0:05 This is The GPL Podcast, sponsored by Vintage Minnesota Hockey, your exclusive source for throwback Minnesota jerseys. 0:14 Visit vintagemnhockey.com Now, here's Tami, Vigo, and your host, Jupiter. 0:40 Good evening, and welcome to the 100th episode of The GPL Podcast. 0:47 Yes, started back in, boy, 2011, and now we've made it to our 100th episode. 0:53 And to celebrate the 100th episode, we're bringing back our very first guest that we had on episode number two. 1:00 Good old Frank Mazzocoo. 1:01 Frank, thanks for joining us. 1:05 I just, you know, if I knew back then that I was the first, I forgot about it. 1:10 I was pretty amazing. 1:13 Well, you were the only one I could convince that time. 1:14 Hey, you want to come do this little podcast? 1:18 And it was right after you had started doing radio. 1:24 I mean, you were, you would just start a radio. 1:26 You had just taken your, you know, your sabbaticals and go for hockey after the TV thing. 1:32 And you would just started up doing radio with Wally, so. 1:37 I, and yeah, and now I remember, you asked me and I said, good grief, people, they listen to me like six hours on the weekend, they want to hear more? 1:46 Have I not said enough? 1:49 People like listening to you. 1:51 You've got a lot of good stories. 1:52 I've heard quite a few of the stories. 1:53 Some of them not really safe for broadcast, but, it's good anyway. 2:00 Some of them improved with age too. 2:03 Well, especially when it comes to the Wuger, so. 2:06 Embellished. 2:09 Well, this past weekend, Frank, you and Wally headed out to out east and saw one of the classic, if not the classic, hockey arenas and Matthew's Arena in Northeastern. 2:22 Tell us about that. 2:24 It is a really neat old building. 2:28 It's really close to my favorite place to call a game now. 2:34 It's small, but just the right size for that program. 2:40 I remember going back, Wally and I did a TV game there in the late 80s. 2:46 I remember because Marty Nanny was playing and Lou Nanny was sitting in the stands, couldn't find him. 2:53 He must have been sitting below us. 2:55 We were up in a balcony and everything there was, at the time, was wood. 3:01 And I thought, my God, there's a spark. 3:04 This whole place is going up. 3:07 So it still has a wood ceiling. 3:11 It's that Quonset style. 3:14 But it's all modernized now. 3:17 I think probably the original concrete floors and stairs are in there, but it's modern seating stuff that won't burn easily anyway. 3:26 It's cleaned up, it's painted, it's sharp looking. 3:30 There's almost no room under the stands for players and all by today's standards, but they have made the best out of the space they have. 3:41 And it's just neat. 3:43 It's clean. 3:44 Most arenas are known to have mice here and there. 3:46 I bet you this place doesn't even have a mouse running around, that's how clean it is. 3:50 Really a neat place. 3:51 And then we're so close. 3:52 If I was thinking about how close we were, I would be worried about getting a puck in the head because we were five rows up on the blue line and above the glass. 4:01 Just put on a helmet, you're good. 4:04 Just what? 4:04 Just put on a helmet, you'll be good. 4:06 I'll just put Wally in front of me. 4:09 Oh wow, that's not very nice. 4:12 Well, I know the week before that Wally was mentioning that Matthews is like the oldest, or is it the oldest arena in the country or something like that or something along those lines? 4:23 Well, he might have said country last week, but this week he upped it to world. 4:27 So, that's one of those stories that may have grown. 4:31 But no, I think it is. 4:32 I think it's the oldest rink in the world. 4:35 And the second oldest might be the one at Princeton where Hobie Baker played or something like that. 4:40 But yeah, it's the oldest continuously operated hockey rink in the world. 4:46 I mean, it's even older than Wrigley, isn't it? 4:49 I mean, it's super old, isn't it? 4:50 Like early 1900s? 4:59 Maybe before that? 5:00 I know, I saw some fantastic pictures you posted. 5:02 So you loved the entrance. 5:05 The entrance was very, it was pretty cool. 5:07 Nice big arch there. 5:08 And it was just, it looks like an amazing place. 5:14 But unfortunately, the team didn't do so well out east, at least with Northeastern, did they, Vigo? 5:22 They had a strong first half of the game and then it hits the third period, Veegs, and they just went in the hole. 5:30 Yeah, it was kind of one of those unfortunate games where Sheerhorn just doesn't seem to have his A game. 5:36 He's not fighting through the screens. 5:38 He's not getting on top of the paint. 5:40 He's not getting to where he needs to be to stop the puck, and it cost him. 5:44 They took a bad penalty there. 5:46 Norman took a bad one in the third and kind of gave away the game. 5:51 Just kind of a real tough way to start off that road trip because that was supposed to be the easy game. 5:56 And Hammey, boy, these Friday night struggles, whether it's the team or Sheerhorn, have continued. 6:09 Yeah, I mean, I think people have the knee-jerk reaction after that game, of course, because of the goaltending. 6:13 And I mean, yeah, it wasn't great. 6:15 And you see people saying, hitting kind of the panic button, we have to get a new goalie for next year, and da, da, da, da, da. 6:24 It's kind of like, it's not that Sheerhorn hasn't shown any success during his college career. 6:30 And it's like, you might want to put the brakes on a little bit, but he definitely needs to find some consistency. 6:37 And I don't know if it's just, you know, you almost say to yourself, do you give these other guys some spot starts? 6:44 I'm not at practice, but my feeling is, is that they recruited these guys for a reason. 6:49 And I don't think it's just strictly to be a backup that basically never plays. 6:55 I mean, you kind of would hope that some of these guys are able to provide something in the starting capacity. 7:01 And if they're not going to, if Sheerhorn is not going to be consistent, then they got to think about something, you know, things like that. 7:06 And I don't know, they haven't done it yet, but that's something that I personally would like to see them think a little bit more about is, you know, kind of splitting up the starts and seeing how, you know, just give Sheerhorn that one game a weekend, and hopefully he's able to focus and play his best and, you know, maybe build back to some consistency. 7:24 Well, I did actually run a few numbers today and some of these stats are just downright goofy, but everyone's been bashing Sheerhorn, obviously, but the numbers kind of support it. 7:35 I mean, right now on the first game of a series, Sheerhorn's save percentage is around, you know,. 7:41 849 and on the second game he's at.94. 7:47 I mean, 10% better. 7:49 You know, usually anything over 9-2 is pretty good. 7:53 So the second game of the series he's doing well, but at, you know, 85% on the first game of the series, that's not gonna work for us, is it, Veegs? 8:03 No, it's not gonna work. 8:04 You know, they need good goaltending to be successful. 8:08 Coming into this year, you know, Lucia talked about, you know, just having the 2.2, 2.3 goals against wasn't good enough for this team. 8:16 Just having a safe percentage around 90, not good enough. 8:19 And so coming into the season, you know, Sheerhorn was talking about how to get above that and be that goalie that he's been on the Saturday nights. 8:27 I think the hesitancy of the coaching staff is, you know, last year when they turned Nick Lair, you know, he gave up three goals and seven shots to Michigan. 8:36 And so they weren't sure what they had there. 8:38 You know, you can look as good in practice as you want, but until you get in that game and you get in that big moment, you know, the coaches don't know for sure what they have. 8:47 I think they got a little bit more confidence seeing them in goal this year for that period. 8:52 But still, I think it was hard to pull the trigger going into this last weekend. 8:57 I thought if they were gonna pick a game here out of the four, they would have picked the Northeastern game. 9:03 But, you know, they're gonna stick with Shearhorn, and I think going in this weekend against Ohio State, you're probably gonna see Shearhorn again because they are playing probably the top team in the conference. 9:14 See, I don't know, that seems like an awfully short leash to be judging anybody based on one bad performance the prior year, and especially against, what was it, against Michigan, and it's not like Michigan wasn't an offensive weakling, so it's just, I don't know, I mean, come on. 9:36 One game, I understand maybe not having confidence in a guy because of it, but at some point, you have to give the guy another shot, and especially when the guy that has been starting has been at best, as you pointed out, inconsistent. 9:52 What do you think, Frank? 9:54 No, I just wanted to check Vig's numbers on Nick Lair. 10:00 Was that the game at Michigan that he came in and there was already a route underway? 10:05 Is that- 10:06 Yeah, it was an 8-3 game and Lair came in for a period, and then I think they went to coin in the third, or somebody, but it wasn't a good look for him, so the first- 10:19 No, it wasn't, but he did have a good look at Michigan. 10:22 I guess I'm not used to this. 10:23 Sorry if I'm jumping on you guys. 10:28 There's a little delay. 