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, Vegoe, and your host, Jupiter. 0:40 Bye. 0:40 Good evening, and welcome to another GPL Podcast, back to episode number 104. 0:50 Joining me as always is Vegoe. 0:52 How you doing, Veegs? 0:54 Hanging in there, getting excited for some hockey this weekend. 0:56 A bunch of Minnesota teams getting together one last time. 1:01 Well, Hammy couldn't join us tonight. 1:03 He's all of a sudden just, he's got work. 1:06 I don't know, something he's doing at his job. 1:08 I don't know. 1:08 Maybe he just doesn't want to get fired or something like that. 1:10 But Hammy is a late scratch and we'll just have to go on without him, Veegs. 1:18 Well, split with the Badgers. 1:20 Obviously, this Badger team is better than last year's and previous year's. 1:27 But I don't know, I just wasn't feeling it this past weekend. 1:31 Sure, that overtime win was great, but something just wasn't right for me. 1:36 I'm not sure what it was. 1:37 What are your thoughts on the weekend? 1:39 Well, I thought Minnesota got off to pretty decent starts in both games. 1:43 I thought they played their best hockey in the first period each night. 1:49 You know, they didn't get consistent play from their team throughout the weekend. 1:55 And on Friday, they were able to come back and pull it off and get the overtime winner from Kloos. 2:00 But on Saturday, they just had breakdown after breakdown after breakdown. 2:04 You know, I'm sure Shearhorn would like a couple of those goals back. 2:07 But I don't think it was just him that cost him that game on Saturday. 2:11 He actually made a bunch of saves that kind of kept him in a little bit. 2:17 But it was just inconsistent play. 2:19 It seemed like they had a bit of a letdown after the big OT win on Friday and then getting off to a good start on Saturday. 2:25 They just, you know, it's hard to find that jump sometimes. 2:27 And Wisconsin's a better team. 2:29 You know, their weakness is defense and goaltending. 2:32 And the Gophers didn't really press their defense very hard. 2:35 And their goaltending actually showed up pretty good. 2:38 Oh, yeah. 2:39 Was it Jurassic or Jurisic or whatever? 2:42 Jurisic played Saturday night and he looked really good that game. 2:46 He was pretty darn good. 2:49 I didn't think Minnesota did a very good job of getting second chances. 2:51 You know, the coaches and players talk about it as their ground game, you know, where they get up below the dots and really put a lot of pressure on a sustained effort. 3:00 And most of the scoring chances were one and done. 3:03 You know, they threatened it and Jurisic would make the save and freeze the puck or Wisconsin get a quick clear. 3:09 You didn't really see that sustained pressure. 3:12 And while the coaching staff seems to be happy with the power play, you know, I don't think it's clicking quite like it needs to be to get them through games like that. 3:21 Definitely not. 3:23 Especially on Saturday, it wasn't looking good at all. 3:27 Yeah, I mean, they finally got the wings set up on the proper off wings. 3:32 But you know, it just wasn't clicking for them. 3:34 They had a bunch of chances. 3:35 I think they had seven power plays and they got one. 3:39 And you'd like to see more if you're getting that many chances. 3:43 Oh, yeah, definitely want to see more than that. 3:46 If you have any questions for Vigo and I, just let us know on Twitter. 3:49 Just use the hashtag GPL Podcast and we'll take your questions or suggestions or whatever you want us to talk about. 3:57 We're kind of free since, you know, with Hammy not here tonight, there's less to talk about or less to get out there. 4:04 So let's hear from you if you've got anything from us. 4:06 I know Nate, Nate Wells, you're listening. 4:08 Do you have anything for us? 4:10 Got anything for us, Nate? 4:12 We're hoping so. 4:14 Well, anyway, Veegs, you know, we've got obviously, you know, I know Lucia is always going to come back and say sweep at home, split on the road. 4:21 You're going to have a successful season. 4:24 They did that this past weekend. 4:26 Penn State struggled with the Ohio State. 4:28 So right now, Minnesota with eight games played, it's two points up on Penn State. 4:33 But Wisconsin's right there. 4:34 They're, you know, they might be six points back, but they've got two games to play, which they'll play this weekend. 4:40 So, you know, right now, you know, after this coming weekend, the Big Ten could look a little, could look a little tight. 4:47 Yeah, it definitely looks like the top four teams in the Big Ten are all going to be kind of battling each other. 4:52 You know, I think Ohio State might be the favorite right now. 4:55 You know, they've got two games in hand. 4:57 You know, they just took five or six points from Penn State on the road. 5:02 And, you know, they took a game from the Gophers at Mariucci. 5:06 So they're a pretty solid team. 5:08 I think they're going to be dangerous. 5:09 Wisconsin, I think, is going to struggle to be consistent. 5:12 Their goaltenders did play well against the Gophers. 5:15 Barry looked good on Friday night as well. 5:18 But I think they're just going to be inconsistent throughout the season. 5:22 And then Penn State, who knows exactly what you have with them? 5:25 You know, they haven't played a very difficult schedule. 5:27 I think we won't know until after the Gopher Series towards the end of February what we have there in Penn State. 5:34 Yeah, I would agree with you there. 5:36 It's just kind of, we just don't know. 5:38 I mean, obviously, their pairwise numbers are pretty outstanding. 5:42 Obviously, a lot of us kind of feel it's weak because of their weak schedule. 5:52 But, they were winning their games, they were supposed to. 5:54 A lot of teams, they're winning the games they're supposed to. 5:58 And believe it or not, people, Minnesota has lost a few games that they're supposed to win. 6:03 So, you know what? 6:05 You got to hand it to Penn State. 6:07 They might not have a tough competition, but you know what? 6:09 They're not losing that often. 6:10 At least they haven't so far until recently. 6:14 No, and that's definitely key, but you could see their RPI really dropped a ton after their series with Ohio State. 6:22 I mean, they were, I think, at like a 700 level, and now they dropped back down to like 5,800. 6:29 So it took a big hit with losing those games. 6:32 And I think as they play tougher competition, we'll see it come back to normal. 6:38 Is Red done at Michigan? 6:40 I mean, look, both Michigan schools, they're both 1-6-1. 6:45 Michigan did get a shootout win in there. 6:49 Five and four points in the league so far through eight games for those two teams. 6:55 I mean, obviously, we've seen Michigan State struggle these last couple years. 6:59 They typically are down, and then once in a while, they kind of go up the roller coaster, and they're good for a couple years, and they're back down. 7:05 Michigan, by, I mean, until the Big Ten came around, they were in the tournament every year. 7:13 What is going on in the state of Michigan? 7:16 You know, as the US. 7:18 National Team Development Program right in their backyard, you think it would be easy for them to pick up more recruits than they have, but they just haven't lately. 7:25 You know, Michigan had that good class of guys that all went to the NHL, and I think this is just kind of an aberration for the Wolverines. 7:32 You know, Red's such a good coach, and he gets his team playing an exciting style. 7:36 You know, they just haven't had that this year. 7:38 You know, they had Cooper Morrody on suspension the first half of the season, and now they have Will Lockwood, who's out injured with an upper body shoulder injury, something like that. 7:49 And when they're missing one or two guys like that, it's affecting this year's team because they just don't have the depth because they lost so many players to the NHL. 7:57 Michigan State, hard to know what's going on there. 