0:05 This is The GPL Podcast, sponsored by Vintage Minnesota Hockey, your exclusive source for throwback Minnesota jerseys. 0:14 Visit vintagemnhockey.com Now, here's Hammy, Vigo, and your host, Jupiter. 0:40 Good evening, and welcome to GPL Podcast number 107. 0:47 Hammy's back with us this week after taking a little sabbatical in Phoenix. 0:51 How you doing, Hammy? 0:51 Y'all nice and tan? 0:54 Pretty good. 0:54 No, I wasn't there long enough to really tan, so. 0:57 But it was better than here. 0:59 Although, you know, in the coming days, it is gonna be pretty warm, so can't complain too much. 1:04 Yeah, spring's pretty much here, I think. 1:07 It's all good. 1:08 Yeah, their golf course is opening on Sunday. 1:15 Wrecking the grass, aren't they? 1:17 Can't be good for the grass. 1:19 Walking only. 1:21 I suppose. 1:23 Well, boys, Don Lucia always likes to say that, win at home and split on the road and you'll have a successful team. 1:32 I'm not sure the split they had this weekend is the way he'd want to do it, but Veegs, I think he'll take the final result. 1:41 Yeah, I think the team, you know, got into a bit of a run and gun situation this weekend where they were, you know, testing their limits a bit too much with Ohio State. 1:51 Such an offensively talented team. 1:54 And they got bailed out with the power play on Saturday. 1:58 School record, six goals. 2:00 Pretty impressive with this year's team. 2:03 They just, both groups are putting in goals. 2:08 Well, it was definitely just a check-and-hide weekend, I would say, you know. 2:13 It was up and down and, you know, I, it didn't bother me so much because in past years when the team gets down, they never came back. 2:24 They're down two nothing, they're down three nothing. 2:27 Usually in the past five years, that game's over. 2:30 But even though they lost the Friday night game, they were down two nothing in that game. 2:34 They did take a lead. 2:35 They came back, ended up losing in the end. 2:37 And then you have the Saturday game that down three nothing, come back and with all those power plays and all those controversial calls, ended up getting to win six to five. 2:47 Hammy, not exactly the way they usually do it, but they came back and that's something we just haven't seen. 2:54 Yeah, I mean, it's funny because some of the, you know, you never like to lose, but some losses you can handle better than others, but sometimes it's really frustrating when you see the team battle back from a deficit, take the lead, then blow the lead and lose the game and the third, you know, it's like, oh, you know, cause you, from a fan perspective, it's like you get really excited at the fact that, hey, the team came back. 3:19 Sometimes you don't really expect the team to come back from that kind of a deficit. 3:24 And then when they do it, you're like, all right, things are rolling in the right direction, you know, and you feel positive. 3:29 And then all of a sudden it just, you know, goes down the tubes in a third, and it's like, you know, you get frustrated about that. 3:35 So, but, you know, they did come back on Saturday. 3:39 Obviously it was kind of hard to feel optimistic early after, you know, you don't typically win games on the road when you're down three, nothing. 3:46 So it was nice to see them come back, both nights and at least one of the nights come up with a W. 3:52 Definitely a W is a good thing. 3:55 And to split on the road against a high scoring team, I think, is more of the big picture look to it, that I think is a successful weekend. 4:04 But obviously, Vigo, we can't really get past this weekend without talking about that power play. 4:10 Like you said, six power play goals, but when you score four goals on two major penalties, that's a pretty big deal. 4:19 Let's talk about those major penalties. 4:21 First, Mr. 4:22 Josh Healy, who ended up getting an extra suspension. 4:27 What are your thoughts on this guy? 4:28 I mean, we had some discussion earlier this week with Rick Pizzo. 4:38 Yeah, sorry, just blanked on him. 4:41 We were kind of talking with him. 4:42 He thought the suspension might have been a little rough, but I don't know. 4:47 I was listening to Nate on his podcast, Gopher State, and should there be a cumulative type of effect of these types of calls? 4:56 I think I was a little surprised to see that he's got four suspensions to his credit so far, and he was an all Big Ten defenseman last year. 5:08 And I talked to Lucia a little bit about that today, and he's like, Healy's a quality defenseman. 5:14 He's a physical hard defenseman, and that's one of the reasons why Bob McKenzie from TSN said that Healy is probably one of the NCAA's top free agents for NHL teams. 5:25 He brings some attributes that NHL teams are looking for. 5:29 Unfortunately for him, Big Ten Hockey's trying to take out contact to the head penalties. 5:34 They're trying to take out checking from behind penalties and protect their players as they should be. 5:39 These players are getting scholarships and some room and board money, but they're not making five million like guys in the NHL. 5:48 So the league needs to protect their players. 5:50 And I think the Big Ten is a little more progressive than other leagues around the country with how strict they are adding these additional suspensions to players. 6:01 Clearly the major penalties cost Ohio State the game on Saturday. 6:07 Minnesota obviously took advantage of it. 6:09 Sometimes you get those five minute majors and the first power play unit tires out and that's it. 6:15 And they can't get any more chances, but the way Minnesota is going now with two units, they put pressure on for the entire five minutes. 6:24 This year's team is so good at retrieving pucks on the power play, it just gives them lots and lots of chances. 6:29 But I think Healy, context of the head. 6:32 That's the way the rule is written for BigTen Hockey and it was enforced properly. 6:38 Was it enough though? 6:40 Has he learned his lesson? 6:41 I mean, that's kind of what I was getting at. 6:44 I mean, like you said, it's his fourth suspension in less than two seasons. 6:51 I'm getting the impression that he's not learning his lesson. 6:55 I mean, how many times? 6:56 He wasn't exactly taking a run at Romanco on that hit. 7:01 He was coming down from the blue line and it just kind of happened where there's contact of the head. 7:06 It's kind of like in college football, there's the targeting penalties. 7:09 And I think you can tell when it was something where someone's going for a cheap shot versus when someone's trying to make a physical play. 7:16 And I think that's the situation here with Healy's hit. 7:20 It didn't look like he was taking a run at Romanco going for the head. 7:25 You could argue that the Joshua hit on Pitlick was almost more deserving of a suspension because there wasn't really much to that play there. 7:34 That's Joshua taking advantage of a smaller player in an incidental contact situation and taking the most of it. 7:43 Well, Hammeh, I was listening to Lou Naneon with Dan Borrero yesterday, and he thought the Josh Healy hit on Romanco wasn't even a penalty, which I found surprising. 7:57 Yeah, well, I guess he's old school, right? 8:00 He played a long time ago. 8:02 I know, but I was a little surprised by that. 8:05 Well, I mean, I don't agree with everything he says. 8:10 But I mean, I thought it was definitely a penalty. 8:13 I mean, I suppose, I mean, you know, in today's day and age, anything that's up around the head, I mean, you just kind of have to expect that that's going to be called. 8:23 And I mean, I don't care even what sport it is anymore. 8:26 I mean, I just heard on the radio today, they did some study on soccer players suffering concussions just as much as like football players or something like that. 8:35 But I mean, it's just, that's the way it is in today's world. 8:38 And with the emphasis on those kinds of hits, I mean, anything that's even borderline is going to get that kind of more often than not, at least. 8:47 And I guess in the NHL, you can practically stick it, put a stick through a guy's head and only get six games. 8:53 But I mean, but you know what I mean? 8:56 It's like, I just think that, you know, I don't see how he sees that. 9:00 I mean, in today's game, I just think that anything that's borderline, that kind of stuff is going to get called. 9:05 And that's why, you know, it has to be emphasized with the players, you know, keep your elbows down, you know, keep your shoulder down. 9:13 Don't be leaving your feet. 9:15 Don't be doing stupid things like that because it's going to get you a major these days. 9:21 Well, I think another takeaway from this weekend though, is also the play of our senior players. 