10:30 I thought that period that he came in and played in Michigan, he looked okay, given the tsunami that was coming in on the Gophers by the Wolverines. 10:40 Yeah, three goals and seven shots is not great, but I thought he was okay, but Nick's a junior and if he was gonna start, I think they would have found a way to spot him to start sooner. 10:57 I think he's a relief guy personally. 11:01 And I'm also a huge fan of Eric Scherling. 11:05 I mean, I just like him as a kid, as a guy. 11:07 I like him as a goalie. 11:10 Last year, I thought he was really good. 11:11 I mean, it was kind of a pressure year for him, being a freshman year and all of a sudden he's starting every game. 11:18 But I also think that we're, it's gonna be more than a game. 11:24 It's gonna be more than a weekend before he comes out of the mental woods and really gets back again. 11:30 The unfortunate part of that is that we only got four games before we go to break. 11:35 And then, who knows what rust will settle in again. 11:38 But, you know, so give him an even longer leash, because I don't think, he's in a mental funk, what he is. 11:47 And it's gonna take a while. 11:51 Well, and the thing is, for me, is that if we're not confident in the guys that we have as backups, then that's an indictment on a poor job that they did to recruit goalies. 12:03 Because to me, if you don't, I mean, you kind of, in this day and age, you can ride one guy, but it's just, you don't want to risk that. 12:11 I think it's just something that, if they're not confident in who they have behind Shearhorn, then it's kind of a telling sign that they didn't do a good job to fill up his backup roles. 12:24 Well, I'm thinking if... 12:25 I, you know... 12:28 Go ahead, go ahead. 12:32 Frank. 12:33 Oop, I think we're losing Frank there. 12:37 Well, anyway... 12:38 I will say that I think it's tough for the staff to make that change now and bring in another guy because, you know, Ed Quisk and Wool are at BC and they're both the same class. 12:48 They're both competing for the net. 12:50 Whereas at the U, you know, someone who's being accrued, they're looking at Shearhorn, who started every game last year. 12:57 That's kind of a tough situation to come into, knowing that you might only have a year or two as the guy. 13:04 Well, you know, it's not just the goalie save percentage either. 13:07 When I was putting together some of those stats today, on that game one of the series, they're averaging 4.1 goals a game for, and obviously, four goals against, really close. 13:20 But in the second game, it's just much tighter all around. 13:23 I mean, they're only giving up 1.67 goals a game, but they're only scoring 2.8 goals a game. 13:29 So they're really a goal and a half goal scored less, too. 13:32 So it's kind of an odd thing. 13:35 I mean, they're not consistent on the defensive end, and they're not consistent on the offensive end either. 13:40 Any thoughts on that, Hammeh? 13:44 About, well, I mean, yeah. 13:46 I mean, it's just not as defense. 13:47 I mean, the offense is doing really well in those first games. 13:50 It's just the defense is doing really bad. 13:53 And then the offense does really bad, and then the defense does really well. 13:56 So it's just kind of all over the place. 14:00 Yeah, I mean, I don't know. 14:01 I guess I haven't been, you know, for me offensively this year, I actually feel pretty good about things. 14:08 You know, it's a little bit more the defensive end and the goaltending that's been a little more frustrating. 14:14 Certain defensemen that haven't been consistent, and obviously the goaltending has been up and down. 14:23 You know, I know it's a team effort when it comes to defense, so I can't just put it all on that group, but offensively speaking, I've liked what we've seen. 14:33 I don't like some of the tinkering that they kind of do. 14:37 I like, I personally didn't see the need to change anything from Friday to Saturday. 14:42 I mean, yes, we did win against BC, so you can't complain, but I didn't really see the need to make those kinds of changes. 14:49 I didn't think it was necessarily the line make up or anything like that that necessarily cost them. 14:54 I just thought that we had a bad performance from the goalie. 14:58 Well, what do you think about that Sunday game then there, Hammey? 15:01 I mean, they did come back and beat one of the top teams in the country, 4-2 win. 15:07 Yeah, I mean, obviously BC is always a good matchup. 15:10 They have a lot of talent and skill, so, but they are young. 15:14 I mean, they did lose a lot from last year's team. 15:16 So, I don't know that I would necessarily consider it kind of like a typical, like super exciting win over BC. 15:24 Not that they're crappy by any means, but I kind of look at them a little bit similarly to like North Dakota. 15:31 I mean, I thought it was great to beat North Dakota and to do well in that series, but I also said at the time that I didn't feel like North Dakota was gonna be quite the team that some people will just assume that they're gonna be in. 15:43 There's still a lot of the season left, so that remains to be seen to some extent, but I think that we've seen that they're not a juggernaut in their own right at this point. 15:52 So I just think you have to put some of these performances in that kind of a perspective. 15:57 And it's great to win though on the road against a good program. 16:00 Frank, what did you think about the team kind of bouncing back compared to a Friday's game when they were in Boston? 16:10 Good to see, not a surprise. 16:12 I mean, this is kind of the way these guys have been, which is, I mean, it's good that they have the bounce back. 16:17 It is not so good that they've had to bounce back. 16:20 I think they also caught BC at a good time coming off the Thanksgiving break because they were able to pretty much set the tone of the game and the way they wanted to in that first period. 16:30 Yeah, they had to hang out a little bit more in that second period, but I think they had the first period and that was a large part because BC was on break. 16:38 They played on Tuesday and then had the holiday off and didn't play that Friday night. 16:42 So that was a situation I think that benefited the Gophers. 16:45 And Hammeh, I think I'm okay with the line changes. 16:49 There's a couple of guys on that team that just, it's not only that they're, I mean, they just haven't been producing for quite a while and I think he's got to find some combinations. 16:58 He's got to find some way to get Leon Bristad to blossom. 17:01 I mean, he's gone what, six, seven games without a point, I think. 17:06 And he's, you know, he should be a point of game guy. 17:10 So, you know, he's okay, been all right, but he's leading the team of scoring, but I think there's a little gap in him as well. 17:18 You know, Connor Riley's not rolling. 17:21 So I'm okay with the tweaks. 17:24 What I thought was really interesting was that he had the two seniors on that fourth line. 17:31 What she said was, no, then we're just glad to find right combinations. 17:34 But to me, he probably didn't want to say publicly, but it sounds to me like a message. 17:40 I don't know. 17:40 I don't know, the whole thing with Cammie out there, especially where he was, I don't know. 17:47 To me, it seemed a little forced. 17:49 But you know, like I said, you can't complain about the victory. 17:53 So water under the bridge. 17:59 I'm pushing for Ramsey up front though. 18:02 They need some size. 18:04 I mean, skill, I know, you got to, you have, you know, he may not be a skill, he's no Hudson fashion, probably not a real skilled guy, but there's times during the game you just kind of need a thrasher up there. 18:18 And given you got a couple other wingers that aren't producing, well, if he's not gonna produce, at least maybe he'll body somebody around and make some room for somebody else. 18:27 What do you think of Ramsey up front there on the first line there, Veegs? 18:31 Oh, let's at least go second line, okay? 18:35 See, the thing I think with Ramsey is, I thought he and Romacho were playing great together as it was. 18:40 It was only a matter of time for them to maybe click. 18:44 Perhaps maybe Gates would be good on that line. 18:47 And you know, you could put them in gold or black or maroon and just call them whatever. 18:52 But I think that line could produce. 18:54 You know, I think they do want to get Gates going here at some point. 18:59 What I thought was interesting today is I saw a pretty small black line of Smetula, Bristette and Cammie. 19:05 I'm not sure how well that will work out. 19:09 But as Lucia said today, you know, the lines are still in flux. 19:12 I think the only line that's going to stick together here for a while is the Pittlick-Sheehee Clues line, which I thought looked great on Friday night and sounded great on Sunday. 19:21 It was a little tricky to follow that game in Minnesota. 19:25 Just remember that Clues is stagnated. 19:31 Somebody said that on GPL. 19:33 He's stagnated. 19:34 I'm like, yeah. 19:37 He did get the hat trick Friday night and that was lovely, but he doubled his output for the season. 19:45 We would like to see him squawking a little more. 19:47 So hopefully he's kind of gotten it going because... 19:50 Okay, but he's dinged up number one early in the year. 19:53 And number two, anytime that you're constantly saddled with Cammie, it's kind of like basically carrying around a cement bag on your hips, so, you know. 20:07 We don't hold anything back on this show doing. 