With the MacInnes Cup and CCHA seeding at stake, Michigan Tech earned a crucial 3-1 win over Minnesota State on Friday night. The Huskies jumped to a quick lead when Ryland Mosley cashed in a slick pass from Max Koskipirtti just 66 seconds into the game. Both teams settled down for the rest of the period with goalie Blake Pietilastopping all 11 shots he faced. 

In the second period, Michigan Tech killed off the Maverick’s first power play attempt but could not prevent Kaden Bohlsen from scoring in the second Minnesota State power play to tie the game at one apiece. The Huskies fired back less than two minutes later as Logan Pietila reclaimed the lead. 

In the third period, Minnesota State had three chances to score on the power play but Michigan Tech’s defense held strong. With ten seconds left in the game, the Huskies won in style as Jed Pietila scored a looping empty-netter from across the ice.

On Saturday, the Mavericks got their revenge and forced a series split with a 4-2 victory over the Huskies. Minnesota State had only thirteen shots through two periods but made the most of them. Brian Carrabes scored in the first period for the Mavericks, while Tyrone Bronte tied up the game for Michigan Tech with a goal. 

Sam Morton and Kaden Bohlsen added two goals to Minnesota State’s tally in the second period to give the Mavericks a two-goal lead. In the third period, Marcus Pedersen buried a shot after a perfectly timed face-off win by Levi Stauber to bring the Huskies within one. However, Michigan Tech’s comeback attempt ended when Bohlsen scored an empty net goal in the game’s final seconds. 

With conference positioning sorted out, some fans left for the exits, but there was still something to play for. The Mavericks and Huskies competed in a shootout to decide the MacInnes Cup. After both teams missed their first two shots, each scored on their next two before Michigan Tech broke the deadlock with a fifth-round goal and a save from Blake Pietila to win 3-2. 

Jed Pietila earned Most Valuable Player for his efforts and the Huskies won their second MacInnes Cup in the last three years. When reflecting on the weekend, Head Coach Joe Schwan concluded that the Huskies “had five good to really good periods on the weekend… and one really bad period that cost us a hockey game.” The Huskies are now 12-13-6 and will take next week off before heading to Bowling Green for a two-game tilt.

​The 1961 Winter Carnival was very similar to the ones we know of today. To celebrate the university’s 75th anniversary students performed skits, watched entertainers, and competed to see who could construct the best snow sculpture over a couple of weeks. Little did they know, Winter Carnival was about to see the beginning of a new tradition.

​When asked about what inspired him to make a snow sculpture in just one night, Gary Street, B.S. Chemical Engineering 1962, admitted that he wanted to make the 1961 Carnival something special, since it was the 75th anniversary of the university.  In the spur of the moment, Street rounded up some friends and they outlined one of Winter Carnival’s first ‘one-nighter’ snow sculptures. The plan was to build a sculpture worthy of capturing the 75-year transformation from outhouses to indoor plumbing.

​Before the crew could begin construction, they had to find a place to start. According to Street, “We had to find a location that was right on the campus, but we couldn’t interfere with another statue.” This meant that Street and the rest of the six-person crew had to get creative, opting to build their statue in an unused area that got just enough light. While finding the right location was a challenge, the conditions for an overnight build were not. The abundance of snow and warmer temperatures made it easy for the crew to pack and sculpt snow. Throughout the night, the crew worked tirelessly to sculpt their outhouse and toilet. With time at a premium, Street confessed that the group “kind of made it up as we went along,” but in the end, “it turned out better than I thought it would.”

​The next morning, the sculpture became a popular place to snap a picture. Looking for a laugh, students and locals took turns sitting on the toilet seat. While the statue was a nice spot for a chuckle, its impact stretched far beyond that. Street estimates that in the following year, three to four other groups did one-night snow statutes. Today, the one-night statue build is one of Winter Carnival’s proudest traditions as dozens of teams compete to claim a first-place award from the judges. Back in 1961, Street had no idea that he and his team were changing Winter Carnival.

With high costs and ever-changing accessibility, many students struggle to justify purchasing a required textbook. Enter the Textbook Affordability Project. According to Annelise Doll, a Scholarly Communications Librarian and the leader of the Textbook Affordability Project, the project goal is to “make materials more affordable and convenient for students.” In re

turn, students can save money on textbooks they don’t need to buy and get material to supplement their studies, such as borrowing a print copy when they forget their book at home.

