0:05 This is The GPL Podcast, sponsored by Vintage Minnesota Hockey, your exclusive source for throwback Minnesota jerseys. 0:14 Visit vintagemnhockey.com. 0:19 Now, here's Hammy, Vego and your host, Jupiter. 0:39 Good evening, and welcome to Podcast number 111. 0:46 Getting up there, guys, getting up there. 0:48 I'm still amazing. 0:48 We made it to 100, Veegs. 0:51 It's a miracle. 0:52 Well, it's going pretty well, so. 0:55 It's going pretty well. 0:57 Well, Veegs, Veegs just got his kid bed, so we're good. 1:00 Hammy forgot about the podcast, and he's working out, so he's muted right now, but he's there. 1:06 He's just doing his sets number three, so he can get all pumped up. 1:10 I'm going to pump you up. 1:14 Wow. 1:15 Even a nice echo going to you. 1:16 That was beautiful, Hammy. 1:18 Because I was in a racquetball court. 1:22 It was. 1:23 That's pretty good, actually. 1:26 Well, let's start with you, Veegs. 1:28 The big topic of the week is regular season champion six in a row, a national record. 1:34 Obviously, you know, a pretty good night, Friday night to celebrate that win and get the championship. 1:40 Maybe not so much Saturday night, but six in a row. 1:43 It's never been done, Veegs. 1:45 Yeah, it's quite the feat to pass BU's record in conference titles. 1:51 A lot of teams will tell you it's harder to win a regular season title than it is any of the postseason banners because it requires you to be consistent from the start of the conference schedule to the end. 2:01 And we've seen a lot of close years, especially these last four where it's come down to that last weekend and the team has needed to come through. 2:09 Even this year where we didn't think it was going to get tight, Wisconsin all of a sudden gets pretty hot and puts the heat on them and the Gophers once again delivered. 2:19 And as Justin Cluse says, if it was easy, someone else would have done it by now. 2:25 That's true. 2:26 I mean, you know, everyone's going to say, oh, the Big Ten is weak, blah, blah, blah. 2:30 Well, we're building on it. 2:32 I'm sorry, but you know, it's getting better. 2:36 We're, you know, it's, it's, don't blame us. 2:39 It's just kind of like blaming the basketball team when they don't make the tournament or the football team when they don't win a bowl game. 2:45 You know, Minnesota winning the conference consecutive years like this is pretty amazing. 2:50 Yeah, it is. 2:52 I would, I completely agree. 2:54 I mean, you know, the last two were in the WCHA. 2:56 Oh, that was the end of the big WCHA. 2:59 Big Ten is so weak, but you know what? 3:01 It really, it was weak at first. 3:03 But, you know, Wisconsin is coming on. 3:05 Obviously, Michigan going down is not as good. 3:07 But next year we had, we had another team. 3:09 It's going to make it more interesting. 3:10 Notre Dame is a pretty decent squad, at least they have been. 3:13 And Hammy, it really is a pretty darn good accomplishment. 3:17 I mean, six in a row, it's never been done. 3:21 Well, I agree. 3:22 I mean, it's pretty challenging. 3:24 I mean, I know there's going to be a lot of fans from other schools, especially from the old WCHA that would kind of say that it's not the same. 3:32 But nonetheless, it's not like there's a bunch of stiffs, even though the Big Ten has been great coming out of the gate. 3:38 It's not like there's a bunch of stiffs there either. 3:39 So it is quite the accomplishment, especially for the seniors to be on a team that's done that four times in a row. 3:47 I mean, that's something that, you know, obviously is pretty special. 3:49 So those guys need to be congratulated for what they've accomplished. 3:53 I mean, technically, isn't this Connor Riley's fifth title in a row, even though he had a red shirt year in their VEGS? 4:00 That would be technically five. 4:01 I mean, anyone's done that, even on the team. 4:05 I mean, obviously, he had some injuries and he missed some time. 4:10 But he was the last of the WCHA. 4:13 So, you know, he's got five titles under his belt. 4:15 And obviously, no one's going to have that. 4:18 He talked about it a little bit this week. 4:21 But furthermore, Friday night was a good night. 4:25 It was a good celebration night. 4:26 They come back Saturday night. 4:29 And boy, Saturday night just didn't turn out so well, did it, Vegs. 4:32 I mean, a 1-1 game. 4:33 Michigan really shut it down. 4:35 Or Michigan State, I should say. 4:36 Really shut down on their defense, locked it down. 4:40 And then the worst possible happened. 4:43 Mr. 4:44 Lindgren goes into the boards and pretty much just breaks his leg. 4:47 And boy, not what this team needed. 4:50 He has been a stellar defenseman this year. 4:56 Well, I think Lindgren has been a great piece of the puzzle for the Gophers this year. 5:01 Playing with Bischoff has eased that transition for him. 5:05 So I think that's been part of it. 5:06 They're going to move Jack Sadick there for this next weekend. 5:11 At least that's what they're practicing to do. 5:14 And he's just stepped in and played a lot of minutes. 5:17 He's been one of the defensemen they put out there at the end of games. 5:20 And he's done a great job. 5:21 You hear all the players talk about leadership characteristics, and he's got one. 5:26 So he's been a fun one to watch. 5:29 I think that senior night game is always tricky because there's so much motion for the players with their parents before the game. 5:37 You know, it kind of gets them out of their routine. 5:39 And then they get on the ice and there was no motion there. 5:44 I think they only had seven attempted shots in that first period. 5:47 It took a while to get going, especially against a Michigan State team that really makes you grind it out. 5:52 And you have to want to play hard to have success against a team like that. 5:56 Completely. 5:57 I mean, you know, Michigan State has always had a very good defensive team. 6:01 I mean, obviously, they've been struggling overall as a team this year. 6:05 But I don't know if it just got in their head. 6:08 They just they just weren't working Saturday night. 6:10 I mean, not at all. 6:14 Well, I think it was one of those games where they had to work really hard and they had only won the conference title the night before. 6:19 And Lucia tried to say, we're playing for the seniors, we're playing for a pair by seeding. 6:24 But there really wasn't that much at stake to motivate them. 6:27 I think, you know, as the game went on, you know, they got their legs going a little bit and they started to figure it out. 6:32 Especially in that third period, you looked at them extend their offensive zone time, you know, being patient on the cycle, working to get more high quality shots. 6:42 And, you know, credit Michigan State's goalie, he played pretty well. 6:48 So it could have been a game where Minnesota could have just pulled it out and put up some goals, but he played a real solid game for the Spartans. 6:53 And that's what they had been doing sort of all season, you know, they get down and they're able to come back in the third or, you know, towards the end of the game and pull it out. 7:00 They just couldn't do it this time. 7:02 And then we go to, so it turns out to be a tie, which is obviously not as bad as a loss would have been on the pair wise. 7:09 It did hurt them. 7:10 I'm guessing a loss would have been much worse, Veegs, but they've dropped much further, a couple more spots, maybe. 