0:03 This is The Gopher Puck Live Podcast, episode number 11, recorded December 13th, 2011. 0:22 Welcome to The Gopher Puck Live Podcast, along with Hammeh and Ryan Cardinal. 0:26 I am your host, Jupiter. 0:28 Of course, just a reminder, we record these podcasts on Tuesday nights around 930, usually about 935 or so, and if you head over to the GPL Podcast page, you can check that out if you want to, because we'll take your questions live via Twitter at that time, or you can always send emails to a podcast at gopherpucklive.com. 0:51 So tune in live if you can. 0:54 So guys, a revitalized Michigan Tech, new coach and all, comes in and splits with the Gophers. 1:01 Tech wins 3-2 in overtime on Friday night, and Minnesota comes back with a 6-2 win on Saturday. 1:06 But of course, the biggest headline from the weekend had to be the coaches going a bit nuts on Saturday with each other. 1:13 Hammeh, what the heck was going on? 1:17 You know, that's a good question. 1:19 I found it a little bit entertaining. 1:20 I mean, I just think part of it was Tech ran out of gas towards the end and we were, you know, as we've seen all year, the Gophers are definitely a third period team, especially in the second night of a series. 1:32 It just generally been very strong ending up in a third period. 1:36 So I think that part of it was they ran out of gas, we were scoring goals and I'm sure that they were a little whiny about the fact that, you know, I think we had our number one power play out there with like three minutes left and five, what was it, it wasn't a five on three was it? 1:50 I can't remember what it was, it was a power play in any case. 1:54 And I'm sure that that probably didn't sit real well with them. 1:57 But at the same time, if they're gonna be taking penalties, especially slashing penalties and things like that, it's like, well, you're gonna pay for it in some fashion. 2:04 We're not gonna retaliate necessarily with some cheap stuff back, but it's gonna be, you know, with a goal. 2:11 So, I just think they lost control and the coach was a total jerk-off about how he started yelling at the Gopher bench. 2:17 I don't even know what that was all about. 2:19 But, in any case, it was interesting. 2:22 It was definitely nice to see Coach Lucia with some fire in him because people a lot of times would criticize him for being a little too stoic behind the bench. 2:30 And he definitely didn't qualify that night. 2:33 So, it was nice to see a little fire in him. 2:35 You know, usually, I'm in the photo box in the third period of a lot of games, or at least I try to get in there. 2:42 And, you know, last Saturday, I'm like, you know, I'll just stay home tonight, watch it on TV. 2:45 And boy, I picked the wrong night not to be in there because I would have been front and center and heard everything. 2:51 And I know I really regret not going. 2:55 Yeah, but they, you were there on Friday night and they lost. 2:58 And then you weren't there on Saturday and they won. 2:59 So maybe you're just, you know, maybe with bad luck. 3:02 Bad karma. 3:04 Wow, you guys are real nice to me today, aren't you? 3:07 Christmas spirit. 3:08 Christmas spirit. 3:09 I don't think so. 3:10 So Ryan, you got the, you missed it all too. 3:12 You were in Detroit. 3:13 How did you, did you have to watch a video playback or what? 3:17 Yeah, I was rotting in a Detroit hotel room and my phone started going up. 3:22 In that terrible town, according to Jared Allen? 3:25 Yeah, Detroit's not, it's not Charlotte or Appleton where you can go out and have a lot of fun, that's for sure. 3:30 But no, I was keeping an eye on the game via Twitter and everything, but you can watch it from there, obviously. 3:35 But yeah, DVR'ed it and I watched it on Sunday night when we got back. 3:38 And yeah, I mean, I guess, you know, Hammy kind of summed it up, but you know, maybe it's Michigan Tech, you know, their coach is showing a little bit of fire and sticking up for the team. 3:46 And, you know, even if it wasn't really warranted, you know, maybe they're just trying to go over the top with it, just to kind of show that Tech's turning a new leaf and it's not the same old, same old. 3:56 So I guess maybe that was their point they were trying to hammer home, but either way they came off kind of foolish. 4:01 But, you know, in the end, you know, it's cliche, but Coolerheads prevailed and yeah, you know, for the Gophers, it's not a great weekend, of course, I mean, you want to sweep and, you know, they were definitely favored. 4:11 But as we saw, I mean, this is a better version of Tech than we've been accustomed to over the years. 4:16 And, you know, they're what seemed just a lot faster. 4:18 And even though they have so many guys from last year's team, it just seemed like they were a lot quicker. 4:22 And I don't know if the skill level is all that much higher, but just seemed like they played a lot more up tempo and they weren't just, you know, sitting back the whole time and, you know, waiting for the roof to cave in, so to speak. 4:31 But, you know, I guess big picture wise for the Gophers to be, you know, 14-5-1 and, you know, tied for first place in the WCHA. 4:38 And then when they broke for Christmas, I think if you would have told, you know, myself or any other Gopher fan, you know, prior to this season, the way the last handful have gone, if that would be the case, I think everyone would be pretty happy. 4:48 Hammeh, what were your thoughts on the actual games themselves? 4:51 I mean, you couldn't have been too happy with Friday night, but Saturday night, they finally woke up, you know, in that sixth period of the weekend. 4:58 Yeah, you know, the thing for me, it's kind of funny because, you know, you watch the game, and sometimes what I'll do is I'll go over to USCHO and just read the game thread the next day, just to see what people are saying. 5:10 Well, you know, and the entertaining thing for me is sometimes, I think that some fans see a different game than what I do. 5:18 I mean, they really get down on the squad real easily. 5:21 I mean, granted, we didn't have the greatest energy on Friday, and we didn't play, of course, our A game by any means, but I didn't quite think it was as bad as some people were saying. 5:33 You know, the two goals that we had given up, you know, were basically tip shots or off of a skate. 5:39 And the only thing that really annoyed the hell out of me was the game-winning goal. 5:43 I mean, I replayed it tonight just because I was like, okay, let me take another look at it just so I don't go off saying something bad. 5:51 But really, Helgeson and Hall have really bugged the hell out of me this season with some of their play and that specific play in a nutshell to me is some of the problem I see with that pairing. 6:04 I mean, first of all, Hall totally got lollygagged back after the turnover. 6:09 I mean, he was kind of gliding back into the zone just sort of expecting Helgeson to take care of business or whatever. 6:15 But Helgeson, I mean, Jesus, the guy is what, six four, 200 some odd pounds or whatever. 6:21 Okay, he had the angle on the guy and what does he do? 6:24 He plays the puck. 6:25 He's looking down at the puck and the guy dekes around him and scores. 6:29 He easily could have just taken the body and taken the guy right out of the play. 6:33 And there wouldn't have really been much of a chance at all. 6:36 And it's like that kind of play drives me crazy with Helgeson because it's like, dude, you're a big guy. 6:42 Throw your weight around. 6:44 And so that one really bothered me. 6:45 The rest of the night. 6:46 I mean, yeah, a little lackluster, but that play in particular really bugged the hell out of me. 6:52 We already kind of touched on Saturday, but it was a nice third period rally. 6:55 And you have to give tech credit. 6:57 I mean, they played their game. 6:58 They are improved. 6:59 And, you know, they showed that they have some fight in them. 7:04 Yeah. 7:04 And the Helgeson thing, I don't know what made me more upset was either the play or afterward his comments. 7:09 And, you know, sometimes these guys, you know, there are a lot of cliches and that's okay. 7:14 I mean, they're college kids. 7:14 They're not supposed to be affluent and, you know, spinning yarns about all the things that just happened in the game. 7:19 But he was pretty adamant and asked a couple of times, oh, would you have done anything differently? 7:23 And, oh, no, I thought I played it well and there's not much else I could have done. 7:26 And it's just like you're waiting for, you know, him to realize that, hey, you really screwed up on that play and it's okay. 7:33 But like, just admit you did horrible things on that play and you did nothing. 7:37 And you just let one of the players walk right in on goal. 7:39 And you talked about a guy got a good shot off. 7:41 And it was almost like, were you watching the same play or? 7:45 I don't know. 7:45 That really floored me. 7:46 Like, no, you can admit that you made a bad play and you should have, you know, done something earlier in the play. 7:51 Or worse case at the end, just tackle him and take the penalty. 