8:01 It seems like some of the Michigan State thing is they're not getting support at all. 8:05 Yeah, and there doesn't seem to be any public pressure on Anastas, either. 8:10 So I think it's kind of a sign that they're not paying too close of attention on their hockey program, which is a shame because I know in the early 90s, late 80s, Michigan State was right up there with Minnesota and Michigan as a quality team, and they had Ryan Miller and won the national title. 8:28 You know, it hasn't been long since they've won a national title. 8:32 Was it, in the last ten years, they've won a national title. 8:36 I think it was the Ryan Miller, so that's longer ago than I think you thought. 8:40 I thought they won one a few years ago, or not too long ago. 8:43 Yeah, maybe my mind's just going, which is distinctly possible. 8:47 We're getting old. 8:49 Oh, thanks for reminding me of that. 8:54 Yeah, but you know, what do we keep hearing? 8:56 It's like the school is not supporting them, and it's like, what's going on? 9:00 I mean, it's a shame, because like you said, that's a long, historic program. 9:06 Well, right now, in the Big Ten, the money makers are football and basketball, and that's definitely where the focus is of all the money coming into these institutions is practice facilities for those teams, and amenities like educational centers and dining areas and video lounges and things like that, career centers. 9:32 You look at the new Athletes Village going up on campus at the University of Minnesota, that's not just for the hockey team, that's for those revenue sports, too. 9:41 They last won in 2007. 9:45 That's 20 years ago. 9:46 2007, that's 10 years ago. 9:50 They won one right after Wisconsin won theirs. 9:54 From 2002 it was Minnesota, Minnesota, Denver, Denver, Wisconsin, Michigan State. 10:00 That wasn't the one where they were down to Boston College, wasn't it? 10:03 It was like one-nothing. 10:05 Then all of a sudden, real late, I believe they scored a couple of goals and all of a sudden they were national champions. 10:09 It was kind of a strange thing. 10:15 I knew it was sometime after Minnesota won their last one, but before that, boy, when was it? 10:21 I quite like a Miracle Team Union win yet, though. 10:27 Yeah, well, that's how it is. 10:31 I'm going back here. 10:32 Boy, before that, they didn't win with Ryan Miller. 10:37 It was 1986 before that. 10:40 Oh, wow. 10:41 So it was a while. 10:44 But it's still a Big Ten school that's been playing hockey forever. 10:49 Well, you think of hockey hotbeds in the country, and it's Minnesota, Michigan and Massachusetts. 10:54 You think to be able to recruit well enough in those areas, maybe it's the major junior thing that's pulling some of those Michigan kids out of the area, but you think they'd be able to do well enough. 11:05 If not, maybe they need to revitalize their coaching staff, like Wisconsin's done. 11:09 It's obviously with guys like Cunning and Frederick, they're looking up. 11:14 That's an offensively dangerous team Granada has going now. 11:17 When did Ron Mason pass away? 11:19 Wasn't he the athletic director for a while? 11:22 I'm not your Michigan State hockey expert, unfortunately. 11:28 I know he took over after he stopped coaching hockey. 11:31 He was the athletic director for a while. 11:33 Let me see, it looks like he passed away in 2016. 11:38 Was it this year when Ron Mason passed away? 11:42 I thought that, but I remember him. 11:44 I know that he was the athletic director for a while. 11:49 Who knows? 11:51 It definitely takes a champion for these programs to do well. 11:55 Everything's getting more tense these days. 11:57 You need someone to speak up. 12:00 I think Don Lucia got some pressure when he was looking to fundraise to improve Marriott Chia Arena. 12:04 He'd be taking money away from projects like TCF Bank Stadium, the Athletes Village, and I think eventually they just gave in and said, okay, but you got to do it on your own. 12:16 These are hockey-only projects with hockey-only raise money. 12:19 They're not using the foundation to fundraise, and they're not poaching those donors to pay for the hockey improvements. 12:26 Lucia's doing it on his own. 12:28 As much as, you know, there's half the alumni and fans out there that don't like him, but he's gone out and done it. 12:33 He raised the money that's paid for that pretty new locker room, and next year they're going to get that improved strength and conditioning area, and then hopefully they'll get that alumni room and club room updated. 12:47 You know, and that's kind of part of the deal, I mean. 12:51 A lot of his former players are not big fans of his, so they don't want to donate money. 12:57 Obviously, we don't know all the specifics of that, that's about all I know. 13:04 But you're right, I mean, he has, you know, with guys who don't like him as much, don't want to donate money, it is much harder to raise this money to get all these changes. 13:16 We were able to see, look into the hallway a couple of weeks ago, during the Mariucci Classic to see some of the changes. 13:23 They typically really haven't let the media back there to see all the changes. 13:27 We just kind of have to pick up bits and pieces here and there. 13:29 But you're right, they are starting to make those changes. 13:32 And, you know, the weight room is next year. 13:34 Obviously, they want to also get an alumni thing going as well. 13:40 Just have to wait and see. 13:41 Another, you know, obviously, Wisconsin has been down these last few years. 13:45 And one of the things I noticed this weekend is it was by far their most attended series in probably a few years at Wisconsin, at least. 13:56 Yeah, I think their last sell-outs were three, four years ago. 14:00 So they've been down for a while. 14:02 And even this weekend wasn't a sell-out. 14:04 Oh, definitely not a sell-out. 14:05 But they had been averaging at least 5,000 below capacity for a few years here. 14:13 And I believe Friday night they had over 11,000 sold. 14:18 Saturday night they had over 13,000 sold. 14:21 We keep talking about we love to beat Wisconsin, but Wisconsin needs to be strong for the Big Ten to be strong. 14:27 And I'm pretty encouraged by that. 14:29 It seems like the fans are starting to come back. 14:32 I mean, even a Minnesota series in the last few years, it was a fairly empty place. 14:39 So I think that's a pretty encouraging sign from Wisconsin. 14:42 Sure, I still want to beat them, but we do need them to be strong, folks. 14:48 Let me see. 14:49 What else do we got here? 14:51 I think one interesting thing from the weekend well is Taylor Camerata's play. 14:56 He was much improved last weekend after getting scratched a couple of times. 15:00 They had to put an extra guy in the lineup with Novak out. 15:04 And Camerata got to play both games. 15:06 I thought he looked aggressive on the floor check. 15:08 He created a scoring chance on Friday. 15:12 I think he had a point on that one. 15:13 You know, he looked better. 15:15 He looked engaged. 15:16 So I think he's going to be on that second line with Lutary and Bristek going forward here too. 15:21 Is it enough though? 15:24 I mean... 15:25 Well, I think what they need to do is they need to get their power play getting a little more dangerous. 15:29 They really want to have Pitlick and Kloos on one of the units. 15:34 And I think now with Lutary on one unit on his off wing, I think that's going to help. 15:40 Whether or not Cammie is the answer on the other side, we'll see. 15:42 You know, he is a creative player and he's best with space. 15:47 So they've got to get those units going and they've got to get shots coming quicker. 15:51 You know, it's just a slow, slow unit right now, very methodical. 