The 2020–21 Michigan Tech Huskies men's ice hockey season was the 100th season of play for the program and the 59th in the WCHA conference. The Huskies represented Michigan Technological University and were coached by Joe Shawhan, in his 4th season.

Season As a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic the entire college ice hockey season was delayed. Because the NCAA had previously announced that all winter sports athletes would retain whatever eligibility they possessed through at least the following year, none of Michigan Tech's players would lose a season of play. However, the NCAA also approved a change in its transfer regulations that would allow players to transfer and play immediately rather than having to sit out a season, as the rules previously required.

Michigan Tech got off to a bumpy start but quickly recovered and pulled themselves into the top-20 by late January. As sophomore netminder Blake Pietila was establishing himself as the team's starter, the Huskies were able to play a majority of their games without interruptions from COVID-19. Tech lost its ranking after getting swept at the end of the month but then reeled off seven consecutive wins. The only downside was that their opponents in six of those games were some of the worse teams in college hockey in 2021, so MTU could only get up to 18th in the rankings. When they did play good teams, the Huskies were able to compete on defense but the scoring was reduced to a paltry amount. In their final 8 games against teams that were in the top-20 at some point, MTU scored more than 1 goal twice and lost all but one contest. As a result of their failures against good teams, the Huskies had only a slim chance to make the NCAA Tournament without a WCHA championship. Being swept in the quarterfinals effectively ended the Huskies' campaign.

Cayden Bailey, Jed Pietila and Marcus Russell sat out the season.

Departures Robbie Beydoun Goaltender Transferred to Wisconsin Ray Brice Forward Graduation (signed with Macon Mayhem) Seamus Donohue Defenseman Transferred to St. Cloud State Keegan Ford Defenseman Left program Matt Jurusik Goaltender Graduation (signed with Texas Stars) Todd Kiilunen Defenseman Graduation Mitch Meek Defenseman Transferred to Long Island Zach Noble Forward Left program Alex Smith Forward/Defenseman Graduation

Recruiting Tristan Ashbrook Forward 22 Manistique, MI; transfer from Rensselaer Cayden Bailey Goaltender 21 Estero, FL Carson Bantle Forward 20 Onalaska, WI; Selected 142nd overall in 2020 Arvid Caderoth Forward 20 Gothenburg, SWE Rylan Mosley Forward 20 Arnprior, ON Nick Nardella Forward 21 Rosemont, IL Jed Pietila Defenseman 21 Howell, MI Blais Richartz Forward 20 Menomonie, WI Mark Sinclair Goaltender 21 Hamilton, ON; transfer from Alabama–Huntsville Brett Thorne Defenseman 21 Brampton, ON

Roster As of January 20, 2021.

Standings

Schedule and results

!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular season

!colspan=12 style=";" |

Scoring statistics F 29 12 13 25 27 LW 30 13 8 21 16 LW 28 8 10 18 16 C/RW 30 2 16 18 12 D 30 3 14 17 24 D 30 3 11 14 12 RW 20 7 5 12 0 C 28 4 8 12 8 D 30 4 7 11 12 F 22 2 7 9 10 D 29 1 8 9 4 RW 26 5 3 8 8 F 22 6 1 7 2 D 30 1 6 7 29 F 29 0 6 6 4 F 17 1 3 4 2 F 28 0 4 4 2 LW 19 2 1 3 22 LW 20 2 1 3 8 LW 13 1 1 2 6 D 29 1 1 2 12 D 9 0 1 1 7 C/LW 11 0 1 1 2 G 24 0 1 1 0 D 2 0 0 0 2 F 2 0 0 0 0 F 7 0 0 0 2 G 8 0 0 0 0 Bench - - - - - 8 Total 78 137 215 257

Goaltending statistics 24 1394 14 9 0 42 596 3 .934 1.81 8 398 3 3 1 15 132 2 .898 2.26 Empty Net - 16 - - - 6 - - - - Total 30 1810 17 12 1 63 728 5 .920 2.09

Rankings

PollWeekPre123456789101112131415161718192021 (Final) USCHO.comNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR18NRNR182019NRNRNR-NR USA TodayNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR USCHO did not release a poll in week 20.

Awards and honors Colin Swoyer WCHA Second Team Trenton Bliss WCHA Third Team Arvid Caderoth WCHA Rookie Team

Players drafted into the NHL 2021 NHL entry draft 6 162 Kyle Kukkonen† Anaheim Ducks † incoming freshman

References