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 Cammie, Vego and your host, Jupiter. 0:40 Good evening, and welcome to another Gopher Puck Live Podcast. 0:45 This is show number 103. 0:48 Boy, we are getting up there after breaking that 100 barrier. 0:52 Well, tonight, we have a guest on our show tonight, and the guest just happens to be the sponsor of The GPL Podcast from Vintage Minnesota Hockey, Kyle Oen. 1:03 Kyle, thanks for joining us. 1:06 Hey, thanks for having me tonight. 1:07 I'm glad to be here. 1:09 Well, trust us, we're glad that you and Vintage sponsors our podcast, and we really appreciate that. 1:17 We've had you on for just about a season and a half now, and it's been going really great. 1:22 We really appreciate you supporting our podcast. 1:26 Not a problem. 1:26 Yeah, you guys, it's fun to hear, tune in, listen to you guys. 1:30 I know we talked earlier, Jupe, and sadly, kind of shame on me. 1:34 I don't tune in every week, busy at the rink with my boys, coaching my Pee-wee team this year. 1:39 So you can imagine I'm quite busy. 1:43 So yeah, I love what you guys do and supporting you guys. 1:46 You guys are awesome. 1:48 Well, obviously, as a sponsor, you've got this great, you've got Vintage Minnesota Hockey, and obviously, you guys cover all the history from the high schools to the Pee-wees to the college teams, not just Minnesota, all the college teams, the minor league teams, the pro teams that we've had here over the history. 2:08 Where did all this come from? 2:10 How did all this start? 2:12 Great question. 2:13 I know that I've been interviewed during the state tourney, we've been there and shooting photos. 2:19 I've always been, I guess, kind of looking back in high school and whatnot, I've always been kind of a history buff. 2:24 And just at the time, I was back in the Pride of Nice days when we had the skates, and when GPL took over and we used to all skate together, it kind of evolved, I guess, kind of morphed into the jersey stuff that Ryan Thompson and I used to do together. 2:47 We used to be kind of a group jersey order thing. 2:50 And then I know that you got your more close ties with the U of M and then kind of stopped doing the jersey orders through GPL at that time. 2:59 So I thought, you know, gosh, this would be a great time to just kind of have an all encompassing hockey history website and still continue on with the jerseys. 3:07 So really to make a long story short, it's like I learned about licensing overnight, about getting licensed jerseys. 3:14 You learn pretty quick about that, don't you? 3:17 Yeah, exactly. 3:18 When you get in a call from the attorney from the the collegiate licensing company, it's you learn quite quick that, oh boy, I guess this is a little bit bigger than than just some group orders through POI. 3:30 So, but you know, the thing that I'm really passionate about is the hockey history. 3:34 To be honest, I mean, I really could close the storefront tomorrow. 3:37 It's really the storefront is really what kind of pays for the day to day operation, the bills, so to speak. 3:45 But, you know, the hockey community is so small. 3:48 I mean, helping the guys out, you know, at Let's Put Hockey. 3:52 We're doing some stuff together at Minnesota Wild. 3:54 The FSN, you know, they contact me for various photos I've shot, history that's on my website that they're going to use during the Hockey Day Minnesota broadcast live. 4:03 It's just, you know, everybody's kind of doing their thing, including the new state of hockey folks that they've reached out to me, assist them in some stuff that they're doing. 4:12 But it's, you know, like everybody says, it's like, you know, the hockey community is so small, everybody kind of rallies around, and we're all really, you know, for the love of the game. 4:20 And, I mean, obviously we're in the greatest state and supporting the greatest sport. 4:25 And yeah, it's pretty fun. 4:27 Well, I know that the jersey thing with you and Tom, so obviously started well over 10 years ago, back in the early, mid 2000s. 4:36 I've got a few of those jerseys. 4:38 Veegs, I think you've got a couple jerseys too, don't you? 4:41 Yep, I've got a couple of the old style Gopher jerseys, which are fun to wear when you go on the road. 4:47 They definitely are. 4:48 You know, I saw that picture at 8 year anniversary of you and Lindy and Blue Liner up at St. 4:55 Cloud, and you were wearing one of those old gold Gopher hockey jerseys. 4:59 So I've seen you in them a few times. 5:03 Yep, that one is one of my favorites. 5:04 I was glad to see the Gophers kind of go that style for their outdoor game. 5:09 You know, Kyle, back when you and Tom were doing this, it was funny how you guys came up with the Gophers riding across the jersey, just as Gophers, you know, the white ones. 5:22 And funny, the next season, the Gophers had a very similar jersey. 5:26 And they've used that a lot ever since. 5:31 Is the U kind of copying you now? 5:35 I don't know if I'd go that far, but really the big thing, too, I mean, I was a season ticket holder back when I was a student at the U of M. 5:42 And obviously, you walk around Marriott Arena and be in a history buff, you see the old photos, and kind of Vintage has obviously been kind of in for many years. 5:53 People wearing old throwback t-shirts, whether it be a baseball team or a collegiate team. 5:59 And I always thought, gosh, it'd be cool to make these jerseys. 6:03 There's gotta be a fan base for people that would really love to wear these because the old shirts are just cool. 6:11 And, you know, that's kind of the thing. 6:12 You know, I put together that Minnesota Jersey project, which was, you know, started, worked with my graphic designer, which is on our site under the history tab. 6:21 And got a lot of help with the different universities. 6:24 It kind of caught on after we did the, you know, the North Stars, Minnesota Moose, that started in with the collegiate teams. 6:30 And if you look, it's, you know, got the chronological photos that are in high res. 6:34 You can look through all the way back to the early 20s for the golfers. 6:37 And, you know, and it took a quite a bit of research through the old, you know, the hardcover Gopher yearbooks to put all those together in photo format. 6:47 But yeah, some, you know, since I kind of put all that stuff together, the golfers, you know, they wore, you know, the early 60s shirt in the Hockey City Classic in Chicago. 6:58 And then the 1953 old jersey they wore at the Hockey City Classic here at the U as well, which was fun for me to see, I guess. 7:07 Well, you're not just Vintage Minnesota Hockey. 7:11 You're kind of a Rube like us. 7:12 You've been a Gopher fan forever, had had tickets, student tickets. 7:17 I mean, I've seen you down at Mary Eachie quite a few times. 7:21 So we're not going to just talk Vintage tonight. 7:23 You're Rube just like us. 7:24 We're going to include you in the conversation. 7:28 Because I know you love the Gophers just as much as we do. 7:30 So I hope you don't mind. 7:32 We're going to include you in our conversation tonight. 7:36 Absolutely. 7:36 That would be great. 7:37 So wait a minute now. 7:38 So what was your pride on ice nickname then? 7:43 It was actually Forehead. 7:44 So with the number four, that was kind of my high school nickname. 7:48 I think I remember that. 7:48 So I... 7:49 Hammy, you sound kind of far away. 7:51 Can you get a little closer to the microphone? 7:54 Okay. 7:55 There we go. 7:55 That's better. 7:58 You remember Forehead, don't you, Hammy? 