7:16 It could have put them in a position where they might be five or six, but I think the Gophers have that number two or number four overall seed pretty well locked up. 7:26 I don't think they can really get to three even if they win out, and even if they lose or lost the game in Michigan State and had a bad Big Ten tournament, I don't think they could get past eight. 7:36 So really, there wasn't even that much pair wise stuff to play for other than that number one seed. 7:42 Yeah, and that's still in play right now, isn't it? 7:44 I believe it is. 7:46 There's a lot of weird things. 7:47 They've got a chance at it. 7:48 They need some help and they need to win the Big Ten tournament to get a number one seed. 7:52 Probably, but also... 7:54 Western Michigan has a tough route and then CHC. 7:57 But the thing is, if they get a number one seed, they're pretty much automatically going to go to Fargo, wouldn't they? 8:03 I mean, they're not going to put Harvard there. 8:06 I don't think they're going to put Harvard there. 8:11 Well, I guess it depends on North Dakota as well. 8:14 If North Dakota is the four seed in that four seed band, Minnesota is going to go there if they're a one seed. 8:22 Because Duluth and Denver can't go there. 8:25 So I think this is one of the more interesting pairwise years because of all the number one seed seeds from West that could be in there. 8:33 It's going to force the committee to decide what do they value? 8:36 Do they want to protect the number one overall seed? 8:38 Do they want to give someone the geographic, the closest regional, or if they're the number one overall? 8:45 I don't think that they have too many restrictions on that stuff. 8:48 So this might be the year that Jason Mooney gets wrong for USCHO. 8:53 It's going to be a tough deal all around. 8:55 I mean, right now I'm guessing the committee kind of wants North Dakota to bump themselves up a bit. 9:04 If they do that, even if Western Michigan does get that third one, number one seed, and there's three NCHC teams, they can at least send one of those teams to Fargo and not have to play North Dakota in the first, you know, as a four seed. 9:19 I mean, I think that's what they're kind of hoping for because right now it's, you know, I don't really see the seeds moving all that much. 9:25 I mean, if Western Michigan wins a game this weekend, I think they're pretty much going to lock up that fourth number one spot. 9:33 So, oh boy, well, before you know, talk more about that. 9:37 I, we really got to talk more about that loss of Lindgren. 9:42 Hammey, he'd been doing so well. 9:44 And now we're going to get to see Mr. 9:46 Glover coming back and Glover has only played 11 games this season. 9:52 Yeah. 9:52 And it has been a little bit iffy when he has played. 9:55 So, you know, it's definitely a loss. 9:58 And, you know, even for, even though he's a freshman, I mean, he's been a very solid player throughout the year. 10:04 So and he's a physical player. 10:07 He's a good two-way player. 10:08 I mean, he's not like awesome on the offensive end. 10:11 But nonetheless, he's a guy that certainly has an impact. 10:14 And he makes those outlet passes. 10:16 And, you know, he's definitely dependable. 10:19 So it's going to be up to, you know, the other guys to step up, you know, not just Glover, but I mean, it's going to be the other guy is going to have to play solid, play maybe a little bit more minutes for a few of the other guys. 10:30 And, you know, step it up. 10:32 So hopefully they'll be able to cover for what they've lost. 10:35 And hopefully he makes a smooth recovery and is ready for next season. 10:39 And really, you know, Glover is the fallback right now. 10:42 If they lose another guy, they bring in Simonson. 10:46 Is that how you pronounce his name, Veegs? 10:48 I mean, has he played a game? 10:50 I don't remember him playing anything. 10:52 I don't think he's played a game. 10:54 He's a Grand Rapids guy, a bigger body. 10:56 But I don't think he's the skater, the guys ahead of him are. 11:00 But he would be next in line, wouldn't he? 11:02 He'd be next in line and he'd have to lose a year of eligibility too. 11:06 He'd have to play 13 forwards. 11:07 Yeah. 11:10 Who knows? 11:11 I just, I mean, it's just very unfortunate that Lindgren was doing so well. 11:16 It's been a tough year for Gopher because he did have the double shoulder surgery in the off season. 11:21 So he basically lost his entire prep for the season, wasn't really able to do anything until October. 11:28 And then this year, a couple of times, he's been a last minute decision to be plugged in the lineup. 11:32 So then he's come into a game that he hasn't really prepared for all week. 11:36 You know, they practice all week and prepare as much as they can. 11:39 But when you're not expecting to be one of the guys playing, it's a little bit tougher and he's been a last minute decision a couple of times to play. 11:48 So that's affected a little bit as well. 11:50 And confidence for the defenseman and everything. 11:54 We heard Lucia talk about it a little bit today with Ryan Collins when he's playing his solid games. 11:59 He's very assertive with the puck and that translates to the rest of his game. 12:05 Well, I think the one positive is that Gopher has played 11 games and he's, you know, he was there last year too. 12:13 So it's not like you would be bringing in a guy who's never seen the ice before. 12:17 So we just got to keep those guys healthy and get through this weekend and get to the NCAA tournament. 12:23 One positive we did here today, Veegs, is that, you know, oh, who's coming back? 12:29 My mind is just... 12:30 Smatula. 12:31 Smatula, jeez. 12:33 I'm like looking, I just couldn't think of his name. 12:36 Old age. 12:36 So Smatula's coming back, you know, you said he practiced today and he'll be in the lineup this weekend, I'm assuming. 12:43 Yeah, they've been trying to get him back in the lineup for a little while here. 12:46 It's just been injury that's dragged on from a day to day to a week to week thing. 12:51 And now they think he's ready. 12:53 So I think it's important for them to try to get two games this weekend so they can get Smatula some game action. 12:59 They can get Glover acclimated back to fast paced playoff hockey. 13:05 Hammeh, do we know what happened to Smatula? 13:08 Any rumors out there of what was wrong with him? 13:11 I have not asked. 13:12 I don't know. 13:13 So that one I don't have a good answer for. 13:15 I could find out. 13:16 But I figured that, you know, I didn't think he was going to be out as long as he was. 13:20 So, you know, but I don't have a good answer to that one. 13:23 And the thing is, is that he's, he's, he's, he's, you know, he's contributed quite a bit and he's been quite a spark plug for the team. 13:34 Absolutely. 13:34 I mean, he's a guy that we kind of thought coming into the season that was going to have a kind of a point per game type of, I mean, that's how he was when he was, you know, it was a Northeastern. 