Students looking to reserve textbooks can first check the library catalog to see if the books they are looking for are available. Otherwise, students can scan the QR codes found on posters around campus promoting the Textbook Affordability Project which links to a spreadsheet containing all available textbooks. Once verifying that a book or e-book is available, students can go to the library front desk and request it. If students have any questions about the process, they can direct them to the front desk, the Ask Us station, or email library@mtu.edu. 

As for the rental process, students can opt for a short-term loan, which grants them access to resources for up to seven hours, or they can request a multi-day loan. Crucially, students can use their assigned course materials for free within their given durations as many times as they want over a semester. According to Doll, the resources are “not necessarily a replacement for students, but they definitely could be.”

Now in its second semester, The Textbook Affordability Project has been a total team effort with the Campus Store, the library, students, and faculty pitching in. Doll noted that it can be challenging to “get all the units to work together smoothly, but everyone cares a lot about this project which makes it easier in a lot of ways.” She emphasized that the “student community is helping massively, especially student research consultants as they are ‘sometimes a lot more in tune with the student body than we are.’” Overall, Doll highlighted that the team has a lot of ideas for future semesters and hopes that there will be an increase in student usage as the program continues to develop. 

Beginning as a Winter Carnival tradition in the late 1950s, broomball has evolved into one of Michigan Tech’s most popular winter activities. With 2,111 Michigan Tech students participating on 263 teams, broomball requires extensive planning and support to ensure a successful season. According to the Vice Chair of the Broomball Committee, Andrew Maiers, “preparation starts during the first week of fall semester” as there is “a lot to be done.” Tasks for the committee include setting up and maintaining the three rinks which are used for broomball games and hiring a staff that includes approximately 40 broomball referees, 80 cocoa shack workers, and 72 rink personnel. With 17 members, the Broomball Committee is well-equipped to handle the difficulties they may encounter. However, that does not mean they are exempt from facing their fair share of challenges.

As former players may recognize, the Broomball Committee runs a website where it keeps track of team schedules, standings, and player registration. Unfortunately, the code that supports their former website is no longer supported, requiring the committee to recreate their entire website. The Committee hired five web developers to get the website up and running, but even with the support, Maiers noted that, “We are rushing to finish the last of the features before the season starts.” Another challenge the Committee faces is addressing referee shortages as a majority of the refs who sign up to facilitate games back out of the commitment before the broomball season begins. To mitigate this issue, the Broomball Committee increased pay to $12 an hour for new refs and $12.15 an hour for returning refs. The raise wasn’t an easy decision for the committee to make as they had to balance the increase in referee pay rates with an increase in player fees. When making such a delicate decision, Maiers stressed that the committee, “wants to make Broomball accessible as possible because we all know how much it costs to be a college student.”

Like most winter activities, broomball’s success is highly weather-dependent, meaning that preparations for this year were especially demanding. To flood the rinks with water, the Committee needs a 3-inch snow base. With little snow and abnormally warm temperatures in December, the Committee had to wait until the weekend before the second semester to begin ice-making. According to Maiers, “Rink staff is currently working every night to put more layers of ice down, as each layer makes the ice smoother and more playable.” The late start forced the Committee to push their traditional Tuesday kickoff back a week, which will result in playoffs beginning the week after Spring Break as opposed to their finish before Spring Break. Ultimately, the efforts of the Broomball Committee will finally come to fruition when they officially kick off the 2024 Broomball season on Tuesday, January, 16th at 5:00 p.m. with the annual Ball Drop ceremony.

When deciding where to play college hockey, the choice was obvious to Blake Pietila, 4th Year Mechanical Engineering student. He had strong family ties to the area and for him “hockey wise it just felt like the right fit”. In fact, Michigan Tech was his dream school. Since arriving on campus Pietila has to step up his game in order to rise to the top of Division I Hockey. As a Freshman,  he was “a little more timid and just trying to get used to everything”. That year, Pietila only played in six games and gave up an average of 3.24 goals a game. However, by his junior year, Pietila started 37 and gave up just under 2 goals a contest. This was no surprise to Pietila as he knows “improving on the little things goes a long way”.

