Michigan Tech went to North Dakota hoping to salvage something
of the regular season play. Michigan Tech will have to wait a
little longer to win its first road game of the season as well
as improving its dismal season.
 
MTU 1 2 0 - 3
UND 2 2 0 - 4
 
1st Period:
 
Scoring:
 
UND Kirton 2 (Bear, Schriner) 3:03
MTU K. Peterson 5 (Ferguson, Machecek) 8:06
UND Pivetz 2 (Wilson, Zerke) 9:05
 
Penalties:
 
MTU Lane hooking 13:10
UND Hochstein high stick 16:35
 
2nd period:
 
Scoring
 
MTU Lane 6 (unassisted) 8:00
UND Wynne 7 (Kirton, Litke) 14:26
UND Wilson 15 (Zierke, Litke) 15:18
MTU P. Mikesch 9 (Stevens, B. Peterson) 15:36
 
Penalties:
 
MTU Garvey roughing 3:29
UND Zierke roughing 3:29 (4 minute)
UND Schriner slashing 9:15
 
3rd Period:
 
no scoring
 
Penalties:
 
MTU Hanchuk interference 0:42
MTU Ferguson high stick 6:48
UND Rappana interference 8:33
UND Wilson intereference 18:07
MTU Perrault tripping 18:13
 
Saves:
 
MTU Ram      10 16  8 - 34
UND Kvalevog  8  9 10 - 27
 
Power plays:
 
MTU 0 of 5
UND 0 of 3
 
Refs: Bob Ames and Tom Goddard
 
3rd Star K. Peterson
2nd Star Kvalevog
1st Star L. Wilson
Superior Player of the Game (awarded only to MTU): K. Peterson
 
Commentary:
 
This was a hard game to liston to on the radio due to Dave
Fisher's "oohs and aahs". Bob Olson does a creditable job
despite Dave's problems. It appeared that UND came out early
and more or less maintained control of the game. Both teams
ar having less than stellar seasons (UND is 9-19-3 while
Tech is 9-20-5). This game reflected this as both teams used
a clutching, holding, and body game with little or no finesse.
 
To the credit of both Bob Ames and Tom Goddard, they stayed
out of it realizing that neither team was particularly either
benefitted or hurt by the style of play. I am certain that
there were many penalties that could have been called but most
would have been extremely minor. Mancini after the game commented
that he thought that the reffing was the best he had seen all
season.
 
It took the MTU Huskies almost five minutes to get their first
shot on goal. Meanwhile, UND's Kirton tipped in a shot from
Bear at 3:03 into the game. At 8:06, Kyle Peterson scored followed
a minute later by Pivetz's high shot past Ram. On this shot,
it was doubtful that Ram saw it.
 
In the second period, Mitch Lane picked up his first goal since
December 30th as he received the puck about ten feet insude the
blue line and wlaked up onto Kvalevog before firing the puck
home. THis tied the game at two and it appeared that the Huskies
might come alive. However, on a delayed penalty, the Fighting
Souix overpowered the Huskies at 14:26 with Kurtin receiving
the puck from behind the net near the right face off circle and
delivering it past Ram. UND's last goal came when Landon Wilson
drove over Kirby Perrault like a run away Mach Truck for a
2 on 0 advantage breakaway. MTU closed the 4-2 gap by putting a
flurry of shots on Kvalevog, first by Brent Peterson, then Randy
Stevens and finally the scoring Pat Mikesch at 15:36.
 
THe Huskies played "casually" to put it in Bob Olson's words. I
could not perceive a winning spark in the play with the exception
of when the score was 2-2. At 1:14 in the 3rd period, Ram was
pulled from the MTU net. I would have expected this to have
occured much earlier. When Ram was pulled, I would have expected
Kvalevog to face a blizzard of shots. Instead, the Huskies played
keep away with an occasional shot.
 
Walt Olson
MTU