13:43 So, I mean, you kind of expected that coming into the year and, you know, maybe he hasn't been quite as explosive as some maybe have thought he would be. 13:52 But, you know, I have to guess if you have a year off, when you're not playing competitive games, that's to be somewhat expected for at least a period of time. 14:00 Well, we'll just have to see. 14:01 Hopefully gets back and gets back into game shape fairly quick because we could definitely use that spark plug. 14:07 Okay. 14:08 I figure we might want to read a few Twitter questions. 14:11 Remember, if you have a question or topic for us, just jump on Twitter and use the hashtag GPL Podcast. 14:17 We'll see it. 14:18 I mean, if you're listening live, we might see it and might talk about it right then. 14:22 Or usually I try to tweet out a couple hours before the podcast, you know, any questions you may have. 14:27 So, boy, what do we have here? 14:31 Some of them already talked about Lindgren. 14:35 Nate was wondering, Nate Wells wants to know if we could have done the podcast earlier tonight. 14:39 Sorry, Nate, we can't do the podcast earlier. 14:42 Nate, are you really listening on a train? 14:44 That's what I want to know. 14:46 And that's what we want to know. 14:47 If he's listening on a train, that's awesome. 14:50 Here we go. 14:51 Josh Svensson. 14:52 I hope I pronounced that right. 14:53 Who are we cheering for slash against this weekend to ensure we move up to a number one seed? 14:59 What do you think, Veegs? 15:00 Do we even really want to move up to number one seed? 15:03 Or are we kind of in a decent spot where we are right now, aren't we? 15:08 Well, I think if they move up in a number one seed, it means they don't go to Fargo. 15:12 So depending on whether or not you want that to happen, that can change the way you want to cheer. 15:19 Personally, I think going to Fargo might be great for this team to get out a game where they're motivated in right away rather than going somewhere out East where they're playing in an empty building, playing an Eastern school that they don't know much about. 15:32 I think that is key, is these empty buildings. 15:36 You go to Fargo, it's going to be full. 15:38 And they're going to be cheering against you, which I think is much better to have people yelling at you than a completely silent arena, because I think the silent arena is just no vibe. 15:51 It's just nothing going. 15:54 And if they play North Dakota, they get last change too. 15:56 So that allows Lucia to dictate some of the matchups he'll want to put out there, especially losing Lindgren, easing the Tula back into the lineup. 16:06 Those are things he might want to take advantage of. 16:08 Any thoughts on that, Hammy? 16:10 Who we should be cheering for or against this weekend, or are we just going to play it as it goes? 16:15 Well, I mean, I guess I'm one of those fans that just sort of, you know, no matter what region you're in, you're probably going to play some good teams. 16:23 And if you want to be a championship team, you're going to have to, you know, win some games against some good clubs. 16:29 So, you know, when people start talking about, you know, what's the best region or, you know, all that kind of stuff. 16:35 To me, I don't even want the team to be thinking that way, because if they have their, you know, if their mentality is, I want an easy route to getting to the Frozen Four or the National, I mean, to me, that's when you get right for an upset, you know. 16:47 So I just feel like their mentality should be, you know, we got to win. 16:52 I don't care who we face. 16:53 I don't care where we go. 16:55 We just have to win. 16:56 So I don't get as caught up in that. 16:58 I know it's okay. 16:59 I'm not blaming anybody for wanting to do that. 17:02 But for me personally, I just feel like that's the mentality you have to take. 17:05 No matter where you go, you're going to play some good teams. 17:08 Well, Veeves, it's definitely going to be interesting. 17:09 I think we're at the point in college hockey right now where, you know, 1 through 16, all really good teams. 17:14 There's so much parity in college hockey days. 17:18 You're going to play tough teams every game you're on out. 17:22 Yeah, you will. 17:23 I mean, almost every year now we've got a four seed taking out a one seed. 17:29 I mean, it's just become normal since Holy Cross. 17:35 So it's just become the way of the world. 17:38 There's a lot of parity. 17:41 It's still going to be tough for anyone to go into Fargo, I think, with North Dakota. 17:47 But I'm with you, Hammeh. 17:49 If Minnesota gets sent to North Dakota and we play me to the first game or if we win and end up playing in the second game, I say bring it on because it's going to be a tough atmosphere and it's the challenge you need to be able to win a national title. 18:03 You really don't want to skate to the Frozen Four and get your butt kicked somewhere else. 18:07 You want to really earn your way through and have a tough road and be battle tested. 18:12 And I'm sorry, but facing the fighting Hawks in North Dakota, I think is a perfect thing for this team to build on. 18:20 Don't you, Hammeh? 18:23 Well, I mean, I guess, like I said, I just don't believe that the matchup should, at this time of year, when you're getting in NCAAs, whether it's in a totally dead arena or if it's a not totally packed arena, I mean, it is the NCAAs. 18:37 If you want to win a national title, I mean, that stuff shouldn't really matter at the end of the day. 18:42 To me personally, if I'm thinking of it as a competitor and wanting to win, I don't need the environment to motivate me. 18:50 To me, the circumstances and I don't need the opponent to motivate me. 18:55 I don't need the environment to motivate me. 18:57 To me, it's the circumstances. 18:59 You want to be a national champion, especially these seniors who, here's your chance. 19:04 If that's not motivation enough, if it takes a special opponent or a location to get you motivated, then I'd be concerned about that. 19:14 Okay. 19:15 Nate Wells is putting us on the spot, guys. 19:17 He wants to know, what do y'all make of the Gopher Women's Hockey chances this weekend to bring home a third straight national title? 19:27 Well, Nate, we know you cover that team. 19:29 We know you follow them. 19:31 I personally think that it's going to be a little difficult for them. 19:34 I think their scoring is down. 19:35 Obviously, they did get Cameron Easyback recently, but they're still having trouble scoring. 19:41 It's going to be tough to win this kind of tournament if you're not scoring, and I think that's going to be their biggest problem. 19:46 Veegs, your thoughts on the women? 19:48 I mean, obviously, they've been dominant for a long time, but I just think they have a hard time scoring right now. 19:55 You took the words right out of my mouth. 19:56 That's my one talking point I have with this team right now, is they've had trouble scoring. 20:02 They've run into some hot goaltending, and that's kind of the brick wall at Duluth and Wisconsin against them lately. 20:10 They've had really good goaltenders. 20:13 So they've got to find ways to get pucks to the net and create traffic. 20:16 I don't know if that's just something that all their skilled players have trouble doing, but it's something that we see the men's team struggle with a lot too. 20:25 They want to make skilled plays. 