8:01 Yes, I do. 8:01 I mean, it's funny because I remember things that you slip through your mind over the years and then you hear nicknames or whatever and you're like, okay, yeah, I remember that. 8:12 So, yep. 8:13 It's kind of similar to, you know, seeing Roden's rule at Mariucci a few weeks ago. 8:16 I mean, he hasn't participated online in years, but it's kind of one of those old names we used to see on POI years ago. 8:24 And that's another person I'd love to get on the podcast is either Kyle or Matt Barron. 8:32 One of the two. 8:33 Those guys went to my high school, you know. 8:34 I know. 8:35 They're Hopkins guys. 8:36 They were younger than I was. 8:38 They were my age. 8:40 I know Matt has moved on and he's, I think he's out on the East Coast now, but I think it would be great to at least get Kyle on because I know he's still local. 8:50 People might know him as Sal Paradise. 8:54 You know, he kind of started this all for all of us. 8:57 I mean, for you, Forehead, I mean, for Hammy, for Vego, I mean, for all of us, that's kind of where it all started. 9:03 So I might try to get him on the podcast sometime and just kind of reminisce about the old days. 9:09 But that was before the message boards really took off. 9:13 I mean, I think back at that time, it was pretty much just the USCHO site and maybe what, like Hockey L or whatever it was. 9:22 And then pretty much Pride on Ice, I think, wasn't it? 9:25 I think that was the first team college hockey board that I ever remembered seeing. 9:30 Definitely Pride on Ice and at the time USCHO, they both wrote their own software for the message board. 9:38 That's right. 9:39 I mean, I know that the USCHO in the late 90s moved over to something a little more robust, but at prideonice.com, it was all custom software that he wrote. 9:50 So that's one reason why he loved it because it was kind of a geeky thing. 9:54 Well, guys, we need to talk some hockey here. 9:56 I mean, this past weekend, Michigan came to town, the Gopher swept. 10:02 I mean, all is going well for the Gopher Vegoe. 10:05 I mean, a 5-2 victory, a 4-2 victory. 10:08 I mean, we'll talk about the injury in a little bit here, but let's start off with that 5-2 victory Friday night. 10:12 It was kind of nice to see Mr. 10:14 Pitlick get on the scoreboard again. 10:17 Yeah, everybody's been harping on Pitlick to shoot the puck more and be more of a threat offensively. 10:23 I think he acted on that message this weekend. 10:26 Michigan really came to Mariucci and I think they got lost on the big ice on Friday night. 10:31 The Gophers had plenty of time in the offensive zone. 10:33 They just dominated possession, shots. 10:37 They had 40 plus and gave up, I think, around 20. 10:41 So it was a pretty impressive display for the Gophers against a kind of a name program which was good to see. 10:49 This stretch of six games where they've won all the contests. 10:54 They're not playing the cream of the crop and they've taken care of business, which is good to see because I think the past couple of years, we've seen the Gophers look past some of these games and drop them. 11:06 They didn't do that either night. 11:09 They scored goals in the last minutes of the periods. 11:12 They generated lots of chances. 11:13 They didn't give away too many odd man rushes, so it was good to see. 11:18 And boy, that first goal on Friday night by Pidlick, another snipe shot reminiscent of what he did against Alaska Anchorage in the first series of the year. 11:27 And like you said, Coach Lucia has been saying this kid's got to shoot because he's got skill. 11:33 And he did and he finally got on the board again because I think, what was that, his third or fourth goal, Veegs, something like that? 11:41 Third goal. 11:41 Third goal. 11:42 Yeah, there you go. 11:43 Third goal. 11:44 Vinnie Lettieri today talked about that a little bit. 11:46 As he grew up, his dad, his grandpa, his coaches told him to shoot more, shoot more. 11:53 I think as a young player, it takes a little bit of time to assert yourself. 11:57 Not everybody's going to be like Thomas Vannick and Phil Kessel and just shoot the heck out of the puck right away. 12:03 So I think these guys have to learn to assert themselves. 12:06 So I think if Pitlick can start taking more shots and not deferring so much to his linemates, he's going to get plenty of chances. 12:14 He's going to stick with Klus and Sheehy, I think, for the entire stretch here, even with the injury to Novak. 12:19 So he's going to get a lot of offense in his own time and a lot of chances to score goals. 12:24 Kyle, I know you're more of a family man now, but did you get a chance to watch the Gophers this past weekend? 12:31 You know, to be brutally honest, I actually didn't get to tune in and watch any of the games. 12:37 You're going to lose your cred, man. 12:38 You're going to lose your cred. 12:40 I know. 12:41 It's terrible. 12:43 It's fun to hear the names, though. 12:44 I know that years back, I had interviewed Lance Pitlick, and that's back when his boy was little. 12:50 And he was saying that, boy, my son is a 14-year-old, and he has better hands than I did all my years of playing pro hockey. 12:58 And he was serious, and kind of just had taken off with his Sweet Hands hockey product that Lance invented as well. 13:06 So it's fun to see these kids grow up, and why I have so much passion for the state tournament, and seeing these kids move on to the college yet, and then pro level, yeah, it's pretty neat. 13:19 But yeah, I know, sieve on me with my Rube credit. 13:24 I'm kind of one of those Gopher guys where it's like, you know, I'm kind of the, I heard WCHA days where it's, you know, the whole big thing, and boy, we could sit and talk about that forever, and it's fun to see the Gophers doing well. 13:41 But yeah, it's unfortunately, I didn't tune in this weekend. 13:44 Not a big deal. 13:46 Hammy, Saturday night, Vinnie Lettieri show. 13:51 Yeah, it was kind of like all over, you know, empty netter, you got a penalty shot, you know, it was kind of an interesting night to get, interesting ways to get a hat trick. 14:01 You know, the other thing that pops into my head about that night is somehow we got to figure out a way to keep Shearhorn in net because he doesn't know for the life of him how to handle a puck and not get a goal scored on him. 14:12 What is that, like the second week or in a row or whatever? 14:14 I can't remember what it is, but it's like, as soon as he handles the puck, he shoots it to the wrong spot and then he doesn't get back in position and he's not ready for the shot. 14:25 And so that kind of gave him life, you know, and that's, that game kind of was closer than it should have been. 14:32 That kind of gave them some momentum and fortunately we pulled it out though. 14:36 Well yes, we pulled it out. 14:37 It was obviously a good weekend getting the six points, but Hammey, like we saw, you know, Novak gets on the board, finally gets off the schneid, hadn't scored in a while. 14:47 He scores on Friday night. 14:49 Saturday night a little quieter, but at the end of the game, an unfortunate collision with a Michigan player, and Novak is gone for the season. 14:58 So that's a pretty big blow to this team, don't you think? 15:02 It is. 15:03 I mean, he's obviously a very talented player and he helps, you know, whenever you lose a guy out of the top six, you know, so it's like, it's certainly gonna hurt. 15:11 I, like I said, I'm GPL. 15:14 It's not like we're replacing a Hobie candidate, so I don't think it's like devastating. 15:21 And, you know, he's kind of been a little inconsistent. 15:23 So I think that, but he's certainly got a lot of talent and upside and I expect him to be, you know, a good player for the next couple of years once he recovers. 