Season 4, Episode 9 of the Chasing MacNaughton Podcast from Tech Hockey Guide; Without Matt. This week, Tim Braun, Dustin Lindstrom and Rob Gilreath were guestless and Matt Cavender was out sick. In this episode, they discussed Tech’s series last weekend against Lake Superior State, Rob’s observations from attending the LSSU series, the Joe Shawhan Hour, and previewed Tech’s upcoming weekend series against St. Thomas.
Lake Superior State series recap
Rob was in attendance this past weekend for the LSSU series in Houghton. He said it was the first time he’d been to a game where the whole Misfits side was standing, which he loved to see. Rob thought that Friday night was the better game for Tech, despite what the scoreboard showed. Tim and Rob were both disappointed how quickly Tech allowed LSSU to score after Tech took the lead. There was a discussion on the double minor penalty called against LSSU and the guys were flabbergasted that it wasn’t called a major penalty. They spent some time talking about how a player could both hold and cross check an opponent at the same time. The guys also talked about why head coach Joe Shawhan didn’t ask for the play to be reviewed for a major.
Rob thought that Tech played worse on Saturday and the guys discussed the low shot totals from the Saturday game. Rob talked about the weirdness of 6pm start times and Tim chimed in that he thought the early start was hurting attendance, especially among the students. Tim also talked about the season so far and thought that it was playing out as close to the best it could so far.
In Matt’s absence, the guys took the opportunity to discuss the 3v3 overtime and how boring it was (editor’s note: Matt is the editor on this one, I have no idea what game they were watching). There were some proposals made how overtime could be improved. Tim thought it was disheartening for Tech to have the lead and play better most of the game, only to lose in the shootout.
Rob shared his thoughts on some players that stood out to him while watching in person. He didn’t have anyone that stood out head and shoulders above everyone else, but he did talk about liking Jack Works play, Kyle Kukkonen’s skills on the puck and watching Tristan Ashbrook’s line. Rob thought that the defense was solid and noted that Ryan O’Connell likes to carry the puck up the ice. The guys talked about Blake Pietila and how well he is playing. Tim shared some stats highlighting where Pietila sits on a national level.
The Joe Show
Tim pointed out that Joe seems to be happy with where Tech’s recruiting is currently. Tim agreed with Joe on this and then Tim took some time to list off the newest recruits that have signed National Letters of Intent to play at Tech. Dustin pointed out that one of Tech’s recruits has jumped straight from high school to the USHL and said that is a good sign the recruit as a lot of upside. Tim talked about the couple of players from Finland currently on Tech’s roster and hoped that the rest of the players from Finland play at the same level. The guys talked about Tech’s roster getting a little crowded and Tim wondered how many of the new recruits would be held back a year or more before coming on campus.
St. Thomas series preview
Tim and Dustin will be going to the game on Friday, and it will be Dustin’s kid’s first time at a Tech hockey game! Tim talked about the Tommies rough weekend against Bowling Green last week, but did think that the Tommies are playing better this year. He pointed out that they have five one-goal losses and two overtime losses. Ultimately, Tim didn’t know what to expect this weekend and predicted that Tech would come out of the weekend with more points, but didn’t think it would be all six. Rob said that Tech still needs to be sweeping the Tommies at this point and Dustin agreed. Rob predicted a Tech sweep but in close games and Dustin picked the same.
Cut for time
This week’s cut time for Patrons is approximately 20 minutes long. Tim told a story about his dog getting loose off its leash. Rob spent several minutes talking about the birds in the UP and also gave an update on the construction situation in Houghton. The guys discussed different ways to drive to Houghton from Neenah, Wis. and also talked about speed limits on highways. The guys watched the goalie stretching video that Jamie Philips posted. Dusting shared the story about his trip to the emergency room.
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 75 minutes.
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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 and Zach Aufdemberge’s Analytics With Augie. Also, keep an eye out for new recruiting articles that Tim Braun writes occasionally. 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.
