Monday, November 19, 2007
Any questions?
The Mavericks will be off Thanksgiving weekend before finally playing a two-game series in Mankato. PucKato might even take a little break, too, this week, but not before trying to answer a few of your questions. Post them in the comments section, and I'll try to get to them Tuesday evening (no turkey-preparation questions, please).
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19 comments:
Every year Jutting likes to blame his defensemen for the team's losses. He also likes to blame the players for lack of production on the power play year in and year out. My question is...when is the spotlight going to be on HIM? How much of these issues are due to his poor plays and coaching?
Also, I would like to know why he feels the need to slam the guys to the media. I've noticed he's the only WCHA coach that does this on a reglar basis. Heck, even when he tries to compliment a player, he ends up bashing another one.
Basically, when is he going to be under the microscope and held responsible?
Struggling from goalie woes here in the Twin Cities, Frazee has the Gophers looking for answers with Kangas waiting in the wings.
Is there any validity to the Zacharias injury? With the result Saturday night, is there still any doubt that Zacharias is clearly the more talented of the Mavs' options at goaltender?
To Anon #2- Tormey would be just fine if Jutting would quit messing with him on a mental level.
Jutting has a long history of messing with the goalies, usually making them fall apart their Junior year.
Most coaches won't even hardly talk to a goalie, they leave that up to the goalie coach, but not Jutts. He goes off on them just as much as the others. He's horrible to his players, just ask any Maverick Hockey Alumni.
Right now MSU is off to a dismal 3-6-1 start and 1-6-1 in the WCHA. My question is what will it take to get this team back on track? How crucial is the UMD series?
With the early signing period coming to a close. What are you thoughts of the new recruits? Any high impact players?
1-6-1 in the WCHA. Is this deja-vu? Of course it is, we go through this every year. Is it too much to expect this team to break into the top 3-4 every couple of years?
I am sick of the BS excuses-oh, the WCHA is so tough, oh the Gophs get all the good recruits, oh our program is still young, oh oh oh - BS.
It's amazing this town puts up with (well, not really-we're used to it) such mediocore leadership in the athletic department. In any other REAL school Kevin & Troy would have hit the bricks by now. This program would have probably been better served by staying D-II.
So Shane, are you going to hold Troy's feet to the fire?
If the contract provisions that I've heard are in Jutting's contracts are really there, there is no way he will meet them.
SOMEBODY should get to the university's human resources and get the contract on a freedom of information request, and report about it in, oh, I don't know, the local paper maybe?
I agree with the last anon. poster. Why not get a copy of the contract and see what it's about? While you're at it, find out what his discipline from last year was. Since he's a state employee, that kind of stuff is public information. Government employees have more of their personnel records public than the average person.
Who cares what his contract says? He's not going to get fired, so why worry about it. Lets just see how the season plays out before we start worrying about the stupid contract... jeez.
Is the hockey program, or better yet the community support going to ultimately die due to lack of interest in a losing team?
I do think the contract is important because it'll help fans "hang in there" knowing there may be an end to Jutting. That's what held many the past couple of years. Renewing his contract upset a lot of fans and in turn, I think a lot of fans gave up season tickets. If there's not some hope of getting rid of Jutting, then I fear the last poster has a point. People will give up on the program and team all together.
In response to the town losing interest, I don't think the town has ever been interested to begin with. I agree with an ealier post stating that the crowd at MSU games is mostly a "corperate crowd". When you have to push so hard to sell out a hockey game as was evident with the Gophers last week, I think that pretty much says it all.
Agreed. Poor, uniformed, disinterested crowd.
Let's talk about a poor, unorganized marketing campaign by MSU then also. How about getting the program in front of all of the youth hockey teams in a 100 mile radius of Mankato, or setting up some deals with them to bring the kids and their families? How about showing us what was done with the 130K that was earned when we lost a home game that was played at Xcel Center? Accountability needs to be shown up and down.
The novelty of D1/WCHA hockey has worn off. It is to the point now where continued increases in attendance require a winning team, or an exceptional marketing campaign to keep attendance up and growing. With the coach in place now, the latter is the program's only hope at this point I believe
Xcel center game... Bad move. Great idea..."Let's go to St.Paul and play a 'home' game, get our butts kicked, and call it a success". Nothing like playing on the other homw ice of the opposing team. What a genious move...
I'll agree with the posting about the MSU hockey crowd. Whenever I return to Mankato to get my hair cut, my barbar is constantly complaining about the lack of Maverick fans' interest and investment in the team.
What year was it that the Mavs' went to the NCAA tournament? What were the crowds like that year? Imagine if there was anything else to compete with Maverick hockey in or around Mankato. I think the posting about marketing strategy has some real merit.
Jutting's contract is certainly something that should be reported on, especially with this much interest. In any sport context drawing pubic scrutiny, there are surely those in support of and others that are agaisnt a coaching regime. Public knowledge about contracts shouldn't be limited to physically going into the MSU human resources office ... I should be able to open the newspaper on Saturday morning with my robe and slippers on and gripe about the money MSU is paying Jutting.
You shouldn't have to "promote " hockey in Minnesota. I see two types of fans in Mankato. One (like myself) who appreciates the game itself and can sit through any game anywhere and be entertained. And Two (your typical Maverick fan) who not so much cares what their team does, but that the other team loses. I have seen games in five or six of the WCHA arenas. The best time is had by, belive it or not, the fans at Michigan Tech. Not usually a "competitive " team. But the people up there love hockey and it shows. Good luck getting anything close to that in a basketball town. I'd love to be able to enjoy a game at the Alltel Center but I find it very difficult. I would never bring my kids to a game there. True... If your team does well, your fans will show up. But if the fans show up first, maybe your team will too. Give your team some support instead of just trying to tear the other team down.
Don't think all fans feel that way. Not everyone in the arena was chanting F the gophers. Some were there to watch the game.
How can you say you shouldn't go to the game and want the visiting team to lose once in a while?
I think all of the posts here relate to the Mavericks playing poorly and hoping that there can be some new direction to the program to stop that from happening.
I don't think anyone here is saying that teams that came to Mankato didn't deserve to win. Most of the time they did because they were better prepared and it showed in their play. There are plenty of fans in the arena that could tell that.
I think a lot of people were hoping for a change when Jutting's contract was up last year. I see him as a very narrow-minded, my way or no way at all coach. I'm not going to get down, however just because the Mavs started poorly. One thing you have to remember is that in hockey, more so than any other sport, any team can beat any other on any given day. Give them a chance. They just might come around.
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