The 2024–25 Michigan Tech Huskies men's ice hockey season was the 104th season of play for the program and 7th in the CCHA. The Huskies represented Michigan Technological University in the 2024–25 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season, played their home games at MacInnes Student Ice Arena and were coached by Joe Shawhan in his 8th season.
Season With nearly half of the roster changing in the offseason, Michigan Tech had an uphill climb in its pursuit of another NCAA tournament berth. Max Väyrynen, who had served as a backup for the previous two seasons, finally got his shot at the starting role. The junior netminder shared the net with grad transfer Derek Mullahy in the first month with both looking capable through the first month on play. Unfortunately, Väyrynen suffered an injury in early November and would end up missing the remainder of the season. Mullahy took control of the crease and played well for the rest of the first half. The Huskies entered the winter break with a solid record and a good chance to make waves despite the offense being a bit inconsistent at times.
As the team was preparing to play in two in-season tournaments after Christmas, Ryan Manzella was brought in to backup Mullahy. Despite their record, the Huskies were stuck in the middle of the PairWise rankings due to the poor performance of the CCHA in non-conference play. However, the team was presented with an excellent chance to move up not only with the two tournament but also the strength of several of their opponents. First up, Tech faced off against high-ranked Western Michigan. The Broncos built a 2-goal lead midway through the game and were still up by a pair with less than 10 minutes to play. The Huskies offense woke up in the latter stages and battled back with two goals to tie the match and send it into overtime. Unfortunately, the team was unable to capitalize on their opportunity and surrendered a 3-on-3 goal less than a minute into extra time. To make matters worse, their next opponent was Northern Michigan who, aside from being a fellow CCHA team, was dead-last in the national rankings and would not give Tech any real bump. Manzella was given his first taste of the college game in what the team believed was an easy match. Things looked to be going according to plan but the Huskies got into penalty trouble in the match and squandered a 2-goal lead and gave up 3 power play goals. Fortunately, Logan Morrell saved the day with an overtime winner and prevented Tech from suffering an inexcusable loss.
The Huskies had a similar chance the following week when the opened the Coachella Valley Cactus Cup against #10 Massachusetts Lowell. Mullahy turned in another performance in goal but the offense to take advantage of a poor game by the River Hawks netminder. Tech was only able to get the puck on goal 15 times in the game, including just once in the second period, but still managed to score two goals. However, the team came up one shy of another overtime match and were sent to their second consolation game of the year. While they did manage to defeat Holy Cross, the missed opportunities meant that Michigan Tech now had virtually no chance of an at-large bid. With a conference title as their only viable route to the tournament, Tech soon had to rely on their new goaltender as Mullahy stumbled with a pair of off nights. Fortunately, Manzella swiftly became accustomed to the higher level of play and reeled off three shutouts in four starts. As January ended, the team looked poised to make another deep run in the conference tournament.
Over the final month and half of the season, however, Michigan Tech imploded. The Huskies suddenly found it impossible to keep the puck out of the net with both Manzella and Mullahy struggling between the pipes. Even with several good games from the offense, the team was only able to win once in its final eight regular season games. As the losses piled up, Tech fell down the standings and ended the year 5th in the CCHA. The precipitous fall meant that the team would not get an advantageous match in the quarterfinals and would have to start the postseason on the road. Manzella, who had been playing moderately better at the end selected as the starter but likely wouldn't have mattered who was in goal. Tech's offense vanished come playoff time and the team scored 1 goal in two games, getting swept out of the postseason for the first time in five years.
Departures Tyrone Bronte Forward Graduation (signed with KHL Sisak) Arvid Caderoth Forward Graduation (signed with Fort Wayne Komets) Lachlan Getz Defenseman Transferred to Holy Cross Kyle Kukkonen Forward Transferred to Wisconsin Cameron Moger Defenseman Signed professional contract (Munkedals BK) Michael Morelli Goaltender Left program (retired) Rylan Mosley Forward Graduate transfer to Wisconsin Evan Orr Defenseman Transferred to Stonehill Blake Pietila Goaltender Graduation (signed with Kalmar HC) Jed Pietila Defenseman Graduation (signed with Toledo Walleye) Logan Pietila Forward Graduation (signed with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins) Kash Rasmussen Forward Transferred to Canisius Levi Stauber Forward Left program (retired) Austen Swankler Forward Signed professional contract (Fort Wayne Komets)
Recruiting Owen Baker Forward 20 Howell, MI; transfer from Michigan State Rylan Brown Defenseman 19 Sherwood Park, AB Quinn Disher Forward 21 Fort St. John, BC Philip Fankl Forward 20 Stockholm, SWE Viktor Hurtig Defenseman 22 Falun, SWE; transfer from Michigan State; selected 164th overall in 2021 Elias Jansson Forward 19 Oulu, FIN Bryant Lee Goaltender 18 Houghton, MI Tom Leppä Forward 19 Kauniainen, FIN Ryan Manzella Goaltender 20 Eagan, MN; joined mid-season Ryder Matter Forward 20 Beaumont, AB Tyler Miller Defenseman 20 Medicine Hat, AB Logan Morrell Forward 21 Mesa, AZ Derek Mullahy Goaltender 23 Scituate, MA; graduate transfer from Harvard Stiven Sardarian Forward 21 St. Petersburg, RUS; transfer from New Hampshire; selected 88th overall in 2021
Roster As of August 26, 2024.
Standings
Schedule and results
!colspan=12 style=";" | Exhibition
!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season
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Scoring statistics C/RW 35 11 24 35 51 C/W 36 7 20 27 0 C 36 7 19 26 8 F 36 12 11 23 4 D 36 7 15 22 52 F 32 11 10 21 29 D 36 3 15 18 14 F 31 5 10 15 20 D 34 6 6 12 26 F 35 3 7 10 6 F 31 7 2 9 16 LW/RW 29 4 4 8 8 D 34 0 8 8 10 RW 33 3 2 5 2 C 16 2 3 5 6 C/W 35 1 4 5 4 D 35 1 4 5 10 D 36 0 4 4 2 F 19 2 1 3 4 F 22 1 2 3 8 F 18 1 1 2 0 C 23 1 0 1 0 D 1 0 0 0 0 F 1 0 0 0 0 D 5 0 0 0 0 G 4 0 0 0 0 G 15 0 0 0 0 G 21 0 0 0 0 Bench – – – – – 8 Total 95 172 267 288
Goaltending statistics 4 241:34 3 1 0 7 80 0 .920 1.74 15 821:18 7 6 0 34 328 3 .906 2.48 21 1118:08 6 10 3 50 452 2 .900 2.68 Empty Net - 28:32 - - - 5 - - - - Total 36 2209:32 16 17 3 96 860 5 .900 2.61
Rankings
PollWeekPre 1 23456789101112131415161718192021222324252627 (Final) USCHO.comNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR–NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR–NR USA HockeyNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR–NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR Note: USCHO did not release a poll in week 12 or 26.Note: USA Hockey did not release a poll in week 12.
Awards and honors Elias Jansson CCHA Rookie of the Year Chase Pietila CCHA Best Defensive Defenseman Chase Pietila All-CCHA First Team Rylan BrownCCHA All-Rookie Team Elias Jansson Logan Morrell
References