20:26 They want to score on the rush. 20:27 They want to score on the power play. 20:29 And when they play against a team with a good goalie and good structure, they have a hard time changing their game. 20:35 And I wonder if that's what's causing Brad Frost some issues at night. 20:39 I'm guessing it could. 20:40 But another thing is, you mentioned these good goalies. 20:43 These aren't just good goalies. 20:45 These are some of the best women's goalies in the world. 20:50 These are the girls who play for their national teams. 20:53 So it's not like your run-of-the-mill goalie that got hot. 20:57 I mean, these girls are world class goalies. 21:03 And that's a challenge against any world class goalie, is taking their eyes away. 21:07 Maybe Brad Frost needs to recruit some Amazons and get some net presence. 21:13 Speaking of goalies, I'm not even going to pronounce that. 21:17 I could try to pronounce that Twitter name. 21:19 What is it? 21:19 Eli Kritschka. 21:21 I really don't know what year it is. 21:22 It looked kind of Russian to me. 21:24 He wants to know, what's your confidence in goal tender number 37? 21:30 What do you think, Hammy? 21:31 Is your confidence in Sheerhorn right now? 21:36 Well, I mean, he's definitely played better, I think, as the season has gone on. 21:41 I mean, you know, but the reality is, it's going to really be up to the guys in front of him, too. 21:49 I mean, they have to play good team defense, and especially with Lindgren out, I mean, it's going to be even more imperative for those guys to make sure that they're taking care of their responsibilities in the defensive zone. 22:01 So I don't look at it just as him, I look at it as the entire team, and I think Sheerhorn's certainly played better as the season has gone on. 22:09 I'm not saying that he's an All-American, even though he was All-Big Ten, you know, got to give him credit. 22:14 All-Ten of the year. 22:17 You know what I mean? 22:17 But nonetheless, you know, he hasn't played badly by any stretch, but I wouldn't say that I expect him to be, I mean, you know, you never know with goalies, you know, they can run hot and cold. 22:28 You never know always what you're going to get with some guys. 22:30 And all it takes at this time of year is four straight. 22:32 So you just don't know. 22:34 But you know, I feel he's playing pretty well. 22:37 Veegs to go along with that, you know, Hammy saying it's really about team. 22:40 I mean, he's kind of right on there. 22:42 I mean, the forwards are going to be a key component of Sheerhorn's success. 22:48 Yeah, I think some of the games we've seen Sheerhorn struggle is because there's been traffic in front of him where shot blockers aren't blocking shots. 22:57 So I think it's imperative for the forwards when they're trying to block shots to do their job. 23:02 If they're not going to be able to get in front of the shots, they've got a clear lane so he sees the puck. 23:07 I think that's been his biggest problem, especially when they're on the penalty kill, is there's a lot of players in the way, but no one's in the way of the puck. 23:14 I think it's important for that penalty community to work as a unit of four skaters, and do their job and be aggressive, because special teams are really important in the playoffs, and that's been one of the problems for Minnesota this season is an effective penalty kill. 23:30 They're going to need their unit of four and Shearhorn working together in that. 23:34 I think he's playing pretty well in the rushes this year. 23:38 He's doing a good job challenging the shooters. 23:40 I think early in the season, he wasn't as solid doing that because he was trying to overplay and over read the rush coming at him. 23:49 I think since he's calmed down a little bit more and been more aggressive, he's been better. 23:54 Got a few more questions, including a second part of his question here. 23:58 But before we get to that, we need to hear from our sponsor. 24:02 vintagemnhockey.com is a proud sponsor of The GPL Podcast. 24:07 Well, what is Vintage MN Hockey? 24:09 Well, it's kind of the place to get all of your history of Minnesota Hockey, from the pros to the minors, the collegiate teams to even the high school teams. 24:19 All information about any of those teams can be found on vintagemnhockey.com. 24:24 They also have great interviews with some historical Minnesota hockey figures like John Mayessich and Lou Nani, Glenn Sanmore, some of the greats of Minnesota hockey. 24:34 So make sure you check out those interviews. 24:35 It's a really great thing. 24:37 But as I always say, I think my favorite part is the store. 24:41 The store, you can buy a custom historical jersey from the Gophers or the Bulldogs or some of your favorite high school teams. 24:48 And if you do make a purchase, just use the code GPLPodcast, all one word, and you'll get 10% off your order. 24:55 So make sure you visit vintagemnhockey.com and follow them on Twitter at VintageMNHockey. 25:02 I'm seeing Nate Wells on Twitter re-tweeting that Michigan State or Penn State's flight out of state college to Detroit was canceled by high winds. 25:14 Scenic tour of Northern and higher via bus. 25:16 So it looks like they're taking a bus to Detroit instead right now because they couldn't get out of state college because of high winds. 25:24 Hopefully they get nice and tired on that long bus ride. 25:28 It's looking like Minnesota is going to play Michigan on Friday anyway. 25:31 But that certainly can't help the Nittany Lions. 25:36 You know, if the Nittany Lions can win that game, obviously it'll be do wonders for them. 25:41 But if they lose that game, they're done. 25:43 So we'll wait and see. 25:46 But first, we got a second part of Eli Kritschka's tweet. 25:51 And it's relevant for today. 25:53 He wants to know, what's your take on the USA women's team possibly boycotting the world championships? 26:00 Vigz, this just came out today. 26:02 They're kind of putting up a fight. 26:04 They're saying, we want to get paid fairly here compared to what the men are getting paid and treated fairly. 26:10 And this has obviously become a big deal in women's soccer as well, because the women's team is way underpaid compared to the men's in soccer. 26:19 And yet they're way more successful. 26:22 Vigz, what are your thoughts on this? 26:23 The women's kind of putting up a stink here. 26:26 And I think they've got a very valid point. 26:30 Well, it's just that they're being asked to live a life of poverty to pursue their dream of being Olympians. 26:36 You know, these athletes are training really hard year round to get ready for world champions and get ready for the Olympics. 26:45 And they don't get equipment. 26:46 They get hardly any kind of stipend. 26:49 They don't have very many camps during the year where they can all get together. 26:52 You know, the pro league options for them are miniscule compared to what the men have. 26:57 So, I think it's a very valid argument for them. 26:59 I think it's a bold move for them to do it this close to the world championships. 27:04 You know, there's the idea brought up that there should be a national development team program for the women. 27:09 I think it'd probably be better served for them to have more camps through the year and more funding for their equipment and ice time and training. 