9:27 I mean, we had Luteri pick up three goals, Bischoff with another big goal. 9:31 And obviously on Saturday night, Vig's the leadership is coming through this year, whereas we might not have seen that so much in the last few years. 9:42 Well, they've got some guys who are four-year players here with Bischoff and Kloos and Luteri and Camerata. 9:49 These guys know what the situation is in big time college hockey. 9:54 And this year's team has a lot of depth. 9:56 I can't remember, you know, maybe even four years ago when they were a number one seed if they had this much scoring depth. 10:02 They've got six players with double digit goals and they don't really have any huge standouts on defense that are flashy, but they're pretty consistent. 10:11 And they definitely are. 10:15 We've got quite a few Twitter questions since this one's related to this weekend series. 10:20 Puck Hogg would like to know, after last Saturday's game against OSU, is there a rivalry forming with the Buckeyes? 10:29 What do you think, Hammeh? 10:32 Well, I mean, I was kind of heartened to see some people, especially on GPL, starting to realize that, hey, maybe the Big Ten isn't so bad after all. 10:42 I think you just kind of needed to give it a little bit of time, gives the teams a little bit of a footing, have some improvement amongst some of the programs, get some familiarity. 10:52 I mean, I've said all along that it's not like the rivalry with North Dakota was great in year one, or Duluth was great in year one. 11:03 It takes time to develop that kind of a situation. 11:06 And I think we're gonna see as time goes along in the coming years, and especially with Notre Dame coming in, I'm sure they'll be competitive, and who knows what's gonna happen beyond that. 11:18 But I expect that there's gonna be some rivalries. 11:23 And I think obviously we knew about Wisconsin and Michigan blows this year, but I think over the course of time, we've always had pretty good rivalry with them. 11:31 And so I feel pretty good about the way things are headed, and I think that it'll just get stronger as time goes. 11:37 Veegs, I think games like Saturday Night are the kind of games that help get the fans into these type of series, or games, I should say. 11:47 When you have major penalties, a lot of scoring, I mean, that's what seems to build rivalries. 11:53 It's not just whole-hum play. 11:55 It's, you know, your guy did this to me, I hate you now. 11:58 Or we have real competitive games. 12:00 This is the kind of hockey that the fans are looking for to want to cheer for these type of rivalries. 12:08 Yeah, I think the key components of a rivalry starts on the ice, and you're starting to see that with Ohio State and Penn State, Minnesota. 12:15 You're seeing these games where there's a history of back-and-forth scoring and physical hits and suspensions and trash-talking. 12:24 I think for the rivalry to get to that next level, you need more of that banter back-and-forth with the fans, and I'm not sure if that's there yet for Ohio State. 12:35 They close off a lot of seats in that arena. 12:37 It looked like they had a pretty decent atmosphere in there on Saturday night, but I think that fan base needs to build before it can become a true rivalry. 12:46 Otherwise, it's just going to be something like CC in Minnesota, whereas there might be something on the ice, but you're not seeing fans from the two schools go back and forth at each other. 12:56 Well, like you said about the crowd, the crowds weren't bad, but in that gigantic arena, it just doesn't look that great. 13:03 I mean, tickets sold this past week, and they had 5,100 Friday night, 6,400 Saturday night. 13:10 That's pretty good tickets sold in a much smaller arena like Pegula. 13:15 Those type of arenas are perfect for these kind of schools. 13:18 It would have been a much more difficult place to play if they were playing in a small arena with that many fans in it. 13:24 Yeah, I think the atmosphere with the size of the building plays a huge part of it. 13:28 I think if Penn State was in a big, if they were in a basketball arena trying to fill it with students, I think the atmosphere wouldn't be as successful as it is right now. 13:36 But right now, they've got their hockey valley fanatics that add a lot to that program and provide some juice for that team. 13:45 They definitely do. 13:46 And obviously, you look at Pagula and they're at their past capacity. 13:50 They're filling it every night, 102%, so they're selling a lot of standing room. 13:55 And it would be different if they were in a gigantic building. 13:58 You just wouldn't have that feeling, so. 14:01 Another question we had from Puck Hogg. 14:03 I'll send this one to you, Hamme. 14:05 Should college hockey adopt a progressive suspension rule similar to USA hockey? 14:10 I think he's kind of referring to Healy here, that maybe Healy would have had another game if they had more of a progressive type of suspension rule. 14:24 Well, I'm not exactly. 14:25 I mean, I really do understand and believe in kind of having that increased, it's like anything in life, whether you're breaking laws every day with life, or if it's in the sport. 14:37 I just think that there should be some increasing penalties based on your past history. 14:42 And if a guy's running around doing that stuff, and I just think that you have to do something about it. 14:48 You can't find guys, right? 14:49 So something NHL, you can't just dock them and pay or whatever. 14:53 So really the only way that you can really punish in college is to take away playing time. 14:59 And so I totally agree that there should be some kind of a progressive way of handling these kinds of situations. 15:06 And I had some conversations with the BigTen office a couple years ago and Downing had those multiple incidents with the Minnesota Gopher teams. 15:16 And they do have a progressive policy in place where they take into account the severity of the action, any injury that comes out of it, the manner of the action and the context of the sport and the history of the member involved. 15:30 And they have that power to install multiple games if they feel like it. 15:37 I think this hit, it was contact to the head, that's the letter of the law, but it wasn't a malicious intent. 15:43 It wasn't like the Eddie Wichow hit on Novak a couple years ago where it was in the open ice, the puck wasn't really there. 15:50 It wasn't a hit like that. 15:52 It was in part of a hockey play where this hit was made. 15:56 And I believe that head, he ended up getting three games to that one, didn't he? 15:59 Yep, he got three games, plus he got kicked out of the game immediately. 16:03 Yes. 16:06 Well, I don't know. 16:08 I just, you know, it goes from somebody like those old school guys, like Nanny thing, I didn't even think it was a penalty, which I completely disagree with, to people who think, you know, maybe it should have been more. 16:18 So maybe it is somewhere in between that we kind of had to find a happy medium. 16:25 Viggo, you've been digging and digging recently, trying to find out revenue and expense numbers for the Men's Hockey Team, just to kind of see how things have gone since, you know, the transition from the WCHA to the Big Ten. 16:39 And recently, you kind of ran into a little roadblock. 16:42 Do you want to care what to say, what's been going on with that? 16:46 Well, just one of the issues is how the university reports this data. 16:50 In years past, Men's Hockey was called out as a specific column in their presentations to the regents and in their financial disclosure documents. 16:59 But this most recent year, you know, they incorporated it back into other men's sports for this presentation. 17:06 And they did that because that's the NCAA standard. 17:09 You know, most schools don't have a hockey program that's revenue generating. 17:14 And so I had to do a little additional digging with some Freedom of Information Act requests. 17:19 And I finally got this year's data from 15-16. 17:23 And it's showing that the Gophers turned a $3 million profit last year. 17:28 Their revenues are about $6 million. 17:31 And they cut their expenses down to a little over $3 million this last year. 17:34 So, you know, people are saying lots of things about the program, grounded or not. 17:40 But this program is still one of the most successful revenue sports for college hockey in the country. 