The men’s basketball team defeated Ferris State and Grand Valley State University this weekend to sweep the weekend in front of home crowds during the Winter Carnival Weekend. The wins moved the team up to second place in the GLIAC North Division with an improved 13-4 conference record and 15-6 overall.

Ali Haidar goes up for a rebound to add to his career total of 806 rebounds. Photo by Pamela Landrum

Both games were rematches from earlier this season with Ferris State being first on the menu. Earlier this season the Huskies fell to the Bulldogs while visiting Ferris State in a 66-74 final.

This time the Huskies turned things around on their visitor, ending the game with a 64-55 final in their favor. Senior Ali Haidar netted 27 points and 17 rebounds in the win for the Huskies. Haidar now the all-time rebound leader for the Huskies with 806.

Throughout the game, the Huskies had a 15-point lead four different times, but the Bulldogs were able to battle back but never enough to over come their host.

Saturday the Huskies met the Lakers for the first time since falling while visiting Grand Valley in a 65-70 final. This time the Lakers wouldn’t be so lucky, as the Huskies stormed past them with the final ending at 69-51.

Sophomore Ben Stelzer outscored the Lakers with his individual points as he made four three-pointers in the first half alone. Ali Haidar once again made major contributions to the win, as his points effort helped the Huskies gain a 25 point lead over the Lakers in the second half.

This week the Huskies return to the road as they continue their GLIAC schedule, heading to Wayne State and Grand Valley State for Thursday and Saturday games.

The Michigan Tech women’s basketball team swept their competition this Winter Carnival weekend to remain ranked at number two in the North Division GLIAC standings. The Huskies will be on the road this week to take on number one ranked Wayne State University on Thursday (Feb. 14) and then to number seven ranked Saginaw Valley on Saturday (Feb.16).

Sam Hoyt looks for an open player. Photo by Pamela Landrum

Thursday night (Feb. 7) the Huskies beat the Ferris State Bulldogs 68-49. At the half they led 25-22, while only shooting at 32-percent, and maintained the lead for the rest of the game. After coming out of the locker room into the second half their shooting game was on fire, improving to 52-percent. All of the Huskies got to be out on the court Thursday night; 28 points came from girls off the bench.

Sophomore forward Jillian Ritchie led the team in shooting with 16 points, 12 of the points from 3-pointers. Junior guard Paige Albi had 12 points. Senior guards Veach and Hoyt both threw in 10 points for the team. Sam Hoyt had seven of the 17 Husky assists. Danielle Blake had seven rebounds. Sophomore Emily Harrison had four points, four assists and three blocks.

Leading the Bulldogs in shooting was junior Sarah DeShone with 18 points. Freshman April LaCross had two of the four Bulldog assists. Ferris is ranked number four in the North Division GLIAC standings.

On Saturday (Feb. 9) the Huskies took on the Grand Valley Lakers, winning 69-58.The Huskies struggled in the first half, but in the second half the Huskies came back strong and were led by seniors Sam Hoyt and Emma Veach, combined they had 44 points. Hoyt netted 23 points and had five rebounds. Veach had a career high 21 points and had seven rebounds. She also had a career high of five 3-pointers.  Jillian Ritchie had 12 points for the Huskies.

Emma Veach dribbles past her defender. Photo by Pamela Landrum

Leading Grand Valley was senior Briauna Taylor with 17 points and three assists. Junior Dani Crandall had 11 points. Grand Valley out rebounded the Huskies 35-31. Senior Alex Stelfox had eight rebounds, along with nine points. Kellie Watson had seven rebounds. Grand Valley is ranked number three in the GLIAC standings.

Both teams had 13 turnovers. Tech scored 16 points off of Grand Valley’s turnovers, but the Lakers only scored six. Tech shot 50-percent, and held Grand Valley to 39-percent. The Huskies led the way with field goals; they sank 10 while the Lakers only sank four.

This week the Huskies will be pursuing a win to fulfill their goal to be number one in the North Division GLIAC standings.

The hockey Huskies are back on the ice three times this week as they host rival Northern Michigan University on Tuesday and then head to St. Cloud for more WCHA action.

Senior forward Aaron Pietila competes in the weekend series against Alaska-Anchorage. Photo by Scott Thompson

Rebounding from a disappointing 4-5 loss in which the Huskies gave up a 4-1 lead, Black and Gold rallied for a 6-1 loss the next night, giving the team crucial points and the MacInnes Trophy in the Winter Carnival series. Sitting at 10th in the WCHA, hopes for home playoff ice are looking slim for the Huskies.

Back home on Tuesday, the Huskies host future WCHA member Northern Michigan for the teams’ second meeting of the season. When the teams clashed for the first time back on Dec. 4, the Huskies fell in a 1-2 final favoring the Wildcats. The Huskies lone goal was scored on the power-play by defenseman Brad Stebner, net minder Jamie Phillips getting his first and only start of the season in the non-conference matchup.

