Re: Michigan Tech 2011-12 Season Thread, Part II: You're gonna need a bigger bandwago
Notes from today's Mel Pearson show, I only included Tech topics, they also reviewed some overall WCHA standings and CCHA standings, Joe Paterno:
On Saturday's loss to NMU:
Tough loss, very disapointing, great crowd
We struggled from the get go, they got the two quick goals
The team came all the way back making it 2-2, we had a few good shifts and then the two penalties on the same shift
Being on PK so much takes players out of the game, they were bad penalties, haven't done that for awhile
Thought we had more depth than NMU, but didn't get to show that with so much PK/PP
Got a bit of a spark after Genoe was put it, Mel didn't like the 2nd goal, can't give that up, especially when goals are so hard to come by against good teams
Gave the team an article last week that had a quote from Mike Babcock - Can't outscore your mistakes
Good goal for D. Johnstone, had a sore wrist, wasn't sure he'd play, real big goal, gave us some life
On 2nd D. Johnstone goal - great play, that's how that PP should run
Got called for two penalties on same play - rarely see this, Boarding on Blake was marginal, good physical hit, Baker's hit, not a hard hit
They made a good play on 5x3, good we only gave up one goal
First **** of 3rd period, they score, gave up 2x1, one of our Dman went down, one of the Forwards should've held position, he didn't and they made us pay
We probably had better chances in 3rd period, but can not outscore your mistakes, we'll talk about that again today
Outshot them 10-5 in 3rd, won draws, good in faceoff circles, Chad Pietila had a couple chances, Gordic as well, need to finish
We had a lot of problems getting throug neutral zone, getting behind quickly affected how we played as well, discouraged us
We were a little off, not sure if uptight, big crowd, how we handle the success from last weekend
PK was good, dialed in, but still can't give NMU 8 PP in a game
19 saves by goaltender isn't going to cut it, need better goaltending to give us a chance for home ice
WCHA Standings:
Tech in 7th place, UND jumped over us - 18 pts to 17 pts, have 2 games in hand against most of league, need to take advantage of that
We've played well against some of the better teams, UMD will be a big challenge this weekend, good opportunity for WCHA points
Out goaltending has been solid all year, when your team has an off night, need goaltender to step up
4 points out of 4th place, very tight
We'll be ready to play in Duluth, our players get excited to play top teams
Need to play much better without the puck and get solid goaltending
Tech is tied for 7th, UW, UND, SCSU, Denver are middle ground teams, Mel threw UNO in there too, 5 points seperate middle teams
We're in the thick of it, Mel pointed out that the last 3 years combined we had 8 WCHA wins, we're at 8 right now, made some great strides
We're not holding back the last 12 games
Dirk feels tiebreakers will be big - we have DU, UW tiebreaker, plus games against SCSU
UNO is at home, SCSU is at home, all critical series, need to take care of business on the road, split on road, sweep at home
On UMD:
Had a real good series last time against UMD, tied in the 3rd period both games
We play well against good teams, looking forward to it
Dont' have one major area where D coverage is struggling, little things all over the ice to work on
Constantly thinking about lines/Dmen pairing, probably make some change, but don't want to over react, worked well against UAA
For the most part we are helthy, healthiest we've been all year. Tanner's shoulder is getting better, we'll be ready to go.
No questions today, as always they can be emailed to
dj@themix93.com
