Season 4, Episode 1 of the Chasing MacNaughton Podcast from Tech Hockey Guide; The One With JZ. This week, Tim Braun, Dustin Lindstrom, Rob Gilreath and Matt Cavender were joined by THG’s own Jonathan Zamaites (JZ). In this episode, they discussed JZ’s role within THG, predictions on where Michigan Tech will finish the season in the CCHA, the hiring of Jordy Murray, some of Tech’s exhibition and non-conference games, the scoring production that Tech has lost and line predictions for the upcoming season.
What would you say you do here?
JZ talked about this being his fifth season of covering Tech hockey as a beat writer for THG. He talked about his usual game day routine and what he does once he actually gets to the arena. He also talked about some of his post-game experiences with interviewing the players and coaches. The guys all then talked about how nice it is to have InStat available, and JZ specifically talked about how much it’s taken off his shoulders during games.
Tech’s finishing position
JZ thought that Tech would finish between third and fifth in the CCHA this year. He added that they were maybe seventeenth, at best, in the national poll and Tim chimed in to say that he doesn’t think they belong in the top twenty. JZ then provided a number of stats highlighting the production that Tech lost from last season and Tim talked about how many guys on the team haven’t played much. Tim also talked about being interested in seeing who the top 6 forwards will be and how much of an impact the freshman will have. JZ provided a couple comparisons in points between some of the guys who left Tech and the new transfers coming in this season.
Jordy Murray hiring
Tim thought that hiring Murray was a good move and pointed out all of the connections Murray will have world-wide due to his training business. JZ thought the hiring was in line with the theme of a rebuilding team and Tim talked about needing to have the ‘youth’ factor on the coaching staff to help recruiting. Dustin agreed that it was a good coaching move and talked about how it shows Joe Shawhan being more comfortable in his role as Head Coach. Tim added that he hopes it doesn’t change Joe to the point where he is unwilling to take input from his coaching staff.
Exhibition and non-conference games
The guys spent some time talking about the merits of scheduling Lakehead University as an exhibition game. In addition to Lakehead University, they discussed the value of playing LSSU as an exhibition game. They also discussed playing St. Lawrence University at home and the fact that a lot of Tech’s non-conference games come in the form of tournament games. Tim had no problem with this and JZ was a little sad that it worked out this way. JZ talked about the season starting off easier then ramping up in difficulty quickly.
Production Loss and line predictions
All of the guys were worried about the production loss for this upcoming season. Tim talked about Tech struggling to get “team goals” last year, yet will likely need to rely on them this season. JZ did think that Tech has a top three forwards locked in. The guys spent time debating the top 6 forwards and the consensus was that there will be depth to the team, but the top end talent is lacking. JZ thought the defensive pairings would be a crapshoot. Dustin talked about his x-factor players being the Kukkonen brothers and Marcus Pedersen. JZ discussed Evan Orr and Jack Works being the freshman he will have his eye on the most.
Miscellaneous “end of the first show of the season” ramblings
There were a number of brief topics towards the end of the show that the guys covered. They talked briefly about having to bug business owners in Houghton for Name/Image/Likeness money to help recruiting for the hockey team. Tim talked for a couple minutes about his tour of the new hockey locker room, though he couldn’t say too much at this point since the work isn’t done. Tim also talked about the current plans in place to fix the painting of the roof of the SDC. JZ asked a series of questions to the rest of the guys which included asking for their predictions on Tech’s record against St. Thomas this season, who the dark horse on Tech’s roster will be this season, and whether Tech’s team face-off win percentage will be above or below 50% this season.
Cut for time
This week’s cut time for Patrons is approximately 17 minutes long. The guys talked about who gets “paid” at THG and wearing jersey’s in the press box. Tim and Dustin told stories about the times they met Jordy Murray. There was extended Matt rants on the value of NCAA teams playing against USports teams. The guys talked about Joey’s Seafood and Grill changing their prize for the on-ice challenge. Dustin talked about driving by Fiebke Dental recently. The guys talked about the possibility of long reviews of the podcast left by certain THG staff.
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 139 minutes.
Mitch’s Misfits Amazon wishlist is still having items added as we figure it out, but you can take a look by clicking here and a reminder, if you rate the Podcast 5-stars, we’ll read your review on the podcast. Thanks again to our sponsors, Fiebke Dental in downtown Rhinelander and Livonia Technical Services.
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
