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

Well, I thought Datema played well. Worthy of more ice time for sure.

This was a tough loss, because I really think we were the better team on the ice.

Hopefully our coaches will recognize 1 for 34 shooting is not gonna win games. Simply throwing pucks at the net will not work well with a hot (?) goalie. Nearly every odd man rush resulted in a (one) wide angle SOG, easy save. Making them look good. You need to make him move, or your making him look good. All night long.
 
I think the idea was to throw the puck in and get a rebound. Direct shots won't score but rebounds will.
I think that, and i'm no expert, but playing teams like this, whose whole game plan is to get the lead and shut you down, you absolutely have to score first. We have not been doing that. Scoring on them is a lot easier if they are tied or behind.
Second, we make a lot of blunders. Not just mistakes or errors, blunders. Against Ferris we got away with them. Now we can't. We at least have to limit the blunders until we have the lead.
I thought though tonight we played better. Faceoffs were better, goaltending was better, pp was better, overall better. But playing from behind is so much harder. I did not think Datema was anything special.
 
yeah, I understand the thought of getting rebounds. Driscoll didn’t give up many that he saw coming.

I thought our defense was pretty good. At least good enough to win. The 2-1 game winner was a mistake for sure. I agree with your assessment of 5. I just thought he played better than my last recollection. I am just happy they are developing. Its a nice situation for Tech that good players are fighting for ice time.

I am looking forward to what Joe says. I am getting more inclined to believe he needs to fix the goal production (eg control of games, without putting the puck in the net). Our style of offense needs to adapt. No more of the ’they are not buying in...’
 
Bemidji punished two mistakes. Gotz had bad footwork to allow the initial shot on the first goal, if he just turns his skates to the outside instead of picking up his feet and shuffling he easily cuts off the shooter. On the second goal, there are three players on the boards 10 feet apart and no one gets the puck, that led to the odd-man rush. Datema was off balance from the hop, otherwise you'd want him to just take away the pass so Sinclair can cut the angle on the shooter. Instead, he had to stay back and expose the top corners more.

It all comes back to the over simplified observation that Bemidji is a team that you cannot allow to score the first goal. They reminded me of the 1990s New Jersey Devils. They used the third guy high to perfection.

​​​​​
 
John J. MacInnes said:
Bemidji punished two mistakes.

It all comes back to the over simplified observation that Bemidji is a team that you cannot allow to score the first goal. They reminded me of the 1990s New Jersey Devils. They used the third guy high to perfection.

​​​​​
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Agree. I still think the defense was pretty solid. We gave up a few ugly turnovers, and Mark bailed us out a couple times. But overall, they were good enough for sure. We may lose a few games when we give up 2.

But overall, we can not / will not win many games where we only get one goal. I do not think this is just a falling behind Bemidji problem... I am just frustrated because I feel like we have a very good team, lots of skill players that should be putting these teams away.
 
Redridge said:
But overall, we can not / will not win many games where we only get one goal. I do not think this is just a falling behind Bemidji problem... I am just frustrated because I feel like we have a very good team, lots of skill players that should be putting these teams away.
Click to expand...

To win in the WCHA the same rule applies, first to three usually wins. Unless our goalies stand on their head every night, we aren't winning with one goal.

The lack of goal production has been a problem for Tech for a while. It isn't fair to pin so much pressure on our D/goalie to have a shutout every game to give us a chance to win. When all of our offense comes from 1 guy, that is not a recipe for success. How many times have we had a half open net, missed the puck, shot it wide, missed the pass or shot it high, or took too much time? They are so close.
 
Much needed win over Lake State today. If my math is correct only 6th place Bemidji could still top Mankato for the league title because they are so far behind with only 8 conference games played.

Unfortunately in just the span of one week, the Huskies went from controlling their own destiny to win the MacNaughton to now just hanging on for a chance at home ice for the first round. Realistically, Tech will have to sweep Northern to have a shot at home ice this year. This will put Tech 2 pts ahead of NMU and NMU's conference season is over after this weekend. With the way Mankato is playing this year, any points taken in Mankato would be huge. Tech will go there the final weekend of the year trying to secure home ice. Big games, but too bad they won't be for the Cup.

LSSU has four conference games left (BSU, FSU) and is 2 pts ahead of Tech.
Bemidji has six conference games left (UAH, LSSU, Mankato) and is currently 2 pts behind Tech.
 
