11/25-11/26 Michigan Tech at St. Lawrence - Middle of Nowhere Throw-down

[Flashy Man]

A middle of nowhere midwestern team comes off a split with Alaska-Anchorage. Whereas a middle of nowhere eastern team comes off a loss against Dartmouth and a win against Hahvard this past weekend. In a throw-down of two middle of nowhere teams who'll will reign as victor.

 

[UpNorthHockey]

Re: 11/25-11/26 Michigan Tech at St. Lawrence - Middle of Nowhere Throw-down

I pick Tech to sweep St. Lawrence for the following reasons:

1. MTU will be coming off a layover in Chicago where they'll get some unfettered practice/review time
2. Tech's shots on goal per game is much higher than St. Lawrence's....Tech's defense is also statistically stronger
3. St. Lawrence has beaten only relatively weak ECAC teams
4. St. Lawrence's leading scorer is out with an injury
5. St. Lawrence's goaltending is really struggling
6. After two very regrettable splits, Tech needs the sweep at St. Lawrence before going into a tough stretch.....they'll play hard

 

[manurespreader]

Re: 11/25-11/26 Michigan Tech at St. Lawrence - Middle of Nowhere Throw-down

I pick Tech to sweep St. Lawrence for the following reasons:

1. MTU will be coming off a layover in Chicago where they'll get some unfettered practice/review time
2. Tech's shots on goal per game is much higher than St. Lawrence's....Tech's defense is also statistically stronger
3. St. Lawrence has beaten only relatively weak ECAC teams
4. St. Lawrence's leading scorer is out with an injury
5. St. Lawrence's goaltending is really struggling
6. After two very regrettable splits, Tech needs the sweep at St. Lawrence before going into a tough stretch.....they'll play hard

Well I hope you're right but...Tech has had a hard time against mediocre teams so far this year, just check out the Kratch ratings,and Tech is not consistently good, but certainly has the talent. Tech is away after being gone for a long time. Tech is missing one of the top D men.
On the other hand St Lawrence has won 4 of 5 and has played pretty well. It's easy to take the ECAC teams lightly too.
I'm like Fade was last week.. I have a bad feeling about this, though I'm sure the players want to avenge last years travesty in Houghton.

 

[hockeyplayer1015]

2. Tech's shots on goal per game is much higher than St. Lawrence's....Tech's defense is also statistically stronger
3. St. Lawrence has beaten only relatively weak ECAC teams
4. St. Lawrence's leading scorer is out with an injury
5. St. Lawrence's goaltending is really struggling

Ehh, granted none of us can say 'forget the first 3 weeks of the season, it's like NHL preseason', I beg to differ with the second half of #2 and #5. SLU has allowed just 8 goals in their past 6 since coming off a consecutive bye week break. Have they played top tier opponents? Not entirely, but Dartmouth, Union and Qpac aren't exactly red headed stepchildren either. Admittedly, RPI, Hahvahd and Princeton will likely be in the bottom half of the ECAC this year.

Our OOC losses came to Michigan, Ferris St and RIT. 2 of those are alright teams We should have beaten RIT, but it was something I'm sure the boys learned from (59 != 60!)

As I said in the MTU thread, really looking forward to seeing how these 2 teams match up. Hopefully the games are closer than the 2nd Houghton game last year. Both of these teams have a bright couple of years ahead of them, and hopefully more.

 

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Re: 11/25-11/26 Michigan Tech at St. Lawrence - Middle of Nowhere Throw-down

I'm not rushing to predictions yet, as we all saw Tech's third period breakdown against Mankato and the poor effort this past Friday in Anchorage, and both of those losses are probably going to cost us down the road. Plus, I feel Weninger would probably like to beat his older cousins' former team again, and he does have two shutouts despite his team's initial struggles.

That said, I think it was important for Tech to get that first road win out of the way on Saturday, since proving that they could do it should ease the pressure just a little.

 

[stuckinwi]

Re: 11/25-11/26 Michigan Tech at St. Lawrence - Middle of Nowhere Throw-down

Friday was awful, Saturday was the way this team should play. Hopefully Saturday's team shows up, that team can take on anyone. Friday's team.... Not so much.

 

[Saints#1]

Re: 11/25-11/26 Michigan Tech at St. Lawrence - Middle of Nowhere Throw-down

Should be a couple of good games this weekend. Anybody from Houghton planning on making the long drive to Canton?

SLU's season started off rough and which ultimately culminated with a 10-3 pounding by Michigan in Ann Arbor and the heartbreaking last second loss to RIT in Rochester. Our defense/goaltending at that time was our biggest weakness BY FAR. Now our defense has turned into our biggest asset and the main reason we have started to turn our season around. The offense has been lacking most of the early season as well and as someone else mentioned below our shot totals are considerably low (in most seasons this would be a strong point for SLU hockey). Our power play has been decent while the penalty kill has been among the worst in the nation. If our defense and Wenninger play the way they have the past 4-5 games we will have a couple of good games. If they relapse into early season form then we will be blown out of our own building. Will be fun to see how to all turns out. Let's Go Saints!!!

 

[stuckinwi]

Re: 11/25-11/26 Michigan Tech at St. Lawrence - Middle of Nowhere Throw-down

Speaking of watching... do you guys have any sort of fancy pants video feed? I'd love to drive to Canton for the games, but I'll be driving north to Houghton instead... And on a weekend with no games. boo.

