Mel Pearson Show summary for 12-1:
Good long trip, there was an alumni gathering, over 75 people there, as far as Houston/Atlanta, great turnout
Pleased with weekend, did a lot of good things, especially defensively
Happy for Cliff to get a goal, ENG, guys gave him a hard time because he didn't hit the back of the net, then broke his "lucky stick" the next morning in skate
It's a long trip, decided to bus down there knowing we weren't playing next weekend and could take all our players
We left after Saturday game, 11PM ET, arrived home about 4:30 local time, can count on snow coming back to the UP, beautiful morning, Mel likes the crisp cold
Good to get 4 points, the games are close hard fought games, UAH doesn't give up much, scrappy team, usually our PP has to be difference, but it wasn't
They know they have to outwork teams, just don't have depth, so they work hard. They beat Ferris, UAF. Much improved from last year.
On Friday:
0-1 SHG, Pierce, breakaway on puck that bounces over Kero stick as he tried to keep it in
Do ice conditions make a difference in a game? Dirk thinks their first goal was caused by a bounce.
Puck bounced around on ice, players say it was soft. Anywhere along the boards, the puck would bounce over sticks. Tanner tryign to keep puck in on PP, took a hop and UAH guy was off.
90% of the time the puck will land on Tanner's stick. They also got fortunate, UAH guy wiffed his shot, throwing Jamie off, then got a 2nd chance and scored.
Not how we want to start, give them momentum, but not overly concerned.
They had 4 penalties in 1st, we weren't able to score. They clog it in, so no tic-tac-toe or backdoor goals. We were overly deliberate, slowed things down.
We were off overall on our game Friday. A few guys stepped up, but a lot were off.
1-1, Steman, score on delayed penalty, 2x1 breakaway goal, we'll double check on assists, thought there were a few they missed, Maybe L'Esperance should've gotten an assist
2-1, Gillies on 3x2 break, from Steman, Eick was an option too at the backdoor, Eick driving the net, gave Gillies room, Gillies put it in a small spot, great shot
Eick/Steman/Gillies was great, they worked hard and can all skate, by far our best line
2-2, PPG on a redirect, not happy with the goal, we did a good job on PK for a majority, at the end we backed off and let Dmen take the shot, had talked about denying that shot, poor coverage in front too
Tough game for Jamie, didn't see many shots
3-2, Hanna 1:30 after the UAH goal, we want to throw it at net and it found its way in, Shane had a good weekend overall
UAH pushed hard in 3rd, liked our team too, best period the way we skated, there was some pace in the game, long stretches with no whistle
attempted shots 25 for UAH, 14 got to the net, good defensive game
4-2 Watson, ENG, he plays honest and hard
Good win, left on Tuesday, felt like we were on the road for awhile, good way to start weekend
Lost special teams battle, they had PPG and SHG, our PP got better as game went on, usually need to win special teams on the road
Great game by Gillies/Eick/Steman, need that depth/secondary scoring, other teams will try to shut down top scorers and those guys stepped up
Pound for pound, Steman might be as strong as anyone on our team, strong down along the boards, it's hard to contain him
Gillies has skill/speed, maybe best hands on our team, he's just scratching surface, excited about that
Thoughts on the rink?
Nice building, very modern/clean. It's different on inside, nice touches, seats down around the glass.
Most of staff went to the pro hockey game there Thursday, Jacob Johnstone and Kevin Genoe played there. They had 3700 people, good atmosphere, the Havoc.
Went to blueline luncheon, impressed with the turnout, asked good questions, educated fans.
On Saturday:
1-0 Kero, he beat his guy, better start
we played much better Saturday, had more jump, we were more aggressive
We had 1 PP in 1st, Blake P very close, but a lot of 5x5 hockey
UAH did not have video replay, they had talked to Mel saying part of equipment was stolen, so no video replay for Friday
Asked the ref if it was available for Saturday, but it wasn't, so couldn't look at Blake's potential goal, Blake thinks it went in
Got rid of our bus legs, much better game for many
Hietila moved to Sturos/Pietila line a few times in game, made some changes to get some guys going, overall it helped our team
1-1, wrister that Jamie never saw, lost the faceoff cleanly and shot it, they were good on faceoffs
2-1, Hyland, like that our Dmen are adding some offense, Watson, Hanna, Hyland
3-1, Petan, well placed shot, got goalie moving and shot top shelf, had talked to Muckalt about us watching Nashville Predators pregame skate Thursday and just how quickly they shoot and place it, not necessarily hard, and Petan did that
3-2, we had control of the puck but never got it out of zone, tough shift
4-2, Gould from Kero, good puck movement, good for Gould, has played so well overall and good around the net
5-2, Hietila ENG, getting goals from secondary scoring, no goals from Sturos/Pietila/Johstone, want to get them going, but we have depth
Neville blocked a big shot in 3rd, no goals yet, but don't see that in stats sheet
Blake Pieitla had outstanding scoring chances too, a little snake bitten
David Johnstone - UAH put a line against Blake/David/Reid to make it tough on them, can get frustrating, but have to push through, they did a better job Sat
They'll play against other teams top lines, but it can open up things for others like Steman/Gilles etc, 9 goals on road is good
Concerned at all about Johnstone, most points come from PP and not 5x5? Not overly, they're getting opportunities. short shifted them a few times to get them away from checking line, get them opportunity
On UMD:
2 weeks to prepare for them, nice to have with travel/grind of 1st half
Team will have next 2 days off with no practice, back at it Wed
They swept MN a couple weeks ago, very good, they'll give us real good hockey games
Told our team these are big games, almost more important than league games, especially if you have any chance of qualifying for NCAA
Your non-conference games become huge with head to head criteria
Friday 12/12 against UMD will be the teddy bear toss, think that's cool and serves a great purpose, get your tickets
Last year we lost a 1 goal game and tied, they're a team we want to play, they play fast with pace and they're skilled
The crowds have really helped our team with home ice advantage
We have something to prove, it should be a matchup of two top 10 teams, we have goals of playing after WCHA playoffs, games like this will go a long way
Heard the hotels in town are sold out, UMD bringing a couple fan busses, can't wait
Our next league action is 2nd week of January 9/10 against NMU
But UMD, Michigan at GLI, would like to play Michigan State but also want to see Ferris do well
Happy with our records in WCHA so far, have played 8 of our 12 league road games, now have to take advantage of January home games
Great Xmas gift idea, get some January hockey tickets
Questions for Mel:
If a goalie sits on a bench but doesn't play, is he eligible for a redshirt?
Pretty sure you can ask for a redshirt if a goalie doesn't play. Don't think that's an issue, we dress all three at home.
Dirk notes that Wintjes got in for 10 seconds, Jamie's strap that holds the pad came apart. A skate lace had to be restrung, technically the goalie has time to fix it. But we figured we'd throw Matt in there, didn't want Jamie to feel rushed.
Wintjes told dirk, when Jamie went post to post he cut the skate lace with his skate. He wears less straps than most goalies, so it was a lot looser than other goalies would've experienced.
Shoutout to Alumni that came down, great turnout. Alumni in the crowd Sat. stood out a lot. Sold out the alumni event.
Shoutout to Nashville Preditors that let us skate at their rink Wed and watch pregame skate Thursday. very accommodating.