JohnsonsJerseys said:
Much needed win over Lake State today. If my math is correct only 6th place Bemidji could still top Mankato for the league title because they are so far behind with only 8 conference games played.

Unfortunately in just the span of one week, the Huskies went from controlling their own destiny to win the MacNaughton to now just hanging on for a chance at home ice for the first round. Realistically, Tech will have to sweep Northern to have a shot at home ice this year. This will put Tech 2 pts ahead of NMU and NMU's conference season is over after this weekend. With the way Mankato is playing this year, any points taken in Mankato would be huge. Tech will go there the final weekend of the year trying to secure home ice. Big games, but too bad they won't be for the Cup.

LSSU has four conference games left (BSU, FSU) and is 2 pts ahead of Tech.
Bemidji has six conference games left (UAH, LSSU, Mankato) and is currently 2 pts behind Tech.
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Should be a great series this weekend with both schools fighting for home ice!
 
Any word about Misiak? That looked like a broken wrist. I really hope he is ok; it will help his career to be able to sign and play a bit this spring...
 
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from Joe’s hour... sounds like just stiches for Misiak (and Thorne). Tech showed really good discipline, not retaliating. NMU has really taken a lot of goon penalties lately. Playing with this type of discipline will be a key against Mankato.
 
Redridge said:
from Joe’s hour... sounds like just stiches for Misiak (and Thorne). Tech showed really good discipline, not retaliating. NMU has really taken a lot of goon penalties lately. Playing with this type of discipline will be a key against Mankato.
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If we can play most of the game 5 on 5, we should have a competitive weekend. I'm hoping we get no more than 3 minors each game.
 
Top teams rarely get a hangover from winning (as that is what makes them a top team) but maybe we can hope that Mankato has a bit of a hangover from drinking out of the Cup last weekend. Unfortunately losing to Bemidji may have already relit that fire. Tech really needs at least one win in Mankato to keep themselves in the NCAA conversation. Getting swept by MSU makes it too easy for outsiders to look at Tech's schedule and say that they only beat teams they should beat (Ferris, UAH, NMU).

While Tech's 17 wins looks great on paper, they have only three wins against teams with records over 0.500 (MSU Dec 6, BSU Dec 13 and LSSU Feb 23). Tech has racked up 14 wins over FSU, UAH and NMU who have a combined 12 wins between them (0.162 win percentage). I realize you can only play the teams on your schedule, but Tech needs quality wins over MSU to put something of substance on their resume. They are also going to need to beat LSSU, BGSU and/or BSU in the WCHA tourney or have those teams fall on their face to give Tech any chance to make the NCAA tourney. Tech looks likely to finish 5th or 6th in a conference of 8 active teams that will be lucky to get three teams in the tourney.
 
JohnsonsJerseys said:
Top teams rarely get a hangover from winning (as that is what makes them a top team) but maybe we can hope that Mankato has a bit of a hangover from drinking out of the Cup last weekend. Unfortunately losing to Bemidji may have already relit that fire. Tech really needs at least one win in Mankato to keep themselves in the NCAA conversation. Getting swept by MSU makes it too easy for outsiders to look at Tech's schedule and say that they only beat teams they should beat (Ferris, UAH, NMU).

While Tech's 17 wins looks great on paper, they have only three wins against teams with records over 0.500 (MSU Dec 6, BSU Dec 13 and LSSU Feb 23). Tech has racked up 14 wins over FSU, UAH and NMU who have a combined 12 wins between them (0.162 win percentage). I realize you can only play the teams on your schedule, but Tech needs quality wins over MSU to put something of substance on their resume. They are also going to need to beat LSSU, BGSU and/or BSU in the WCHA tourney or have those teams fall on their face to give Tech any chance to make the NCAA tourney. Tech looks likely to finish 5th or 6th in a conference of 8 active teams that will be lucky to get three teams in the tourney.
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Agreed with your assessment. I would say where we sit right now, we would need to win the WCHA tournament to get in the NCAA. All 3 points from Mankato gets us is an outside chance at home ice in the first round. Yes it is a quality win, but we would need to be at least #2 in the WCHA to get an At-Large look.
 
