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Michigan Tech Huskies 2020-21: * Our 100th Anniversary * No Catchy Title Needed *****

One more thing about this last last weekend. A skill that BG is particularly good at is deflecting the puck in front of the net. We could do that better.
 
Tech played a much better game tonight against Ferris. We dominated play at times, and the PP looked good. Happy that our forwards had a good night. Not sure how this was a 1 goal game at the end...
 
I saw we allowed 4 goals on 19 shots but I'd be curious how many goals on how many shots just in the third period. Not a good stat I'd bet.
 
I understand what you guys are saying.

Overall, we have had a pretty solid defensive team, and some excellent goaltending this year. Tuesday saw a few defensive blowouts and one goal that we’d probably like another shot at. I was disappointed that we gave up the breakaway with a two goal lead, late in the game. Every player should have known you keep 5 skaters behind the puck at that point in the game.

But i am still encouraged we generated offense. I really like the addition of Ashbrook. And Caderoth is playing big. Nardella had a really good game. Misiak is showing some awesome hustle and leadership out there. Lots of good stuff that has been missing at times this year. We need to put it all together.
 
Redridge said:
I understand what you guys are saying.

Overall, we have had a pretty solid defensive team, and some excellent goaltending this year. Tuesday saw a few defensive blowouts and one goal that we’d probably like another shot at. I was disappointed that we gave up the breakaway with a two goal lead, late in the game. Every player should have known you keep 5 skaters behind the puck at that point in the game.

But i am still encouraged we generated offense. I really like the addition of Ashbrook. And Caderoth is playing big. Nardella had a really good game. Misiak is showing some awesome hustle and leadership out there. Lots of good stuff that has been missing at times this year. We need to put it all together.
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I'm not 100% down on the team. They didn't have a week to recover after a very physical BG series, we were playing with 5 D for most of the game, and we still don't have our full roster back. Ashbrook has been a great addition and many guys are stepping up their play. Personal opinion, we shouldn't have let FSU back into the game after being up 3 goals. Credit FSU for fighting back and not giving up. IMO, When we are up, we need to do a better job of preserving our victories.
 
This video feed from Huntsville is a textbook example of everything NOT to do on a hockey show.

Losing the puck by shooting too tight.
Losing the puck by not following it.
Dissolving slowly with the puck in play.
Using a low corner angle during live play.
Two drastically different iris levels between cameras.
Constant use of a graphic at the whistle.

It's like they can't decide whether to use their up top camera as a lead or a tight follow, so they keep flip-flopping with no warning.

And in the second period, they moved the low camera to the direct opposite corner, so every time they use it in live action it's crossing the axis like a reverse angle. That's one of the most basic errors you can make.

Just awful coverage.
 
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John J. MacInnes said:
This video feed from Huntsville is a textbook example of everything NOT to do on a hockey show.

Losing the puck by shooting too tight.
Losing the puck by not following it.
Dissolving slowly with the puck in play.
Using a low corner angle during live play.
Two drastically different iris levels between cameras.
Constant use of a graphic at the whistle.

It's like they can't decide whether to use their up top camera as a lead or a tight follow, so they keep flip-flopping with no warning.

Just awful coverage.
Click to expand...

It's basically unwatchable. Rediculous for what the service costs.
 
Kids, if you’re having trouble following the play just zoom out all the way and keep the picture on whatever half of the playing surface the little black thing is sliding around in. Don’t zoom in on a random trailing player, please!
 
I know this season is kind of a throwaway given the national health situation, but I am starting to question if this coaching group can fully develop forward talent at the college level. I wonder if it might be time for some fresh thinking from a new assistant coach... *shrug*
 
FadeToBlack&Gold said:
I know this season is kind of a throwaway given the national health situation, but I am starting to question if this coaching group can fully develop forward talent at the college level. I wonder if it might be time for some fresh thinking from a new assistant coach... *shrug*
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Why do you say that? Last weekend we had contributions up and down the score sheet. Joe made a comment about Ashbrook being a scorer and 'imagine if we had 6 of them.' If anything the following can be said:
  • Tech isn't an easy place to recruit to and more than likely will never to be able to recruit like the top hockey school
  • Covid layoff didn't do us any favors
  • We have a great group of guys on the team. That doesn't always translate to a great hockey team. Sometimes they need to have a bit of that cocky mentality, but I don't think that would play well in Houghton given the relationship between Tech hockey and the community. They aren't nameless faceless guys as they would be at a larger school/community.
  • We aren't MnSU (who in the WCHA is) and had a unusually disappointing weekend vs BG. We are firmly in that 3-5 slot in the WCHA this year, depending on how we do against BSU and LSSU. We have played MnSU and beat them. Yes it was behind a white hot goalie, but a win is a win. If we can play up to our potential we can be a team that can wins against any team on any given night.
  • We still have a young team. We have 4 seniors that get consistent ice time. (I'm including Sinclair as he plays more than 20% of the games)
  • We are playing without three of our top 12 forwards.
  • Forward play is good. D has been decent. Net play has been outstanding if trending back to solid. We get contributions from all 4 lines. We have some things to clean up, improve, and get more consistent. What team in all of hockey can't say that?
  • We don't have a glaring weakness other than consistency and taking penalties against top teams.
With that said, I don't see where we have a coaching issue. It isn't like we are getting beat in almost every area of the game night in and night out against all levels of talent.
 