20:09 No, we don't, you know. 20:10 It's for the fans. 20:11 It's, you know, we're giving our opinion. 20:15 We've... 20:15 I have no bridges to worry about burning, so whatever. 20:21 Oh, boy, I try not to burn any more bridges. 20:25 I've already gotten enough trouble with the U. 20:27 I don't need to get any more trouble, so, you know. 20:31 What can I do? 20:33 Well, but, you know, we've got a question here. 20:35 I've got a couple questions to go over. 20:37 Actually, Tim Hapke, he was always throwing us questions. 20:40 He wants to know what's up with Norman. 20:42 Was expecting a big step forward for him this year. 20:46 Hammey, Norman, in and out, but what do you think? 20:54 No, I mean, I kind of agree. 20:56 I was hoping to see a little bit more of a presence out of him this year. 21:00 I thought in the spot opportunities he got last year that he looked pretty solid. 21:05 I think that, you know, obviously he wasn't playing in high-profile situations where you're gonna be getting a lot of points and all that kind of good stuff, but I did expect to see a guy that was maybe a little bit more of a factor this year, and we haven't really seen. 21:21 That doesn't mean that he's, you know, a bad player or anything along those lines, but I'm just saying that, you know, he just hasn't really stepped up quite as much as I thought he would, and obviously he hasn't played as many games either, but I just think that I thought he would be more of a lower-line presence than what he's been so far. 21:38 Well, Veeze, he's kind of replaced Kamiya a few times. 21:42 Maybe we'll see Norman this weekend. 21:44 Maybe Kamiya will be on the bench again. 21:47 Yeah, I mean, there are a lot of guys fighting for playing time out of those lower-tier forwards, and one thing with Norman, I think he's got to shoot the puck a little bit more. 21:57 He just doesn't have very many shots on the air, and Vinnie Lettieri talked about this today a little bit. 22:03 College hockey, you've got to learn to get the puck on that, have traffic in front of the net, and then find soft spots to get to rebounds. 22:11 And it took Vinnie a long time to kind of figure that out in college hockey, and I think some of these guys like Ryan Norman go through that, and they just don't know how to make an impact on the game five on five in zone, when they're used to scoring off the rush all the time. 22:28 Frank, do you have any thoughts on Ryan Norman? 22:32 I'd like to see more of him. 22:34 Okay. 22:35 I mean, he's only played four games this year. 22:39 And for me, and I'll put myself in the group of a fan on this one, I'm not a scout. 22:45 I'm not a talent scout. 22:46 I'm not an expert on that at all. 22:48 But I can't judge a player in four games like that, particularly. 22:53 I mean, so just from a personal standpoint, yeah, I'd like to see, I mean, if before you'd really asked me to judge him, I'd like to see more of him. 23:01 So that's kind of where I go with that. 23:04 Yeah, makes sense to me. 23:07 Well, before we go ahead. 23:10 Oh, well, not my show, but I have another player I wanted to bring in the mix. 23:14 Go right ahead. 23:15 Well, and also put you guys on the spot. 23:18 Did any or all of you catch the post game show Sunday? 23:25 And here Don Lucia say that Vinny Lettieri is playing the best hockey of his career. 23:32 Reaction, discuss. 23:33 I would agree. 23:34 I think he has slowly gotten, he's been going up the roller coaster hill, slowly, I mean, through his whole career. 23:44 I think he's just, he hasn't just got plateaued or anything like that. 23:47 I think he has slowly just kept on creeping up, not fast, anything like that. 23:51 It's been very gradual, but I like his consistency and he's just gotten better and better. 23:59 Hammeh, what do you think about Lettieri? 24:02 Yeah, I mean, quite honestly, I was hoping that he would be more of a scorer earlier in his career, but he certainly accepted the role that he had starting off his college career. 24:12 And he's a hardworking kid and he skates hard. 24:16 He's a good skater. 24:17 And it's nice to see him rewarded offensively now, that he's a senior. 24:22 I was kind of hoping to see that sooner because he was a pretty decent offensive player in the USHL and of course, in high school. 24:30 But, you know, better late than never. 24:32 And I'm glad that he's seen success now. 24:36 Viggo, what do you think about the old Vinnie Lettieri? 24:39 Well, I think it's basically because he's not breaking any sticks this year. 24:46 What's it at two or three, I believe right now? 24:49 Yeah, he's not on pace for what he did last year. 24:53 Last year was 14. 24:56 But I think he is finding spots on the ice for him to be effective. 25:01 Guys do have to figure out ways to generate offense in college hockey and I think he's starting to get it figured out. 25:06 It takes guys longer sometimes than other people, especially smaller guys, because they have to figure out how to dart into space or how to take punishment in front of the net and find the puck and he's starting to figure it out. 25:20 Well, I must say that Vinnie Lettieri definitely has a sense of humor about his breaking sticks. 25:26 I spoke to him about it a little bit last year. 25:28 He thought it was pretty funny. 25:30 When he broke his second or third stick this year, even his mom retweeted our tweet on it. 25:37 So, it seems like the whole family kind of has a good sense of humor about it and I think that's great because, hey, the kid's playing hard. 25:45 There's no doubt about that. 25:46 And that's one thing that the blue collar fans like is hard workers and he works hard. 25:53 So, I'm a fan. 25:56 So, I'm a fan. 25:59 Well, before we get over to Ohio State, we need to listen to our sponsor, Vintage Minnesota Hockey. 26:07 vintagemnhockey.com is a proud sponsor of The GPL Podcast. 26:12 Well, what is Vintagemnhockey? 26:15 Well, it's kind of the place to get all of your history of Minnesota Hockey. 26:19 From the pros to the minors, to the collegiate teams, to even the high school teams. 26:25 All information about any of those teams can be found on vintagemnhockey.com. 26:30 They also have great interviews with some historical Minnesota hockey figures like John Mayessich and Lou Nani, Glen Sanmore, some of the greats of Minnesota hockey. 26:39 So, make sure you check out those interviews. 26:41 It's a really great thing. 26:42 But, as like I always say, I think my favorite part is the store. 26:46 The store, you can buy a custom historical jersey from the Gophers or the Bulldogs or some of your favorite high school teams. 26:53 And if you do make a purchase, just use the code GPLPodcast, all one word, and you'll get 10% off your order. 27:01 So, make sure you visit vintagemnhockey.com and follow them on Twitter at Vintagemnhockey. 27:08 Well, Pat McElhedy has again asked us to, or asked a question of us, and Pat wants to know, will the Gophers sweep OSU this weekend? 27:21 Oh boy. 27:24 Didn't he ask that last week? 27:26 What did he ask last week? 27:29 I personally think Ohio State's a pretty darn good team this year, and I know both Frank and Viggo probably heard Lucia saying today that he voted for Ohio State to win the league this year. 27:45 So they are definitely a veteran team. 27:49 It's not gonna be an easy weekend. 27:50 It wasn't easy games last year. 27:52 Well, three games, I think, went up to overtime. 27:55 The other one was one goal game, and then the Gophers had to come back in the Big Ten tournament to beat them. 28:01 But Frank, Ohio State, they are not the big pushover they used to be. 28:09 Gosh, absolutely not. 28:11 No, and well, they weren't the pushover they used to be last year. 28:16 No, they weren't. 28:16 As you just mentioned by all the close games. 28:19 I think Steve Rollick has just done a great job there, getting these guys to buy into, playing a great system of hockey. 28:27 It's tough to do there and get a lot of accolades because surprisingly, Columbus is not, I don't know if it's a great hockey town, given the success of the Blue Jackets, they might be a good hockey town, but they're certainly not a great college hockey town. 28:42 And there's, you know, that hockey team is just overshadowed by a huge horseshoe down there. 28:50 It's tough for them to get going, but you know, Steve's got them believing in the program and believing in his system. 28:55 And I, you know, I was just looking, I was just checking strength of schedule. 29:01 They only have one loss this year, right? 29:05 Their strength of schedule is 33rd. 29:07 Yep, that's what I mentioned last week about them. 29:10 So, yeah, so, I mean, that's not a high number, but they're still taking care of business. 29:17 Yeah, and that's just it. 29:17 They're winning the games they're supposed to win. 29:19 And you know what? 29:20 Minnesota is not always doing that. 29:23 Oh boy, I just looked back on this whole roster here. 29:25 This is, this is kind of grim. 29:27 Going backwards now, they've played Rensselaer, Connecticut, Robert Morris, Niagara, Bowling Green, let's give them, you know, wow. 29:37 I didn't realize it was this week. 29:38 It's a bit of a pump your tire schedule. 29:46 Yeah, that is, that's a lot slimmer than I thought. 29:49 Some cupcakes on that schedule. 29:51 Surprise they didn't play Eve's team this year. 29:57 Ooh. 30:00 Wow. 30:01 Yeah, well, Eve's such a loved guy. 30:05 Well, you know what? 30:06 Northeastern wasn't supposed to be that good either. 