7:54 It's better, you know, I think most people would rather try to kill off the power play than, you know, have a guy, you know, right in alone on your goalie. 8:01 So that was frustrating. 8:02 And like Andy said, I mean, the play was ridiculous. 8:04 And you're just kind of watching it happen. 8:06 Like, are you going to do anything? 8:07 Or like, what's going on? 8:08 I can't believe it got even to the point where the guy could score. 8:10 I mean, it's not like he got the puck 10 feet from Patterson. 8:14 I mean, the play happened at the top of the circle against the boards and the guy basically walked right in. 8:18 So, yeah, that was frustrating. 8:19 But, yeah, I mean, they bounced back, obviously. 8:22 You know, it was a little bit tight on Saturday night. 8:25 You know, I'm watching from afar and then watching the replay. 8:27 This, you know, like, when are they going to kind of turn it on? 8:29 And thankfully, it did, you know, for the Gopher's sake. 8:31 And, you know, they're able to get the win and salvage the weekend. 8:35 I must say, I was a little disappointed in the weekend. 8:39 Over these past three years, the team has been bad. 8:42 We've always beaten them. 8:43 I mean, it was at seven straight games. 8:45 I mean, sure, they got a new coach, but you know what? 8:47 This is a team they need to beat and needed four points. 8:50 And obviously now they're tied with the Luth. 8:52 They should be ahead. 8:54 But I was just disappointed. 8:57 That's all. 8:58 Well, I don't disagree. 8:59 I don't disagree with you. 9:00 I mean, I predicted a sweep last week, but I also said at the same time, I knew I knew it was going to be a lot tougher than a lot of fans. 9:06 Kind of I think we're taking it because tech is definitely better. 9:10 And that Friday night game, you have to give them some credit. 9:12 I mean, they did play their game. 9:15 And we kind of didn't seem to have made quite the energy. 9:18 I mean, that's really I don't understand how you can basically have two games in a week. 9:24 You spend the whole week gearing up for the weekend. 9:27 And then Friday night, you come out flat. 9:29 How many weekends in a row now? 9:30 And to me, I don't get that because if I were in their shoes, I'd be like totally jacked up that, OK, yeah, you know, we got two games now. 9:38 I'd be excited. 9:39 And to see those guys kind of go out there and, you know, I don't want to say they're going through the motions or they're not trying or working hard or whatever because certainly they are, but mentally and it's just, I don't know, the effort just doesn't seem to be quite the same as it is on Saturday. 9:53 And I don't get it. 9:54 I don't understand it at all. 9:55 I mean, one thing that I was kind of kicking around and just thinking and, you know, it's such a long year and it is such a young team that, you know, emotionally and everything else. 10:03 But it seems like since they saw North Dakota, I know, granted, the schedule has been a little bit tougher, but, you know, last few weeks, it hasn't been. 10:08 It seemed like they almost kind of, I don't want to say peaked for the season, but I mean, since that emotional sweep in North Dakota and that big comeback on Saturday, scoring the two goals in the last 10 minutes, I mean, they haven't had that same fire. 10:20 And I don't know if it's just, again, it's a young team and there's a lot of ups and downs to a season. 10:24 So they've been, you know, maybe on the down or slant here for a little bit. 10:26 And they obviously have gotten by and they've had some good wins against, you know, St. 10:29 Cloud in Wisconsin, but, you know, they haven't quite had that same fire or whatever cliche you want to throw in there. 10:35 But I mean, you know, and hopefully, you know, having the break here and then, you know, maybe in other series, you know, obviously, we have a few games between now and the next time we play the Sioux, but, you know, I think these guys, in terms of getting up for a series, that shouldn't be an issue. 10:47 So maybe they can, you know, kind of start ramping things up again once they get back into conference play here in mid-January up in Grand Forks. 10:54 Well, one thing I noticed that the U staff said is that, is first time in about 20 years that they played, you know, started the season and didn't have a weekend off until the break. 11:07 And, you know, maybe they're tired a little bit. 11:09 I don't know if I buy into that because, you know what, these are college kids. 11:12 These kids have so much energy. 11:14 It's not like they're old guys like us. 11:17 I don't know if I buy that. 11:19 Well, for me, it's not the physical energy part of it. 11:22 It's more the mental energy that, you know, it can get to be a mental grind, you know, and certainly I can see that part of it. 11:30 I totally agree with you that from the physical side of things, I mean, these guys, I mean, they play when they're in traveling teams growing up, they play more, you know, probably double the games or close to it that they do, you know, as a college player. 11:42 And so, you know, I totally agree with you that from the physical side of things, it shouldn't be an issue. 11:47 But in terms of the mental side of things, where you're going through the WCHA grind every week, you're basically playing rivals, you know, almost every week, you know, in the first half, UMD, North Dakota, Wisconsin, St. 12:00 Cloud, you know, even a team like Minnesota State, you know, is to a certain degree, you've been giving us a little more trouble in recent years. 12:07 So I mean, you know, when you're getting that kind of a grind mentally, I can see why you might have little bits of let down, but at the same time, that you might, you would expect maybe a game, maybe two games here or there, but you know, when this, every Friday for a month, you know, that gets to be a little much. 12:24 So how does this affect somebody like a Rao and a Bukestead? 12:28 You know, they're heading right up to the juniors, well, it looks like, you know, hopefully they'll make the squad. 12:33 So that means their grind is just going to keep on going. 12:35 And obviously, when you're playing in the juniors, there's quite a toll on them there as well. 12:41 How is that going to affect them? 12:42 I mean, these are top two guys right now. 12:44 And it could be definitely mentally tired when they come back. 12:51 Well, I don't know how Ryan feels about it. 12:52 But for me, it's one of those things where, you know, you see it both sides. 12:58 Sometimes guys come back and they play even better. 13:01 I mean, like last year at Bukestead, I mean, he came back and he played, you know, much differently than he did in the first half of the year. 13:07 And there's other guys that, you know, come back and they just take, seems to take them a little while to get their legs back. 13:13 And, you know, it's hard to say. 13:15 You can make arguments both ways. 13:17 What's going to happen with those guys? 13:19 I'm not entirely convinced Rao is going to make the finals cut. 13:22 But we'll see. 13:24 But certainly Bukestead will. 13:26 And I guess we'll find out, you know, how they recover from all that. 13:30 Yeah, I guess I'd be a little bit more concerned with Rao just because it seems like teams do rag on him physically a little bit more since it's pretty tough to rag on Bukestead with how big he is. 13:39 But with Rao, it's a little bit easier. 13:41 And even back in his Eden Prairie days, that was, I mean, you saw it in the high school tournament where teams try to play him physically and maybe even over the top a little bit. 13:48 And that's going to be the same thing up in the World Juniors. 13:52 It's on a small ice sheet in Canada this year. 13:54 So there's not the space to hide and not kind of stay out of the physical mix a little bit as there would be if it was over in Europe. 14:01 So plus with him being a freshman and he's been obviously good, but tailed off a little bit here, just the overall offense has as well. 14:10 But being a freshman and sometimes you see guys hit that wall midway through the year. 14:13 And I mean, I think the bigger key is if they both end up going just to stay healthy. 14:17 And I think you'll see them, you'll hear the quotes from Lucia, I'm sure, in January when they get back about giving them time off during the week and easing them back in a little bit. 14:26 But I think as long as they stay healthy and more importantly than anything else, I mean, we saw last year Jadon Schwartz goes and plays for Canada and he breaks his ankle or his foot or whatever it was, I mean, that'd be just a nightmare for the Gophers, especially with both those guys. 14:39 I mean, anyone that goes to the World Juniors is usually a key piece of the team, but those guys are both goal scorers. 14:44 And so it would be obviously a tough loss if one of them went down for an extended period of time. 14:49 But yeah, I don't know, I'm almost pulling, like Cami kind of alluded to, if Rao, he's a lot more on the bubble than Buke said, who's going to be maybe the best player on the team on paper. 14:58 But if Rao stayed back and being a freshman and a little bit undersized, if he got to stay home for the holidays and kind of rest up, I don't think they'd be the worst thing in the world. 