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Hietala Strikes Twice To Lead Tech Past Northern
 HOUGHTON--- Blake Hietala scored two goals in the first eight minutes to jumpstart Michigan Tech's offense in a 4-1 victory over rival Northern Michigan Saturday night in the Huskies home opener. A crowd of 3,944 witnessed Tech earn its first victory with a 33-15 advantage in shots on goal. "It feels good," said head coach Mel Pearson. "I think our team's played well enough to win some other games and didn't. Tonight we did. "It was important that we were at home and important that we got the lead. We had great electricity in the building tonight and a great crowd like there was last night (in Marquette). If that is any indication of what this rivalry's going to be like, I think we're all going to be happy." Special teams had been a huge factor in Tech's first five games of the season. The Huskies penalty kill didn't see a lot of work tonight, but it was called on early as Mike Neville was called for goaltender interference just 24 seconds into the game. Tech killed the penalty, and the offense got going shortly thereafter. Hietala and line mate Max Vallis worked together on a rush with Hietala scoring from in tight on goaltender Mathias Dahlstrom just 6:33 into the contest. One minute later while on the power play, Hietala walked to the slot from the left circle and buried a shot in the upper right corner for a 2-0 advantage. Tech limited the Wildcats to just three shots in the opening 20 minutes. Just 39 seconds into the second period, Mike Neville chased down a puck in the offensive zone and centered a pass. Alex Petan chipped it past Dahlstrom for a 3-0 lead. NMU broke up the shutout with Stephan Vigier's goal just 48 seconds later. Vigier intercepted a pass and tucked a shot inside the post. David Johnstone closed out scoring at the 7:37 mark of the second period with his first goal of the season. Shane Hanna took a shot from the left point that rebounded to the back door. Johnstone banked his shot off Dahlstrom from below the goal line. IN FRIDAY'S NMU VS TECH HOCKEY GAME.... MARQUETTE---The Northern Michigan University hockey Wildcats tallied two first period goals in their 2-0 victory over the Michigan Tech Huskies on Friday night in their opening Western Collegiate Hockey Association contest. The two teams offered plenty of action to the sold-out crowd in the Berry Events Center as they combined for 18 penalties and 58 penalty minutes. With the win, the Wildcats earn their first victory in the WCHA and improve their overall record on the year to 2-3-0. The two first period goals were scored by by senior Stephan Vigier and freshman Brock Maschmeyer. Vigier buried the first goal at the 4:55 mark with the assists going to junior Reed Seckel and senior Erik Higby. The goal was Vigiers fourth goal of the season.
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