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>< Michigan Tech Huskies 2022-23: Over One Century of Hockey ><

Puckstopper467 said:
and there is the problem with the 48% of portal players who are 5th tear COVID players. Time to get an offer or a job!
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IMO, it is more to do with the Covid year and them wanted to get the best job with a pro team. Remember these guy have agents in their ears "advising them". For some players (Karow) it works out, for others (Quercia) not so much.

Once the Covid stuff is over, I think some of this jumping will quiet down as there will be more ice time available.
 
Puckstopper467 said:
where would some schools be with the 5th year COVID? Goodness why not just let these guys stay until social security age 62
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They barely played half a season in 2020-2021. Some programs didn't play at all that season. Tech probably wouldn't have Tristan Ashbrook if RPI hadn't canceled their entire season.
 
I think Pietila would have benefited from transferring to a different conference. He has proven he is a dominant goalie in the CCHA. I am not sure another year at tech will benefit his growth to get to the next level.
 
Laker Dude said:
I think Pietila would have benefited from transferring to a different conference. He has proven he is a dominant goalie in the CCHA. I am not sure another year at tech will benefit his growth to get to the next level.
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Blake is a "shorter" goalie and may realize where his glass ceiling could be. Changing leagues didn't help BSU standout goalie Zach Driscoll. He went to NoDak and still landed in the ECHL. I have no idea what kind of contract he was offered, but why wouldn't he come back if it was an AHL tryout/ECHL contract? It isn't like they are going to throw more money at him then he could make as a Mechanical Engineer. (I believe he has a Mechanical Engineering degree.)

His younger brother, Chase, is coming to Tech and he has a chance to play with him. Logan also came back. Multiple sources have said family is very important to the Pietilas. Getting to play with Chase at Tech might be worth it for Blake.

Wild speculation: Maybe he wants a legitimate chance to fill Tech/His trophy case with a MacNaughton, Mason Cup, Richter, and possibly a Hobey.
 
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As an undrafted goalie, Blake and his family probably know his odds of an NHL career aren't great. Like you said, he's on the shorter side for pro hockey goalies these days. NSH's Juuse Saros, who is 5'11", is the only NHL starter under 6' tall. Two other goalies are also 5'11" (aging backups Stalock and Halak). AFAIK, there are no other NHL-rostered goalies under that height right now.

Dryden McKay, who is also 5'11" and considers Halak and Saros inspirations, just spent most of this past season in the ECHL where he split time with another goalie. Sporting a 3.06 GAA and .900 SV%, his numbers are pretty middle-of-the-pack among ECHL goalies and substantially worse than the 1A goalie on his team.

So it's a choice. You can sign and spend a season sitting on long bus rides, grinding in the minors for peanuts, with no guarantee of even an AHL call-up if you don't hack it on your tryout deal. Or, since you have another year of eligibility, you could play it with your brother, get one more shot at some hardware, and work on (I assume) an MBA. I know what sounds a hell of a lot better and more sensible to me, given the facts at hand. But I also haven't spent 20+ years playing for the chance to get paid to play professionally at any level, and for some guys that is the #1 end goal.
 
FadeToBlack&Gold said:
As an undrafted goalie, Blake and his family probably know his odds of an NHL career aren't great. Like you said, he's on the shorter side for pro hockey goalies these days. NSH's Juuse Saros, who is 5'11", is the only NHL starter under 6' tall. Two other goalies are also 5'11" (aging backups Stalock and Halak). AFAIK, there are no other NHL-rostered goalies under that height right now.

Dryden McKay, who is also 5'11" and considers Halak and Saros inspirations, just spent most of this past season in the ECHL where he split time with another goalie. Sporting a 3.06 GAA and .900 SV%, his numbers are pretty middle-of-the-pack among ECHL goalies and substantially worse than the 1A goalie on his team.

So it's a choice. You can sign and spend a season sitting on long bus rides, grinding in the minors for peanuts, with no guarantee of even an AHL call-up if you don't hack it on your tryout deal. Or, since you have another year of eligibility, you could play it with your brother, get one more shot at some hardware, and work on (I assume) an MBA. I know what sounds a hell of a lot better and more sensible to me, given the facts at hand. But I also haven't spent 20+ years playing for the chance to get paid to play professionally at any level, and for some guys that is the #1 end goal.
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Good points. Someone making a commitment toward an engineering degree is certainly considering life's reality. And a bus league sounds like a not ideal life. But like you said, it was never an option for me either.
 
I see that the MSU school of engineering got ranked ahead of MTU recently. MSU mid 60's Tech mid 80,s U of M in the 20's. A wake up call for us if you ask me.
 
manurespreader said:
I see that the MSU school of engineering got ranked ahead of MTU recently. MSU mid 60's Tech mid 80,s U of M in the 20's. A wake up call for us if you ask me.
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Do rankings really mean anything, especially in the STEM fields? I can see where rankings matter for MBA programs and law schools.

I went through the same thing a few years ago when my son was looking at schools for engineering. All the engineering schools are accredited and essentially have the same curriculum. Facilities were all comparable (at least for undergraduate studies). So it came down to where he felt he'd be most comfortable. The program head at his school gave us the best advice for judging programs. She said that someone will always "out-tech" someone no matter where you went to school.
 
njmav1 said:
Do rankings really mean anything, especially in the STEM fields? I can see where rankings matter for MBA programs and law schools.

I went through the same thing a few years ago when my son was looking at schools for engineering. All the engineering schools are accredited and essentially have the same curriculum. Facilities were all comparable (at least for undergraduate studies). So it came down to where he felt he'd be most comfortable. The program head at his school gave us the best advice for judging programs. She said that someone will always "out-tech" someone no matter where you went to school.
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I went through this a few years ago. She chose her school based on different reasons. I have a niece that went through engineering as well. All accredited, all graduated yet I find a huge difference in their knowledge. I know people from MSU and other places and can't say impressed. What I can say is if you choose Tech I guarantee they will really know engineering from the basics up and be well rounded.

Do rankings matter? I think they do to some degree but what matters more is what the rankings are truly based on. If you offer more engineering disciplines are you better?

What and how a curriculum is taught matters. Hard to gauge that beforehand.

Should an engineer know how to use a volt meter? I know some that do not.
 
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