17:47 In fact, for the most part, they have profited more money than any other school. 17:53 And it hasn't even been close, has it? 17:56 I mean, those years of WCHA, they were clearing sometimes $4 to $5 million. 18:02 And the next closest was maybe North Dakota at around $2 million or just below $2 million clearing. 18:09 So, obviously, a lot of those numbers changed when they moved to the Big Ten. 18:14 Their expenses took a big leap, but like you said, they kind of got expenses under control this past season. 18:21 Yeah, it looks like it. 18:22 I think part of that is a little the Title IX spending. 18:25 I know that the men's program is a little handcuffed because they tend to go through money a little bit faster than the women's program. 18:33 You can look at it specifically in their equipment. 18:35 The men spend about twice as much on equipment, mainly because they break more sticks. 18:41 I got some kind of interesting comments when I pointed that out to people, but it's just a fact that men's hockey players go through more sticks, whether it's the flex that they're utilizing or the number of stick checks that happen during a game. 18:57 We saw Vinny Leteri go through a gross of sticks last year. 19:01 He broke, what, 15, 16 sticks? 19:03 Yep, he did. 19:05 I mean, that's $4,500 right there. 19:09 And it's not like the U gets a discount on these sticks from Bauer and CCM and Easton. 19:15 They're paying for these sticks. 19:18 So it's a cost they have to deal with, and they're a little handcuffed in how much they can spend because of the Title IX issues. 19:25 It's part of the reasons why we haven't seen new uniforms for the men. 19:30 It's just a reality for them. 19:31 But they did have a very good year last year with revenue and expenses. 19:37 If anyone's curious, Vigo just tweeted out that revenue expenses going back about 10 seasons just recently. 19:44 I just retweeted it. 19:45 So make sure you go check it out. 19:46 You can clearly see, obviously, those WCHA years, their travel expenses were much lower. 19:53 And then they hit the Big Ten, and those travel expenses went up. 19:56 So obviously, do we know where they cut to try to save money, Veegs? 20:01 Because obviously travel expenses, I'm guessing, are fairly similar. 20:06 One of the ways they responded in my Freedom of Information Act request is they gave me 74 pages of revenues and expense data. 20:15 So it's not as clear to go through as it is when you see the one-page summary that they present to the regents. 20:24 That's a lot of data. 20:24 It's a little trickier to dig into, so I haven't identified where they cut the expenses yet, but it'll come out eventually here. 20:34 Well, that would be good. 20:35 I mean, obviously, they had a lot of revenue that first year of the Big Ten, but they also had a lot of expenses. 20:44 It seems like their revenue has been fairly flat, except for that first year of the Big Ten, where it kind of jumped up, but do you think there's any concern that that revenue might be down quite significantly for 16-17 just due to how many tickets they've sold have gone down? 21:03 It's got to be a concern. 21:04 It's hard to tell how the revenue is going to shake out, because the way they've done their seeding, that North Dakota ticket to a nonseason ticket holder was really expensive. 21:15 It was. 21:16 And they are selling over 9,000, usually around 9,800 tickets per game this season. 21:22 So their sales aren't really down, and I actually think the stand attendance state is going to be better this year. 21:27 Like you looked at that Penn State crowd two weeks ago. 21:31 It was pretty full. 21:32 That it was, but some of the games before that, the Mariucci Classic, they had tickets sold. 21:37 I think there was one game in December that was under 6,000. 21:41 Well, I think they're going to make up for that revenue with the North Dakota game, because season tickets this year, the base is much lower than it's been historically. 21:52 So they're making up for it on single game sales for the North Dakota game. 21:58 Hammond, you got any thoughts on all this revenue and expense stuff? 22:03 No, I don't really know. 22:07 I just know that they make good money for a college hockey team. 22:10 So ultimately, it's kind of what you want. 22:13 And as long as they're not seeing major dips, then I think that the coach is always going to be relatively safe in that regard. 22:24 He's not going to get the critiques there. 22:28 Just win, baby. 22:29 You win, you're going to sell tickets, you're going to keep those revenues up, and things will always be good for Minnesota as long as they do fairly good. 22:37 As long as they don't have multiple, multiple seasons of losing and their ticket base goes way down, they should always be a money maker there. 22:46 Well, before we move on, we need to hear from our sponsor, Vintage Minnesota Hockey. 22:52 vintagemnhockey.com is a proud sponsor of the GPL Podcast. 22:57 Well, what is Vintage MN Hockey? 23:00 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. 23:10 All information about any of those teams can be found on vintagemnhockey.com. 23:15 They also have great interviews with some historical Minnesota hockey figures, like John Mayessich and Lou Nani, Glen Sanmore, some of the greats of Minnesota hockey. 23:24 So make sure you check out those interviews. 23:26 It's a really great thing. 23:27 But as I always say, I think my favorite part is the store. 23:31 The store you can buy a custom historical jersey from the Gophers or the Bulldogs or some of your favorite high school teams. 23:38 And if you do make a purchase, just use the code GPL Podcast, all one word, and you'll get 10% off your order. 23:45 So make sure you visit vintagemnhockey.com and follow them on Twitter at VintageMNHockey. 23:53 Well, we've got a few more Twitter questions here for you guys. 23:56 Let's start with one from Tim Hapke. 23:59 He always loves to send us good stuff. 24:02 Did the Gophers not recruit Jake, I want to say Odinger, I'm not really sure how to pronounce that. 24:07 Or did they already have Edquist and Holliday committed and got burned by them? 24:13 Hammy, I know you're not as close on the goalie commits, but did we not recruit Jake? 24:20 Well, I mean, I think people need to, I mean, I think he's kind of right on. 24:24 I mean, it's just a matter of, and I've said this before, even with some of the other positions, a lot of it's timing, you know, and if you have guys, you know, slotted ahead already, that, and it's just not going to be a good fit. 24:37 I mean, you're going to miss some good guys because, you know, you have things that are already slotted, and obviously there's only so many roster spots, especially for a goalie, that, you know, you kind of have to make some tough decisions. 24:50 And I think that you're going to see that in some instances with forwards, D, and goalies, you know, especially local kids, and we know, we've seen plenty of good players go to other programs. 25:03 And a lot of times it's just because we just don't have the opportunities there. 25:07 So I think he's pretty much dead on on that one. 25:12 Another one from Tim Hapke. 25:13 We'll send this one to you, Veegs. 25:15 Do you see Patoni maybe trying to be a head coach somewhere, either D3 or UASA at jail, and then having Millen be a full-time assistant? 25:25 I think he's just kind of getting at, do you think Patoni needs to kind of leave for a little bit and see if he can coach on his own? 25:32 I get the feeling that Grant Patoni is tied to Don Lucia. 25:37 As long as Don Lucia is at the University of Minnesota, Grant will be with him. 25:41 If that were to change, you might see Grant Patoni go out on his own and be a head coach somewhere. 25:48 My article I wrote for Minnesota Hockey Magazine that actually came out today, Don Lucia says that Patoni has proved himself as a coach. 25:56 You don't just get named to these little junior staffs if the head coach doesn't think you're gonna be able to contribute. 26:02 Phil Housley and Bob Motzko obviously thought well enough of Grant to do that. 26:07 So he'll get opportunities somewhere to coach, whether it's USHL or another Division I program, we'll see. 26:14 Corey Millen, harder to say if he'd stick around at the University of Minnesota if something were to happen. 26:21 This coaching, student coaching thing is kind of a rare deal that they're able to work out for him. 26:28 He was coaching in the North American Hockey League in Cloquet there for a while and got ousted there kind of late and Lucia saw an opportunity to keep Millen coaching. 