Huskies Start Season Strong with Win over Wildcats

Assistant captain Brett Olson notched three goals and picked up a pair of helpers as the Michigan Tech Huskies opened their season in style, earning a 5-3 win at home over the Northern Michigan Wildcats.

“Five points, that’s pretty impressive by Brett (Olson),” said Huskies’ head coach Jamie Russell. “I felt that our guys deserved (the win).”

The Wildcats (0-1-0 overall) struck first as junior defenseman Erik Gustafsson potted his first goal of the season at 7:26. Junior forward Mark Olver and junior defenseman Andrew Fernandez each picked up assists on the goal.

“We had a lot of guys who we expect to score for us who didn’t compete very hard tonight,” said Wildcats’ head coach Walt Kyle. “We thought Mark (Olver) had a very nice night for us.”

Olson notched his first of the night to tie the game at 9:18. Freshman winger Aaron Pietila got the puck to Olson, who carried the puck behind the net, and attempted to get the puck back to Pietila, but instead the puck snaked past Wildcats’ netminder Brian Stewart for the goal.

Junior forward Jordan Baker gave the Huskies (1-0-0 overall) their first lead at the 13:36 mark with a power-play tally. Freshman defenseman Steven Seigo fired a shot that was partially blocked in front of Stewart, but the puck slipped to Baker, who buried it. Olson also assisted on the goal.

“(Steven) has a lot of poise for a freshman,” said Russell. “He’s out there handling the puck and he’s confident in doing so.”

Olson, a sophomore, notched his second of the game to make it a two-goal advantage when he blasted a long shot past Stewart from the right circle. Captain Malcolm Gwilliam assisted on the goal by feeding Olson the puck.

“It helps to guys on your line like Malcolm (Gwilliam) and (Alex) MacLeod,” said Olson. “”This is a big turnaround for us.”

The Wildcats cut the Huskies’ lead in half when junior Gregor Hanson found the twine behind Huskies’ netminder Josh Robinson at 19:45 on the power play. Senior
Matt Butcher and Gustafsson both assisted on the goal.

A scoreless second period was not without action as the Huskies forced the
Wildcats to take four penalties that lead to power plays. On one advantage, Olson had four golden chances to net his hat trick goal, but either fired wide of the net, or hit a defender in front.

Just 1:10 into the third period, the Huskies scored again as Olson potted his hat trick goal with another bomb of a shot from the same spot he’d launched one earlier. Seigo took the initial feed from junior defenseman Deron Cousens before passing the puck to Olson.

Gwilliam netted the fifth Huskies’ goal and ended Stewart’s night at the 14:12 mark as he beat Stewart with a long shot on the man advantage that the senior goaltender would probably like back. Olson and Seigo assisted on the goal.

After Kyle yanked sophomore Reid Ellingson with about four minutes left in the game, freshman forward Brian Nugent cut the Huskies’ lead to two goals with a rebound goal at 18:12. Junior Erik Spady and sophomore Andrew Cherniwchan assisted on the goal.

The Huskies finished 3-for-9 on the power play while holding the Wildcats to two goals in six attempts.

Robinson finished with 15 stops in the win while Stewart stopped 29 in the loss.