 

[Saints#1]

Re: 11/25-11/26 Michigan Tech at St. Lawrence - Middle of Nowhere Throw-down

There is a video link for B2 and it cost $8 a game......

http://www.b2livetv.com/partner_members.asp?id=29

There is also an audio link as well......

http://www.stlawu.edu/athletics/node/8073

- That's pretty much it that I know of. If you're looking for a free video link, that's probably not going to happen, unfortunately.

 

[UpNorthHockey]

Re: 11/25-11/26 Michigan Tech at St. Lawrence - Middle of Nowhere Throw-down

Good points by manurespreader and hockeyplayer.....I hadn't looked at the recent performance of St. Lawrence....Their D and G is more solid than the stats indicate....the UofM debacle probably also falsely deflated their stats. I didn't mean to suggest that ECAC teams in general are weaker than WCHA teams.....rather that St. Lawrence's recent victories were against teams in the bottom half of the ECAC. I still pick Tech to sweep but I agree that Tech could easily find a way to drop one or both games. It won't be a cupcake series for MTU....as we've seen, no series is a cupcake for MTU.

 

[stuckinwi]

Re: 11/25-11/26 Michigan Tech at St. Lawrence - Middle of Nowhere Throw-down

There is a video link for B2 and it cost $8 a game......

http://www.b2livetv.com/partner_members.asp?id=29

There is also an audio link as well......

http://www.stlawu.edu/athletics/node/8073

- That's pretty much it that I know of. If you're looking for a free video link, that's probably not going to happen, unfortunately.

Nah, not looking for a free video link (although those are always a bonus). I don't mind paying to watch the games. Any idea on the stream's quality?

Audio I'll stick to the Tech feed, don't need the homer opinion unless it's a Tech homer

 

[Saints#1]

Re: 11/25-11/26 Michigan Tech at St. Lawrence - Middle of Nowhere Throw-down

Nah, not looking for a free video link (although those are always a bonus). I don't mind paying to watch the games. Any idea on the stream's quality?

Audio I'll stick to the Tech feed, don't need the homer opinion unless it's a Tech homer

I go to all home games and therefore don't use the B2 option. When the team is on the road I usually listen to it on the radio or online depending upon where I am. I once did purchase the game and watched online and it appeared to be decent quality, but that was almost three years ago so who knows now. Hockeyplayer1015 would probably have a little better idea on the video quality than myself

 

[stuckinwi]

Re: 11/25-11/26 Michigan Tech at St. Lawrence - Middle of Nowhere Throw-down

I go to all home games and therefore don't use the B2 option. When the team is on the road I usually listen to it on the radio or online depending upon where I am. I once did purchase the game and watched online and it appeared to be decent quality, but that was almost three years ago so who knows now. Hockeyplayer1015 would probably have a little better idea on the video quality than myself

I'm extremely jealous of anyone with that luxury! I'm stuck in no college hockey (worth watching) northeast Wisconsin... Drives me nuts!

 

[The Darkness]

Re: 11/25-11/26 Michigan Tech at St. Lawrence - Middle of Nowhere Throw-down

Tech really needs a sweep. The rest of their schedule is not friendly.

If Tech has any chance of making me happy going forward, they really need to sweep this weekend.

 

[huskyfan]

Re: 11/25-11/26 Michigan Tech at St. Lawrence - Middle of Nowhere Throw-down

my world has been rocked. Tech fans are talking serious hockey. on Monday??!!

 

[freego]

Re: 11/25-11/26 Michigan Tech at St. Lawrence - Middle of Nowhere Throw-down

This is the best title of a thread that I have seen in a long time! I remember watching Tech play at Appleton a couple of years ago when you had some goalie with the name of Esposito.

 

[stuckinwi]

This is the best title of a thread that I have seen in a long time! I remember watching Tech play at Appleton a couple of years ago when you had some goalie with the name of Esposito.

Oh man... That sounds like click click click throw down... Can anyone on the tech side rival the age that story?

 

[hockeyplayer1015]

I go to all home games and therefore don't use the B2 option. When the team is on the road I usually listen to it on the radio or online depending upon where I am. I once did purchase the game and watched online and it appeared to be decent quality, but that was almost three years ago so who knows now. Hockeyplayer1015 would probably have a little better idea on the video quality than myself

Pfffft, it's been 3 years since I've used B2 too. The past two years I've been able to make a solid amount of road games since I was down in NYC, and strategically decided when to make trips home (they usually coincided with SLU home weekends, ironically ) so I haven't bothered with the B2. I've heard it isn't all that great at SLU, but really can't tell you for sure.

 

[huskyfan]

Re: 11/25-11/26 Michigan Tech at St. Lawrence - Middle of Nowhere Throw-down

I so wish we were going to these games. what is your arena like? fanbase? the town?

 

[hockeyplayer1015]

I so wish we were going to these games. what is your arena like? fanbase? the town?

Appleton Arena (informally called Appletown by the players) is a classic barn of a rink, varnished woof bleachers all around. Seats about 3k. I'm biased, but it is amongst my favorite rinks that I've been fortunate to get to (Hobey Baker, the Yale Whale, and Qpac amongst them, for their own unique reasons). Fanbase has been declining in recent years, as shown by the box scores the past few seasons (generally in the 2300 range when students are in session). With the students on break, I'd guess these games will be around 1500

Canton, NY is a pretty small college town, but has some decent places in it to eat (Sergi's is a very good italian joint, along with some other nice restaurants in the area.) Admittedly, there isn't a ton to see/do in the north country in the immediate Canton area, but Lake Placid is about 2 hours away or so I would say, maybe a touch more, and is often pretty busy with weekend hockey tournaments going on most of the time.