27:16 But I think, you know, hats off to them for doing it. 27:19 There's a bunch of Gophers who are on this team right now who are, you know, giving up an opportunity to play for the world championships if this doesn't get addressed. 27:27 Well, one thing that was going on while you and I were both playing, you know, for the Roobs back in the SuperRink League was the women's Team USA was playing in one of the SuperRink Leagues. 27:39 They were playing in the A division, you know, years ago because they wanted the competition. 27:44 And because the style is the same in adult league hockey, you know, no checking and whatnot, it was a great place for them to become better and have good competition. 27:54 So, I mean, these women do whatever they can to get better and to play better. 28:00 And I kind of agree with you, they're just not getting treated very well. 28:06 I think I heard on the news tonight, they're getting $6,000 over six months. 28:13 So, $1,000 a month, you're not going to live on that if you're a hockey player and trying to make a living. 28:19 So, I'm kind of with them. 28:21 Mammy, do you have any thoughts on this? 28:24 Well, how much money do they spend on the National Team Development Program? 28:28 3.5 million a year. 28:30 You know what I'm saying? 28:31 I mean, to me, that's the bigger waste of money for USA Hockey. 28:35 I mean, a lot of people, I mean, maybe it's because we're in Minnesota and whatever, but nonetheless, it's like to me, I've always felt the National Team Development Program is a waste of money. 28:48 I mean, those players that, for the most part, go into that program could be just as well-served going to the USHL. 28:55 They have ample opportunities to move to junior leagues and develop their talents, and that three, four, five million, whatever it is that's being spent on that could be spent on situations like this. 29:13 So, to me, I don't know that I haven't researched all this stuff because I haven't been following it today, but that's the first thing that pops into my head is, well, we've been complaining for years about how much money they waste on basically 20-some-odd players. 29:31 Well, 40 players if you count both teams. 29:34 But I mean, they're wasting millions of dollars on a very small number of older teen hockey players. 29:43 When they have ample opportunities, these same players would easily all go on and play major roles in the USHL or wherever. 29:52 And here's an opportunity for them to actually spread the wealth and give these women more money to help them train and become better players. 30:00 So that's how I feel about it. 30:02 Well, they definitely picked the right time to do it, didn't they? 30:05 I mean, they hold the power right now. 30:08 Yep, and that's what a boycott is all about, is when you have the power. 30:12 So let's hope USA Hockey steps up and does what they're obligated to do and funds the program. 30:19 I hope so as well, because obviously those women care a lot. 30:24 They put a lot into it. 30:26 You see, you know, there are some leagues coming around now, but obviously it's not the same as men. 30:32 And obviously you can only do so much because we know that, you know, the women's sports are tough to fund because of the, you know, fans not supporting it as much and there's just not as much money there. 30:44 But I completely agree, you know, you've got this national program that's been first and second in the world for 20 years. 30:54 And it's the same thing with the women's soccer. 30:55 They're the same way. 30:57 They're the best. 30:58 They've won multiple World Cups and they're getting woefully underpaid. 31:02 And I think that's exactly what the women's team is doing right now. 31:06 The hockey team is, they're trying to take a page out of the women's soccer team and they know this is the perfect time to do it. 31:13 We've had a couple of former Gopher players like Rachel Ramsey and Nora Ratty give up playing professional hockey because it's just not worth it to them to live on a $6,000 stipend and all the other side jobs and train to be an Olympic athlete. 31:28 It's just an uphill climb that, you know, for people in the college education, maybe it's not the best path for them and that's too bad. 31:35 It should be there for them. 31:38 All right. 31:39 Well, we've got some more Twitter questions here. 31:40 We've got this one. 31:42 We'll go for you on Hammy on this one. 31:44 Chris Miller wants to know, is our recruiting class set for next year at forward? 31:50 I guess a lot of that determines on if we lose anybody early. 31:53 Yeah. 31:53 I mean, I think that's kind of the key thing. 31:56 I think that as we know right now, I think they're pretty well set. 32:02 You don't know if they're going to make some alterations here or there. 32:07 But I think obviously people have been asking questions about Sheehy, and is he going to be back and whatever. 32:16 Certainly, he's going to be no different than Justin Cluse. 32:20 I mean, he's going to have opportunities, I'm sure, that there's going to be some teams that are going to be willing to toss some pretty good money his way. 32:28 And it's a matter of, hey, what kind of a legacy do you want to leave? 32:31 And do you really honestly feel ready? 32:33 I think it would be right now a mistake for him to leave, as good as he was this year. 32:38 You're also talking about a guy, I mean, if you think about some of the players that have left early in recent years that look pretty darn good in college and they end up kind of floundering a bit, you know, at best between the NHL and AHL. 32:52 And that's in many cases best case scenarios. 32:55 And he's not even at that level. 32:58 So, you know, I guess he can't necessarily blame anybody for taking the money at times, but I don't really see the grand benefit for him in this instance. 33:08 So, but we'll see. 33:10 And that kind of, yeah, as far as his question goes, I mean, it's sort of to be determined on details like that. 33:17 Yes. 33:17 Well, that's kind of another question was, you know, Tommy D. 33:20 Martino was asking just that. 33:21 Does Sheehy strike while the iron is hot and leave this summer? 33:29 Like you said, you hope he doesn't, but he's kind of one of those guys we'll be watching, which will kind of determine, you know, if they need to bring in an extra forward next year. 33:39 Yeah, I mean, you know, we just don't know. 33:42 I mean, you kind of try to read the tea leaves, and, you know, some guys it's easier than others. 33:47 And, you know, I mean, you got a guy like Rao, who, you know, stayed around Eden Prairie and, you know, had an older brother that kind of stuck around. 33:55 And you can kind of see that that was more than likely going to happen to him staying, you know, all the way through his college years. 34:01 And even Cluus was, you know, a little bit easier to predict, even though he had opportunities and probably thought about it. 34:10 But some guys, it's a little bit harder to kind of read the tea leaves. 34:14 And so we'll see what happens. 34:15 But I think that judging from Lucia's comments towards the end of the year, he felt like there were greater opportunities yet for, you know, Sheehy to develop and hopefully that will kind of sink into his head and he'll come back for another year. 34:30 I hope so, too. 34:31 Tommy DiMartino had another question. 