Season 4, Episode 7 of the Chasing MacNaughton Podcast from Tech Hockey Guide; Shutouts!. This week, Tim Braun, Dustin Lindstrom, Rob Gilreath and Matt Cavender were joined by FloHockey writer/contributor Tim Rappleye. In this episode they discussed how Rappleye joined the coverage on FloSports, Rappleye’s thoughts on the CCHA this season, last weekend’s series for Tech against St. Lawrence University, other CCHA games and results, and previewed the upcoming series for Tech against Bowling Green.
Working for FloSports
Rappleye talked about living in Traverse City, MI. and deciding to throw his hat in the ring for a job when he learned that FloSports had gained broadcast rights for the WCHA. He talked about loving his “Isle of Misfit Toys” league that was scattered all over the country back when the Alaska schools and Alabama were still in the league. Rappleye also talked about western hockey being new territory for him since he was an east coast guy before moving to Michigan.
Thoughts on CCHA
Rappleye thought that the league has been solid this year, but expressed disappointment in Lake Superior State’s performance so far. He thought that the league is Minnesota State’s to lose and everyone else is just jockeying for middle of the road positions. Rappleye did say he was drinking the Michigan Tech Kool-Aid thanks to head coach Joe Shawhan.
St. Lawrence University weekend review
Braun started off the review by expressing that the weekend was not what he expected. He thought that St. Lawrence got hit with a case of “bus legs” midway through the first period and Tech was able to dominate from that point forward. Rappleye mentioned that Tech has a different coach for each of their power play units and the guys all discussed some of the advantages that may have for the team. Rob talked about Tech controlling the play, having good puck possession and having a lot of offensive zone time. Matt was excited to see this week’s edition of Analytics with Augie because he felt that Tech and St. Lawrence played even for the first couple periods before Tech locked play down in the third period. Braun pointed out that on Friday Tech had more shots in the third period than the previous two combined.
Around the CCHA
Dustin thought that the league showed up pretty well during the non-conference schedule. The guys discussed Bemidji State getting a win against St. Cloud State, LSSU winning one against Clarkson and Bowling Green picking up a point against Minnesota State. Rappleye pointed out a stat in which Minnesota State has held their opponents to five shots or less in a period for over half of the periods they’ve played so far this season. Rappleye also talked about St. Thomas’ weekend against Ferris State and how they could have won on Friday night. The guys then spent some time discussing the Tommies and their head coach Rico Blasi.
Braun gave a stat that the CCHA has the fourth best inter-conference record, out of the six conferences in the country. The biggest dings against the CCHA were their losing records against the NCHC and BIG conferences.
Bowling Green series preview
The Bowling Green preview was split into two separate segments during the show. In the first part, Braun asked Rappleye for his thoughts on Bowling Green. Rappleye thought that Bowling Green has two good defensemen who transferred in along with a couple of forwards who he thought could be playing pro hockey right now. He also thought that their goaltending is better than average.
The second part of the series preview occurred after Rappleye had left. Tim Braun provided some points per game stats for Tech so far this season and Dustin expressed that it will be impossible to be close on game predictions this year. Matt thought that Tech would get swept. Tim predicted a split and added that hopefully this past weekend showed the players that they can’t simply expect a win every night. Dustin predicted two ties with Bowling Green getting the extra point on Friday and Tech getting the point on Saturday. Rob thought that it would be a good old fashioned split.
Miscellaneous topics
There were a couple of short items/topics that were discussed during the show. The guys played the another round of “Guess the NHL Team based on the colleges their players attended”. The guys talked about James MacNaughton and some of his history, and Braun talked about stopping at the memorial for the Italian Hall disaster in Calumet. He also mentioned a podcast which went more in-depth on the tragedy.
Cut for time
This week’s cut time for Patrons is approximately 29 minutes long. The guys talked briefly about Tanner Edwards yet again. Rob talked about his dad riding the train from Houghton to the east coast. The guys talked about Michigan Tech forward Jack Works and Michigan Tech Sports Information Director Calvin Larson. There was a discussion on penny stocks and books on sports that the guys are reading. Tim Braun talked about his trip up to Houghton with his girlfriend and there was extensive discussion on food including Detroit style pizza and Tim getting to go out to dinner on company dime.
Learn More
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Follow us on twitter at ChasingMacPod. 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 and Mike Anleitner’s Old Dog in Texas column every Wednesday (you should definitely read this week’s column) and Zach Aufdemberge’s Analytics With Augie. Also, keep an eye out for new recruiting articles on Tuesdays. 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.
