BEMIDJI, Minn. – The Michigan Tech hockey team defeated Bemidji State 5-2 on Friday at the Sanford Center in its return to CCHA play. Max Koskipirtti scored twice, and Stiven Sardarian had a pair of assists as the Huskies improved to 13-8-2 overall and 8-3-2 in the CCHA.
 
"It's huge when you can get off to a start like that on the road," Tech coach Bill Muckalt said. "We ran into penalty trouble, but we were able to kill them all off.
 
"They're a really good hockey team that is well coached with some very skilled players. We let them get back into the game in the second but reset for the third and played to our identity."
 
Tech jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period. Stiven Sardarian set up Isaac Gordon on the first shift of the game on a 2-on-1 43 seconds after the initial faceoff. Gordon scored his third of the season and 28th of his career.
 
Tom Leppa added to the lead 6:38 into the first, scoring his fourth of the season. Matthew Van Blaricom had a backhanded centering feed to Leppa, while Carson Birnie also assisted.
 
Max Koskipirtti made it 3-0 in the first period when he tipped in a shot by Kalem Parker at 15:25. It was Koskipirtti's eighth of the season.
 
Connor McClennon scored twice in the second period to get the Beavers back into the game. He got the home team on the board 1:28 after intermission. McClennon made it a one-goal game at 10:20 of the second, scoring on a breakaway.
 
In the third period, Max Koskipirtti scored his fourth goal against the Beavers this season, blasting in a centering feed from Stiven Sardarian, who stole the puck behind the net. Koskipirtti now has 20 career goals as he made it a two-goal game again at 13:18.
 
Elias Jansson sealed the win with an empty netter at 16:41. Jack Anderson and Joe Prouty assisted on Jansson's fifth goal of the season and 17th of his career.
 
BSU (9-9-3, 7-3-3 CCHA) led in shots 21-16. Owen Bartoszkiewicz won his 13th game of the season and the 24th of his career with 19 saves. Raythan Robbins stopped 11 shots on the other end of the ice.
 
Stiven Sardarian leads the nation with 22 assists. Max Koskipirtti is third nationally in faceoff wins after dominating in the circle on Friday with 20 wins and nine losses. Owen Bartoszkiewicz is second in the country in minutes played and fourth in wins.
 
The Huskies and Beavers will wrap up the weekend and season series on Saturday at 7:07 p.m. Eastern.