LSSU Hockey 2012-2013

[PerkyforPrez]

Re: LSSU Hockey 2012-2013

Sorry, DB Cooper, but I consider recruiting the Lakers weakest part of the program. Blame it on the low recruiting budget, or looking in the wrong places, but the Lakers pitch to blue chippers must be over the top. Recruiting student/athletes to the Soo is a "tough putt" and I don't think the current assistants have a pitch that they believe in. If they don't attract the recruits to make a campus visit, Jim Roque won't have the chance to close the deal!

Fricker what you say is kinda true but I do think Tim and Doug do believe in what their mission is. To get the blue chips to visit is most likely a problem when ( I don't know if Dave told you yet were poor ) money is such a issue.

 

[DB Cooper]

Re: LSSU Hockey 2012-2013

Sorry, DB Cooper, but I consider recruiting the Lakers weakest part of the program. Blame it on the low recruiting budget, or looking in the wrong places, but the Lakers pitch to blue chippers must be over the top. Recruiting student/athletes to the Soo is a "tough putt" and I don't think the current assistants have a pitch that they believe in. If they don't attract the recruits to make a campus visit, Jim Roque won't have the chance to close the deal!

Thanks for the interesting response. What do you mean when you post that you think the assistants don't have a pitch they believe in (sic)? If so, why do they make this pitch? I find recruiting for college sports interesting. Fricker, what do you think would be an effective approach to recruiting players to LSSU?

 

[Neil Diamond]

Re: LSSU Hockey 2012-2013

I remember very well. I did not think that LSSU would be invited, and they likely would not have been if St Cloud hadn't jumped ship from the WCHA. Blaming others for not throwing UAH a lifeline? I wanted UAH admitted to the CCHA when Omaha left. Never blamed anyone, but pointed out some of the objections that UAH was coming across in trying to get in to the CCHA. Yes, NMU jumped at the first opportunity to join the WCHA, but LSSU would have been right alongside had they been offered the opportunity at that point.

Dave, you make a lot of good points usually, but the truth is you really went off the deep end in trying to convince everyone there was no way in hell LSSU would be in the new WCHA. You went out of your way to show why any school in Alaska would make way more sense than LSSU. You were very smug when the debris from the BTC was scattered everywhere, and people were trying to figure out what the rest of the college hockey landscape would look like. It almost seemed like an obsession for you last summer to patrol any threads where someone would dare mention the possibility of LSSU getting in the WCHA, and you would let that person know just how off base they were.

Truth be known, you acted like one of the smaller kids in school suddenly being befriended by the bigger kids, thus sending you into a frenzy of nose-thumbing to your former 'little' friends. It didn't put a real good taste in some people's mouths concerning Northern Hockey.

But other than that little episode, I think you're a great addition to our Laker threads

 

[Laker54]

Re: LSSU Hockey 2012-2013

I intentionally did not mention recruiting in my post because I think the Laker staff does a good job in this area.

Regarding budget:

Intensity costs nothing
Player development costs nothing
Consistent effort and play costs nothing
Creating a culture in which the acceptance of mediocrity is unacceptable costs nothing

Anything less than fully developing the available talent, and extracting maximum effort from the team is underachievement.

I am excited about the new WCHA. I agree that competing against similar programs will be very interesting. I still think it is a mistake to assume increased success against these teams. The majority of these teams are very well coached, and will play at a high level. What you describe as overachievement by teams such as BG and FSU, I would view as the result of excellent coaching, player development and consistent high level effort. It is not a fluke. It is the result of a well executed plan.

I understand what most folks are saying about whether there should or should not be a change in coaching. But DB your comment 'Creating a culture in which the acceptance of mediocrity is unacceptable costs nothing' is the reason there should be a change. Mediocrity has been acceptable the last 7 years, how does a coach all of a sudden come in and say 'new rule' no more mediocrity. This can only be done with with a new coach and staff.

 

[LSSULaker889294]

Re: LSSU Hockey 2012-2013

I am just hoping for a Truth Squad free 2012-2013 season.