15:55 Pat McLeady is just fuming when he sees that power play at work because it's so slow. 16:00 You can just look over to the right of where the GPL seats are at Marucci and you just see the steam coming off of Pat. 16:08 When Pat is there, you definitely see him getting pretty animated. 16:11 And it's kind of entertaining to watch him when he's doing some of the radio stuff. 16:16 Because, boy, he bleeds maroon and gold like nobody else. 16:21 And, boy. 16:24 Well, there's got to be puck-hungry guys on that first unit. 16:27 They've got Bristet and Sheehy who really can dig at pucks that are there and loose. 16:33 So that unit just has to get used to getting pucks fired on that. 16:36 Pitlick and Kloos have got to be quicker on the trigger on those things because they do kind of sit and hold it. 16:41 It lets everybody adjust. 16:44 Everybody gets set up. 16:45 The D gets defined. 16:46 Sheehy and Bristet in front, making sure they tie up their sticks. 16:49 If they just take quicker shots, that forces a penalty kill to scramble. 16:54 When a shot goes on net, they all have to turn and look and change their body position and readjust to where the puck is because it's unpredictable. 17:03 So I think for that unit to get going, they've got to be faster and more deliberate. 17:08 I agree. 17:10 I definitely agree. 17:11 Well, all in all, obviously a split on the weekend, not what we're used to against the Badgers recently, but I'll say one thing, I'll take it. 17:21 Gophers are 6-2, not too bad. 17:22 They're up at the top of the standings. 17:25 Just keep winning, baby, and they'll take another league title, we hope. 17:29 But obviously there's still a long ways to go. 17:32 We've got the North Star College Cup this weekend, and then we've got another weekend, what is it, it's Penn State after that, and then we're only halfway through the Big Ten season. 17:41 So we'll just have to wait and see, folks. 17:43 Just have to wait and see. 17:45 Well, before we get to the North Star College Cup, the final one, let's listen to our sponsor, Vintage Minnesota Hockey. 17:54 vintagemnhockey.com is a proud sponsor of the GPL Podcast. 17:59 Well, what is Vintage MN Hockey? 18:02 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. 18:12 All information about any of those teams can be found on vintagemnhockey.com. 18:17 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. 18:26 So make sure you check out those interviews. 18:28 It's a really great thing. 18:29 But as I always say, I think my favorite part is the store. 18:34 The store, you can buy a custom historical jersey from the Gophers or the Bulldogs or some of your favorite high school teams. 18:41 And if you do make a purchase, just use the code GPL Podcast, all one word, and you'll get 10% off your order. 18:48 So make sure you visit vintagemnhockey.com and follow them on Twitter at VintageMNHockey. 18:55 Well, V, we've got the North Star College Cup this weekend. 18:59 This great new tournament that's going to be going forever. 19:03 Well, okay, maybe it's just the fourth and final year. 19:07 We'll talk about that. 19:08 But we do have Paul Chatterton in the Mixler chat saying, where do you rank this Friday's UMD game on as a must-win scale? 19:20 Obviously, we're playing, well, I'm considering Duluth, the number one team, and they are in the pairwise, and they've shown consistently that they're the best team in the country this year. 19:32 How much of a must-win is this? 19:35 You know, I think must-win is not really the right label for this game from the Minnesota perspective. 19:43 They're playing arguably the best team in the country. 19:45 It's probably them or Denver, and they're playing it at an event they haven't done very well in. 19:53 I think what's most important is for this team to have a good showing. 19:56 You know, if this is a close game in the third period, where they've been in it and they've answered the call and they've played smart hockey and have given themselves a chance, I think that's the best thing you can hope for right now as a Gopher follower. 20:10 You know, I don't think this is a must-win. 20:13 I think for the players, they would love to win it. 20:15 I know Justin Kloos is looking forward to this weekend more than probably any other, and it's hard for him to play it like any other game like he needs to. 20:24 But to say this is a must-win, that's a bit of a stretch. 20:28 Yeah, I would agree, but maybe it's more of a must-win from the fan perspective of just how much Minnesota's gotten their butts kicked by a lot of these Minnesota schools the last few years. 20:41 I will say it would be a must-win to win back some fan interest. 20:45 I think their performance in this event has just been so lackluster that, combined with the Big Ten and the failure to win in-state games, has contributed to this malaise we're seeing in Mariucci. 20:58 That's why there's 2,500 unused tickets every night. 21:02 It's because they're not up in these games. 21:05 They just lose the support. 21:06 So I think for them to become a story again, they need to beat Minnesota to lose. 21:11 But it's not a must-win game for their season. 21:14 What happened to this tournament? 21:16 Is it just because of all the things you just said? 21:19 Obviously, the Minnesota losing a lot, the Big Ten, this tournament has been a pretty big failure. 21:27 Well, it's never really going to become the final five. 21:32 It's one of those weekends where this isn't the end of the season capping at a celebration. 21:38 I think one of the biggest issues with this tournament is that it just hasn't captured the imagination of St. 21:46 Cloud fans, Minnesota State fans, Bemidji fans, Duluth fans. 21:53 They don't show up. 21:56 The ticket numbers actually weren't that bad for the first two years of the tournament. 21:59 They're about 14,000 is what they sold. 22:02 I know it's because they included the Gopher season ticket holders, but this year the season ticket base for the Gophers is under 5,000. 22:09 It's like 4,700. 22:11 So they are selling another 8,000 tickets. 22:15 It's just it's not the atmosphere that the final five is. 22:18 And I think it's more of a narrative of the fan and the media than a complete failure. 22:24 You know, this isn't the Big Ten Hockey Tournament where they're drawing five in the 6,000. 22:28 Well, one thing you mentioned before we started the podcast is that you were saying that the Star Tribune is not so happy about not getting any kind of heads up on the end of this tournament. 22:42 What are your thoughts on that? 22:44 I kind of think that the Strib has nothing to bitch about because how would you show up to cover the team and you'd probably know what's going on? 22:54 Yeah, I think they feel like it was swept under the rug, but really for anybody who's been following this, it was kind of expected. 23:01 I think Lucia said multiple times in availability throughout the season is that I think Minnesota Duluth, St. 23:09 Cloud, Minnesota State would much rather have a home and home every year with the Gophers than playing this neutral site tournament. 23:17 It's not clear exactly how the financials work out for the North Star College Cup, but we do know that Minnesota season ticket holders go to this event, and then if you subtract that from the rest of the fans there, there's that much left over for those other schools, and they're giving up that home and home possibility, season ticket sales, to do this event. 23:40 So I think it's really more those schools ruining it than anything else. 23:45 If they support it more, it would still happen, but they would rather have the home games. 23:50 But I guess it also does come back to, you know, if the team was a little better, if the team was a little more in front of the fans' eyes, the Star Tribune probably would have somebody there every night, wouldn't they? 24:01 Well, obviously the Star Tribune doesn't get the page views, it doesn't sell subscriptions. 24:06 You know, if there is a demand for the coverage, like there is Vikings and, you know, wild coverage, they'd have someone there. 