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Michigan Tech Offseason I - New teams, new scoreboard, new goals... bring it on!

Re: Michigan Tech Offseason I - New teams, new scoreboard, new goals... bring it on!

Mel Pearson show summary for 9/30/13:

Feel rushed as a coach, want to implement so much, but don't get enough time to do that
Haven't had a lot of practice, but exhibition will be good for us.
Very pleased with the time we've been out there as coaches.
Young freshmen look fantastic, some seniors look in their best shape. A lot of depth, it'll be tough to put a lineup together for first game.
Dirk - Team had a scrimmage on their own Saturday, Petan was out there quite a awhile after by himself, showing how dedicated he is.
Mel - A lot of players are driven, but some don't do the extra things. Petan does them.

Dirk - As far as team, are we a better team this year after losing Seigo, JJ, etc.? Dirk thinks so
Mel - No question we can be. We beat UND, UMN, St. Cloud last year, need to be more consitent. We were inconsistent starting from goal on out.


Freshmen:
Is Mel getting a good read from captains on how captains practice is going?
Yes, and Mel's seen it. Young Dmen, have mobility and decision making with the puck. All 3 can skate, good hockey sense, good outlet pass.
How much do you worry about schooling? Nice not playing the 1st month, get their feet on the ground academically. Some haven't been in school for a year or two.
Have mandatory study table with freshmen. Need to get into a groove for school.

We open Oct 5, and skate with the huskies afterwards. Then we don't come back until Oct 26. Hopefully people can watch us online when we're on the road the first month.

More on Freshmen class:
Can they be in lineup and be effective?
First note, thin on D - Fillion had back surgery a week ago, he might be out for the year. Tough break for him and us.
Dan Sova - surgery late in summer, maybe for first half of year. Dirk - Sova though maybe end of November. Could be, we'll have to be careful.
Freshmen Dmen will get thrown into it right away.
Hanna, high scoring Dmen. He's got great offensive insticits, has to learn to play harder/better without the puck. He'll help us offensively.
Leibringer - He's a hard nose kid. 5'10" 185, doesn't play small. May play too rough for size, and may not hold up, a bit concerned. He plays all out in practice, may want to temper it a bit.

Walker Hyland - Continued to impress, much better shape than last year. His hockey IQ is good, hopefully replace Seigo on PP.

Forwards - Freshmen:
A good competition upfront.
Baltus - very impressive. His hockey sense, everday he does something that surprises Mel. Looks really good. Work hard. Great work ethics, great hands.

Starting to put together line combo ideas? For Baltus - constantly rotating players. We keep records of who played with who last year. Brent could play on a top 3 lines.
Do you look for 2 guys that you know you want together and find a third? Like to do that, and then find chemistry with the third guy.
Also, try different things in practice. We've tried Blake Pietila at center, good at faceoffs, he hasnt' played a lot at center, needs to learn defensvie zone responsabilities.
Neville good at center, but have tried him at wing. Neville not known for points, good all around player. Good speed.
Reid and Tyler Heinonen - similar. Reid skates well, big body. Need his motor running all the time. Good skater, will create good things for him. Had an injury late last year, slowed him down a bit, but he'll be good.
Tyler - shoots as well as anyone, reminds Mel of Blake Pietila, shoots to score. He has to pick up tempo, practice harder, get in spots to get the puck. Not overly concerned about his weight.

Jimmy Davis - He looks fantastic, most improved from end of last year. Good for him and us with our injuries. He'll get a chance to play. Never takes a day off. His endurance was an issue, but it's gotten better, great work ethic.
It's his junior year, very young, younger than some freshmen, maybe he was here too early, doesn't matter, he can finish his MTU career on a good note.

David Johnstone - he can be a star in WCHA, has all the things you look for. Demands a lot of himself. Working on the mental part of his game. 10g last year, a lot in 2nd half, should be 20g.
Petan, Pietlia, D. Johnstone all have a chance for 20g. Tanner could be 15-20g. We have potential score goals, but old CCHA teams are much more densive, more trapping, swarming, not as many outnumbered rushes.

Do you change systems with new conference?
Have to adjust to different styles we are playing against. Look at our team and what we're doing. At Michigan, had to skate/up down ice non-conference, then in CCHA had to grind it out.
We'll need to play different styles, wont change who we are generally. We are have talent buys guys that can also grind it out if they have to. Have to play in differnt situations.

