0:05 This is The GPL Podcast, sponsored by Vintage Minnesota Hockey, your exclusive source for throwback Minnesota jerseys. 0:14 Visit vintagemnhockey.com. 0:19 Now, here's Hammy, Vego, and your host, Jupiter. 0:40 Good evening, and welcome to another GPL Podcast. 0:45 Starting our next 100 shows. 0:47 Hope you guys are ready for them. 0:51 Well, I was bitter on the team last week, Vegoe. 0:54 Obviously, they still hadn't proven anything to me, and I still feel the same way. 1:00 Definitely another Jekyll and Hyde weekend for our favorite squad. 1:06 Yeah, you definitely got the feeling on Saturday that all the work that they did on Friday was good enough for them for the weekend. 1:15 You just play that Saturday game and right off the bat, they give a couple gift goals to Ohio State. 1:23 I don't think Ohio State had to work very hard to get their chances Saturday, and they capitalize on them. 1:29 We saw Lucia pull Sheerhorn for Lair and then put Sheerhorn right back in because it was pretty obvious that goaltending wasn't the big problem on Saturday. 1:37 Like, it's been a couple of weekends where they've struggled. 1:41 The whole team just kind of wasn't engaged. 1:44 Well, Hamme, both nights started rather bad. 1:47 Obviously, they recovered both nights, but Friday night, they continued to the recovery and went on and won the game 5-3. 1:54 But you know, after trying the game Saturday night, it was just all downhill. 1:58 And like Vegoe said, it really wasn't all Sheerhorn either. 2:04 No, I mean, you know, it's really hard to analyze what the psychological makeup of a team is. 2:13 I mean, I do believe, you know, after talking to some people, that really they do get a little bit, I think, frazzled if they're worried about their goaltending. 2:24 And you know, they're not supporting him in some respects. 2:27 I mean, it's not like all the goals are on him. 2:29 I mean, some of the goals that I've seen have been, you know, the guys aren't clearing the opponent out of the way in front, or it's making it more difficult from some of those long-distance shots. 2:41 But there's enough of that where they're just, he's not stopping some of the ones that you really would expect a goalie at that level to stop that. 2:49 I think it's somewhat psychological. 2:52 And I think that if they think their goalie isn't on, that it does have an impact on that team. 2:58 And it's just like anything in either football or hockey. 3:01 I mean, in football, it's the quarterback. 3:02 In hockey, it's the goalie. 3:04 A goalie can make a mediocre team great. 3:08 And it can make a pretty good team look pretty lousy, too. 3:11 And it's not all on him. 3:13 But I certainly think that the psychological impact of a goalie not playing well can really hurt a team. 3:20 So what now, Vegoe? 3:22 I mean, I feel like ripping on the team because they're just so inconsistent. 3:27 It's just not something that Minnesota teams should be. 3:31 But where do we go from here? 3:33 I mean, it's just been, I mean, I mean, like I, you know, since I was told, you know, Friday, I was a test Saturday night. 3:40 This team is a 500 team since the opening weekend against Alaska, which got them two games up. 3:45 They've essentially been straight flat the whole time. 3:49 Good and bad, good and bad, good and bad. 3:52 What the hell? 3:54 Well, I think I've heard a couple of interesting things from Don Lucia this week. 3:58 First off, he's called out his forwards as probably being one of his worst shot blocking groups he's ever had. 4:05 I think the only weekend where you saw them give consistent efforts was against North Dakota. 4:10 You know, both nights, you know, they really buckled down and blocked shots and worked as a unit, kind of limited North Dakota to a lot of opportunities on the outside. 4:21 So I think, you know, that's something they can do to try to help Shoehorn get a little steadier is not see so many shots get through. 4:28 The other thing that was interesting today was Lucia talked about shortening the bench. 4:33 He's like, they don't have to play four lines. 4:35 They don't have to play 60. 4:37 So if guys aren't bringing their game and aren't competing, I think this is might be one of the rare years where you're going to see Lucia shorten the bench. 4:45 And that's definitely an option because, you know, when you have guys on scholarship, you can't wave them and bring in somebody else. 4:52 The only carrot they have is ice time. 4:55 I think in the olden days, you know, you'd have a coach skate a team to death and, you know, try to get their attention that way. 5:02 I don't think that's what Lucia is going to do. 5:05 I think he's going to start limiting ice time for some of these guys. 5:09 And that's actually one thing that I believe that Pat Michaeletti was talking about Saturday night when he was so disgusted with the performance. 5:16 He's like, shorten the bench, you know, put out the guys who are putting out a full effort. 5:24 And I think that's what you're going to see, you know, guys who block shots, guys who play defense, guys who try to overcome mistakes and keep playing hard and making good decisions. 5:34 I think those are the guys that you're going to see playing. 5:37 It's definitely going to ramp up the second half of the season. 5:40 That's one way to respond. 5:43 Yeah, and you also mentioned that, you know, obviously Lucia's tone Saturday night was, you know, kind of even over or so. 5:53 And then you said he was a little different on the show Monday with Wally after he had seen the video. 6:00 Well, I think sometimes when you're coaching, you're not quite sure, is it really as bad as it looks right now or is it going to be worse on the video? 6:07 And I think, you know, Lucia is frustrated with so many guys not competing and playing hard and, you know, respecting their opportunity that they have. 6:17 So, you know, they only have this one more series before winter break. 6:22 I think, you know, you're going to have to see this team make a change if they want to be successful, if they want to make the NCAA tournament, and they're going to have to play and compete more because they're just not that talented where you can get away with it in college hockey. 6:35 You know, every team is good, every team has good goaltending, and you saw that this weekend. 6:41 But they do have pretty much the cream of the crop to pick from. 6:45 Why aren't they that talented? 6:50 Well, they don't quite have the cream of the crop. 6:53 They're supposed to, Royce loves to say they're the Yankees of college hockey. 6:57 Obviously, that's not always true. 6:59 But you know what? 7:00 It kind of comes down to, you know, who he's picking or who, you know, Patoni and Gensler who are going after. 7:08 If they're not that talented enough, you know, it's kind of on them. 7:11 I'm sure Hammy is a little more plugged into recruiting than the rest of us. 7:16 But you know, the World Junior roster came out and there's only one Minnesotan from Minnesota on the team. 7:21 That's Ryan Lindgren. 7:23 There's a couple other guys, you know, Joey Anderson, Ashawn, the guy from the state called State, you know, Besser. 7:30 These are guys that aren't playing for the Gophers this year, but they're going to be playing for their country in December and January. 