Mel Pearson Show summary for 11-17:
Anytime you can go on the road and get 2 Ws it's huge, credit to players, outstanding job
Bemidji has a very good hockey team, very tough schedule so far
Bemidji keeps things simple, chip/flip the puck, always skating, makes it difficult, they will win a lot of hockey games
On Friday:
Good start, fairly even 1st period, they shot puck from everywhere, wanted to get pucks on Jamie, didn't give up a lot of Grade A chances
1-0, Eick SHG, outshot 16-8 that period, looking at that they had 3 PP, 7 shots on PP, we feel we can score SHG, good for CJ, think he can score more
CJ can score more, you can get characterized as a defensive player, want him to be more than 1 dimensional, shoots it well, go a little more to the net 5x5, should use his speed
CJ playing with Steman, Steman is strong, credit to him as a freshmen, centers is our system have a lot of responsabiliyt, fantastic job, good game
Steman confident off the ice too, heck of an athlete, his USHL coach told Mel he probably could've been his teams MVP, knows what it takes to win, important to get players from programs that expect to win
2-0, Petan, we had a outnumbered rush, good job of finding the open man, Petan got huge rebound, that line wasn't real good against UAA, good bounce back game, Gillies didn't make trip, Baltus on the line, brough stability, this line had half of shots on goal in game
2-1, flipped puck in, breakdown on PK, need to block that shot, Jamie had no chance
whole 1st half of 2nd, couldn't establish 5x5 due to penalties, non-PKers just sit on bench, didn't get in good flow rest of 2nd
3rd period, kept them on perimeter, pleased with how we handled the situation, having poise with puck and urgency too
Solid effort, real good job by Jamie Phillips too
faceoffs, Blake Pietila told coach he was getting eaten alive on faceoffs, our guys complained all weekend about puck drops, Bemidji good job "cheating" on faceoffs, we got thrown out a lot on faceoffs, credit to BSU they won faceoffs, we have to do a better job
You might not always win faceoffs, but don't lose, part of problem was their C would tie up our C and their forward would get in and get puck
A lot of great teams in the 94 years of history, hats off to our players being 10-0, a lot of times you can take foot off gas and be satisfied, but we haven't, it's a long season
On Saturday:
Trailed some, 1st time since LSSU, played from behind twice, good to see our guys play from behind
1-0 BSU, we had people in the area, but 2 Dmen went to same forward, BSU guy gets rebound
Shots 10-5 BSU in 1st, PK 1 min into the game, they were just trying to get pucks to the net like Friday
1-1, Sturos PPG, we needed a spark, good puck movement, had a few other chances that PP
2-1, BSU PPG, breakdown on PK, their Forwards got puck top of circles by the boards, walked to the slot, overall good PK, but one breakdown in coverage
2-2, Heinonen PPG, ton of improvement with Tyler, playing with strength, urgency, getting rewarded with goals, already at 4
Big goal, late in 2nd period
3-2, Petan early in the 3rd, good to get the lead, great play, Roy jumping into play, get to website to see the goal, thinks it'll be in NCAA top 5 plays
Better team in 3rd, established ourselves, started in 2nd, skating and good forecheck, a sign to Mel our team is in good shape, good energy in 2nd on a Sat, credit to Shelast
Changed all lines after 1st period Saturday, put Baltus with Pietila/Sturos, Johnstone/Heinone/Neville, Hietila/Steman/Eick, Petan/Kero/Gould
Penalty on Neville in 3rd, didn't show urgency, had to hook BSU, got through it though, playing solid
Penalty on Sweeney late, called delay of game, grabbed puck should be a whistle, diff than NHL, wanted ref to look at Rule book
Told Mel, delay of game penalty, "he grabbed puck and started to skate around with it" - Mel's comment, automatic whistle, can't stake around with it
Had coached our Dmen to do that in this series with BSU flipping the puck, we'll take faceoff,
That said, would take those refs every weekend, respect them, they're good, just his interpretation, still don't understand it
4-2, Kero ENG, Kero had great 3rd, skated, Gould skated well too, our guys did great job on that Sweeney PK, not sure they got a shot even with goalie pulled
On Mankato:
There's a reason they were picked so high in WCHA, Mankato might better than UM with forwards we will see, it'll be up/down hockey, great series
Need support from fans, they're ranked 9th, great deals on tickets
We'll be excited to be back home
Hastings recruiting similar players to us, like to get up/down ice, being in MN, they've attracted some good high end MN players, some good forwards
We have speed too, it'll be a fun weekend, we had two great games at the end of last season with them
These are top two teams in WCHA right now, playing head to head
UMD swept Gophers, we play them in next home series, some good teams coming to Houghton
Questions for Mel:
With success, do we have a target on our back?
Oh yeah, Mankato will use that. Scares me that Mankato had a bye, target gets bigger and bigger.
Does the winning streak help recruiting wise?
Yes it does, big recruiting time now. Will talk about NLIs next week, but last Wed through this Wed is signing. Players want a chance at NCAA tourney, more we win it helps.
What recruiting tools were used to get Mel to Tech?
Came here in '77, Tech had been two 3 straight championship games, chance to play for a winning program and great coach. Good academic school too.
Talk about evolution of recruiting, what it takes for blue chips.
It used to be senior year recruiting, now ND just committed a 2000 born verbal, evolution with websites and phone calls, texting, just gone crazy. Recruiting sites, so much more information out there
When Mel was an assistant at Tech. He'd go to Western Canada, might see 1 or 2 guys on his trip. Now usually 5 or 6 schools there, schools from east and west. Regional recruiting not the case.
How will coaches make sure players are hungry, without being complacent or burnt out?
Can't put pressure on them, pressure is there with the streak. We'll change things up in practice. Changes in the lineup are okay too. It's a fine line.
Has Tech been the victim of coaches not honoring the verbal agreement?
Yes we have recently, we honor the gentlemen's agreement. Just lost a recruit, looking forward to coming here. Other school kept bothering him. Then the coach wanted to call and talk to Mel about something, no interest in talking to him. Honor/integrity mean a lot to Mel, must not to others.
Mankato coming off bye week, does it affect practice?
It does, we had travel, they've gotten fresh mentally and physically. We need to give guys a break physically/mentally.
How do you put lines/D pair together.
Mainly coaches decision, have asked players at times though. Put it on the player a little bit.
Want some chemistry, guys that enjoy playing together, defensive responsibility, like offensive creativity, speed, grit etc.
Dmen, good pair, don't want two offensive Dmen. 2 guys that compliment each other.
Emailer noted that '08-09 Air Force started 13-0
Good for our team, we found a way to keep it going. This weekend will be great hockey. Future NHL players will be here. A ton of pace and speed.
Misfits are great, great group that supports our team. Our players appreciate that.