Goaltending:
Happy to say, Mel feels he can throw any of the 3 out tomorrow and win. All 3 have looked good.
Pheonix very athletic, has proven he can win. He needs to work on consitency. Much more relaxed/confident in his game.
Jamie Phillips, he is right with Hyland as most improved. Leaps/bounds ahead of last year. He's improved in practice, comfortable in net.
Wintjes, better junior career than Jamie or Pheonix. Has looked good. Smaller than the other two, but he looks good. Great competition.
He is a reflex goalie, relies on athleticism. Has to work on playing the puck.
Will we see all three Saturday? We might, but also want guys to get some minutes to get more ready for the following weekend.
A lot still depends on this weeks practice. Muckalt off recruiting, Whitten going out now, so haven't been together as coaches to talk about it too much.
Part of exhibition lineup is based on last year. And part is based on practice.
Vallis, had to sit out last year due to academics, has looked very good. Haven't seen him a ton though, should he play on Saturday? Tough decision.

On PP:
Similar PP systems, one of top 15 in nation last year.
Talented players make a big impact. We've worked on it a bit, but it'll get a lot of time next week. 21% last year. Mel wants a bit higher, 25-30% ideal but not many teams do it.

On PK:
Rix, Eick back in their roles. Excellent last year. Numbers down last year, 80.8% last year, need to do a lot better.
We really need to improved. Also need to only take good penalties.
Also a problem Rix and Eick took too many penalties, especially Rix. So best PKer not on the ice.
We took some selfish penalties last year, 90% would be great. It can be done.


Questions for Mel:
Do you think the new scoreboard will help or hinder the playes watching during the game?
It'll help the in house environment and the in game entertainment.
Wes Frahm/Joel Isaccson have done a great job. But we brought in a guy that will work with the content.

Will there be a volunteer coach this year? Yes, just finalizing. There will be something out mid week this week. Very pleased with who we have. He'll work primarily with goaltenders. They've met him and excited.

Tyler Shelast former player, is on staff as strength and condition, excellent job. He can go out on the ice, and being a players can go skate. Tyler is excited, he's a hockey guy, loves the rink.

In many of new/updates arenas, focus points have been teams hydro therapy facilities?
It's not on site, don't have that. Not planning on in the future. We have some tings, we're doing for recovery.

How involved is Mel in committed recruit that is not playing on their junior team?
Tough spot, have to rely on that teams coach, maybe trying to send a message. We do stay in contact with a junior coach. We're committed to our players.

Recruits:
It's ongoing, always recruiting. Can pretty much recruit 365, always on the road looking for next best player for Tech.

Taxing travel schedule early on:
That's the problem deciding who to take with our depth. It's good to have the tough decision. This year we have enough good players to make it tough. Good to get on road early, get the team together. Fantastic opponenet early.

Dan Sova - How are his spirits, bad luck with injury. He's valuable. He's discouraged, want to be in really good shape so once he's in he can finish senior year well.

Fillion - When will we know? Pretty much known. Decision around xmas to redshirt or try to play him at some point. Rix went through this and he played, but his happened in summer. It's about a 3 month recovery.
 
Re: Michigan Tech Offseason I - New teams, new scoreboard, new goals... bring it on!

Why are we still posting here? There is a game (that doesn't really count) this week so we are no longer "off season". Someone get creative - I'm not feeling up to the tradition of our tread titles this week. Time for one of the rookies to step up and get it done. I'll get you started, you modify as needed:

"MTU vs Laurentian 10/5/13 - Yeah... He's got one of those jerseys too."

Ryan J

<IMG HEIGHT=400 SRC="http://www.johnsonsjerseys.net/hockey/ncaa/lau25_f.jpg">
 
Re: Michigan Tech Offseason I - New teams, new scoreboard, new goals... bring it on!

So, this is the Laurentian hockey program's first season since 2000...
 
Re: Michigan Tech Offseason I - New teams, new scoreboard, new goals... bring it on!

I don't think we need a series thread for an exhibition game, folks.
 
Re: Michigan Tech Offseason I - New teams, new scoreboard, new goals... bring it on!

