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Michigan Tech 2014-2015

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Re: Michigan Tech 2014-2015

UpNorthHockey said:
Lest we forget....Johnstone, Pietila, Kero, Petan, Sweeney and Khaira were all recruited by the Russell administration. Although Mel is a great coach and recruiter, I think anyone who attributes Tech's resurgence solely to him is being naive. I think Russell's staff were pretty good recruiters, but I think Mel's administration is much better at coaching and developing players. I expect UofM will wait a few more years before they go trolling for Mel and if Mel's doing well here, it might be hard to dislodge him. Hockey's a much bigger deal at MTU than it is at UofM.
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Part of the issue with Jamie was that player weren't improving in their 4 years under him. It's great to see player improve and have their best season as a senior. Also, these players wouldn't be playing in this style if Jamie was here, I doubt we'd see this success. It's amazing to think about the opposite philosophy that Jamie had looking for size and grit vs. this speed and skill we're seeing today. On the flip side Mel isn't fielding a team of all his recruits yet, as he said in his show on Monday, he still wants more speed.
 
Re: Michigan Tech 2014-2015

Reid Sturos is an interesting case study. He was recruited shortly after Brighton HS played in Calumet a few years ago, he was nothing like a blue-chip recruit but a pretty big and strong competitor and fit the Russell team pretty well. I don't think there's any chance he would have developed into last February's (?) player of the month and all the production since, playing the old style of play.
 
Re: Michigan Tech 2014-2015

Did Mel say on his show that most of the 1964/65 team will be here for the Hall of Fame induction? If so, anyone know if Tony Esposito will be in Houghton?
 
Re: Michigan Tech 2014-2015

mtu_huskies said:
Part of the issue with Jamie was that player weren't improving in their 4 years under him. It's great to see player improve and have their best season as a senior. Also, these players wouldn't be playing in this style if Jamie was here, I doubt we'd see this success. It's amazing to think about the opposite philosophy that Jamie had looking for size and grit vs. this speed and skill we're seeing today. On the flip side Mel isn't fielding a team of all his recruits yet, as he said in his show on Monday, he still wants more speed.
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I stand corrected on Sweeney...he was Mel's. It's a good point that the change in philosophy has had a big effect on player development. I agree that a lot of Jamie's recruits wouldn't have developed the same way under the old system. Still, the last batch of Jamie's recruits are now the top skill players on the team and it will be a big loss when they're gone next year. It would be great if Mel could land another Blake Pietila type player in the near future.
 
Re: Michigan Tech 2014-2015

eye4talent said:
interesting post from MGoBlog


Mel Pearson


@mgoblog For your mailbag: M Hockey has basically sucked since Mel Pearson left. Is there a direct correlation?
— A2 Torch & Pitchfork (@A2Torch) November 2, 2014

I think so.

I mean, I kind of thought so when Pearson went to Tech and they immediately went from punching bag to pretty decent. The year before Pearson arrived in Houghton the Huskies were 4-30-4(!), and the previous two years had seen the Huskies win 5 and 6 games. Pearson helicopters in; they immediately go 16-19-4, their best season since 2005-06, and they've hovered slightly under .500 since. Before Pearson, MTU's had two seasons of 10+ wins since 1999-00.

This year they're going full Mullen. They're 6-0, having swept LSSU and Ferris on the road before blowing Michigan's doors off in a series that was 10-3 total goals. Meanwhile, Michigan has fallen off the map and is facing down what may be their third straight year without a tourney bid of any variety.

By the end of this year or next—Berenson is scheduled to retire after 2014-15 but has made noises about getting out early if he thinks he's not getting it done—Pearson is going to look like a strong candidate for any college hockey job, let alone the one he helped drive to great success. Age is the only drawback—he's 55 currently.

Pearson's biggest obstacle to the Michigan job is in Massachusetts, where UMass-Lowell coach Norm Bazin has done even more incredible work. The year before his arrival UML went 5-25-4. They hadn't been to the tournament since 1996. In Bazin's three years UML has been to the tourney every year,—doubling the number of bids in the history of the program—won their first-ever Hockey East title, and gone to their first-ever Frozen Four. He's in his fourth year there and he's already won HE coach of the year twice and national coach of the year once. Possible difficulty: Bazin's a UML alum.

Even if Bazin doesn't work out, if the worst you can do is Mel Pearson you're gonna have a good coaching search.
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The quality of life living up there is worth Pearson staying put. The area is just plain beautiful.
 
