Season 3, Episode 26 of the Chasing MacNaughton Podcast from Tech Hockey Guide; Nailed it!. This week, Tim Braun, Dustin Lindstrom, Rob Gilreath and Matt Cavender were guestless. In this episode they discussed last weekend’s game against Bemidji State, travelling to NCAA regional game sites, Tim’s fight with a nail gun, Michigan Tech’s odds to get into the NCAA Tournament and their bracketology for the NCAA Tournament.
Bemidji Series review
The common feeling among the guys was disappoint at the results of this past weekend’s game against Bemidji State. Tim commented how deflating it was for Tech to give up the tying goal so quickly after taking the lead initially. He reiterated his stance that he thinks Tech can play with any other team in the country, but isn’t sure if they can find the next gear needed to beat any team. Tim pointed out a stat that Tech has had the lead in each of their last eight games and has failed to win any of them in regulation. The guys also very briefly covered the Joe Shawhan Hour from this week.
Tim’s series of unfortunate events
Tim took the time to tell the story about how he lost his fight with the nail gun. It was a result of a cascading series of events which lead him to using the nail gun in his non-dominant left hand. This lead him to not have good control of the gun and it double tapped and sent a second nail out. For those that can watch the video, he gave a nice visual demonstration of how it happened (minus the nail gun being present, of course). After getting the nail removed at the ER, he decided to try and finish the project which almost resulted in him putting a nail through his foot. At the end of the story, Dustin chimed in and added that he also had a bad Tuesday because he had to come home from Las Vegas.
If any with strong stomachs would like to watch it, Tim has a video of the nail being removed on hit Twitter account.
Probability matrix
Tim thought that Tech’s odds of making the tournament were going to go down based on the results of the games that day, but it turns out that he was wrong. The guys talked about the fact that it is nearly impossible for all of the Hockey East teams below Tech to leapfrog Tech moving forward. Tim ran some comparisons to figure out scenarios where Tech does/does not get into the Tournament and there is one scenario that resulted in Tech getting in based on the fifth digit in the RPI rating, which is closer than the Minnesota Duluth/Minnesota situation a couple years ago. The guys said that by Friday evening Tech could have their ticket punch to the tournament. They did briefly talk about a scenario in which Tech does not make the Tournament.
THG Bracketology
Prior to recording for the podcast, the guys took some time and did their own bracketology. The first bracket they talked about was a KRACH Favorites bracket.
This bracket had Michigan Tech being in Albany as the #12 overall seed. Tim said that this was his favorite bracket of the ones they did, and thought that Tech coach Joe Shawhan would like the matchup against Quinnipiac. Dustin talked about some of the teams they moved around the bracket to help with attendance. The guys then talked about the eastern hockey fans being cynical about traveling.
The second bracket the guys talked about was a higher seeds bracket.
This bracket didn’t change much, but did put Tech playing against the University of Michigan. The guys had to do very little switching of teams in this bracket. Tim’s biggest issue with this bracket is the fact that he doesn’t think UMass-Lowell and UMass have earned the right to play in Worcester.
The third bracket the guys discussed was their own predictions.
In this bracket, the cut line was moved down to 15, with Ohio State being knocked out. Tim did not like this bracket at all as it had Tech playing in the Loveland, Colo. regional against North Dakota, then either Denver or UMass. Dustin called this bracket the death bracket. In the end, the guys put Tech going to the Allentown regional at 45%, the Loveland regional at 45%, the Albany regional at 10%, and 0% chance of the Worcester regional.
Cut for time
This week’s cut time for Patrons is approximately 24 minutes long. The guys talked about InStat not working for them and not providing game results. There was a conversation about driving through Pennsylvania and New York to get to the regional sites, Rob talked about wanting to visit all 50 states and Matt talked about playing Brass Bonanza in the car. Matt told a story about when he had to organize going to the Bridgeport, Conn. regional, and Tim related a Family Guy bit to the Green Bay Packers signing Aaron Rodgers. Dustin broke the news on there being a new Hardcore History episode and Matt and Tim talked briefly about the dating app Hinge. Matt told a story about his girlfriend having to take her cat to the emergency room. The longest segment was a discussion about how the Pairwise rankings finished out since the guys originally talked about them back in December. In the final segment the guys talked about the travel difficulties fans will face trying to fly to regional sites.
Learn More
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