Season 5 Episode 49 of the Chasing MacNaughton Podcast from Tech Hockey Guide; Catching Mason. This week, in the first of three episodes airing this week, Tim Braun, Dustin Lindstrom and Rob Gilreath were joined by the commissioner of the CCHA, Don Lucia. This week, they discussed the CCHA regular season, the CCHA playoff format and results, the NCAA tournament, Michigan Tech’s chances against Boston College and the Pledge Drive to sponsor a Misfit going to Michigan Tech’s regional game.
CCHA season review
The guys started off the show talking about the CCHA regular season and results. Don thought the season went about as expected with the standings being close all season. Don also talked about the CCHA sealing it’s position in the national conversation by Thanksgiving given it’s poor performance during out of conference play.
CCHA playoffs
The guys quickly transitioned to discussing the CCHA playoffs. Don talked about some of the changes the league made this season, including changing the format to make the semifinals a “one and done” format to make the game more exciting and engage the fans more. Don also talked about the atmosphere in Bemidji during the game and the guys talked about the importance of college hockey in small towns that have universities located in them. Don continued the discussion on the atmosphere, talking about both bands being present and the Bemidji fans not wanting to be out-cheered by the traveling Michigan Tech fans.
Dustin brought up how noticeable the “neutral site” feel to the game was thanks to some of the changes the league implemented. Don talked about some of the behind the scenes discussions that occurred in an effort to make the semifinals and finals more of a league wide event. Tim asked who made the decision to move the championship game to a Friday and Don talked about it being a decision all of the athletic directors were on board with. Don also talked about wanting to be the first conference to punch their ticket to the national tournament, but said it was most important to provide an extra day of rest to the traveling team.
Later in the show the guys the guys talked about Michigan Tech winning the conference tournament. Tim talked about the emotion the team showed by throwing the equipment on the ice in celebration. Don brought up Michigan Tech’s struggles in the tournament the last several years. Tim pointed out that all of Michigan Tech’s conference tournament wins have resulted in them winning a different trophy.
Listener questions
There were two listener questions for Don, both of which focused on future broadcasts of CCHA games. One question asked if there was information on which platform the league will be streamed on next season. Don couldn’t speak publicly about that yet, but did confirm there were multiple interested parties. Don talked about viewership increasing each of the last couple seasons. The other question asked about the increase in camera quality during the broadcasts. Don talked about the requirements placed on the schools to increase their broadcast quality as well as the number of cameras available to show the action.
This lead to Tim asking about intermission entertainment and whether the league will start doing a “this week in the CCHA” type show. Don talked about the cost of producing a show of that type and talked about other ways to increase the awareness of other games around the league.
National tournament time
The last topic of conversation revolved around Michigan Tech going to the national tournament. The guys talked about some historical instances of low seeded teams playing well in the national tournament. Don talked about Boston College being a young team who may be susceptible to pressure if Michigan Tech can come out with a hot start. Dustin agreed that the big key for Michigan Tech will be to make the younger Boston College players feel pressure. Don talked about Blake Pietila needing to play a very good game too.
Sponsor a Misfit
At the end of the show, Tim brought up the Pledge Drive to help send a Misfit to Michigan Tech’s regional game in Providence. You can find more information about the pledge drive, including updates and links to send money to Tim on the THG website, the THG Discord, or the THG Twitter.
Cut for time
This week’s cut time for Patrons is approximately 16 minutes long. There was extended conversation on the playoff format used in various leagues. There was a discussion on the winning goal for Michigan Tech against Minnesota State as well as the penalty shot call. The guys talked about how the CCHA worked through the process of possibility of St. Thomas winning the CCHA playoffs. There was extended conversation about the Pledge Drive. Tim talked about an article that might be written about the Misfits and sending them to Providence.
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.
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 recorded.
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.
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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
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