I extremely doubt it. At least he's not spreading false rumors about Roque getting canned and Frank coming back....yet.

 

[LSSULaker889294]

Re: LSSU Hockey 2012-2013

Congrats to Monardo for winning the Terry Flanagan Memorial Award!

 

[FRICKER]

Re: LSSU Hockey 2012-2013

DB Cooper..........nothing mysterious about coaches not believing in what they are prtching to recruits (what's "sic" about that?). What I'm saying is that it's a "tough sell"
when you're trying to sell the Soo at the very top of the UP compared to an Ann Arbor or Durham, NH, or Boston, or........

I am clueless about what approach is the right one, but the assistants in the Jeff Jackson sure knew. The other thing that we should take into consideration is that Lake State
admitted several players other schools couldn't/wouldn't prior to the start of the NCAA Clearing House. BTW, I heard that one of the big reasons the NCAA started the Clearing House
was that a WCHA school complained that Maine admitted a student/athlete that they felt was ineligible.

 

[MeridianStreet]

Re: LSSU Hockey 2012-2013

BTW, I heard that one of the big reasons the NCAA started the Clearing House
was that a WCHA school complained that Maine admitted a student/athlete that they felt was ineligible.

Do you mean Cal Ingraham? He played against the Lakers in the 1993 NCAA title game and had about 45 goals that year.

 

[davyd83]

Re: LSSU Hockey 2012-2013

Congrats to Monardo for winning the Terry Flanagan Memorial Award!

It was a great presentation at the Fox last night! A big tip of the cap to Monardo! First class kid!

 

[FRICKER]

Re: LSSU Hockey 2012-2013

It can be done!!!! Just look at the way Western has played the last few seasons under a highly qualified pro-style coach. Is there a coach like that down the road in the Lakers future?

 

[FRICKER]

Re: LSSU Hockey 2012-2013

Except for a couple of pipe saves, it could be Western vs. BG in for the Championship tonight.........whoda thunk it???

 

[DB Cooper]

Re: LSSU Hockey 2012-2013

It can be done!!!! Just look at the way Western has played the last few seasons under a highly qualified pro-style coach. Is there a coach like that down the road in the Lakers future?

No doubt this is another demonstration of the effect of good coaching. Fricker, we have been posting about recruiting, but this run by WMU the last few years is even more impressive when I think about the fact that the junior and senior classes were recruited by Coach Culhane, at the end of quite a stretch of poor seasons. He probably also recruited some of the sophomore class as well. Any recruiting Caoch Blashill would have done would have been based on salesmanship and a vision of what he wanted to accomplish, as he did not have a division one track record to reference. This years freshman class looks good, recruiting being easier when some success is realized. What could the current roster of Laker players do with such coaching?

 

[Laker54]

Re: LSSU Hockey 2012-2013

No doubt this is another demonstration of the effect of good coaching. Fricker, we have been posting about recruiting, but this run by WMU the last few years is even more impressive when I think about the fact that the junior and senior classes were recruited by Coach Culhane, at the end of quite a stretch of poor seasons. He probably also recruited some of the sophomore class as well. Any recruiting Caoch Blashill would have done would have been based on salesmanship and a vision of what he wanted to accomplish, as he did not have a division one track record to reference. This years freshman class looks good, recruiting being easier when some success is realized. What could the current roster of Laker players do with such coaching?

I agree. You also have to look at Ohio State's run, until they collapsed after the first of the year. In first place in the CCHA for most of the season and ranked as high as #2 in the country at one time. Look at BGSU, they were in the basement the last couple of years but finished in the tourney pretty darn good by beating Northern the last two years and beating Ferris last weekend. Losing to Michigan in double overtime last night was very impressive. It will sure give them a shot in the arm next fall to pick it up where they left off this weekend.

 

[LSSULaker889294]

Re: LSSU Hockey 2012-2013

It can be done!!!! Just look at the way Western has played the last few seasons under a highly qualified pro-style coach. Is there a coach like that down the road in the Lakers future?

It's all about the $$$ and LSSU doesn't have that.