Re: Michigan Tech 2014-2015

stuckinwi said:
What's the backstory here? I just know he's not been back.. what's the reason?
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Not entirely sure. Tony took two classes that my dad taught back in the 1960's, and always seemed to enjoy his time in Houghton. For some reason, that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. Too bad, that would be a great thing to see him back.
 
Re: Michigan Tech 2014-2015

John J. MacInnes said:
Not entirely sure. Tony took two classes that my dad taught back in the 1960's, and always seemed to enjoy his time in Houghton. For some reason, that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. Too bad, that would be a great thing to see him back.
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Called Houghton/Tech the "armpit of the Midwest". enough about him.

Hopefully they get a good crowd this weekend and the team keeps rolling.
 
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Re: Michigan Tech 2014-2015

eye4talent said:
Called Houghton/Tech the "armpit of the Midwest". enough about him.

Hopefully they get a good crowd this weekend and the team keeps rolling.
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2,231 of 2,900 assigned seats have been sold for Friday already, not including suites, GA, etc.
 
Re: Michigan Tech 2014-2015

Shirtless Guy said:
2,231 of 2,900 assigned seats have been sold for Friday already, not including suites, GA, etc.
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I was just up at the SDC for a workout. Long line at the ticket office, I've never seen it like that at lunchtime before. Also there were some dudes in green skating around, and the whole place stunk like fresh seawolf. Kind of like tuna fish, but furrier.
 
Re: Michigan Tech 2014-2015

geezer said:
I was just up at the SDC for a workout. Long line at the ticket office, I've never seen it like that at lunchtime before. Also there were some dudes in green skating around, and the whole place stunk like fresh seawolf. Kind of like tuna fish, but furrier.
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What's a seawolf?
 
Re: Michigan Tech 2014-2015

I have friends in Florida who know Tony socially. they say he never bad mouths Tech or the area, instead speaks quite fondly. but this is at odds with him being a no show for this weekend. wish we did know the whole story.
 
Re: Michigan Tech 2014-2015

huskyfan said:
looks like we will be pushing another sellout.
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I think we can expect to sell more than 3200 tickets to every game...not sure about passing the 4200 for official capacity or the 4466 fire marshall sellout, but it should be an interesting year...especially if they keep winning.
 
Re: Michigan Tech 2014-2015

huskyfan said:
I have friends in Florida who know Tony socially. they say he never bad mouths Tech or the area, instead speaks quite fondly. but this is at odds with him being a no show for this weekend. wish we did know the whole story.
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I'm told it's more of a lack of contact/recognition thing....kind of like what the Blackhawks did with their former stars during the Bill Wirtz era. Tech was never big on reaching out to former players and I think a long time passed without any contact between Tech and Tony. I may be remembering this wrong, but I think he was at one of the Tech summer hockey schools I attended in the early/mid 70s. I seem to remember that we all wanted his autograph and ignored Herb Boxer and Jim Nahrgang who were also there.
 
Shirtless Guy said:
I think we can expect to sell more than 3200 tickets to every game...not sure about passing the 4200 for official capacity or the 4466 fire marshall sellout, but it should be an interesting year...especially if they keep winning.
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Have we ever gone over 65,000 total attendance for a season in the last 30 years? With 18 home games this season, that would be 3611 per game. I think it's doable with the current product on the ice. I also think it should be closer to 70,000 or 72,000 total this year. More hype about this team than any other in the last 15-20 years.
 
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Re: Michigan Tech 2014-2015

UpNorthHockey said:
I'm told it's more of a lack of contact/recognition thing....kind of like what the Blackhawks did with their former stars during the Bill Wirtz era. Tech was never big on reaching out to former players and I think a long time passed without any contact between Tech and Tony. I may be remembering this wrong, but I think he was at one of the Tech summer hockey schools I attended in the early/mid 70s. I seem to remember that we all wanted his autograph and ignored Herb Boxer and Jim Nahrgang who were also there.
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Tech did a rather poor job of program upkeep for the majority of the 80s, 90s, and aughts, both on and off the ice. By the time the 10-15 years prior to Mel rolled around, can we really blame stars from the past if they didn't want to be remotely associated with the program and the joke the school had allowed it to become?

But this whole drama with Esposito smacks of the old paint store rumors about Susie Pearson never letting Mel come back to Houghton because the shopping sucked, or the winters were terrible, or whatever nonsense it was. We all know how that turned out.
 
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