24:13 But obviously, you know, it's a niche sport, it is what it is, but it's still a lot of fun to watch. 24:20 Well, it allows us to be there, I'll tell you that. 24:22 And I'm thinking, you know, 10 years ago when we started doing this, I was kind of, you know, it was nothing but the big, you know, the big places like, you know, your KFANs and ESPN 1500s, Star Tribune, Pioneer Press. 24:38 Now it is more of us web guys that are actually showing up to these games and covering them. 24:44 Yeah, I mean, you've got Declan, Drew, Nate, myself are kind of the guys that are there quite a bit. 24:51 You know, and every once in a while, Doogie shows up from KSDP or Chris Long, you know, they'll come in and get some time with the Gophers. 24:59 And, you know, Mike Max shows up every once in a while looking for a feature. 25:03 But, you know, those days are few and far but team. 25:06 If there's something else going on, you know, if there's Viking availability or, you know, if there's a post by, who's the Viking punter who got caught? 25:19 If he puts something up on Deadspin. 25:22 Yeah, if Cluey puts up a story, you know, that took away Jason Gonzalez and Brian Murphy from attending Gopher stuff. 25:29 They'd have to go cover that first, because it drew more attention than the Gopher Hockey team did. 25:35 That's definitely true. 25:37 I mean, it seemed like for quite a while, we used to hear Lucia every year come January or mid-January. 25:45 You know, we'd have all these other media outlets showing up, and he's like, the Viking season must be over, because there's a lot of people here. 25:53 It's not as much the case now, Don. 25:55 They're just, this team needs to start winning. 25:58 I mean, they just do. 26:00 They need to start getting the fans excited again, because right now, it's not that excited. 26:06 As you've been tracking with your articles each year, attendance is down. 26:12 Tickets sold is down, and people actually coming is down. 26:16 There's just no excitement at all, and that trickles all down to the fans, to the media coverage, everything. 26:24 It's all trickling down. 26:27 Yeah, it's hard to understand exactly how bad it's gotten. 26:31 From the waiting list ten years ago, to only 4,700 people with season tickets, people have found somewhere else to put their entertainment money, and it's not Gopher Hockey. 26:42 They've got a lot of competition in this town. 26:44 The Wild, when they signed Suter and Parisi, that was a big move for them, because their attention and honeymoon was coming to an end before they signed those guys. 26:55 And then Minnesota, putting in the scholarship seating, the re-seating of all the season ticket holders, moving to the Big Ten, all at the same time. 27:04 I think that hurt their image quite a bit. 27:08 And then this TV situation. 27:10 Now, they're on TV a lot, but it's different channels. 27:13 There's no pregame, there's no postgame. 27:15 It's just not the microscope it used to be. 27:19 Of course, we had that poster on GPL this week, criticizing, maybe that's why Hammy's not on tonight. 27:29 Criticizing the critical eye on the program. 27:32 It's like, well, if more people were paying attention, it would be even more critical. 27:36 And he seemed to think that you were the person behind GPL, and it's all your fault too. 27:41 He must not listen to podcasts. 27:42 I don't know. 27:44 But I just kept it on there because I thought it was pure entertainment. 27:48 It just was for me. 27:50 Yeah, it's good fun. 27:51 You know, he can read about his buddy getting scratched in the Star Tribune, maybe, at the end of the season. 27:57 Yeah, we'll see. 28:00 Actually, I keep getting more questions via Mixler here. 28:04 I don't know how to pronounce this name, but what do you see for attendance Friday at the X? 28:09 And what do the Gophers have to do to get the fans back to Mariucci in the future? 28:13 Kind of what we're talking about, but what do we expect for our crowd? 28:15 Are the Duluth fans going to show up? 28:18 Is the four o'clock game going to have any fans there, Veegs? 28:22 It's going to be hard to tell in the four o'clock game. 28:24 I don't see that there's a lot of excitement for that. 28:27 They announced it won attendance for both games combined. 28:31 I do think there is some appetite for Duluth Bulldog Hockey going on. 28:36 I would think we'll see $14,000, $15,000 there on Friday night. 28:40 I'm not sure what we'll see Saturday. 28:42 I imagine we'll see about $14,000 sold for that as well. 28:47 But it's going to depend on how well Minnesota Duluth and how well St. 28:51 Cloud draw. 28:52 Because it's not going to be the big 8,000, 9,000 season ticket holders from Minnesota this year. 28:58 We got another question actually from that Paul Chatterton guy. 29:01 He says he's not calling for Lucia's head here. 29:05 But with the aforementioned problems, do you see Coyle making a coaching change? 29:10 Trying to breathe life into the program like they did at Wisconsin. 29:15 It's hard to say. 29:16 I know Hammy has brought this up, that changing the coach might change the public perception of the program. 29:22 Because there's that half of the fan base that regardless of what Lucia does, they will not support him. 29:28 Whether it's the fact that he's a Notre Dame guy that didn't get recruited by Minnesota, or that he's got a son who went to Notre Dame instead of Minnesota. 29:37 You know, whatever it is they have against the guy, I don't think is ever going to change. 29:42 I really do think that if Minnesota were to win a national title this year, people would still have that same apathy next year. 29:49 I don't think it would change. 29:51 I think you're right. 29:52 It's just, unfortunately, I think a lot of people just, they just don't like him personally, I think. 29:58 I don't know. 30:00 They don't know him. 30:04 I mean, Lucia is not really close with a lot of the media, just maybe a couple, but we don't, you never really get to see his true personality like you did with other coaches like the Wugger or Moscow or any of these guys that have kind of come through here as assistant coaches. 30:20 So I think that's kind of part of it. 30:23 But you know what? 30:25 The guys won two national titles. 30:27 He's had a couple of down seasons. 30:28 I mean, he's won the first three Big Ten titles. 30:32 He won the last two WCHAs. 30:34 Yeah, I mean, he's going for six here, and I don't think anyone's won six in a row, have they? 30:38 I think they're tied with Boston University that won six straight regular season titles, or five straight. 30:45 And I believe if they were to do it this year, no team has ever done that. 30:48 I mean, obviously, yay, Big Ten, they're not the greatest. 30:51 Well, the Big Ten's getting better, folks. 30:54 And his last years of the WCHA, he won both of those. 30:57 So you may not like him, but you keep coming back to the numbers. 31:04 It is tough to, you know, can a guy when he does have the numbers he has. 31:10 Yeah, I think Lucia's earned enough, you know, resume where he can kind of decide when he wants to end things. 31:17 You know, whether it's, you know, another two years or whatever, you know, he sat on his coach's show. 31:22 He'd like to see Mike Genzel take the reins here eventually. 31:26 Genzel is definitely Mr. 31:27 Goldie Gopher around the program. 31:29 He's probably the more charismatic guy on their coaching staff. 31:33 You know, you'll see him on the bench get fiery when he needs to be. 31:37 And I think the fans will maybe respond to that more if he's the head coach. 31:42 Well, we'll just have to wait and see. 31:43 I mean, like you said, Lucia's going to call his own shots, I think. 31:48 If he wants to go, he can go. 31:51 I think Coyle's got enough problems at the U right now. 31:55 Obviously, with all this football crap, obviously, they get the new coach now. 31:58 But I still can't fault Coyle for anything, because you know what? 32:05 We see Coyle at the arena. 