FWIW Mel did want to cancel the GLI games
I'm beyond tired of hearing about this from other fanbases already, but it's worth laying out the truth for posterity. Assuming this blog and 'reader' are truthful, Mel's emails were FOIA'd and he had apparently requesting for months that we back out of the GLI.
Josh
Per our previous discussion, I highly recommend we consider the cancellation of our upcoming games versus Michigan Technological University and Western Michigan University.
As early as this summer we discussed the merits of hosting two games over the holiday break and my concerns in doing so. As it stands today, we will be missing 9 of our 26 available skaters because of injury, heightened COVID concerns or the World Junior Championship. This results in less than the full allowable complement of players we are able to dress for a contest.
With two weeks off and only three days to prepare, the uncertainty of COVID, raised mental health concerns, the increased risk for potential injuries and the current challenges with international travel, we are putting a tremendous burden on the health and safety of our limited roster of student athletes. Because of this, these scheduled contests are a growing cause for concern.
Thank you for considering this matter in question.
—Mel Pearson to Josh Richelew via email on 12/17/21—
I don't care if we wanted to back out - football programs make decisions like this every year - but it is worth nothing since Mel had said it was out of his hands. Truly a masterclass in PR bungling with this one. Would've been tough to handle this any worse
Here's the linked Tech hockey blog post but I'd refrain from reading the author's dumb commentary if you don't feel like being annoyed this morning
January 27th, 2022 at 6:39 AM ^
Thanks for posting this. I thought about doing so but was too annoyed by the Tech blogger’s post and the continuing controversy about this. I was hoping someone else would do it, though.
I think your post captured probably most of our opinions on this—we shouldn’t schedule games during the WJC/holiday in the first place, Mel and M botched PR atrociously, other fanbases incredibly smug and irritating.
January 27th, 2022 at 9:31 AM ^
PR nightmares seem to kind of be our thing.
Other places do way worse things that they make seem not-so-bad.
January 27th, 2022 at 6:49 AM ^
I really don't see how this changes anything. Mel wanting to cancel and the decision being out of his hands can both be true.
January 27th, 2022 at 7:06 AM ^
I am of this opinion also. I don’t see what the big problem is here. All of the concerns Mel laid out were completely valid.
January 27th, 2022 at 10:26 AM ^
"Raised mental health concerns" is completely valid?
January 27th, 2022 at 8:48 AM ^
The change in my mind is I believe Mel implied he wanted to play both games and the AD made the call that he could not . Seems like the opposite was true- Mel was the one pushing for the cancellations and the AD was apparently reluctant if those conversations had been going on since summer with no changes to the schedule
But again, I really don’t care who wanted to do what. Its just a totally self inflicted PR mess the program got itself into.
January 27th, 2022 at 7:10 AM ^
Tuck Comin'
January 27th, 2022 at 7:55 AM ^
I don’t understand why Tech fans care. They still got to play and tied us without 7 of our top guys. Are they still butthurt about Mel leaving?
January 27th, 2022 at 8:22 AM ^
I follow some hockey blogs... a number of groups seem to feel this is a huge scandal, while others are just bothered that there is little oversight/uniformity for teams/conferences calling games due to health concerns... and some that are just pissy since they had hoped for a Michigan loss (including WMU fans).
January 27th, 2022 at 8:44 AM ^
Yes, Tech fans still seem to be personally offended Mel left. Not sure why beyond having a way too high perception of their own program. Mel was in Ann Arbor 20+ years before ever going back to Houghton…so why are you so surprised and offended he came back again
I’m amused the blog author decided to try to mock our performance last weekend since his team failed to score a goal on our depleted roster. Extra salty
January 27th, 2022 at 10:04 AM ^
My BIL and SIL both went to Tech and come from hockey families so I've had many conversations about college hockey with them. My FIL grew up playing in all the travel leagues but went to Wayne. I wouldn't say he dislikes Michigan hockey, but because of their success and historical prominence he doesn't root for them. Therefore he has kind of adopted Tech since his daughter and SIL went there.
Anyways, in my interactions with them (anecdotal) they make it sound like Tech just cares more about hockey. They're "true" hockey fans who sell out every home game while Michigan fans are spoiled and only care about it once in a while.
"Tech fans always show up to the GLI and outnumber Michigan fans" was a common point.
"Put the GLI in Flint/GR/Saginaw and Tech fans will still go because we care about it." Essentially, Michigan just buys their success while Tech works for it and are purists.
Mel leaving is still not received well because he's an alum and took the more prestigious job, that he had connections to. Coaching at Michigan for X number of years is not a better reason than being an alum of Tech. It's selling out.
Also, my BIL and SIL just generally are pretty protective of Tech. I've never been to Houghton so when I ask questions about their college experiences or my wife and I talk about our college lives, unprompted they jump in and try to match or 1 up the stories. As if we think Tech is this little college town in the middle of nowhere that sucks or something. Which, we don't.
Kind of reminds me of the city folk versus the normal folk. Ann Arbor and Michigan are cosmopolitan, hoity-toity types while Tech is more salt of the earth.
