Laker Hockey Upsets No. 18 Michigan Tech in a Road CCHA Meeting

HOUGHTON, Mich. – The Lake Superior State hockey team earned a 3-2 overtime win over the No. 18 Michigan Tech Huskies on Friday, Nov. 5 at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena in Houghton, Mich. in the first game of a Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) weekend series. With the victory, the Lakers improve to 7-3-1 this season and 3-0-0 in CCHA competition.

Logan Jenuwine and Jacob Nordqvist scored the goals for the Lakers during regulation play, and Brandon Puricelli scored his second overtime goal of the season to seal the Laker win. Laker goaltender Ethan Langenegger made a career-high 42 saves in the win. 

Michigan Tech took a 1-0 lead in the game at 4:17 of the first period when Tristan Ashbrook scored for the Huskies. The goal, which was assisted by Brett Thorne and Parker Saretsky, was a result of Ashbrook staying with a loose puck in front of Langenegger. 

The Lakers best chance of the first period came with 12:53 left on the clock when freshman forward Josh Nixon fired a shot off the crossbar as he skated in on a breakaway on Michigan Tech’s Blake Pietila. 

Langenegger was the Lakers best player in the first period as he kept the team within a goal of the Huskies, stopping 13 of the 14 shots he faced. 

The Lakers tied the game at one at 16:21 of the second period when junior forward Logan Jenuwine scored his first goal as a Laker. Jenuwine was fed a pass from sophomore forward Joshua Wildauer in the neutral zone, and stayed onside before entering the Huskies zone. Jenuwine skated in on Pietila and got off a wrist shot as he was falling down. The puck beat Pietila on his low glove side, evening the score as the conference rivals headed into the third period. 

Junior forward Dustin Manz recorded the secondary assist on the goal, extending his point streak to three games. 

At 4:29 of the third period, the Huskies regained the lead as Brian Halonen scored an unassisted goal to give the team a 2-1 lead. 

Less than a minute later, Nordqvist evened the score at two with his third goal of the season. Jenuwine connected a pass to sophomore defenseman Jacob Bengtsson, who faked a shot that instead was a pass to Nordqvist, who was streaking through the zone. Nordqvist got a piece of the puck and redirected it to beat Pietila at the 4:59 mark of the period. 

After 60 minutes of play, the game remained tied at two and required an overtime session between the two U.P. rivals. 

Only :32 seconds into the extra frame, Puricelli scored his second overtime goal of the season to give the Lakers the road win. Junior forward Louis Boudon won a battle for the puck along the boards and got the puck to Puricelli, who skated into the offensive zone and around the Michigan Tech defender. Puricelli circled in towards Pietila and got off a quick wrist shot to clinch the victory. 

Langenegger was excellent in net for the Lakers, as he set a new career-high in saves with 42 stops against the Huskies, including 18 saves in the second period. Pietila made 18 saves against the Lakers in the contest.

The Lakers and Huskies will wrap up the weekend series tomorrow night at 6:07 p.m.in the MacInnes Student Ice Arena. The game will be available to stream on FloHockey. Fans can tune in to listen to Matt Pocket on the radio call on 99.5 YES FM.

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