HOUGHTON, Mich. — With a chance to guarantee its first home playoff appearance since 1993, No. 5 Michigan Tech did just that Saturday against visiting Bemidji State at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena, coming away with a 2-1 victory.
“It was similar to [Friday] night’s game,” said Huskies’ coach Mel Pearson. “They outplayed us for the most part tonight, but I give credit to our guys, they found a way to win. We had to kill a penalty late in the game and winning teams find a way to do that.”
The Huskies got a key goal from co-captain Tanner Kero to earn the win, the 22nd of the season for this group.
That game-winning goal came in the third period when Mark Auk fired a shot from the point. The rebound kicked to Brent Baltus, whose shot was blocked, but Kero was there to bury the rebound at 13:59.
“I thought it was a big win for our guys,” said Kero. “We knew it was going to be a grinder game. It wasn’t going to be a high-scoring game.”
The Huskies wanted to get off to a better start with each period, and certainly had some chances to come away with goals, but Beavers’ goaltender Michael Bitzer made the saves as necessary.
Dylan Steman could not get a shot through himself just under seven minutes in. He swung and fed the puck across the slot to Max Vallis, whose one-timer hit the post to Bitzer’s left.
After a faceoff in their own end with 9:40 remaining, it was the Huskies who ended up with a scoring chance. After the puck was cleared out, a miscue by the Beavers’ defense set up by Malcolm Gould with a shot from slot. The rebound bounced just out of reach of the crashing Joel L’Esperance.
The Huskies (22-7-1 overall, 17-4-1 WCHA) got their first power play of the night when Sam Rendle took a holding the stick penalty at 16:20. The hosts needed the entire two minutes to strike. Cliff Watson fed the puck across the blue line to Riley Sweeney. With Mike Neville lurking through the crease, Sweeney fired through traffic and beat Bitzer for the second straight night at 18:20.
The Beavers (10-14-4 overall, 6-10-4 WCHA) came out strong to start the second period and Kyle Bauman nearly had a great chance to score when Gerry Fitzgerald attempted to feed him in the slot. However, Gould backchecked and knocked the puck away.
“It was a great game,” said BSU coach Tom Serratore. “Our guys played their hearts out. We could have won that game.”
Gould set up a nice chance at the other end of the rink when he took a pass from L’Esperance at the offensive blue line. Gould fed co-captain Blake Pietila, who fired over the crossbar.
The Huskies took their second bench minor for too many men on the ice 10:13 in and the Beavers evened the game.
Phillip Marinaccio cut across the high slot and fired a shot that Phillips had to stretch to stop. With multiple bodies crashing in, it was Brendan Harms who pushed the puck over the goal line at 10:31.
Needing a strong third period, the Huskies thought they might have the taken the lead when L’Esperance pushed a rebound between Bitzer’s legs. The puck skittered towards the net, but a quick whistle stopped play.
Both teams took penalties, but neither could capitalize on their advantage. The Beavers had the best scoring chances on their power play, while Watson was in the box, but Phillips made three solid saves to keep things even. He finished the night with 27 saves.
Serratore pulled Bitzer with 1:42 remaining in regulation, but despite getting a pair of faceoffs in the offensive zone, the Beavers could not come up with the tying goal.
Sweeney earned Winter Carnival MVP honors for his efforts.
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