January 27th, 2022 at 10:14 AM ^
I'm going to try to explain the Tech "salty" mindset. My personal mindset is more "friendly rivalry" than outright dislike, but I'll try to explain why some Tech fans feel the way they do, even though I don't necessarily endorse that feeling.
Being a fan of a mid-major program is a weird thing if you're used to being a fan of a "destination program", especially if the mid-major program was once a destination program and has aspirations of becoming a destination again. Re: Mel, most Tech fans I know understand why he left, but no one feels good about a coach leaving their program, especially when it was heavily publicized how eager he was to leave for UM. I'd say the mindset most, including me, have is "I get it, but I hate it". That, combined with Tech's aspirations of returning the MacInnes glory days, makes us extra eager to beat Mel.
There is an additional factor that complicates things: our new coach is an old-school, loyalty-and-integrity-above-all kind of guy. He's weird, doesn't know how to handle the media, and seems like he's a bit out of place in modern DI athletics, which makes sense given that he's a life-long yooper, but creates a bit of a contrast with a long-term UM guy like Pearson. Coach Shawhan is way too honest with the media, especially about his own opinions, and so Tech fans have been fed a steady diet of allusions to things Pearson did "wrong" in Shawhan's eyes that he believes put Tech at a disadvantage when he took over. These things include:
- Shawhan has stated that Pearson left a logjam of untalented guys in the recruiting pipeline, which resulted in a mess of relationship problems and a long-term talent problem on the roster, especially compared to some of Pearson's earlier years.
- Pearson liked to sign MTU up for two-for-one series, where over three years Tech would play away series at their opponent twice, with one series in Houghton. Since leaving, he's tried to schedule similar series with Tech, which Shawhan refuses.
- According to Shawhan, Pearson's coaching philosophy was more aloof and intimidating than Shawhan's, where he tried to keep himself separate from the rest of the team (letting assistants develop closer relationships with the players) and create an air of power around himself.
I think these things are easily explained by Pearson's time at Michigan, Tech's aspirations, and a disconnect between the two:
- Oversigning is common at Michigan and other big-name programs. Pearson just imported the practice to Houghton, and Shawhan, whose prior experience was confined to NMU and LSSU, didn't like/understand it. Plus, it might not have worked well long-term at a school like Tech, but given the nature of college hockey recruiting, it could take a while for such issues to show up. It's impossible for any program outsider to know whether Shawhan was right or just didn't understand how to manage oversigning.
- Pearson has a hierarchical view of college hockey that places Michigan at the top and MTU decidedly not there. Shawhan has a flatter view of the landscape and doesn't want to place Tech's program beneath anyone else. This has implications in the kind of guys Pearson vs Shawhan recruited, two-for-one scheduling, etc.
- Tech's fanbase got a taste of the top of the pile in a couple of Pearson's years, and thought that their return to the MacInnes glory days had arrived. When Pearson went to Michigan and began treating Tech like a 2nd-tier program again, it rubbed Tech fans the wrong way when they thought they were "back".
- Pearson's coaching style is very different from Shawhan's. Of course there were going to be differences of opinion, but since Pearson left and Shawhan's still here, MTU loyalists are inclined to believe Shawhan's version of events.
Wow, that was a novel, but hopefully helps you understand the mindset, even if you don't agree.
January 27th, 2022 at 12:01 PM ^
This is very helpful to read. Appreciate it even if you think it to be too long.
January 27th, 2022 at 12:33 PM ^
Thanks for your sharing your perspective. I certainly get why Tech fans are frustrated Mel left - it sucks to have that happen to your program - but Mel is also the only reason Tech is fairly relevant again. I'm sure you know even better than I do, but man Tech was bad before Mel went back to Houghton. I would think there would be less vitriol toward him and more gratefulness that he made the program relevant again - like Beilein leaving Michigan basketball
January 27th, 2022 at 2:00 PM ^
Indeed, Tech was atrocious before Pearson, and no one discounts how important Pearson was to the program. It might actually be that importance that made his departure sting more. The Beilein comparison makes a lot of sense, and is probably a healthier perspective, but there's one big difference, at least in the minds of Tech fans, between the two scenarios: Pearson didn't jump to the pros, he jumped to another college program. Imagine how it would feel if, this offseason, Saban retired and Harbaugh left for Bama. Obviously this (unfairly) disregards the huge Michigan/Ann Arbor ties Pearson had, but the program comparison is more akin to how Tech fans feel, especially given the state the UM football program was in when Harbaugh took it over. I will say, though, that given Pearson's Michigan ties, any Tech fan that thought he wouldn't take the UM job if offered was delusional. I was more hoping they wouldn't offer in the first place, although that was also obviously delusional.
January 27th, 2022 at 8:20 AM ^
Mel never said he didn't want to cancel. He said it wasn't his call.
January 27th, 2022 at 11:00 AM ^
I mean, okay. If you tell someone, "Hey, it wasn't my call," that's a pretty clearly implying that you disagreed with the decision but it was out of your hands.