26:39 So it's hard to say what he's going to do next. 26:41 I do know that the staff loves having him around and he's been helpful. 26:45 I think he helped get Leon Bristett going a little bit here the second half, just trying to work his confidence and help them figure it out. 26:55 Another Twitter question relating to a topic that's been kind of leaked out the past few days. 27:01 Ken Roberts wants to know fighting hawks to the Big Ten. 27:07 Hammy, this has been kind of a little, people have been talking about this that possibly Minnesota and Wisconsin want North Dakota in the Big Ten. 27:19 What do you think? 27:19 Well, I mean, you know, I don't, I understand the logic from a hockey perspective. 27:32 I mean, obviously, they're a good program. 27:35 They're established, so you're not having to just bring in some brand new D1 program, like an Arizona State type of situation, for instance. 27:46 So I understand that part of it. 27:49 I don't know that I see the fit in some of the other ways that might be more important from a big picture perspective for the conference. 27:59 I, you know, I wouldn't fault them either way. 28:04 But personally, people keep trying to force feed the whole North Dakota thing. 28:11 And for me, it's like it's already a ship that's sailed. 28:13 I mean, I understand it's still an important team for some fans, you know, but it's also like it's dwindled. 28:21 I mean, even when we played them earlier this year, as much as it was nice to perform well against somewhere, it just wasn't the same. 28:27 You know, and so if it happens, it happens, but I really don't. 28:34 I could care less either way. 28:37 Viggo, what do you think? 28:40 Well, I think obviously the Big Ten Hockey Conference has to do something at some point. 28:45 You know, they're not going to stay at seven teams forever. 28:49 And so they're looking for a good fit for the conference. 28:53 I think one of the reasons ASU is still an independent is because their arena issue is unclear. 29:00 The travel to Arizona isn't exactly a benefit to some of these other programs. 29:06 And they look like they're going to struggle for a little while. 29:09 So they're not as attractive as you think a Pac-12 school would be. 29:14 So the Big Ten's got to do something. 29:16 You know, they made an exception for Notre Dame, and Notre Dame's got a pretty good academic reputation, but they don't fit the Big Ten schools either. 29:25 You know, they're not part of the AUU. 29:27 You know, they're not a big research institution. 29:30 And I'm not sure if there's another hockey school that could fit in the Big Ten that matches those either. 29:36 So they're going to have to make some decisions. 29:38 And I don't think there's another benefactor with $60 million laying around that's going to start hockey at Iowa, Iowa State or Indiana or Illinois, which is something that you'd like to see happen. 29:50 But I just I just don't see it. 29:52 So North Dakota fits. 29:54 You know, it would definitely help season ticket sales, at least for Minnesota and Wisconsin. 29:59 You know, and that's a big concern. 30:01 We've we've talked about that a lot this season. 30:03 You know, there's a couple of things you could do. 30:05 You could change your head coach and that might generate some energy. 30:09 You could approve the facilities or you could get North Dakota back in the conference. 30:12 And I think that would sell a lot of season tickets. 30:15 And I think the key there is that there's just nothing out there right now. 30:19 No one is pushing for Division one hockey at the school, not Nebraska, not Illinois, Northwestern, which is why they went out and got Notre Dame. 30:31 So they really, like you said, Hammy, they can't stay at seven. 30:36 It's just it's just not going to work in the long run with seven teams. 30:40 So they need to start looking out and looking around for those other teams. 30:45 A lot of people will say, oh, they're not good enough for academics. 30:48 Well, I think it's getting to the point where they might not be able to pay attention to that. 30:58 Well, it would be interesting because if they pluck a good team from another conference, I mean, you have to start to wonder if more dominoes start to, you know, I mean, we, it seems like at any time, unless you add a brand new team, it just seems like there's always going to be some kind of a domino effect. 31:16 If you take a team from a conference, in particular, one of the better teams from a conference, so it'll be interesting. 31:23 I do think if North Dakota joins Big Ten, Arizona State slides right into the NCHC. 31:29 This is the initial domino. 31:31 Because there was, I think, some pressure for some other schools that wanted Arizona added to the conference already. 31:38 I don't think North Dakota wanted that. 31:40 But it was definitely a move that was out there that Arizona State would join that conference. 31:46 But North Dakota is basically the backbone of that conference financially. 31:53 Well, I mean, St. 31:53 Cloud and Duluth have had good financials the last couple years too. 31:56 Yeah, they have. 31:57 But you know what? 31:58 It's not those fans showing up in bulk for the frozen face-off, or whatever they call it, down their target center. 32:07 It's the North Dakota fans. 32:09 Well, I think the WCHA Final Five was kind of a unique situation for a conference tournament. 32:14 I think you're gonna see all the conferences go back to home sites for that. 32:18 I just don't think there's the kind of interest, despite what some Penn State fans see as a nationalization of college hockey happening. 32:26 I think you're gonna see the opposite. 32:28 I think you're gonna see more campus sites considered. 32:31 I think you're gonna see smaller venues picked for the regionals in April. 32:35 I think it's gonna be more centralized. 32:39 Well, I don't know. 32:39 There's a couple other schools out there that they might try to go after if they can't get North Dakota. 32:44 So we know they're gonna go after somebody. 32:47 It's just a matter of who and when they want to do this. 32:51 And I think it's at least quite a few, what, two or three years down the line before anything happens. 32:57 And I saw somebody posting today that I think North Dakota would have a hefty penalty just to leave, over a million dollar type of penalty to leave the NCHC. 33:09 So we're still a long ways off, folks, if this were to happen. 33:16 I got Paul Chatterton in the Mixler chat saying, he thinks Illinois and Northwestern need to start up a hockey program, with Chicago being a decent hockey town. 33:26 But Paul, there's just no money. 33:29 They're not going to start up unless they got a nice big donor. 33:33 I mean, do you guys see anything else from these other schools? 33:35 I mean, without a big donor, these schools just aren't going to do it. 33:40 Well, it's not just the men's program they have to fund. 33:42 They're going to have to fund a women's program on the other side with their donation. 33:46 Because schools aren't going to just jump into this. 33:49 There's going to need to be an endowment for both programs. 33:54 I mean, without that endowment, Penn State doesn't have a program right now. 33:58 I mean, obviously, they had a lot of money thrown out at them. 34:01 And I'm guessing financially, they're probably doing pretty well. 34:05 But they wouldn't have had that without that large donation. 34:10 So unless somebody decides to be generous, I just don't see it happening in any of these schools. 34:16 And like you said, Title IX. 34:18 Maybe they can start up a men's program, but really, in all reality, unless you start up another women's sport, you're going to be starting up a men's and a women's program. 34:27 So really, it's... 34:29 It's like getting started in real estate. 34:31 If you don't have a couple billion dollars sitting around from your father, it's kind of tough to get involved in that business. 34:38 You can't just bootstrap yourself up with $200,000 deals. 34:42 You need a lot of money to make that stuff happen. 34:45 Well, when you're right, you're right, Veegs. 34:49 So we'll have to see, people. 34:51 There's obviously a little rumblings in the last week or so, and it will be interesting to see where it goes. 34:57 Obviously, it sounds like the landscape in college hockey is still changing. 35:05 I'd say in the next five, ten years, it's going to be a lot more changes. 35:08 So just hang on tight, folks. 