MANKATO, Minn. - The Michigan Tech hockey team closed out the
WCHA regular season with a 3-2 road win Saturday (March 8) over No.
9 Minnesota State. The Huskies (13-18-5, 9-15-4) out shot the
Mavericks (18-14-4, 12-12-4) 33-25 in the contest.
"Our play tonight was a stark contrast to last night," said head
coach Jamie Russell. "We played well in front of both nets."
The Huskies scored a pair of goals in the first period that was
marked by 30 penalty minutes between the two teams.
Freshman Eric Kattelus recorded his second career goal after he
scored top shelf on junior Mike Zacharias. He was assisted by
senior Jordan Foote and junior Geoff Kinrade on the even strength
goal at 14:24.
The Huskies netted its second goal of the game just over a minute
later to take a 2-0 lead. Sophomore Eli Vlaisavljevich sent a shot
on net but it was junior Alex Gagne that put away the loose puck
for his fifth goal of the season at 15:35. Senior Tyler Shelast
tallied his 10th assist of the season on the goal.
Kinrade scored a goal for the second straight game with a wrist
shot that rang off the pipe. The power play goal was scored at
13:27 of the second period. Kinrade has scored four of his five
goals this season on the man advantage. Senior Peter Rouleau and
sophomore Drew Dobson assisted on the goal.
MSU broke up the Michigan Tech shut out when sophomore Jason Wiley
scored on the power play at 5:33 of the third period. He was
assisted by junior Mick Berge and junior Jon Kalinski.
Michigan Tech's lead was cut to one after sophomore Kael
Mouillierat scored through heavy traffic at 14:12 of the third
period. Sophomore Trevor Bruess and freshman Kurt Davis assisted on
the goal that was reviewed briefly for goalie interference.
MSU pulled Zacharias with 1:05 remaining for the extra attacker.
Junior Michael-Lee Teslak made a clutch save on a shot from the
doorstep with 13 seconds remaining to give the Huskies the 3-2
win.
Teslak (7-9-4) finished with 23 saves on 25 shots.
Zacharias (17-11-4) made 30 saves and gave up all three goals.
Tech finished 1-4 on the power play while Minnesota State was
1-3.
The Huskies will travel to Grand Forks, N.D., next weekend (March
20-21) to face the Fighting Sioux in the first round of the WCHA
Playoffs.
