Photo Credit: Michigan Tech

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - For the second night in a row, the Michigan Tech hockey team battled to a 3-3 tie with Alaska Anchorage at Sullivan Arena Saturday (Jan. 24). Freshman Brett Olson scored two goals for the Huskies and sophomore Deron Cousens added two assists.

“I thought we took a good step this weekend,” said head coach Jamie Russell. “I think there are an awful lot of positives to take from this weekend. We wanted to get four points and the sweep but we battled back from a 3-0 deficit and a 2-0 deficit. We didn’t give up a power play goal and we had four power play goals of our own on the weekend.”

The Huskies (5-18-5, 1-14-5) power play once again excelled finishing the evening 2-for-5. The Seawolves (8-10-4, 5-9-4) finished the game 0-for-2 on the man advantage.

UAA sent a pair of shots on net that were saved by senior Rob Nolan but the third shot by freshman Jade Portwood got by Nolan at 13:24 of the first period.

The Seawolves extended their lead to 2-0 with a goal by junior Niles Backstrom less than one minute into the second period. Junior Brian Bales sent a pass to Niles who skated in behind the Tech defense and poked the puck past Nolan.

Freshman Brett Olson then answered with a pair of power play goals at 4:05 and 19:48 of the second period. Sophomore Deron Cousens also picked up an assist on both goals.

Junior Drew Dobson, who leads the team with 10 assists, scored his first goal of the season at 14:30 of the third period to give the Huskies a 3-2 lead. Dobson caught UAA net minder junior Jon Olthuis out of position and fired a shot in off the crossbar.

The Seawolves answered less than a minute later when junior Josh Lunden snuck a low wrist shot past Nolan. Backstrom recorded an assist on the goal for his second point of the game.

The Seawolves committed a costly penalty in overtime but the Huskies were unable to capitalize and were forced to settle for the tie.

Nolan (2-13-4) made 28 saves on 31 shots for the Huskies and Olthuis (5-6-1) made 19 saves on 22 shots.

Michigan Tech will enjoy a weekend off before hosting Colorado College for Winter Carnival on Feb. 6-7.