Season 3 Episode 12 of the Chasing MacNaughton Podcast from Tech Hockey Guide; The Other Side of the Corn. This week, Tim Braun, Rob Gilreath, Dustin Lindstrom and Matt Cavender were joined by Shane Frederick. Shane previously covered Minnesota State as a journalist and he also graduated from St. Thomas. This week, the guys discussed last weekend’s Minnesota State series, the Northern Michigan/Minnesota Duluth series, previewed the upcoming series for Tech against St. Thomas, the Joe Shawahan Hour, and ended with Fantasy College hockey.
Minnesota State series recap
Shane started off by saying that the series was what he expected it to be, though he thought that there would be more shots in total. He also thought that it was one of the most competitive weekends for Minnesota State since conference play started. Tim also shared his surprise at how low the shot totals were. Rob discussed that Michigan Tech was using more breakouts off the high glass rather than carrying the puck out, likely due to them being tired from the pressure Minnesota State was applying. Matt’s biggest takeaway was that Minnesota State is who everyone thought they were and that they deserve the national respect they’ve been receiving. Matt also talked about how this is the best he’s ever felt about Tech getting swept in a series.
Northern Michigan versus Minnesota Duluth
The guys then went on a bit of a tangent about last weekend’s series between Northern Michigan and Minnesota Duluth. Matt thought that even with the third string goalie on the number one team in the nation should still be able to win against a middle of the pack team and the other guys all disagreed with him. Tim thought that Northern might have benefitted in the situation because they play on a larger sheet of ice which Rob pointed out makes a big difference on the power plan and moving the puck. Shane then discussed how Minnesota State takes advantage of the many rinks around them, which allows them to prepare for various other rink sizes and situations.
St. Thomas Season so Far and Series Preview
Shane thought that the Tommies season has gone about as expected so far. The guys then discussed the scholarship situation for the Tommies and how they thought the Tommies would have done more with the transfer portal this past offseason. Matt wondered if the five year NCAA Tournament probation had any effect on players transferring to St. Thomas, and Shane discussed how a tournament berth would be slim for the Tommies even if the probation wasn’t in place. The guys also discussed St. Thomas hiring Rico Blasi as their coach and whether that was the correct choice.
Matt started the series preview discussion off by saying that if Tech doesn’t put up at least five goals each night it’ll be an embarrassment. Tim agreed with this and added that if Tech allows more than two goals each night he’ll be frustrated. Tim also hoped that Tech learned their lesson against Ferris and show up at the beginning of the game.
3v3 Overtime
The guys then discussed the current overtime format. Matt and Shane expressed their love for 3v3 OT; Rob and Tim disagreed. Everyone agreed that Tech needs to get better at playing 3v3 hockey and Tim mused that Tech’s problem is how defensive minded they are which doesn’t transfer well to 3v3 play. Shane pointed out that all other levels besides high school play 3v3 OT so the players should be used to it.
The Joe Shawahan Hour
One item of note from the Joe Show was the 3v3 OT talk, which the guys covered before officially getting to the Joe Show segment of the podcast. Otherwise, the guys focused on talking about Tech’s standings in the pairwise rankings and looked ahead to where Tech may be in the CCHA standings going into the break after this upcoming weekend.
Fantasy Challenge
Last week Dustin scored four points, Rob and Matt each scored three points and Tim and The Ghost scored zero points. There were no changes in the overall standings (Dustin, Tim, Rob, Ghost, Matt), but with this past weekend’s results Matt has pulled to within one point behind The Ghost. This week’s theme was “Power Play Stars” and featured the five players who have scored the most power play goals in the nation. The players this week play for the University of Michigan, Arizona State University, Western Michigan University, the University of Nebraska-Omaha and Northern Michigan University.
Cut for time
This week’s cut time for Patrons is approximately 25 minutes long. Tim told a story about getting Culver’s with his daughter. The guys discussed the Tommies playing D1 football and their scholarship allotments. There was a discussion about whether teams should be benching goalies and other positions players against weaker opponents. The guys discussed getting to overtime and it’s minimal impact to pairwise and how poll voters formulate their polls each week. Dustin talked about the mixed drink he was enjoying while recording. Matt talked about his reaction to the Detroit Lions beating the Minnesota Vikings this past weekend, and Tim talked about a Minnesota fans making a deal with the devil. The guys talked about not knowing who the new Tech goalie recruit is, and also Professor Bill Sproule’s role in writing the new 100 years of Michigan Tech Hockey book. The last cut segment was a conversation about the Alberta Junior Hockey League.
Learn More
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