15:32 But it's really gonna be a situation where I think we're gonna have to see some guys step up. 15:37 It's not gonna be just one guy. 15:38 I think it's gonna have to be a little bit from different players that, you know, we mentioned earlier with Pitlick being, you know, one of those guys that you expect to kind of step up. 15:47 And he, you know, he's got so much talent and ability. 15:51 He proved it in the junior hockey last year at USHL. 15:54 And he can shoot the puck. 15:55 We've seen that a few times already. 15:57 And we just need him to keep pulling the trigger and making things happen. 16:01 And him and a few other guys are just gonna have to try to help make up for what Novak would have done if he had been healthy. 16:09 Veegs, you're on media day today. 16:11 Obviously Novak had just kind of gotten out to Schneid, scored Friday, was starting to look and turn around, gets injured Saturday. 16:17 What did Lucia and even Lettieri talk about today at media day about Novak? 16:24 Just that they're gonna miss him. 16:26 He was one of their stronger centers in the lineup. 16:29 And so they're gonna have to make an adjustment putting Vinny back at center. 16:33 So I think Vinny had benefited playing wing, a little less responsibility, kind of enabled him to drive the net a little bit more and create more scoring. 16:43 He's gonna have to go back to center. 16:45 And typically under Don Lucia, the centers have to do a little more work defensively playing all 200 feet. 16:51 So it could be a challenge for Vinny to keep up his goal scoring as they go forward. 16:55 Because this team doesn't have a lot of right-handed players and it doesn't have a ton of center depth. 17:01 So it'll be a little stretch for their lineup to have them move over. 17:05 Well, the good thing is that they did get the sweep. 17:09 And that's kind of the biggest story out of the weekend. 17:11 Get the sweep, keep moving. 17:13 And obviously we're going to be moving into next weekend in a little bit here. 17:16 But if you have any questions for us and you're on Twitter, just if you're listening live, just tweet us. 17:21 Use GPL Podcast, ask a question and we'll try to get to it. 17:27 Nate wants you to kind of re-investigate your own question for his podcast. 17:35 Veegs, does Michigan inch your Gophers because they're sad, they can't win a regular season title? 17:41 Was that your question to him? 17:44 Yeah, that was my question for Nate yesterday. 17:46 Obviously it's an issue for them because at the end of the game, it's not an accident that they're kind of going hard into guys all the time. 17:54 The Secretary Dank's hit was probably preventable, an open ice hit, it was a little bit random, but he didn't back away. 18:02 He went right through Novak's knee. 18:05 And if he sees it coming and kind of goes to the side, it's not a big hit. 18:09 Michael Downing, he went after numerous Gophers before at the end of the series. 18:15 Justin Cluse took a shot at Michigan at the end of the season last year, saying if it was easy to win a Big Ten title, Michigan would have won by now. 18:26 And, you know, there was kind of a definitely a sketchy hit on Smetula. 18:31 He could have avoided injury Saturday night as well, don't you think, Veegs? 18:37 Yep. 18:37 I mean, at the end of these games with Michigan, Wisconsin, you know, Gophers have to keep their head up because it looks like these teams aren't afraid to take runs at the end of the game. 18:48 That's definitely not a good thing. 18:49 So, that was Vegoe's question for Nate that we rehashed for this podcast. 18:54 The Zmatula one was a joke. 18:57 I'm serious, dude. 18:58 That was the cheap one for me. 19:00 I mean, the Novak was unfortunate, but the one on Zmatula, that one, man, that should have definitely been a penalty, a serious penalty. 19:09 They didn't call anything, did they? 19:10 I don't think so. 19:11 I don't remember it being... 19:12 I don't recall either. 19:15 Another question from, this is from State of Hockey. 19:18 He's probably more towards you, Hammeh. 19:20 Is the hype for Middlestead too big for him to live up to? 19:25 I mean, this kid is... 19:26 Well, I think it's one of those things where it depends on the fan and the expectations. 19:30 I mean, I think that he could have played this year and been a contributor. 19:38 But I mean, you know, it just really depends on... 19:40 I think we've all kind of put on the shelf a little bit of the hype after the Dave Spiehar stuff. 19:49 And obviously, we've seen more recently with Cammie. 19:54 You know, you kind of have to be a little cautious, even if they do great, you know, on a level before it, you just can't be too... 20:03 Get too ahead of yourself with the hype. 20:05 I think Middleset probably has a lot better of an opportunity simply because he's a bigger player, he's very fast, good goal scorer. 20:15 You know, he's got a lot of the traits that he should be able to make it to the pro level, whereas a Cammie or a Spearhar, for instance, those are guys that maybe didn't have some of the same physical gifts, but I still think that it just comes down to the fan, you know. 20:33 I mean, some fans, they live and die by the stat sheets and what they see in the... 20:39 I mean, seriously, they've seen it. 20:41 I mean, some people think like, oh my God, he's not like scoring at two points a game clip or this or that or whatever, so he must be not as good or, I mean, you can't please everybody. 20:53 So, I mean, hopefully the players will just come in and play the role that their, you know, the coaches feel is best suited for them and contribute and hopefully that, you know, help lead the team to something significant. 21:04 But as far as, you know, point totals and all that, I mean, it just depends on what your expectation is as an individual fan. 21:14 Veegs, any thought on the hype for Millstead? 21:18 Well, I just think unlike some of the players who come in with a lot of hype, Millstead is going to be a top-six center for this team. 21:24 You know, he's one of those prototypical centers. 21:27 Donald Chu is talking about two of them at Wisconsin with Frederick and Cunning. 21:31 You know, big bodies who can play in the middle and skate. 21:35 Millstead is going to be that kind of player and Minnesota needs centers. 21:38 So he's going to get the opportunity to play a lot of situations when he comes in next year. 21:44 And I expect him to slot right in. 21:46 He's an explosive player. 21:47 He's proved it on the world stage and all their national tournaments he's played in. 21:52 And he looks really good in the USHL from what I saw in highlights. 21:57 And it could be some of his team is not as good this year either. 22:02 Well, he's playing a lot of minutes. 22:03 That's what I was just going to say. 22:04 Yeah, go ahead, Kyle. 22:07 Well, that's what I was just going to say about Middlesand. 22:09 It's like, you know, the EP this year doesn't have the same lineup as they had last year. 22:14 I mean, it's a great, timely question. 22:17 I mean, it just came out today. 22:18 He was ranked as the fifth best North American skater for the draft. 22:22 I mean, his kid is the real deal. 22:24 He's, in my mind, a lock for Mr. 22:27 Hockey this year. 22:29 It would be a shame if he didn't get it. 22:31 I mean, this is a huge pick up for the U. 22:34 I mean, any college program in the country would have, you know, knocked on doors to get this kid in there. 22:41 And I'm looking forward to seeing them on the big stage at Let's Play, or the Hockey Day Minnesota this weekend as well. 22:47 It should be a fun matchup between Stillwater and EP number one versus number eight. 