34:34 Thoughts on the new Big Ten playoff system next year? 34:37 Three weekends, the best of three, then two single games. 34:41 We know Nate Wells had a great article this week explaining the entire process, Veegs, but it sounds like that first weekend will be very similar to what we've had in the past. 34:50 You know, best two out of three weekend. 34:53 And then we move on to single games the rest of the way. 34:56 What are your thoughts on that? 34:58 Do you like the way that's set up? 35:00 I don't like the idea of having two weeks with one game each weekend. 35:05 And I know that was something that they were still trying to iron out last year when they announced they were gonna go back to campus sites. 35:12 You know, they're debating whether or not they could have a game on a Thursday and then have the final game be on a Saturday at the high seed. 35:20 I think stretching it out over three weeks could be a problem. 35:24 But I definitely like having a first round best of three. 35:27 And it could be also tricky for a number one seed. 35:31 You know, they're only gonna get maybe one game in three weeks if that's the way this format works out. 35:37 Yeah, because obviously the number one, whoever wins the conference, which will be Minnesota again, they'll get that full weekend off, which is something that never happened in the past. 35:47 I mean, you might have had a bye at the WCHA Final Five or here at the Big Ten Tournament, but this time you get an entire weekend off where you're not playing anything. 35:56 If you lose that next game, you could have a bye week. 35:59 The following week is when that's the way it worked out. 36:02 Yeah, it's true. 36:03 I mean, that's probably not the most ideal way, but Hammy, what else can they really do? 36:08 I mean, the crowds weren't showing up for these, you know, these tournaments in the big buildings. 36:11 So, it kind of forced their hand to go back to the on campus. 36:16 Yeah, and I mean, to me, I really, I don't mind it at all. 36:20 I know that, you know, I mean, I guess I would rather have some atmosphere in these kinds of games and, you know, maybe you're just rewarding teams for having a regular, you know, a good regular season and you're giving them maybe a little bit more of an advantage. 36:35 So, I just think it's the best that you can do given the circumstances. 36:41 I would agree. 36:42 All right, boys, we need to move on to the Big Ten tournament this weekend. 36:47 We've got Minnesota and Wisconsin securing the number one and two seats. 36:52 They don't play until Friday. 36:54 Tomorrow afternoon, we've got games between Michigan State and Ohio State, and then we've got Michigan and Penn State facing each other. 37:03 Right now, both Ohio State and Penn State are playing for their lives, you know, if they can get a win or maybe even two wins this weekend, they'll most likely be in. 37:12 So it's obviously Michigan or Michigan State would have to win the tournament to get in. 37:17 But right now, we still have four teams that have a chance to get in just on winning this weekend. 37:24 So it will be very competitive, I think. 37:28 Yeah, I think the Big Ten is really competitive one through five. 37:32 And, you know, even Michigan State can play a challenging game. 37:35 They certainly did Saturday night. 37:37 Yeah, they certainly, if they play like they did on Saturday night this entire weekend and are able to maintain that structure and get good goaltending, you know, they could give any team a bit of a trouble. 37:48 But I think Penn State is probably on the way down. 37:50 This bus ride is not going to help them. 37:52 It's not. 37:53 They don't play tomorrow afternoon. 37:57 And I really like the way Wisconsin's been playing. 37:59 I think their goaltending has gotten better and I think they've got the high end talent on their four lines to maybe get some damage done. 38:06 Yeah, but does Wisconsin... 38:07 It's going to be wide open. 38:08 Does Wisconsin want to see Ohio State again though? 38:11 They just had a rough weekend and they had a chance to get in to the league title contention without getting swept at home. 38:21 That's hard to know what you're going to get with Ohio State. 38:23 They can skate, they can be physical, they can score goals. 38:27 So it's hard to know. 38:29 That would be a fun game to see on Friday afternoon though. 38:32 I mean, Hammeh, you've been kind of saying that about Ohio State for the past month or year. 38:35 You just never know what you're going to get. 38:36 They could come out flying and play really good hockey or they could just be a big pile of crap. 38:41 You just don't know what we're going to get from Ohio State. 38:44 Yeah, they're a little bit bipolar, I got to say. 38:48 Yeah, they're a team that can bring it and they have the ability to beat a lot of really good teams, but then you just don't know when that team is going to show up. 38:57 I was very surprised at the results that they got in Wisconsin. 39:01 I did not really see that one coming at all. 39:03 So, given that Wisconsin has played pretty solid hockey over the course of the year, especially in recent months, and as we said, you never know what you're going to get with Ohio State. 39:15 So, I was a little surprised. 39:18 It's just like I said, it's definitely Jekyll and Hyde with Ohio State. 39:21 They could come in and win the tournament this weekend. 39:23 I wouldn't put it past them if they were to do that, Ami. 39:28 Yeah, and, you know, there's going to be, it's always interesting when you read, you know, different either fan sites or, you know, USCHO or whatever, you know, who we be cheering against and everybody kind of wants the teams that are, you know, outside of the top 14 or whatever that they know have no shot of an at-large bid. 39:50 They don't want those teams anywhere near, you know, on an auto bid, so it's kind of entertaining to watch some of these teams kind of fan and sweat it out when it comes to being right in a bubble there. 40:03 Well, let's talk about that first game. 40:05 I believe it's Michigan State and Ohio State. 40:06 Who do you think is going to come through there, Veegs? 40:09 Is the Jekyll and Hyde, Ohio State team going to show up? 40:13 Or is Michigan State going to, you know, they're a late season little run here. 40:19 I didn't see enough out of Michigan State's skill to think that they could keep up with Minnesota or Ohio State. 40:26 You know, even though they came out with the tie on Saturday, I don't think Minnesota had much to play for. 40:31 So you didn't see a lot of energy out of Minnesota. 40:33 And I think that's what allowed the Spartans to hang in there. 40:36 I think you put them in the Big Ten tournament, and through a team playing for their season. 40:41 I think that's going to take over for Ohio State. 40:43 I think they're physical and they can score goals. 40:45 And I think you'll see both of those. 40:47 Ami, you agree Ohio State comes through over on that side? 40:52 Yes, I would be very surprised if Michigan State wins that game. 40:56 And then we've got Michigan playing Penn State and Veegs. 40:59 Like you've been saying, Penn State has been slowly falling off the cliff here. 41:06 Can they bring it back or is it over for them? 41:10 I think it's over with them. 41:11 I think Michigan is starting to find their game. 41:13 And they're starting to find some goaltending. 