7:37 So, Hammeh, is this kind of on all the coaches? 7:39 And if they don't have the talent to keep up with these other teams, it's kind of on them, isn't it? 7:46 Well, it is. 7:47 I mean, I think I've said it, you know, before that, I think that what they haven't done as good of a job at, in my opinion, is kind of fill out the roster with guys that maybe, you know, they're not going to be stars right out of the gate, but that they actually have some kind of an impact offensively, and they do it, you know, they're, they play their role well, you know, as young guys, and they grow into, you know, maybe a more prominent role as they kind of mature. 8:15 And I think that, you know, we will always do pretty well at getting, you know, some of those star guys that are going to be in the top six. 8:24 I never really worry a lot about that stuff. 8:26 The thing that I've noticed more and more is that I don't think that they've done a good enough job filling out guys that, you know, play the third and fourth lines that actually have some enough offensive upside that they make them a threat out there. 8:40 I mean, when I think of the best Gopher teams, even under Lucia, it was like they had depth in their scoring. 8:46 And yes, they had some great top line guys that were, you know, very potent, but they had some guys on those, you know, fourth line. 8:54 When I think back to like the John Wibles of the world or, you know, kind of that era, I mean, they had some guys that could do some damage. 9:01 And I just haven't seen that as much in recent years. 9:04 And I think that more than anything is where I see the team not being as consistent. 9:11 Well, who knows? 9:14 I mean, you know, they could shorten the bench, they could do whatever they want. 9:18 Obviously, Hammey, one of the guys we've been down on, one of his camarada, it seems like his playing time is pretty much down to every other game these days. 9:28 I'd say one positive we did see on the weekend, Hammey, was Brischtad kind of got back on the board with some scoring again. 9:34 And we definitely need him to pick it up because he had been quiet for a while. 9:39 Yeah, I mean, it's, you know, I think that, you know, some of these guys are kind of streaky scorers. 9:47 I mean, I think that they kind of have that kind of a history. 9:49 And, you know, when you get on that cold snap and you're gripping your stick a little tighter, I think the effort, I don't think anybody really questions the effort with him. 9:59 It's just a matter of, you know, capitalizing on the opportunities. 10:03 And because he's always been, you know, a hard skater, he works hard out there. 10:09 So I don't think it's an effort issue with him. 10:12 I mean, I think some of us like to pick on Cami because we don't see the effort. 10:15 And, you know, so I mean, I don't think his situation is, to me, is just different. 10:21 For whatever reasons, he's just not been capitalizing on the opportunities he has had. 10:27 And, but the effort is there. 10:29 And I guess that's why I don't get too down on somebody like him. 10:33 And that's probably why we have him. 10:34 Cause like you said, he's always kind of busting his ass out there, whether it's, you know, back checking or whatever. 10:40 Whereas Cami, sorry, Cami, we're just not a big fan right now. 10:44 You need to put the letter, put our effort forward. 10:47 Oh, Vegoe, let's go to the defense. 10:49 I mean, obviously, they've been pulling some guys in and out next weekend, they're not going to have much choice because Mr. 10:56 Lindgren got a little stupid at the end of the Saturday game there. 11:00 Took an elbow to somebody way up high and is getting the boot for the first game against Michigan State. 11:07 But he's been one of our more solid defensemen. 11:10 But what do you think of what's been going on back there on the defense? 11:15 I actually feel like the defense has played pretty solid the last couple of weeks. 11:19 I don't think they're the big problem. 11:21 I don't see them making a lot of careless decisions that lead to a lot of odd man rushes the other way. 11:28 I think we've seen a couple of hiccups when a guy like Gopher isn't comfortable in the lineup after not playing Friday and then play Saturday, makes a couple tough plays right away to start the game. 11:39 But he found his game as the time went on. 11:43 But I think the group as a whole has been okay. 11:46 I don't think that's the big problem so far with this year's team. 11:49 I think Collins has really responded after his struggles last year. 11:54 I think Bischoff and Lindgren have been the best pair. 11:57 So I think they are being productive. 11:59 The power play looks great. 12:01 So that's the one bright spot for this team so far. 12:04 Yeah, and that's why, like I said, I was going to mention is that Collins has been the whipping boy for about the last calendar year, ever since he went to the juniors last year, or since he was cut from the juniors, I should say. 12:16 But like I said, he has been pretty solid. 12:19 He scored a goal this weekend. 12:23 And he's making smarter plays, smarter passes, and better position. 12:30 So, he really can't be the whipping boy like he was, because he's finally growing into his role. 12:37 Yeah, and I thought he made a nice play on Saturday that sparked a goal by holding the zone. 12:43 He's really responded. 12:44 I just think it's this, you know, team defense, working as a unit of five has really been the problem. 12:50 And they're just not working together. 12:55 Yeah, well, what can you do? 12:59 Dude, was that a bite of food? 13:01 Or what was that? 13:02 I'm just drinking some drink here. 13:04 Just relaxing. 13:05 I was like, jeez. 13:08 Well, gin and juice? 13:13 Just a little Arnold Palmer lemonade and tea going here. 13:17 But no alcohol, nothing like that. 13:20 This isn't a weekend in Anchorage where I get just hammered on a live broadcast. 13:27 Well, they're a 500 team. 13:28 They're not a 250 team. 13:33 But one thing we talked about this past weekend is that Ohio State has a good record. 13:38 They played really well, but they played nobody, which is why, you know, you guys were picking a split. 13:44 I was not going to pick a split or pick a sweep, I should say, until they prove it to me. 13:53 Ohio State, two losses on year. 13:55 Obviously, they're beating who they're supposed to be, but they hadn't played anybody. 13:58 I think that's why the fans are so disappointed, because typically this is not a great team from Ohio State. 14:05 They played a super soft schedule, and the fans feel this is a team they're supposed to beat, they're supposed to sweep. 14:14 And I think that's where a lot of the disappointment comes from, Hammeh. 14:19 Well, I mean, you know, I don't, it's, like I said, I don't know, I said on GPL that I think this is actually a pretty good team, but I just think that there's enough weak links there that when things go bad, they just really go bad. 14:35 I mean, we've seen it in too many collapses in periods or over the course of a game where they get a lead or whatever it is. 14:43 And you can't tell me that they're good for, you know, half the game and then they're just a crap team. 14:51 The other half, I mean, as far as the quality of team they have, it just, they make enough mental mistakes or they make enough, you know, are the goalies not making the save at the right time? 15:00 Whatever it is, it just, there's a combination of factors and it's been frustrating. 