January 27th, 2022 at 11:12 AM ^
Not really true either - that might be hoe someone interprets it. Mel chose not to say if he dis/agreed with the call... maybe intentionally or maybe not.
It doesn't really matter either way.
January 27th, 2022 at 8:20 AM ^
puts me in conflict
January 27th, 2022 at 8:32 AM ^
doesn't 'mp2' stand for mel pearson the second?
January 27th, 2022 at 9:07 AM ^
not far off. i am the second. my mother refused to have a junior. friends in college always wanted me to name my kid mp3, but i couldn't do it. would be like naming a kid 8track in the 80s.
January 27th, 2022 at 9:57 AM ^
Ya coulda given your kid the first name of Trois.
January 27th, 2022 at 8:45 AM ^
The reasons to cancel these games are sound and we should never schedule games during the WJC Other fan bases can say what they want but the universities first responsibility is to its student athletes and their well being
January 27th, 2022 at 9:16 AM ^
Does this finally put a nail in the coffin that is the GLI? Feels like Mel has wanted out of it for a while and it definitely has a different feel since they moved from Joe Louis.
I guess all this does is also solidify my desire to avoid most college hockey blogs and reddit pages. Those places hate Michigan and other big ten programs on a normal day. Recently it's been cranked up to 100 and this will only make it worse.
January 27th, 2022 at 10:19 AM ^
I think the GLI was already on life support having been moved from Detroit and I think Michigan's continuing success at recruiting guys who will play in the World Juniors might mean we're the ones to put the last nail in the coffin by leaving
And yes I agree. I find myself defending Minnesota a lot because the endless negativity towards us and Minnesota from the western half of the college hockey world is dumb and exhausting. The online college hockey community sucks
January 27th, 2022 at 10:21 AM ^
I do think the GLI is probably done, if not now, then soon. The original purpose for the GLI was to promote college hockey as a viable path for high-level prospects, and to showcase college hockey in the Detroit metro area. For UM and MSU, they don't need it anymore. UM is getting crazy good prospects to come and they recruit nationally. The atmosphere at the GLI isn't selling anyone on college hockey anymore. Plus, this is the "championship or bust" era of high-level college athletics, so intermediate milestones like winning the GLI don't register anymore for UM, especially when playing without your top players might result in a Pairwise loss.
MTU still needs the GLI to showcase our program and still has a very strong emotional tie to it, but with UM seeing more harm than good to their program coming from the tournament, and MSU probably indifferent to the whole thing, I just don't see a path forward.
January 27th, 2022 at 11:56 AM ^
Honestly, the butthurt Western fans are the worst, I cannot fathom being so bitter and vocal about the canceling of a game and just so blatantly obvious that they were slavering over the opportunity to get themselves an easy win over a team with a decimated roster.
If the situation were reversed and M missed the opportunity to play the bottom half of a team, I might think "bummer, that could have been an easy win," but I would be too ashamed to go publicly grousing on message boards about how I got screwed. WTF? Western is going to be really proud of that win? IMHO the grubbing for an easy win/points if far worse than the canceling of the game.
As for Tech.....who cares? The hypocrisy of everyone calling Mel a sellout when they certainly wouldn't turn down a similar opportunity if it presented itself to advance in their own job/career is ludicrous. Anyone who watched Pearson as a 20+ year Michigan assistant as he was groomed to take over for Red and thought that he left permanently to coach Tech forever is delusional. I'm 99% sure that conversation went something like, "I'm not retiring for several years and your HC material. The best way to make your succession here a slam dunk is to go be a good HC somewhere for a while and when the time comes, your The Man." The idea that Pearson would forego one of the premier coaching gigs in the sport is insane, both in terms of the opportunity to work with the highest level players and the legacy of being a coach at UM, to say nothing of the $ and benefits. We aren't talking about a mercenary who has flitted between a bunch of teams and chased glory/salary and is constantly trying to move to the NHL and line his pockets. What....two teams in a career? Tech fans and their current coach need to do themselves a favor and get in a car, drive south over the bridge or a few hours into Wisconsin or Minnesota, park their car at the top of a large hill and take a look around at the rest of the world and perhaps see the distant speck that is Houghton. Preferably in mid-February so they can also compare the current temperature/wind chill factor. then they should tell themselves they're going to take a cut in pay and drive home. Not.
Left Tech in a bad place? 'Scuse me? Can we compare Tech's results pre-Pearson with where they were at when he left? The new coach is basically complaining b/c everything wasn't all set up for him perfectly? He's had plenty of time to recruit and fill out his team and where is he now? Please. How about a "thanks Mel for all you have done and good luck at your new gig?"
Good riddance to the GLI and everything associated with it. Anything managed that poorly deserves a rapid and unceremonious death. M should start the process of canceling any of those games for next year right now.
January 27th, 2022 at 12:35 PM ^
The Western fans are insufferable. I used to generally hope their program did well, but the amount of whining their fans have been doing online for the last month is making it difficult to continue. Literally any social media reference to Michigan hockey gets a few Western jabronis in the comments