The Michigan Tech Huskies continued their road trip this past weekend with a stop in Madison to take on the Wisconsin Badgers. The Huskies skated away with two points thanks to a pair of ties.

Friday Night

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After surrendering first period goals in three straight games, the Huskies held the Badgers scoreless through the opening frame. In fact, there was no scoring by either team until the third period, but that doesn’t mean the Huskies didn’t have some outstanding chances. Defenseman Steven Seigo and center Jujhar Khaira each hit the post in the first period; Khaira hit one in the second as well.

“I thought it was a very entertaining game,” said Huskies head coach Mel Pearson. “I thought it was a gutsy effort.”

The Huskies finally scored 8:42 into the third when Blake Pietila put a rebound past Badgers goaltender Landon Peterson. The lead held until Khaira took a penalty late in regulation and the Badgers ended goalie Kevin Genoe’s shutout bid at 16:49.

“I thought our defensive side of the game was pretty solid tonight,” said Genoe. “It was good for me to get my feet set and show the team that we’re not going to be behind tonight.”

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Saturday

In the weekend finale, the Badgers needed just 6:29 to open scoring with a rebound goal. The Huskies responded a little over a minute later when center Daniel Holmberg found himself skating in alone on goaltender Joe Rumpel. While his initial deke didn’t beat Rumpel, winger Malcolm Gould poked the rebound in at 7:43. The Badgers then regained the lead on a rebound goal of their own.

“I thought our kids played hard,” said Pearson. “I thought Kevin Genoe gave us a chance to win. I think Kevin’s starting to settle in.”

The Huskies found themselves down a pair just over four minutes into the second period, but they didn’t back down. After some sustained pressure, Khaira tipped a shot from Seigo past Rumpel at 8:39 to get the game back to 3–2. Just 3:06 into the third, winger Blake Hietala tied the game after knocking a rebound out of the air and into the net. Genoe effectively shut the door the rest of the night to preserve the tie.

“We came to the rink thinking defense and penalty-killing,” said Eick. “It’s always important to help out on the offensive side of things and it was nice to get rewarded tonight.”

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Stick Salute

This weekend’s stick salute goes to winger C.J. Eick. Called in to replace center Tanner Kero, who had emergency surgery on Thursday, Eick drove to Madison on Friday, arriving just one hour before game time. Not only did he play, he was a key component of the Huskies’ penalty kill that kept the Badgers at bay until the final minutes of the game. On Saturday, he picked up the primary assist on the tying goal early in the third period.