Season 5 Episodes 13 and 14 of the Chasing MacNaughton Podcast from Tech Hockey Guide; Domo Arigato and Victory!. This week Tim Braun, Dustin Lindstrom, Rob Gilreath and Matt Cavender were joined by Jared Rubado from the Bemidji Pioneer. In this episode, they discussed Bemidji State’s season so far, the CCHA, Michigan Tech’s early season struggles, Michigan Tech’s weekend against Augustana University and Austen Swankler coming to Michigan Tech.
Bemidji season recap
The guys started off talking about how Bemidji State’s season has been so far. Jared said his answer between last weekend and two weekends ago would be much different. He talked about the importance of the Bemidji sweep of St. Thomas and the pain of Bemidji getting swept by Lake Superior State. The guys talked about the current Bemidji goaltender situation in light of their recent injuries. The guys also talked about Lake Superior State goaltender Ethan Langenegger and his ability to steal games from opponents.
The guys spent some time talking about Bemidji State forward Lleyton Roed and the season he’s been having so far. Jared talked about Lleyton’s improvement this season and how he elevates his teammates when he’s on the ice. Jared also discussed Lleyton’s only knock which is his inability to score on the power play.
CCHA season review
After wrapping up some of the Bemidji talk, the guys transitioned to discussing the CCHA as a whole. Jared talked about predicting that the league would be unpredictable and how each weekend can be a mixed bag of teams winning and losing. Jared also talked about having fun each week due to unpredictability. The guys discussed the lack of a “measuring stick” team for the rest of the league to compare themselves to.
Tim asked Jared if he received a ballot for pre-season CCHA voting. Jared said he did and talked about some of the votes that he made in the pre-season. This tail spun into a discussion about Tech’s lack of living up the expectations fans set on them at the beginning of the year. A large portion of this discussion focused on the loss of talent on the blueline and how much Tech is counting on underclassmen.
Augustana series recap
The guys did a quick review and discussion of Tech’s series last weekend against Augustana. Tim thought the series was a rollercoaster. Rob talked about Tech needing to stay out of the penalty box and Dustin talked about Michigan Tech goaltender Blake Pietila not bailing out the team like in years past. All of the guys were happy with how goaltender Max Vayrynen has looked so far this season.
Step away from the panic button
Jared asked about Tech fans always hovering over the panic button. Tim talked about all of the bad seasons fans of Michigan Tech hockey have endured and Rob talked about many fans always having a “the sky is falling” attitude. The guys also talked about the younger Michigan Tech fans having never experienced truly bad Michigan Tech hockey.
Swankler!
Jared continued to pepper the guys with questions, this time asking if there was concern for adding Austen Swankler to the roster in the middle of the season. All of the guys agreed that there is. The guys caught Jared by surprise when they told him that Swankler was not in Houghton practicing with the team as Jared assumed he was. The guys continued to talk about the expectations of this year’s team and how Swankler fits into those expectations. There was a brief discussion about the transfer portal and how some players already seem to be committed by the time they enter the portal.
Miscellaneous end of show topics
There were a couple of miscellaneous topics discussed at the end of this weeks episodes. Jared talked about working for the Augustana football team in the past and Tim talked about working for Michigan Tech football. The guys talked about their favorite food places in Bemidji.
Rest in peace Adam Johnson
There was one other end of show topic the guys discussed, which was the recent passing of Adam Johnson due to a freak on-ice accident. Jared talked about the recent memorial for Johnson held in Minnesota (where Johnson was from and played college hockey) and the guys talked about the accident for a bit (for those who haven’t heard and don’t want to hear the full details, don’t worry, the guys talked very broadly and generally about the accident).
Cut for time
This week’s cut time for Patrons is approximately 11 minutes long. There was a discussion on the recent coaching change for the Milwaukee Brewers. Tim talked about the Packers no longer being a disappointment to him. The guys talked about Minnesota team’s sports woes. There was a discussion about hockey teams playing chess during overtime and Bemidji State’s recent overtime woes. The guys looked up some of Tech’s goalie records.
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 110 minutes.
RAW AUDIO: This post is for patrons at the Silver Level ($25/ mo) or above which includes unedited audio and usually drops the night the podcast is recordeded.
RAW VIDEO: This post is for patrons at the Gold Level ($10/mo) or above which includes unedited video and usually drops the morning after the podcast is recorded.
EXTENDED AUDIO: This post is for patrons at the Black Level ($5/mo) or above which includes extended audio content and usually drops the night after or 2nd morning after the podcast is recorded.
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: Arcadia Insurance Group and Aaron Pieltia, Fiebke Dental in downtown Rhinelander, Wis. and Livonia Technical Services.
Follow us on twitter at ChasingMacPod. Join our Discord server for discussions covering Michigan Tech hockey and more. 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, Mike Anleitner’s Old Dog in Texas column every Wednesday, Zach Aufdemberge’s Analytics With Augie and Nathaniel Brose’s nationwide hockey columns. Also, keep an eye out for new recruiting articles that Nathan Cima writes. 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.