In 2021-22, Pietila had an impressive individual season, earning Second-Team all Conference and making it to the semifinal round for the Mike Richter Award (an award given to the best goalie in college hockey). But for him, it has never been about individual accolades. Instead, it was being part of the team Great Lakes Invitational and making it to the National Tournament. Off the ice, he’s proud of “getting a good degree and getting good grades.” For him, it’s about the work he does “both on and off the ice maintaining both hockey and school”.

Last season was Pietila’s favorite yet because after all “you can’t beat winning and when you’re winning it’s fun.” But this year will present a new challenge. Most of the top scorers left, leaving behind a young and inexperienced squad. As Pietila acknowledges “a lot of this year has been instilling our systems into those guys and making sure all of the returners are on the same page.” However, with youth comes fresh energy and a new chance to shine. According to Pietila “everyone on the team is hopeful for opportunity” and the team is optimistic that “our young guys can step up and take advantage of the ice time.”

That optimism extends to Pietlia’s own approach to the season as he just wants to “get back out there and start games again”. A new-look team shouldn’t change too much as the goal remains to “finish as high as we can” and secure home ice for the CCHA Conference Tournament. Pietila believes that fans can “expect us to play hard every night as always and to make it a close game.” He assures that the team will “give it our best and put on a show for Michigan Tech”.

When the curtain finally closes on Pietila’s successful career as a Husky, Blake will move on to other goals. “I want to graduate with my ME degree, I am proud of that” he emphasizes. Beyond his degree, Pietila wants to take his hockey career as far as he can and view a game in the stands because after all he’s never actually watched a Tech game as a spectator! But for now, it’s about making the most of what Blake calls the  “best decision I’ve ever made” and doing what he loves most: Playing goalie for Michigan Tech.

The Overview: After two straight winning seasons, the 2021-22 Michigan Tech men’s hockey team broke through and earned their first NCAA tournament berth in four years. While a first-round exit may have not been the result the Huskies were hoping for, Michigan Tech proved they belonged among the nation’s top hockey programs. While a plethora of talent has since left, there’s plenty more that remains. Enough for the Huskies to get pegged as the 20th best team in the USCHO.com poll and expectations to remain as high as ever in Houghton.

The Offense: Michigan Tech got used to terrorizing the other team’s goalie last season as they finished first in the CCHA for shots on goal and third in total offense. However, of their top six point-getters from last year, only Logan Pietila remains. As the new leader of the offense, Pietila will look to expand on his 13 goals and 10 assists. Returners Tristan Ashbrook and Arvid Caderoth both tallied 16 points for the Huskies a year ago and will be expected to take the next step up in order for the offense to remain at the top of the conference. Goals could also come from freshman Kyle Kukkonen who was taken by the Anaheim Ducks in the 2021 NHL Draft.

The Defense: Last year the Huskies held their opponents to just over two goals per game. As with the offense, most of the top defenders from a year ago have graduated, but there is reason to expect the defense to maintain its elite status. Preseason All-CCHA goalie Blake Pietila returns. In 2021-22, Pietila ranked fourth in the nation in shutouts and seventh in goals-against-average. Helping him out in the back will include the likes of Brett Throne and Chris Lipe who will both look to build off of solid performances from last year.

The X-Factors: Michigan Tech was phenomenal on Special Teams last year. The Huskies had the second-best Power-Play Percentage in the CCHA and the league’s top Penalty-Killing Percentage. While “5 on 4” was a strength, 3 on 3 was not. The Huskies stumbled in overtime contests, where they lost a total of six games in 3 v 3 play. Improvement in this area could lead to a dramatic boost in win percentage for Michigan Tech.

The Opponents: In order for Michigan Tech to earn their first conference title since the 2015-16 season they’ll have to get through the dominant Minnesota State Mavericks. The Mavericks are coming off of an NCAA National Championship game appearance and have two players on the Preseason All-CCHA Team. Rivals Northern Michigan University will hope to improve on their fifth-place finish from a year ago and is returning a majority of their squad including their star forward AJ Vanderbeck. Michigan Tech will also play crucial non-conference games against Western Michigan, and St. Lawrence which can boost their chance of a tournament bid.

