THIS STORY WAS WRITTEN BY MTU ATHLETICS
HOUGHTON, Mich. – No. 15 Michigan Tech earned its fifth straight win Tuesday, overwhelming Northern Michigan 5-1 at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena. The Huskies got four goals and nine points from the Tommy Parrottino, Trenton Bliss, and Brian Halonen line to improve to 15-8-1 overall and 12-5 in the CCHA.
"We played a pretty good hockey game," Tech coach Joe Shawhan said. "It got a little sloppy as expected in a rivalry game with short rest. We certainly got a really big game out of the Bliss line and the supporting cast was good."
Tommy Parrottino scored the game's first two goals. After a slow start to the first period, Parrottino and Trenton Bliss did a give-and-go play and Tommy scored for the second game in a row with a simple tap in 8:30 into the game.
Tech took a two-goal lead 12:16 into the second when a rush by Trenton Bliss was deflected out by the goaltender, and Tommy Parrottino tapped in his sixth of the season and his eighth goal against the Wildcats in his career. Goaltender Blake Pietila earned the secondary assist.
"It's nice playing with Bliss and Halonen," Parrottino said. "They're so skilled and we have good chemistry right now.
"Nothing has been different for me lately. I'm just coming prepared to practice every day and focusing on the little details of the game."
NMU (14-11-1, 8-10-1 CCHA) scored its only goal of the night just over a minute later on a breakaway by CCHA scoring leader AJ Vanderbeck.
Brian Halonen pushed it back to a two-goal game with a quick wrist shot from the half wall with 59.3 seconds left in the second for his team-leading 16th goal of the season. Trenton Bliss and Tyrell Buckley assisted. Both Bliss and Halonen extended their point streak to six games overall and eight games at home.
Logan Pietila finished off a cross-ice feed from Brett Thorne while the team's skated 4-on-4 for a 4-1 lead 12:59 into the third. Pietila has nine goals this season with Tommy Parrottino picking up the secondary assist.
Trenton Bliss scored his seventh of the season with a power-play goal at 16:48 of the third. He slammed in a rebound with assists going to Tommy Parrottino and Colin Swoyer.
"I think our whole line has been doing really well since the break," Bliss said. "We're trying to figure out how we can get sustained offensive pressure. We've been playing with each other the whole season and it's starting to gel. Hopefully, we can keep it going."
Tech hounded NMU goaltender Charlie Glockner with 49 shots on goal. Blake Pietila earned his 15th win of the season with 22 saves for the Black and Gold.
The Huskies were 2-for-3 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.
The rivals will wrap up the CCHA series next Tuesday (Feb. 8) at the Berry Events Center.
"We had a similar schedule last year with the 13-day road trip," said Bliss. "We know what to expect over the next few weeks. Coach is letting us recover on practice days but this is why we play. We love games."
Tech takes its seven-game conference winning streak on the road to St. Thomas this weekend.
The puck drops at 8:07 p.m. Friday and Saturday night from St. Thomas Ice Arena.
THIS STORY WAS WRITTEN BY NMU SPORTS INFORMATION
HOUGHTON, Mich. - The Northern Michigan University Hockey Team traveled US-41 up to Michigan Technological University for a storied matchup, falling short in the third period.
Michigan Tech came out hot in the opening minutes of the first period, but starting netminder Charlie Glockner was prepped and ready, making back to back big saves to help change the momentum.
Glockner showed his dominance within the paint, laying out and stopping two high quality scoring chances for MTU, shots were 6-4 in favor of Michigan Tech with just under 12 minutes to play in the first period.
Michigan Tech's high powered offense lit the lamp first, scoring on a 3-on-1 off a scrambling puck in the neutral zone, Tommy Parrottio netted the goal off a dish from Trenton Bliss at the 11:30 mark.
Charlie Glockner continued to stand tall between the pipes, making back-to-back saves and helping keep NMU within reach. Glockner stopped 22 shots with 14:08 left to go in the second period.