30:09 And I do believe that I was listening to the show, Wally's show with Lucia last night and they had never won in Northeastern no matter how good or bad they were. 30:20 So at least Ohio State is beating the teams they're supposed to be beating, whereas Minnesota's not quite. 30:26 So I know it's got a light strength of schedule, but. 30:31 Yeah, they're doing it by almost two goals a game. 30:34 There's that. 30:35 We saw them last year. 30:36 They got the guys coming. 30:37 You know, you still got Nick Schilke hanging around. 30:40 Matthew Weiss, I mean, you know, they've got some quality people in this lineup. 30:46 Not gonna be a pushover, but I'm not sure that these guys are still gonna be very happy with the Olympic sheet of ice. 30:56 And I think early on, that's one of the Gophers' best weapons, is that sheet of ice. 31:02 They know how to handle it. 31:03 Do they though? 31:05 I don't know. 31:06 I've been so disappointed in their Friday night games that losing by two or three goals wouldn't surprise me. 31:13 Unless they, you know, cause it's not a rivalry game and everyone's saying the Gophers get up for rivalry teams. 31:20 And that's kind of, I think, been one of the problems that everyone gets up for them and Minnesota doesn't get up for a lot of teams. 31:26 And you can tell by their record the last 10 years. 31:32 I don't know. 31:33 I'm just not going to be convinced until they get an actual sweep on the weekend, like Michael Eddie said. 31:38 You know, will the Gophers sweep this weekend? 31:41 I don't think so. 31:42 They need to prove it to me, Hammeh. 31:46 Yeah, well, I mean, obviously they haven't shown any kind of major consistency. 31:50 So it's kind of hard to go in there with a lot of confidence in saying that they're going to sweep or anything along those lines. 31:58 I do think we don't know entirely, like Frank pointed out and like I pointed out last week, with the strength of schedule, Ohio State's had how good of a team they actually are. 32:08 I don't think we shouldn't be taking them lightly by any means, but they've certainly, as was stated, kind of gotten a little bit fat on some cupcakes. 32:17 You know, but I think that we have a good shot, we were offensively good, and I think that we'll at least bring in, with the start of the conference, maybe a little bit of a focus, because we want to win the conference, of course. 32:33 And I think Pat's just looking for advice from us, because he's probably laying down some bets in Vegas. 32:39 I don't know. 32:41 I mean, if he's asking us every week, there's gotta be something behind it. 32:46 Let me throw this one out to you. 32:50 Look back on Minnesota's schedule, the Gopher's schedule this year. 32:55 Which weekend would you have in September, or even now look back on and say, yep, they can sweep this weekend, Alaska. 33:10 I'm not sure about Clark Center, North St. 33:12 Lawrence because of the road games. 33:14 I'm not sure you would have picked the sweep there. 33:16 And I don't think you would have picked sweeps over North Dakota, Mankato, or this Eastern trip out to Northeastern BC. 33:25 I think this Ohio State one is a weekend where they could legitimately sweep. 33:31 That's because you're realistic and Jupe is a total homer. 33:35 But he would have answered your question by saying, I would have picked every weekend to be a sweep. 33:42 I am not that bad. 33:44 Okay, but most weekends. 33:46 Well, I'm trying to be positive. 33:48 Vigo and I are more along your elk where we're realistic. 33:52 Every week with Jupe, it's like, well guys, I see a sweep. 33:59 I don't care. 34:00 I'm just going to throw it out there and see a sweep. 34:01 Well, you know what? 34:03 This team is good enough. 34:04 This team is good enough. 34:05 A lot of these weekends, they should have swept. 34:08 I'm sorry. 34:09 They should have. 34:10 Maybe not North Dakota, but I think that debacle again. 34:17 A lot of these weekends? 34:18 I think they've got the skill to. 34:20 I mean, look at St. 34:21 Cloud. 34:21 How they completely collapsed against St. 34:23 Cloud. 34:25 I think those easily could have been two wins than two losses or was it was a loss or whatever it was. 34:31 Northeastern is not a good team. 34:33 The question is, which would you have predicted? 34:35 I mean, yeah, you can go back now and look at games and say they could have won or should have won because there was this bad play or that bad play. 34:42 But looking at a series going into it, none of these were cake walks or cupcakes or anything like a pastry. 34:54 I mean, these were tough opponents coming through here. 34:59 I don't know, Frank. 35:00 I just, I'm used to a higher quality gopher team. 35:07 I mean, a team that's ranked in the top five year end, year out. 35:11 And it's been kind of disappointing. 35:15 I'm sorry that this team hasn't lived up to any expectations in years. 35:21 I mean, obviously, they did get to the frozen four a couple years ago, but I mean, all in all, the last 10 years have not been what I would call gopher-hoc. 35:30 Jupe right now is just echoing the majority of the posters on GPL. 35:35 They don't realize parity has come to college hockey. 35:39 You know, you're not gonna have a team like Minnesota that's gonna have 15 first and second round draft picks that are all mature and all dominant. 35:49 You go out there and whoop everybody every weekend. 35:51 These other teams are pretty good. 35:52 Then please tell me why BZ can do it. 35:55 They haven't. 35:55 They just lost to Minnesota at home on Sunday after this. 35:59 Yeah, but they've been consistently good for more than 10 years. 36:04 I don't know. 36:04 We're lowering the standards too much, though. 36:06 I think we've, I don't know. 36:09 I understand that there is more parity, and I don't disagree with that, but I don't know. 36:15 I think that we ought to be at least more consistent. 36:20 Yeah, we did win several league titles in a row, so you can't complain about that, but I also think that there's been a little bit too many struggles at times. 36:28 There just hasn't been that kind of consistency. 36:30 I don't know. 36:32 I mean, it's just, it's been frustrating to see some of this stuff, knowing that they have some of the built-in advantages that they do. 36:41 I mean, they should be doing better, and it's hard, especially with some of the depth areas that you kind of want to see a little bit more scoring in, and we just haven't seen that as much as we used to, especially fourth line. 36:53 I think all the frustration, though, comes down to losing to Yale in the first round when the Gophers had one of their more talented teams, and then losing to a school like Union instead of BC in the final when they did make it. 37:05 Holy Cross? 37:07 Holy Cross was kind of, Holy Cross was kind of the beginning of parody, the beginning of seeing fourth seeds beat number one seeds. 37:18 It's happened a lot since. 37:19 It's not a rare thing. 37:20 We were looking for it at the regional last year when we thought the fourth seed was going to come through. 37:27 And it happens kind of frequently. 37:29 I don't know, it just seems like the Yankees of Minnesota are not the same anymore. 37:37 I mean, you love the people all over the place saying Minnesota is now the fifth best team in Minnesota. 37:43 That hurts. 37:44 That shouldn't be the way. 37:45 It shouldn't be that way, Frank. 37:47 We should not be the fifth best team in Minnesota. 37:52 This is like global warming. 37:55 I think the collect... 37:58 Uh-oh. 37:59 You asked for a big picture. 38:00 You told me, hey, could you come on, Frank, and please preach big picture? 38:07 How much has that latest collective bargaining agreement taken? 38:11 How much cream has it taken out of college hockey? 38:16 There's no way to measure that because you have different scoring standards and points per game and stuff like that. 38:23 But I just think more players including and maybe especially smaller players who used to not be able to play in the NHL because of the way the rules were not enforced and I just think more of those guys are gone earlier and it's just kind of tamped everybody down into that parody that Ammi was talking about. 38:47 So that's why I do believe that parody is part of that global warming thing that a lot of people just don't quite want to buy into yet. 38:58 Does anybody want to hear agree with me? 39:03 Well I definitely think there's a rush to get the top end talent into the NHL faster and that's hurting the Minnesotans, the BUs, the BCs, the Michigans. 39:12 Look at Michigan this year. 39:14 Their roster got decimated. 39:16 Even BC, they lost seven underclassmen to the pros last year and these guys aren't just going to the NHL, they're going to the HL for a year or two and that's really hurt, I think, the Blue Blood programs more than it's hurt the Ferris State, the Holy Cross, the Yale, any of the Ivy Leagues basically. 39:36 Well, I also think that it comes down to the philosophy that a coaching staff brings to the table. 39:42 I mean, I know that there's that, especially when you're at a school like Minnesota or North Dakota or some of these or Michigan that can get a lot of these high profile guys, there's that temptation to always go for that blue-chip guy that's a high prospect in the pros. 40:00 And I think that we learned several years ago that how that can burn you and actually hurt you for several years in terms of trying to build a team when you have that kind of turnover year after year. 40:14 And that's why I think you see in this year's class in the seniors, a lot of them were kind of the undersized guys that had talent and could score. 