Friday, January 31, 2003

TECH WINS OVERTIME THRILLER OVER #12 ST. CLOUD STATE

HOUGHTON, Mich. -- Clay Wilson finished Michigan Tech's dominance of
overtime as Tech upset 12tth-ranked St. Cloud State, 4-3, in Western
Collegiate Hockey Association action Friday night at the MacInnes
Student Ice Arena.

St. Cloud State erased a 3-1 Tech lead midway through the game to
force overtme. But it was Wilson who beat SCSU defenseman Tim Conboy
to the puck at the top of the left faceoff circle, slithered through
the slot, and jammed the puck past netmidner Jake Moreland at 3:02 of
the extra session for the win. The Huskies outshot St. Cloud, 4-1, in
OT.

"It was a great win for us," said Tech Head Coach Mike Sertich. "We
continue to make progress and gain confidence. I'm happy for our
kids, We need to come right back and finish the job now."

St. Cloud State got on the board first at Joe Motzko scored on the
power play at 8:34 of the first. Tech would even the game, however,
at 15:16 as Jon Pittis took a feed from the half wall from Colin
Murphy and beat Moreland between the legs on a wrister from the slot.
Pittis was back in the lineup after missing last weekend's series due
to injury.

The Huskies took a 2-1 lead at 8:47 of the second period on Murphy's
11th goal of the season. And then on the power play at 12:52, Josh
Singer's point shot along the ice found the back of the net to put
Tech up 3-1. SCSU got back to within a goal at 17:24 as Jeff Finger
put in his own rebound. It was 3-2 Tech after 40 minutes.

The visitors tied the game at 9:23 on the power play as Conboy's
point shot was wide of the net, but came right off the end wall where
Jonathan Lehun put it past a helpless Ellsworth.

Both goaltenders had outstanding stops in the closing minute of
regulation to force overtime.

Ellsworth picked up the win with 32 saves, while Moreland made 29 stops.

The teams finish the two-game WCHA series Saturday at 7:05 p.m. (EST)
in Houghton.

NOTES: Tech finished January with five wins, its most in the month
since 1987-88 . . . The Huskies have won three games in a row, their
longest streak since 1998-99 . . . Sophomore Colin Murphy (11-15--26)
had a goal and two assists and has now tied Chris Conner (9-17--26)
for the team point lead. Conner had two assists in the game . . .
Tech has eight wins this season with 11 regular-season games to play.
Tech won eight games in each of the last two seasons . . . MTU's win
broke a 10-game losing streak against St. Cloud State. Tech is now
10-1-0 all-time against SCSU at home in the month of January.