15:05 I mean, we should have, you know, in my opinion, at least three more wins than we have right now. 15:13 So what's it going to take then? 15:15 I mean, to get out of this funk, is this on the coaches? 15:17 Is this on the players to finally say enough is enough? 15:20 I mean, where does it come from, Veegs? 15:23 Well, I think one of the issues is we have a couple older players that took a while to get going and are kind of quiet leaders by example. 15:32 Justin Kloos and Jake Bischoff aren't super vocal guys. 15:35 They like to lead by example. 15:37 So I think it's kind of hard for them to hold everyone accountable. 15:41 They don't have a Nate Condon in the locker room who's going to stand up to these young guys who won't block shots and tell them they have to start doing their job. 15:50 I think that's a little bit what the coaches need. 15:53 Lucia and Gensel Motoni can yell at these kids all they want, but until that insulated group of guys starts to hold each other accountable, you're not going to see that kind of results. 16:04 So I think the coaches are trying all they can, and if they play four or five D and nine forwards, that's the next step for them. 16:14 Yeah, well, the fans are frustrated, but there's not much we can do about it. 16:17 We just need the team to kind of get it together and see how it goes. 16:21 The question is if they shorten a bench like that, it's like how long are they going to be able to last? 16:27 You know what I mean? 16:27 I mean, I could see you doing that for, I mean, they're young guys and they're only playing two games a week, but I mean, especially on that Saturday game, if you're shortening your bench, I mean, the other team, even if they're not as good as you, I mean, you're going to wear down. 16:44 I mean, so it'll be- 16:45 I'll be curious to see how long they would potentially go with that strategy if they did do that. 16:53 I'm not sure. 16:54 We'll just kind of have to wait and see. 16:57 But before we get to talking about Michigan State, we need to hear from our sponsor, Vintage Minnesota Hockey. 17:06 vintagemnhockey.com is a proud sponsor of The GPL Podcast. 17:11 Well, what is Vintage MN Hockey? 17:13 Well, it's kind of the place to get all of your history of Minnesota Hockey, from the pros to the minors to the collegiate teams to even the high school teams. 17:23 All information about any of those teams can be found on vintagemnhockey.com. 17:28 They also have great interviews with some historical Minnesota Hockey figures like John Mayessich and Lou Nani, Glenn Sonmore, some of the greats of Minnesota Hockey. 17:38 So make sure you check out those interviews. 17:39 It's a really great thing. 17:41 But as I always say, I think my favorite part is the store. 17:45 The store you can buy a custom historical jersey from the Gophers or the Bulldogs or some of your favorite high school teams. 17:52 If you do make a purchase, just use the code GPL Podcast, all one word and you'll get 10 percent off your order. 17:59 So make sure you visit vintagemnhockey.com, and follow them on Twitter at VintageMNHockey. 18:06 Well, before we get to talk about Michigan State, one thing we tried this weekend or I tried was, we wanted to do more live video from Mariucci. 18:19 So what we've done is we've started using, instead of using Periscope, we started using Facebook Live, and it seemed to go fairly well. 18:26 It's nice, a little better quality video than that, and it keeps it historically archived, so you can go back and look at it if you want. 18:36 I know Vegoe, you've been using video in the past, you know, either Periscope or Facebook Live, to just get quotes from Lucia and what not. 18:43 But if it's something you guys are interested in too, just go to our Facebook page at facebook.com/gopherpucklive. 18:50 Just like the page or follow the page, and whenever we do a live video, whether it's post game or whenever, you'll get a notification. 19:00 You can watch this live or go back and watch this later. 19:02 So make sure you check out that feature. 19:04 We're trying to do a little more things with Facebook since so many people have it. 19:08 And Facebook Live seems to be the thing to do these days, huh, Veegs? 19:13 Yeah, the only downside is that it allows the Star Tribune not to send a writer to the game and still get quotes. 19:19 As I think it's the last three or four, every series pretty much except the North Dakota series, the Star Tribune hasn't sent a writer. 19:28 And so they'll grab quotes off of that video, I think, and put it in their paper. 19:35 Well, we're trying to serve the fans because the fans like to watch it. 19:39 But the series... 19:42 They're going full circle because if anybody remembers back to the days of Cried on Ice, they used to steal all the recruiting stuff and all that from that site. 19:53 They never did their homework on their own. 19:56 So we're just going full circle. 19:58 Now they're just stealing stuff from us and video and whatever. 20:04 Well, it looks like Facebook isn't blocked unlike GPL at the Star Tribune. 20:09 Nah, well. 20:11 Which is strange. 20:12 I don't know why GPL would be blocked. 20:14 I know you've mentioned that Gonzalez, when he was writing for The Gopher, had a hard time getting to the site and just seeing things. 20:21 But what can you do? 20:24 We're just trying to do a few more things. 20:26 Like I said, so whenever I'm down there at the home games, I'll try to get that post game video up. 20:32 And maybe sometime, maybe Vego, maybe you and I can do a pregame thing where we could take questions or something like that. 20:38 Just a few different things for the fans to interact with us besides the podcast. 20:43 So we'll see how that goes. 20:46 But this weekend, Hammy, you got a date with Michigan State. 20:52 Obviously, Michigan State, one of the worst teams in the country. 20:56 Until they went to North Dakota a few weeks ago, and they got like a win and a tie. 21:00 And I think that tie even had a shootout victory. 21:02 So maybe Michigan State's not as bad as people thought, or maybe just North Dakota is not that good. 21:09 But either way, I don't remember the last time we've swept in Michigan State, no matter how good each team was. 21:15 So no matter what, it's another challenging weekend for the Gophers. 21:20 Yeah, I don't know what it was. 21:21 I mean, even back to the days of the college hockey showcase, it always seemed that, you know, I don't know if it was because Michigan played kind of that wide open style, and the next night you kind of had that defensive, you know, I don't know what it was, but it always seemed like... 21:37 A lot of ties. 21:39 Yeah, it would be a low-scoring-type game, and it just, you know, I don't know what it is. 21:44 It's if it's just the matchups and the styles, and it always seemed like there's a struggle when we play Michigan State, and it's hard to, you know, put a finger on the reason why. 21:56 So, but it's road series, you know, you kind of, I think, frankly, after some of the games we've blown this year, I think it's going to be important to kind of not necessarily steal one on the road, because I don't know that I would call a steal, but you certainly have to come through against some of these teams that maybe aren't as strong and you would expect to do a little better at. 22:18 So they're going to have to step it up, and hopefully they'll come out of this with two wins. 22:23 Well, that would be nice. 22:24 But they've only swept, I want to say, three road series in the however many years of the Big Ten, or something along those lines, Vegoe. 