15:06 But of course, anytime you can represent your country, you obviously want to do that. 15:11 Well, let's move on to the rest of the WCHA for this past weekend. 15:15 We had Denver go into Bemidji and got a split. 15:19 I believe that was the Beavers' first win over Denver. 15:22 Yeah, I think it was, and it was kind of the game that you thought Bemidji would have to play. 15:27 I mean, Denver had 37 shots and 19 in the third period, so they certainly brought it, and as you kind of expect, they would when it's a talent mismatch like that. 15:37 But we said last week right now, the way Denver is in net, I mean, they're playing their third string guy, and Bemidji, traditionally, they don't have a lot of firepower up front. 15:47 It's tougher for schools like that, but they've always had pretty good goaltending, and that showed this weekend. 15:52 And I guess it's not a huge shock. 15:53 Again, Denver was pretty much dead every week, but it's just so tough for them right now, when you're playing your third-string goal. 15:59 And I think they've done reasonably well. 16:00 There's not a lot of other things you can point to over time, where it was, well, this team had to play their third-string guy, and look what happened. 16:06 So it's kind of a rarefied air for them. 16:09 But yeah, I guess if you're Denver, you can't be too disappointed, given the injury situation you've had in that. 16:14 I know that Bo Bennett, one of their better forwards, I've seen he just had hand or wrist surgery, and he's going to be out for a while. 16:19 So they've been hit by the injury bug a little bit. 16:21 But I think both teams, Denver, I'm sure they wanted to get a sweep, of course, but that's not the easiest trip. 16:26 And again, given their situation right now, I'm assuming both teams are pretty happy with that result. 16:31 Yeah, I'm not at all surprised. 16:32 I mean, I picked it as a split. 16:34 And I just think that Bemidji, you know, they are pretty solid at the style that they play. 16:39 And, you know, I looked today and the interesting thing is that they actually have the strongest schedule so far out of all the WCHA teams. 16:50 I mean, I think they're ranked 11th in the country as far as strength of schedule. 16:53 And we're basically at the halfway point. 16:55 So, you know, that's pretty interesting that, you know, they play pretty tough at home and not at all surprised. 17:03 Well, then we've got UNO splitting with the North Dakota Fighting Sioux. 17:09 I could still call them that. 17:12 You can. 17:12 And yeah, that was, I mean, not a huge surprise. 17:15 I don't think we talked last week that, you know, North Dakota, they've been kind of trending upward in the right direction. 17:20 But, you know, at the same time, offense is still kind of an issue for them. 17:23 And I think if you're Omaha, you have to be pretty happy with that weekend, considering you only allowed two goals, or excuse me, three goals, or yeah, two goals. 17:31 And, you know, for a team that's had goal-tending issues all season long, we talk about it every week. 17:35 And, you know, to go in there and get a split now, you know, obviously it hurts to lose one-nothing in one of the games, but for the way Omaha has been going and just to have a weekend where your goals against is outstanding, I think that gives them something to build on and, you know, to get a couple of points in the process. 17:50 I think that's got to be a good thing for them. 17:52 Yeah, I think I picked this series as a split. 17:55 You know, the surprising thing to me is that it was low scoring. 17:59 I really thought it was going to be one of those up and down series. 18:04 You know, North Dakota has been scoring more as of late, and you know, Nebraska's issues in net and all that kind of stuff. 18:11 So I thought, well, that'll probably mean some goals for North Dakota, and the flip side, you know, UNO tends to play a little more offensively, but what, you know, how many goals for the weekend? 18:21 Four goals for the whole weekend, both teams combined. 18:23 I mean, it was a little surprising, you know, in terms of what happened on the ice. 18:29 I'm not surprised by the results, but as far as on the ice goes, that was a little surprising. 18:35 Then we have Anchorage going into CC and giving them all they can handle with the split. 18:42 Yeah, I mean, I'm a little surprised by that one, especially that Friday night score. 18:46 I mean, six to three on the road in Colorado. 18:49 That's a lot of goals for Anchorage. 18:52 Yeah, I mean, and I go back, I've been a little critical of Joe Howe this year. 18:58 I mean, I think that that game certainly didn't do anything to disprove it. 19:01 I mean, it was a rough night the way it looks for him. 19:05 Of course, unless you're watching it, you're not really totally knowing if it was his fault or defensive lapses or whatever, but he didn't even play. 19:14 I think he just played a little over two periods and gave up six goals on twenty-some odd shots. 19:20 I mean, that's a terrible night. 19:21 He's been, for me, a disappointment as far as what he's done, especially this year. 19:27 So I don't know the question mark on CC as far as how they're going to do moving forward. 19:34 You got to give Anchorage some credit, though. 19:36 They gave him all they could handle. 19:38 Yeah, I couldn't believe it. 19:40 They put up that many goals on him that Anchorage did. 19:42 But you look at Howell's numbers on the year, and he's five and four, but a safe percentage of 883 and goals against of 344. 19:49 And CC has never been known to be awesome defensively. 19:52 I mean, during some of the big time years, I was at 03 when they had Saina and some of those guys. 19:58 I mean, their D was really good those years, too. 20:00 But just in general, they're more of an offense first type team. 20:03 But yeah, I mean, their goaltending has been abysmal, which with Omaha, not that you could totally predict it, but Faulkner wasn't nearly as proven, I don't think, as Howell. 20:12 And Howell has been very good the last couple of seasons. 20:15 And to see him, so far, not lived up to any kind of expectation. 20:19 I mean, if CC gets any kind of goaltending, you'd think with the Schwartz brothers and having some really good depth up front, a guy like Gensel would move the puck on the back end, that that'd be a recipe for success. 20:28 But so far, I mean, they're what, nine and five overall, so again, not great, but definitely has some issues. 20:37 Then we have the Bulldogs, who still have not lost in about two months, go to Wisconsin and get three out of four points. 20:46 Not really surprised there. 20:48 No, I mean, to Louis, they've been, again, we give them credit every week, and that they're the hottest team in the country, and you can't really argue it, and they've gone on the road, and that was kind of what we questioned, and it was rightfully so. 20:59 I mean, they played a lot of home games, but they've gone to Michigan Tech and Wisconsin. 21:04 I mean, probably two teams are gonna be starting the playoffs on the road, but yet not easy places to go. 21:10 Michigan Tech definitely improved this year, and Madison, we saw the Gopher struggle out there, and they swept North Dakota out there, so it's always a tough place to go into, and for Duluth to go in there and get three points, and they just keep rolling right along. 21:23 There's not much else you can say. 21:24 I mean, they're getting good goal-tending, and the right guys are showing up on the stat sheet in terms of Brown and Connelly and the guys you expect to score. 21:31 They're doing just that, so yeah, mean kudos to the Bulldogs right now. 21:36 You know, I absolutely agree with everything you say. 21:39 The one thing that if I were a Bulldog fan that I would worry about is have we done too much too soon? 21:46 I know it sounds crazy, but it's like, and it's one of those things that you have when you're doing so well in the first half, you're just like thinking, you know, when's the other shoe going to drop? 21:56 When's the bad luck going to hit? 21:58 You know, I mean, when you go on a streak of that long, there's just something about it that you just start to get concerned about, you know. 22:04 And now granted, they have, I think we'll talk about a little bit later, but their second half schedule is not exactly real difficult as far as the series that they have are. 22:16 So I'm sure that they'll still be playing very well in the second half. 22:21 But it's just one of those things that you just say, all it's going to take is that one game in the playoffs where you have a bad night. 22:29 And it's all that winning you did, it's just all for naught. 22:33 That's that feeling that I sometimes have had at times in the past with Gopher teams. 22:37 And you just sometimes wonder, is that going to bite you sometime? 22:40 So but you have to give them, you have to tip your hat to them. 22:42 They played really well in the last couple of months. 22:45 Then we have, well, I don't really need to talk about it, but poor Alabama hunts, but went into Mankato and it was fairly close the first night. 