David Archambeau/For the Gazette Michigan Tech forward Alex Nordstrom (18) celebrates scoring a power play goal during a game against Ferris State Friday at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena in Houghton. Also pictured are Michigan Tech forwards Logan Morrell (9) and Lauri Raiman (27).

HOUGHTON — With a 6-1 win on Friday, fueled by a tremendous effort from an unexpected new top line, and a 3-2 loss on Saturday, the Michigan Tech Huskies hockey team earned a split in their final home weekend of the regular season against the Ferris State Bulldogs at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.

With the split, the Huskies are now 16-13-3 overall and 12-9-3 in CCHA play. With the loss on Saturday, the Huskies fell to 7-9 at the MacInnes.

HUSKIES ROLL TO WIN FRIDAY

The Huskies scored three times in the first period, twice in the second, and once more in the third to defeat the Bulldogs, 6-1, Friday night.

The Huskies got a huge boost from alternate captain Alex Nordstrom, who did something that no Michigan Tech skater had done in over 17 years. He scored a shorthanded goal, an even strength goal, and a power play goal in a 12:42 stretch for a natural hat trick.

“We have a great environment here, so to be able to score some goals at home is always special,” he said. “(It was awesome to score) in all three parts of the game. All three parts are important, and (on) the power play goal, (Stiven) Sardarian and Logan Morrell made a great play there, and just found me in the slot.”

The last Huskies player to score a hat trick that included a power play goal, a shorthanded goal and an even strength goal was former Hancock Bulldogs star Pete Rouleau, who now coaches the Bulldogs, and was an assistant there when Nordstrom played for Hancock.

Nordstrom’s first tally at 15:46 of the opening period while shorthanded. He stole the puck at his own blue line, skated it the length of the rink and buried a wrist shot over Bulldogs goaltender Noah West’s blocker. His second goal came at even strength 3:41 into the middle frame when he one-timed a pass from sophomore center Max Koskipirtti. Then his third came on a similar play, but this time on the man advantage at 8:38 of the second off a pass from Morrell.

“Extremely proud of him,” said Huskies coach Joe Shawhan. “He does it the right way.

“He’s getting into the end of his college career. He’s just playing, and he’s just playing the way he plays, which is intelligent, competitive hockey, the right way. You’ve seen the success he has.”

The Huskies led 2-0 before Nordstrom’s first tally.

Koskipirtti scored the first goal by crashing the net and one-timing a pass from Sardarian at 6:04 with West out of position. Just 3:26 later, alternate captain Isaac Gordon struck on a similar play as Morrell got to a puck in the corner to West’s right, and made a quick pass out in the slot to where Gordon could one-time it.

The Bulldogs got one back at 15:04 of the second when Jacob Badal knocked a puck through Huskies goaltender Ryan Manzella.

However, Gordon got that one back on the power play in the third period when he found space in the right circle, took a pass from freshman winger Elias Janssen, and buried a quick wrister.

Shawhan and his staff put a makeshift top line together for the game of Sardarian, Koskipirtti, and Nordstrom. The line combined for four goals and four assists in the contest.

“I like the line for what they do offensively,” Shawhan said. “Koskipirtti’s a saint, and a superstar, for covering. But now, (with) ‘Nordy,’ I like the line. They have playmaking ability. They have finish ability.”

Manzella made 24 saves to earn the win for the Huskies. West and Martin Lundberg combined to stop 17 for the Bulldogs in the loss.

HUSKIES BLOW LEAD

TO LOSE SATURDAY

The Huskies scored twice in the first period, but surrendered three over the next two periods to fall, 3-2, Saturday to the Bulldogs on Senior Night.

“Disappointing for the seniors tonight,” said Shawhan. “Today’s about the seniors. Started out, obviously, pretty well with some pretty good emotion, and when they were able to, they got that first one, kind of a leaky goal. We got beat on the wall and didn’t pick up coverage. Kind of the same old story. Then all of a sudden you could just kind of even feel it a little bit on the bench that we didn’t have the pushback.”

The Huskies had jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the game’s first 13:55.

The first goal came off the stick of Janssen, who found a bit of space in front of West. A lengthy shift in the offensive zone gave the Huskies time to grind down the Bulldogs defensively. Gordon got the puck into the left corner, and sophomore defenseman Nick Williams got to it and he threw it in front to Janssen, who scored quickly at 6:22.

Then, at 13:55, the Huskies struck again when sophomore forward Lauri Raiman won a puck battle in the right corner. He then tried to throw it in front to senior winger Marcus Pedersen, but the puck bounced up in the air. Pedersen knocked it out of the air and in.

“Very happy for ‘Pedey’ tonight,” said Shawhan. “Getting a goal on Senior Night, he’ll remember that forever.”

From there, however, the Bulldogs chipped away until they were rewarded at 12:01 of the middle frame when Gavin Best found Tyler Schleppe in the slot. Schleppe fired off a one-timer off the pass and beat Huskies goaltender Derek Mullahy over the glove.

In the late stages of the period, the Bulldogs struck again, this time on the power play as Christopher Lie scored at 19:46.

The Huskies came out hard to start the third period and had multiple looks in close, including two different scoring chances for Nordstrom, the first just missing the post to West’s left, the other off a pass from Sardarian.

Zach Faremouth gave the Bulldogs their first and only lead of the weekend at 7:30. He took a pass from Caiden Gault, turned and beat Mullahy with a wrist shot.

The Huskies pressed hard, even pulling their goalie with just over two minutes remaining, but Nordstrom’s tip off a pass from Sardarian was stopped by West. The rebound bounced to Gordon, who fired off a quick shot that West also stopped.

West made 27 saves to earn the win for Ferris State. Mullahy stopped 22 of 25 Bulldogs shots.

UP NEXT

The Huskies’ final regular season weekend will be on the road this weekend against St. Thomas in Minneapolis, Minnesota.