22:33 So, no matter what, it's on the road. 22:36 It's not easy. 22:39 Yeah, I think it's been a tough schedule for The Gophers so far, having so few home games. 22:43 But sometimes, you know, when you have a team like this, it's actually easier to play games on the road because it allows you to focus in. 22:51 And maybe that's what this group needs is, you know, a weekend away, you know, isolated from everything and just focusing on competing two nights. 23:00 Michigan State seems to have found their game. 23:02 Now, this is a pretty different roster than Michigan State's had in the past. 23:06 They've got a lot of underclassmen playing. 23:09 I think, Tom Anastas came into the season as probably being on the hottest seat of all the coaches in the conference. 23:16 And they've seemed to have found something in the last couple of weekends. 23:19 So I think it's going to be a tough, low-scoring game for Minnesota this weekend. 23:23 It's kind of going to be a stressful situation watching Shearhorn to see how he responds and how the team in front of him responds. 23:30 Because with all these inconsistencies, it's hard to see them getting more than just one win. 23:36 Wow. 23:37 Of course, Nate Well is coming up big for us. 23:40 Last time Minnesota swept a two-game series at MUN was 1978. 23:48 So it's been a while. 23:49 It's also the only Big Ten ranked Minnesota hasn't swept, you know, as a Big Ten conference. 23:55 So Michigan State hasn't had many great teams since we started the Big Ten. 24:00 And like you said, we haven't swept there in almost 30 years, Hammey. 24:08 Oh, don't be such a pessimist. 24:10 Don't be such, don't be so negative. 24:12 Hey, like I said, they need to prove it to me. 24:15 No, well, I don't, I don't disagree with you. 24:17 I mean, especially, like I said, they're not getting that consistent play in that. 24:22 I mean, even if they're not all his fault, you kind of need your goalie to, you know, once or twice a game, steal one from the other team. 24:32 And we're not getting that kind of goaltending right now. 24:36 And certainly that's, I think, like I said earlier, I think that's affecting the team to some extent. 24:41 It's almost like you're waiting for the other shooter drop. 24:43 And, you know, I mean, it's not like we're playing a super potent team this week. 24:49 So you kind of have to hope that we're going to, you know, kind of our offense brings its A game. 24:57 And if there is a little bit of a slip up in net, it's a, you know, our offense has done enough to cover up for that. 25:04 So I don't know. 25:06 I don't think it's going to be a sweep weekend, but I certainly think that they're going to get the majority of the points. 25:11 Well, it does look like they'll at least be short Smitula this weekend. 25:14 You were mentioning on Twitter there, Vegoe. 25:16 Sounds like we might not see him back until the Mariucci Classic. 25:21 Yeah. 25:21 He picked up some sort of injury at the second period on Friday night. 25:26 Didn't play in the third. 25:28 And then I think Lucia had said going into this week, they're going to see how he was going to handle it. 25:32 But then again, at availability today, Lucia said he won't make the trip this weekend, and they expect him to be back for the Classic. 25:41 Okay. 25:42 And the other player they won't have is Lindgren for Friday night's game, because he decided to go after a Buckeye with his elbow with five seconds left, and that drew a suspension from the Big Ten. 25:56 As it should. 25:56 I mean, the player's got to play a little smarter. 26:00 I mean, even if it's, if it's, you know, the referees might miss it during the game, it's going to happen. 26:05 But you know what? 26:06 Video doesn't lie. 26:07 And the Big Ten has no problems sitting a guy. 26:11 I mean, they did the same thing to Ohio State Friday night after one of their guys got called. 26:16 They thought it was too much, and it wasn't called that much during the game. 26:18 So they suspended them the next game. 26:20 So these guys get a chance. 26:22 It's pretty clear in this conference. 26:24 If you make principle point of contact with the head, you know, you're going to get suspended. 26:29 You know, they've been pretty consistent with that the last couple of years. 26:32 If you want to take a shot at a guy, skate right through them. 26:36 Yeah, I mean, because then it's a body check. 26:40 Yeah, if it's any other way, where you just clip them or you just, you know, contact the head, you're going to get suspended. 26:46 If you want to send a message in this conference and not get suspended, you skate right through the chest. 26:52 Yeah. 26:52 I'm kind of actually surprised that the refs miss it as much as they do. 26:57 No, I mean, I'm not saying it's a slam. 26:59 I'm just saying some of them don't seem like that. 27:02 You know, it's like they're kind of obvious to me. 27:06 And it's like the way that they don't call them, it's like you scratch your head. 27:12 Yeah. 27:12 Well, what can you do? 27:13 What can you do? 27:15 I think they know that they have the video review, so they know that the league is going to get it right. 27:21 So I think that kind of puts them into the hesitation, because if they do call it during the game, it's automatic. 27:28 So he gets an automatic suspension. 27:30 If they do it this way, they can at least rely on the video. 27:33 Yeah, but at times it could be a clear five minute call and they're missing it. 27:38 And that's quite a bit of power play and scoring opportunities that the other team could have. 27:42 So kind of a double edged sword there. 27:48 The next night, they've got somebody to replace them. 27:51 If somebody does it in the first period on the one night and he doesn't get that five minute call, he's still on the ice the rest of the game. 27:56 He could still score. 28:00 So, I guess it's, I mean, it's gotten to a point where, you know, football is using video replay during the game. 28:09 I mean, can the refs do that in college hockey? 28:12 Can they go take a look at something and maybe make a different call during the game? 28:18 Is that allowed under the rules? 28:20 I think the Big Ten, when they call the contact of the head, they can review it to confirm it. 28:28 But I don't think it's that way where they can just review it just to see. 28:32 I think they have to review it to confirm it. 28:34 Gotcha. 28:35 Yeah, I wasn't really sure. 28:37 I think that's maybe something they could take a look at. 28:39 I mean, because it doesn't take that long. 28:42 And really, if you want to get the call right, it's not like these games are like college football games. 