For the second straight night, the No. 5 Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs held the host Michigan Tech Huskies to 14 shots and no goals as they picked up another shutout in a 3-0 blanking of the Huskies Saturday night at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena. The Bulldogs had another big night from forward J.T. Brown, who picked up a goal and an assist.
“Our guys did a good job [tonight],” said Bulldogs coach Scott Sandelin. “I can’t say enough. I am happy for our goaltenders. I told them they set a high standard now after this weekend.”
The Huskies (3-18-3 overall, 1-14-1 WCHA) came into the game having not scored a goal in seven consecutive periods, but early in the first period, it looked like the streak might be broken. The Huskies and Bulldogs were even at three shots apiece during the early stages of the game.
Unfortunately for the Huskies, that all changed when a turnover near the Bulldogs bench allowed Brown the opportunity to hit assistant captain Jack Connolly in stride through the neutral zone. Connolly skated in the middle of the offensive zone and beat Huskies netminder Josh Robinson with a well-placed wrist shot at 12:24.
Just over two minutes later, the Bulldogs struck again as defenseman Drew Olson found forward Dan DeLisle attacking the Huskies’ goal. Olson feathered a pass to DeLisle, who buried the one-timer at 14:25. Forward Mike Seidel also assisted on the goal after picking up the puck on a Huskies’ turnover.
“I thought we came out and played with intensity,” said Huskies coach Jamie Russell. “First period, we made two mistakes, and it bit us. They are a team, they’re not going to miss…they get an opportunity, they’re going to bury it.”
The Bulldogs (17-5-3 overall, 12-4-2 WCHA) had a chance to extend the lead with a power play in the second period, but were denied by Robinson.
The Huskies, looking to build off the kill, nearly cut into the lead when freshman center Patrick McCadden took a pass from sophomore defenseman Steven Seigo, who was just to Bulldogs’ goaltender Aaron Crandall. McCadden’s one-timer was stopped by Crandall, who picked up his second career shutout in the game.
Frustration at the goalless streak, now at 207:27, set in for the Huskies late in the second period when assistant captain Bennett Royer charged into the offensive zone and checked Crandall as Crandall was attempting to play the puck. On the ensuing power play, co-captain Brett Olson nearly put the Huskies on the board after taking a pass from freshman winger Ryan Furne.
Seigo put the Bulldogs on a lengthy five-on-three advantage shortly after the Olson miss, but despite great puck movement, the Bulldogs couldn’t solve Robinson.
At the end of the second period, controversy brewed when freshman winger Tyler Gubb hit Bulldogs forward David Grun just before the buzzer. At first, the check was ruled a two-minute penalty for boarding, but after much discussion during the intermission, Gubb was instead given a five-minute major for checking from behind. The Huskies penalty killers played phenomenally well during the major, and kept the Bulldogs off the scoreboard.
The Bulldogs did finally get a third goal with 1:52 to go when Brown took a pass from defenseman Justin Faulk and skated the puck into the offensive zone before firing a shot past Robinson’s right shoulder.
Crandall finished the night with 14 stops for the Bulldogs and improved to 8-2-1 on the season. Robinson made 30 saves in the loss, his ninth of the campaign, for the Huskies.
The Bulldogs finished zero-for-four on the power play while the Huskies went zero-for-two. With the loss, the Huskies’ winless streak now stands at 19 games.
Scott Sandelin
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf5Bg7uIR1Q
Jamie Russell
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVFX4cV2glE