The Wildcats sit at second to last in the CCHA with a 6-15-4 conference record and 12-13-4 overall. Senior forward Matt Thurber is ranked at the fifth place spot in the CCHA for overall scoring with three goals and 22 assists.

With little time for recovery after Tuesday’s game, the Huskies travel to Mankato to take on the Minnesota State Mavericks for the teams first meeting of the season. Sitting in the middle of the WCHA, the Mavericks are 18-9-3 overall and 12-9-1 in the WCHA. The Mavericks return home after sweeping the University of Minnesota-Duluth in 4-2, 5-1 finals. Picking up two assists and a goal in the effort, sophomore Matt Leitner leads the Mavericks in scoring with 10 goals and 23 assists.

The Huskies are in search of every point they can get as the season looms closer to playoffs. With only three weekends of WCHA action left, the Huskies need all the points they can get as they look to move up in the standings for a better position. With a rivalry game and a quick turnaround to Minnesota State, the Huskies are well poised for success after taking over Alaska-Anchorage this past weekend.

The Huskies host the Wildcats at 7:07 p.m. tonight.

Husky hockey took the John MacInnes Cup for their efforts over the University of Alaska-Anchorage in this year’s Winter Carnival series. Junior forward Milos Gordic was named the tournaments Most Valuable Player for his two goal, and two assist performance in the series.

Photo courtesy of MTU Athletics

“I’ve been struggling lately… but to go in Winter Carnival weekend and get my confidence back up is good to have” said Gordic of his performance in the series.

Gordic has 10 points on the season (four goals, six assists) in 20 appearances. He and the rest of the Huskies are back home tonight as they take on rival Northern Michigan. They then head to Minnesota for more WCHA action this weekend when they face off against Minnesota State.

He and the rest of the Huskies are back home tonight as they take on rival Northern Michigan. They then head to Minnesota for more WCHA action this weekend when they face off against Minnesota State.

Winter Carnival is a time that holds a special place in the hearts of all Tech students.  For those extraordinary women nominated as Queen candidates, the Queen’s Coronation is the event that starts this amazing celebration. While coronation draws its splendor from the smiles of the candidates and the roar of the crowd, this year will surely live in the memories of the audience for a completely different reason. The comedian, Eric Rivera, served as master of ceremonies and with him came an evening filled with sexual innuendos, explicit language and stereotype reinforcement.

Eric Rivera brought his nightclub act onstage with him for the Queens Coronation. Photo by Gabriela Shirkey

One example was when a contestant described her experiences traveling to Peru and in response Rivera made a joke about showing her his ‘Machu Picchu.’ This night is meant to show the contestants as more than just pretty faces, that they are in fact confident, intelligent, and talented young women. The sexist remarks used by Rivera counteracted the evening’s purpose. My problem was not with the style of the comedy itself but rather the context in which it was presented. It seems that the aim of Rivera’s routine was focused on college students, yet the audience was filled with parents and children.  Comments like “I’ll get you pregnant just by looking at you,” were poorly received and it was only after the co-host, 2012 Winter Carnial Queen Melissa Hawks, pointed out the children that Rivera cooled down.

Despite the overly raunchy nature of Rivera’s act, very little fault lies with him. Blue Key hired him knowing the nature of his profession as well as the nature of the audience. Their mistake in hiring a nightclub comedian for a family event is something that all organizations can learn from. Although this event was held in a college atmosphere, Michigan Tech is far from an isolated environment. Tech and Winter Carnival are important aspects of the community and, while it is good to have fun, doing so at the cost of others is wrong.

In light of Winter Carnival traditions, the Stage Revue kicked off last Thursday night at the Rozsa. Seven different sketches were created, keeping true to the theme of superheroes and villains, but only one could come out on top for the night.

Air Force ROTC’s Eugene is followed around by a comical mime with action signs. Photos by Gabriela Shirkey

The Air Force ROTC was the first sketch up with “Houghton’s Heroes.” The nerd Eugene and his jock friend Trent pair up in this duo to stop Northern Michigan from destroying Winter Carnival. It was certainly a good performance to start the sketches off. Though I am not a fan of putting out the stereotypical jock and nerd situation, they managed to accomplish it quite well. Eugene’s superpower was executed nicely with well-timed sound effects and POW cue cards. What made the sketch the most enjoyable was the fact that the pace kept the audience engaged and the lines were delivered with good emotion. There was enough humor for the audience to catch on to, but it didn’t push any extremes.

