Houghton, Mich. --- Junior forward
Zeb Knutson scored twice as 20
th-rated Minnesota State and Michigan Tech skated to a 4-4 tie in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association contest played in Houghton, Mich., Friday.
Tech, which entered the weekend having gone 5-2-2 in its last nine games, notched a five-on-three power play marker after
Tyler Heinonen picked up a rebound and fired a shot that found the back of the net at 13:50 of the first period to start the scoring.
The host Huskies took a 2-0 lead at 1:18 of the middle stanza after a Maverick defensive-zone turnover led to a
Chris Gerrie even-strength goal. Minnesota State responded at 10:56 when junior forward
Brad McClure one-timed a pass from freshman center
Marc Michaelis that beat
Angus Redmond on the stickside. The goal, which came at 10:56, is McClure's 11
th of the year and the Mavericks trailed 2-1 at the end of two periods of action.
Right after the end of a Maverick power play, junior forward
C.J. Franklin jumped on a bouncing puck in front of the Tech net to score his tenth goal of the year at 2:42 of the third. The goal is Franklin's tenth of the year. Knutson, who steamed down the right side of the rink, beat Redmond with a shot along the ice at 5:51 with his seventh goal of the season giving the Minnesota State a 3-2 lead. The Sioux Falls, S.D., native then wired a shot past Redmond, again from the right side, this time with a shot to the far side at 7:17 to put the Mavericks up 4-2. Tech would not go away, however, and
Jake Lucchini walked out of the corner to beat Maverick netminder
Aaron Nelson at 9:16 to make it a one-goal game. Heinonen cashed in on a power play chance at 10:33 and after 60 minutes of action the score stood 4-4.
Following scoreless five-on-five and three-on-three overtimes, Nelson stopped all three shootout shots before
Parker Tuomie scored to give the Mavericks the extra point in WCHA play.
Michaelis, who now has at least one point in 18 games in his first year of college hockey, upped his team-leading point total to 11-19—30 for 2016-17 with two assists in the contest. Senior forward
Zach Stepan earned the secondary assist on McClure's goal in extending his point-scoring streak to four games (3-3—6) and McClure had a goal and an assist and now has 4-9—13 in the last 13 games.
Nelson, who made his fifth consecutive start for the Mavericks, stopped 37 and now stands 3-1-1 for the year.
Now 14-8-3 overall and 10-6-3 WCHA for the season, the Mavericks square-off against the Huskies again Saturday to close out the two-game league series.
Head coach
Mike Hastings commented following the game.
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