 

[FRICKER]

Re: LSSU Hockey 2012-2013

D B Cooper........I agree with you. A good college coaching staff has different personalities to fit the different responsibilities. Most programs split up the recruiting task, overlapping sometimes. The Head Coach
usually doesn't hit the road too often once the season starts. For many programs, his presence probably means a school is very serious about a prospect and about to make an offer. On the home front, the assistants split up the academic duties - good communication with the faculty is paramount; they don't want any surprises. Some assign on-ice conditiong, PP & PK to assistants, some don't. I don't know of
too many Head Coaches who can do it all, and "delegating" is VERY important. With the way the NHL chews up head coaches, some very qulified me (a la Andy Murray) will be available in the future!!!

 

[sm2pk]

Re: LSSU Hockey 2012-2013

One more year of college hockey as we know it and than the entire landscape gets turned upside down . I would not want to be in a six team league as the Big Ten will be and the NCHC is going to want to expand to 10 teams and who they will go after is anyones guess . If MI Tech gets their program back under Pearson ,you would have to think they may be the next to jump to the NCHC . Bemidji is a good little school with a new arena and close to the NCHC teams and you have to think they may get a call down the line .


The althectic director at MN just said he wishes nothing had changed as he thought everything was fine just the way it was. That has you wondering how much heart there was in changing the leagues and if a rich guy decided to ruin hockey of all the small schools. The Lakers last chance to get to the Joe is now a season away but to get there,Roque is really going to have to improve things and not keep having second half melt downs at crucial times .

 

[FRICKER]

Re: LSSU Hockey 2012-2013

The Lakers ended up #25 in the rankings but behind Notre Dame (#18). Only OSU (#26) and BG (#29) were lower than the Lakers. USA hockey didn't do the CCHA any favors by putting MSU & Miami together
in the same bracket, ditto Ferris & the Wolverines, but they threw us a bone by somehow picking Sparty over Merrimack who was ranked #1 earlier in the season. BC gets all but a bye into the semi's playing
Air Force...................

 

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Re: LSSU Hockey 2012-2013

If MI Tech gets their program back under Pearson ,you would have to think they may be the next to jump to the NCHC.

Why would we leave a conference that we are the sole remaining original member of? Why would we throw NMU and LSSU under the bus to fly to games in Colorado and southern Ohio, and have little say in how that conference is run?

If Tech ever finds themselves in that situation (which I doubt we will), we would have little to gain by bolting. Remaining dominant in the WCHA v2.0, while maintaining a good OOC schedule, would be the way to go.

 

[davyd83]

Re: LSSU Hockey 2012-2013

The Lakers ended up #25 in the rankings but behind Notre Dame (#18). Only OSU (#26) and BG (#29) were lower than the Lakers. USA hockey didn't do the CCHA any favors by putting MSU & Miami together
in the same bracket, ditto Ferris & the Wolverines, but they threw us a bone by somehow picking Sparty over Merrimack who was ranked #1 earlier in the season. BC gets all but a bye into the semi's playing
Air Force...................

Where does USA Hockey figure into the equation?

 

[davyd83]

Re: LSSU Hockey 2012-2013

One more year of college hockey as we know it and than the entire landscape gets turned upside down . I would not want to be in a six team league as the Big Ten will be and the NCHC is going to want to expand to 10 teams and who they will go after is anyones guess . If MI Tech gets their program back under Pearson ,you would have to think they may be the next to jump to the NCHC . Bemidji is a good little school with a new arena and close to the NCHC teams and you have to think they may get a call down the line .


The althectic director at MN just said he wishes nothing had changed as he thought everything was fine just the way it was. That has you wondering how much heart there was in changing the leagues and if a rich guy decided to ruin hockey of all the small schools. The Lakers last chance to get to the Joe is now a season away but to get there,Roque is really going to have to improve things and not keep having second half melt downs at crucial times .

North Dakota, Denver, CC, Miami and other NCHC members formed their league because they wanted to get away from the Michigan Techs, Bemidijis and NMUs of the world.