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Michigan Tech, best season in 30 years, part two!

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Re: Michigan Tech, best season in 30 years, part two!

Filling in the off-weekend void... I spent the first part of Saturday night's game last weekend in the row behind the Tech bench. This was the first chance I had to set near the bench since Mel took over. I was interested to see how he managed the team as the game went along. Given the run-away score it might not have been the best example of a typical game, but it was very interesting to watch. For the most part Mel was pretty quiet and the team went about their business. Bill did a lot of hands on coaching all night long. There were a couple calls that Tech should have gotten and Mel got up on the bench and was giving it to the ref. After about the 3rd outburst the ref skated by and let him know he heard him and that was enough.

The one that really caught my eye was just as Tech scores a goal on the ice, rather than pats on the back or congrats, Mel immediately grabbed the dry erase board and by the time the players got to the bench he was already drawing something up to show them. I just thought a lot that in a moment when most would celebrate, Mel was coaching. Maybe that is part of the reason why this team is headed where it is under his leadership. Makes you wonder where we could be when we have an entire roster of players he has picked for his system / style of play.

Just out of curiosity, after this season how many players not recruited by Mel will be left on the roster? There can't be too many as Jimmy Davis is already a 4 year player under Mel.

Ryan J
 
Re: Michigan Tech, best season in 30 years, part two!

JohnsonsJerseys said:
Filling in the off-weekend void... I spent the first part of Saturday night's game last weekend in the row behind the Tech bench. This was the first chance I had to set near the bench since Mel took over. I was interested to see how he managed the team as the game went along. Given the run-away score it might not have been the best example of a typical game, but it was very interesting to watch. For the most part Mel was pretty quiet and the team went about their business. Bill did a lot of hands on coaching all night long. There were a couple calls that Tech should have gotten and Mel got up on the bench and was giving it to the ref. After about the 3rd outburst the ref skated by and let him know he heard him and that was enough.

The one that really caught my eye was just as Tech scores a goal on the ice, rather than pats on the back or congrats, Mel immediately grabbed the dry erase board and by the time the players got to the bench he was already drawing something up to show them. I just thought a lot that in a moment when most would celebrate, Mel was coaching. Maybe that is part of the reason why this team is headed where it is under his leadership. Makes you wonder where we could be when we have an entire roster of players he has picked for his system / style of play.

Just out of curiosity, after this season how many players not recruited by Mel will be left on the roster? There can't be too many as Jimmy Davis is already a 4 year player under Mel.

Ryan J
Click to expand...
Reid Sturos is the last player left who committed before Pearson took over...to be fair to your comment, this senior class is amazing when you get right down to it. It's one of the main reasons that Mel was able to come in an succeed from the get go. Whether he recruited them or not, Mel has to be thrilled with what he's gotten out of Hietala, Kero, Pietila, Johnstone (the only other Russell recruits left).
 
Re: Michigan Tech, best season in 30 years, part two!

Shirtless Guy said:
Mel has to be thrilled with what he's gotten out of Hietala, Kero, Pietila, Johnstone (the only other Russell recruits left).
Click to expand...
Yes I would certainly agree. Considering Conner (Class of 2006) was the last player to put up 100+ pts at Tech and this class is likely to have THREE... wow.
105+ Kero
103+ Pietila
95+ Johnstone
38+ Sweeney
31+ Hietila
2+ Davis (maybe a Sr, maybe one more year)

Looking at the Sr class on average, that's an average of 62+ points per player. Take Davis' 20 games out of the mix and you're up to 75+ points per player. That is an amazing number. Pretty likely it will be at 80+ when the season is finally over.

Petan is already at 100+ as well as a Junior but that will be some HUGE scoring to make up next year.

Ryan J
 
Re: Michigan Tech, best season in 30 years, part two!

With the bye I thought I could post how the commits are doing. I probably should know how to post a nice table in here, but I don't. From a points per game standpoint, Lucchini is doing pretty well. For comparison, Gillies had 1.3 last year and E. Anderson had 1.1.

Player GP G A Points Pts/game
Trevor Cope-LW 46 18 21 39 0.85
Brett Boeing-LW 40 22 17 39 0.98
Jake Kauppila-LW 41 7 4 11 0.27
Jake Jackson-F 49 22 30 52 1.06
Angus Redmond-G 45 2.71 0.91
Mitch Reinke-RD 38 2 14 16 0.42
Cooper Watson-D 35 1 3 4 0.11
Demico Hannoun-RC 48 22 17 39 0.81
Travis Brown-RD 33 1 2 3 0.09
Chris Gerrie-LC 54 22 30 52 0.96
Jake Gingell-D 35 2 4 6 0.17
Tristan Rostagno-LD 41 5 8 13 0.32
Mitch Newsome-RW 48 6 17 23 0.48
Jake Lucchini-F 54 32 46 78 1.44
Jagger Williamson-F 45 6 18 24 0.53
Gavin Gould-F 53 22 31 53 1
 
Re: Michigan Tech, best season in 30 years, part two!