22:54 And then they just got blown out the second night. 22:57 I'm wondering. 22:58 I was going to say the good news is it sounds like their program might be saved. 23:02 Yep, that is true. 23:04 You know, last weekend on the Aids, but I think they would take us to Lacking by Mankato to keep the program afloat, which it sounds like, you know, I mean, who knows? 23:12 It's kind of like the Sioux nickname thing. 23:14 I'm sure there's going to be a lot of twists and turns with it, but hopefully for their sake that comes to fruition and they stick around in some form. 23:21 I'd be curious to know how many actual people were in the stands. 23:25 I mean, I could see what the attendance says, but we all know that that's more tickets sold than anything else. 23:29 And I can't imagine there being very many fans for that series. 23:33 So that's actually the more interesting thing for me than anything else. 23:38 Well, that's it for this past weekend. 23:41 Just to kind of wrap up the first half of the WCHA. 23:44 This weekend, we have CC heading to Mankato and Denver heading to St. 23:50 Cloud State. 23:51 Do you guys have any quick thoughts on those? 23:55 Myself, I would look at that CC series. 23:58 You know, it's hard to say what you're going to get out of them. 24:00 And I think Mankato is going to be a little bit tougher team to play. 24:05 I mean, I'm not expecting them to be doing great things in the second half. 24:09 But I do believe both now that they're healthier, that they'll be a little bit tougher to play. 24:13 And we saw what Anchorage did at CC this last weekend. 24:18 So who knows what you're going to get out of that series. 24:20 I'd probably go with a split on that one. 24:23 And as far as the Denver St. 24:25 Cloud goes, I would think that that's going to be a pretty wide open up and down type of a series. 24:30 And St. 24:32 Cloud's pretty good at home, so I'd probably say that that's going to end up as a split as well. 24:36 Yeah, and for CC, I'm just coming to the box score. 24:38 But I know Canada's in the world junior selection process right now. 24:42 And they play a bunch of scrimmages. 24:44 And I think they're playing a team tonight. 24:46 I saw the college All-Stars up there. 24:49 So the CIS teams like the Gophers. 24:50 And a lot of times we play them before the year. 24:53 So but regardless, they didn't have Jaden Short. 24:55 I know they didn't have him last Saturday. 24:56 And I'm assuming they won't have him again this weekend. 24:58 Which is a pretty big loss when you take the best player off the team, obviously. 25:03 So that won't make it any easier for them. 25:05 And like Hammy said, Mankato has been getting healthy and a little bit better. 25:08 And we saw him give the Gophers a couple of tough games. 25:11 And yeah, I mean, I would assume probably a split there. 25:14 And yeah, then Denver at St. 25:16 Cloud. 25:16 I mean, ever since that St. 25:17 Cloud and the Gophers up there the Friday night where the Gophers almost came back, St. 25:21 Cloud has not been too impressive. 25:24 They've won, yeah, they haven't won a game since then. 25:26 So, you know, and they're coming off of getting one point at home against Bemidji. 25:29 So probably a bigger series for St. 25:32 Cloud than Denver. 25:32 But, you know, I would assume that one will kind of go two points each side as well. 25:36 So except for those games this weekend, we are pretty much done with the first half of the WCHA schedule. 25:42 We got Minnesota and Minnesota Duluth tied with 22 points and we got UNO at 17, CC at 14, along with North Dakota. 25:49 But CC still has two games in hand. 25:52 And as well as Denver, who is right below North Dakota, they have two games in hand at 13. 25:56 Michigan Tech, Bemidji, St. 25:58 Cloud, Wisconsin, Anchorage, and Minnesota State. 26:01 And I believe early in the year, you guys were pretty big on having Wisconsin low in the standings and lo and behold, they are way at the bottom right now. 26:11 Well, you kind of have to expect that. 26:12 They have a pretty young team. 26:13 And other than, you know, a couple of guys, I mean, they are relying heavily on underclassmen. 26:18 Kind of like, I mean, of course, we are too. 26:20 And it's a little different story. 26:22 But, you know, they also have freshmen in the net. 26:25 They have been pretty woeful on the road and, you know, done all right at home. 26:29 But, yeah, they have been pretty inconsistent. 26:31 Of course, in the WCHA, that's not exactly a recipe for a top half finish. 26:37 Yeah, and I think, I mean, the big difference obviously is we have a senior net who might be the best goalie in the country, whereas Wisconsin has a couple of freshmen. 26:44 And, you know, neither one has really distinguished themselves yet. 26:47 Rumpel's got much better of a record, but the stats are pretty similar. 26:50 I mean, that Landon Peterson, and I think Rumpel, I mean, he was a pretty highly sought after recruit. 26:55 So it's not a surprise that he's, you know, kind of taken over the number one role, but still, I mean, he's got goals against of over three. 27:00 So yeah, I mean, the back end is still a little bit of work in progress for them. 27:04 And, you know, but they lost with Jake McCabe. 27:06 He was missed the most of the first half. 27:08 And I think he came back last week and he had spoof. 27:10 And a lot of people thought he'd be a, you know, pretty big impact freshman coming from the national team development program. 27:16 So maybe we can get him back in the mix and have a stronger second half. 27:18 But again, if you can't win on the road in the WCHA, it's going to be a long go. 27:22 And hopefully that's the case because The Gophers, we close with them, I believe. 27:25 I know we play Marriott at some point in March and see there. 27:27 I think we close at Omaha and then home against Wisconsin. 27:30 That is correct. 27:31 Hopefully for our sake, they don't figure out the road thing. 27:35 So what about these teams that we picked early in the year? 27:37 I know obviously a lot of us had Minnesota and Minnesota-Duluth, kind of, you know, four, five, six area. 27:43 And we had CC, Denver and North Dakota up in the upper echelon. 27:49 Obviously, that's not really what's going on right now. 27:51 We've got a surprising tech team. 27:53 We've got, you know, 13 points there hovering, you know, right in the middle of the pack there. 27:58 Denver and CC can't really figure out what's going on. 28:01 North Dakota started out really bad, but, you know, have been slowly moving up. 28:05 And then, obviously, the teams we picked in the middle there, Minnesota, Minnesota Duluth are leading the league. 28:10 What's surprising you guys? 28:12 Which team's a disappointment to you? 28:14 Just kind of overall look at the first half. 28:19 For me, as far as surprise in a positive manner, I'd probably go with our opponents from this last weekend. 28:25 I think tech has definitely been, you know, improved and much tougher overall. 28:31 And you kind of have to give them credit. 28:32 They've been doormats for pretty much, you know, as far back as you can pretty much remember for a lot of fans. 28:38 And they've got a new coach and a new attitude. 28:41 And you have to give them credit. 28:44 It seems like they're heading in the right direction. 28:45 So I think that that's definitely the team that I think from a positive standpoint is a surprise. 28:51 And as far as negative goes, you know, it's tough. 28:57 I would probably, it could be Denver, it could be CC, it could be, you know, North Dakota. 29:03 I mean, I had all those, actually, I think that was my top three in some fashion were those three teams. 29:09 And, you know, they certainly haven't played like top three teams to this point. 29:13 And so I don't know that I could pick one over the others, but I would probably say that, you know, from a slightly disappointing standpoint, of course, I'm not disappointed, but you know, maybe from their fan standpoint, you know, I would say that those would be the three teams that would be through the, you know, halfway point, and a little bit of a disappointment. 29:31 Yeah, and I think on our picks, I mean, you kind of, if you want to cut the league in half, I mean, I think we were all in agreement that, you know, Denver, North Dakota, Colorado College, Omaha, Duluth, and Minnesota would, you know, be the six home ice teams, but the kind of the order right now is a little bit flipped. 29:44 And I think we'll get to it in a little bit on the, you know, Sioux Sports. 29:47 They have the what-if calculator and, you know, just Minnesota, Minnesota, Duluth, are just in really good shape. 29:52 I mean, they're five points clear of Omaha right now. 29:54 And again, I mean, you can look at it in terms of winning the league or getting home ice or finishing in the top three, however, but I think those two teams are in really good shape. 30:02 But in terms of disappointment, I mean, I'll say North Dakota, I picked them to win the league and it might have been a little foolish. 30:07 I just, I thought they'd have a little bit more now, you know, with Grimaldi not making any kind of an impact. 