The Pioneer men’s hockey team extended its winless streak to three games after dropping a Friday night game and tying Saturday night in a WCHA series against the Michigan Tech Huskies.
The No. 5 Pioneers struggled to score in Friday night’s contest at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena in Houghton, Mich., losing the game 2-1. Then, they settled for a tie Saturday night despite notching four goals.
In Friday’s match-up, the Pioneers had one of their patented slow starts, as they fell behind early after giving up a power-play goal at the 11:01 mark of the first period. Husky forward Geoff Kinrade received a pass threaded through the Pioneer defense and snuck it past Pioneer goalie Peter Mannino to the short side to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead.
The lead did not last long, however, as Pioneer sophomore forward Patrick Mullen netted the lone Pioneer goal of the game only two minutes later as he blasted a shot past Michael-Lee Teslak to the stick side.
The score remained 1-1 heading into the second period. Both teams’ defenses limited each other to only three shots on goal in the first period.
The game opened up in the second period, as both teams began to generate more offense.
Husky forward Tyler Skworchinski scored what would end up begin the game-winning-goal only 2:34 into the second period, when he rifled a shot past Mannino’s outstretched glove.
The Huskies outshot the Pioneers 10-9 in the second period, giving them the 13-12 advantage heading into the third period.
Showing the resilience that the Pioneers have had all season, they fought hard in the third period, dominating the majority of play. The Pioneers generated 12 shots on goal in the period to the Huskies two but were unable to capitalize on any of their scoring chances.
The Huskies hung on for the 2-1 victory, with Teslak saving 23 of the 24 shots that he faced. Mannino registered 14 saves for his first loss in his last seven starts.
Any momentum that the Huskies might have gained from their Friday night victory was completely thrown away when the Pioneers jumped to an early 2-0 lead in Saturday night’s first period.
First, Ryan Helgason notched an even-strength goal at 4:31 of the first, then freshman Rhett Rakhshani blasted home a power-play goal one minute later.
It didn’t take long for the Huskies to counter, as they scored goals at the eight minute mark and with just under four minutes left in the first, to get the score tied up at two apiece heading into the second.
The Pioneers would take the lead again half way through the second period, when freshman forward Brock Trotter netted his 15th goal of the season on another power-play chance.
To the Pioneers’ dismay, the Huskies once again countered quickly, scoring off of a break on the ensuing face-off to tie the game up at 3-3.
It looked as though the Huskies were going to get the best of the Pioneers for the second straight night when Malcom Gwilliam beat Pioneer goalie Glenn Fisher, who replaced Mannino on the nets midway through the game, with a wrist shot at 10:43 of the third.
The Pioneers generated a number of shots and scoring opportunities in the next minutes but were unable to get the puck past Tech goalie Rob Nolan.
Hope appeared to be running out for the Pioneers when sophomore defenseman Chris Butler corralled the puck outside the Husky blue line and ripped a slap shot past Nolan for the game-tying goal.
Neither team took advantage of the overtime period, and the game ended in a 4-4 tie. Butler finished with three points on the night, while Rakhshani finished with one goal and one assist.
The Pioneers continued their recent power-play struggles as they were a mere 2-10 with the man advantage on the weekend.
The fifth ranked Pioneers are now 20-11-3 (12-9-3 WCHA) on the season and look to get back on track when they take on the University of North Dakota on Feb. 23-24 at Magness Arena.