Coach Pearson is on twitter, @mtuhky_pearson

He doesn't strike me as a twitter guy, surprising.
 
Re: Michigan Tech, best season in 30 years, part two!

mtu_huskies said:
Coach Pearson is on twitter, @mtuhky_pearson

He doesn't strike me as a twitter guy, surprising.
Click to expand...

its good for recruiting, exposure, I doubt he uses it much, but its good to be on there especially since he is the leader of the program, get some 16yo kid somewhere following him and that might be the first contact with the program for a potential recruit.
 
Re: Michigan Tech, best season in 30 years, part two!

I'm guessing the content will generally come from the same party as @mtuhky. We'll know for sure if "Pearson" starts tweeting during games.
I doubt we'll see any content along the lines of:
"Taking the wife shopping at Wal-Mart for a Wolverines sweatshirt this morning because we needed a new doormat. #mtuhky"
Ryan J
 
mtu_huskies said:
With the bye I thought I could post how the commits are doing. I probably should know how to post a nice table in here, but I don't. From a points per game standpoint, Lucchini is doing pretty well. For comparison, Gillies had 1.3 last year and E. Anderson had 1.1.

Player GP G A Points Pts/game
Trevor Cope-LW 46 18 21 39 0.85
Brett Boeing-LW 40 22 17 39 0.98
Jake Kauppila-LW 41 7 4 11 0.27
Jake Jackson-F 49 22 30 52 1.06
Angus Redmond-G 45 2.71 0.91
Mitch Reinke-RD 38 2 14 16 0.42
Cooper Watson-D 35 1 3 4 0.11
Demico Hannoun-RC 48 22 17 39 0.81
Travis Brown-RD 33 1 2 3 0.09
Chris Gerrie-LC 54 22 30 52 0.96
Jake Gingell-D 35 2 4 6 0.17
Tristan Rostagno-LD 41 5 8 13 0.32
Mitch Newsome-RW 48 6 17 23 0.48
Jake Lucchini-F 54 32 46 78 1.44
Jagger Williamson-F 45 6 18 24 0.53
Gavin Gould-F 53 22 31 53 1
Click to expand...

Mel's got the cupboard pretty well stocked. We don't rebuild, we reload. :D
 
Re: Michigan Tech, best season in 30 years, part two!

Last week Tech scores 15 on the road and falls in the Pairwise. This week we sit on our thumbs and rise in the Rankings. What a strange ride ...
 
Re: Michigan Tech, best season in 30 years, part two!

lawdoggies said:
Last week Tech scores 15 on the road and falls in the Pairwise. This week we sit on our thumbs and rise in the Rankings. What a strange ride ...
Click to expand...

Are you suggesting that if we lose this next weekend at Mankato we will stay about even?? Haha.
 
Re: Michigan Tech, best season in 30 years, part two!

For those of you interested in seeing photos from some older games, I have started uploading some of my MTU hockey archived photos to my www.johnsonsjerseys.net Facebook account. The first ones went up last night (CC @ MTU from the 02-03 season). Keep in mind these date back to when camera technology along with my skill/experience were not what they are today... So as long as you don't mind the less than perfect quality, enjoy the trip down memory lane.

Link to the photos:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/wwwJohnsonsJerseysnet/90831054088

BTW - This will only be covering the "digital" era of my photography. While I have many more games that were shot on film, I honestly don't have the required free time to get them all scanned right now. For you youngsters, that's how we used to take pictures in the old days. After the game you would take the film to Kmart at the top of the hill on M26 and a few days later, you would get to find out if any of the images you captured were worth anything or if you just spend $20 for a bunch of blurry gold, black and white abstract art shots of what appeared to be hockey players.

Ryan J
 
Re: Michigan Tech, best season in 30 years, part two!

JohnsonsJerseys said:
For those of you interested in seeing photos from some older games, I have started uploading some of my MTU hockey archived photos to my www.johnsonsjerseys.net Facebook account. The first ones went up last night (CC @ MTU from the 02-03 season). Keep in mind these date back to when camera technology along with my skill/experience were not what they are today... So as long as you don't mind the less than perfect quality, enjoy the trip down memory lane.

