Michigan Tech swept by No. 2 Denver

By Andy Bourdeau/Michigan Tech Beat Writer

Michigan Tech has been playing well as of late and tried its' luck out in Denver against the second-ranked Pioneers.

The Huskies were unable to get a point, but did play better than the scores indicated, losing by scores of 5-2 and 5-3.

Friday, the Huskies went down 1-0, but tied it up to end the first. It was senior captain Malcolm Gwilliam that scored right off the faceoff. DU scored the next two until MTU points-leader Brett Olson scored shorthanded to bring it to within one, at 3-2. A few minutes later, MTU had the puck on the goal line, but were unable to tip it in.

The third was evenly played until halfway through the period, when DU was able to get some insurance, netting three and ending the game 5-2.

Kevin Genoe played in between the pipes for Michigan Tech and ended with 37 saves.

Saturday, the Huskies took a 1-0 lead on a Gwilliam power-play goal, but they stumbled after that, getting down 4-1 at the end of the first, leading to a goalie change.

In the second, Denver scored at the 11-minute mark, but they got one back right away when Evan Witt got a lucky bounce off a DU skate to get the Huskies back in the game at 5-2. With 2.9 seconds in the period, DU took a penalty and MTU head coach Jamie Russell pulled Josh Robinson to have the extra attacker. Gwilliam won the draw clean to Steven Siego, who riffled a shot into the back of the net with 0.1 seconds remaining on the clock.

In the third, MTU knocked in a rebound, but the goal was disallowed and the Huskies coaching staff was none too happy. MTU was not able to muster anymore offense and the game ended 5-3.

Robinson and Genoe combined for 35 saves on the night.

A disappointed Russell commented after the game Saturday.

“We showed a lot of character getting back to a 5-4 game," said Russell. "Yeah, 5-4 is what I said, not 5-3. We did a good job battling back.”

“That’s a team that cares an awful lot about competing hard and that’s a real credit to their coaching staff and their players, because they gave us all we wanted and more,” said Pioneer head coach George Gwozdecky.

MTU (5-24-1, 4-20-0 WCHA) comes home for the last home series next weekend, taking on Wisconsin in a WCHA battle.