A Taste of Something New

At long last! The greatness that I have been waiting for all season long has surfaced. Moments like these are why I am such a die-hard Michigan Tech fan. They are far and few in between, but when they occur, they're extra special and put me (and my fellow Tech fans) on Cloud 9 for days or longer. It's kind of like me golfing: I'll get one nice hit every nine holes that will keep me coming back to that game.

Well, we have finally swept Northern Michigan. I've only been following Michigan Tech since the 03-04 season and the last time the good guys swept was back in '94. Ah, the Jamie Ram days.

I must say... the underclassmen are AMAZING. While things are pretty rough this season, especially because of injuries, I'm a lot more optimistic about the future than I may have EVER been. The next two or three seasons are going to be pretty good.

But let's talk about this past weekend.

Both games we scored the first goal, including Friday's ever-so-RARE first period goal. In fact, it's only our FOURTH first period goal this season. I think the team should spend more time focusing on the first period during practices. For sure.

On Friday, especially in the second half of the game, NMU completely took over. As a fan in the stands at the rival game, when we have a one goal lead and the other team is completely dominating the game, it gets a little scary. Why does my team stop playing offense?? I'm sure our goaltender Josh Robinson wonders the same thing... but we'll get back to him in a minute.

So we swept NMU... and to that Coach Kyle said, "They absolutely deserve the wins. They did a great job and were able to score on opportunities when we weren’t. They were solid defensively on both ends of the ice and they beat us.” ... and to Coach Kyle I say... what a load of crap. Eighteen shots against in a single period on Friday? We only had 12 shots the WHOLE GAME on Saturday. We scored 3 times the whole weekend. The winner in this whole thing is Josh Robinson. HE deserved the wins. Michigan Tech was not the clearcut victor if you watched the games. I believe it was a mediocre effort for both teams.

Moving on...

Jordan Baker. Oh man, watching him this past weekend, I couldn't help but think of Chris Conner. He had some crazy moves to keep the puck away from the STD-infested Wildcats. Jordan had but one assist on the weekend, but he currently leads our team in goals and points. And if you watch him play, that fact is not all too surprising. We've got two beautiful seasons left of him. For such a small stature, he's such a physical presense on the ice. He had some massive Batty-like hits this weekend. I hope to see much more of that this season.

OH HEY! How about that Peter Rohn guy?! He might even be shorter than Mr. Baker, but he's definitely one of the hardest working guys on the ice. Much more to come on Little Peter later... including an overdue questionnaire. But for now, keep in mind that since he has been playing in games for the Huskies, we have not lost a game yet....

So for fun, I should comment on NMU goaltender Brian Stewart. Wow, what a TOOL. Although, this is not something new to me. He is the ROBBIE EARL of goaltenders. If you breathe too hard on him, he will flop all over the ice as if he has been shot. I swear, I thought he died about 4 times this past weekend. If I were an NMU fan, I would be EMBARRASSED about the terrible acting that Stewart does on the ice night in and night out. CUT THE CRAP. Just play HOCKEY. Your stupid games aren't fooling anyone, you idiot.

On the opposite end of the goaltender spectrum, we have Michigan Tech goalie Josh Robinson. What a guy! Yep, that's right, readers. My players wear halos on their heads 24/7. ;) Anyway, Josh Robinson, or Robo as he will be referred to from now on, is HOT right now between the pipes. He let only one goal in this weekend on 56 shots. He had a chunk of that goal, but not enough to stop it. After this past weekend, Robo now has an overall save percentage of 90%, the only Michigan Tech goalie that can say that right now. He also picked up his first career shutout as a Michigan Tech Husky on Saturday... I asked him how he felt after helping his team sweep NMU:

"It was very exciting. Northern is our biggest rival and anytime you get a win, it's a special one; but when you sweep, it's an extra special weekend."

Not only did Josh get his first career shut out and help his team to sweep the Wildcats, but he will go down in the record books as the first goaltender from Michigan Tech to have shut out NMU! Here are his thoughts on that:

"It's pretty cool being able to be the first Michigan Tech goalie to shutout Northern. I don't think any of us knew that it had never been done until Marksy told me after the game. I'm excited that I was able to get my first shutout this weekend and it just adds a little more to it being against Northern."