32:07 I don't recall ever seeing Norwood Teague at Mariucci. 32:11 Maybe his first week or something like that. 32:13 But I've seen Coyle there five or six times already this year. 32:18 At least, you know, postgame, he's always coming down to the media room. 32:22 He sits there, or he stands there and watches, you know, the postgame media. 32:27 You know, the coach talk, he listens to the players. 32:29 I mean, he was right there when Kloos dropped an S-bomb. 32:35 And I kind of like that, because he's there, he's there, he shows his face. 32:40 I mean, there was a point when Norwood Teague there that we were still seeing Joel Maturi around Mariucci a lot more than we were seeing Norwood Teague. 32:50 And I bet we'll see Joel Maturi at Excel this weekend. 32:53 Probably will. 32:55 He still enjoys seeing Don Lucia in the program. 32:58 They call him Mother Maturi, and he actually cares about his coaches and program. 33:02 He most certainly does. 33:04 I think Teague just cared about the dollars. 33:06 And he might have broke the season ticket holder base at University of Minnesota by raising all the funding that he tried to do there. 33:13 Boy, I think Norwood Teague was a bad thing for Gopher Hockey. 33:19 Maybe they probably would have done all the licensing and stuff, but he didn't see the big picture about the timing. 33:25 He didn't have a clue about the anger of the fans about just the creation of the Big Ten Conference. 33:32 I think he just didn't really see the big picture. 33:35 But that's just my opinion. 33:37 Who knows? 33:39 What about the actual hockey this weekend, Veegs? 33:43 We got Minnesota and Minnesota Duluth Friday night, 7 o'clock. 33:47 I mean, this is the chance for the Gophers. 33:49 You know, like we said, it's not a must-win. 33:51 But pairwise, everything else, the fans, how they feel, if they come away with a victory, it would be pretty big to kind of get things going again. 34:04 Yeah, I think a win over Minnesota Duluth this weekend puts the Gophers in a great pairwise situation. 34:10 It gives them a chance to play St. 34:12 Cloud State again, I would think, and help their pairwise situation there. 34:17 But if they can get some NCHC pairwise points and comparisons won out this weekend, it's going to be very hard for them to drop out, even if they were to go 600 the rest of the way in the Big Ten. 34:30 So pairwise, this could be a huge weekend for them to separate themselves. 34:35 I agree, obviously. 34:37 They had the win and the tie against North Dakota, but obviously, North Dakota is struggling a little more lately. 34:44 If the Gophers want to keep that comparison looking good, they need North Dakota to start winning a little more. 34:49 But like you said, you're right. 34:50 You beat Duluth this weekend at a, quote, quote, neutral site. 34:57 It would be big for pairwise. 34:58 It could get them, you know, kind of keep them in at least the top ten or the top eight for the rest of the season if they, you know, keep doing like you said, keep playing 600 hockey. 35:11 As much as XL is a close trip for the Gophers, I wouldn't say it's a home site for them. 35:17 It's a smaller rank. 35:19 They're 1-4-1 in the North Star College Cup. 35:23 That one tie, they won the shootout against Minnesota Duluth in the first year of the event. 35:29 They have not done very well in this tournament. 35:33 So I think it's a big opportunity for Kloos and a couple of the other seniors to have a good showing in this last year of the College Cup. 35:39 But Duluth is a good team. 35:42 Oh, boy, yes. 35:43 They are definitely good. 35:45 But you even look at the struggles that the Gophers had the last five years of the Final Five. 35:51 I mean, it was ugly. 35:53 I mean, really ugly. 35:55 They won one game in the last couple years of the Final Five. 35:59 It was really bad. 36:01 Yeah, it seems the Gopher team hasn't been built for these smaller rinks, ground game kind of battles. 36:08 Even this year's team, if you're looking for big guys, it's Ramsey and Romanko. 36:13 Those are the big guys. 36:14 Sheehee's really sturdy, but you look at the other guys, they're smaller guys. 36:18 So when they go in the corner with Duluth, they're going to have to win it with quickness and quick sticks and agility. 36:27 And this Duluth team is a tough team. 36:29 They've got Dominic Tarnato who came back for his senior year, Carson Sussi who came back for his senior year, and then they've got freshmen like Tufte and Anderson filling in the lineup. 36:42 Looks like Tufte might finally be going now. 36:44 He was one of the three starters of the week last week with his first couple goals. 36:50 So this is a good team. 36:51 They've got Avery Peterson now coming back from his transfer who's played a couple of games. 36:56 This is a deep team. 36:56 They've got good defensemen. 36:59 Freshman goaltender Hunter Misca has been really good for them. 37:02 He's got a great save percentage. 37:05 So Duluth is a real team this year. 37:07 They're legit. 37:10 They definitely are. 37:11 I mean, boy, I just keep thinking. 37:17 You come back to this, how they've done against Minnesota schools. 37:20 Obviously, the only team they've beaten in the last few years is Minnesota State. 37:25 And Minnesota State ain't in this tournament this year, folks. 37:28 So obviously, we've got a big game Friday night against Duluth. 37:35 Boy, if they could even get to the tie, it would be good, Veegs. 37:39 Yeah, I do think playing Duluth in the first game is good for Minnesota. 37:44 I think if they played Bemidji State like last year when they were in the tournament, they could have that tendency to look past them, hoping to get a good matchup on Saturday. 37:55 I think playing Duluth the first game hopefully gets their mind right, because for them to win this game, they're going to have to be really disciplined. 38:03 They can't afford sloppy one-on-ones like Steve Johnson's goal he gave up on Saturday to Wisconsin. 38:11 They can't have goals where all four guys are standing around but Wisconsin has second chances at the net like on the second goal. 38:19 They can't be careless on a face-off like the third goal. 38:22 They have to be disciplined and they can't turn the puck over at the blue lines and they're going to have to chip the puck in every once in a while. 38:29 Lucia talked about this on Monday night. 38:31 It's like a quarterback who every once in a while just has to throw the ball away and go to the next set of downs. 38:37 Gophers have to have that same mentality with each shift. 38:40 I think it's especially hard for them to operate that way based on their in-state record the last four years. 38:48 That in-state record is pretty bad, to say the least. 38:51 Any thoughts on either St. 38:52 Cloud or Bemidji State? 38:53 Because they're going to end up playing one of those teams no matter what. 38:56 Well, Bemidji State's probably got one of the best goalies in the country with Bitzer. 39:01 I wrote about him in my Minnesota Hockey Magazine preview at the start of the year. 39:05 They've got some young defensemen who had to fill in and play big roles early. 39:09 They've got a lot of depth, but not a lot of high-end talent. 39:14 St. 39:14 Cloud, they have so much turnover on that team. 39:17 They had to replace their entire powerplay penalty kill goalie. 39:21 They've had so many moving parts. 39:24 They do have talent, but I just think they have a lot going on right now to be consistent. 39:30 So I think definitely Duluth is the best team in this tournament. 39:34 Bemidji might have the best goalie. 39:37 And goaltending is huge in a two-game stretch, where it's one and done. 39:41 It definitely is. 39:42 It definitely is. 39:44 Well, before we wrap it up here, Veegs, you were at Media Day today. 39:47 Why don't you give us a little preview? 