(Photo Illustration by Adam Niemi/The Daily Mining Gazette; David Archambeau/Photo for The Daily Mining Gazette)
The Michigan Tech hockey schedule was released Thursday, and the Huskies’ 101st season begins Oct. 8-9 at Wisconsin.
The opening weekend will be all the more interesting after Arizona Coyotes draft pick and sophomore Carson Bantle transferred to the Badgers in the offseason. Last season, goaltender Robbie Beydoun also left Houghton to don a Wisconsin jersey as a graduate transfer. Beydoun played 1100 minutes in goal for the Badgers last season, going 11-8 with a .919 save percentage and a 2.66 goals-against average.
The Huskies, in their first season in a reincarnated CCHA, host Notre Dame the following week after Wisconsin, on Friday, Oct. 15. It’ll be the Fighting Irish’s first visit to the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena since 1982.
MTU hosts Northern Michigan on Friday, Nov. 12 and visits the Wildcats the following night. The Huskies visit the Wildcats on Jan. 21 and host NMU the next night in the other home-and-home series against their arch-rival.
The Huskies will host the University of St. Thomas for the first time, in a CCHA series, on Dec. 10-11.
Tech will also host the US National Development Program on Oct. 16. The Huskies visit Clarkson in the last weekend of October.
Tech will host Bowling Green for the Winter Carnival weekend Feb. 11-12.
In the first year of the CCHA, the top four teams will host a playoff series March 4-6 in a best-of-three matchup. The semifinals and the CCHA Championship will both be winner-take-all.
Tech said ticket information will be released in June, and non-conference game times will be added when available.
Whitten gets 6-year extension
Lake Superior State head coach Damon Whitten agreed to a six-year contract extension with the university on Thursday.
Whitten, a former assistant at Michigan Tech, was named the Lakers’ 10th head coach in program history in the spring of 2014. He guided LSSU to six WCHA playoff appearances, including the program’s first WCHA Championship last season, and their first NCAA Tournament appearances in 25 years.
“As a family, we are excited to continue growing our lives in the Sault while competing for championships with Laker hockey,” Whitten said. “Above all, we cannot wait to see and hear you all back at Taffy. Go Lakers.”
Multiple Lakers players have received conference and national recognition under Whitten’s tutelage.
Thirteen Lakers received All Conference honors, including one All-WCHA First Team (Diego Cuglietta, 2019), five All-WCHA Second Team (Mitch Hults, 2017; Max Humitz, 2020; Ashton Calder, 2021; Will Riedell, 2021; Mareks Mitens, 2021), four All-WCHA Third Team (Gordon Defiel, 2016; Max Humitz, 2019; Anthony Nellis, 2019; Pete Veillette, 2021) and three All-WCHA Rookie Team (Max Humitz, 2017; Ashton Calder, 2019; Louis Boudon, 2020).