22:52 So, it should be good to see them. 22:56 It definitely will be. 22:56 I mean, he'll be kind of the highlight of that whole game. 23:00 So, obviously, Stillwater's got a pretty damn good team. 23:03 I think they might come out on top, but people are there to see Middlestad. 23:06 So, it'll be exciting. 23:10 And we actually have a question here for you, Kyle. 23:13 And this kind of goes into some of the jersey stuff you do. 23:16 But Tim Hapke always sent in his questions. 23:19 He wants to know, any Gopher jerseys being added, like the old Corona style, the silky style, white or gold jerseys from the late 90s? 23:29 You have any plans for some of those late 90s jerseys? 23:31 I mean, I'm not a fan of those silky styles. 23:34 And that's obviously a different fabric and whatnot. 23:37 But tell us about anything coming along down the ropes for Gopher jerseys. 23:45 You know, to be honest, I mean, we have like 18 different Gopher jerseys right now. 23:50 I mean, we don't have it. 23:53 Apparently, you don't have enough. 23:58 We take a gamble more than any other storefront. 24:01 You're a brick-and-mortar store that I don't want to mention that we've had people contact us that we're like, yeah, we'll make them for you. 24:09 The Gopher Women's Blue Line Club contacted us because a certain store didn't want to make them for them. 24:15 And we're like, sure, we'll make them for you. 24:16 Then after the popularity caught on, a certain store decided they wanted to carry that jersey then as well. 24:24 So that might be a little bit of a jab there, but again, I'm not gonna go there. 24:31 But yeah, that silky style is kind of, you know, a lot of people know that. 24:36 It's Gemini Athleticwear and Edina is the company that used to make that. 24:41 It's the dazzle cloth material. 24:42 We did carry that soccer jersey shirt that the Gophers wore that had kind of the different yellow and stripes up and down. 24:51 Those wore in the late 90s and unfortunately, a lot of that rare fabric is not really being produced anymore. 24:57 So a lot of those quote unquote silky style shirts, kind of to get them produced right, you know, based on time period, it would be tough to do to answer the questions specifically. 25:12 But the one thing I like about your guys' jerseys though is that you can get the customization, can't you? 25:17 I mean, you could get patches, numbers, names, you name it. 25:21 You can get that and you just, that's really the only place you can get it, right? 25:25 Is you. 25:27 Yeah, I mean, back in the day, Stikens is a lot of the old Gopher rubes know that that was the, you know, the Stikens was the one that used to customize the Gopher game-worn shirts. 25:38 But one of the pay-as-any-interests is there that, you know, a lot of people knew her. 25:44 She sat kind of, quote unquote, in the dungeon and down in the basement at Stikens and she sewed the Timberwolves, the Vikings, the Twins, and the Gopher, all of Gopher athletic game-worn shirts. 25:55 She now sews for me and, you know, has kind of the original patterns and the patches and knows the way that these shirts need to be sewn. 26:04 You're cutting out a little bit there, Kyle. 26:05 Sensitive sewing and she used to sew some of them in. 26:08 You're still there? 26:09 You're just cutting out just a little bit. 26:12 We heard about the lady at Stikens who's doing the sewing. 26:15 I believe that she might have even done some of our sewing for some of our Roops jerseys, Vegoe. 26:23 Yeah, those turned out really nice. 26:24 Yeah. 26:25 She's kind of famous for doing those sewing. 26:28 Are you still there, Kyle? 26:33 I'm here, yep. 26:33 Can you hear me still? 26:35 You were just cutting out just a little bit there. 26:37 Can you hear me? 26:39 That's all that really matters, I guess. 26:41 Yep, I can still hear you. 26:43 Well, you know, basically it just comes down to, you know, I think a lot of frustration over the years about Gopher Hockey jerseys, whether it's new, old, people couldn't get anything. 26:55 I mean, the stuff that the stores were selling at the time were really crap. 26:59 And then when you and Tom started, you know, all this retro stuff, you know, with the Bumblebee jerseys and the old Vogue style jerseys, and then you took it on and did it further, you know, kind of, you know, you've got your store for it now. 27:13 You know, if people want these custom jerseys, you know, they could just come to you and get these customizations with their own names, their numbers and what have you. 27:21 I mean, even down to, you know, those little Gopher patches on the shoulders or whatever it may be, you could be able, you could do this for them pretty easily. 27:30 And it's a pretty quick turnaround time, isn't it? 27:34 Yeah, absolutely. 27:35 You know, before Christmas and things like that, we have our seasons where the turnaround time gets to be, you know, a little bit more, which is to be expected based on volume. 27:47 But typically our turnaround time, we pride ourselves, we're still a family-based business. 27:53 And we're blowing out big corporations out of the water. 27:56 And we can, you know, if somebody placed an order today, we can have it back to them with their custom name and number in typically less than three weeks. 28:05 So. 28:07 Well, you know where to go people. 28:09 And obviously as a listener of The GPL Podcast, if you go to the store and put in the promo code GPL Podcast, Kyle Oen, Novak, 10% off your order. 28:17 So definitely take advantage of that. 28:20 I mean, I've got, you know, I've got one of your jerseys, the Gopher style going across. 28:25 And I think, you know, both back when you were Thompson tuning it together, I've gotten a few of those too before you had your business. 28:32 So I've been more than happy with the jerseys I've gotten from you. 28:38 So we just really enjoy it. 28:40 And I know the fans do too. 28:41 So we're glad you're out there. 28:43 And I know, you know, you've noticed some of the competition coming up with some things that are not making you so happy. 28:50 But you know what? 28:52 People can't get the customization they can at your place. 28:54 So make sure you check it out, folks, because you're going to just get the best quality there. 29:00 I mean, where else are you going to get numbers and names? 29:02 You're not going to get it from any other place than Vintage. 29:05 So it's just the best place to go. 29:09 That's really all I have to say about that. 29:11 Anything else you want to say about your store, Kyle? 29:14 I mean, obviously, you've got other college teams, you've got some pro jerseys, I mean, you even do some high school. 29:20 Can you get me a Jefferson Jaguar jersey? 29:22 Can you get me one of those? 29:26 We actually do carry a jersey on our site. 29:29 So it's the one that has the Jaguars script diagonal. 29:36 Get me an old Jags one. 29:37 I can relive the old days of when my hockey team was good. 29:40 Oh, boy. 29:40 Those were the days. 29:42 Well, anyway, guys. 29:44 What? 29:46 So weren't you in the band, dude? 29:47 Yes, I was in the band. 29:49 Because I didn't play hockey until I was an adult. 29:51 But I can still relive my dreams of Jaguar hockey being good. 29:56 If you can't wear the jersey, you have to wear your band outfit. 29:59 Oh, I wear my band jacket. 30:02 Jeez. 30:02 That's all I need from you right now, Hammy. 30:04 That's all I need from you. 30:08 Well, obviously, we've got Wisconsin coming up this weekend, boys. 30:12 And Friday, you know, we're going to Wisconsin, playing a regular night game at the Cole Center. 