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

Lost_Husky said:
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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Yes... and more. I'm saying Tech should be setting the bar at being a top-2 team in the WCHA/CCHA. Every year, the MacNaughton Cup should be the goal. If you do that, all the post season stuff will take care of itself.
If that isn't where we set the bar then we're essentially saying that getting to the NCAA tourney and winning a national championship isn't a goal. If you can't finish in the top-2 of the WCHA/CCHA, you are not going to get to the NCAA tourney (unless you have the autobid)... Not without MAJOR improvement from the rest of the conference on the national stage anyway. Now if the conference has four teams in the Top 20 year in, year out, well then maybe 3rd is good enough but in my opinion that is setting the bar low if you want to be a champion. I doubt any other championship caliber teams go into their season with the goal of being a top-3 team in their conference. Winners want to win everything and that is where they set their expectations.
If the mindset in the room is that top-3 is good enough, then it is time for a change at the top.
 
JohnsonsJerseys said:
Yes... and more. I'm saying Tech should be setting the bar at being a top-2 team in the WCHA/CCHA. Every year, the MacNaughton Cup should be the goal. If you do that, all the post season stuff will take care of itself.
If that isn't where we set the bar then we're essentially saying that getting to the NCAA tourney and winning a national championship isn't a goal. If you can't finish in the top-2 of the WCHA/CCHA, you are not going to get to the NCAA tourney (unless you have the autobid)... Not without MAJOR improvement from the rest of the conference on the national stage anyway. Now if the conference has four teams in the Top 20 year in, year out, well then maybe 3rd is good enough but in my opinion that is setting the bar low if you want to be a champion. I doubt any other championship caliber teams go into their season with the goal of being a top-3 team in their conference. Winners want to win everything and that is where they set their expectations.
If the mindset in the room is that top-3 is good enough, then it is time for a change at the top.
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There are dreams and reality. Our team was a mess a few seasons ago and we had to rebuild. I feel Joe and staff are very well on their way to doing that. Each recruiting class gets better and better. We keep adding key contributing pieces via-transfer. We aren't there this year, but we appear to be there next year and the next several years.
 
Real happy to see our PP working the puck low and scoring. We have spent too many PP’s just taking shots from the point. Dirk mentioned it looked like they have been practicing that “a lot”.
 
good win. good series. ferris has fallen a bit in the last couple years, but we all know how tight this conference is. we have seen our run for the macnaughton cup turn into a fight for home ice, more than once lately. every game is important, and every one is difficult. great weekend.
 
Kyle Kukkonen with 4 goals 4 assist today. If he’s coming in next year I wondered how he’d transition to the college game from high school. He may be okay
 
Anyone else looking forward to some Tuesday afternoon hockey tomorrow? I don't know what to expect from such an odd time but glad they found a way to reschedule the Tech-Lake State games.
 
Redridge said:
good win. good series. ferris has fallen a bit in the last couple years, but we all know how tight this conference is. we have seen our run for the macnaughton cup turn into a fight for home ice, more than once lately. every game is important, and every one is difficult. great weekend.
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I agree. Ferris will be good in a few years when their Blue Line matures. Our league has gotten a lot better and we need to always play our best game in and game out. We really need this game against LSSU tomorrow.
 
Lost_Husky said:
We really need this game against LSSU tomorrow.
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Realistically, Tech needs to "win out" if they want a win the MacNaughton and get into the NCAA tourney. I can't believe we're in mid-Feb and we still don't know how the field is going to be set, but at this point we can't expect anything more than one auto-bid for the conference. It would be nice for BSU to give Tech some help by taking some points from Mankato, but I wouldn't count on it.

All Tech needs to focus on is winning games. They control their own destiny to win the Cup. If Tech wins-out out, MSU and Tech would both have two loses but Tech would have tie-breaker "E" with two wins over Mankato.
 
