The Worst Seasons in the Past 25 Years Part 34: Michigan Tech
Welcome to the Worst Season in the Past 25 Years, a series in which r/CollegeHockey reviews the worst season for all 60 Division I teams over the summer to alleviate the crushing boredom known as the off-season and take a horrific tour down memory lane.
If you are interested in writing an entry for your team, please let me know via PM. I’ll be posting entries on weekdays at approximately at 6 pm Eastern time and will be going in alphabetical order. If an entry is not posted at that time, assume that “real life” has gotten in the way and that I am not able to post. If I am aware in advance that I will not post at 6 pm on a particular day, I will announce it in prior posts as a heads up.
And now.../r/CollegeHockey presents the Michigan Tech Huskies! Michigan Tech’s program can be traced back to 1919; their first instance of sustained success came in the 1960s and early seventies, winning the NCAA tourney three times under the guidance of long time coach John MacInnes. The Huskies flipped themselves to the CCHA from the WCHA in 1981 before switching back in 1984 (Why? That’s stupid.). After the second switch, MTU would not have a winning season until 2006-2007, before a rapid decline.
Knowing this, the worst season for the Huskies in recent memory is…
2010-2011 Record: 4-4-30 (W-D-L); WCHA: 2-2-24 (W-D-L; wooden spooners)
Wins: @Northern Michigan, @Lake Superior State, Mankato State, @Denver
Ties: NMU, Mankato St., St. Lawrence, Bemidji St.
Losses: @Wisconsin (x2), @Minnesota Duluth (x2), Minnesota (x2), Colorado College (x2), @Nebraska Omaha (x2), @NMU, Michigan*, Michigan State*, @St. Cloud St (x2), St. Lawrence, Minnesota Duluth (x2), Wisconsin (x2), @Alaska Anchorage (x2), Bemidji State, @Denver, @Minnesota (x2), North Dakota (x2), @North Dakota (x2)^
*Great Lakes Invitational, Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, MI
^ WCHA tournament, first round
Biggest Beatdown: Michigan Tech 2 - North Dakota 11
Head Coach: Jamie Russell
It was Russell’s final season in charge of the Huskies. Milos Godric scored the most goals, 15, while Deron Cousens had the most assists, 19. In goal, Kevin Genoe (.883 save percentage and 4.03 GAA) and Josh Robinson (.884 save percentage and 4.58 GAA) shared duties (24 and 20 games played, respectively).
Michigan Tech began their season with an exhibition match against Nipissing University, winning 5-3. Two games away to Northern Michigan and Lake Superior State were victories for the Huskies. Another game against NMU ended in a draw, before winning and tying against Mankato State the following weekend. Things were going well...before dropping an away series against Wisconsin. Hell, Michigan Tech did not win or tie another game until drawing one game against Saint Lawrence. In February (a whole list of games lost can be read above, from @Wisconsin to @St. Cloud).
After drawing against SLU(t), Michigan Tech went on a smaller losing streak, losing to: SLU(t), UMD, Wisconsin, and Alaska Anchorage. This was broken by drawing against Bemidji State, losing to them the following night. A win away to Denver lifted spirits for a moment. The rest of the season was loss after loss (read from @Denver to the end). The season ended with two away losses to North Dakota in the WCHA tourney.
Russell was fired after the season and replaced by Mel Pearson (the current Michigan coach). It did take four seasons until Michigan Tech had a winning season. However, before bolting for Ann Arbor, Pearson managed to get one regular season title, a conference tournament trophy and two NCAA tournament appearances. As for the program itself, they remained in the WCHA during the Great Realignment. The “old” WCHA had little in common with the “new” WCHA more than the name. Nowadays, MTU are under the guidance of Joe Shawhan. We’ll see if what the Huskies can do, since their name has been taken out of the mud and cleaned up a bit.
For Week 8 of this series, we will look at the worst seasons in recent memory for the following school: Minnesota, Minnesota Duluth, Minnesota State, Nebraska Omaha, and New Hampshire. Once again, if you are interested in doing the entry for your favorite school, shoot me a PM. Your school, name, and date will be added at the end of each post to serve as a reminder. So far, the following people have inquired about a spot:
| School | Username | Tentative Date |
|---|---|---|
| Penn State | u/saucysalesman | 8/8 |
| RPI | u/Nicholas1227 | 8/16 |
| Union | u/azurearmor | 8/22 |
| Vermont | u/LocksTheFox | 8/23 |
| Western Michigan | u/KonecnyGOAT | 8/24 |
Finally, a shoutout to u/saucysalesman who inspired the idea of this series for doing one for football over at r/cfb. Additionally, thanks to r/CollegeBasketball for the idea of the sub-par MS Paint logos for each school.
Previous Entries in the Worst Seasons Series:
Posted Jul 21, 2017, 9:58 PM UTC