Season 2 Episode 24 of the Chasing MacNaughton Podcast from Tech Hockey Guide; “Pettsy and Roy.” This week Tim Braun, Rob Gilreath, and Matt Cavender were joined by two former Huskies, Alex Petan and Matt Roy to discuss their careers in pro hockey, at Michigan Tech and their participation in the IIHF World Championship. The guys also stuck around after letting Alex get to bed and Matt get back to the California sun. They discussed your questions, RMU’s situation and impact on Men’s and Women’s Hockey, plus all the roster changes.

The careers of Matt Roy and Alex Petan

Both Roy and Petan both participated in the 2021 IIHF World Championships, with Roy serving as an assistant captain for the United States and Petan serving as an assistant captain for Italy due to his his dual citizenship. Alex joined us live from Hungary, which is where he will be playing this upcoming season. Matt joined us from his new house out in the LA area.

After college, Petan got his Italian passport following some advice from some closely trusted sources, and soon thereafter began his playing career overseas in Italy. Due to his time over there, he was approached to be on Italy’s national team and accepted. The move to Italy ended up being a good decision for Alex and his career, as he won the Championship in his first season and lived basically in the middle of a vineyard during his time there.

Roy, on the other hand, got the chance to work his way up through the LA Kings organization and has earned himself a staple spot in their lineup. He’s even become the Kings’ Union representative, which has proven to be very interesting during Covid times.

Both players didn’t get much of a chance to see each other during the IIHF tournament because of protocols, but they were able to talk to each other a couple times on the ice and they were happy to see each other. The US walked away with the bronze medal, and even though Italy didn’t do very well, Alex and his teammates were grateful for the experience.

Experiences at Michigan Tech

Both guys have nothing but positive things to say about their years at Michigan Tech. They were part of the big revival of the program and got to be there for some incredible moments. There were the obvious moments that came to mind such as winning the Broadmoor on home ice and winning the MacNaughton Cup, but both guys seem to miss the same things we all do at Tech- hanging out with our friends, getting pasties, and meeting up at the KBC.

We also got to discuss with the pair why they decided to come to Tech, what went into the recruiting process, and more of their favorite memories. It was a great time looking back with both players, as well as gaining an insight as to what their lives were lives were like prior to coming to Tech.

Our guests also took the time to break down how they felt about today’s college hockey landscape, including the move to the CCHA, the style of play and culture of the old WCHA, and the expanding and contracting of teams.

Damon Whitten’s contract

Well, this should certainly make things interesting. We took the time to discuss how this may play into the season series against Lake Superior State, as well as take some jabs at that team from Marquette because they have no such clause for sweeping them in Whitten’s contract. Joe Shawhan has taken note of this tweet, so he’s likely to take a chip on his shoulder into the games against his alma mater

Robert Morris

For those that haven’t been keeping up, what’s been going on at Robert Morris is absolutely disgusting. Their President appears to have acted unilaterally, without approval from their Board of Trustees, to eliminate their hockey program. Unconfirmed rumors also also have it that they aren’t even listening to people that want to save the program, even from those that would go far enough to buy their facilities and allow them to play rent-free.

In the days since recording, the plot has thickened even further. Players for both Robert Morris’s men’s and women’s teams have gotten legal representation in the form of Jeffrey Kessler. Kessler is the lawyer that is credited with defeating the NCAA in the Supreme Court over athlete compensation, he represented Tom Brady during his “deflategate” scandal, and has represented the US women’s soccer team and the NBA Players’ Association. Kessler has sent a letter the University saying that the way in which the program was terminated may put the institution at risk, and at this point we’re playing the waiting game to see what comes of that.

Learn More

For additional information and more episode liner notes, check out our episode overview on Tech Hockey Guide. To make sure we can afford all our fancy equipment we purchased for the podcast and the THG website in general, please check out our patreon page and consider joining. Patrons at our Black Level or above receive an authentic MTU jersey patch and access to extra podcast content including extended versions of our other episodes. This week’s extended version is about 97 minutes including a 14 minute segment on Minnesota High School Hockey.
Follow us on twitter at ChasingMacPod and you can submit questions through our email address, ChasingMac@techhockeyguide.com. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Please rate and review which will help us reach more people, and tell your friends. Please check out Jonathan Zamaites series previews every Friday and Mike Anleitner’s Old Dog in Texas column every Wednesday (you should definitely read this week’s column). Also, keep an eye out for new recruiting articles on Tuesdays. As always, special thanks to our patron saint Doc McResin for his generous donation to get this thing running, we hope you enjoy. Also, thanks to The Thank You Notes for all the bumpers in today’s episode. If you like what you hear, check them out at thethankyounotes.bandcamp.com

Matt Cavender
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Matt Cavender graduated from Tech in 2018 and is a former President of Mitch's Misfits, serving two terms. Matt serves on the Tech Hockey Guide staff as Editor in Chief. He currently works as a Digital Marketing Specialist in Grand Rapids, MI

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