35:11 And I think you'll hear this discussion drag on for a while, but there won't be any real talk by decision makers, at least till July when the Big Ten Council meets, which Eric Kaler is chairing. 35:25 So he can help kind of drive that conversation and message, because they are going to have to convince the other schools and the Big Ten that this is a good idea. 35:32 All right, we need to move on. 35:35 We've got another big series this weekend, boys, and it's back to Penn State. 35:40 And obviously, we swept them here a couple weeks ago. 35:44 We thought Penn State might have put them down for good. 35:48 Then Penn State goes to Wisconsin and sweeps the Badgers, helping us. 35:52 But obviously, they're kind of back on their game, Hammy. 35:56 And then heading to a hostile environment, this is not going to be an easy weekend out at Penn State. 36:05 Sweep. 36:06 Oh! 36:07 Just kidding. 36:09 You're starting to sound like me. 36:12 No, I mean, yeah, I mean, we've generally done pretty well against Penn State. 36:18 So I always feel pretty good about how we match up with them. 36:21 I know that's, you know, not going to be on Mariucci's ice, but nonetheless, I feel pretty good about how we match up. 36:32 Once again, like we talked about a few weeks ago, you know, Penn State throws a lot of pucks at the net, and you kind of have to do a good job with rebound control and clearing pucks. 36:40 And I do think that, you know, when you're that kind of a team, you do have opportunities to counterattack when they are just throwing pucks here or there and all over the place. 36:54 It gives you opportunities. 36:55 So hopefully our transition game will be in high gear and we'll kind of catch them off guard. 37:02 But I feel pretty good about the weekend. 37:04 I think that will do pretty well. 37:09 Are you on mute? 37:11 Sorry, I did it again. 37:12 God, every week. 37:14 I know, at least one time. 37:16 Veegs, I got a Twitter question, a point towards you. 37:19 Eric Olson wants to know, how does Pagula play to PSU's strengths? 37:24 How different will PSU be at home at Pagula? 37:29 Well, I think just the smaller ice surface makes their high-volume game more effective. 37:35 When you're at Mariucci and you're coming in the zone and you cross the blue line, you're along the wall and you fire a puck on that, it's almost a turnover. 37:43 But at Pagula, a little bit smaller surface, they're 10 or 15 feet closer on every shot, and they're 10 or 15 feet closer to the net when the puck's released. 37:52 You're going to see more traffic in front of the goal. 37:55 It's going to be harder to box them out, and it's going to be harder to keep them from gaining second chances. 38:00 So I think Pagula's smaller sheet and the atmosphere created by their packed house will probably drive the Nittany Lions to play better. 38:09 One of the things, last time these two teams went at it, their big Russian player Smirnov was injured. 38:16 Godowski said this week that he's healthy again, so he could be a big impact in the series. 38:23 He definitely was in the series against Wisconsin, and he did not look like he was at all engaged at Mariucci two weeks ago. 38:30 No, I barely heard his name at all the entire weekend. 38:34 I think the only thing he heard was Pat Nicoletti being scared that the KGB was going to get after him, because apparently Srinath's family is connected. 38:45 Pat, Pat, Pat, what do you do? 38:48 But I think it's a legit thing, though. 38:51 Obviously the smaller ice and the atmosphere is going to be completely different than what they experienced this past weekend in Ohio State. 38:58 It's going to be hostile. 39:00 Obviously Penn State is riding pretty high now after going into Madison and sweeping the Badgers, Hammey. 39:10 Yeah, I was kind of surprised by that outcome. 39:12 I figured, you know, I didn't think that, certainly didn't expect Wisconsin to get swept at home, so that's a little bit of a surprise. 39:22 And, you know, obviously they weren't really particularly close games, you know, so you have to give them credit for that. 39:30 And they kind of basically, I mean, you know, they pretty much took it to them for most of those games. 39:36 So I mean, I just think that that's pretty impressive. 39:39 Wisconsin's obviously been a lot better this year. 39:41 So hopefully they got some of that good play out of their system, and now we'll catch them maybe feeling a little bit happy about themselves, and that's kind of when you can catch a team. 39:53 So, you know, but I really do feel pretty good about this coming weekend. 39:56 I do think we match up pretty well with them, and I do hope that the transition game gets going because I think that we'll have opportunities. 40:05 You know, even if it is a smaller rank, I just think that there's opportunities there when you have a team that tends to just throw pucks around a lot like that. 40:14 Another Twitter question, John Candels. 40:17 I'm not sure I pronounced that right. 40:19 Is a split with Penn State a letdown this weekend? 40:23 I don't know, Veegs, but I think a split is a pretty acceptable result for this coming weekend. 40:31 Yeah, I think a split for Minnesota puts them in the driver's seat for the conference title. 40:36 You know, they're fourth in a row here. 40:39 The one thing I'm worried about this weekend is Minnesota's a little banged up after the Ohio State Series. 40:45 There's a lot of guys who are day to day, as the Gophers took to the ice this week. 40:50 They're still not sure which 20 skaters they're going to take with on the trip tomorrow. 40:55 So that's something to be concerned about, I think, from the Gopher standpoint, is they look for a split, because I think that's the goal going into it. 41:05 How is it looking? 41:07 I mean, we know we had Lindgren go out, we had Pitlick. 41:10 Wasn't Romanko also having some problems as well? 41:13 Yep, Lindgren and Pitlick and Johnson all practiced today. 41:18 Lucia thought they looked good. 41:20 Romanko was held out of practice today. 41:22 I think they're just trying to make sure he's going to be okay going into the weekend. 41:26 They don't want to bring him with if it's going to make things worse for him. 41:30 So it's a little bit of question marks. 41:34 They blocked a lot of shots on Saturday, and they joked that they ran out of ice bags. 41:39 So everybody's a little stung from that series. 41:44 It's going to be an intense game against Penn State. 41:46 There are going to be a lot of board battles, a lot of fights in front of the net for rebounds and space. 41:52 So it's going to be a tough weekend. 41:54 Penn State needs this to get back into it. 41:57 They're not a sure thing to get in the NCAA tournament. 42:01 And that definitely would make things interesting. 42:03 Penn State comes in and sweeps Minnesota. 42:07 They have the potential of being in first place, depending on what Wisconsin does. 42:10 So Penn State's going to bring it all, guys. 42:14 If they get the sweep, it's going to be hell of a finish with the three teams for the end of this, to try to get the Big Ten championship here. 42:23 I mean, obviously Minnesota's going for number six. 42:27 Wisconsin's just trying to get back to be relevant again. 42:29 And then you've got Penn State, who's never done it before. 42:33 So we could get Penn State out of the picture this weekend with a split or maybe even more than the old three, or maybe four or five points. 42:43 So, you know, we're just going to have to wait and see. 42:45 But boy, Penn State sweeps hammy. 42:48 It's going to be an interesting finish. 42:53 Yeah, I mean, it will be. 42:55 I still like the Gopher's position. 42:57 I know where they're at. 42:58 Obviously you can't complain about being in first place. 43:00 And I think that when I'm looking at the schedule, you know, I feel pretty good about where things are heading on the stretch. 43:09 You know, we've got, you know, I'm not saying that playing at Michigan is going to be easy, but they haven't been good this year. 43:15 And Michigan State at home, I mean, that should be a sweep. 43:19 We always seem to play Wisconsin very well on home ice. 43:23 So I really do like the position that they're in. 43:26 I think if they play, you know, relatively well this weekend, get some good points out of the weekend, I'm not saying they have to sweep, but just do well enough to stay at or near the top. 43:38 And I think that they'll be in good shape heading down the stretch. 