Senior Provides Game-Winner In Overtime

HOUGHTON, Mich. -- Senior Chris Conner netted his eighth and ninth goals of the year, including the game-winning tally at 1:54 of overtime to help stake the Michigan Tech (2-8-1, 1-3-1 WCHA) hockey team to a 3-2 win over St. Cloud State (2-6-1, 1-5-1 WCHA) Friday night in front of 2,071 at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena. The victory was the Huskies\' first Western Collegiate Hockey Association triumph of the 2005-06 campaign.

SCSU and MTU traded goals in the opening stanza, with St. Cloud State\'s Justin Fletcher putting the visitors on the board first on the power play at 8:15.

Tech knotted the score at 1-1 at the 14:25 mark of the period, as Conner lit the lamp after taking a great long-range pass from Jimmy Kerr and rifling a shot top shelf past SCSU netminder Bobby Goepfert. Conner carried the puck from the right wing to the low slot, where the winger made a quick move to his left before flipping the puck past Goepfert on the stick side. Kerr\'s helper was his second of the season.

The Huskies from St. Cloud State regained the lead at 12:02 of the second frame off an even-strength marker from Billy Hengen.

MTU tied the contest for the second time later in the stanza when sophomore Tyler Shelast tallied his second power-play goal of the season at the 15:11 mark. While camped out near the corner of the net, Shelast tipped in a Lars Helminen shot from the point. Helminen\'s assist was his team-leading seventh of the year, while Nick Anderson was credited with the second helper of his senior campaign on the goal.

Heading into the second intermission, SCSU held a 28-20 shot advantage.

The Huskies from Michigan Tech outshot St. Cloud State by a 12-8 clip in the final frame, but neither squad was able to solve the opposing goaltender, forcing an overtime session.

Conner lit the lamp for the second time of the evening less than two minutes into the extra period. Senior Taggart Desmet found Conner streaking just inside the SCSU blue line and Conner did the rest, beating Goepfert five-hole. The winger\'s lamplighter moved his season total to nine and extended his point scoring streak (4-3--7) to five games. Desmet earned his fifth assist on the play and Mark Malekoff contributed the second assist, his third of the season.

The visitors finished with a 37-33 lead in shots on goal, but Tech held a 22-19 edge after the first period.

Freshman goalie Michael-Lee Teslak compiled his second career win after turning away 35 shots for MTU. SCSU\'s Goepfert made 30 saves and dropped to 2-4-1 on the year.

Michigan Tech converted one of its nine power-play chances and St. Cloud State scored once in four opportunities with a man advantage.

The two teams will meet again tomorrow night in the series-finale at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena. The puck will drop at 7:07 p.m.

Notes: Conner\'s two-goal performance marked his second multi-goal game of the year, the 10th multi-goal game of his career and his 28th career multi-point effort ... Conner now has 61 career goals, moving him into a tie for 29th place all-time on Michigan Tech\'s goal scoring list with John Young (1989-93) ... Tech earned its first overtime win of the year tonight and is now 1-1-1 in overtime contests in 2005-06 ... Jamie Russell recorded his first win over SCSU tonight and he has now defeated every WCHA team except for North Dakota ... Nick Anderson (2-2--4) is on a four-game point streak, Taggart Desmet (1-1--2) and Tyler Shelast (1-1--2) are each on a two-game point streak and Lars Helminen (0-5--5) is on a four-game assist streak ... The Huskies\' senior class has amassed 19 of the team\'s 27 goals through 12 games ... Teslak has made 30 or more saves three times in his rookie campaign ... Brandon Schwartz had a goal disallowed in the game ... MTU snapped a seven-game winless streak to SCSU this evening.

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