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

Tyler Shelast...great guy...but is he ready to coach offense? And can he recruit? I would have preferred someone with more direct coaching experience. But Joe must know he's up to the task.
 
Interesting choice, if that is the choice. He has all the culture boxes checked. We will have to see what happens. If it is him, I wish him the best of luck. It is hard to not pull for a former husky. We need pucks in the net wherever we can find them.
 
Madison Husky said:
Tyler Shelast... can he recruit?
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This year's team will be loaded with upper classmen, plenty experienced and all Joe's recruits playing in his system. If the Huskies don't at least finish in the top 3 of the CCHA and make the NCAA tourney this upcoming season, Tech may be recruiting an entire new coaching staff next Spring.
 
Congrats Tyler. Interesting they highlighted the program's desire to recruit Western Canada. Joe must have confidence that he can recruit.
 
Lost_Husky said:
Congrats Tyler. Interesting they highlighted the program's desire to recruit Western Canada. Joe must have confidence that he can recruit.
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Right now, after this season's incoming class, I'm seeing mostly NAHL recruits for 2022 and beyond. You can pull decent-to-good players from that league, but it's more of a crapshoot. It's also concerning that we only have one player committed for 2023, which I understand that a year was lost due to the pandemic and being unable to travel for recruiting purposes (particularly to Canada), but it leaves the staff with a lot of catching up to do this summer. Hopefully Shelast can do two things for this team:

1. Teach the forwards to battle more in front of the net and score dirty goals, especially on the power play
2. Lean on his contacts back home to start pulling in some BCHL recruits again

If they don't get good results on the ice this year, and start landing some promising commitments, I think we might very well be head coach shopping next April.
 
FadeToBlack&Gold said:
It's also concerning that we only have one player committed for 2023...
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I think we need to see how the extra year for Covid will impact how long current players stay before we can judge if that lost year of recruiting is really an issue. All the other teams had the same restrictions so there are likely more kids out there looking to sign an NLI now than in past years. Because current players have the option to stay an extra year, it's going to cause a backlog of players for years to come. In theory, the average NCAA hockey team should be better because they can keep players longer and be more picky about who they sign. Tech didn't make much hay with that extra year option out of last year's seniors.

In an idea scenario 60% of your production comes from upperclassmen, but underclassmen make up at least 60% of the roster in terms of bodies because as we've seen, some of them are not going to stick around the full term. Some leave due to their own success, some leave due to lack of success and there are plenty of other reasons like the ability to freely transfer whenever they want to a program they perceive to be a better opportunity.
 
JohnsonsJerseys said:
I think we need to see how the extra year for Covid will impact how long current players stay before we can judge if that lost year of recruiting is really an issue. All the other teams had the same restrictions so there are likely more kids out there looking to sign an NLI now than in past years. Because current players have the option to stay an extra year, it's going to cause a backlog of players for years to come. In theory, the average NCAA hockey team should be better because they can keep players longer and be more picky about who they sign. Tech didn't make much hay with that extra year option out of last year's seniors.

In an idea scenario 60% of your production comes from upperclassmen, but underclassmen make up at least 60% of the roster in terms of bodies because as we've seen, some of them are not going to stick around the full term. Some leave due to their own success, some leave due to lack of success and there are plenty of other reasons like the ability to freely transfer whenever they want to a program they perceive to be a better opportunity.
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How many leagues played last year? I know there are loopholes in the US/Canada boarder closure, but is recruiting one of them?

Who else would we want back from last year's team? Where the extra year may benefit us is after next three years. We have larger classes with guys who log ice time. If Tyler can get them to find the back of the net it may pay dividends.

One thing Joe and staff don't get enough credit for, incoming transfers. Joe has pulled several players off the transfer wire who have helped us. If we can get 2-3 more players that can be consistent double digit goal scorers, this team's future looks a whole lot brighter.
 
Native American Jim Thorpe, July 7th, 1912, competing against the best athletes in the world in the Stockholm Olympics, Jim Thorpe (Sac & Fox) placed first in the broad jump, 200-meter sprint, discuss throw and the 1,500 meters, and finished third in the javelin throw to win the gold medal easily in the 5 event Pentathlon.
Now you'd call that a good day. Maybe the best athletic performance ever.
 
Per the Joe Show, he made it sound like both Tech and State really want the GLI to continue to be played in some capacity. Olympia/LCA is being a pain about dates/times due to the event backlog caused by the pandemic (and the fact that it's not a huge draw anymore). While Joe was careful not to name names or say it outright, the hint was that Mel/Michigan are using these difficulties as a reason to try and back out of it.

They're excited to have Tyler come aboard as a full-fledged assistant coach and Joe really pushed the mojo he brings to recruiting in Western Canada as a native who had some success as an NCAA player and played minor pro hockey. Joe pointed out that with the top American recruits, there is a clear and established hierarchy of which big name schools they feel they should be playing for. Mel never successfully recruited a first round pick to Tech, but went back to Michigan and four years later he's got a roster stacked with top picks. Even recruiting in Minnesota against all of the MN schools is very difficult if you don't already have a foot in the door via family connections. So we have to get back out into BC and Alberta to find and land the recruits who aren't predisposed to attending particular schools and can become great players for us. Guys like Shane Hanna who can anchor a defense and keep us competitive almost every year. They are also working angles in Europe, as evidenced by Caderoth and other players they're actively recruiting.

