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

Was I the only one that was cringing when Joe was talking this week about needing to recruit goal scorer’s? I agree we need to recruit top talent, and we should be leveraging our school, it is the best in the WCHA and midwest. But we will never out-recruit the BIG schools, or the curently very successful programs like MSU, UMD and UND... so... putting our future in the hands of ”recruiting better” just leaves me wanting. Short of recruiting better, about all he said was hoping players ”bulk up” and get stronger. I was left with a rather empty feeling about the coaching staff having a clue how to get the train back on the rails. Anyone else feel that way, or am I just hoping too much?
 
Redridge said:
Was I the only one that was cringing when Joe was talking this week about needing to recruit goal scorer’s? I agree we need to recruit top talent, and we should be leveraging our school, it is the best in the WCHA and midwest. But we will never out-recruit the BIG schools, or the curently very successful programs like MSU, UMD and UND... so... putting our future in the hands of ”recruiting better” just leaves me wanting. Short of recruiting better, about all he said was hoping players ”bulk up” and get stronger. I was left with a rather empty feeling about the coaching staff having a clue how to get the train back on the rails. Anyone else feel that way, or am I just hoping too much?
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My personal view is you took those things out of context and they don't mean what you took them to mean. I think the staff is on top of things and knows what needs and can be done. Can we get better at recruiting, yes. should we? yes. Just like every organization on the planet.
 
manurespreader said:
My personal view is you took those things out of context and they don't mean what you took them to mean. I think the staff is on top of things and knows what needs and can be done. Can we get better at recruiting, yes. should we? yes. Just like every organization on the planet.
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I was really commenting about how the ”only thing” Joe pointed to for improvement was recruiting and strength training. He needs to step up and acknowledge that they need to be developing players. That a 5th place WCHA finish and playoff blowout is not what we consider ok. Those handfull he mentioned that had worse stats this year are HIS OWNERSHIP. He should be appologizing, not articulating how they suck. Players overall performance are a reflection on the coach.

And yes, many players improved while the team stats did not, and they should rightly be recognized.
 
Redridge said:
Was I the only one that was cringing when Joe was talking this week about needing to recruit goal scorer’s? I agree we need to recruit top talent, and we should be leveraging our school, it is the best in the WCHA and midwest. But we will never out-recruit the BIG schools, or the curently very successful programs like MSU, UMD and UND... so... putting our future in the hands of ”recruiting better” just leaves me wanting. Short of recruiting better, about all he said was hoping players ”bulk up” and get stronger. I was left with a rather empty feeling about the coaching staff having a clue how to get the train back on the rails. Anyone else feel that way, or am I just hoping too much?
Click to expand...

I was too, but maybe not in the way you were. I think we have to try and get more NHL draft level talent, and saying we wont out-recruit a BIG school doesn't mean we shouldn't at least try a bit. I was cringing a bit because we don't seem to have that in our pipeline, which is concerning. I also wonder about the constant talk of needing to get bigger or more physical. Mel was about speed and talent and that was big in our success. When I hear bigger and more physical I think of bad teams from years ago. We need talent/goal scoring, the hockey skills that can't be taught.
 
Joe said on his show yesterday that he just committed a 6'4" 20-goal scorer from Sweden's junior league. I looked at players who fit that description (knowing that Joe tends to inflate credentials) and narrowed it down to Marcus Pedersen and William Persson. Pedersen fits the description better, but Persson also played in Joe's favorite league this season...

Guessing it's Pedersen. Can't find confirmation elsewhere yet.
 
FadeToBlack&Gold said:
I hate wasting an NC game on a conference opponent, but for now I am happy to see Joe hold the line on unbalanced NC scheduling demands by bigger schools who think they're entitled to less travel.
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I have zero problem with MTU playing NMU in one NC game because they're doing the ND/USNDPT weekend where the USNDPT doesn't count and they'll each have one game available. Who else are you going to get to come to Houghton for one game?
 
Shirtless Guy said:
I have zero problem with MTU playing NMU in one NC game because they're doing the ND/USNDPT weekend where the USNDPT doesn't count and they'll each have one game available. Who else are you going to get to come to Houghton for one game?
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I hadn't made that connection at first, but it makes sense.
 
The only downside is that only one extra game is hard to use up and will likely go to waste unless NMU wants to team up with Tech to play the same NC opponent on the same weekend, you're asking another team to schedule a one game series leaving them with a half empty weekend and one unused game on their schedule. Ideally you find someone really close who is headed to AK that year or is also on the US team's schedule (Duluth, SCSU, MN, etc). I doubt Tech would travel a great distance to play only one game and no one is coming to Houghton for one game.
 
mtu_huskies said:
Will a Joe extension be announced or just happen behind the scenes?
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I would say there is some debate if Joe is the man for the job going forward. The Huskies haven't exactly been tearing up the WCHA and the CCHA will be tougher as you add St Thomas. The Tommies will have a huge pool of experienced D-I transfer players to recruit (almost 200 already in the portal) and I expect them to challenge for home ice year one in the CCHA. Also deleting the three UA_ schools means more games against tougher teams in conference play. Tech will need to make a major step forward next year, just to hold on to 5th in the CCHA.

I'm guessing something will happen before the big hockey alumni reunion in August. If they haven't already starting a coaching search, I'm guessing Joe is getting an extension. However I wouldn't expect a long-term deal or an extension that includes an easy exit clause for Tech if they decide to pull the plug and go in another direction in the next couple years.

They need to find someone who can not only raise this team to the next level, but that actually has some loyalty to Tech, will stick around for 20 years and not bolt the second something better comes along.
 
A couple things I’ve noticed from the tournament:

The high skill/ young teams (aka #1 seeds, Mn, BC, NoDak, Wi) all got beat by senior heavy, older, 4 year players. Two of them by WCHA teams. This gives me some hope for the future; Tech has most of the team returning, and we will have a very strong group of Seniors next year (4 year guys, maybe they still have a +1 year COVID extension).

The WCHA is a much tougher league than most thought. Certainly better than the BIG. The trap style defense that we played against all year, played well in the regionals. We have not had much of a look against the NCHC (yet) which certainly looks to be very strong again this year.
 
I see where Bantle entered the portal last night. Too bad he didn't really want to stay. I think he had a lot of potential. I wonder what his reason was and I hope it wasn't some fast-talking agent who sold him on a bill of goods.
 
StevieYnot said:
Aunt.
Kyle's Mom is a sister to Suzanne. Joe had to work for this one.
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LOL. It’s good to have relatives! Regardless of how we get him, he will help the team.

if he was not a Minnesota Mr Hockey finalist, it would make you wonder about the college admissions scandal...
 
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manurespreader said:
I see where Bantle entered the portal last night... I hope it wasn't some fast-talking agent who sold him on a bill of goods.
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My guess is that he either didn't like the style of play or wasn't on the same page as the coaches. If he is in the portal he still wants to play college hockey, just not at Tech, so I don't think it is an advisor pushing him with pro hockey dreams. With Joe's focus on defense first, I wonder if he tried to push Bantle to focus more on defense as well. Given that he put up 69 pts but was -33 over 113 games during his two seasons with the Madison Capitols he is clearly more focused on the offensive end of the ice. He did improve to -3 in 19 games this year, but I could see that potentially being an issue where he wants to play a more offense focused role.
 
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