Season 3 Episode 23 of the Chasing MacNaughton Podcast from Tech Hockey Guide; Electric Boogaloo. This week, Tim Braun, Dustin Lindstrom, Rob Gilreath and Matt Cavender were joined by Shane Frederick former beat writer for the Mankato Free Press. In this episode they discussed Minnesota State clinching the MacNaughton Cup, Tanner Edwards, Minnesota State coach Mike Hastings return from the Olympics, predictions for the upcoming Tech/Minnesota State series, a listener question, the Joe Shawhan Hour, and Fantasy Challenge.
MacNaughton Cup presentation
The show started with Tim asking Shane about his experience at the MacNaughton Cup presentation. Shane said it was a very nice presentation and loved that CCHA Commissioner Don Lucia hopped on the microphone during the ceremony. Tim added that he thought it was nice to see a legitimate presentation and fanfare. The guys then talked about how it seems the CCHA cares much more about events like this trophy presentation than the WCHA.
The guys also spent some time discussing whether previous coaches at schools would have been successful if they had been afforded the same facility upgrades that their successors got to enjoy. The conversation focused around Jamie Russell initially and the team that he handed to Mel Pearson. Shane then talked about his conversations with Minnesota State assistance coach Todd Knott and the struggles Todd has with recruiting for Minnesota State with their recent success. Shane said that it can be tough for Todd to stick to the Minnesota State recruiting philosophy and not chase after a bunch of blue chip players.
Tanner Edwards
The guys discussed Tech Hockey Guide favorite, Tanner Edwards. Shane commented that he thought Tanner would be bigger in size, but added that he will be a thorn in team’s sides in the coming years if he can keep it disciplined. Rob shared Tanner stat line for the year: one shot, one goal, 34 penalty minutes in four games played. Tim talked about his slight confusion at Joe Shawhan being interested in recruiting Tanner.
Matt’s completely easy to answer question
Matt asked Shane if there was anything that Shane could share with the listeners about Minnesota State that wasn’t already abundantly clear. Shane had to chew on this question a little bit because as he put it, a lot has already been said about them. Shane ended up commenting on the lack of a weak spot for Minnesota State and their ability to roll four lines while mixing and matching them too. He also talked about their depth at the defensive position and how they regularly play seven defensemen a night. Matt added that he thought Minnesota State is an impressive squad and will be an interesting matchup for Tech.
The guys then spent a couple minutes discussing Minnesota State coach Mike Hasting and his quick return to the bench after coming back from the Olympics. Shane discussed the importance to Hastings to be there for his senior players on senior night. The guys then discussed the origins of the “Electric Boogaloo” meme and movie and Dustin’s upcoming trip to Russia.
Minnesota State series predictions
Rob and Matt were the only two that got predictions in before the conversation went off on tangents. Rob wanted a split in the interest of the Pairwise rankings and Matt predicted two overtime losses. Tim talked about analyzing Tech’s expected goals which showed that the Minnesota State/Tech games were essentially ties. Shane pointed out that every Friday night game for Minnesota State in the state of Michigan has been a loss. He also talked about a possible letdown for Minnesota State after last weekend.
Listener question
There was one listener question this week which asked what happened to former Husky Matt Quercia. Tim said the simplest answer was that Matt transferred to Tech for playing time, he didn’t get it, and so he transferred away. Tim shared some numbers to highlight this, including the fact that Quercia only played in one of the last ten games that he was at Tech.
The Joe Show
Matt thought this week’s Joe Shawhan Hour was a great off the cuff show and found it interesting how positive Joe reflected on the Ferris State series. Tim speculated that Joe was not happy with the results of the weekend, but was happy with how Tech responded to the situations they were put in. Dustin talked about how it is hard to get angry at Blake Pietila for having a rare bad game, and Tim added that it was nice to see Mark Sinclair get non-garbage time playing time. The guys then talked about Tech finishing second in the league and their interest in the upcoming CCHA playoff games that Tech will be hosting. There was also a discussion on the fan reaction in the THG Discord as well as the struggles the Ferris State scoreboard and clock had during the games this past weekend.
Fantasy Challenge
Last week Matt and Dustin tied for the win with four points, Rob scored three, The Ghost scored one and Tim was skunked. These results meant that Matt has jumped the Ghost. This week’s theme was “General Mayhem” and all five of the players to pick are involved in the Tech/Minnesota State series. The pool of players included three forwards, one defenseman, and one goalie.
Cut for time
This weeks cut time for Patrons is approximately 37 minutes long. Matt talked about a bet that hit for him during the recording. The guys discussed some notable players that have left recently from Minnesota State and the recent history of the goalie situation at Minnesota State. They also discussed the Richter Award and Dryden McKay having never won it. There was also a discussion on some of the larger college hockey awards. Shane talked about a recent conversation he had with Don Lucia and the atmosphere past and present at Michigan Tech and Rob told a story about playing hockey on the floor at the MacInnes during Tech hockey games as a kid. The guys talked about the entire Michigan Tech student side of the arena standing during games. They also talked about future expansion of the MacInnes Student Ice Arena. Tim talked about what Tech’s record should be based on expected goal numbers. Matt talked about his excitement for the 3v3 in regulation this past weekend and they guys talked about some of the penalties that took over the weekend. There was a rafter count total from this past weekend’s Ferris Series. The last segment is a portion of the Fantasy Challenge where Tim talks through his picking thought process.
Learn More
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Follow us on twitter at ChasingMacPod. You can submit questions through our email address, ChasingMac@techhockeyguide.com. Don’t forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Please rate and review to 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