30:17 And then Saturday, we've got the Hockey Day Minnesota with, you know, all the high school games that Kyle, I know you'll be at. 30:23 You'll be in Stillwater, won't you? 30:28 Not hearing Kyle. 30:29 He's cutting out again. 30:30 Well, I know he'll be on Stillwater. 30:32 Yep, I'm here. 30:33 Sorry. 30:33 You guys are kind of cutting in and out here. 30:35 I apologize. 30:36 Yeah. 30:37 I'll absolutely be in Stillwater the whole weekend. 30:40 My wife and I are going down Friday night. 30:44 This is my 11th straight year covering Hockey Day through my camera lens. 30:51 Still there, Jupe? 30:52 Yeah, I'm still here. 30:53 It's cutting out a little bit. 30:54 But, you know, I know you've been participating in that for years. 30:59 And obviously, we've got the high school game that's going to be on FSN, followed by, you know, the Gopher game at 5 p.m. 31:06 and the Wild game that night. 31:09 Vegoe, when it comes to the Gophers, who do they need to worry about this weekend? 31:14 Is it pretty much Bessie and Cunning? 31:17 And Frederick is the other player to watch for Wisconsin. 31:21 You know, in state discipline, Wisconsin has a pretty good power play. 31:27 You know, they're 10th in the country at about 22.7 percent. 31:31 So they've been very effective there and they've got a lot of talent there. 31:35 Minnesota penalty kill has done really well the last seven games. 31:39 I think it's 23 kills in a row for them. 31:42 And the big difference there is Eric Sheerhorn. 31:44 So as long as Sheerhorn can see where the shots are coming from on the penalty kill, they're going to be in good shape. 31:50 But if they start taking, you know, six, seven, eight, nine chances against, it's going to be a long weekend. 31:57 What do you think, Hamme? 31:58 This is a different team than we've seen the last few years for Wisconsin. 32:02 It's, you know, they get some new coaching in there now. 32:05 There's some new enthusiasm. 32:08 The Cole Center population is starting to fill up more than it has been the past few years. 32:14 So what can the Gophers expect this weekend out of Wisconsin? 32:19 Well, I think, you know, they're not where they're, they're still not where they, we're used to seeing them over the course of their history. 32:25 They're headed in the right direction. 32:27 I think we talked about it the last, you know, two, three years that, you know, one of the big things that had been holding back the Big Ten on the whole has been the fact that, you know, going into it, everybody figured, okay, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota would typically, you know, on most years be NCAA contenders or at least in the NCAAs, and it really hasn't been that way, particularly with Wisconsin. 32:56 They've really kind of been the letdown the first handful of years in the Big Ten, so it's nice to see them kind of heading back in the right direction. 33:04 Obviously, we don't want to still kick the hell out of them. 33:09 But, I mean, you know, we've been saying that from a rivalry standpoint, you still want them to be a good team. 33:15 You just still want to beat the hell out of them. 33:17 But you want those games to mean something, and certainly from a rivalry perspective, I think in the coming years, it will be kind of getting back to where it was in the past, and probably still with the same results, meaning the Gophers are winning most of the games. 33:34 But, you know, it is nice to see them improved. 33:37 And I think that, you know, obviously this year, they are scoring more. 33:41 Their goal-tending is clearly a little bit of a weak spot, which is kind of, when you think about Wisconsin over the years, you tend to think better goal-tending, and they are not really getting that. 33:52 So that is a little bit of a surprise in that sense, but I certainly think with some of the recruiting that they have been doing since the new staff got on board, they will be a good team in the years to come. 34:04 And I think that them, and hopefully Michigan, they will find some consistency. 34:09 I don't know if it will be after Berenson retires, and maybe with Ohio State. 34:14 So I think the Big Ten is heading in the right direction. 34:17 Of course we don't know what's going to happen with Gopher coaching, but you know what, but I mean that's the reality, but I think right now there's a lot more improvement in the league that we have to look forward to in the coming years. 34:31 Well V, obviously Wisconsin is not where they want to be. 34:33 They're building it up, but they only have one loss in conference and have played two less games, so a split is not the greatest thing for the Gophers this weekend. 34:43 They need to play strong. 34:44 They need to keep Wisconsin behind them, because if they don't, Wisconsin is going to be knocking on their door. 34:51 Yeah, I think this is a better Wisconsin team than we've seen in the last couple of years. 34:55 Jurosek did pick up an injury, I think it was probably about two months ago, to his right knee. 35:01 He played last weekend for the first time after a stretch where Wisconsin had to lean on their freshman, Jack Berry. 35:08 So I think, you know, seeing if he's comfortable, I'm sure he'll see one of the games against Minnesota. 35:13 It's important for the Gophers to put the puck on net and try to challenge him and, you know, get in his face with some traffic and bodies. 35:20 You know, it is a big Minnesota team, you know, but they've got guys like Smetula and Bristette who really can, you know, do some work around the net. 35:29 So it's going to be important for them to be engaged that way. 35:32 But, you know, with Granado taking over Wisconsin Hockey, Lucia said you're going to see a little bit more up and down play from them. 35:39 You know, they're not just going to be the sit back, you know, man, four-check, man and a half, four-check. 35:45 You're going to see some more aggressive play out of Wisconsin. 35:48 So I think that's something to look forward to because it'll be more entertaining if Wisconsin's a good team in the Big Ten and plays an exciting style that we're used to seeing from Minnesota and Michigan. 35:58 I tell you, that's just what we want to see as well too. 36:01 I mean, we want them to lose, we want the Gophers to beat them. 36:03 But I tell you, a different style of hockey could go a long way in Madison because obviously over these last few years, Eve's and his style of hockey, and not just them playing bad, I mean, because they had some decent teams. 36:18 I mean, four years ago, they were second in the conference. 36:20 I mean, they've had decent teams. 36:23 But the fans there, they just didn't even like the style of hockey. 36:26 They like the old sour style, up and down, play some more exciting hockey. 36:30 That's been missing from badger hockey for quite a few years now. 36:36 I think the crowds are coming back, not just because of the winning, but just the style of hockey is just more fun because, you know what? 36:43 I hate to tell you, Hammeh, Wisconsin has been boring for a while. 36:48 Well, I think we've known that. 36:49 I mean, we've known that for the better part of a decade. 36:52 But they were successful. 36:53 We've been hard on it. 36:56 But their fans hate their own style of hockey. 36:58 That's telling you something. 37:00 Because that's what I've heard from their fans. 37:01 They didn't mind it when it was winning, but then when it really started to go downhill and it sucked, then it was really like they had nothing to hang their hat on. 37:09 And that was like all downhill from there. 