Joe loves having Lucia as the leader the reborn CCHA, and is also impressed with Dominic Hennig who was hired to run media and PR. If Joe is to be believed, expect the conference to take its public image seriously and work hard to improve TV coverage. Refs will announce penalties over the PA system starting this season, and there will be pregame and intermission interviews conducted with coaches and players.
 
FadeToBlack&Gold said:
Per the Joe Show, he made it sound like both Tech and State really want the GLI to continue to be played in some capacity. Olympia/LCA is being a pain about dates/times due to the event backlog caused by the pandemic (and the fact that it's not a huge draw anymore). While Joe was careful not to name names or say it outright, the hint was that Mel/Michigan are using these difficulties as a reason to try and back out of it.

They're excited to have Tyler come aboard as a full-fledged assistant coach and Joe really pushed the mojo he brings to recruiting in Western Canada as a native who had some success as an NCAA player and played minor pro hockey. Joe pointed out that with the top American recruits, there is a clear and established hierarchy of which big name schools they feel they should be playing for. Mel never successfully recruited a first round pick to Tech, but went back to Michigan and four years later he's got a roster stacked with top picks. Even recruiting in Minnesota against all of the MN schools is very difficult if you don't already have a foot in the door via family connections. So we have to get back out into BC and Alberta to find and land the recruits who aren't predisposed to attending particular schools and can become great players for us. Guys like Shane Hanna who can anchor a defense and keep us competitive almost every year. They are also working angles in Europe, as evidenced by Caderoth and other players they're actively recruiting.

Joe loves having Lucia as the leader the reborn CCHA, and is also impressed with Dominic Hennig who was hired to run media and PR. If Joe is to be believed, expect the conference to take its public image seriously and work hard to improve TV coverage. Refs will announce penalties over the PA system starting this season, and there will be pregame and intermission interviews conducted with coaches and players.
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dump michigan...

let MTU and MSU run the GLI... hell, have it in east lansing. cheaper, no conflicts.

not to mention having a bigger rotation on the visiting teams; two instead of one.
 
DrunkTrainPolka said:
dump michigan...
let MTU and MSU run the GLI... hell, have it in east lansing. cheaper, no conflicts.
not to mention having a bigger rotation on the visiting teams; two instead of one.
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Agreed on dumping Michigan and honestly State could go too. Let Tech run with it and make it their own.

Let's think outside the box. This does not have to be the Detroit Invitational. It is the GREAT LAKES invitational so how about moving the tourney each year with Tech as the host and pick-up three local teams to help with attendance issues. For example
Play in Milwaukee and bring in WI, MN and Notre Dame
Play in Duluth and bring in UMD, UND and St Thomas
Play in Rochester (NY) and bring in Penn State, Niagara and Cornell
Play in Toledo and bring in OSU, BGSU and Miami

So many great hockey towns around the great lakes. Is it more work to move it every year? Absolutely. But I also imagine it would be far cheaper than the LCA and with new location/teams every year you get new alumni involved and new opposing fans. Now if someone misses the GLI: "Ahh, no big deal, we'll go next year..." But if it isn't coming back to your area for 4-5 years, more people might actually plan to attend. If you want to split the work load, maybe pick another team to be co-host with Tech. Then you only need to find two teams each year. No reason in today's world to hold the same tourney every single holiday break.

Just look at the neutral games UND sets up, or the Ice Breaker or the US Hockey Hall of Fame game... they move around and become a desirable event because they don't repeat year after year after year. NCAA regionals should be the same thing, but people only have a week to prepare and make the trip so they don't draw as well.
 
JohnsonsJerseys said:
Let's think outside the box...
Play in Milwaukee and bring in WI, MN and Notre Dame
Play in Duluth and bring in UMD, UND and St Thomas
Play in Rochester (NY) and bring in Penn State, Niagara and Cornell
Play in Toledo and bring in OSU, BGSU and Miami
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You had me until ...Toledo... haha
This is absolutely what Tech needs to do. How the heck did Tech’s biggest recruiting series become tied to the UofM and MSU show? Cut the strings, leverage all of the teams along the great lakes. Get some of those games back with UMD, UND, and create some excitement with the upstate New York schools...
 
FadeToBlack&Gold said:
If Michigan is out, I'm pretty sure the LCA is out too.
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LCA and UofM gone? two birds, one stone... and don't let the door hit you on the way out!

every team in the CCHA is in a state that has a great lake(s) shore... GLI? yep, have a rotating tournament that goes to cities in michigan, minnesota, and ohio. and toss in wisconsin/illinois for good measure.

let tech be the only one staple, three rotating teams? one (or two) from the CCHA and the two others from two other conferences? one obviously from the state you are playing in...

duluth; tech, umd, nodak, nmu

green bay; tech, wisco, uofmn, lssu

milwaukee; tech, wisco, mnsu, ust

chicago; tech, wisco, bgsu, miami

detroit; tech, wmu, fsu, bgsu

cleveland; tech, etc, etc, etc

innovate or die!
 
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