Good weekend, nice turnout on Saturday
Wish we could do skate with the huskies more often, our players enjoy it
Wanted to create a game like atmosphere, to keep good habits going, with 3 weeks between games, easy to get into bad habits
Wanted to see guys who hadn't played yet or are on the bubble
Also wanted to look at goalies, good to see Devin in net, no warm-up, hard on him, Wintjes has had a lower body injury and hasn't practiced a lot, he played well
Johnstone out for precautionary reasons
Schuldt just had knee surgery, out 6-8 weeks
Blacklock: Had a good game, had an injury this summer, has continued to get better, quickness, deceptive shot, sees plays well
Anderson: Big strong kid, light on his feet, can play center or LW, size/grit/toughness but can skate, he'll continue to get better
Devin Kero: difficult when don't get a warmup, Eick on breakaway right away and scores, Schawhan very happy with Devin, has a few things to work on, good for him to get in
Matt Messina was other goalie: practiced due to Wintjes injury, played HS hockey in Duluth, 5th year senior, in National Guards and had a tour in Afghanistan, interesting young man, wanted to get him in a game, did fine
Patrick Anderson: scored a goal, has fought some injuries, really improved his skating, credit to Patrick and Shelast working with him, greet teammate
Have implemented some new system things, did see some of it in intrasquad game. Not with everyone, as some people have habits. Really happy to see some of it, have to continue to work on it.
Steman stood out: skates so well, speed, hard to get puck from him, tough to play against, will be a really good player
Raised $1600 for local junior hockey and skate with huskies is important to give back to community. We have to get more involved, continue to find ways to help in the community.
Muckalt was on the road in western Canada, trying to finalize a couple recruits, good to get out and show our face with a couple recruits
Shawhan was on the road Friday but back for the game, wanted him to see the team being newer
Will have 3 days of practice, probably all coaches on the road this weekend, we have to do a lot of recruiting in-season
Cut second half to 20 mins: tried to get a few extra bodies to help, but club hockey down in Oshkosh this weekend, only 4/5 Dmen on teams, so every other shift vs. every third shift in normal game, wanted to increase intensity, pace did pick up
They discussed other NCAA hockey results:
UAF and UAA had wins over UW and Maine, Friday was real good for WCHA
Early in the year, Alaska schools can go out on ice 2 weeks earlier than other teams so it's huge, and travel to AK can be hard
No idea why AK gets 2 extra weeks, strangest thing because they play at home the first weeks usually, huge advantage for them early in the year, been that way for a long time
Dirk noted incentive rule: any team playing in AK, gets an extra game to play in addition to 34, that's why teams go to AK for the tournament, good bonding to go up to AK too, and tournament pays for most of the cost to go up there, no reason to not go
Now UAF hosts tournament, easy for them to get home games early in the year, not as much struggle to schedule non-conference games early in year as for us
BGSU/Miami split, Bemidji/UND split
Implemented some freshmen in PP, will that be a revolving door through season?
A little bit, one group we know well, have to determine what players can do well and create PP system around that.
Pietila/Sturos strong in front of net. Up top want skill guys, Johnstone can shoot it, Hanna has poise and can handle puck. Petan, so smart, dish it off to guys, top 3 guys move around, make it a good group.
Down the road, Auk will be a strong candidate for a spot like Hanna.
2nd group, trying to find out what freshmen do really well at this level, so want to put guys in spot to succeed, we have a lot of good offensive players, need to find chemistry on 2nd PP group.
Do you use PP card when recruiting?
Mel's recollection, no, talk about guys leaving positions open, have to earn your time. Hard to guarantee someone they'll run PP, could tell kid they'd have opportunity to earn that position.
Want to be upfront honest, and tell kids they'll have to earn their spot.
On PK, ever look at offensive side of things?
Talk about speed first, Mel watches a lot of hockey, NHL started last week, listened to Babcock talk about speed, wants to increase team speed.
Last night, Miracle was on, movie talked about speed/skating, need it. Have to skate for forchecking, break out, puck pressure, etc.
Continually adding speed, trying to get players faster, Shelast done a great job. Gould, Heinone, Baltus, P. Anderson all much better skaters.
Trying to be more aggressive on PK. Not enough speed yet, need to recruit more.
Questions for Mel:
What, if anything, is missing from the Tech hockey program preventing us from being in contention on a yearly basis?
Nothing missing, recent ruling from Big 5 conferences, will do what they want, give full scholarship, or lifetime scholarship, we're goign to have to deal with that.
Could give reasons why it's difficult or more difficult, but we have to get the job done. It's not what you don't have, it's what you have. We have a great rink and good following.
Good coaches, strength and condition, great education. Rich strong past at Michigan Tech, good alumni/donors. Its up to us to identify right players to be here. We want players that want to be here.
We can do it, it wont happen over night but we'll get there. Where we've come from in last 4 years, feel really good about our program.
2nd part after changing culture is to learn how to win. Some teams have that have won a lot understand how to win and how to react in situations.
We have to win a playoff series, win some postseasons things so we know what it takes. We're getting there. Pleased with where we're at and programs heading in right direction.
Now that intrasquad game is over. When do you plan to select final roster and how many players will you keep?
We have a roster, it's pretty well set, we're at 31, don't see us going over that. We had a couple young men interested in being on team. Will talk about it this week.
For committed players do coaches have a say in what junior league they play in?
A lot of players make verbal commitment before school, usually 1 or 2 years of juniors still to play.
We have a little bit of say. We like to stay out of it for most part. Find it difficult to tell kid to go play here and they have could have a negative experience.
Have player look at options and what are they thinking. Whatever they feel most comfortable with. We talk to them about potential junior coaches/style of play. For most part let young man make that decision with family. Give a little input.
Some other schools might feel different and may want them to play for a buddy in BCHL or something knowing that player will get a fair shot at playing. We try to be careful, don't want to burn bridges.
USHL vs BCHL, one is not better than other?
They're different, one isn't better. USHL more defensive oriented. BCHL more wide open for scoring
Both are good. One isn't right for everyone. USHL has a lot of players that have gone on to NCAA. BCHL doesn't quite have that many. Good players come out of both leagues.
Deflections out of mid air, are we working on that?
A little bit to improve coordination.
Mel reminded fans to get tickets for Michigan games.