30:13 And, you know, Colton St. 30:14 Clair, another kid that, you know, they were going to count on some younger guys this year. 30:17 And he's, you know, academic bit or whatever it was that he's, you know, not going to play from it all this year either. 30:23 So they, you know, some of the guys that were counted on to replace the Malone's and Trump's from a year ago, you know, aren't there for various reasons. 30:30 But, I mean, you look, you know, in the Nelson night, Christo, that, you know, line's been kind of on again, off again. 30:34 But, you know, those guys all over 20 points. 30:37 But then nobody else on the team had these, you know, double digits. 30:40 And I just thought they'd have some more guys step up. 30:42 They're back in. 30:43 They've cleaned that up a little bit recently. 30:44 And they're, you know, back to, you know, kind of being a tough team to score on. 30:47 Whereas early in the year, they were getting lit up, you know, pretty often. 30:50 But I just thought some of these other guys that would kind of step in. 30:54 And maybe, you know, that could happen. 30:55 I mean, they again, they didn't score a lot of gates to Omaha. 30:57 But I think the second half of the year again, I could be wrong on this might be the year where they don't. 31:01 But I think they'll come on a little bit and I think they'll challenge. 31:04 And then, you know, obviously Tech too, from a good surprise. 31:07 I mean, that's they have to be the team. 31:08 And, you know, it started off with what they saw up Wisconsin up there. 31:11 And that was kind of eye opener. 31:13 And, you know, Denver went up there a few weeks later and only got one point. 31:16 And, you know, they've kept playing really good hockey and, you know, good for them. 31:20 I mean, it's not like a team like St. 31:21 Cloud or something that has a lot of hateable fans. 31:23 I mean, Michigan Tech, you know, you kind of feel bad for those guys. 31:25 And if there's a team from the bottom half, it's going to kind of rise up and, you know, hopefully get back to being good. 31:31 You know, I don't think anyone really had a problem with Tech being that team. 31:34 So do you think any teams can sneak up and maybe get that sixth spot, maybe a Tech or Bemidji or St. 31:41 Cloud? 31:42 I mean, they're right there right now. 31:43 I mean, obviously, if St. 31:45 Cloud plays well this weekend, they'll jump up quite a bit in the standings. 31:48 I mean, do you think these guys have a chance at home ice? 31:51 Well, I mean, do you want to go through the what-if calculator bit? 31:54 Well, maybe we should. 31:55 I mean, you guys did the what-if calculator from suesports.com. 32:02 What did you guys come up with? 32:04 Well, as far as what I ended up with, I have UMD winning the league. 32:11 I think that their second half schedule is advantageous and certainly they've been playing the best hockey in the league the last couple months. 32:19 So, I have them winning the league. 32:22 I have the Gophers finishing in second place, a few points behind. 32:26 I expect the Gophers to kind of be, they have a pretty good schedule ahead of them. 32:32 There's some tough series, but I think that in general, I could see there that they have a pretty good chance of finishing pretty close to the top. 32:41 So I have them in second, and then I have Denver and CC, Denver third, CC fourth. 32:48 I have UND at fifth and UNO at sixth. 32:53 Actually, I have those two teams tied, so I don't know how that would break down, but in any case, those would be my home ice teams. 33:01 St. 33:01 Cloud I have at seventh, Tech I have eighth, I have Wisconsin at ninth, Bemidji tenth, and then I have Mankato and Anchorage rounding it out. 33:13 But I just think that Duluth is... 33:17 They're going to be... 33:18 I would be surprised if they don't win the league. 33:20 They do have still, I think, four road series and three home series. 33:26 But you know, they have played well enough and it's hard to pick against them at the way they've been playing at this point. 33:33 Yeah, my breakdown is pretty similar at Duluth at 44 points, winning it. 33:38 I had the Gophers at 42, so keeping it close, but coming up short. 33:42 Then I had North Dakota, again, I kind of stick with them. 33:45 And I think their schedule is pretty favorable. 33:47 And, you know, I just, again, I just think that they're going to rebound and kind of get their stuff together and be a pretty strong second half team, or at least enough to, you know, climb up the standings. 33:57 Then I had Omaha with 33, Denver, 32, and CC 30 to run up the top six. 34:03 And kind of a drop off after that. 34:06 I don't know, Michigan Tech, I mean, their schedule, I know they look good this weekend, but they've laid some eggs along the way, too. 34:10 And I don't know. 34:11 I mean, they have a lot of road series left, just like Duluth. 34:14 And, you know, again, I just don't know if they're going to be able to, you know, you kind of look at it big picture wise, if they're able to finish sixth, seventh or eighth. 34:21 I mean, I think that has to be pretty positive. 34:23 And that's a pretty big step to take in one season, especially when the coach came in. 34:27 And it's not like he's got a full year of recruiting under his belt or anything like that. 34:31 So, I've got them finishing seventh, I believe, ahead of Wisconsin and St. 34:35 Claude, which would make me very happy. 34:37 And then Bemidji, Mankato and Anchorage rounding out the bottom three. 34:42 You know, I quickly did it this afternoon, but I don't have the full thing. 34:45 But I actually had Minnesota winning with 44 and UMD with 42. 34:50 But that was my complete homerism doing it there. 34:52 So guilty is charged. 34:56 But I don't know, I'm removing the homerism. 35:02 I think you guys are right. 35:03 I believe Duluth will be the team to beat. 35:07 Obviously, they've got, you know, they've got Tech at home, they've at Anchorage, at Mankato. 35:13 I mean, so they're going to play some of these easier teams, supposedly easier teams, you know, quite a lot. 35:20 But then, you know, I think that first one coming out of January could be pretty pesky when they go to Omaha. 35:26 So I think, you know, the rest of their season might be, might start right there. 35:31 You know, if they get, you know, one point or get swept in Omaha, it could hurt them badly. 35:37 But until they lose, you can't, you can't deny them. 35:40 I, they're just, they're just really good right now. 35:44 Yeah, I mean, it's one of those things where, and we just saw it this weekend, you know, you never know, you know, that two points that we lost on Friday, you don't know if that's going to be the, what costs you in the end. 35:55 And so, you know, every team goes through that when it comes to winning the league, all it takes is that one just off weekend, and then somebody else kind of, you know, catching fire a little bit. 36:06 I mean, and it could be for UMD, let's say hypothetically, maybe it's The Gopher series that, you know, they got swept, you know, you never know how it's going to play out by the end of the year. 36:16 But I just think when you look at the remaining schedule, I mean, they're toughest, you know, and they have basically, I think, two pretty tough series, and that's going to be the one at UNO and then home series against North Dakota. 36:29 It's hard to say, you know, CC is so up and down. 36:32 I don't know if I can really consider that going to be a tough series or not. 36:35 It's hard to predict. 36:37 But I just think that when I look at their schedule and I compare it to what The Gopher's remaining schedule is, I just think that they have an advantage there. 36:44 And, you know, being that they're even right now, I just have to, you know, lean with Duluth winning the league. 36:49 I also think that last series of the year could be pesky for them at St. 36:54 Cloud. 36:56 St. 36:56 Cloud does play well at home. 36:58 I think they'll have moved up in the standing since then. 37:00 And that could be pesky weekend for them. 37:04 Yeah. 37:05 I mean, I don't think so. 37:07 This is the whole St. 37:08 Cloud thing. 37:08 I know they beat the Gophers that Friday night, but, you know, a lot of that might have been the Farreger kid was playing out of his mind, and he's, you know, cooled off big time since then. 37:17 And, you know, it's a rivalry, and it seems to have played a lot of really fun games over the years, especially towards playoff time. 37:22 I mean, that wouldn't be in the playoffs, but, you know, they had those crazy series. 37:25 And I just, I don't think, I don't really foresee St. 37:29 Cloud making a big run, and St. 37:30 Cloud might give them a game, but I just don't, I think Duluth's going to be, you know, looking at a number one seed kind of thing, whereas St. 37:37 Cloud is, I guess, I'm guessing they're going to be out of the NCAA tournament in the picture and going on the road in the first round. 37:43 I don't know if they're going to have that fire. 37:44 I mean, if St. 37:44 Cloud is fighting for home ice, or if they do what I don't think they can do and get back in the mix for an NCAA tournament spot, whatever, maybe, but I just don't think St. 37:53 Cloud's got a lot of fight lift, given the injuries they've had. 37:57 So who is your, I mean, for you guys, who do you think is going to be maybe the surprise performing team in the second half? 38:04 Bemidji. 