Michigan Tech forward Ryder Matter turns up the ice during a game against Bemidji State Friday, Feb. 7, at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena in Houghton. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

HOUGHTON — After a tough weekend at Augustana, where the Michigan Tech Huskies hockey team dropped the opener 5-1 on Friday before battling to a 4-4 tie Saturday, they sit in fourth place in the CCHA standings with four games left in the regular season.

The Huskies are 15-12-3 overall and 11-8-3 in conference play, which gives them a five-point cushion on the fifth-place St. Thomas Tommies.

For the Huskies, the loss on Friday night was their third in a row coming off a bye week.

“We’re going through a little bit of a tough stretch here,” said Huskies assistant coach Tyler Shelast. “Obviously, Bemidji (State) into last weekend, I didn’t think, necessarily, Friday we played that well, certainly losing by a number of goals, never, never that great. But, even the next night, up 3-0, credit to them (Augustana) to battle it back.

“It was kind of how they came back. A lot of our mistakes we talk about, they’re very self-inflicted. Whether it’s poor angle, or poor turnover, or whatever it is, we seem to get in our own way a little bit. Just talking inside our locker room and stuff like that, for us to ultimately get to where we want to go at the end of the year and, you know, win a championship, play in the national tournament, it’s just got to be a greater understanding of like, ‘OK, we need to manage pucks. We need to kind of just play the same way that we played initially to get success, to have success.’ Certainly Saturday night, a couple forecheck goals, transition goal, and then the first goal again, turnovers happen, but it’s just kind of the understanding of, OK, when and where you can turn pucks over. If we do turn it over, how is our structure around that?”

Shelast admits much of the Huskies’ game is still a work in progress.

“That seems to be a continuous thing that we’re trying to work on. If we do have a mistake, we should have layers, we should have the ability to play around it,” he said. “Their fourth goal is a great example of kind of an initial off-angle into another initial off-angle into giving up time and space and zone, and then it turns into an entry, and, really, they just got that opportunity off of (it).

“So, all things being said, (we are) looking forward to having a good week, obviously, continue to drill habits, details, work on the things that, I think, within our structure that can improve; angling and good stick position, staying inside your track, initiating contact first, and then sitting inside about it.”

In his discussion about continuing to work on the Huskies’ habits with and without the puck, Shelast mentioned how much he is appreciating what senior forward Alex Nordstrom is doing right now. Nordstrom was recently named an alternate captain for the remainder of the season, and he has responded to the news with three goals in his last three games.

“Alex has always been an extremely bought-in player, does it the right way,” Shelast said. “(He) certainly deserves that. (He) does it the right way, plays hard, and when he’s committed to the details, he plays his role, and he plays to the structure that our expectation is, he’s very successful. You even see now, he’s gaining some confidence with the puck, and he’s making some plays, getting pucks under sticks, and pulling and shooting. So, extremely happy for him.

“He’s the type of player right now that he’s doing everything he can, and that’s what we want.”

Shelast said that while Nordstrom is not an overly vocal guy, he is an effective leader.

“It doesn’t necessarily matter who he’s playing with right now,” said Shelast. “He’s driving. Good teams, we saw this last year, the more guys that get on board, drive, and play that consistent way, like Alex, we’re going to have a good chance of winning games.

“Now, there’s a lot to do in terms of getting into that situation where we can put ourselves, but Alex is certainly putting his foot forward and helping us kind of realize, OK, this is not realized, but this is how we need to play. This is how more guys need to play consistently for us to be successful.”

On the other end of the spectrum for the Huskies is junior forward Stiven Sardarian. Sardarian was a healthy scratch Saturday against the Vikings. Shelast said that what the coaching staff wants him to understand is that teams are going to work hard to take him off his game, and he needs to find ways to sting those opposing players on the scoreboard.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS

This weekend, the Huskies return home for their final home weekend of the regular season to face the Ferris State Bulldogs. The Bulldogs are 11-17-2 overall and 10-12 in CCHA play, which has them in seventh in the standings, three points behind the Lake Superior State Lakers after a split with the Lakers last weekend.

The Huskies and Bulldogs met in Big Rapids earlier this season, and the Huskies earned wins of 3-2 and 3-1.

The Bulldogs are led offensively by sophomore forward Cole Burtch, who has seven goals and 22 points in 30 games. Junior forward Caiden Gault has a team-high 11 goals and 18 points in 30 games. Senior forward Kaleb Ergang his also been good, scoring five goals and 16 points in 29 games.

In goal, fifth-year netminder Noah West is 11-14-2 in 29 appearances with a 3.12 goals against average and a .906 save percentage.

GAME TIMES

The Huskies and Bulldogs are set to battle Friday at 7:07 p.m. at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena in Houghton. The two teams will faceoff again Saturday at 6:07 p.m.