Huskies fall into third place in the CCHA
ST. PAUL, Minn. – The No. 19-ranked Michigan Tech hockey team fell 4-2 at No. 15 St. Thomas on Friday. The Tommies won their 11th straight game, and the Huskies fell to 17-10-2 overall and 12-5-2 in the CCHA.
“It was a tough end to the second and beginning of the third for us,” Tech coach Bill Muckalt said. “Give them credit. They’re a well-coached team, and they’ve been on a roll. We need to stick together and bounce tomorrow. We have some things we can improve upon, but tomorrow’s a new day.”
After a scoreless first period, the Tommies scored 3:51 into the second when Alex Gaffney put in a one-timer on a 2-on-1 from Ryan O’Neill.
Noah Reinhart tied the game at 14:19 of the second, scoring his sixth of the season from Kalem Parker and Elias Jansson. Parker had a drop pass at the top of the circles that Reinhart fired over the blocker.
UST took its lead back with 46 seconds left in the second when Lucas Van Vliet scored on a 2-on-1 rush. It was his fourth goal against the Huskies this season.
Alex Gaffney scored again 35 seconds into the third period for a 3-1 lead.
Jake Braccini made it a three-goal game at 13:26 on the power play with assists going to Lucas VanVliet and Chase Cheslock.
The Huskies got on the board again with 30 seconds left in the game when Joe Prouty found the back of the net for his second of the season. Stiven Sardarian and Isaac Gordon assisted on the late goal as they both extended their point streaks to eight games.
St. Thomas dominated in shots 44-22 in the game. Owen Bartoszkiewicz made 40 saves for the Huskies, hitting the 40-save mark for the second time this season. It’s also his fourth straight game with at least 30 saves. Aaron Trotter stopped 20 shots on the other end of the ice.
Tech was 3-for-4 on the penalty kill and 0-for-1 on the power play.
The Huskies and Tommies play for the fourth time on Saturday to wrap up the weekend and season series. The puck drops again at 8:07 p.m. Eastern.