39:49 Because this is the audio we'll put on the end of the podcast while we're done here. 39:53 What did you hear today? 39:54 Lucia just kind of talked about things with scheduling, how it's going to change, why the North Star College Cup is disappearing, and then the future of how they're going to schedule Duluth, St. 40:06 Cloud, Minnesota State, Bemidji. 40:09 He talked a little bit, surprisingly, he hopes that the Classic can keep going. 40:13 So I thought that was interesting. 40:14 I've never heard that that Classic could be ending, but that opened the door there. 40:20 I actually did hear a little bit a couple years ago that they thought it may go away. 40:28 But that was kind of behind the scenes stuff. 40:31 It was behind the scenes stuff, so I never really said anything. 40:34 And it's kept going, so the Classic could use some help, too. 40:40 Well, I think having a Minnesota State or a Bemidji State in it every year might help that tournament. 40:46 Get another local team in for the event and play in Minnesota, that would help. 40:51 And then you get two other teams that can commit. 40:54 So it will be interesting to see. 40:57 I mean, I know they've got Duluth. 40:59 You know, they're going to the whatever next year. 41:03 Are you there, Veegs? 41:04 Yep, they're going to the icebreaker next year. 41:07 Yeah, the icebreaker next year. 41:08 But then after that, they don't have anything officially scheduled, do they? 41:14 For Duluth? 41:14 For Duluth. 41:15 I think that's one of the things they've been talking about, haven't they? 41:18 No, they've got a series going through 22, 23. 41:23 I posted a link to it. 41:25 Earlier today, Dave Danis was asking about it on Twitter, so I put that out there. 41:31 It's always funny that Duluth is the one that did the release for that. 41:36 And North Dakota was the one that did the release for the Gopher Fighting Hawks. 41:40 That's because they're so damn secretive and I don't understand it. 41:44 Yeah, I was asking why they don't have a future schedule, you know, link like they do for football, for hockey. 41:50 And that's just not what the decision makers want to put out there. 41:54 Well, you know what? 41:55 You mentioned that to me earlier this week. 41:56 And I think we're going to do that. 41:58 Nate Wells put together a page or an article. 42:03 And I think we're going to put up a future schedule page on GPL just so people can see what's coming in the future years and some open spots and things like that. 42:15 Because you talked about the Clarkson and St. 42:17 Lawrence agreement and you talked about all the other agreements going on with Duluth and North Dakota. 42:22 So, you know, it's out there. 42:24 You just have to dig and ask. 42:26 And that's just it. 42:27 Because they don't publish it. 42:29 So I don't think beyond next year they have St. 42:31 Cloud or Minnesota State on the schedule after next year. 42:34 I think it's kind of to be determined. 42:37 And the only reason they're playing them both next year is because they get the extra games by playing in that icebreaker. 42:42 Just like that North Dakota game, that's the Hall of Fame game for USA Hockey, so that won't count. 42:49 And the Madison Square Garden one? 42:52 Nope, the Las Vegas game with North Dakota. 42:55 What's the Madison Square Garden? 42:56 Is that Wisconsin? 42:57 I think it's Ohio State, and it counts as an Ohio State home game. 43:03 Yeah, that's right. 43:04 I knew there was some kind of thing out there. 43:06 So the Gophers won't lose a home game for that one. 43:10 I had somebody on Twitter bugging me the other day complaining about the Gopher ticket office not selling tickets for the Vegas game. 43:21 And the Gopher ticket office was told they were going to get tickets. 43:25 And I keep thinking, you know what? 43:27 This game has nothing to do with Minnesota. 43:29 This is all through North Dakota. 43:31 It's one of their games, their home games they're losing for this Las Vegas game. 43:38 It's all through them. 43:39 We have no control over tickets for that. 43:42 They may have told the university that, yeah, we'll get you some tickets sometime and you can sell them, but who knows what's really going on with that. 43:49 I just thought it was kind of strange. 43:51 This person was complaining about it. 43:52 I'm like, that's like complaining about, you know, if you want to go to the Gopher ticket office to buy tickets for, you know, a game in Grand Forks. 44:01 That's pretty much what it is. 44:03 It's the same deal. 44:05 So complaining at the Gopher ticket office that they don't have tickets, that's just stupid. 44:11 I'm sorry. 44:11 It just is. 44:13 I mean, they may be told something and they might be passing it on, but they're at the mercy of North Dakota on anything with those Vegas tickets, folks. 44:21 So bitch at North Dakota. 44:24 Don't bitch at the U because they have nothing to do with it. 44:29 All right, Veegs. 44:30 And then you'll have Justin Kloos on there as well. 44:32 He talks a little bit about in-state rivalries and things that Gophers have to do to be more successful in those in-state games. 44:39 That kid's got more passion for Gopher hockey than a player, for a player that we've seen in a while. 44:43 And just I remember last year he was really upset when they lost that first game. 44:48 I mean, this kid's got, he bleeds maroon and gold. 44:52 He's a four year player. 44:53 I don't think people appreciate him enough. 44:55 I think he's, I think he's been a great asset to this team. 44:59 And it'll be sad to see him go because, you know, I'm not sure who's going to be the next leader with that kind of passion. 45:06 Yeah, I mean, he's definitely a guy who got asked to, you know, go to development camps and, you know, maybe sign after his junior year. 45:13 And he's turned them all down because he really values wearing the M. 45:17 And, you know, this weekend is really important to him. 45:20 So hopefully his team plays smart and answers the bell and gives him a chance to win. 45:25 Well, I'll append that audio at the end of the podcast. 45:28 You can hear Coach Lucia and Justin Kloos talk about the NCC or NSCC. 45:34 And obviously it's dying. 45:35 But, you know, it's just that's it, folks. 45:39 You know, it'll you know, they have to get rid of some of these games for next season because, you know, with Notre Dame coming on, that's already that's four games that they do kind of have to move. 45:50 I don't I don't think it's the Gophers that are in this weekend. 45:54 I think it's the other schools wanting to have the home and homes. 45:56 Well, I think that's it more than anything. 45:59 You know, I'd personally rather not have the home and homes. 46:03 I'd rather have a weekend up in Duluth instead of one game in Duluth and one game back here. 46:10 But that's just me because Duluth's always been my favorite trip. 46:13 And that's just that's personal preference. 46:16 But, you know, they're up there for the weekend next year, obviously, with the icebreaker tournament. 46:21 So at least that's a full weekend in Duluth. 46:24 I might have to go to that. 46:26 I'm going to be pulling for that one as well. 46:28 I hope to be there for both games next year. 46:30 And we're not going to be there to cover the team, folks. 46:32 We're going to be there to drink and have fun. 46:34 We'll see. 46:36 I can still do both. 46:38 I suppose we could. 46:41 Anything else, pigs? 46:43 No, it should be a good weekend of hockey. 46:45 It's probably got the feel of an NCAA regional. 46:48 You've got Minnesota Duluth, the number one team in the country, in my mind. 46:53 You've got the Midgee, who's probably the top team in the WCHA this year with a good goalie. 46:59 You've got the best team in the Big Ten right now in Minnesota. 47:02 And then you've got St. 47:02 Cloud, who's kind of a bubble team. 47:05 They're fighting for their pairwise respect as well. 47:08 It should be a good weekend of hockey for the 10,000 people that decide to show up. 47:14 I know you can get tickets for under $20 on StubHub, Ticket King, all that stuff. 