28:48 These games last about two and a half hours, whereas some of these college football games are going three and a half to four hours, whereas the NFL is much quicker. 28:56 I don't think it would affect college hockey all that much if they take a minute or two to look at a potential five-minute major compared to a two-minute elbow, so we'll just have to see. 29:08 But I don't know, guys. 29:10 I can't predict sweep until they start proving something to me. 29:14 It's just going to be split city for me, and I'm guessing you guys are probably thinking split, too? 29:20 Hammeh, are you more positive than me? 29:24 Well, I think it's more like a win and a tie. 29:28 I don't know if they'll win the shootout or whatever, but that's kind of the way I'm leaning toward right now. 29:36 Biggs? 29:38 I'm leaning to a straight split this weekend. 29:42 We'll see how Lucia follows through on shortening the bench, because I feel like in a game like this against Michigan State, where Michigan State isn't exactly a high-powered scoring team, I don't think they're going to get three, four goals, but I think they'll still split. 29:59 They're going to be low-scoring three, two-type games, but it'll be interesting to see what happens with the lineup. 30:04 Who even makes the trip? 30:06 Yeah, you mentioned that. 30:07 If Lucia tries to send a message to somebody and leaves them home. 30:10 We'll see. 30:12 Yeah, but that's a little tougher to do when you already know you're down some Tula. 30:16 I mean, do you do something like bring a couple of guys who don't play that often? 30:22 Well, I think we definitely see Maroney play this weekend. 30:25 I think he brought some straight line speed and hustle to the game. 30:28 I was surprised we didn't see him in the lineup against a good skating Ohio State team. 30:33 So I think he's definitely someone who makes a return to the lineup and gets a chance. 30:36 You know, Lucia is talking pretty tough on his coach's show and at availability today. 30:41 So I think he tries to shake something up going into break. 30:44 But also Maroney is also probably not a guy who would even make the trip before. 30:49 Not if they're playing well, but when a team's not playing well, you kind of throw everything out the window. 30:53 You know, Lucia has never been a guy to shorten his bench. 30:57 But if he's actually going to do that, maybe he wants to get some guys he can just spot. 31:01 Yeah. 31:02 We'll just have to wait and see. 31:04 Just have to wait and see. 31:05 Well, we're going to keep it a little short this week, folks. 31:09 Not much to talk about because, you know, after this we're taking a month off. 31:12 I mean, Gophers don't play till the Mariucci Classic, and then after the Mariucci Classic, they have a week off. 31:17 So we're going to be gone until January 11th. 31:21 So a nice long break for you guys. 31:23 Hammy, you can catch up on all your gambling in Vegas if you want to. 31:26 So... 31:27 I won't be going there. 31:28 Oh, no more Vegas trips, huh? 31:30 Oh, that's okay. 31:32 Don't forget, you can... 31:32 Both still next year. 31:33 Before we sign off, I wanted to ask Hammy one thing. 31:36 We got a question from Big Mistake this week about if Big Ten's affected recruiting. 31:42 And when I was looking at the recruiting classes, it's still, you know, BC, BU, North Dakota, Minnesota. 31:49 And I think UMD is really the only school that's capitalized on the Big Ten. 31:53 I think they've done a really good job recruiting. 31:55 But I don't think it's had as big of an impact as people are making it to seem. 32:02 I would agree. 32:03 I don't know. 32:03 I didn't see the comment, so I don't know exactly what was said. 32:08 But I mean, from a Gopher perspective, the only thing that I think has had an impact on them to some extent is when kids are being recruited young, it's like sometimes I think they're pulling a trigger on some, on others that they probably would want to pull a trigger on at some point down the line, the kid already commits early. 32:35 And sometimes that works for teams, sometimes it doesn't. 32:38 And it's kind of like, you know, with this whole, I know that we've talked about the gentlemen's agreement kind of going out the window and stuff, but not every kid is gonna renege on an early commitment either. 32:48 So I just think that there's a lot of dynamics to it. 32:51 I think the league part gets very, very overrated. 32:54 I mean, if you look at some of the recruits that even some of the, you know, the Big Ten schools that haven't been great, you know, they still get some good recruits. 33:03 I don't think it's that at all. 33:05 I have really yet to hear of a Gopher recruiting loss where it was chalked up to, oh yeah, I didn't want to play in the Big Ten. 33:14 It's, you know, or something along those lines. 33:17 That's just kind of a lame excuse. 33:19 I think some people look at the team the last few years and, you know, in the conference and just make assumptions that, oh well, you know, the Gophers aren't as good because they're playing in a weaker conference and they just kind of make these leaping conclusions and it's like, you know, it's just never as simplistic as that. 33:38 People need to remember, it's not like the Gophers were always great, even in, you know, the WCHA. 33:43 They had, you know, some down years and whatever and didn't have the greatest talent every single solitary year. 33:49 And so, I just think that people overrate that to some extent. 33:55 Well, all right. 33:57 There you go, folks. 33:58 I mean, I don't know. 33:59 I mean, what's your opinion on that? 34:00 I mean, that's the way I think. 34:01 I mean, just from my experience talking to a lot of different people over the years, you know, the last few years, it's, I never heard like that being a deciding factor at all, particularly when you consider that the Gophers still play, you know, a decent chunk of those teams, and, you know, they play in the BCs. 34:22 They're playing in North Dakota this year. 34:24 They played Notre Dame, and Notre Dame is not always great, but they've been pretty good in recent years. 34:29 They get good players. 34:30 I mean, they're gonna be coming into the leagues. 34:32 I mean, I just think there's a lot of just lame excuses when they start pointing towards the conference. 34:38 It's just people hating on the fact that they made that change. 34:41 It's kind of like, they don't want to... 34:43 It's like, get over it. 34:45 We've talked about it a hundred times. 34:47 It's like, I don't mean to be a dick, but dude, whoever you are, get life, get over it. 34:55 It's not going back to how it was, and it never will go back that way, because these conference changes, especially for Big Ten, it just isn't gonna go back. 35:03 And I'm not saying they have to like it, but it's kind of like when you're searching for excuses for why things aren't this way or that way or whatever. 35:12 I mean, I would be much more willing to go with early commitments and missed out on this kid, and the coaches made a wrong choice on that kid. 35:23 But to say it has something to do with the conference, to me, is ridiculous. 