37:11 But yeah, it's nice to see. 37:15 I mean, everybody likes to have. 37:17 I mean, we're not going to see the old days where it was like eight to seven games and things like that. 37:22 But I mean, it is nice to see a little bit more wide open play. 37:26 I mean, the game is a lot more entertaining when you get to see speed and skill taking over. 37:32 Well, I tell you one thing. 37:35 I was invited to go this year. 37:36 I decided not to. 37:37 But I know there's going to be a strong Gopher contingent there. 37:40 Veegs, are you making the trip this year? 37:43 I'm not going to make it this year, being a parent of a 42-year-old. 37:47 Carry some responsibility. 37:49 As much as I'd like to go to Madtown for this one, I will be watching on TV. 37:54 I know Nate Wells, Gopher State, Drew Cove, and Dax will be all at Madison for the series. 38:03 So you're going to be playing Gopher Coverage there. 38:04 They're going to podcast there. 38:05 Those are all young kids. 38:07 Yeah, they are young. 38:08 They are young. 38:09 Kyle, have you made the trip to Madison recently? 38:11 And I'm sure you've gotten a lot of trouble there, haven't you, in the past? 38:16 To be honest, back in the days of the POI gatherings, I was married at the time, so I'd never have been on a Madison road trip. 38:25 So I know that I used to watch from afar and look at all the stuff that the old play guy photos on POI and GPL and think, oh man, I'm missing out on these. 38:35 But yeah, I never did make the trip to Mad Town. 38:38 So I know I'm looking forward to seeing the alumni border battle, though, on the banks at St. 38:44 Croix on Friday night that they're having with all the old alumni. 38:47 There are a lot of good Gophers on that team. 38:49 That should be fun. 38:50 It does look like a lot of fun, except I didn't see who's Wisconsin going to have a net? 38:54 Because I looked at the roster and I didn't see a single goalie. 38:58 Are they just going to throw the Gopher goalie in that? 39:02 That's a great question. 39:03 Now that you say that, I don't know who they're throwing in that either. 39:07 So yeah, there's some big names from national championship players and Nanny behind the bench. 39:16 It should be a fun night on Friday night. 39:20 It definitely will be. 39:21 It's a fun night. 39:22 You're going to be down there shooting photos. 39:25 Yeah, it's good times because a lot of those older Gophers, they still feel that the BADgers are their biggest rival. 39:33 And I would love to see the BADgers become their biggest rival again. 39:36 Obviously, in the last, I'd say, 20 years, it's been North Dakota and even some of the more local schools. 39:45 So Hammy, we need some blood this weekend, don't we? 39:48 We need to get this rivalry back up. 39:50 We need a Wisconsin player to do something stupid. 39:54 I mean, if anything could build this rivalry and build the Big Ten, is he... 40:02 Somebody cutting out there. 40:05 Hammy, what do you think, though? 40:06 I mean, we need some blood. 40:07 We need something interesting to happen in the series because it's been boring for too long. 40:12 Oh, I don't know. 40:14 I mean, I don't know that I need blood. 40:16 I mean, I'd kind of like to see a well-played series with the Gophers coming on top a couple of times. 40:23 But as long as it's entertaining, it's not one of those snooze-fests of the Eves era. 40:32 You know, I mean, it's like, to me, it's more about the competition and what happens in the game. 40:39 I really don't give a damn about the whole act of the whistle stuff and whatever. 40:43 I'd rather just watch the game. 40:45 And fortunately, for the most part, even when Wisconsin was good, it didn't really have that element. 40:53 That was more of a North Dakota thing. 40:55 But, you know, that's just, I'd rather stick to having it be an up and down kind of a game and lots of goals and the Gophers winning games. 41:05 Well, I can't disagree with you there. 41:07 I can't disagree with you there. 41:08 I think we lost Kyle. 41:12 Yep. 41:13 He's no longer on the call. 41:14 Too many problems with the connection. 41:17 Sorry, Kyle. 41:18 That's just how it goes sometimes. 41:20 The Wi-Fi doesn't always work that great. 41:22 Vegoe, how about some blood this weekend? 41:24 What do you think? 41:26 Maybe not blood, but we talk about the rival. 41:30 We talk about good hockey, but we need something to stoke this rivalry. 41:36 I would like to see some competitive games with goal scoring, and I think that's what we're going to get this weekend. 41:41 I don't want to see another Gopher get checked from behind and get a concussion like Novak or someone get need like Novak again. 41:50 This last weekend, I'd like to see a rather clean game from that standpoint. 41:56 I know this Gopher team doesn't need any more injuries as well. 42:00 But yeah, I think we're going to see exciting hockey. 42:02 I think with Bessie Cunning and Frederick, Wisconsin has some horsepower this year. 42:08 So it should be a good series. 42:11 I'm hoping that Shearhorn keeps playing as solidly as he has to the last six games, because he's going to be the key for this team the second half. 42:21 He definitely got to be. 42:22 Sheehee has been their most consistent player. 42:25 He's scoring a lot. 42:26 I mean, he's up there in the scoring for the country. 42:32 I can't say we'd be any happier with Sheehee right now. 42:37 He's been one of their best young players. 42:38 They've got him on a good spot on that first line with Kloos and Pilek. 42:43 They're putting Sheehee around the net on the power play, which is a good spot for him. 42:48 He's a nice big body who can find the pucks or the blue paint, and that's what they need. 42:55 Well, Veegs, you had media day-to-day. 42:57 We'll add this audio to the end of the podcast like we always do. 43:01 What's the preview? 43:02 What are we going to hear? 43:04 You'll get to hear Lucia talk a little bit about Lettieri's game, Ryan Collins' game, kind of the change in Wisconsin's leadership and what he thinks about Granado. 43:17 Then you'll hear Lettieri talk about his success and everybody telling him to shoot more. 43:26 It was a good thing. 43:27 He was scoring. 43:29 When you're shooting, you're making plays, good things happen. 43:33 And you'll hear that at the end of the podcast. 43:35 I always throw that on at the end of the audio. 43:37 Need to thank Kyle Oen from Vintage Minnesota Hockey. 43:40 You know we lost his connection there at the end. 43:43 You just go to the website vintagemnhockey.com. 43:46 He's got so much stuff on history there. 43:48 He's got obviously the store for jerseys. 43:51 Follow him on Twitter at VintageMNHockey. 43:54 Obviously you can always follow Hammy on Twitter at Hammy Hockey and Vego on Twitter at eVego. 44:01 That's going to wrap it up for this week. 44:04 We'll be back next week to recap the BADger series and preview the North Star Cup, which is probably going to be the final North Star Cup. 44:13 It's over, folks. 44:14 It's not coming back. 44:16 Until then, thanks for listening. 44:43 Same rivalry in the coaching staff there. 44:45 How do they look different? 44:47 Well, they were a young team last year, so all of a sudden, most of the team is back. 44:51 You could see the growth their team had, the second half of last year. 44:55 And I think this year is a continuation of that. 44:57 We had a couple good players in their freshman class, and they've got a real good group of forwards right now, and very deep, and they're scoring a lot of goals. 