40:24 And they did score in juniors and other levels. 40:28 And they weren't necessarily gonna be that prime time guy that was gonna be signing after two seasons or whatever. 40:35 And so I think that there is an adjustment that they've made. 40:38 The only thing for me that I get a little frustrated with is I think that they can do a better job filling out some of the roster when I look at around some of these other teams in recent years that typically don't have the recruiting pull that the golfers do. 40:55 I think that they've done a little bit better job kind of recruiting some of those third, fourth line area roles that gives them some good scoring depth. 41:04 And I don't think that we've had quite that level of scoring depth in recent years that I would like to see. 41:10 Boy, I would agree with that. 41:12 Scoring depth. 41:13 I mean, I was looking at more numbers today. 41:16 The last 10 seasons, we have one guy who cracked the top 10 of scoring in the nation. 41:24 And that was Eric Howler in the 2011-12 season and also the season before 10 or 11-12 and 12-13, sorry. 41:33 Howler was number nine one season, number fourth the next season. 41:37 But other than that, we've had no top 10 scorers. 41:40 None of those guys go to scorers. 41:44 And in fact, three of those seasons, we had no guys in the top 50 scoring in the NCAA. 41:51 And I do think part of that could be the Minnesota development model. 41:57 I talked to Mike Gensel about this last year when I was talking about how come Minnesota does such a great job developing defensemen. 42:03 He says because of all the youth levels, they take their best skaters and their best skill and they put it at defense and then they go out and play half the game. 42:13 You know, as the levels go up, all the best players in Minnesota tend to go towards defense. 42:18 It's not like Minnesota is missing on a lot of elite Mr. 42:22 Hockey, you know, first round draft pick scores. 42:25 There's a handful of them, like Brock Besser, that they have missed. 42:28 But it's not like they're missing on a lot of blue chip scores coming out of the state. 42:35 Right, but that's where they need to do a better job in non-traditional areas. 42:40 I'm not saying necessarily Canada. 42:41 They gotta find a job in Vannic. 42:43 Well, I'm not saying that they have to go to Canada or anything like that. 42:47 I'm not saying they even have to get a guy of the ilk of a Vannic or something to that level. 42:53 But I do think that they can do a better job. 42:56 You know, I've always kind of felt like if they're gonna recruit a non-Minnesotan kid, you know, that he should at least be on par, if not better, than what they can get locally. 43:07 And to me, there's lots of kids out there that I've seen that would have fit nicely kind of in that, you know, second, third kind of line roles that, you know, that maybe as they mature and get better, that they would even move up further than that. 43:24 But I don't think we've done a good job in recent years in filling out those kind of roster spots and filling, you know, finding guys that are continually progressing into those kinds of roles that maybe you didn't necessarily expect them to. 43:36 Those are the guys that you really love. 43:37 Those are the ones that you recruit and maybe you don't have the highest expectations because they didn't have superstar numbers. 43:45 But for some reason, they start to maybe blossom a little later and they become a little more than what you expect. 43:51 And I don't think that we've seen that many guys at the U in recent years that have done that. 43:56 But we haven't really had any superstars or even close to that. 44:01 I mean, the last really good go-to scorer was Ryan Petolni. 44:07 And he led the nation in scoring that year. 44:10 And then that was it. 44:13 We haven't seen it in over 10 years. 44:16 Bukestad was a pretty good scorer. 44:18 And Hollow is a pretty good scorer. 44:20 Hollow was, but. 44:22 You're not going to see guys who are going to go out and score season-high totals like McLeady did back when he played. 44:28 You're just not. 44:29 There's too much defense. 44:30 There's, the goaltending is better. 44:32 The Gophers play a very difficult schedule. 44:34 You're just not going to see point totals like that. 44:37 I mean, clues is, I think that's third. 44:39 We see it all the time. 44:40 Conner, 71 points last year. 44:42 Eichel, 71. 44:43 Coudreau, 80. 44:45 Rylan Schwartz. 44:46 I mean, we can keep going back. 44:47 I mean, these kids are still, these kids are scoring more points than Ryan Patoni did over 10 years ago. 44:53 I mean, there's scorers out there. 44:55 I mean, it's just not playing for Minnesota. 44:59 Well, even those high scorers that they have are not like they used to be. 45:02 Well, yeah, you really have to come back to the 80s. 45:04 And, you know, Lucy's the third leading scorer in the NCAAs right now for active scorers. 45:08 You know, Sheehy is almost a pointy game player right now. 45:11 Sheehy is a top point guy on the team, and he's 36th in the country. 45:19 He's, he's, he's a lucky guy. 45:21 How many of those, I'm just, how many of those are playing in the ECAC? 45:25 Well, that's true, but I, you look at the, you look at the top scorers in just the last three years, all big schools, Michigan, Boston College, BU, all top scorers and all high-end guys. 45:41 Sure, they might not have stayed long, but you know what? 45:44 When they were there, they made a huge impact. 45:47 You know what? 45:47 Vanik was here. 45:48 I think the style of games that BC and BU play are a lot different. 45:53 Do you know that there are six guys that are very close to or above a point per game on this team right now? 46:00 Yeah. 46:00 I mean, it's not terrible. 46:05 But, you know, I don't know. 46:08 You look at the successful years for Lucia, from 2001 through 2005, we had a Johnny Pohl lead the country, Brian Petone lead the country, we had Tafe that same year who was number five. 46:21 Vanik, both his years, was a top ten scorer in the league. 46:26 Kessel was just outside with 11, you know, he was number 11 his year, that he was here as a freshman. 46:31 We had guys, go-to guys that were scoring goals, tons of assists. 46:37 And there's no doubt the last ten years, a complete drought on that. 46:41 I mean, to have three seasons without a single player in the top 50, that's, that's, I don't think that's acceptable. 46:49 That's just awful. 46:49 I don't know. 46:54 I think it's part of the problem. 46:55 You look at it, when, you know, when they had their good teams, they had guys who would, who could score. 46:59 Go put the puck in the net. 47:01 And that's the biggest problem we have these days. 47:03 You know, Lucia complains about it all the time. 47:05 You know, we're not scoring five on five. 47:07 Well, we don't really have that go-to guy that's going to score the goals. 47:11 I don't know, maybe I'm just bitter. 47:16 You are grouty, grouty. 47:20 You are. 47:20 I mean, I saw Johnny Gojaro come to Marriott Arena and not score a point because he actually got checked the entire game. 47:27 The Western Hockey, I think, is a little bit different than that Northeast. 47:31 It's a little more free-wheeling. 47:33 Look what Conner did to Minnesota last year. 47:35 Killed them. 47:37 And it was all on the power play. 47:39 They had one of the best power play units in college hockey, and that's where he got all his points. 47:44 That's how Ryan Patoli got all his points for the Gophers. 47:48 It's on the power play. 47:49 That's how Bukstad got all his points. 47:54 I think it would be nice to have a guy who could snipe the puck and score some goals. 48:00 Because you know what? 48:00 Typically, those teams are... 48:01 Well, maybe you'll see that next year in Casey Middlestad. 48:05 I don't know. 48:06 If he can wail. 48:07 I just kept thinking the last few weeks, jeez, when was the last time we had really a good scorer, a guy who really did an impact on the game? 48:13 Obviously, I think Howla did. 48:14 I mean, Howla's last year, he had 51 points. 48:18 That's not terrible, I'll tell you that. 48:20 The guy who led the country only had 53 points that year, which was a down year of his scoring. 48:27 But, you know, last year, our closest guy was Cluth. 48:29 He was number 26 in the country. 48:32 The year before that, we had Boyd, who was 24th. 48:36 Raoul was 31st in 2013-14. 48:39 So it would be nice to have a couple of guys in the top 10 once in a while here. 48:46 Because when we did, we had some pretty darn good teams. 48:54 Like I said, I'm bitter. 48:56 I miss the old days of predicting sweeps because we were good enough and not worried about it. 49:02 You just want the easy life. 49:04 You just want to be able to predict sweeps. 49:06 Well, that too. 49:07 But you know what? 49:07 We're Minnesota. 49:10 We should be sweeping a lot of teams. 49:14 These top guys, these top six that I mentioned, are very close to or above point of game. 49:20 In the D-game, two draft picks out of those six. 49:26 So four of them are undrafted. 49:28 And the two that are picks are Bischoff, the defenseman. 49:30 Didn't get him for scoring. 