35:28 Well, I think one thing that does have to do with the conference, and we saw it this past week in Vego, 3,000 no-shows for Friday Night's Game. 35:39 Yeah, that's been a problem since they moved to the conference, and they did the scholarship seeding. 35:44 I mean, I think it's something the university needs to look at. 35:47 Under 5,400 scanned tickets, said Friday evening, and there was, I want to say 8,800 or so tickets sold. 35:59 So that's not prices doing this. 36:03 That's 3,000 people who paid for tickets and didn't show up. 36:08 I mean, you've been doing your article the past two years, and I want to say 5,500 is the first time we've gone below 6,000, at least for a league game. 36:17 So it... 36:18 Here's the question that I have, though. 36:20 It's like, okay, prices, it's like, okay, yeah, they sold the tickets. 36:25 But I also think that when your average fan that isn't going to be paying that kind of coin, who is a lot more likely to be a diehard that's going to show up to all the games, but they just can't afford it, you know what I mean? 36:39 It's like, if you're just going to throw, because you're, you know, you make money and you're a corporate and you're, you know, or whatever, and you're just buying the tickets for various reasons, oh, we'll renew next year. 36:51 Well, you know, it's not because you're passionate about the team, but it's just like, oh, we'll renew, whatever. 36:56 And to me, the average fan that would be really passionate about the team and fill the stand and be more likely to fill the stands. 37:06 Those are the ones that the pricing really does affect, in my opinion. 37:10 Well, there's no doubt that the old blue collar fan has been priced out of Gopher Hockey, whether we like it or not. 37:17 It's just a fact. 37:19 It's expensive. 37:21 It's not the same audience as it was before. 37:22 And like you said, it probably is something to that hammy where, you know, we get these corporate tickets or people who just, we can afford it. 37:30 I don't, it's Ohio State, let's not go. 37:32 I mean, but jeez, that's, Vegoe, it's, you know, it's obviously affecting, it's slowly affecting the bottom line because they are selling less tickets. 37:41 But you know Lucia cannot stand it when it's that empty for a game. 37:47 Yeah, it is kind of hard to understand, you know, it's like a spiteful apathy that people have with this program right now. 37:54 Whatever it is that they choose to have them get turned off, whether it's the Big Ten or it's the scholarship seeding or the prices or Coach Lucia, you know, these people are just picking that reason not to show up or not support the program. 38:09 I mean, I don't even know if it's so much a cost factor because, you know, NFL games are not cheap. 38:15 And that's a pretty blue collar group as well. 38:18 And they still show up, they still buy tickets. 38:21 So I don't know what the answer is. 38:23 You know, we had somebody asking us what's the hypothetical next coach for the Gophers. 38:28 I don't think that's necessarily going to help, but you never know. 38:31 I mean, these people are just not going out of spite. 38:35 And it's hard to fathom. 38:37 I believe it would help. 38:40 I'm not a Lucia hater. 38:42 I mean, I really appreciate what he has done for the program over the years. 38:47 I do think, and I even recall back in the day, him kind of talking about, you know, a coach having a shelf life, you know, at a particular position. 38:57 And I really do believe that. 38:58 I mean, I think you can say that from a fan perspective. 39:01 You can say that from, you know, a player perspective to some degree. 39:05 I do believe that there does come a time where the messages and the passion becomes stale for one reason or another, and that has to do with the leadership. 39:20 And you can't tell me, for instance, that, I mean, look at Wisconsin. 39:24 You know, Lucia was around a lot longer than Eves, and granted, the Gophers never sunk to the levels that Wisconsin did. 39:30 But, you know, they're already doing a lot, lot better for them, you know, compared to recent years in recruiting. 39:36 And I think that there's a lot more momentum in a positive way for that school. 39:41 And you can't tell me that that would not make an impact, at least to some extent, moving forward from a fan perspective and feeling passionate about things. 39:53 And, you know, we see it in NFL and other sports, all the time, where coaching change tends to just light a fire under the team and the fan base. 40:04 I think this could be a time. 40:06 I've been talking for a few years that I think they need to have some kind of a succession plan in mind. 40:12 And I know that, of course, the athletic department being an upheaval in recent years probably didn't help. 40:16 But I do think that time. 40:18 What is it not an upheaval? 40:20 I mean, there are always so many problems with that athletic department. 40:23 It's getting ridiculous. 40:26 I mean, obviously, there was a story this weekend. 40:28 It was at Sky Guns talking about lack of people showing up, you know, for Gopher basketball, Gopher football, the Timberwolves. 40:38 I don't know if this town is a bandwagon town these days, but it's happening. 40:43 It's not just hockey, but obviously we talk about hockey because of the way we're seeing it. 40:47 And then when we see 3,000 no shows, it is a bit scary. 40:52 So we'll just have to wait and see. 40:56 Any final thoughts, boys? 40:59 Hammy, good to go? 41:01 Man, I've vented enough tonight. 41:05 Well, enjoy the break and try to catch the World Juniors. 41:08 There will be a lot of good talent. 41:10 This year's US team has part of the best group of forwards they've ever had. 41:13 It's always such great hockey. 41:15 Oh, it's so entertaining. 41:17 For Novak to be left off that list is pretty impressive. 41:21 Yeah. 41:22 Well, what can you do? 41:25 Didn't they say somebody put Eastern bias or something like that? 41:28 Yeah, I don't buy that at all. 41:30 They have a great group of forwards. 41:32 They say who's coaching and everything. 41:36 It is what it is, people. 41:38 I mean, considering how many great players have played on those teams and how bad those teams were in the 90s and whatnot, just count your blessings how good USA Hockey has been for the past 10 years because before that, it was awful, folks. 41:56 Nobody cared about it. 41:57 Nobody watched it. 41:59 But now it's a big deal. 42:00 So make sure you watch it. 42:02 That's just after Christmas, isn't it, Veegs? 42:04 Yep. 42:04 It starts the 26th and it's the best hockey that you'll be able to watch. 42:08 A lot of talent, a lot of mistakes, and it's fun to watch. 42:11 And it's in Toronto, so these times won't be goofy. 42:15 So make sure you pay attention to it. 42:17 A lot of college kids out there, a lot of future of the NHL right there. 42:22 So make sure you tune in for that. 42:24 But like I said, we're going to be off for a month. 42:26 We're going to come back in January 11th. 42:29 We'll recap Mary G Classic and Preview Michigan. 42:34 Remember, you can follow Vegoe at E Vegoe on Twitter and at Hammy Hockey for Hammy on Twitter. 42:40 Thanks for listening, gang. 42:42 We will see you next year. 43:10 All right. 43:11 I guess you've had some inconsistency in your D this season. 