43:43 Veegs, I think if Minnesota is in first place at the end of these next couple of weeks, it's pretty much over. 43:49 I don't see those other schools coming back, especially with Minnesota having to play the, you know, Michigan, Michigan State, obviously not pushovers, but if Minnesota is still in first place after the end of next weekend, it's looking pretty good for number six in a row here. 44:06 Yeah, their schedule definitely favors a good finish, getting Wisconsin at home, Michigan State at home, and a poor Michigan team on the road. 44:15 So I think if they get to split this weekend, they're in great shape, and I think they'll be in great shape for, you know, a one or two seed in the NCAA tournament if they split this weekend. 44:24 That's a good point. 44:25 Obviously, they're right on the, they've been jumping back from four and five recently this past weekend. 44:31 Right now, they're at number four in the pair-wise. 44:35 I think it's going to be difficult for them to move up, wouldn't it? 44:39 I think it's impossible for them to jump in the top two. 44:42 There's a chance they could jump into three, but, you know, they could be anywhere from three to eight depending on how they finish. 44:50 I would agree with that. 44:52 Well, boys, you guys got anything else for this week? 44:57 No, I think Ohio State does have a chance to make a run here. 45:00 I know Eric Raymond was asking us about this, and, you know, they've got a pretty easy schedule, and they've got great goal scoring, so you can't really count them out any game where they have any letdowns. 45:11 I think they're going to be a danger to the end. 45:15 I didn't see that tweet until just now, so that is a good point. 45:19 Obviously, you know, Minnesota split with them on the season, so I don't know if they're going to be able to get into contention of the conference, but you're right. 45:26 I mean, if they get a couple quality wins here, they'll put themselves in fairly good shape in the pair-wise. 45:35 Yeah, I think if you had to draw up a scenario for the Big Ten getting four teams in, last week would have been about perfect. 45:42 You know, Ohio State splits with Minnesota, and Penn State sweeps Wisconsin. 45:46 It just brings everybody tighter. 45:49 But, you know, if Wisconsin struggles again, they'll probably drop off pretty quick. 45:55 Yeah, I was pretty surprised by Wisconsin getting swept, to be honest. 45:59 I think it was partially goal-tending and Smirnoff getting back into form for Penn State. 46:05 I would agree. 46:08 All right, boys, I don't think we have anything else, do we? 46:11 Nope. 46:12 Obviously, it's going to be a key weekend this weekend, guys. 46:18 Remember, you can always follow Hammy and Viggo on Twitter at eViggo and at Hammy Hockey. 46:26 And then questions, send us questions anytime of the week. 46:29 We'll get to it. 46:29 GPL Podcast has your hashtag. 46:31 We'll try to get to your questions during our podcast, so send them in. 46:36 We'll be back next week. 47:04 Happiest of clans. 47:06 Happiest of clans. 47:07 You must have got a nice balance page for your wife, did you? 47:13 Wasn't it a box of chocolates? 47:14 Happiest of clans. 47:17 You're turning red, Frank, I think that's the first time. 47:20 You gotta have a little fun, don't you? 47:28 Who's first? 47:28 Gator mentioned the team needing to sell out in this time of year. 47:33 Was it something that clicked in in that second game last weekend? 47:36 Well, we did a lot of good things on Friday, too. 47:39 The scores tied going into the third period and they made a play and we didn't. 47:45 We fought, I would like to see what would happen had we not taken a penalty after we scored the one, pulled goalie situation, seemed like we had a little bit of momentum, but we talked to the guys about some wall battles, some shot blocking and you could see the difference on Saturday, sometimes we had to poke our guys about doing some of those things on a consistent basis and obviously the power play was a big part of what happened on Saturday, but to our guys' credit we took advantage of it. 48:14 One thing I do like about our power play is we have two good units, I mean they each had three goals and that's kind of, if you look at the numbers on who's on the units, I think they're almost exactly the same number of goals on each group. 48:24 So it's nice to have that. 48:27 And just as last weekend, you know, the guys that we need to score are scoring. 48:30 We've got six guys up front that do the majority of the scoring, you know, in double figures. 48:36 Our goal-ten, I mean our D did a pretty good job last weekend, you know, you look at the numbers, you look at the shots against, we only had, you know, 20s one night and then the low 20s the second night. 48:46 Tough weekend for Eric. 48:49 Ohio State's a very good offensive team, they don't need a lot of shots to score. 48:53 So it wasn't one of those games where, boy, you're seeing a lot of shots in the outside and you get the groove into it. 49:00 It was one of those weekends where when they didn't get a lot of shots, but when they were able to get one, it was a great day and they made some really nice shots on those goals. 49:09 So this weekend will be a little bit different for him because it's going to be a volume shooting. 49:13 He's going to see a lot of shots and I think probably if you ask the goalie, they'd rather be in a game where you're seeing 35, 40 shots and maybe 20, 25 that are, and you mix in, you know, 10, 12 that are really high quality. 49:25 It's harder to feel like you're into the game. 49:27 But we did what we needed to do last weekend, getting a split on the road against a good team and keeping them where they are on the standings. 49:35 But now Ohio State has a chance to make some hay with their upcoming schedule and we've got a very difficult four game segment coming up at Penn State and back to home with Wisconsin. 49:46 So it's just having a good week of preparation, I think we've had, we haven't gone that long this week. 49:51 We're really trying to keep our guys fresh mentally and physically as we get on the plane tomorrow to head to Penn State. 49:58 Do you know you're going to need more ice bags on Saturday after losing on Friday and kind of putting that emphasis on shot blocking? 50:04 Yeah, I think that, like I told Tyler, it hurts so good when you make a block like that late in the game. 50:10 But those are the things that you have to do if you want to win. 50:13 I mean, the games are highly contested. 50:16 There's not much separation, and who's going to make one or two plays is ultimately the difference in the game. 50:23 We scored our power play goals and they all got through, and our guys at the end there were willing to sacrifice and take a knee. 50:31 It doesn't feel good. 50:31 It hurts. 50:32 I mean, the puck is hard. 50:33 I mean, there's times you get hit and you're not getting hit in any equipment, but you got to pay a price to win. 50:39 Is it important for your leading scorer to lead the forwards and block shots as well and take a big one at the end of the game? 50:45 I mean, I think it says something when you're, it can't be just your, you know, the so-called fourth line guys that are willing to do it. 50:52 When your top end guys are willing to go down and block a shot, it just makes it easier for coach to say, hey, you know, he's doing it. 50:59 You know, it's easy for me to watch an NHL player making $5 million a year and say, he did it. 51:05 You know, there's no reason why you can't do it. 51:07 It's a part of the game and you have to be willing to do it and you know, the days of 30 years ago, you know, people conveniently got out of the shot lane. 51:16 Now, I mean, guys are coached to try to get in the shot lane, not necessarily always to take a knee, but you know, do everything you can to put your body and sometimes it just influences that shot that's going to go wide. 51:27 Another guy who plays that sort of two-way game both offensively and offensively, Leon Bristad. 51:32 What do you like about his consistency in his game so far this year? 51:34 Well, he seems great now, have a lot of jump. 51:36 You know, he and Vinny played really well together at the end of last year. 51:40 You know, they played together a lot this year, but it seems like they're playing in their group together. 51:44 I think Cammy's done a nice job with that line as well. 51:47 But Vinny, I mean, Leon, he plays in every situation. 51:51 So he's one of those six forwards. 51:52 You know, he's on the power play, kills penalties, plays four and four. 51:56 When we're ahead by a goal late, he's on the ice. 51:58 We're behind by a goal late, he's on the ice. 52:00 His integral part, physically he's strong. 