49:33 And Tommy Novak, who probably could be pushing those numbers up if he shot more. 49:40 Yeah, I know. 49:41 I'm just bitter. 49:42 I'm just saying that. 49:45 You know, in those six guys, we maybe have more second tier talent producing. 49:54 Yeah, the goals are spread out. 49:57 There's nobody approaching a goal again. 50:00 We're barely scratching a half a goal a game. 50:03 Well, a goal a game is, you're not really going to see that. 50:08 No, you're not. 50:10 But it's only close to that, but Conor had 35 goals last year. 50:14 Eichel was more of an assist guy. 50:18 Goudreau had 36 goals. 50:20 Yeah, you're not going to see a goal a game. 50:22 But these guys were more than, yeah, two points a game. 50:26 You know, you look at a Goudreau, he was two points a game. 50:29 I know Nate Wells telling me Bukestead was, you know, top 10 goals scored. 50:34 Yeah, I know. 50:35 I'm just, I'm going overall points, Nate. 50:37 At least Nate's listening, so that's good. 50:40 Scott or Nick? 50:46 Oh, you know, you know what? 50:49 I remember distinctly talking with you, Frank, and Wally, post-game after that frozen four loss in Tampa. 50:57 When, well, Nick Bukestead, you know, literally disappeared. 51:02 We didn't see him the last month of the year, that year. 51:06 And, you know, when they were successful that year, when they went to the frozen four in Tampa, he was successful. 51:11 But at the end, he kind of disappeared. 51:16 I don't know if he had a good playoff run when he was here. 51:22 Yeah. 51:23 I don't know. 51:24 So, okay. 51:25 I'd like to have him back, wouldn't you? 51:27 Okay, Frank, how about your prediction for this weekend, then? 51:29 Come on, Minnesota sweep, right? 51:32 Well, there you go. 51:35 I'm saying split, just to get you guys going. 51:41 I don't know. 51:42 You know, I think... 51:44 How does that... 51:44 Let me ask you, how does that bumpy road feel? 51:47 Now that you're bouncing along off the side of the wagon that you jumped off of, how does that bumpy gravel road feel on your road? 51:54 Does it feel any good? 51:55 It's fine. 51:56 I don't know. 51:57 I just... 51:58 Until they prove they can win on a Friday night, I'm going to be a little skeptical. 52:02 I kept trying to be positive, kept trying to be positive. 52:06 But, you know... 52:08 This student has had problems on Friday night for a long time. 52:11 Yeah, I know. 52:11 But it's... 52:12 Long time. 52:14 Well, maybe we'll see a Lear in goal Friday night. 52:17 What do you think, Veegs? 52:18 Is this the chance we'll see Lear? 52:20 Or will he give Shearhorn a chance again and maybe do it at Michigan State? 52:26 What do you think, Veegs? 52:28 I think this is not the weekend you're going to see McLear in goal on Friday night. 52:33 You might see it against Michigan State, but I don't think you'll see it this weekend. 52:38 The government is playing a veteran team. 52:40 You know, when we talked about some of those older teams, like a union where they have, you know, just a couple draft picks, you know, fifth, sixth, seventh round guys and a lot of veterans, that's what this Ohio State lineup looks like to me. 52:52 There's a lot of veteran older guys who played a lot of college hockey. 52:56 So I'm expecting some close games. 52:59 But the one thing that stood out to me when I was looking at the stats this weekend is the Ohio State penalty kill is only 73% this season. 53:08 And they have not exactly been playing against Kyle Connor or Johnny Goudreau every weekend. 53:14 So teams are solving the Ohio State penalty kill. 53:18 And, you know, we saw this when Minnesota went from the Alaska Series, the St. 53:22 Cloud Series, you know, when the speed limit goes up and the competition changes, there's usually a few more penalties because guys aren't up to speed yet. 53:31 So I think that's going to be the difference, especially on Friday night. 53:35 And I think Shearhorn will play well on Saturday. 53:37 So I'm actually going to see a sweep this weekend. 53:41 Okay, Hammy, save me here. 53:44 What, do you expect me to say they're going to sweep? 53:50 I'm not going to go that route. 53:52 I think we're probably talking maybe like a 4-point out of 6 series, you know, like we're going to get a win, maybe a tie to the loss, you know, whatever the hell they point to see. 54:05 I can't even remember how they point things anymore with these ties and whatever. 54:10 Whatever, you know, the league, I think we'll get, you know, 4 or 5 out of the 6, something like that. 54:16 Yeah, I'm still not a fan of the strange. 54:18 Everyone's used to saying 4-point system. 54:20 4 points on the weekend. 54:22 I still haven't even seen them practice shootout at any of their skates. 54:28 So they're not practicing even for it. 54:32 When they did, it didn't help so well. 54:34 Yeah, exactly. 54:35 I was about to say, did it really help them before? 54:37 I don't think it did, so. 54:40 Oh, boy. 54:41 Oh, boy. 54:42 Yeah, those shootouts, those things can't go away fast enough. 54:46 Well, better be careful. 54:47 You'll have three on three soon. 54:50 I would rather go that route, to be honest with you, because at least it's somewhat interesting than... 54:55 Yeah, and it's something like a hockey game. 54:58 You know, I still like the college rules much better than the pros. 55:03 I like it if you lose in that first overtime or that five minutes, you get no points. 55:10 Whereas in NHL, you've already got that one point. 55:12 Just see if you get the extra point. 55:13 I like kind of the college hockey way. 55:16 Whereas if you know what you lose in that overtime, zero points for you. 55:20 Do not pass code. 55:21 Do not collect $200. 55:22 So, I don't know. 55:25 That's just me. 55:27 Well, Frank. 55:29 Yes, sir. 55:29 Thanks for joining us again. 55:32 My pleasure. 55:32 This has been about your fourth or fifth time on here. 55:34 And like I said, you were our first guest on our second episode. 55:39 Gosh, I wish you hadn't mentioned that because I was going to say, geez, I hope you don't wait another 100 programs to invite me back on. 55:44 But you're right. 55:44 All right, all right, all right. 55:47 Well, you know what? 55:48 We didn't have you on last season. 55:50 We kind of took a season off from you. 55:51 We needed a break. 55:52 No, you invited me a couple of times and I ran into bad conflict. 55:56 Well, I wasn't going to say that. 55:59 Well, they were. 56:00 I mean, I'd be on. 56:02 You're a busy guy. 56:03 I'm painting a TV antenna. 56:06 I can't, you know. 56:07 You're a big guy. 56:07 I think he was cutting his toenails or something like that. 56:10 He had some important thing like that to do. 56:14 Oh, I could have gone somewhere, but I didn't. 56:16 He's planning his charter flights. 56:18 I have a pedicurist. 56:20 I have an assistant to do that. 56:21 I can't believe it's been five years. 56:23 Yeah. 56:25 Yeah. 56:26 And the FCC hasn't run you out of town yet. 56:28 That's amazing. 56:29 This is podcasting. 56:30 We can say whatever the hell we want. 56:32 And we have. 56:34 It's been a fairly clean podcast so far, but we have been known to drop some F-bombs, or I have at least, and gotten in trouble. 56:44 Yeah, the school got mad at me last year, right? 56:46 Wasn't that the deal with that last year? 56:49 Yeah. 56:49 They got mad at you, but they got more mad at me. 56:52 Trust me. 56:54 Well, yeah, but they bitched at you because I went off last year. 56:59 No, it was what I said. 57:00 So it was technically my fault. 57:04 No, it was something I said about what I heard on the benches. 57:07 So it was not what happens at ice level is supposed to stay at ice level. 57:11 Yeah, I know. 57:12 I was bad. 57:13 I don't do it anymore. 57:14 I won't talk. 57:15 I swear I'm not going to save it from the bar after the game. 57:18 Well, there's a lot of stuff at the bar after the game. 57:21 Trust me a lot. 57:24 But, you know, we didn't really mention Gensel's son having such a nice NHL debut. 57:31 Yeah, well, I thought it was pretty cool. 57:37 I said it on Twitter, but congratulations to Coach Gensel and his family and, of course, his son for having such a great start to his NHL career. 57:46 I thought that was pretty cool. 57:47 It was just a great moment. 57:50 I loved his reaction. 57:52 Yeah, the genuine response from him was awesome. 57:58 Nice touch, Hammeh. 57:59 That was good of you to bring up because it was. 58:00 I mean, think about it. 58:03 God, it's my kid and he's there like, holy smokes. 58:06 It doesn't get a whole heck of a lot better than that. 58:10 Yeah, that's good. 58:12 Yeah, it was good. 58:14 Well, thank you, Frank, for coming on. 58:16 And remember, you guys can always follow Frank on Twitter, on at MazzPuck. 58:22 He'll respond to you if you're nice to him. 58:25 Won't you, Frank? 58:26 I even get, yeah, on my good days, I even get back at the snarky people. 58:32 Keep him on, Mr., in the broadcast. 58:34 Yes, yes, yes. 58:36 Yeah, you know what? 58:36 That's my regret that I can't do that. 58:39 I tried to do that the first couple of years, broadcast and tweet and all of that. 58:43 I just, it's impossible. 58:46 I can't keep track of what Wally's saying if I'm paying attention to Twitter. 58:49 You know what I mean? 58:51 We get it, we get it. 58:52 Well, thanks for coming on our 100th podcast, Frank. 58:54 I really appreciate it. 58:56 Congratulations. 