38:05 Well, OK. 38:06 That's just, I kind of like the way they play at home and they're pretty pesky. 38:11 Yeah, all for the Gophers and it's always a huge series and I hate keeping going back to the North Dakota thing, but that's a pretty big series for both teams coming out of the break and for North Dakota, I mean, they've rebounded a little bit here recently, but you know they're going to look back at that Gopher series when they were swept down here and they're not going to need any extra motivation for that weekend and quite frankly, neither are the Gophers the way things have gone up. 38:34 But Angle said the last few years, but at the same time, you have to realize that the Gophers have really struggled up there in recent years after doing so well in the early stages of that building. 38:43 And I think that series can tell a lot for both teams. 38:47 You look at North Dakota, they go to St. 38:48 Cloud and have Wisconsin after that. 38:50 So if they can get on a roll against the Gophers, they have a stretch of some pretty winnable games. 38:55 Whereas for the Gophers, it's going to kind of be OK. 38:57 It's been a good first half. 38:59 But now you have to go on the road, play your top rival and can you bounce back? 39:03 And so I think that's going to be a pretty defining series. 39:06 It wouldn't surprise me if it's a split. 39:07 But if that goes the wrong way for either team, I could see it kind of snowballing in good direction or bad direction, depending on how it goes for the Gophers. 39:15 See, I think I look at it a little differently. 39:18 I mean, in the sense that, of course, that's a big series up at Grand Forks. 39:23 But I think that North Dakota has been struggling a little bit more, I think, with St. 39:27 Cloud. 39:28 I think, well, it's hard to say with Wisconsin. 39:30 It's not a normal Wisconsin team. 39:32 So that will probably be a North Dakota sweep. 39:34 But then they go to Duluth, and we saw how pesky Tech can be. 39:38 And then they go to Denver. 39:39 So I think that their second half schedule is a little bit tougher than maybe you would realize at first glance. 39:46 So that's kind of why I had them a little bit more in the middle of the pack than I think, what did you have, a third place, Ryan, something like that? 39:53 Yes. 39:54 So for me, that's a little bit of a question. 39:56 But I actually think Denver is going to be a team that has a pretty healthy surge in the second half. 40:02 I think that their goalie situation will get sorted. 40:05 I think, what is it, does it pertain, or whatever is written, he gets back, I think, next month, I believe. 40:12 I think I've heard or read that somewhere. 40:15 I think that generally speaking, the games that I've seen them, they just seem like they've been a little bit off. 40:22 And I just think that they'll gain some steam in the second half. 40:25 They're a good quality team with a lot of talent. 40:27 So I think that they're going to be rising up a bit in the second half. 40:33 All right. 40:33 Well, let's look a little more towards Minnesota and how they've done this year so far. 40:38 Your favorite guy, drunk hockey guy, was kind of, he's kind of curious about the goaltending. 40:44 He wants you to grade the Patterson. 40:46 He says A minus, B plus. 40:49 What do you guys think on the go for goaltending? 40:52 For me, I would probably say A minus. 40:56 I mean, really, I think with a few, maybe the Michigan State Series, there's a few iffy ones. 41:03 And I mean, generally speaking, he's been pretty darn good. 41:06 And I think he's cleaned up some of the mistakes that we've seen in turnovers on defense. 41:12 So I really, I would probably go along the same lines. 41:16 I'd say A minus. 41:18 Yeah, I think it's right around there. 41:19 I mean, early in the year, there was, he was getting so much goal support that, and a lot of that had to do with not playing the toughest teams. 41:25 But now that it's gotten in the meat of the schedule and they're not scoring five, six goals a night, it's two, three, four. 41:33 There's been a few clunkers in there, but again, when you're playing every night and you have a D-core that is talented, but yet, like we touched on earlier, they've made their fair share of mistakes and turnovers. 41:41 And again, you're going to get that with a younger group, but hopefully those things start to go away as the second half goes on and guys start to mature. 41:47 But yeah, I'd say B plus, A minus. 41:49 I mean, the shutouts have been good, but a couple of against take it hard. 41:52 So you don't want to diminish them, but at the same time, you got to realize who they came against. 41:56 But yeah, he's on the team's MVP and he's been as good as everyone thought he would be coming into the year. 42:01 We got a question or a few questions from Chris Trumbull. 42:06 The Gophers have given up an absurd amount of odd man rushes and breakaways since the series at Michigan State. 42:13 What do you guys think can be done defensively to stop this problem for our tougher second half of the season? 42:21 Now, we kind of discussed this a little bit, how you guys think some of these guys need to be a little more stay at home, but yeah. 42:29 I think that was my opinion. 42:32 I wondered, actually, I think it might have been the last couple of podcasts. 42:34 I just think that some of these guys are being a little overly aggressive offensively. 42:41 I would rather just see them play a little bit smarter and make some of them more of the safe plays. 42:48 I already complained earlier about the pairing that really bothers me. 42:53 I really want to see a lot of improvement from Hull and Helgeson in the second half. 42:58 If they're going to stay together as a pairing, I'm assuming they're going to. 43:01 But to me, I don't care what plus minus says or whatever, but to me, that's the pairing that needs to step up. 43:08 I mean, you kind of expect a kid like Ben Marshall to make a few mistakes here and there. 43:13 I mean, he's a freshman. 43:14 It's his first half season as a college player, so you know that there's going to be bumps in the road with a guy like that. 43:21 But somebody like Helgeson, he's a junior. 43:24 Does that play that overtime goal? 43:26 I mean, that's the kind of play that can't be happening with a guy that's supposed to be an upperclassman leader. 43:31 So that's the one that really annoys me. 43:34 So I think that they just need to play a little more conservatively at times and not be so aggressive offensively. 43:41 Yeah. 43:41 And we touched on it last week, two weeks ago or whenever, but I think it's just, it's kind of a byproduct of the system when you have guys that kind of think offense first and you see Marshall is kind of the perfect example where there are times where he's going to dig the puck out of trouble just with his skating and make the great outlet pass or cut to the net and drop penalty. 43:58 But it's tough to find Paul Martins of the world that kind of stuff and hardly ever turn it over and get beat defensively and especially as a first year players. 44:07 Again, like I touched on a little bit ago, it's that learning curve in some younger guys with the new guy coaching the defense. 44:12 And it's obviously helped to have Patterson back there to clean up some of those mistakes. 44:16 And he's kind of on one hand, it's like, well, you don't want to have too many of those. 44:21 But at the same time, Patterson has shown a track record of he's got the ability to make the big save on a breakaway or two on one and he's your best player. 44:28 So you got to phone on him and he's going to come through more times than not. 44:31 But yeah, you want to limit those. 44:33 But at the same, it's kind of a give and take of it all. 44:35 It's kind of like the composite stick thing where it's like, yeah, they're going to break sometimes. 44:39 But then other times, they're going to let you get a harder shot off that you were going to score a goal on. 44:43 So it's kind of a give and take. 44:45 But of course, you want to limit those in the season where it's on. 44:48 Another question from Chris. 44:51 Who are your three stars for the first half? 44:55 And who are your three unsung heroes? 44:57 You know, guys who don't get much ink, but are vital to the team's success. 45:03 I mean, his stars, he had Bukestead, Schmidt and Patterson. 45:06 I guess no particular order. 45:08 And his unsung heroes, he had Sarah Tory, Alt and Hanson. 45:12 What do you guys have, or thoughts on that? 45:15 Well, I think the three stars is pretty easy. 45:18 I mean, Schmidt, you know, he's helped get the power play going. 45:20 I mean, Bukestead and Patterson are the slime dunks, of course. 45:23 And then, you know, the third one, you can kind of mix it in there. 45:26 But, you know, I thought of Schmidt as well. 45:27 Just, you know, again, he's got the power play going. 