47:20 So it's good hockey. 47:22 It's too bad this event doesn't keep going. 47:24 It's great for, especially the media. 47:26 I know Asako and Nate about this. 47:29 A chance to see four Minnesota teams, four Minnesota coaches, all these Minnesota players. 47:35 It's too bad it couldn't keep going. 47:37 Well, it's true. 47:38 Then we get to see all those people we used to see at the Final Five. 47:40 There's a lot of familiar faces. 47:42 I wouldn't doubt just a lot of those media guys that we haven't seen in a while. 47:50 Yeah, my favorite, Paul Allen. 47:51 He's usually there. 47:53 He's not there this year. 47:54 No, he's not there this year, but I saw him earlier this year when we went down to Mankato. 47:59 Paul has been at Mankato forever. 48:04 And so has the guy from St. 48:07 Cloud. 48:09 These people have been there forever. 48:11 And trust me, these schools miss the WCHA, the old WCHA. 48:16 I've heard it straight from their mouths that when St. 48:19 Cloud was at Mariucci, I talked with her SID, and he was saying, you know, it's nice that we're playing, but it's just not the same because these games don't really... 48:30 It's kind of bragging rights, but when there's no points on the line, they feel it too, and they miss the WCHA just as much as we do. 48:36 So, that's just the way it is, folks. 48:41 Just the way it is. 48:43 Well, everyone have a good weekend on that note. 48:46 Remember, you can follow Vegoe, at eVegoe on Twitter, and Hammy Hockey, he's on Twitter too. 48:56 Maybe he'll be back next week. 48:57 Maybe he won't. 49:00 We'll be back to recap that North Star Cup and preview Penn State. 49:32 Who's up first? 49:33 Some emotions with the finality of the North Star Cup? 49:37 I don't know. 49:37 I thought it was a good concept, but to be honest, I never really thought on like we hoped it would, especially when you got a lot of teams giving up home games and home dates for their fans. 49:48 And I think the idea was to really, hopefully get the alumni involved and maybe replicate what the old WCHA playoffs was like, but it just never seemed to happen. 49:56 So I think when everybody got together, probably just wasn't worth giving up the home games for so many people. 50:02 So, you know, we talked about this summer and this fall, and we elected to, you know, what, the four years was over, the cycle went through, and we'll just have to do away with it, unfortunately. 50:15 I mean, any theories as to why? 50:17 No, I don't... 50:18 Ticket prices? 50:19 I don't even know. 50:20 I couldn't tell you what the ticket prices were. 50:22 It's not like the final five ticket prices were cheap. 50:24 You know, the teams have been good, but I don't know if everybody is splintering off to new conferences or what was it. 50:32 We thought this would be a good weekend because it's a weekend before the Super Bowl. 50:37 It's the NHL All-Star break, so there's not a lot going on this weekend. 50:42 But, you know, final time, you know, it's four really good teams, so hopefully we'll get good attendance for the last one and it'll be exciting, four games of hockey. 50:52 You've got Duluth on the schedule through 22, 23. 50:55 What does it look like for playing other schools like Minnesota State, Bemidji? 50:59 Well, I think that we will continue to play. 51:03 You know, you have to balance out home games and road games, and we add four more Big Ten games next year. 51:10 You know, but in the near future, you know, we've got North Dakota on, we've got Duluth on, we've got Mankato on, and we've got St. 51:17 Cloud on. 51:18 We also continue to want to hopefully play our tournament. 51:21 We also want to, and on the occasion, you know, play some different teams, too. 51:25 So you're not playing the same teams each and every year. 51:27 I think it was really good for our guys to go out and, you know, we have a three-year deal with Clarkson St. 51:32 Lawrence. 51:33 Though Clarkson comes back next year and St. 51:35 Lawrence the year after. 51:36 It was a good trip for our guys to go to those venues. 51:38 Same thing with our BC Northeastern trip. 51:40 I think the guys have enjoyed, you know, getting into some spots that they haven't been before. 51:44 And, you know, we want to continue to try to do that. 51:46 So we have a lot of good teams on our schedule. 51:50 It's one of the things you look at, our non-conference. 51:51 I mean, I'd probably argue that our non-conference schedule is as difficult as anybody in the country this year. 51:57 And, you know, we've been all over from Alaska to Boston to New York. 52:00 I think it makes us a better team. 52:02 And we're going to have two more really good non-conference games here this weekend. 52:07 What is making Duluth so good this year, you think? 52:10 Well, you know, a veteran team, and they have four senior defensemen. 52:13 And, you know, it seems like some of those guys have been around for eight years, not just four. 52:17 And they've been really good the last number of years. 52:19 I mean, they were a goal away from the frozen four year ago. 52:22 They're the, you know, based on what I've seen, you know, as good as any team in the country, deserving of their number one ranking. 52:27 And, I mean, you just look at that veteran, and they skate well. 52:34 And, like I said, it's not obviously four senior defensemen on anybody's team at this point. 52:39 So they have a nice mix of speed and size and skill, and the type of team they don't rely on while one, you know, line to score. 52:48 But I think that really the strength of their team, they just don't give up much. 52:51 I mean, five on five, they barely give up over a goal a game, and when you do that, you're going to win a lot of games. 52:58 It seems your team's had a lot of challenges against the Luth lately, but they've won six in a row. 53:02 Why do you think that's the case? 53:03 Well, they've been good. 53:04 I mean, when you look at our scores, we just haven't scored any goals. 53:08 And, you know, you get a 0-1 goal, it's very difficult to score. 53:11 And goals will be difficult to come by again this weekend. 53:15 So, you know, there's no question they've had our number. 53:18 But, you know, at the same time, they've been really good the last three years too. 53:21 How important is it for Rem Pidlick to get back on track and get more shooting more? 53:24 Well, it's something we've talked to him about. 53:27 We want him shooting. 53:28 He had a couple of good chances last weekend. 53:30 And, you know, look back to our Saturday game. 53:32 You know, we had a lot of good looks that first half of the game. 53:35 We probably should have been ahead more than we were 2-1. 53:37 But we just couldn't extend the lead. 53:39 You know, and hopefully some of those will go in this weekend. 53:42 But, you know, for us, from here on out, we're scoring enough. 53:45 When you look at what we've done from an offensive standpoint, the big key for us is going to, you know, can we defend? 53:51 And are we going to keep that goals against around two in a given game? 53:54 You know, Eric's played better the second half of the season. 53:56 He's going to be a real key as we move in the second half of the season. 54:00 And for us, when we give up two, we're going to have a good chance to win. 54:03 You start giving up three or four goals, it's difficult to win this time of year. 54:06 You had a chance to kind of look back at the video for Wisconsin. 54:09 What did you like about the weekend? 54:11 Well, I mean, we had a ton of scoring chances. 54:12 I think we had 30 scoring chances on Saturday night. 54:14 I think halfway through the game was like 16 to 6 or something like that. 54:17 So we didn't put it away when we had an opportunity to put it away. 54:21 And then we had a five-minute segment that ultimately cost us the game. 54:25 And some of those are just some were mental mistakes, some were physical mistakes. 