41:15 You know, their freshmen are kind of their talented players. 41:18 As a lot of coaches like to say this time of the year, they're no longer freshmen. 41:22 You know, they're playing key roles for them. 41:24 I think Michigan has found their game. 41:25 And they're going to be able to put up some points. 41:27 And, you know, I think Penn State thrives on a team with poor goaltending and poor structure. 41:33 And I don't think you're going to see that out of Michigan this weekend. 41:36 Plus, they should have some fan support there. 41:38 I mean, obviously, it's not going to be a full house. 41:40 But there'll be at least a couple thousand fans cheering for these Michigan teams. 41:46 I don't think you're going to see a lot of fan support for anyone at the Joe this weekend. 41:51 I'm trying to be positive. 41:52 There might be 50 of them there for the weekend. 41:56 So I don't think that's going to be what's going to get them going. 41:58 It's going to be their seniors. 41:59 I thought their seniors, like Alex Kyle played really well against Minnesota in their last series. 42:04 And seniors can carry a team at this time of year. 42:09 Hammy, is Penn State done? 42:10 Will Michigan take them out? 42:14 You know, it's interesting because obviously they're headed in different directions. 42:17 They are. 42:17 They're in their recent play, but even when Michigan was good as a team and Penn State was sort of just trying to find their way, for some reason Penn State has always played Michigan tough, or most of the time. 42:33 So for me, this is more of a pick them. 42:34 I don't know what to really expect. 42:36 I don't really believe in Michigan by any means just because they've been pretty lousy most of the year, even with their better play recently. 42:45 So to me, this is more of a pick them. 42:47 But if I was going to go with recent trends, obviously you would probably lean towards Michigan. 42:53 Okay. 42:54 Then that sets up a semi-final, what we're just assuming here, maybe an Ohio State, Wisconsin semi-final, Friday afternoon, Veegs, and boy, I know you've been really high on Wisconsin lately, but they struggled last weekend against Ohio State, and Ohio State might actually have the upper hand in that game. 43:17 Well, you know both teams can play. 43:19 You know, it's going to be who limits their mistakes in that contest. 43:25 I think Wisconsin has the better overall high end talent, but Ohio State can battle, and then they can throw a team off their game. 43:34 I think both teams are really good, and it's probably a pick them game, even though I like Wisconsin a little bit more in that one. 43:40 What do you think, Hammeh, is that a pick them? 43:41 You think Ohio State can maybe pull out a little upset there? 43:46 I actually think Ohio State is going to win. 43:50 I'm kind of with you. 43:51 I will go with the good part of the live hauler. 43:59 Yeah, I'm going to have to go with you, Hammeh, and go against you, Vig. 44:02 I think Ohio State just kind of has Wisconsin's number right now. 44:06 Obviously, they're up and down, and they could disappoint us and lose against Michigan State. 44:12 We just don't know. 44:12 But when they're good, they're pretty good. 44:14 I mean, Lucia thought they would win the league this year. 44:16 So if that team shows up, I think there's a good chance they can make it to the championship game. 44:22 And then that means we've got either a Michigan or a Penn State against Minnesota. 44:28 Right now, it looks like we're leaning more Michigan against Minnesota, and I'm thinking the boys will be pretty jacked. 44:35 They want to get another title. 44:36 I don't think they, maybe a couple goal game where Minnesota gets to the title game big. 44:41 So what do you think? 44:45 You know, I'm kind of a wait and see this weekend. 44:46 I want to see how some of the two of them will look. 44:49 Lucia said he's looking good. 44:51 I want to see what that's like. 44:52 It's quite different to go from that exercise bike to a playoff game. 44:57 I'll be interested to see how he looks right away. 45:00 And the same thing with Glover. 45:01 Here's a guy that hasn't played much this season because he didn't prepare. 45:06 He hasn't really gotten many looks or any consistent looks this season. 45:10 And he's going to be thrown in the mix. 45:13 Doolstorf and Collins might play a little bit bigger role this weekend. 45:16 That's the 1D pair Lucia didn't want to split up. 45:20 I like Collins' game so far this season. 45:23 And it's up to him to carry it over into the playoffs. 45:27 I'm not ready to write their ticket to another banner yet, though. 45:32 You know, I agree with you on Collins. 45:33 I think, you know, we kind of made him a punching bag last year. 45:36 But I think he is, he's really become a solid defenseman. 45:39 And I think one thing he's also worked on is his speed. 45:41 I think he just seems a little quicker to getting to the puck than he was last year and just has progressed very well this year. 45:55 Boy, I'm just trying to think here, you know, how are the lines going to change, Veegs? 46:01 Remind us, where are they going to put Smetula? 46:04 I mean, we've kind of had some solid lines, you know, while he's been gone, who gets bumped and who gets shifted? 46:12 I think they'll probably keep the top six together. 46:15 I think the Camerata-Latteri-Bristet line has looked good this season. 46:19 It's the best Camerata has played in probably the last three years with those two. 46:25 So I think you'd be hard pressed to split those up. 46:27 I think you'll see some combination of Gates, Smetula, and then either Riley or Maroney or Noderman on that third line. 46:38 I think you'll see a fourth line of Romanko, Ramsey, and probably Norman. 46:44 I think those three could stick together, and those three could almost play like the third line at times. 46:50 I know Lucia trusts those guys a lot, defensively and puck possession and change the momentum of a game. 46:56 So I think that would be an effective line for them to keep those three together. 47:00 They don't score a lot. 47:01 I mean, obviously, they had a nice goal on Friday night. 47:07 I would say that was the first real goal. 47:08 Everybody score. 47:10 Yeah. 47:10 They like to see everybody score. 47:11 But those guys are effective when they're eating up some ice time and putting some stress on the other team's D and maybe getting one of those shifts where they're in the offensive zone against the team's third or fourth line and outcome 15-25-22, picking them up in zone against the tired third or fourth line and they're really able to apply some pressure. 47:33 Well, I'm going to stick with Minnesota winning it this weekend. 47:36 They won it last time it was at the Joe. 47:38 Let's just, we'll go with it and we'll win it this weekend, get some more hardware. 47:46 No really reason why. 47:47 I'm just going to go with it. 47:49 Hammy, final game, do you think maybe Ohio State comes through here or can Minnesota get some more hardware? 47:58 You know, it's going to be interesting, obviously. 48:00 I think Ohio State will be fighting for their lives. 