What is this about?
Ryan J

"How involved is Mel in committed recruit that is not playing on their junior team?"
"Tough spot, have to rely on that teams coach, maybe trying to send a message. We do stay in contact with a junior coach. We're committed to our players."
 
Re: Michigan Tech Offseason I - New teams, new scoreboard, new goals... bring it on!

What is this about?
Ryan J

"How involved is Mel in committed recruit that is not playing on their junior team?"
"Tough spot, have to rely on that teams coach, maybe trying to send a message. We do stay in contact with a junior coach. We're committed to our players."
The only committed recruit that hasn't played yet is Tristan Rostagno with Muskegon...
 
Re: Michigan Tech Offseason I - New teams, new scoreboard, new goals... bring it on!

That ticketing change was due, with RFID now easy to implement.

Having potentially more than two freshman out there on D worries me a bit, especially with our road OOC schedule going into places like Yost, Compton, and Amsoil. However, the quality of the freshmen defensemen that Mel has brought in with Hyland last year, and now this year's trio, has taken a big step forward. If nothing else, it will at least be good experience for those guys to get thrown into the fire right away. With two upperclassmen out, that puts more weight on the shoulders of Stebner and Sweeney to step up and lead, and I'm also glad to hear that Davis has put in the offseason work to get better and stronger, hopefully that translates into at least a serviceable, if not solid, season from him after a couple years of struggle. Sounds like Leibinger and Davis will likely fight for that sixth spot for the first month or so. If Leibinger is really that aggressive in practice, I'm already sensing several dumb penalties from him this season, so he'll need to figure out how to temper that attitude a bit while retaining his hard-hitting ways.

We can finish in one of the Top 4 spots, but it might take a late push, especially with 11 of our 14 WCHA home games coming after Dec 1st. We also can't be losing anymore players to long-term injuries, especially defensemen.

Bringing in Shelast as strength coach is a pretty good pickup. He was probably the best player I got to watch in my four years at Tech. He always worked hard and wasn't afraid to crash the net to score, but could snipe a few too. Glad to hear we got our goalie coach as well.
 
Re: Michigan Tech Offseason I - New teams, new scoreboard, new goals... bring it on!

I'm looking forward to hockey season starting and the new WCHA. It'll be interesting to see who settles to the bottom of the NCHC and listening to them whine. I think Western made a huge mistake. They should be in the WCHA.

Here's something they should add to the ice arena--a skybox sauna: http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/70185000/jpg/_70185680_icehockey464getty.jpg
 
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Re: Michigan Tech Offseason I - New teams, new scoreboard, new goals... bring it on!

The only committed recruit that hasn't played yet is Tristan Rostagno with Muskegon...
Tristan was on the injured reserve list for Muskegon when they announced their 2013 roster back on Sept 19th. Could be he's not been practicing with the team until recently and is still getting back into season form. Tristan is a '96 and plenty of older kids are fighting for his spot at Muskegon. If there was a serious problem, he'd be off the roster and down in the NAHL. [edit....sorry....missed the earlier post that answered this]
 
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Re: Michigan Tech Offseason I - New teams, new scoreboard, new goals... bring it on!

Expecting the new goalie coach to be announced today.......are the bringing Dieter back?
 
Re: Michigan Tech Offseason I - New teams, new scoreboard, new goals... bring it on!

Expecting the new goalie coach to be announced today.......are the bringing Dieter back?

In the way Mel phrased his discussion during his show I would be surprised if it was Dieter. But, I may be wrong.
 
Re: Michigan Tech Offseason I - New teams, new scoreboard, new goals... bring it on!

Its the official start of Hockey Night in The Keweenaw!! Meet the Coaches tonight. 7 pm. Begg Conference Room. Be there!
 
Re: Michigan Tech Offseason I - New teams, new scoreboard, new goals... bring it on!

I'm thinking the new goalie coach will be there, so please let us know who it is.

One thing is for sure about college hockey, the distance between the top teams and the bottom teams is getting smaller and smaller. Even Atlantic hockey can no longer be taken lightly. I expect quite a few teams will lose games they are not expecting to lose. For instance Canisius ( I believe) and DU could be a big upset. I don't think anyone is going to run away with anything no matter what league they are in.
 
Re: Michigan Tech Offseason I - New teams, new scoreboard, new goals... bring it on!

Yeah, I'm betting they held the announcement to get people to attend Meet the Coaches.
 
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