The Outlook: It’s impossible to overlook the amount of talent that graduated or transferred, and it’s fair to wonder if this year’s Michigan Tech season will resemble a rebuild or reload. But, with their lights-out goalie back for another year and proven veterans who will look to take on bigger roles, the pieces are in place for another winning season. While easier said than done, the Huskies have every reason to believe they have what it takes to win their first NCAA Tournament game since 1981. Now they just have to prove it.

1. Classes are hard if you hardly study-Perhaps you have already heard, but classes at Michigan Tech are no joke. There’s a reason Michigan Tech has earned a reputation for being a top STEM school. That being said, effective study skills can turn an impossible class into a manageable one and a manageable class into a breeze. Now’s the time to develop those skills, and if you need help there are a plethora of resources (learning centers, workshops, Success Coaches) that will get and keep you on the right track.
2. There’s more to the college campus than just classes-Speaking of resources…it’s easy to think of Michigan Tech as a place to go to (and hopefully pass) classes and nothing else.. Between office hours and learning centers for every subject imaginable, there is so much to learn beyond the classroom. Not to mention that there are departments on campus dedicated to mental health and wellbeing, career opportunities, outdoor activities, and student success just to name a few. Skeptical that Michigan Tech has enough to offer just check out the Student Scoop that pops in your inbox every week.
3. There’s more to the Keweenaw than just a college campus-Every once in a while campus may start to feel a little small. Fortunately for us, we live in one of the most stunning places in the entire world. Whether it’s hiking, swimming, mountain biking, or camping the Keweenaw Peninsula is an outdoorsman’s dream. The views at Copper Harbor or Breakers can turn any couch potato into an avid nature lover. Maybe if you get lucky you’ll even catch the Northern Lights.
4. Everyone goes to K-Day-Even if you aren’t involved in any clubs or perhaps a few too many, K-Day is the place to be. For a glorious class-free Friday afternoon, over 100 student organizations set up booths and share what they are all about. Greek life, academic organizations, club sports, enterprises, K-Day has it all. While that alone may not be enough to convince you to take the 10-minute trip to Chassell, there is an abundance of free food and giveaways. You don’t want to miss out.
5. Nobody goes home for Winter Carnival-I know, I know a four-day weekend smack dab in the middle of Winter is the perfect time to escape the tundra and head towards whatever home is. However, skipping Carnival would be the equivalent of skipping out on a roller coaster after you’ve waited in line for hours. Nobody knows winter better than Huskies and nobody knows how to celebrate winter better than Huskies. Any doubts? Just wait until the snow sculptures are built.
6. Mt. Ripley is free and rentals are a steal-Just about anywhere else in the world a ski ticket costs as much as an arm and a leg, but as an MTU student Mt. Ripley is absolutely free to ski on as long it has snow on it. It’s not too often that one can go to a ski hill immediately after they finish a class. Michigan Tech offers co-curricular credits in snowboarding and skiing at a variety of abilities so there’s no excuse to pick up the hobby if you haven’t already. Don’t have the right equipment, in order to rent for the year all you have to pay is a smidge under $90. Not per session…for the year! Seasonal Rentals (touchnet.net)
7. Nothing tops the student section at a Michigan Tech hockey game-What happens when you take one of the most dedicated student sections in the nation and place them next to one of the most ludicrous pep bands in existence? Pure pandemonium. On select Friday and Saturday nights from October to March, there is no better place on Earth than MacInnes Ice Arena. Show up early enough and you’ll get to view a Division I hockey team annihilate its opponents for free. Plus you’ll get to learn three fight songs (even if only one is “offical”), and ridicule the opposing goalie for the entire duration of the game.
8. We’re better than Northern-Anytime we play them in anything it’s a big deal and more often than not we win.
9. You can’t get more elite than the Dean’s Club-There are probably other cool Deans but no Dean is cooler than our Dean. In addition to being the head man of student affairs, Dean Sutherland is an avid Instagrammer and a must-follow. If you give him a follow, maybe just maybe he’ll let you in the increasingly exclusive Dean’s Club.
10. Make the most of every moment-Sometimes college seems to last forever, especially if you are halfway through a Friday afternoon class. But, it’s only a snapshot of your life. For many of us, this will be our only chance to take in the area and everything that the campus has to offer. In addition to setting yourself up for the future, set yourself up for the present. Being a Michigan Tech student is one of the best opportunities you have ever had. Invest accordingly.