Season 5 Episodes 43 & 44 of the Chasing MacNaughton Podcast from Tech Hockey Guide; Looking For Fireworks and Vault of Opinions. This week Tim Braun, Dustin Lindstrom, Rob Gilreath and Matt Cavender were joined by Michael Burwell who covers Bowling Green for The Blade in Toledo, Ohio. In this episode they discussed the CCHA regular season, Bowling Green and Michigan Tech’s seasons, and the upcoming CCHA postseason matchup between Bowling Green and Michigan Tech.
A Rollercoaster Season
The guys started off by discussing Bowling Green’s regular season. Michael talked about the season being full of ups and downs for Bowling Green, which included a couple different winning and losing streaks. Tim had a lapse in memory and forgot that Michigan Tech had played Bowling Green earlier in the season. The guys discussed some of the injuries that Bowling Green and Michigan Tech are facing and speculated on how chippy the series might become if Austen Swankler is able to suit up for Michigan Tech.
Michael talked about a number of injuries on the offensive side of the puck for Bowling Green. He also discussed their offense being towards the bottom in the NCAA in goals scored all season. Rob brought up Michigan Tech’s struggling offense as well, but pointed out that things seemed to be clicking as of late. Rob was also nervous at the fact that Bowling Green is on a four game losing streak and didn’t think they’d end the season on a six game losing streak.
Bemidji State Pulls Away
The guys talked about how close the CCHA standings have been throughout the season, at least up until the last couple weeks when Bemidji State pulled away from the rest of the league. Tim talked about his abysmal pre-season media picks and Matt expressed his disappointment in the league during out of conference play. The guys talked about the conference’s lack of national success in relation to the number of CCHA teams that will make the national tournament.
Later in the show after Michael left, the guys talked between themselves about the CCHA standings and shared their thoughts on how it all shook out. Rob bemoaned the fact that Michigan Tech couldn’t get one more win during the regular season which would have allowed them to finish second in the conference. Matt found it difficult to be upset with Michigan Tech’s third place finish. Tim reviewed the media and coaches preseason polls, each of which had three teams correct for hosting home playoff games. All of the guys agreed that Northern Michigan underperformed, as usual, this season.
The Postseason Begins
Matt asked Michael what he expects to see during the upcoming playoff series between Michigan Tech and Bowling Green. Michael talked about wanting to see energy from the Bowling Green players and whether or not they have the motivation to perform well. Michael talked about the lack of momentum the team has given their recent losing streak. Matt discussed the importance of Michigan Tech not looking past Bowling Green as well as the keeping their emotions in check given the higher stakes.
Later in the show the guys continued the conversation on the CCHA playoffs and Matt talked about Northern Michigan and Lake Superior State being teams who could pull off upsets in the first round. Dustin thought that Bowling Green had good odds of upsetting Michigan Tech. Tim agreed that Lake Superior State was a good candidate for an upset given the injury situation St. Thomas is facing. The guys speculated on Austen Swankler’s return and whether or not it would help or hurt Michigan Tech against Bowling Green.
Patron questions
There were two Patron questions that were submitted for Michael. The first asked about UMass joining the MAC and whether a new hockey conference would be created as a result. Michael said there were not many MAC schools with hockey programs and doubted that a new conference would be created in the near future.
The second Patron question asked if Michael had heard rumors of Bowling Green leaving the CCHA to join Atlantic Hockey. Michael had not heard those rumors. This question lead to a discussion amongst the guys about which teams might be most frustrated with the CCHA.
Minnesota High School Hockey
Once Michael left, Dustin and Tim spent some time talking about Minnesota High School Hockey. Matt, Rob and myself tuned this out.
Let’s Get Pounded
The guys spent some time looking ahead to a possible national tournament berth for Michigan Tech and what that might mean. The guys talked about the very likely odds that Michigan Tech would be playing Boston College in the first round of the national tournament. This lead to Tim looking up the odds of each CCHA team making the national tournament and complaining that the website he was looking at showed odds for St. Thomas.
Dustin Does Some Scouting
At the end of the show, Dustin gave his report on Palm Springs and why it will make for a good hockey tournament location. Most of his reasons did not revolve around actual hockey, but he did mention a large Canadian population in the area who would be interested in seeing hockey.
Cut for time
This week’s cut time for Patrons is approximately 3 minutes long in which the guys looked up the home/road splits of the CCHA teams.
Learn More
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