JohnsonsJerseys said:
Top teams rarely get a hangover from winning (as that is what makes them a top team) but maybe we can hope that Mankato has a bit of a hangover from drinking out of the Cup last weekend. Unfortunately losing to Bemidji may have already relit that fire. Tech really needs at least one win in Mankato to keep themselves in the NCAA conversation. Getting swept by MSU makes it too easy for outsiders to look at Tech's schedule and say that they only beat teams they should beat (Ferris, UAH, NMU).

While Tech's 17 wins looks great on paper, they have only three wins against teams with records over 0.500 (MSU Dec 6, BSU Dec 13 and LSSU Feb 23). Tech has racked up 14 wins over FSU, UAH and NMU who have a combined 12 wins between them (0.162 win percentage). I realize you can only play the teams on your schedule, but Tech needs quality wins over MSU to put something of substance on their resume. They are also going to need to beat LSSU, BGSU and/or BSU in the WCHA tourney or have those teams fall on their face to give Tech any chance to make the NCAA tourney. Tech looks likely to finish 5th or 6th in a conference of 8 active teams that will be lucky to get three teams in the tourney.
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Let's start with this part - Tech cannot finish 6th, since they hold the tiebreak with NMU who has no games left.

Quinnipiac has the same problem in the East, except they have 4 wins over anyone with a winning record (2 against Clarkson who they are 2-2-2 against, and 2 against AIC). St. Lawrence and Colgate are putrid, Sacred Heart too, and LIU is a first year program - those account for 12 of their 16 wins. They got punked the same way as Tech did against BG, but in their own barn.

But most everyone has them safely in the tournament even without winning the ECAC title, if you can call it any more than a weekend tournament. I'm having a hard time seeing the difference.
 
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John J. MacInnes said:
Let's start with this part - Tech cannot finish 6th, since they hold the tiebreak with NMU who has no games left.
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Yep, quite right. I should read my own posts. :)
Here are the possible scenarios prior to tonight's first game between BSU / LSSU.

UPDATED THROUGH 2/28/21 [TABLE="border: 1, cellpadding: 1"]
[TR]
[TD]TEAM[/TD]
[TD]POSSIBLE SEEDING[/TD]
[TD]POSSIBLE PTS[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]MSU[/TD]
[TD]#1 LOCKED[/TD]
[TD]33-39 pts[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]BGSU[/TD]
[TD]2-3[/TD]
[TD]27 pts **[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]LSSU[/TD]
[TD]2-5[/TD]
[TD]20-29 pts[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]MTU[/TD]
[TD]3-5[/TD]
[TD]20-26 pts[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]NMU[/TD]
[TD]5-6[/TD]
[TD]20 pts *[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]BSU[/TD]
[TD]2-6[/TD]
[TD]16-28 pts[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]UAH[/TD]
[TD]#7 LOCKED[/TD]
[TD]08-14 pts[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]FERRIS[/TD]
[TD]#8 LOCKED[/TD]
[TD]03-06 pts[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
FIRST ROUND MATCH-UPS
FERRIS at MANKATO
T.B.D. at BGSU

NMU at T.B.D.
UAH at T.B.D.

* NMU loses tiebreaker "B" to MTU and LSSU; Tie breaker "B" is win percentage
** BGSU can not finish lower than 3rd; LSSU & BSU will split 6 potential pts between them (games 3/2-3/3), only one of those two teams can potentially pass BGSU
 
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I believe our best chance is a #4-5 series against LSSU. That will earn a #1- #4/5 game against Mankato. Getting swept at MSU the prior weekend is a bad recipe for the playoffs, so I do hope we take a game.

Of course, getting blown out might actually be a strategy too....
 
Redridge said:
I believe our best chance is a #4-5 series against LSSU.
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I think that is by far the most realistic option at this point, but our BEST CHANCE would be to finish 3rd and get NMU at home. But finishing 3rd for Tech at this point is a huge stretch.

Regardless of where the mid-pack teams finish, I think the 3/6 and 4/5 match-ups will be toss-ups at best. Other than two teams have home ice, I wouldn't call any of the four teams coming out of that group upsets. I don't see any chance UAH or Ferris advances out of the first round regardless of who they play. If we want to hope further (assuming we are in the 4/5 series), pull for #6 (almost certainly NMU) to win their first round (I know, cheer for NMU??? Sometimes we must.) and give Tech a rematch with BGSU rather than Mankato.
 
I just wish this was a normal visit from Tech. You guys are my favorite visiting crowd; you always bring a fun, spirited bunch to the arena.
 
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