Redridge said:
we are #8 in the pairwise... and it probably won’t be used this year. sigh.
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Correct, with the lack of play between conferences, the PWR doesn't function correctly, same as KRACH. About all it is good for is comparison within conferences. I'm still hoping each conference gets at least two autobids (well, one for ECAC). What they do with the other 5 spots... who knows.
 
I would have liked it if the REfs had called it tighter. too much stuff gotten away with. especially hooking and interference.
I thought the PP was weak. we just hold on to the puck wayyyyy too long. Mankato doesn't. we should copy them. Also we have to get better and quit with these big mistakes that give teams odd man rushes. Lake State did what they should do but we didn't play consistently enough. Give them credit they got in the way of our offense. That 4 across the blue line was effective. I've been worried about the defense for a while as we get beat more often than we should.
 
manurespreader said:
I would have liked it if the REfs had called it tighter. too much stuff gotten away with. especially hooking and interference.
I thought the PP was weak. we just hold on to the puck wayyyyy too long. Mankato doesn't. we should copy them. Also we have to get better and quit with these big mistakes that give teams odd man rushes. Lake State did what they should do but we didn't play consistently enough. Give them credit they got in the way of our offense. That 4 across the blue line was effective. I've been worried about the defense for a while as we get beat more often than we should.
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I don't think our D is the problem. We only gave up 2 goals on 20 shots. One of those goals was a bad bounce. How many times have we said in the WCHA the first to three usually wins?

I would argue our problem is we can't consistently score. You're not going to win many hockey games when you only score one goal. We tend to make opposing net-minders look like Richter Award contenders. It is hard to blame anyone because we generated 36 shots and a lot of those were scoring chances. By the metrics, the system appears to be putting players in a position to score, we just aren't scoring. What is Joe's metric for an acceptable goalie, 1 goal on 8 scoring chances? If we assume half of the shots on goal were scoring chances (18) and we use the one out of 8 for a good goalie, we should have at least 2 goals. We are missing a consistent goal score/line who can will a puck into the net when needed. When we have had our best success when we had that kind of line. Unfortunately they don't come around every year.
 
Lost_Husky said:
I don't think our D is the problem. We only gave up 2 goals on 20 shots. One of those goals was a bad bounce. How many times have we said in the WCHA the first to three usually wins?

I would argue our problem is we can't consistently score. You're not going to win many hockey games when you only score one goal. We tend to make opposing net-minders look like Richter Award contenders. It is hard to blame anyone because we generated 36 shots and a lot of those were scoring chances. By the metrics, the system appears to be putting players in a position to score, we just aren't scoring. What is Joe's metric for an acceptable goalie, 1 goal on 8 scoring chances? If we assume half of the shots on goal were scoring chances (18) and we use the one out of 8 for a good goalie, we should have at least 2 goals. We are missing a consistent goal score/line who can will a puck into the net when needed. When we have had our best success when we had that kind of line. Unfortunately they don't come around every year.
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In fairness to Tech, Lake State's goaltender Mitens is very good. He's top 7 nationally in both GAA and SV%.
 
The bottom line, we shot 1 for 48. And went 0 for 5 on the power play.

Every goaltender in the league is good. Our volume of shots generated from the point, with no deflection or screen is too high. Gotta create backdoor opportunities, and work better down low for the few rebounds. I noticed our PP sets up with four guys at or above the face off circle. That will generate a lot of shots, but too many are easy saves.

I thought our intensity was real good through 2. We did much better tonight on the boards, and forechecking was real good as well. The third goal just took the wind out of the sails in the 3rd.
 
Agreed. we didn't come out for the third motivated very well and they did. Second, and for a while now, our goaltending has been pretty average. Third the pp was sub par, again and we lost too many important faceoffs. We need to be careful or this will be a second division finish.
 
well, don’t like the first period scoreboard, but....I like the driving to the net. Halonen got it past Driscoll cutting across the crease, and hit the post. Gaine and Mosley working to create some confusion and misdirection in front. I’d rather see a dozen of those fail, than a dozen SOG with Driscoll 15’ out of the net cutting the angle...
 
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