43:13 Is that sort of, in effect, just the whole team playing together and part of Nick Seeler and Mike Brudson? 43:20 Well, I mean, obviously, you miss a couple of guys, but we do have five guys that play on a regular basis. 43:26 I think with Jack Glover getting to have his two surgeries, it's been a process getting his game back. 43:33 But we've been consistently inconsistent. 43:35 I think that's fair to say, and until we take a step in the right direction from a defensive standpoint, then we'll continue to win and lose the game. 43:43 Have you been working with Eric on his game-by-game trying to get that? 43:47 Yeah, and you know what, to Eric's defense on Saturday, and that was how we began our video, I mean, here you go. 43:54 He had played very well against Boston College, played very well Friday night, really gave up two, because we kicked the one that he had out from him, and then we ended up putting in our own net. 44:04 You know, so he did his job, and then, okay, let's start the game on Saturday. 44:07 Here you go. 44:07 Let's have a tap in off the side of the net for your first shot, and oh, by the way, let's have 160 foot two on one for your second shot. 44:14 I mean, it's just, that's on us, and we've got to be better, and we've got to be smarter. 44:19 What do you like out of his play so far, and his really dominant game so far this season? 44:22 You know, when he's on top of his crease, he's aggressive, he's making that first save, and you can just see it. 44:29 You can see it in his eyes, and you know, obviously we need that night in and night out, but you know, we have to do a better job in front of him at times, too, because you know, early in the year, we weren't, you know, when we've played well, we're not giving up a bunch of odd man rushes, and then at times, we just, you know, fall asleep, and it's just, that's our team this year. 44:46 You know, we can play two good periods or a good game, and then we're not as good the next night, and then, you know, we get beat, and it's like, okay, now coaches are up their rear ends again, and okay, they'll respond, and then it's relaxed. 45:00 So, you know, it's frustrating. 45:03 You said you were going to burn the tape, and others try to forget the Saturday night game, but did you give the boys a few extra laps or anything Monday? 45:12 No, you know what, we broke down the video. 45:15 There's some areas that I wanted to show them, and, you know, I showed them how we started the game the first two or three minutes. 45:22 We showed them, you know, some turnovers that absolutely kill our game. 45:25 We showed them some positive with the D jumping up into play and making plays in the offensive zone. 45:32 And so it was, you know, it was business as usual. 45:35 You know, you have a couple of those bullets during the course of the season. 45:39 We have one week left to go against Michigan State. 45:42 We did lose to a good team. 45:44 You know, the positive for me last weekend, we only gave up 47 shots in the weekend. 45:48 You know, that's 23, 24 a game. 45:50 So we're sitting good in that area. 45:53 We've done a pretty good job, but it's that consistency of defending and being smart and layering the D and not giving up odd man rushes. 46:01 And that's that mental approach too. 46:04 And that's, I told them on the ice today, I mean, you can make a mistake being aggressive. 46:08 I can live with that. 46:10 I don't like the mental mistakes. 46:12 And, you know, I don't like if, you know, we get beat on some loose pucks or getting beat on around the front of our net because we're not competing to the whistle. 46:23 How would you describe the play Tommy Novak so far this year? 46:26 Kind of like our team. 46:27 You know, I think that Tommy's a good player and he's, you know, offensively, he's put up, you know, some numbers are improving. 46:33 So from that element, that's a real positive. 46:36 I think his game has been a little bit in and out. 46:39 I think that there's more there. 46:41 And that's where we're trying to demand, you know, I think he has the ability to go to another level. 46:48 I know the lines are kind of scrambled because of a few misconducts, but with Tyler Sheehy, Justin Kloos, that rim pit, is that why you're going to kind of keep together? 46:56 Well, I mean, those guys are going to get their fair share of advice this weekend, I can promise you that, whether it's together or moving some guys around. 47:06 We know Smetula is out. 47:08 He's not going to play this weekend. 47:09 So it forces us to move some things around. 47:13 We've got some guys that quite frankly have to play better up front. 47:17 You know, when you're sitting with zero or one goal and not many assist five on five, well, it's December. 47:22 It's time. 47:23 And, you know, I think that whether it's Vinny's having a really good year and, you know, obviously Rem seems like he's really coming on now in the last week or two, which is real positive for us. 47:34 So I think you're going to find that when a puck top drops Friday, you know, what the line chart looks like, by the 14 minute mark, it might not look the same. 47:44 And whether it's double shifting some guys that are playing good hockey and we got to figure out who we're even taking on the trip. 47:52 I mean, I haven't even decided who's going. 47:55 I know which 70 are going, but I don't know, you know, what forwards are going to go yet. 47:59 We'll talk about it some more. 48:01 Could you expand a little bit more on Pidlick and what you're seeing in this game? 48:03 I think we're seeing that explosive in the back. 48:06 You know, he had that injury and it took him a while. 48:08 You know, we missed him that week, but I start to see his confidence growing. 48:14 And he looks like he's moving in the right direction right now. 48:19 I mean, he's a very good hockey player. 48:21 And when he's playing aggressive and his speed, that's when he becomes a difference maker. 48:27 And we've seen at times that explosiveness on a 50-50 puck where it's like, boom, he just has another gear that most people don't have. 48:36 Last year's USHL stats were pretty equal between goals and assists. 48:40 And right now, he's lopsided. 48:41 He's assists first and goals last. 48:43 Yeah, and I think that's how he's playing a little bit right now. 48:46 He's deferring. 48:48 And I don't want him to defer. 48:49 He's got a really good shot. 48:50 I mean, he's arguably got as good a shot as anybody in our team. 48:53 And I'd like to see him getting three or four shots a game. 48:56 And if he starts getting his shot numbers up, he's going to score goals. 48:59 And so even though that line's been great and other guys are doing the scoring, he's got to be a little bit more selfish at times. 49:09 About the same kind of question about Novak. 49:12 Yeah, I think Tommy's more always going to be that type of player. 49:15 You know, Tommy's shot is improving, but I think that his mentality has always been his whole career is going to be a sentiment that's dishing to his wings. 49:26 And that's why he was so good with Hudson last year because, you know, he's a left-handed center, dishing to Hudson, and Hudson had his best years. 49:33 And, you know, that's because I think Tommy did a good job of getting him some pucks in areas where he could score. 