45:05 So that's gonna be the important thing for us, is to make sure that we defend well, and are good on specialty teams, because both of their power play and penalty kill are very good. 45:14 Fun place to play no matter what? 45:15 Yeah, it is. 45:17 It's a good rivalry. 45:19 I think it's a healthy rivalry. 45:20 The fans get into it. 45:23 I think they're starting to get some of their crowd back and fans back. 45:27 So it should be a fun game. 45:28 I mean, they're gonna come up and down the rink and attack, and it should make for a real up and down series. 45:34 It's one of those things, part of the game, but it has to be a bummer to lose Tommy Novak as much as he'd been improving. 45:38 Yeah, I mean, it's disappointing. 45:39 I mean, you'd feel bad for anybody that has to have surgery and end the season, and you have to go through the rehab. 45:46 And unfortunately, that's a part of athletics. 45:49 And I thought that he was really starting to come on, and he's obviously a valuable player. 45:56 It's difficult to lose a center man. 45:59 He'd probably be even more so than a winger. 46:01 He's good on draws, played on the power play. 46:05 So we'll have to shuffle the deck a little bit and see who can fill that void. 46:10 But that's part of the game, too, that we have enough good players that you got to carry on. 46:15 You mentioned Vinnie Lettieri a couple weeks ago playing the best year he's had in the program. 46:19 What's gone into his development in the past four years to make him the player he is today? 46:22 Well, I think a combination of he came in as a true freshman, so it wasn't like he was a 20, 21-year-old freshman. 46:28 So there's going to be natural improvement from your freshman to your senior year. 46:33 But Vinnie has always put in a lot of time. 46:35 He's one of those guys that he's always in the weight room. 46:39 He takes care of himself. 46:40 He stays out after practice. 46:42 He's on early. 46:43 He's always working on his game because he wants to be a player. 46:45 And all that hard work's paid off for him. 46:48 Is one of the hardest things when you have players that have the ability to get them to trust the process, meaning when they're freshmen, sophomores, you can see what they can be like when they're seniors and they're very, very frustrated at that time because it's not happening. 46:59 How do you coach through stuff like that when you can see they've got the ability and they're going to be just fine and they can't? 47:04 Well, I think that's part of the communication. 47:06 I think the one thing in our sport that kids come in, they've been on the power play, they've played major minutes before they get here, and all of a sudden, maybe they're freshmen, they're not playing every night. 47:16 Nate Schmidt was a great example. 47:18 I think he played 10 games his freshman year and left here after three. 47:22 Two years later, he left and went and played in the National Hockey League and was an All-American. 47:25 But you could see it, he had ability, he had to get himself in a little bit better physical condition and had to learn not to play such high-risk hockey. 47:36 It was evident that next year, because I remember having the conversation in the spring, you're not going to have to play yourself into a spot, you're going to have to play yourself out of it. 47:42 He was a completely different player as a sophomore. 47:45 For some guys, it's instantaneous and right away, and other guys it might take a year or two. 47:50 With losing Novak, what would be kind of imprecise to the other guys to kind of step up in his absence? 47:55 Well, I mean, that's just it. 47:56 Other guys are going to get an opportunity. 47:58 If you want to par play, now you're getting a chance and that player is going to be excited. 48:02 If you weren't playing in our top nine and now you're playing in our top nine, you're going to be excited to have an opportunity to do that. 48:08 So we've got some older guys that have been kind of in and out and they're going to get some opportunities here this weekend and hopefully they can produce. 48:16 Do you have any ideas on how to replace him in that center role? 48:19 Yeah, I think right now we'll probably move Vinny over. 48:21 Right now, Vinny's played half his career as a centerman, so we played center to begin the year. 48:27 And then once we moved Schmittulo back to center, we moved him to the right side because we don't have a lot of right shots. 48:33 Right wingers, they could play at the top end of our lineup. 48:36 So we'll probably move Vinny over at least to start out and see how that looks and try to keep some balance. 48:42 And if that doesn't work, we could overload a couple lines too. 48:45 I think last week you started a stretch where you guys don't have any time off really for the rest of the year. 48:50 I mean, do you talk to them about that? 48:52 No, they want to play. 48:53 I mean, it's January. 48:54 It's mid-January. 48:55 And if you ask them, they'd rather play than practice at this point. 48:58 And even today, I think we went 72, 73 minutes. 49:01 And we're trying to keep our guys fresh. 49:04 I mean, they know our systems. 49:05 They know how we want to play. 49:07 You know, I don't think this is the time of year you got to beat on them on a regular basis. 49:10 It's about just touching quickly on some of your systems and keep working specialty teams and trying to play fast. 49:17 I think that's the big thing is that you want your guys to play fast and have energy for Friday and Saturday night. 49:23 What's different about Wisconsin under Granado this year? 49:27 Well, I don't know how much different they're playing. 49:28 I mean, it's, you know, you look at it and hockey doesn't change that much. 49:31 Maybe they're a little bit more aggressive from an offensive standpoint. 49:35 But at the same time, you know, they're, they had a couple centers that are first round picks, you know, Kuhnen goes from, you know, a 17, 18 year old. 49:42 Now he's a year older and Frederick was the first round pick. 49:45 So, you know, they just, right now, they're, they're personnel starting to mature, especially up front. 49:50 I think that's the big thing is that, you know, you look at the metrics all of a sudden, instead of getting out shot on a regular basis, they're out shooting teams by 10. 49:57 I think that's, I think they have a real good, deep group of forwards that are, you know, driving the engine. 50:02 Do you know much about Granado? 50:04 I know you guys stayed at the same hotel when you were out at St. 50:06 Lawrence. 50:06 Well, I know, I mean, I worked caps with Tony and with the USA Hockey, with the World Juniors for a couple years. 50:12 He was there helping out and he's been very active, obviously, you know, a great player there. 50:17 And, you know, he's kind of like Cory Miller and going back to finish his degree. 50:21 And so working out at school at the same time. 50:23 So, you know what, it's very good staff. 50:25 And, you know, Wisconsin's got a rich tradition. 50:27 And it's like anything, you're not going to stay down for long. 50:30 I mean, they went through their dip and, you know, they're going to get back. 50:34 This is still the one, still the matchup that means the most to it, definitely the fan base, but in the locker room as well? 50:41 Yeah, I think it's one of them. 50:43 You know, I think we still have some of our old rivals that still mean a lot. 50:46 You saw that when North Dakota was in here this year, but I probably say that Wisconsin and Michigan probably at this point of the Big Ten would probably be our two biggest rivals within the Big Ten. 50:59 On the follow up with what Matthew was at earlier about the new guys coming in, Norman got about the first half, but he's been in four straight games. 