8-5-1, 5-2-1 CCHA) tied it up 11:16 into the second period on the power play when Reid Andresen finished off a passing play from Noah Reinhart and Stiven Sardarian. It was Andresen’s second goal of the season and his first on the man advantage.
The Mavericks scored twice early in the third to take a two-goal lead. A shot by Evan Murr deflected off a Husky and across the line 65 seconds after the second intermission.
Alex Zetterberg put in a rebound 70 seconds later to make it a 3-1 game. Mason Wheeler and Luigi Benincasa assisted on the play.
Tech cut into the lead with a power-play goal by Tom Leppa after he redirected in a shot by Stiven Sardarian at 12:48 of the third. Jack Anderson also assisted on Leppa’s second of the season and fourth of his career.
The Huskies took a timeout and added the extra attacker with 68 seconds left in the third but didn’t manage to get a shot on goal.
Owen Bartoszkiewicz made 17 saves for the Huskies, and Alex Tracy stopped 27 shots on the other end of the ice.
Tech was 2-for-4 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.
Tech returns home for a CCHA series next weekend against St. Thomas. There will be a number of promotions for the weekend. Stay tuned to MichiganTechHuskies.com for all the details.