54:29 And you just can't do that, especially on the road. 54:32 And we allowed the crowd to get into the game, which ignited them a little bit too. 54:37 Can I say, like this weekend, is this kind of feel like more of a home game for you guys? 54:41 No, not at all. 54:42 I mean, it's a neutral site game and we don't play on a small sheet. 54:45 And, you know, the XL Center, we've been there as often as anybody else the last few years. 54:50 So, you know, I was just thinking about that today that, you know, we're going in there this weekend and, you know, I don't know when we'll be back in there because, you know, you had the final five to look forward to or the Snore Star Cup. 55:01 So we knew we're going to be in the XL every year. 55:03 That's not the case moving forward. 55:05 So, you know, I think it's very much a neutral side game. 55:09 The crowd, I think, will be pretty evenly distributed. 55:12 And I said, I think there's four really good teams and anybody could win it. 55:17 You've talked about cutting down practice time for these guys. 55:19 Is that just your experience going on the stretch or do you have data from Cal on the six levels? 55:22 Well, I think it's both. 55:25 You know, we get feedback from our guys too. 55:28 We went about 65 minutes today. 55:31 School just got going again. 55:34 We'll monitor it. 55:35 We'll see how our legs are. 55:36 I think the most... 55:37 the guys know the systems. 55:38 You know, we want to keep battling and doing some things so they stay tuned the way we want them to play. 55:45 But, you know, you get to this time of the year and they don't want to forecheck. 55:48 They don't want to play in the neutral zone. 55:50 That part of it's just mental. 55:51 You have to touch on it a little bit. 55:53 But you want to have... 55:54 we want to continue to have pace at our practice. 55:56 And we want to have... 55:57 make sure that the guys have good legs for Friday because we've all played enough sports and there's been games where, you know, your team goes into a game and they're sluggish and they just don't have any legs. 56:07 And we want to do everything we can to guard them, to make sure they have good legs on the weekend. 56:11 I thought we, you know, we skated well last weekend. 56:14 I think that since we've come back after Christmas, we've had pretty much continuous good practices, which is always... 56:19 at least it makes the coach feel better. 56:22 And so we're doing everything we can to keep them fresh. 56:26 Now, that doesn't mean every practice is going to be 60 minutes or 70 minutes, but as much as we can, you know, that way they can stay out and we can work on some things after practice individually too. 56:35 With the team having some struggles against in-state teams over the last few years, is there a little extra maybe eagerness in the locker room to get some of those wins back this weekend? 56:41 I look at... 56:41 I mean, we've got two more non-conference games. 56:43 And, you know, the reality is today, I mean, the most important thing is our Big Ten conference. 56:48 It's important of playing good at opponents non-conference and try to build up your resume for the end of the year. 56:54 You know, we've done a good job with that. 56:56 We have one more weekend to do it. 56:58 So that's what's important. 56:59 It was important to beat Boston College. 57:01 It's important to win this game, you know. 57:02 So it doesn't really matter who you play as much as... 57:05 I mean, you want to... 57:07 You have an opportunity to play good quality opponents and help yourself. 57:13 You get up for UMD more than, you know, say, a Penn State or, you know, anybody else? 57:20 Yeah, I mean, it's another game, but obviously in a straight rivalry, you got to, you know, you mark a little bit on the calendar like some of our other rivals, but, you know, we just got to treat it as another game and, you know, play some good hockey. 57:32 Can you tell when they have that kind of number one ranking? 57:35 Yeah, I mean, College Hockey is so... 57:40 The margin between, you know, the best team and even, you know, middle pack team is really, you know, it's getting smaller and smaller every year. 57:46 You know, you look at... 57:47 I think they lost to Colorado College a couple weeks ago or something like that, and, you know, obviously Duluth is a better team, but on any given night anyone can beat anyone. 57:55 So you got to treat it like a normal game and just worry about what we're doing. 57:59 And, you know, if we play well, I think we're going to have a good shot. 58:02 Your coach has talked about puck management as an area to improve and compared it to a quarterback having to throw away a pass every once in a while. 58:09 Is that harder to do when you play a team like Duluth? 58:13 Yeah, maybe a little bit. 58:14 Obviously you always want to make a play when you have the puck, but, you know, you got to live to fight another day. 58:19 You know, a lot of times we like to pass the puck all the way up the ice where, you know, you can just throw it off the glass and be a little safer and a little smarter with the puck, especially in certain situations at the end of the game and a period where you really don't want momentum to have a huge swing. 58:35 Just making a simple play I think will help us not only finish out games, but keep momentum kind of on our side a little more than big sways like you saw last series. 58:46 Do you sense that's an emphasis in video sessions? 58:49 Yeah, just taking care of the puck. 58:51 I think that's every team. 58:52 You can't be turning over the puck at this time of year. 58:54 You've got to win giving up two goals or less. 58:57 I think you look at our season and when we give up two goals or less, we win almost every game, if not every game. 59:02 So that's a big emphasis. 59:04 And when we get in trouble, it's when we're trying to be a little too cute, making turnovers, and just not keeping the game a little simple within ourselves. 59:13 I apologize if this has been asked already, but what did the players think about the North Star Cup, and will you guys miss it, knowing that this is the last one? 59:23 Yeah, obviously I'm a senior, so I'm going to miss kind of every tournament and every game, so it's not a huge difference for me. 59:30 But yeah, obviously we love playing at the X. 59:33 It's an unbelievable rank, and unfortunately, I don't know if the tournament has worked out as well as some people have hoped, but it's been a fun series. 59:43 You always like playing in-state rivals, especially when you get to play for a trophy. 59:47 You've been playing on the line with Rem Pitlick a lot lately. 59:49 What do you really like about his game, and what do you think compliments your game that he does? 59:53 His speed is the first thing that jumps out, I think, to everyone. 59:56 Speed and skill. 59:57 He can beat DUI like he did in Michigan when he just took the puck on the end and just went wide and went bar down. 1:00:03 He can do stuff like that. 1:00:05 Obviously, he's a young player, but he's very talented and very... 1:00:09 He compliments, I think, me and Chewie really well because he can get in the play and disrupt it and get the puck in our hands. 1:00:16 Also, when the puck's in his hand, he can make a play. 1:00:20 As he plays more and more, I think he's going to get more and more confidence, and he's going to score a lot of goals in college. 1:00:26 Whether that starts this weekend or in a couple weeks, I'm really looking forward to how he keeps adapting to the game. 1:00:33 Is it more important to be the number one team or to be Minnesota delete? 1:00:39 I don't know. 1:00:41 It doesn't really matter. 1:00:43 I think they've been switching off with Denver one and two all year, so they've obviously had a great year. 1:00:48 We just want to be a good team, and it happens to be Minnesota Duluth on Friday.