58:57 Thanks for inviting me back. 58:58 And yeah, I'll try to make myself, I won't paint so many TVA towers this year if you need more help later on. 59:05 Not that I'm inviting myself back or anything. 59:08 We'll have you back. 59:09 Trust me, we'll have you back. 59:10 Thank you. 59:11 Thank you, Ju. 59:14 Obviously, like I said, you can follow Frank on Twitter, at Mazzpuck, Hammy Hockey, at EVGO. 59:22 We're out there. 59:23 If you have questions for us, just send it to us, especially during the podcast. 59:26 If you're listening and want to ask a quick question, just use the hashtag GPL Podcast. 59:31 We'll try to get to it. 59:32 But that's it for the 100th episode of the GPL Podcast. 59:35 We'll be back next week to recap OSU and preview the road out to Michigan State. 59:41 Until then, thanks for listening. 1:00:07 Bye Are we done? 1:00:08 You guys have had a pretty good history against Boston College. 1:00:12 What is it that brings out your A game? 1:00:15 Well, I think a big part of it is, you know, the history of their program and the respect that you have, that maybe a little bit that element of fear, that you better play well if you're going to give yourself a chance to win. 1:00:27 And for whatever reason, I mean, we had that four-year agreement, and we ended up 3-0 and won with Boston College in those games. 1:00:34 So, you know, they had some pretty good teams during that time, too, but we always seem to play really well against them. 1:00:42 You played Ohio State this weekend. 1:00:44 What have you seen from them so far? 1:00:45 They're a veteran team. 1:00:46 I mean, I voted them to win the league. 1:00:48 And I mean, whether it's two senior goaltenders, a veteran D, you know, all their guys returning up front, freshmen's coming in and done a really nice job. 1:00:57 But you look how that team matured last year and really had a good end of the season and their ability to create offense and score. 1:01:06 I think that's one of the things that I felt that could really push them over the top. 1:01:11 And they're obviously off to a great start offensively. 1:01:13 They're scoring a lot of goals and their goaltending has been pretty good. 1:01:16 So, I mean, they're kind of where I thought they would be this year. 1:01:19 Both teams doing pretty well in the power play season, Ohio State and the Gophers. 1:01:22 Do you see special teams playing a big factor this weekend? 1:01:24 I think special teams always are a big factor. 1:01:26 I mean, you look at our sport, you know, goaltending and specialty teams determine a lot of who wins and loses games and so we're going to have to be disciplined. 1:01:34 We don't want to give them too many power plays because, I mean, they're skilled. 1:01:39 They got a lot of returning guys, so they're comfortable in their spots and they've been doing it for a long time. 1:01:43 And when you play a team that's really good offensively, you've got to make sure you really take care of the puck. 1:01:49 So on our penalty kill, you know, face-offs become important to win a draw because you start with everything and then making good clears. 1:01:55 There is such a focus on goaltending these close games. 1:01:58 Do you have a change up this week for Eric going into Friday night? 1:02:02 You know what, I don't know. 1:02:03 You know, I talked to him a little bit about it. 1:02:05 I mean, you know, maybe on Saturdays or Sundays this week, we didn't, you know, do a game day skate. 1:02:10 Fridays we have, whether that really matters, I don't know. 1:02:13 It's more about just, you know, playing with confidence, getting off to a good start. 1:02:16 I mean, Friday the first goal goes off somebody and goes in. 1:02:20 And, you know, so that's a tough way to start first shift into the game. 1:02:23 But, you know, we've got to have that consistency, you know, and he knows it and, you know, the positive thing. 1:02:31 You never see him go into a prolonged slump. 1:02:34 You know, he always rebounds if he has a tough game. 1:02:36 But now we've got to even out the highs and the lows. 1:02:40 Your 5-on-5 scoring has improved a lot over this past weekend. 1:02:43 Seven of the eight goals coming on. 1:02:45 Even strength, what do you really just like about even strength game now? 1:02:48 Well, I mean, we generated more opportunities. 1:02:52 I thought that, you know, we've been moving our lines around, you know, more so than usual, and trying to find the right combinations. 1:02:59 I thought we did a better job of, you know, playing a little bit more north-south and playing a little bit more pace, which helps us create more scoring opportunities. 1:03:07 So hopefully that will continue. 1:03:09 Pitlicks, she, Ekluse looked pretty good together. 1:03:11 Yeah. 1:03:12 Seemed to be a fit. 1:03:13 Yeah, I mean, I thought that, you know, you could tell that Rem hadn't played in a couple, what, three weeks, you know, for that first game. 1:03:21 But I thought as that northeastern game, as the game went along, he got better as that game went along. 1:03:25 And then that just carried over to Sunday's game against Boston College. 1:03:29 I thought he played with, you know, good pace. 1:03:31 He was involved in the game, involved in scoring chances. 1:03:35 And we need that. 1:03:36 I mean, you know, he's sitting offensively. 1:03:39 I think he can, you know, produce and playing with Ekluse. 1:03:42 And she, he's going to get an opportunity to do that. 1:03:46 There's been a lot of highs and a lot of lows so far this season. 1:03:49 Where's this team entering Big Ten play? 1:03:53 And where do you think it needs to be? 1:03:56 You know what, we easily could, you know, have a couple more wins on our chart, right? 1:04:00 Eight, I mean, we could easily have eight wins, but you know, then you win some close games too. 1:04:05 You know, I always say that, you know, you get what you earn. 1:04:09 And right now we've earned six forward two. 1:04:12 I think that we have to have that consistency factor. 1:04:16 Our specialty teams have been pretty good. 1:04:18 I've been happy with that. 1:04:21 We've got to get Eric to play consistent, you know, night in and night out now. 1:04:25 I think that's probably a real key for us. 1:04:28 And then, you know, we'll probably continue to move guys around up front. 1:04:34 We'll probably continue to move guys around on the back end because, you know, on defense there's seven guys fighting for six spots. 1:04:39 And, you know, we've played 14 forward so far, and we're still, I don't think we're set on, you know, the magical which threesome should play together. 1:04:47 And part of that just, you know, even though we had a lot of returning guys, it's, you know, you remove Hudson and, you know, you got a couple of left-handed guys come in and, you know, how do you, you know, put them back together this year? 1:05:00 So year four of the Big Ten, is this the best you think it's been? 1:05:03 Pardon? 1:05:03 Year four of the Big Ten? 1:05:04 Yeah, I don't think there's any question that, you know, Penn State, you know, their program is a mature program now after half a dozen years and, you know, Ohio State's built theirs up too. 1:05:17 I mean, the start that they've had, Michigan's always Michigan, you know, Wisconsin's back on the way up like we all expect them to be. 1:05:24 You know, Michigan State, you know, showed a lot going in, and North Dakota winning and tying. 1:05:29 You know, we played some good teams. 1:05:31 You know, I'm not all that disappointed where we're at, considering, you know, we've had eight games on the road, four at home, and, you know, the quality of the opponents that we have played. 1:05:41 You know, if only four at home games, is it a much more nice advantage right now? 1:05:45 Well, I think there's always a home ice advantage. 1:05:47 I think you're more comfortable playing in your own rink, and, you know, you're sleeping in your own bed, and you have your home fans, so I think they can give you some juice. 1:05:54 But, you know, I think we've also shown that, you know, we can win on the road, which is important. 1:06:01 All right. 1:06:02 Thanks. 1:06:02 Thanks. 1:06:04 Just spent a little no-shape November there. 1:06:06 Yeah. 1:06:07 I'm coming off tonight a little bittersweet. 1:06:10 I think I'm ready to shave it though. 1:06:12 Why? 1:06:14 You like it? 1:06:17 It's the end of November. 1:06:18 Coach said I have until the first, so. 1:06:21 Coaches rule to take it off? 1:06:22 Yeah. 1:06:23 Did you win the beard growing award on the team? 1:06:25 Yeah, I think so. 1:06:27 Everyone else was sort of brutal, I think. 1:06:29 No one really made it, honestly. 1:06:30 I think grammar is a mustache, that's what it is. 1:06:32 You guys are kind of moving on, a non-conference in the Big Ten play, a lot of close games with Ohio State. 1:06:41 What challenge do they present for you guys? 1:06:43 Yeah, you know, I think Ohio State always has a fast team. 1:06:45 They're always got quick forwards that, you know, put pressure on us, defense back there. 1:06:51 You know, we need to be sharp, got to make strong plays with the puck, otherwise they're going to create offense from our mistakes, I think. 1:06:57 So I think we just need to be sharp this weekend and break pucks out of our own zone pretty quickly. 1:07:02 Does it mean much going into conference play now? 1:07:07 I mean, is there any different mindset in where you guys are approaching these games? 