Theta Chi Epsilon presented “Yooperheroes” where four unlikely superheroes jump in to save the problems of the Upper Peninsula. Though the idea had some good intentions, the overall performance was quite dull. Lengthy dialogue, which

Theta Chi’s skit incorporated ‘Yooperisms’ like the thimbleberry and black flies.

was hard to understand and hear at points, coupled with some not so funny jokes dragged the sketch longer than it should have. They had a few good jokes scattered throughout, such as the road construction in the U.P. and other Yooper related jokes, but the audience didn’t catch on to them quite as well as they had intended. If they would have practiced their lines a bit more and added more emotion to it, their performance could have been much better.

“When the Wolves” was the title of Alpha Gamma Delta’s sketch where three of Alaska’s finest try to take over the lower 48 starting with the U.P. This sketch had similar problems just like “Yooperheros,” but they were far less noticeable. The action scene toward the end looked like it was going to be great when the music hit, but the action turned out to say otherwise. At one point, when the Winter Carnival Queen was standing alone with two bad guys around her, I thought that maybe something would happen, but it turned out to be more of a letdown. If they would have put more practice into that part, it definitely could have turned the entire sketch around. The one great thing about this sketch was the ending where they revealed Alaska’s finest with

Alpha Gamma Delta tells a story of how Winter Carnival is saved by the Winter Carnival Queen and Blizzard.

the mastermind being Sarah Palin.

Peter Parker comes to Michigan Tech in Delta Zeta’s sketch. After the last two mediocre performances, this one proved that there would still be great sketches to come. Unlike the other sketches, there wasn’t a strong superhero mood; rather, it was all done subtly which made the ending of the sketch very fulfilling. You could tell there was definitely some time taken with the props and costumes. This made the scene changes much more noticeable and added to the overall success of this sketch. The acting was very fresh and different without presenting any strong stereotypes on characters. The dance at the end of their sketch also felt more fitting than the others, mainly due to the fact that they went to a ball in their sketch.

Sigma Phi Epsilon’s sketch took the great treasures of Michigan Tech away by none other than a Northern student and a band of bitter villains. Right off the bat, this one caught my eye. There was just creativity everywhere in this one and it poked some safe fun about our “campus treasures.” The audience was able to engage very well into this one with a well

Delta Zeta’s perform a well choreographed dance routine in their skit.

paced out sketch. The comedy was everywhere from our campus’ wind harp to the girls at Tech. The ending was hilarious with the over-patriotic Captain America charging out to the battle at Northern. All and all, this sketch was my favorite from the night and easily a good contender for the first place prize.

Raptor Hall had big shoes to fill after the last performance, and it was to no surprise that they didn’t live up to it. The one major problem I had with this sketch was the fact that there was no plot, or at least a lack of a plot. The other sketches had a clear plot and climax while this one seemed to head in every odd direction. Even the Rozsa’s program didn’t know what their plot was! Luckily, it wasn’t all bad, even with the plot getting lost. I enjoyed the fact that they broke through the fourth wall with their narrator, which added a lot of humor to their sketch and the superpowers scenes were done nicely with character freezing or going out of place to present their thoughts. If they had organized it a bit more, they could have had a much better sketch.

Raptor Hal’s cast member finds the power to confess his love and talk to a girl.

The final act of the show was presented by Phi Kappa Tau. This was the perfect sketch to end the show with. Everything from acting to props was perfect. They had two scenes going on at the same time and when the spotlight transferred to another, they would freeze their possession, which was really genius of them to do. It allowed the busy atmosphere to stay on pace with the audience; however, it wasn’t all done perfectly. They had an issue with changing backgrounds that lasted much longer than they probably hoped for and adding sexual jokes felt very elementary, but beyond that, it was very engaging. The best scene was the Scooby Doo chase at the end. They even had the multiple doors to back it up which was a great added touch.

The final act of the show was presented by Phi Kappa Tau. This was the perfect sketch to end the show with. Everything

Sigma Phi Epsilon’s two lovers joke about the ‘girl problem’ there is at Tech.

from acting to props was perfect. They had two scenes going on at the same time and when the spotlight transferred to another, they would freeze their possession, which was really genius of them to do. It allowed the busy atmosphere to stay on pace with the audience; however, it wasn’t all done perfectly. They had an issue with changing backgrounds that lasted much longer than they probably hoped for and adding sexual jokes felt very elementary, but beyond that, it was very engaging. The best scene was the Scooby Doo chase at the end. They even had the multiple doors to back it up which was a great added touch.

In the end, taking home the first place prize and audience’s choice was Sigma Phi Epsilon’s “A Rival Revenge” with Air Force ROTC and Phi Kappa Tau taking home second and third respectively.

In the end, taking home the first place prize and audience’s choice was Sigma Phi Epsilon’s “A Rival Revenge” with Air

Phi Kappa Tau’s skit told the story of a group of villains and their ‘date machine’ which ironically created calendar dates.

Force ROTC and Phi Kappa Tau taking home second and third respectively.