Well, it was quite the exciting weekend, but it's over... and the team is only looking ahead to the GLI right now. We'll be starting out with a rematch of last year's championship game against Michigan. Michigan is sitting in the middle of the CCHA right now. Hopefully we can pull through and take another shot at the championship game on Sunday. After all, this is OUR tournament, dammit. It's too bad that Michigan State has to be there this season though. They may prove to be a bigger cupcake than any of the invites to UMN's yearly crappy holiday tournament that they can't even win.

I'm going to go ahead and take a guess that Robo's getting the nod for Saturday at GLI. This is HUGE for him, as his hometome of Frankenmuth, MI is only a short distance away. I asked Josh about the GLI and who's coming to watch him. Here's what he said:

"Well, the GLI is actually very close to my hometown of Frankenmuth. The Joe is only an hour an a half from my house too. I'm expecting to have quite a few people in the stands for the games. My list of people that are coming is pretty long so here it goes.... Mom and Dad, Brother, possible my grandparents, my goalie coach from back home and his son... and I have quite a few friends who go to State and Michigan who will be there cheering against me haha. Obviously, my goal is to win the GLI and have our banner flying all year in the Joe."

Well, Josh... I hope you make your goal this season (and that you get new friends... like people who DON'T go to MSUcks). It is probably best achieved by letting in very few goals and making your team score more of them. It's going be hard to win a tournament by scoring only three goals all weekend. The rest of the Huskies need to step up and do their part.

Sioux Sweep, Huskies Weep

My deepest apologies to my coaching staff and players... but I had a bad feeling about this weekend. The Sioux did not forget about what happened last year in the REA, plus they were due for their first sweep of the year. This weekend was definitely a major disappointment for Michigan Tech. These WCHA points would hold a lot more value coming from a team ranked closely with us than the CC points up for grabs in two weeks. The gap has widened greatly and the team is REALLY going to need to get it together.

Here's a look at the WCHA standings as of today, Sunday 13 January 2008:

1 CC 15-3-0 30
2 DU 12-4-0 24
3 UND 9-7-0 18
4 UMD 6-6-4 16
5 SCSU 6-8-2 14
6 MTU 5-8-1 11
6 UMN 5-8-1 11
6 UW 5-8-1 11
9 MSUM 3-7-4 10
10 UAA 2-9-3 7

A three-way tie for 6th place is probably not where the team had hoped to be at this point. As I mentioned earlier, the Huskies are really going to need to get it together. One observation I made this past weekend is that the team didn't play with... that fire. "That fire" is a certain way they played when Mike Batovanja played for the team. My suggestion is that someone needs to step up on the team and be that motivator. "That fire" is always a noticeable thing, and the team used to be able to play a full sixty minutes with it. Now it isn't uncommon to have it for only about 5 minutes per game. Each game should be played as if they're playing for their lives. The Husky fans definitely enjoy watching the game more and typically the results end up in our favor more often. Jimmy Kerr, Ryan Bunger, and Jordan Baker... I think you three possess that fire and need to bring it out in the rest of your teammates.

All of the above are just my observations and what I think will help the team. This is only my view from the stands. I'm not in the locker room nor on the ice. I could be right, I could be wrong (although that is quite rare). All I know for sure is that the Michigan Tech Huskies are one hard working hockey team and they deserve great things. Many of these guys have been through so much, and it's about time for them to be getting rewarded. First thing is first however... we need to play better than we played against the Sioux.

And my Why We Lost feature: The Sioux were better. Plain and simple. They did what they needed to do to win. Not really much to say here.

And for my last note on this entry... You'll see above that I posted a picture of the Sioux stick salute. Believe it or not, Michigan Tech fans, this is the first time the Sioux fans have been able to see their team's salute this season, as the Sioux ONLY do it after a home sweep (or tie on Friday and win on Saturday). This very example is yet another reason why I am glad to be a Michigan Tech hockey fan. Win, lose, or tie, the fans are rewarded after each and every home game with a stick salute to thank us all for coming out and our support.