1:07:11 You know, I mean, I don't think so. 1:07:12 Obviously, you know, there's three points online every night now, but I think conference play is just as important this time or these days. 1:07:22 You know, I mean, we need to go into every game trying to win and doing whatever we can to get out of there with a W. 1:07:28 Does that bring three of the top four scorers in the league as a defenseman thinking about those guys coming down on you? 1:07:36 Yeah, you know, I think definitely as a D all the time. 1:07:38 But whatever team you're playing, you always got to be aware of, you know, their best players and their best line, that kind of stuff. 1:07:43 And so obviously, we're going to be aware of those players when they're out there and make sure we're, you know, making hard plays, maybe be a little stronger with the puck and just make sure you get pucks out when they're out there. 1:07:55 You always got to be aware and make sure, try not to let their best players hurt us. 1:08:01 You had one of the stronger non-conference schedules among the Big Ten teams. 1:08:05 How has this group of teams kind of prepared you for the conference schedule? 1:08:09 Yeah, you know, I think we've always sort of had a pretty tough non-conference schedule. 1:08:14 I mean, you know, we play a lot of it in state teams, non-conference, and they're always good competition and good rivalries, you know. 1:08:21 So I think just experiencing that, especially for some of the younger guys we have, is important, you know, going into conference play. 1:08:28 They got their feet wet a little, and now we're ready to go for the home stretch. 1:08:33 The past few weekends, it's been a little tale of Friday night struggles, coming back, bouncing back on Saturday. 1:08:38 What do you need to do as a team to kind of just even that out on Friday? 1:08:43 I mean, I wish I knew, you know, obviously we would change it already, but I think we just need to go on to Friday and have confidence, you know, just do whatever we can and know that. 1:08:52 I think we've been in the games Friday and just sort of fell apart towards the end. 1:08:56 I think we need to just stick with it for a whole 60 minutes and just keep that in our head. 1:09:02 Eric Scherrer was Mr. 1:09:03 Consistency last year, not quite so much this year. 1:09:08 How are you guys addressing that in the room? 1:09:10 Talking to him, what kind of thought process is going through on his ups and downs? 1:09:15 Yeah, you know, I think we're just sticking with him, you know. 1:09:17 We know he's a great goalie and we know he's going to find a stride. 1:09:20 We just hope it's sooner than later, you know. 1:09:22 And I think we just need to keep supporting him as a group. 1:09:25 And as defensemen, got to know that he's going to bail us out a lot. 1:09:30 So we need to get down and block some shots for him, you know, too. 1:09:33 And I mean, it's a team game. 1:09:35 We all got to be there. 1:09:35 It's on all of us, not just one person, you know. 1:09:38 I mean, we all mess up creating a chance for them. 1:09:41 So I mean, I think we just need to stick together and keep supporting them. 1:09:47 So how does it feel to be named BigTen's second star of the week? 1:09:51 It's good. 1:09:52 It's an honor, obviously. 1:09:53 I work hard for it every single week with my line mates and the rest of my team. 1:09:57 So I'm not really too worried about it. 1:09:59 It's just something on the side. 1:10:01 But I'm just happy to get a win in BC with the guys. 1:10:03 What are you looking forward to this weekend against Ohio State? 1:10:06 Just testing our ability now. 1:10:08 We're getting into conference play. 1:10:09 And Ohio State's a great team this year. 1:10:12 They're having a heck of a year. 1:10:13 And really testing our ability here and seeing if we can be consistent. 1:10:17 If I can go back to your award, your coach told our vast radio audience last weekend that he thought you were playing your best hockey of your career. 1:10:25 How does that fit into what you're thinking? 1:10:27 Well, it helps that my liners are playing well, too. 1:10:29 And we got some chemistry between the guys. 1:10:31 So I'm just trying to get to the right areas. 1:10:35 And they're always feeding me in the right spot. 1:10:36 So when they play well, they make me look good. 1:10:39 So it's definitely individual efforts all around. 1:10:42 So what are you doing different? 1:10:44 Just getting to the front of that, like my coach always wants me to do, and trying to get more shots on that. 1:10:48 Are you getting more scoring chances this year than years past? 1:10:52 Just because I'm getting away from the habit of just staying in the perimeter. 1:10:55 Whenever the D have the puck or it's in the corner, I'm trying to stay either in the soft areas or right in front. 1:11:00 So hopefully it hits off me or I get a rebound. 1:11:02 So I'm trying to do more. 1:11:06 Where is this team entering Big Ten playing? 1:11:09 Where does it need to be? 1:11:11 Right now everyone's equal. 1:11:12 Everyone's having their good starts with non-conference play. 1:11:17 It's up for grabs right now. 1:11:18 It's just who can start off the conference play right and on the right foot and just stay consistent throughout all the games. 1:11:24 You kept an eye on Ohio State? 1:11:26 Sorry. 1:11:28 I have seniority over here. 1:11:29 Have you paid any attention to Ohio State? 1:11:33 We've been in non-conference for so long. 1:11:36 Got any inkling on what they're going to be like? 1:11:38 I just know they're great off the rush. 1:11:40 They have great offense ability. 1:11:42 They can shut down in the defensive zone. 1:11:45 So they're a great team overall. 1:11:46 We just got to be confident in our ability and stick to what we do right. 1:11:50 And I think we'll like our results. 1:11:53 Has it been tough changing up the lines a little bit? 1:11:56 Or has that just kind of been business as usual, being with new centers every other week? 1:11:59 I know they're trying to find a good offense. 1:12:00 Or has that just kind of been a normal thing right now in practice you're used to being a D1 athlete? 1:12:05 Yeah, that's just how it goes sometimes during the seasons. 1:12:07 You just got to find the right lines for the end of the year because you try whatever you want during the year, but at the end you need to know who plays good with who. 1:12:16 So right now you're just playing with whoever and just bringing your strengths to the table and trust the people around you, and that's all you have to worry about. 1:12:23 It's kind of been a tale of two nights the past few weeks where Friday has been lost and Saturday you come back to it. 1:12:30 What does this team need to do to have a better Friday night? 1:12:32 I think just winning the third period, we've come out strong two periods in a row, a lot of Fridays, and the third one we just give away. 1:12:40 It's just being mentally strong there. 1:12:43 It's not that we're playing bad hockey on Fridays, it's just that we can't finish it off all 60 minutes or if it takes longer to go into OT. 1:12:48 We just got to stick to what we're good at and look at games like North Dakota on Saturday or BC on Saturday and find all we did right there and bring that to every Friday night. 1:12:57 Is there a different mindset from Friday to Saturday? 1:13:00 I mean, when you lose Friday, you definitely, there's no excuse. 1:13:04 You got to go out there and win Saturday, but then when you win Friday, you want to get the sweep Saturday, so there's always a winning mindset on Saturday whether you win or lose, but you want to try to get that one Friday night and just push for that sweep. 1:13:15 Last year, Eric Sherhorn was Mr. 1:13:17 Steady, Mr. 1:13:18 Consistency. 1:13:19 Not so much this year. 1:13:21 What have you guys talked about with him in the room during his up and down swings? 1:13:27 I mean, goalies have a different mindset there. 1:13:30 They just kind of have to worry about themselves and getting them ready for the game. 1:13:33 I trust Eric day in and day out. 1:13:35 It happens to goalies sometimes when you have shaky games. 1:13:40 I'm not blaming him at all. 1:13:41 It has to do with us too, leaving him out to drive sometimes. 1:13:44 He's a great goaltender on the best in the league, and I trust him throughout the season. 1:13:48 I know he'll be there in the end. 1:13:49 A 5-on-5 production has gone up just this last weekend. 1:13:53 Seven of the eight goals in the weekend coming. 1:13:55 Even strength. 1:13:56 What was the key to having that stat go up? 1:13:59 We're trying to limit our turnovers on the blue lines, and then once we don't have a play, make sure we get in deep and stay on the forecheck and make sure we stay on top of the box, use our D, get to the front of that, and just push in front of that and hopefully rip home a rebound or just doing the little things. 1:14:14 I mean, you can't really just win off a power play, so being a good 5-on-5 team is very important. 1:14:19 I think that's one of our main aspects we're trying to improve on day in and day out. 1:14:23 It looked like the team was handing out some awards there at the end of practice. 1:14:26 So you guys got to move on from non-conference into conference and... 1:14:30 Yeah, the award is just for first goals and Clu's had a hat-trick last week, and so that's great for him. 1:14:36 So we just always do that for people's first goals or if Clu's got a hat-trick like that. 1:14:40 So that's what those awards were about. 1:14:45 Thank you. 1:14:45 Thanks.