Minnesota Duluth and Michigan Tech of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association exchange opponents at home the next three days against Lake Superior State and Northern Michigan of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. Lake Superior State is at the DECC on Friday night, and Northern Michigan is in town on, yes, for a rare Sunday game. Live blogging will be underway at the Duluth News Tribune Web site. Here’s a Friday story from K.D. Warvie of the Daily Minning Gazette of Houghton, Mich., on the tournament:
HOUGHTON – Michigan Tech is focusing solely on its season opener with Northern Michigan Friday night even though it has two games to play this weekend.
It’s not that the Huskies are ignoring Lake Superior State, it’s just that Tech has a day off in between the two games to prepare for the Lakers, and the Wildcats are the Huskies’ arch rival.
"It’s always exciting to play Northern Michigan," Tech coach Jamie Russell said. "They’re our biggest rival.
"The Tech-Northern rivalry is one of the best in college hockey. The building is going to be packed. We’ve got a big contingent in town with Homecoming, so we want to put our best foot forward."
NMU comes into town rated around the middle of the pack in the preseason Central Collegiate Hockey Association polls. The Wildcats have a trio of standout players.
Junior forward Mark Olver led the team in scoring last season. He finished with 16 goals and 19 assists.
Junior defenseman Erik Gustafsson is one of the top blueliners in the nation. He tied for second on the scoring list last year with four goals and 30 helpers.
Senior goaltender Brian Stewart is the third member of the triumvirate. He was 14-13-2 last season with a 2.32 goals against average.
"Northern’s got a very good hockey team," Russell said. "They’ve got Stewart in net.
"Mark Olver is one of the top forwards in the country and they have a great defenseman in Gustafsson."
As for the Tech side of the ledger, Russell will make one small change to his top two lines. Junior Eric Kattelus will move into to center Jordan Baker and Drew Dobson.
The Huskies’ all-freshman line of Aaron Pietila, Evan Witt and Milos Gordic will also play against the Wildcats. The trio earned a spot in the lineup by combining for five points and two of the team’s three goals in the win over Ryerson.
"They had a great game," Russell said of his freshman line. "I thought they looked confident.
"They were strong on both ends of the ice and created some things (offensively)."
Another freshman who will get plenty of ice time is defenseman Steven Seigo. Seigo will see a regular shift and will also get some time on the specialty teams.
"He’s a pretty special defenseman, and it’s become readily apparent to us quickly that he’s got a lot of talent," Russell said of Seigo. "It’s going to be an adjustment from a defensive standpoint, but with the puck he’s pretty gifted.
"He’ll get some time on our first power-play unit."
Josh Robinson will get the call as the last line of defense for the Huskies in goal. Robinson played the entire game against Ryerson last weekend.
"He was very good against Ryerson," Russell said of Robinson. "We were really happy with how he stepped up.
"His first two saves were breakaways. He had a number of odd-man rushes where I thought he stood tall in the net."
As for LSSU, Tech will began to prepare for them on Saturday. Until then, it’s all about NMU.
"It’s a unique weekend in that we have a Friday-Sunday matchup," Russell said. "We have Saturday in between so it’s a different weekend.
"We really haven’t mentioned Lake Superior State in any way, shape or form, because when you have two opponents you don’t want to start looking at the second one before you’ve dealt with the first."
The Huskies face Northern Michigan at 7:07 p.m. Friday tonight and host Lake Superior State at 5:07 p.m. Sunday.
