Pickles Shuts Down No. 7 Indiana Tech, Wolverines Split Weekend Series

DEARBORN, Mich. – The No. 24 University of Michigan-Dearborn (16-11-2) men's ice hockey team played a home-and-home series with the No. 7 Indiana Tech Warriors (29-3-0, 20-2) on Friday (Feb. 10) and Saturday (Feb. 11). The series was a tale of two games as UM-Dearborn shutout Tech 5-0 in the first game and Tech shutout the Wolverines 4-0 in the backend of the series. 

Game one saw UM-Dearborn jump on the Warriors early as Brendan West, and Mikhail Khudenko scored within the first five minutes of the contest. Joey Cullinan and Bailey Byrd assisted West's goal four minutes into the opening period. Then, 15 seconds later, the Wolverines struck again when Khudenko took a Josh Makarchuk pass off of the faceoff and beat the Warrior netminder again. 

Cullinan and Byrd put the game out of reach in the second period when the duo helped the Wolverines score two more goals to give UM-Dearborn a 4-0 lead. Cullinan piled it on the Warriors, scoring 33 seconds into the second period. West and Kieran O'Connell provided assists on the goal. Byrd made it 4-0 after he swiped the puck away from the Warrior blue liner and raced down the ice. With just the netminder to beat, Byrd sent a wrist shot over the goalie's left shoulder for his second point of the night. Byrd added a third point as he scored off a West and Max Hartwell assist with 23 seconds remaining in the third period. 

Kayden Pickles (5-3-1) was phenomenal between the pipes for the Maize & Blue, stopping 34 shots without allowing a goal and upsetting a top-10 team on the road. 

Game two did not go as planned for Dearborn, as Tech came out looking for revenge. The Warriors scored twice on the power play in the first 25 minutes. The Wolverine forward lines couldn't get anything working as the Warrior netminder was hardly tested. 

Up Next

Dearborn takes on the No. 2 Adrian College Bulldogs on Wednesday (Feb. 15) at the UM-Dearborn Ice Arena. The Puck drops at 7 pm.