51:06 Now, how have you seen this progress? 51:08 Well, I think he's done a good job. 51:10 He hasn't had a lot of minutes in a game because we've had some games with some penalties. 51:13 All of a sudden, you look at the end of the night, he's only played seven, eight minutes, because if you're not in the power play or penalty kill, you kind of get lost a little bit in a game. 51:21 But hopefully, we'll get into some games where he can play 12, 14 minutes in a game. 51:27 He's making plays. 51:28 He's doing some good things. 51:30 Now, hopefully, we can get a little bit of offensive production from him by the second half of the year, especially with Tommy O. 51:36 I think he'll stop 22, 23 straight. 51:38 Wisconsin's about a top 10 on the power play. 51:42 What's kind of just your emphasis for the weekend? 51:44 Well, obviously, discipline becomes important when you play a good power play. 51:47 I mean, you don't want to give them six, seven chances. 51:49 That's first and foremost. 51:50 You can give them three, then you're going to have a good chance to kill them off. 51:54 We want to be aggressive when we can be aggressive. 51:56 Obviously, know who their shooters are and try to take those guys away. 52:01 But they can move the puck around pretty well. 52:02 They have a lot of different options. 52:04 So we're going to have to make sure we stay disciplined in our lanes and what we're trying to do. 52:08 And we don't do a good job as a unit of four that are out there. 52:12 And obviously, when we break down, that's when you need your goaltender to make a save on the penalty kill. 52:17 I think that's probably been this big a difference to anything, that Eric's starting to make a few saves on the penalty kill when you need it. 52:26 Okay, we good? 52:27 Thanks. 52:29 I guess to start, you had a really good weekend. 52:31 You had a hat-trick on a lot of different kinds of goals, a shorthanded penalty shot. 52:36 What was that weekend like for you? 52:37 Yeah, it was nice to have. 52:40 Obviously, because the team and I work so hard each and every single day before and after practice, and to get some of those good bounces, it feels good. 52:47 And a guy like Ryan Collins had a big weekend, too, and he's been outstanding for us lately, and he's been putting a lot of hard work, too. 52:53 So hard work pays off. 52:55 You just got to keep an eye on the grind zone. 52:56 Just keep working. 52:58 Six straight wins. 53:00 Going into Wisconsin might be the best team once you guys have played. 53:03 What do you think has kind of just been success and you've been able to build on? 53:07 We've been limiting our turnovers, definitely that helps us a lot. 53:10 And we've been taking care of the D zone, too, and trying to block a lot of shots and worry about D first. 53:16 And then when we go in the O zone, we're just trying to stay on top pucks and share with our D and just get in front of the net and get to the dirty areas. 53:23 We've been pretty consistent in our play lately and that's been helping us a lot. 53:28 You have a career high of 11 goals this season compared to last season when you had two and four and nine. 53:35 And you're only 20 games in now, so what really in you changed and how did you push yourself to get to this point now? 53:42 I'm definitely shooting more. 53:43 That's definitely been an emphasis that I had to work on. 53:46 I didn't shoot as much in the past, but definitely I'm just getting, I keep working hard each and every summer and the guys I'm playing with, they're helping me tremendously. 53:54 It's not just an individual effort, they're giving me great scoring opportunities. 53:58 So I'm just kind of going in the net and trying to find a puck and they're helping me a lot there. 54:02 Thank you. 54:04 Wisconsin's one of the old rivalries for Minnesota. 54:06 Do you look forward to this weekend more than some of the other Big Ten schools? 54:10 Yeah, I mean we have a great Big Ten schedule. 54:12 It's fun going to other schools and Wisconsin's definitely a fun one. 54:16 I love going there. 54:18 It's a great rivalry. 54:18 There's definitely, I love when we see a mixture of fans in the building, when you have Wisconsin and Minnesota special because it's so close. 54:25 But it will be a fun weekend. 54:27 It's good for them that they got a new coaching staff there and a little rebuilding year and they've been doing well lately. 54:32 And it will be a good test for us. 54:34 What do you think the biggest challenge is playing this year's Wisconsin team? 54:39 I hope there's one big challenge. 54:40 It's just us kind of worrying about ourselves and worrying about what we do best. 54:43 And we go in there, we got to respect them as a team. 54:46 They have a lot of good players and they got great coaching staff so they know how to play hockey. 54:51 And we just got to go in there, do what we do best and just see how the results and the outcome come. 54:56 You said you've been shooting more. 54:58 It just always seems with hockey, you shoot more, you score more. 55:00 But when you score more, you shoot more. 55:02 Does it sort of feel like there's been a momentum where maybe it's on a conscious effort to shoot more, but just it's been working so well for you? 55:08 Yeah, when you get a couple of goals, you just want to keep firing them in the net. 55:11 But I've had a bad habit of passing up opportunities, like two-on-ones or anything in front of the net. 55:18 I've been passed a lot, but my coach has been hammering that in my ear since I've been here, and my grandpa and my dad. 55:25 So eventually it's got to get in you somewhere or another. 55:27 And definitely shooting more helps. 55:30 You know, and you might not even get the goal, you might get the assist. 55:32 So, you know, you just got to make the plays happen. 55:34 If you're on the net, you just got to shoot the puck. 55:36 Which of those three has been the most persistent among those voices? 55:40 Probably my coaches because I see them all the time. 55:42 But when I talk to my dad, he always tells me to in my... 55:47 I mean, everyone tells me to shoot the puck. 55:49 But I hear from my coach the most since I'm with him all the time. 55:52 Even Louis said on KFN, why is it so hard for young guys to shoot the puck and be assertive? 55:58 I know Rem is going through the same thing. 56:00 Honestly, I think sometimes just like a selfish thing, sometimes you just don't want to be selfish, but you're three feet away from the net and you don't realize that if you shoot it, you just got to trust your shot, it's going to go in. 56:11 Sometimes they're going to make a good save and that's hockey, but a lot of times you go on a two on one, people think pass first, and that's why you miss opportunities, or sometimes you miss the net or miss the pass. 56:21 So you just got to trust your shot and trust your hockey ability and just shoot the puck, and I'm still working on that. 56:27 It's been better this year than other years, but I just got to keep shooting. 56:30 How tough is it to see Gopher Puck go down? 56:33 Yeah, that's... 56:35 I mean, it's never good to see anyone around the league have that happen to him. 56:38 He's just going to try to work as hard as he does on the ice, off the ice with this rehab, and hopefully get back sooner than later. 56:46 How does this absence kind of affect the forward core? 56:49 Don't really have a comment on that. 56:51 He's definitely a great player, and obviously it hurts our team a little bit, but the next guy's up, and we just got to go ahead and keep playing.