NMU found a spark at the 10:19 mark in the second period, as Alex Frye turned great defense into great offense, creating an offensive opportunity for AJ Vanderbeck. Northern generated a slew of offensive scoring chances in the following minutes.
With 8:44 left in the second period, Trevor Cosgrove was called on a two-minute minor penalty for interference. Michigan Tech took advantage of the power play, as Tommy Parrottino grabbed his second of the night off a pass from Trenton Bliss and Blake Pietila at the 7:44 mark.
AJ Vanderbeck lit the lamp for the Wildcats with 6:25 left in the second to grab a hold of the number one spot in NCAA Division I scoring leaders, assistant captain Ben Newhouse and Mikey Colella grabbed the apples on the goal.
MTU answered back at the 59.3 mark when Huskies forward Brian Halonen put it to the back of the night off a pass from Trenton Bliss, Tyrell Buckly added the secondary assist.
After a slow start to the third period, the action picked up, as MTU challenged a potential major penalty. After a quick review, the refs determined there was no foul play and the game continued on.
After a Huskies turnover in the MTU offensive zone, David Keefer generated a scoring opportunity, passing it along to sharp shooter AJ Vanderbeck. NMU came close to netting one but were stopped by MTU's goaltender Blake Pietila, just under 10 minutes to play in the third period.
After a post-whistle scrum between Andre Ghantous and MTU's Trenton Bliss at the 7:46 mark, the refs put the previous play under review, looking for a potential major penalty. Ghantous was pinged with a five minute major for face masking along with a ten-minute misconduct. Trenton Bliss was hit with a two minute for roughing.
Just a few seconds into the four on four, MTU found the back of the net, Logan Pietila netted it for the Huskies off a pass from Brett Thorne and Tommy Parrottio. Tech led 4-1 with seven minutes to play.
With 4:39 left to play in the third period, Hampus Eriksson was hit with a two minute minor for interference, leaving the 'Cats with a 5-3 penalty kill.
Michigan Tech found themselves serving time with the Wildcats, as Tristan Ashbrook interfered with the NMU defense, making it a 5 on 4 in favor of the Huskies. Just a short while later, MTU netted their fifth goal of the night at the 3:12 mark, Trenton Bliss scored a power play goal off a pass from Tommy Parrottino and Colin Swoyer.
NMU found themselves on the power play as the Huskies forward Ryland Mosley was hit with a two minute minor for slashing.
After a strong third period from Michigan Tech, they grabbed the win on Tuesday, Feb. 1 by a score of 5-1.
- Michigan Tech found the net first, as Tommy Parrottio netted one off a pass from Trenton Bliss.
- Tommy Parrottio grabbed his second goal of the night on a Huskies power play goal, Trenton Bliss and Blake Pietila assisted in the play.
- AJ Vanderbeck got the Wildcats on the board during the second period, Ben Newhouse and Mikey Colella collected the assists. Vanderbeck placed himself atop of the rest as he is now the no.1 leader in scoring for NCAA Division I.
- Brian Halonen made the game 3-1 off a pass from fellow linemate Trenton Bliss and defenseman Tyrell Buckly.
- Logan Pietila put one in for the Huskies off a pass from Brett Thorne and Tommy Parrottino.
- The Huskies fifth goal of the night came from Trenton Bliss, with Tommy Parrottino and Colin Swoyer notching the assists.
- Netminder Charlie Glockner recorded a career high in saves, stopping 44 of 49 shots, the most shots saved since Nov. 12, 2021 when Rico Dimattio made 43 saves.
- The last time NMU faced over 40 shots on net was on Nov. 20 2021, when the Wildcats faced a total of 44 shots on goal. Northern faced a grand total of 49 shots in tonight's matchup.
- Hampus Erikson was deadly on the faceoff dot tonight, winning 57.1-percent of his faceoffs.