The end of the season will tell the story of how good (and how well coached) this team is and that might be why Joe's contract hasn't been extended to this point. I would say his seat is "warm" right now. On the surface Tech's record looks pretty good at 11-5-1 and flirting with the Top 20 poll. But when you look at the body of work this year, it isn't super impressive.

The Huskies have played four teams with winning records Mankato, BGSU, Bemidji and LSSU who are a combined 41-16-7 record. Against those teams Tech went 2-5-1 averaging 1.88 goals per game. The balance of the Huskies schedule, their opponents (UAH, Ferris, NMU) have a combined 8-32-2 record anchored by Ferris at 1-14-1. Against those teams Tech went 9-0-0 averaging 3.56 goals per game.

So the record looks good, but the "eye test" (which may determine the few at large NCAA bids this year) doesn't look good. At some point, if Tech takes this season somewhere, they will face teams with winning records in the WCHA tourney and they will have to do much better than they've done to this point against those teams. "Success" for Michigan Tech isn't finishing in the top half of the WCHA. The conference is too weak overall to call that success. Finishing 3-4 in the WCHA isn't going to get you to the NCAA tourney. Tech needs to be battling for the MacNaughton cup each season and at least put themselves in the same room as Mankato who has proven themselves to be the team to beat year after year in the new WCHA.

So if you're looking for positives, Tech is beating the teams they should beat. However to be a great team you need to get some wins against other really good teams as well. Tech does have wins over Mankato and Bemidji that unfortunately don't count towards the Cup. The most optimistic view right now is that the Huskies control their own destiny to win the MacNaughton Cup (assuming they can find a way to get in two games against LSSU and win those as well). That would almost certainly would put them in the NCAA tourney this year based on their body of work, even if the regular season champion doesn't get an auto bid this season as some has suggested might happen.

For now the "Month of Ferris" rolls on and Tech needs to get three more wins over Ferris before they think about anything else. Tech absolutely can not take their foot off the gas against Ferris because losing to a one-win team would be crippling to their season.
 
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I guess I just look at the talent on the roster and I see a team that should be scoring more goals than they have. But again, I'll concede it's been a difficult year in terms of managing the roster, with COVID protocol holding some guys out at times and making it harder to form consistent lines.
 
JohnsonsJerseys said:
The end of the season will tell the story of how good (and how well coached) this team is and that might be why Joe's contract hasn't been extended to this point. I would say his seat is "warm" right now. On the surface Tech's record looks pretty good at 11-5-1 and flirting with the Top 20 poll. But when you look at the body of work this year, it isn't super impressive.

The Huskies have played four teams with winning records Mankato, BGSU, Bemidji and LSSU who are a combined 41-16-7 record. Against those teams Tech went 2-5-1 averaging 1.88 goals per game. The balance of the Huskies schedule, their opponents (UAH, Ferris, NMU) have a combined 8-32-2 record anchored by Ferris at 1-14-1. Against those teams Tech went 9-0-0 averaging 3.56 goals per game.

So the record looks good, but the "eye test" (which may determine the few at large NCAA bids this year) doesn't look good. At some point, if Tech takes this season somewhere, they will face teams with winning records in the WCHA tourney and they will have to do much better than they've done to this point against those teams. "Success" for Michigan Tech isn't finishing in the top half of the WCHA. The conference is too weak overall to call that success. Finishing 3-4 in the WCHA isn't going to get you to the NCAA tourney. Tech needs to be battling for the MacNaughton cup each season and at least put themselves in the same room as Mankato who has proven themselves to be the team to beat year after year in the new WCHA.

So if you're looking for positives, Tech is beating the teams they should beat. However to be a great team you need to get some wins against other really good teams as well. Tech does have wins over Mankato and Bemidji that unfortunately don't count towards the Cup. The most optimistic view right now is that the Huskies control their own destiny to win the MacNaughton Cup (assuming they can find a way to get in two games against LSSU and win those as well). That would almost certainly would put them in the NCAA tourney this year based on their body of work, even if the regular season champion doesn't get an auto bid this season as some has suggested might happen.

For now the "Month of Ferris" rolls on and Tech needs to get three more wins over Ferris before they think about anything else. Tech absolutely can not take their foot off the gas against Ferris because losing to a one-win team would be crippling to their season.
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What you are saying is correct. Tech is not playing well against the top teams in the league.

I am discounting where we are right now, (being around the 3-5th best team in the WCHA) with where we were 3 years ago, a team without cohesion. We still have a young on ice team. We are relying on more Freshmen and Sophomores to be significant/major contributors then we should. Our on ice senior class is small. In addition, the WCHA's top teams are a lot stronger than they were 5 years ago.

Take the names away and look at a team with a roster like our, I would argue they would not be expected to be one of the top teams in their league (unless the were recruiting powerhouses). The media/coaches pols say as much with Tech coming in at 4-5 in the league. Next year, with a strong on ice senior class, there are no excuses. This team better be pushing Mankato atop the CCHA.

If you are saying Tech should be a consistent top 3 team in the CCHA, I don't know if that is realistic.
 
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