We hope all of you are enjoying the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend but there was much to talk about this week in episode 2 of the Chasing MacNaughton Podcast; “The Donnybrook.” This week, while Dustin Lindstrom is off deer hunting, I’m joined by Rob Gilreath and a special guest from Fairbanks, Alaska, Britton Anderson as we discuss (times are approximate):
- The donnybrook at the end of the Huskies/Wildcats game (2:12)
- Review of the Alaska/FSU series including a fight (8:30)
- The Huskies’ upcoming series with Alaska (12:06)
- Officiating in the WCHA (24:03)
- The current financial situation for UAA and Alaska (34:45)
- WCHA predictions for this coming weekend (48:56)
As liner notes to this week’s episode, the highlights from last weekend’s series with NMU are linked below as well as one of the scuffles in the Alaska/FSU series.
One update I’d like to make now that I’ve had more time to go through it. We discussed the Alaska-MTU head to head situation since the formation of the current WCHA quite a bit so let’s set the record straight. MTU is a pristine 10-0 in Fairbanks since the start of the 2013-14 and after the October series, the Huskies are now 8-4 at home over the same stretch including a home sweep in the 2015-16 WCHA playoffs. Their only losses being the bookend series at MacInnes where Britton correctly called the Nanooks outscoring the Huskies 14-5 on the weekend back in February 2014 and the series this October.
The end of the above video shows the donnybrook at the 19:58 mark of the third period in Saturday’s game between NMU and MTU. A total of 13 minors, 2 majors and 2 game misconducts were called in this one. Misiak and Loughran received the majors and misconducts with Loughran racking up 19 PMI in the final moments. Roeder was the only player on the ice not to receive a penalty and Jurusik’s two minors were the reason NMU ended up with a power play.
As we discussed in the podcast the box score is now updated for the FSU @ Alaska series with 12 minors, 3 majors and 3 game misconducts called at the 20:00 mark of the 3rd period (video above). Two misconducts were called on FSU, Blake Evennou (6) and Dominic Lutz (11). Plus Brennan Blaszczak (14) for the Nanooks also received a misconduct. Misconducts do not carry any kind of suspension while disqualifications do. In both instances (MTU @ NMU/FSU @ UA_), the WCHA did not deem either fight to result in additional discipline from the league.
In our discussion of finances for the Alaska schools towards the end Britton brought up this piece by Chancellor White, Friday Focus: What athletics can do. While Britton painted a good picture I still struggle to see how the Alaska schools can afford to keep athletics or at least both hockey teams going strong for the 2020-21 season and beyond.
During predictions we gave a shoutout to Jonathan Zamaites and his predictive powers of late. We tweeted about it earlier this week and Mike Anleitner even did a column on it. I made a couple mistakes in this tweet but the point still stands. He’s been spectacular.
A couple things were shortened or cut out due to time but seem important for some of our readers. One is the understanding of the exempt status teams enjoy for playing in Alaska. An NCAA team that travels to and plays an Alaska (or Hawaii) team in Alaska has those games exempted from their schedule limitations. It’s why MTU plays more than the NCAA allotted 34 games most seasons because they play at one or both of the Alaska schools every year. There are a few other exempt games including the Icebreaker Tournament and the Hall of Fame Game.
The other item that we discussed but cut due to time is the fact that Alaska, UAA, and UAH all subsidize travel for other WCHA teams playing them on the road. It is our understanding that the current subsidy is paying the difference between a given team’s most expensive road trip outside of those 3 locations and what it costs to make the trek to Anchorage, Fairbanks or Huntsville. So while it does reduce the cost, it is on the higher end for most teams because its going to be the cost for BSU/MSU to get to BGSU/FSU and vice versa.
Since these posts have turn into a bit of a linkorama, I’d like to add one final not about something that came out after we recorded. Michigan Tech was named CHN Team of the Week. Well, thanks again for checking this out, especially if you’re doing so on Thanksgiving. Enjoy your time off and stay up late this weekend to check out the Huskies series in Fairbanks on Flohockey.
If you’d like to listen to the full limited edited version of this episode and others previously published, you can do so by signing for our Black Tier or above on our patreon page.
Tim is a 2004 graduate of Michigan Tech. He is a co-founder of both Mitch’s Misfits and Tech Hockey Guide. With recent additions to the staff, Tim is again able to focus on his passion, recruiting. He currently works as an environmental engineer and resides in the Minneapolis/St. Paul Area.