52:03 He's one of those guys that really watches what he eats and, you know, takes care of his body. 52:08 And, you know, he's probably the last guy in the locker room most days because he's, whether it's being in a cold tub or stretching and doing everything he can to have his body ready to play. 52:18 Tyler acclimated to college hockey so quickly last year. 52:21 What kind of growth did you want to see in his game this year? 52:25 Well, he's been fortunate that right from the get-go, he's played with front-end, top-end guys. 52:30 Obviously playing with clues helps. 52:33 I think the biggest area of growth we want to continue to see is that he just as good on the defensive end of the game as the offensive end, and I think that's an area he has to continue to grow. 52:43 Obviously you just have to get quicker and stronger as he matures. 52:48 I'd like to see him develop into a good penalty killer because I think that anybody that's moving on to the next level, I think that's something you want to have in your bag of tricks that if you're not going to play in a front-line role, you can find a way to maybe play in a different type of role at the next level. 53:04 So, I think that's important for him to learn to be a good penalty killer and he's kind of been an extra penalty killer. 53:11 Obviously, now he'd probably be our seventh penalty killer, but most games he's going to play a little bit, whereas maybe next year he could be one of those top six penalty killers for us. 53:21 When you blocked that shot in the last minute, did you have an immediate reaction? 53:26 Can you recall what your reaction was? 53:28 Yeah, I mean, it's a way to sell out. 53:32 I told him that right after the game, and I said, hey, Tyler, it hurts so good. 53:36 It hurts, but the reward was helping us win that game, a really important pebble game. 53:41 The Green and Pitlick went down last weekend, should they be back? 53:44 Yeah, it looks good. 53:45 I mean, they haven't practiced all week, but they're both out there the last couple of days. 53:49 Tyler was out today, and we'll evaluate in the morning with our practice. 53:54 So we've had a little disjointed week from that, but nothing that should really affect us too much on the weekend. 54:01 So they both look good. 54:02 You think everybody will be healthy enough to play? 54:05 Yeah, well, we got to wait for one after practice tomorrow. 54:07 So we still have to see how the guys are tomorrow. 54:11 We got to wait and see how one guy skates tomorrow and how he does. 54:15 So hopefully, signs look like we'll be healthy with everybody who want to go on the plane to Penn State. 54:23 It's harder this week because we have to decide on our 20 skaters before we leave, and we're not at home, so it gives us a little bit more flexibility. 54:32 Just again, we'll have to wait until after practice tomorrow to see. 54:35 So how does State play one of the more physical brands of hockey in the Big Ten right now? 54:39 Well, at times. 54:41 Obviously, he leaves a very physical player. 54:44 He's a good player. 54:45 I thought he was very deserving to be an all-Big Ten player a year ago. 54:49 Obviously those are the hits that we want to take out of the game. 54:53 I think most of the time, I don't think a guy is out trying to do something. 54:58 You just know it's such a play that happens and you're coming in. 55:05 I don't know if you try to target or check from behind. 55:07 We're doing everything we can in our game to try to eliminate those types of plays because players can be vulnerable. 55:16 I've lived with one of my own sons with concussions. 55:19 We just don't want to see that happen to anybody. 55:21 It's an emphasis. 55:23 It will continue to be an emphasis. 55:24 And I think it's good that we're doing that because we want hockey to be a physical game, but we don't want to target the checks from behind or the contact that they had. 55:35 You mentioned Monday that Penn State line changes can be a little quick. 55:39 Is that something you're looking for this weekend? 55:41 And are you going to remind the officials? 55:43 No, I think that's been done. 55:47 You're not wrong. 55:51 Okay. 55:53 Obviously, a great weekend for your power play at Ohio State. 55:58 Yeah. 55:58 What's clicking? 55:59 I mean, I don't know. 56:00 I think we're just kind of firing off cylinders and we're getting some chemistry. 56:05 We've had some injuries and stuff, but finally getting some guys adjusted and guys are really finding out where everyone is. 56:14 Like I said, just building some chemistry. 56:15 I think obviously when you get that many chances and you're getting some work on it, good things are going to happen and we were able to go get six goals, so that was good. 56:24 Both units are really going. 56:26 Are you guys competitive with each other? 56:27 I mean, yeah, like everyone wants to be out there, everyone wants to score, but I mean the bottom line, everyone wants the team to win. 56:34 So that's the number one thing. 56:35 So whoever is really going, whoever is scoring, whoever is clicking, we want that unit out there. 56:40 I mean, even our unit, if the other unit is going, we want them out there if they're fresh. 56:45 And yeah, like a lot of it is who's fresh, what lines just got off, and who's ready to go. 56:52 But for sure, who's got the extra jump that game. 56:54 And yeah, like I said, we want the team to win. 56:57 So both units want the best unit out there. 57:00 Playing Penn State second time in three weeks, it'll be, you know, they're going to be bringing a little extra. 57:05 So what all does the weekend mean to you guys? 57:08 Yeah, I mean, it'll be a big challenge for us, a big test, you know, we were able to get two wins against some last time we played them. 57:16 Now going into their building, it'll be a little different, you know, dealing with their fans. 57:21 They have a lively building and, you know, Big Ten is really good this year. 57:24 It's a really close conference, standings wise and a lot of good competition. 57:29 So if we can go in there and get a couple of wins on the road, it'll be huge. 57:33 Is it good to play high scoring teams like this right now? 57:37 You know, yeah, I mean, I think it tests us defensively, which coming down to the end of the year, really defense wins championships. 57:45 That's the bottom line. 57:46 You got to score, but you really got to defend. 57:48 Goal is got to be good. 57:49 D's got to be good. 57:50 Forward's got to be good on defense. 57:52 So playing teams that can score and teams that have some offensive firepower like that really tests us defensively as a team and will only make us better. 58:01 Coming down the stretch here, how important is the forward death you guys have? 58:05 It is important. 58:06 I mean, you see, like with injuries and stuff down the stretch, you know, people will be able to play with different people, guys will be able to step up into different roles. 58:15 Having depth, having guys who can do different things is really big because you don't know what's going to happen and injury-wise, first of all. 58:23 But also, I mean, if guys aren't playing great and then other guys deserve a chance, you know, there's a lot of competition which brings the most out of everyone, I think. 58:30 What have you guys learned in that first series against Penn State about how good you can be on defense and what you need to do against them to shut them down? 58:38 Yeah, I mean, I know we have all the parts and all the tools. 58:42 It's just really mostly about having the mindset that we're going to go out there and sell out and do everything we can to win. 58:49 You know, it's about going out and being willing to block shots and play team defense and just really putting that before everything else. 58:56 And, you know, it's defense first and then scoring second. 58:59 And so, yeah, I think it's just going in with that mindset and really, really locking down and making sure that we have our priorities straight. 59:07 How is the smaller rink going to make a difference in your style of play? 59:12 It shouldn't do much, you know. 59:13 We've been practicing this week on the smaller rink and obviously everything happens a lot quicker. 59:18 You get to the net quicker, you know, they're on you quicker, forecheck, breakout, everything's just compact and happens faster. 59:25 But that can suit us too. 59:27 You know, we got, we're fast so we can get on there D quick and then once we get the puck back, you know, we're already close to the net ready to make a play. 59:33 So I think offensively it can be good for us still and defensively, you know, getting in shooting lanes will be a little bit easier. 