Link to the photos:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/wwwJohnsonsJerseysnet/90831054088

BTW - This will only be covering the "digital" era of my photography. While I have many more games that were shot on film, I honestly don't have the required free time to get them all scanned right now. For you youngsters, that's how we used to take pictures in the old days. After the game you would take the film to Kmart at the top of the hill on M26 and a few days later, you would get to find out if any of the images you captured were worth anything or if you just spend $20 for a bunch of blurry gold, black and white abstract art shots of what appeared to be hockey players.

Ryan J
Click to expand...

That is a good way to put it RJ! Most of these kids only know of the Delete button for a blurry photo. Back then, you paid dearly for your blurry motion pictures!
 
Re: Michigan Tech, best season in 30 years, part two!

Speaking of jerseys, can anyone confirm, I assume Johnstone and Pietila's nameplates do not have their first initial this season?
 
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Re: Michigan Tech, best season in 30 years, part two!

Also, pretty disappointed that Mel kind of avoided my question. I asked why we haven't seen an american/USHL player commit since November 2013 (Cooper Watson). That isn't quite true, with Devin Kero and the Harvard defector committing after. He brought up that they have 4 guys in the USHL right now which is true, but they haven't gotten anywhere with Americans since Damon left...The current team is quite balanced between Canada/American with lots of Michigan guys...only 2 of the 16 committed players are from Michigan.
 
Re: Michigan Tech, best season in 30 years, part two!

Shirtless Guy said:
Speaking of jerseys, can anyone confirm, I assume Johnstone and Pietila's nameplates do not have their first initial this season?
Click to expand...

Here is what I have found so far. I will edit this as I can confirm others.
Black Jerseys (2013-Present)
#10 "T. Kero" (UAA photos)
#15 "D. Johnstone" (UAA photos)
#19 "Pietila" (UAA photos) Blake never had first initial on this jersey style

Gold Jerseys (2012-Present)
#10 "T. Kero" (BSU photos)
#19 "Pietila" (BSU video)

White Jerseys (2012-Present)
#10 "T. Kero" (UAH photos)
#15 "D. Johnstone" (BSU photos)
#19 "Pietila" (BSU photos)

Throwbacks (2013-Present)
#19 "Pietila" (BGSU video, ceremony face off vs UAA w/ '65 champs team) Blake never had first initial on this jersey style

Ryan J

This is all I was able to find.
 
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Re: Michigan Tech, best season in 30 years, part two!

I've been running some PWR predictions on CHN....and what I'm seeing is that it will be hard to drop out of the NCAA field. Its not a sure thing yet, obviously, but I have run scenarios where we lose out, and we drop to around 10th, including reasonable outcomes of all remaining games. I THINK it will take an epic collapse (losing in the first round of the conference playoffs to a team like UAA, UAH or LSSU) or a combination of a collapse and many conference tourney upsets to knock us out. Win one against Mankato, and we're probably guaranteed in.

edit: There is also a road to #1 overall that isn't outrageous. The right things need to happen in the Nachos, but given how competitive everyone not named CC is in that league, the combination has just as likely of a chance of happening as any others. Of course, Tech needs to sweep the last 2 weekends for it to happen.
 
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Re: Michigan Tech, best season in 30 years, part two!

We have had such overwhelming interest in the jersey order that I am considering ordering both the cream 4th jersey and the gold 3rd jersey, we need at least 20 of each jersey to pull this off but people have already committed to buying 36 cream jerseys, if a few of them would prefer gold and we get more interest in the gold jersey, we should be able to pull it off.

Please let me know via email tjbraun@gmail.com or through the email function in this site if you have interest in ordering a gold 3rd jersey or a cream 4th jersey.

Gold 3rd Jersey is $120 for a blank, $180 with name/number
Cream 4th Jersey is $110 for a blank, $160 with name/number

Thanks
 
Re: Michigan Tech, best season in 30 years, part two!

Shirtless Guy said:
Also, pretty disappointed that Mel kind of avoided my question. I asked why we haven't seen an american/USHL player commit since November 2013 (Cooper Watson). That isn't quite true, with Devin Kero and the Harvard defector committing after. He brought up that they have 4 guys in the USHL right now which is true, but they haven't gotten anywhere with Americans since Damon left...The current team is quite balanced between Canada/American with lots of Michigan guys...only 2 of the 16 committed players are from Michigan.
Click to expand...

I thought he kind of side stepped it. But he did say we want the best players and if the best players in the USHL don't want to play at Tech they'll go find them.

I saw this link over the weekend, just solidifying us as having a lot of BCHL ties lately.
http://www.bchockeyhub.ca/bchl-ncaa-player-commitments/

Interesting that it kind of coincides with Damon's departure, as he was the main USHL guy.
 
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