An Ode To Jamie Russell

Hello, I'm RunninwiThThedogs. You may remember me from such blogs as, The one you'd beTTer already be reading, biTch!

GreaT, I goT The blog pimp ouT of The way immediaTely. LeT's geT This show on The road. This is a very exciTing Time in my young life. As you may already be aware, I am SMITTEN wiTh MTU Head Coach Jamie Russell (unless he is sporTing ThaT misguided Beard of NasTiness). And THIS WEEKEND, I am going To MEET HIM. I Think. If I can geT up The courage.

I mean, hello. Rrrar.

Aside from The issue ThaT he has The Thousand-yard sTare of a major sToner (and who am I To judge?) he is a Major HoTTie. AcTually, he is a Five-STar General HoTTie, and Five-STar Generals are hard To come by.

I hope you didn'T come To This siTe looking for acTual hockey conTenT, because you're going To be sad. And Then you'll cry like a NorTh DakoTa fan afTer a loss To Michigan Tech.

Okay, okay, dry your Tears. I'll Talk abouT JR's mad recruiTing skillz.

I mean, look aT some of The people he's recruiTed:

Seriously. Michigan Tech has a long TradiTion of recruiTing ToTally HoT HoTTies. And I am definiTely in favor of This pracTice. And I have definiTely undermined any credibiliTy I may have once had (alThough I'm jusT deluding myself To Think ThaT I ever had any!) by wriTing This jersey-chasing (well, suiT-chasing, as JR doesn'T wear a jersey) arTicle. AND JR is probably Taking ouT a resTraining order on me as we speak, but ThaT's cool. All I wanT is Two BULLDOG WINS, and Then I'll be around To console any Techies ThaT may need me. HEAR THAT! I'LL BE IN DULUTH! GLORY, GLORY HALLELUJAH! LET'S GO BULLDOGS!

*note* There are no small Ts in This arTicle aT all!

Break out the Brooms

As a Michigan Tech fan, I just want to say how pleased I am with the way my team played tonight. I hope they can carry that type of play into next weekend, as #1 North Dakota will be coming to town.

So, here are some highlights from the game played earlier this evening in the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena:

• Freshmen Huskies Jordan Baker and Eric Kattelus scored their first goals in the Huskies jerseys
• Red Hot Robby Nolan had a .972 save percentage
• Malcom Gwilliam had FIVE freakin' points (2-3--5)
• Jimmy Kerr was injured... Still waiting to hear more on that... :(
• Pete Rouleau had three points on the night (1-2--3)
• Geoff Kinrade had three points on the night (0-3--3)
  
• Bennett Royer got his first collegiate point, with an assist on one of Malcom's goals
• ELEVEN different Huskies got points
• We completed the SWEEP!
  

With UMD sweeping SCSU and CC sweeping UMN, there is currently a 3-way tie for first place in the WCHA. If the Huskies want to stay up there, they will need to continue playing great hockey next weekend.

I'm not sure what else to say. Tech wins 2-0 and 7-1 this weekend. See you next weekend, Siouxzies.

Senior Night was a Success and a Sweep!

Could the night have been any better? What a great way to end the 2006-2007 regular season at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena. With a 4-2 win over #19 Wisconsin, Tech completes yet ANOTHER sweep this season.

This game started out to be a crazy one. The Huskies' first goal came from Tyler Shelast at the :49 mark of the first period on the first shot of the game. Less than a minute later at 1:41, Justin St. Louis notches his second goal of the weekend and third of this season. Brian Elliott was immediately pulled and replaced by Shane Connelly. Elliott didn't even last two minutes...

Each Husky senior earned one point tonight. Tyler Skworchinski and Lars Helminen each had an assist, while Mike Batovanja got his second goal of the season.

Sweeping UW came at the most crucial time. Home ice is not out of reach. Unfortunately, UMN stands between Tech and home ice (not to mention UND and/or CC losing). And seeing as how the SCSU Huskies swept UMN this past weekend, the Gophers are VERY hungry for points to clinch the MacNaughton cup. They need at least a win to seal the deal.

Here's to hoping the team can get the job done this weekend. Oh, and let's go DU and SCSU!