59:39 You talked about selling out. 59:43 Did it take the team a little while to figure out selling out last weekend? 59:47 You know, I mean, it's hard, you know, you kind of get trapped in the games like that where it's up and down the ice, you know, offensive and you kind of get that mindset where you feel like it's going to be a 6-5 game. 59:58 And, you know, with a team like Ohio State who kind of likes to play that way, we kind of got into playing that way a little bit at times. 1:00:07 But I think, you know, when it came down to it in the second game when we really needed to win, you know, if you look at the last four minutes, last five minutes of the game, we had a number of guys go down and block shots and they knew that, you know, we had our track beat, but it was really time to bear down and then sell out for the team. 1:00:24 So I think when we need to, we will. 1:00:26 The Fords only had one shot block on Friday and they had double digits on Saturday. 1:00:30 Was that a big talking point going into Saturday night? 1:00:33 Yeah, for sure. 1:00:34 The coaches, you know, they've been stressing it all year. 1:00:37 Just obviously getting out in lanes and being willing to sell out and, you know, pressuring their D and, you know, you don't want it to get anywhere near the front of the net. 1:00:46 So if you can cut it off up at the point, you know, it won't get to the front of the net, there won't be second chances. 1:00:51 Goalie won't be overwhelmed. 1:00:52 So yeah, I mean, it's really been an emphasis all year and for sure after Friday's game, we talked a lot about it and I think we did a really good job coming out and responding. 1:01:00 Your second half has been really good. 1:01:03 Is this a breakout time for Junior Gates? 1:01:06 You know, I'm hoping. 1:01:07 I just am taking it game by game. 1:01:08 You know, we really have our big team goal and insight for the end of the year. 1:01:14 And personally, I'm just trying to do everything I can to help the team, you know, whether it's defensively blocking shots or if I can contribute a couple points here and there. 1:01:22 You know, I'm trying not to think too much about myself personally, but more about what the team's trying to do here. 1:01:29 But it's nice the puck's going in. 1:01:30 Oh, for sure. 1:01:33 Another big weekend for Sheehy. 1:01:35 What is he doing that's bringing him so much success right now? 1:01:38 You know, he's working hard. 1:01:39 Their line's really clicking. 1:01:41 They kind of know where each other are. 1:01:42 It seems like, you know, they've been playing together all year. 1:01:44 So, yeah, I think all three of them are playing really well right now, playing good hockey, and he's also got a lot of skill. 1:01:51 So when he gets the puck and they get him the puck, he'll put him in that. 1:01:55 All good? 1:01:57 Penn State goes into Wisconsin last week. 1:01:58 It kind of explodes. 1:01:59 They had a quiet weekend against you guys a few weekends ago. 1:02:01 Was that kind of surprising to see, or not really surprising, to see Penn State have such a good weekend against Wisconsin after kind of a down performance against you guys a few weeks ago? 1:02:09 Yeah, like you said, it's not very surprising. 1:02:12 I think, you know, there's going to be weekends where you can't, you know, get four goals a game or whatever they've been scoring. 1:02:18 They kind of did that against us, where they couldn't put the numbers up that they usually were throughout the entire year. 1:02:23 But, like you said, they went to Wisconsin and they were kind of back to their mold selves, and they were able to put up pretty good numbers both nights. 1:02:29 So that's kind of something we have to expect this weekend. 1:02:33 What did you guys do so effectively in your last series against Penn State? 1:02:37 I think a big key of emphasis was getting back there. 1:02:40 They had a pretty active D, and really we had to play really strong defensively. 1:02:44 They like to get a lot of shots on goal. 1:02:46 I think they're still leading the country maybe, and they score a ton of goals as well. 1:02:50 So they're a team that's resilient with getting pucks in the net, and so defense is going to be really key for us. 1:02:56 I can imagine that they would be pumped up having lost you guys just two weeks ago. 1:03:01 What mental attitude do you bring in from having beaten them two weeks ago? 1:03:05 Yeah, we've got to bring that same attitude, I think, that we brought two weeks ago, because they're going to be, like you said, pumped up about playing us at home. 1:03:13 We've got to match their intensity right away. 1:03:15 They're going to come out right from the start there with a lot of firepower, and it's definitely probably in the back of their head that when they came here a couple weeks ago, we kind of took it to them a little bit, so we've got to match that right away. 1:03:30 Last weekend against Ohio State, you guys were down multi-goals on both nights, but you came back and on Friday weren't able to pull it off, but it seems like there just isn't any quit in your guys' team. 1:03:38 When you guys have adversity in your face, it seems like you guys play really good hockey when the damage control is kind of on. 1:03:44 Yeah, I think that's something that's really special about our group is our resiliency. 1:03:49 I think that's kind of been something we've been able to do the entire year when we're playing with the lead. 1:03:55 We've been able to keep that, and then also when we're down by a couple, we haven't really given up anything at all within one another. 1:04:03 So if we can keep playing with resiliency for 60 minutes each night, there should be no problem. 1:04:11 Your line continues to click well also. 1:04:13 What is it about the three of you guys that complements each other so well? 1:04:17 Yeah, I think we've been playing together for most of the year now, and so I think just as time goes on, you kind of figure out each other's tendencies, and Rem obviously is a great player. 1:04:29 You can put up great numbers and make a ton of plays, and Justin's obviously proved that through his four years here. 1:04:35 Both of them are very fast and are able to make plays, and they can do everything out there. 1:04:41 So playing with those two guys really makes it easy, and hopefully going forward we can continue to play. 1:04:48 American Sports Network has a weekly college hockey show. 1:04:52 They called you one of the best lines in college hockey. 1:04:54 Do you consider yourself in that light? 1:04:57 Well, I hope so. 1:04:57 I don't know. 1:04:58 I guess that's my first time hearing that, but yeah, I really hope that's something that we can live up to. 1:05:07 That's awesome. 1:05:08 And can you take us through your last shift and the block? 1:05:10 What was going through your head? 1:05:12 Yeah, I saw the puck move over to the guy at the point there, and I saw him winding up, so I knew I had to get down and kind of eat that one, but yeah, that was a stinger. 1:05:24 Still hurt? 1:05:25 A little bit, but it'll be alright. 1:05:27 If you're going to play hockey, you gotta be tough. 1:05:29 Yeah, exactly. 1:05:31 Fords only had one block on Friday, and then double digits on Saturday. 1:05:35 You guys kind of took that emphasis knowing you wanted to get a win out of there. 1:05:39 Absolutely, yeah. 1:05:39 I think anytime you have one block, you're not giving your goalie a good chance to, you're not giving your goalie a good chance at all if you're not selling out for him. 1:05:51 So going into Saturday night, knowing we didn't do enough for him up front, we knew we kind of had to change that. 1:05:59 So it was definitely an emphasis to make sure we were getting down and eating pucks as much as we could. 1:06:05 You said defensive power is going to be important for this weekend, so is the style of the defensive play going to change with the size of the ring? 1:06:16 No, I don't think that, you know, I think we're just going to play our team defensive way kind of we've been doing it the entire year. 1:06:20 And I think we just have to understand that it is a smaller rank, so, you know, any shot's dangerous when they're shooting 50 shots on goal each night. 1:06:28 So, you know, I think just playing our team defense and understanding the amount of shots they're going to be trying to get on that, we have to box out up front and we have to continue to keep blocking shots as well.