45:29 And even more than that, just to bounce back from a, you know, pretty horrible freshman year, he was in the lineup and, you know, moved to position a little bit just to get him on the ice and to come back and be a point per game guy as a sophomore is unbelievable. 45:41 And, you know, the young guys, I mean, that fourth line, again, I think Hammeh and I were tweeting a little bit about it on Saturday. 45:46 I thought it was asinine that, you know, Seratori and Boyd in particular didn't get a chance to play on Saturday because I think both those guys have been awesome. 45:54 I mean, Seratori has been all over the ice and, you know, they've scored the fourth line in general and scored some goals. 45:58 And, you know, they've had some different parts mixed in there, but mainly Nick Larson. 46:01 But, you know, Boyd on penalty kill, I mean, he's done a lot of little things and I think he's really emerged. 46:06 You know, he's a guy that's been pretty highly, you know, his whole career and then, you know, to come in here and find a role as a fourth line guy where, you know, by the end of his career here, he's probably going to be a scorer, you know, but just doing the little things on the penalty kill and winning some faceoffs. 46:19 And, you know, you need that kind of stuff just as much as you need guys like, you know, Bukestad and Ryle scoring goals. 46:26 Yeah, for me, I mean, obviously you got to go Bukestad and Patterson. 46:30 Those are definite two no brainers. 46:31 It's kind of a hard one for me on a third one. 46:33 I mean, you could go Ryle, you could go Schmidt. 46:35 I mean, you can't really go Ryle either way because they've both had pretty, you know, large impacts on the team. 46:41 I mean, Ryle's clearly, you know, helped make that top line, you know, potent one and something that's, you know, maybe one of the best first, you know, top line in college hockey. 46:52 So I could see that argument. 46:54 I can certainly, you know, go with Nate Schmidt as well. 46:57 I mean, I would probably go a little bit more Nate Schmidt being unsung simply because he didn't really get much of a chance last year and being able to kind of come back and be a point per game guy, you know, after, you know, not really getting much of a sniff of the ice for a lot of the last year, you know, that's pretty impressive. 47:15 Unsung, I would also go with Captain Taylor Matson. 47:18 I think that, you know, I'm sure the way he pushed the team and he off season, I think that that's probably led to big things when we've seen his third period rallies, and, you know, being outscoring teams by a healthy margin in a third period. 47:31 So certainly, I think his hustle and leadership and work ethic have paid big dividends. 47:36 And finally, I would probably, you know, go with Saratari as well. 47:40 I think he's just a kid who's, you know, always doesn't take a game off. 47:45 I mean, even in the bad games that the Gophers have had, you know, in the first half, he still stands out with his effort and hustle and, you know, his grittiness. 47:52 And it's one of those things where I think because he's not on the score sheet all the time, sometimes he's a little bit underappreciated and, but he definitely brings it. 48:01 So I would say that that would be my three for each. 48:05 So, any other thoughts on the first half of the season or maybe the outlook for the rest of the season for the Gophers? 48:12 Well, for me, I mean, it's going to, for me, it's going to be all about the defensive group. 48:17 I mean, I just, you know, how the blue liners are going to perform. 48:20 I think we're going to, from, it wouldn't shock me if we see a little bit of a tweak in the power play as far as especially the second unit and who's going to be quarterbacking it. 48:32 I wouldn't be surprised to see Alt move up and maybe play a little bit more on the power play, but we'll have to see about that. 48:40 And, but I just think that, you know, it's going to really depend upon guys like, you know, Marshall, is he going to, you know, turn a puck over less now? 48:47 And, you know, he's got a half a season under his belt. 48:49 I know I talked to his dad earlier in the year and, and, you know, he told me how his first USHL season went, you know, that he had some struggles early on and then he kind of really, you know, kind of settled in and really did well in the second half. 49:02 And, you know, you kind of hope that that's, you know, the pattern that he has this year where he gets, you know, does real well in the second half after getting his feet going under him and getting used to the play. 49:13 But I really believe as far as it's going to be, you know, how good is Kent Patterson playing, you know, how good is the defense going to be starting to clamp down and not giving up so many on man rushes and things. 49:25 But because I think the offense is going to be there, but it's going to be the defensive side of things. 49:30 Yeah, I mean, I don't know if the defense, I mean, it's been a little bit of an issue. 49:33 I don't think it's going to improve drastically. 49:34 I mean, I think it is what it is. 49:36 There's going to be some breakdowns, but I think, you know, I agree with what Hammey said. 49:39 I think the one concern for me is kind of getting that second line going with Hanson and Howell. 49:44 You know, on the power play, they've been okay recently, but five on five, it seems like that line is really dipped. 49:48 And, you know, those two along with, you know, whomever, obviously, for most of the year was Sam Mourning. 49:52 And they've kind of changed up a little bit recently and went back to Mourning. 49:56 You know, it seems like early in the year, they had three lines they could score. 49:59 And now it's kind of, you know, the Buick-Stead-Raw combo. 50:02 And then, you know, every once in a while, the Matson-Codd didn't, you know, that line will pop in there, whoever on the, you know, obviously the other wing. 50:08 But, you know, Hanson's a senior, and he started off the year really well, but I think his play's tailed off and he's taken some stupid penalties, I think, last month or so, and doesn't have that, maybe that same drive that he saw early, but again, maybe it's, you know, could be wearing a little bit or whatever. 50:22 So hopefully at the break, they can get back going again. 50:24 And then with Helle, you know, being the center of that second line, I think that's going to be the key. 50:29 If they can get those two going again and not, you know, necessarily point for your team players, but where that line is a threat and, you know, puts up some points on a somewhat nightly basis, I think this team's going to be fine. 50:39 But I think if it's Buxted and Rao and not much else, you know, I think this team could have issues scoring in the second half when they, you know, play some of these tougher games. 50:47 So I think it's going to be interesting for sure. 50:49 And but either way, they're going to be in the mix down the stretch. 50:51 And, you know, as fans, the way the last couple of seasons have gone, I think that's all you can really hope for. 50:56 And I think that is the key right there. 50:57 I mean, we're in first place through the first half of the season, and no one predicted that, you know, 11 and three in the league. 51:06 It's looking really good for now. 51:08 I mean, obviously, we see things that need to be fixed. 51:12 But it's a much more positive feeling in Gopher Land compared to the last three years. 51:17 And that's nothing but good for me. 51:20 We need to be, I will say, I think a few guys need to be a little more aggressive with the puck shooting it. 51:25 I think Budish is one that really sticks out to me. 51:29 I mentioned it on Twitter. 51:31 The kid, you know, he's so big and strong, but he's just his past first type of an ad. 51:37 I mean, there's even times where it's obvious to everybody he should be shooting a puck. 51:41 And I think his first inclination is, I gotta pass it. 51:45 And he really, I think, you know, you really want to make that top line pull and he needs to start being more aggressive, especially around the net. 51:52 I mean, when you got that kind of size, he should be really wreaking some havoc around the net. 51:56 And I also, I've mentioned it before, I think Hanson needs to shoot the puck a little bit more aggressively. 52:01 I mean, we've seen how well Holla has done and it's because he's been so much more aggressive shooting a puck. 52:07 And I think that some of these guys could learn a lesson from that. 52:11 All right. 52:12 Well, let's move on. 52:13 We have, since we'll be taking a few weeks off here, we've got the Marry G Classic coming up at the end of the month. 52:22 Northeastern and Princeton play each other. 52:24 The Gophers play Niagara. 52:26 It will not be on TV, be on radio only. 52:29 So tune in or go down there and watch the games. 52:32 It's always good hockey. 52:35 Thoughts on the Marry G Classic, guys? 52:40 The field is not what it was. 52:42 I think the Gophers kind of fell victim to Northeastern. 52:45 They've been a team that's kind of been on the uptick here the last few years, but then right before this season their coach leaves and they had a lot of issues. 