49:40 Just to expand on a comment you said earlier about if some of the guys aren't going, you'd change things up a little bit. 49:46 Would you get down to like three lines or two lines even? 49:49 Well, it's hard. 49:50 I mean, you can play nine forwards in 4D. 49:52 I know that. 49:55 You know, you don't have to play 6D on the penalty kill. 49:57 I mean, if you're a defensive, you probably like playing five. 50:04 That's probably the perfect number to play. 50:08 And if we have to shorten the bench, we're going to shorten the bench. 50:11 I mean, we've been pretty equitable and we've played a lot of four lines. 50:16 But we have to start to get some production from some guys too. 50:19 And they have to have that mentality that if I'm not scoring, what am I bringing to the table? 50:24 Am I going to be physical? 50:25 Am I going to be willing to block a shot? 50:26 I mean, I think those are some areas that we're disappointed in. 50:29 I mean, this is a poor shot blocking team, not by our D. 50:33 I mean, there's, I know there's a handful of guys that will block a shot. 50:36 And I know there's a lot of other guys that will conveniently get out of the way. 50:40 And that's not the mentality that we have to have. 50:42 So, you can tell them are a little agitated. 50:50 Do you have a longer timetable on Suntula? 50:53 Well, we anticipate that he'll be ready to go when he comes back after Christmas. 50:58 The IIHF preliminary USA roster just came out, and a couple of the guys were selected for the team. 51:05 So do you think playing on an international level will affect the team dynamically? 51:08 No, I mean, we're so used to that, that, you know, if Lindgren makes a team, I think he's got a really good shot for the dynamic that he brings with that toughness and ruggedness on the back end. 51:19 You know, Friday night we'll have the six that will be playing when he's gone. 51:23 So, you know, it's nothing unusual for our program. 51:25 And, you know, we're happy for anybody that gets selected. 51:28 We've had a large number of kids go play internationally, and we've never held kids back. 51:32 I think it's a tremendous honor anytime you can play for your country. 51:36 And Herb Brooks did play here and coach here. 51:39 Pardon? 51:39 Herb Brooks did play and coach here. 51:41 Yes, he did, yeah. 51:44 What was the mindset on the ice for practice this week? 51:47 I got to get to work. 51:49 We got a big series here, last one before Christmas. 51:52 You can close it out feeling okay about our first half, or you can kind of be a little bit down going in a break. 51:56 So, we just got to play well and get ready to put ourselves in a good position and have a good second half. 52:02 Tough to shake that Saturday night game out of your memory? 52:05 We play it Saturday? 52:07 No, yeah. 52:09 Yeah, obviously, you come to the ring Monday and you're pissed off and ready to battle. 52:15 So, it's been high energy, really competitive practice. 52:19 So, I think we took it as much as we could positively from it, but we also had some pretty informal video sessions that guys really had to see what we looked like out there on that night. 52:34 So, it's been good and we just got to not let it happen ever again. 52:40 Did they work hard on the ice? 52:42 Yeah, I mean, we work pretty hard every day and as far as our practice are really competitive and we skate a lot and they're tough, so it definitely a little notch up this week, but it's been good tempo. 52:56 I know you're giving a great effort every game, but how do you relay that and get the rest of the guys all going the same way as a captain? 53:03 Yeah, that's obviously a little bit of a challenge, but you just kind of got to get the message across. 53:09 You hope that you inspire guys, I guess, by your effort both on the ice and through your talking to them and just showing how much it matters to this program and what we do on the ice. 53:22 So it will continue to be an important thing for us older guys to do and hopefully everyone gets on board and I think we can do something good here. 53:31 You guys were really good at Face Off at the beginning of the year. 53:33 The last few weekends has been the other teams got in the dot. 53:35 Has that been an area of practice this week, trying to get back, be better at Face Off? 53:39 Yeah, obviously only three or four guys do it. 53:43 The wings can help on lost draws and tie-ups, but so us center men take draws after practice, but some of it, there's not really an excuse for last swing, but against like Mankato, their new rest, the WSHA rest, when we were down there, we just got a rinse, and then when we went out east, you know, it seems that there's different, the different rest have different rules as far as guys grounding their stick before draws and stuff like that, which is a little bit of an excuse, but we for sure need to be better. 54:13 They're really important, and if you start with the puck every Face Off, your team's gonna have a lot better success to get chances. 54:21 Thoughts about goals ending? 54:24 Eric's our guy. 54:27 I'm looking forward to how he plays this Friday and how he plays the rest of the season. 54:32 He's a confident kid, and we have complete trust in him. 54:39 I don't know if the right word is amazing. 54:41 You pick a word, the difference between him from last year to this year, and how big of a surprise is it to see that he's not up to what he was doing last year? 54:49 Um, you know, I think it can happen. 54:54 Last year, before Christmas, I was terrible. 54:56 And then, you know, I think it's one thing I can for sure relate to him, and then I, you know, found my game in the second half last year. 55:04 So, you know, it just happens. 55:05 You go, you know, you lose a little confidence here, a little confidence there, and then you're not at your best. 55:09 But he's going to be good. 55:12 We trust him. 55:13 Everyone goes through rough patches, and we got, I'm pretty confident we got the best goal in the conference, so we look forward to him bouncing back as our whole team needs to. 55:23 What's about Michigan State? 55:25 They've been playing really well. 55:26 I was late. 55:27 They went in North Dakota and got a win and a split in Ralph a couple weeks ago, so they're a good team. 55:35 I think they had a slow start. 55:36 I think they're a little bit of a younger team, if I remember right. 55:40 But they're going to play hard. 55:41 It's hard to win two games in that barn. 55:43 I think we split the last three times since I've been here. 55:47 We split there every time, so it's going to be a challenge to get two wins out there, but we've got to go there with that one goal. 55:54 I'm going to jinx things. 55:55 Do you miss not having had a shootout in a year and a half? 55:59 I don't know. 56:00 I don't know what... 56:02 I can't remember what they're like even. 56:04 I think I've only went once or twice in college and got stoned both times, so it's probably not a big changer for me personally. 56:12 But I don't know. 56:14 I guess we'll have to see once we get to one. 56:15 Hopefully we don't need to get to one this weekend and can save those for a second half or something. 56:21 I don't miss them.