Season 5 Episodes 39 and 40 of the Chasing MacNaughton Podcast from Tech Hockey Guide; Tin Foil Hat and Flat Earthers Beware. This week was an all THG lineup as Tim Braun, Dustin Lindstrom, Rob Gilreath and Matt Cavender were joined by THG’s boots on the ground reporter Jonathan Zamaites (JZ). In this episode the guys discussed Michigan Tech’s Winter Carnival games against Minnesota State, what gameday looks like for JZ, conspiracy theories on why InStat doesn’t have game data from CCHA schools, Michigan Tech’s upcoming bye week and a recent incident during a game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Ottawa Senators.
“Historic” Winter Carnival
Tim started the conversation by asking JZ for his thoughts on Michigan Tech during the Winter Carnival weekend. JZ thought that the team’s systems were executed better on Friday than previous weeks. JZ provided some evidence of this by talking about Michigan Tech’s centers dropping back in coverage more. Matt added that he was happy with a split on the weekend.
The guys also discussed the shootout that occurred after the Saturday game to decide the Winter Carnival winner. According to JZ, this was the first time a shootout was ever needed to determine the total goals winner at Carnival. The guys talked about Michigan Tech’s players’ reactions (or lack thereof) to winning the Winter Carnival trophy.
Working Overtime
The guys shifted focus to discussing the playing time that some of the Michigan Tech players have been putting in this season. Tim and JZ agreed that head coach Joe Shawhan leans on the top line players too much. JZ pointed out that there were three Minnesota State players who’s sole job it was to kill penalties on the weekend. Tim expressed confusion to why coach Joe isn’t giving the fourth line more minutes to help rest the top players. JZ talked about Marcus Pederson using his body size to his advantage.
Dustin Gets Angry
Dustin expressed anger from the Winter Carnival weekend because Michigan Tech didn’t wear their gold uniforms during either game. He thought that traditions matter and JZ added that he didn’t think the Misfits cheered enough during the weekend. Dustin talked about nursing a three day hangover during Carnival games. The guys talked about Michigan Tech needing another dark colored uniform.
What Would You Say You Do Here?
Matt asked JZ to run through what a typical game day looks like for him. JZ talked about going to waking up, going to work, cutting in front of people in line and stealing their parking spaces, jibber jabbering with the Misfits, then jumping into the group therapy session that is the THG Discord gameday threads. Rob pointed out that JZ likes to hate on the refs which caused the guys to argue about whether the weekend series was called fairly or not. JZ also mentioned that there was a CCHA league wide referee review recently. The guys spent several minutes very politely discussing the definitions of different penalties and the flow of the game.
Stannum Fedora
This one’s for you Matt.
Can Michigan Tech Defeat The Bye?
JZ asked the guys which college rink was closest to Tyrone Bronte’s home that he has played in. Tim got the answer correct: Alaska Fairbanks.
The guys continued the episode by discussing the upcoming bye week and Michigan Tech’s chances to earn home ice in the CCHA playoffs. Tim looked up and Michigan Tech is currently at 72% according to Playoff Status.
Kind Of A Dick Move
The guys brought up a recent situation during the game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Ottawa Senators. At the end of the game, one of the Senators players took a slap shot into the empty Toronto net. One of the Leafs players took exception to this and cross checked the Ottawa player into the boards as he was heading back to the bench. Matt thought that the Leafs should have stopped the Ottawa player from taking the shot if they didn’t want to be scored on. The guys discussed the lack of discipline handed down from the NHL front office and how it leads to situations where players feel the need to handle the discipline themselves, on the ice. The guys also talked about the low amount in fines the players receive as discipline and how it might factor into the collective bargaining agreements.
It’s Falling Down
At the end of the show Dustin brought up his recent trip to Boston and Matthews Arena which is in major disrepair. The guys discussed the historical nature of the arena and whether or not they think the city or local universities will put money into fixing it.
Cut for time
This week’s cut time for Patrons is 20 minutes long. Tim asked JZ for his thoughts on Michigan Tech’s recruiting in Europe and the guys discussed whether continuing to do so can be a successful strategy. Matt talked about watching the Super Bowl in Spanish while on vacation.
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 120 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.
Check out Tech Leadership 4.0: Leading in a Technologically Driven World and The Power of Deduction: Failure Modes & Effects Analysis for Design: Second Edition written by our very own Old Dog, Mike Anleitner
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.
