After consecutive seasons ending with a loss in the NCAA tournament, the Michigan Tech Huskies welcome nine new faces ahead of the 2018-19 campaign.

There’s a lot of hope in Houghton after back-to-back seasons of solid hockey, the latter coming under new head coach Joe Shawhan. The Lake Superior State alum went 22-17-5 in his first year after his team rallied from a fifth-place finish in the WCHA to claim the conference tournament and earn an NCAA bid. 

The Huskies fell to Notre Dame in the opening round, as Shawhan’s mentor and former coach Jeff Jackson led the Irish to a loss in the championship game.

“Jeff Jackson has been one of my biggest influences in hockey, as I played with him and coached with him,” Shawhan told The CT Post. “He’s so creative.”

Now it’s time for Shawhan to find some creativity of his own after losing nine seniors this summer.

Our incoming class consists of 1 goaltender, 3 defensemen, and 7 forwards. Meet the newest Huskies.#mtuhky #FollowTheHuskies pic.twitter.com/FRTIDHYJgy

— Michigan Tech Hockey (@mtuhky) July 31, 2018

Five of those seniors skated in at least 35 of the teams 44 games this season. Among those is defenseman and second-leading scorer Mark Auk, who posted 31 points (9 G, 22 A). Forwards Joel L’Esperance and Brent Baltus finished fourth and seventh in team scoring, with a combined 23 goals and 27 assists for 50 points.

Goaltender Devin Kero is another notable loss after going 8-6-1 in 16 games with a 2.50 goals against average and .910 save percentage. Junior Patrick Munson and freshman Robbie Beydoun played in 24 and 11 games, respectively, but their overall stats were slightly worse than Kero’s, who will be a missed steady presence in the crease.

Dylan Sterman, Dane Birks, Alex Gillies, Mason Blacklock, and Evan Anderson round out the departures, which total six forwards, two defensemen, and a goalie.

But as the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock often says, it’s not about who you don’t have, but rather who you do. Senior Jake Lucchini returns after leading the Huskies with 16 goals and 39 points as a junior. Junior Gavin Gould and San Jose Sharks prospect, senior Jake Jackson, also return after career seasons.

Shawhan also has an 11-man incoming class that will help offset the loss of leadership and experience from the nine departures. Perhaps the biggest addition is on the backend, where Colin Swoyer could be the answer to the loss of Auk. 

Swoyer, 20, finished fourth in defensive scoring with 36 points (7 G, 29 A) in the USHL last season as a member of the Sioux Falls Stampede. He took a significant step forward on both sides of the ice from his rookie season in 2016-17, most notably a 20-point swing in his plus/minus rating with a plus-10 in 2017-18.

“I would describe myself as a two-way defenseman with good offensive capabilities,” Swoyer told Jamie Glenn of The Daily Mining Gazette. “I feel like I’m a pretty good skater. I feel like I have pretty good hockey IQ and good vision.”

Swoyer knows just what the Huskies are capable of and that the program’s never-quit attitude wasn’t among the departures. They may continue to be an underdog, but Swoyer and the newcomers will be keys to building on the past two seasons and Shawhan unleashing his creative side.

“I really feel like the team that we have could be a national championship team,” Swoyer added. “I mean we have the coaching staff, we have the players to do it. It’s basically up to us now.”

The Huskies open the season with a series with an immediate challenge as they host 2018 NCAA champion, Minnesota Duluth on October 12-13. 

Have a question or a comment for Jacob Messing? You can find him on Twitter at @Jacob_Messing.