The Mel Pearson Show - Weekly Mondays at 8:45 on WKMJ for a half hour. It's on the Tech website now and you can listen for free. Dirk wanted phone calls, but must not have gotten any because they didn't take any.
-Great to be back in the copper country
-Ready to get back to hockey, players are too
-Very encouraged by what he's seen on the ice
-Work ethic is outstanding, some of the execution isn't always perfect but the work is there
-the energy and the pace within the team has been very good
-Coaches only get 2 hours per week starting Sept 15
On leadership roles:
-Brett Olson will be captain, he's like having another coach in the locker room
-Will pick 2 to 3 assistant captains, will take their time with picking them
On assistant coaches and their roles:
-Steve Shields: he's been outstanding, played at a very high level, he really understands the position and teaching
-Steve will also help the defensemen, he'll travel to most away games as well
-Our goalies are excited to have him here
-Muckalt will help Pearson with the PP, Pearson did the PP at UofM
-Muckalt will work with Forwards
-Muckalt will recruit Western Canada and the NAHL
-Whitten, happy he stayed onboard, he did a great job during the transition
-Whitten comes from a successful program at MSU
Will Pearson go on the road recruiting the first few years?
-my golf game suffered this summer, I was on the road a lot
-enjoys being on the road recruiting, will do more of that than a normal head coach might the first few years
-the first few years he will be on the road, sacrificing some of the other things he might be doing to recruit
The freshman:
-The 3 freshmen were on their own line this week, Johnstone, Pietila, Kero, and they looked good
-They will bring some offense, excitement and skill, they looked good
-Added some kids late on defense, Jimmy Davis has looked good, strong, competitive, skates well, he brings it every night
-Some nights these kids will look like true freshmen
-Happy Sweeney is here, he'll make that first pass out of the zone very well which is important
-Cecere, very strong, competitive, older with good experience
Goalies
-Mel's not a goaltender guy
-Simple philosophy, make the easy saves, take your chances on the good scoring opportunities
-Genoa, Robinson, Cramer coming back
-Wide open to be the starter
-Freshmen Nate Tromp out of MN, has looked pretty good
-Very big jump from MN HS to WCHA
-Down the road he has a chance to be a good goalie
-Good to have first five games at home, hope to have decent crowds
-Need to play well and get off to a good start
For Saturday
-Want to put best foot forward, will treat this like a regular season game
-Veterans will get plenty of playing time, play to win
-May see a couple of goaltenders in the game
Realignment
-Not surprised by SCSU leaving WCHA, from Day 1 of NCHC, new NCHC would look at SCSU, NCHC may go to 10 teams
-Motzko was upfront and said if they got invited SCSU would say yet
-Still like teams in new WCHA, MTU needs to be the best team in our league
-WCHA stands at 8 teams in two years; every team could play each team 4 times, like a possible balanced schedule
-9 or 10 teams isn't bad either, can't control that though, leave that to Suzanne
-Thinks Bowling Green will join the WCHA, on the rebound with their new coach, nice addition to WCHA
Style of play:
-Up tempo pace type of team, control the puck more
-Recruit skilled players and you want them to play with the puck and be creative
-It will take some time, but we do have some players that can be creative
-Want to be hard working, best defensive team in country
-Will be more aggressive on PK
-May struggle with special teams early in the season because of limited practice team
-Mel had a great experience here as a student athlete, need to get students and community back involved
-Need to produce a winning product on the ice
-Very impressed with Seigo, he wants the puck, he will likely quarterback one of the PP
-Jordan Baker also very talented
-Ryan Furne, very patient with the puck, will likely be on the PP
-The three freshmen will get PP mins as well