52:53 They're 7-7-2 and they have won 5 or 6 in a row and they recently swept that Notre Dame. 52:58 So I guess they're not horrible by any means and that's going to be a pretty tough game if it comes to that. 53:04 Obviously the team opens with Niagara and I think, again, we talked a little bit pre-podcast that Niagara's got a 5 or 6 game and beaten streak of their own, but again, the Gophers should be favored in that and should be able to pull off a win, although, you know, Buks and Rowe are both gone. 53:18 I don't think anything's going to be easy when you lose your two top goal scorers. 53:21 But yeah, I mean, if they end up playing Northeastern, it's going to be a big game. 53:24 And we talk always at these non-conference things and I'm sure the pairwise is going to start to be a weekly conversation in these podcasts once we, the calendar turns to 2012. 53:34 So yeah, it's important to get a couple of wins. 53:36 And again, it's not going to be easy. 53:38 And even if it's just Buxted that's gone, I mean, he plays, you know, power play, penalty kill. 53:41 I mean, he's your number one, you know, center and goal scorer and everything else. 53:44 So yeah, I mean, I don't think anything will be easy. 53:47 And we'll see if Shabrowski maybe gets in the mix. 53:51 I don't know if that'll happen. 53:51 I kind of doubt it coming off the big break, but you know, if you're going to play him, this is probably the last chance to do it. 53:56 So yeah, it'll be an interesting weekend. 54:00 Yeah, I mean, I agree. 54:00 And you know, I think that when you look at their records right now, some of these teams, it's certainly not all that impressive. 54:07 But you know, I'm looking at Northeastern's schedule right now, and they're on what, I think, a six-game winning streak. 54:14 So a couple of those games, they won at Notre Dame. 54:18 So I mean, there's certainly not going to be a pushover. 54:21 I mean, based on what they're looking at, you know, the last weeks or so, that's going to be good for them. 54:27 And certainly, we were talking before the podcast on Niagara. 54:32 I think they're undefeated in their last six. 54:34 Granted, I'm not looking at what the competition was up top, but nonetheless, you know, these couple of these teams could actually be a little bit tougher than you might look at, you know, you might think when you're looking at the overall record, because they've been playing better hockey lately. 54:49 Well, Gophers have struggled in the last, I guess, five years, even in the Mariucci Classic, you know, with some teams coming in here and beating them. 54:57 So you just never know what's going to happen. 55:00 Just never know. 55:03 Any other thoughts on that? 55:05 You know, there's nothing you can really add. 55:07 I mean, it's hard to these non-conference ones, and you don't know after being off a week or so. 55:14 It's just hard to say. 55:14 You just don't know what you're going to get if the guys are going to be, you know, maybe don't quite have their legs or their heads not quite into it because it's not quite league play and, you know, it's the holidays and whatever else. 55:26 So it's pretty unpredictable at times. 55:28 But, you know, you do expect you're going to win both games, but you just never know. 55:32 It'll be interesting to see what happens at the Marriott Classic in future years, if the Gophers kind of keep bringing in the lesser teams or whatever. 55:41 It's been a while since we've had some, you know, high end teams. 55:45 I think BC was in here once. 55:48 Yeah, I mean, like I said, the Northeastern has been on the rise. 55:51 I mean, they're not the name team. 55:53 Like, you know, but yeah, I mean, last year was at Union, Ferris State, I mean, Northern Michigan, Bowling Green Sea. 55:59 Yeah, they have definitely toned it down in terms of you're not seeing, you know, New Hampshire, Boston College, some of the, you know, the bigger name teams. 56:05 And like you said, Joop, I mean, who knows when the Big Ten kicks in and how that's going to, I mean, I would assume you're not going to, you know, big time teams here just from the whole travel standpoint. 56:14 I'm sure that plays into it where, you know, I highly doubt to get Northeastern here, the Gophers are going to be going out to play Northeastern there anytime soon. 56:20 And so, you know, I'm sure that's a pretty big factor in as well. 56:24 I've been curious if maybe they bring in some of the teams from the national in future years. 56:29 Maybe that's your chance to bring in a Denver or CC or even a North Dakota into a Marietje Classic. 56:35 It would make it much more interesting. 56:36 I'll tell you that. 56:39 Yeah, it'll be, I mean, you know, we've talked about it before. 56:42 It's just been up in the air. 56:44 I really don't have any idea what the schedule is going to be like. 56:47 We talked about it before about how many home games, minimum. 56:50 And I mean, they're shooting for 20 from what I understand, like it's normally been, whether that's exactly what they're going to get or not, it's hard to predict. 56:58 But yeah, I mean, it'll be interesting to see how that whole scheduling situation works out with other conferences in the future. 57:05 Hammy, any recruiting news this week or maybe anything that we could be watching in this holiday season? 57:13 You know, any tournaments and players that people could be watching for? 57:18 Well, you know, of course, you've got the Schwann stuff over the holidays and, you know, the Edina, you know, there's a lot of holiday tournaments coming up, so there's going to be a lot of good hockey from that standpoint. 57:31 I'm probably going to be over watching some of the Edina games this week, so we'll see how that goes. 57:38 But from an actual recruit standpoint, nothing really. 57:43 Of course, we talked about a little bit on GPL, the Gursich kid from Holy Family Fire or whatever it is. 57:51 He's Broughton's nephew, and certainly that's going to be a kid that people are going to want to keep an eye on. 57:57 I've heard that it could be a kid that might be one of those early commits, you know, and he's only a ninth grader, so we'll have to see how that one pans out. 58:06 But I'm sure that there will be stuff going on. 58:08 You know, I'm sure the coaches will be out to a lot of games in the next couple of weeks now that they have some time off from at least the Gopher team. 58:16 Well, I think that's about all we have for this week. 58:18 You guys have anything else? 58:20 Any other thoughts on January, which is going to be quite the schedule for the Gophers? 58:26 The only thing I would now, just for people to know, we're not going to be doing a podcast now until... 58:32 What was the date going to be, June? 58:34 I haven't said it. 58:35 It was about January 3rd. 58:36 You know, that's the Tuesday after the Classic and right before we play Notre Dame in the Hall of Fame game. 58:43 Okay, so I just wanted to make sure people knew that ahead of time. 58:46 So they wouldn't be thinking that there's going to be anything in the next couple of weeks. 58:50 Nope, we're taking some time off. 58:51 And I think my family will like it. 58:53 They don't like being so quiet. 58:57 It's hard to keep the kids quiet. 58:59 Trust me. 59:01 By the next time we record, I may have that problem. 59:05 But you can't tell them to be quiet. 59:07 That's true. 59:09 Are you going to need a substitute? 59:10 Do we need to bring Jeff in? 59:13 I don't know. 59:13 I mean, it depends when... 59:15 Jeff can Skype so we can bring him in. 59:18 You might get replaced here if you take too many podcasts off. 59:22 That's true. 59:22 Well, yeah. 59:24 We'll put him on. 59:25 Definitely get him warming up in the pen and we'll kind of see how it all shakes out. 59:28 But yeah, we'll see how it goes. 59:31 I think that one thing we could do maybe in the second half for people out there is we've talked about having some more guests and stuff, so it's not just the three of us rubes talking all the time. 59:41 I'm sure that we'll have a few additions here or there, so they can look forward to that. 59:46 Drunk hockey guy is really jonesing to get on, but I don't know if I can do it. 59:51 It might just be too much for his ego. 59:53 That would not work out well, I don't believe. 59:55 Yes, no comment. 59:59 Oh, there's your answer, drunk hockey guy. 1:00:02 What a shame. 1:00:04 Anything else, guys? 1:00:07 No, that's it for me. 1:00:08 Ryan, you're going to be out with PA this week or you're going to be taking a few weeks out with him as well? 1:00:14 No. 1:00:14 Well, he wanted to do it the next couple of weeks. 1:00:17 I'm always game, but I figured without the Gophers and whatever else he might not want to. 1:00:21 But yeah, he said game on. 1:00:23 So next two Thursdays at 9.55, unless something changes. 1:00:28 And we usually always tweet when Ryan is going to be on. 1:00:32 So just follow the Gopher Puck Live Twitter. 1:00:34 And you can listen to him on KFA and on Thursdays. 1:00:38 And of course, you can also follow Ryan at Ryan Carter on Twitter and Hammy, of course, at Hammy Hockey. 1:00:45 Well, fellas, happy holidays. 1:00:48 Happy holidays. 1:00:49 Happy New Year. 1:00:51 We will see everyone back here in early 2012. 1:00:55 Until then, we'll see you later.