48:04 They will be. 48:05 Minnesota is already in. 48:07 Right, I mean, so I don't know what the pairwise is going to look like going into that last game. 48:12 If they've won a couple games, maybe that'll put them in a much better position. 48:17 But nonetheless, you know, as we will be know right now, they have a lot more to play for. 48:23 So, you know, it's going to be a tough one. 48:24 And Ohio State's got some good skill players. 48:26 So Gophers will have to be on top of their game. 48:29 And I'd still give the, you know, lean towards the Gophers winning. 48:33 But certainly it's going to be, I think, a little bit more of a challenging game than what we might kind of imagine. 48:40 Veegs, I'm guessing you're thinking it's going to be more of a Minnesota Wisconsin matchup and obviously Minnesota Wisconsin split this year. 48:45 So it could make an interesting final. 48:50 Well, it could make an interesting final. 48:51 I think one thing we saw this past weekend is when Minnesota doesn't have a lot to play for. 48:56 It's hard for them to bring their juice and energy and structure to the to the rink. 49:02 And I think that's something that could feed into this weekend. 49:04 So we might see some slow starts in either Friday or Saturday's game as the Gophers take on teams who are playing for their season. 49:13 And I don't think you can underestimate that. 49:15 I think that's something that affects all teams in these postseason tournaments is when they don't have much to play for, it's hard to have that kind of same desire, block that many shots, you know, play smart hockey. 49:27 You want to score goals and look good. 49:30 Well one thing we forgot to mention tonight is Mr. 49:33 Sheehy became one of the 10 finalists for the Hobie Baker Award and LFA Hockey 24 that's in the Mixler chat wants to know Clues doesn't make the final 10 for Hobie Baker but Sheehy does. 49:44 Should it have been Clues over Sheehy, Hammeh? 49:47 Should it have been Clues over Sheehy? 49:51 Well, I mean, I think for us that know the team really, really well, we'd probably say that Clues is probably the, you know, not that Sheehy is not deserving but I think that we know the value that Justin brings to the team but we also have to remember that, you know, the people who are probably, you know, looking at things, a lot of them aren't as aware of the entire team and they're going to look at what's, who's the leading scorer and, you know, that kind of stuff and so I'm not shocked by it but I, and I can't say that Sheehy is not deserving, I can't say, you know, I mean, I can't, I wouldn't blame anybody for making an argument either way. 50:34 I would agree, I would agree with that, I mean, obviously, you know, since we're closer to the program here that many of us may feel that it should have been Cluus over Sheehy. 50:43 Obviously, Cluus has been Mr. 50:46 Clutch this year, Vigz. 50:47 He's scored so many big goals, tying goals, winning goals, overtime goals. 50:52 He has been kind of the, the engine, you know, the leader of the engine of the team winning this year. 50:58 But it's really hard to argue against Sheehy. 51:03 Well, I think it's easy to see why Sheehy was the national player that they tagged onto for the Hobie Baker. 51:10 But I think if you look at the team, they voted Justin Cluse there, John Mariucci MVP this year. 51:16 That's voted on by the players and coaches. 51:18 I think the guys in the room recognize that Cluse is the guy who makes that line go. 51:23 If you don't have a center who plays all 200 feet, you know, can go slow and low and then still press the rush with the rest of his wingers, you're not going to have an effective line. 51:33 And the fact that all those guys can go and Sheehy's probably the slowest on that line is pretty amazing, that he can get that going. 51:41 I like Cluse a lot. 51:42 People can read about my story that I wrote for Minnesota Hockey Magazine on him. 51:46 He's quite the character, you know, he's a leader. 51:49 He really puts a lot of pride into where he plays. 51:52 And you can see that in his game and in his comments post game. 51:57 Plus his dad's from Hopkins, so that makes him automatically cool. 52:01 Oh, nobody cares about Hopkins anymore, Hammy. 52:04 Ah, well, maybe not. 52:08 Did they ever have hockey in Hopkins? 52:10 I don't remember. 52:12 Well, you know what happens is that all their good players get stolen by, you know, the Blakes and, you know, the private schools. 52:21 Holy Angels. 52:22 Just like how the Hopkins football, you know, basketball team steals all everyone else's superstars. 52:26 Well, I'm not saying it doesn't go both ways. 52:28 I'm just saying, like, that's what happens with hockey, is a lot of the good players end up elsewhere. 52:33 So, oh, well. 52:37 I just like giving you a hard time. 52:39 Well, I don't let, I'm not one of those fans that, like, live or die by their alma mater's high school hockey team, so. 52:45 Well, my alma mater doesn't really have a hockey team anymore. 52:48 I'm a little depressed about that, but can't do much about it. 52:50 Speaking of high school hockey, what did you think of Sam Hoff and Casey Middlestad, Pammy? 52:58 Well, I mean, we saw Middlestad probably wasn't 100 percent. 53:00 I mean, even his coach said that in the paper. 53:02 And I, you know, to me, I always crack up at the, we all know, I said this last week, but it's like it goes both ways to a degree because you'll see people comment about players that are really hyped and really good players. 53:16 And it's like, yeah, I don't know. 53:18 He doesn't look that good. 53:20 You know, or whatever. 53:21 It's like, okay, whatever, you know what I mean? 53:23 It's like this, the Scouts watch these guys all year long. 53:26 And there's a reason why a guy is ranked in the top 10, you know, and it's just, I don't know, whatever. 53:33 It's ridiculous. 53:33 So, you know, and I kind of felt bad. 53:36 You know, the thing that kind of bothered me about with Middlestad is that it was like he was under this microscope and people were, you know, criticizing a little bit, you know, the fact that he wasn't there, you know, after the championship game, you know, to get whatever award, you know, I don't know if it was all tournament or whatever, but it's kind of like, it's like, you know, we, the whole year, I mean, people want, this is, there's no better example of what people over the years have been wanting from Minnesota High School Hockey. 54:09 I mean, here's a kid, he could have gone anywhere he wanted to, you know, he could have even played college this year, and he stayed, played high school hockey, he was with his buddies, you know, had a goal in mind, you know, he's, everybody that knows him knows he's a class kid, and, you know, he gives it his all, and you still have idiots making comments about one thing that they, I mean, to be under that microscope, I just say to myself, if you're a kid who's, you know, two, three years down the road and you saw, you know, some of what Middlestead went through, it's like, why the hell wouldn't you leave? 54:44 You know what I mean? 54:44 It's like, if you're going to get criticized for any little single thing that you do, it's like, why wouldn't you leave? 54:51 And to me, it's like, these are the people that don't think big picture. 54:54 It's like, you want to appreciate kids like Middlestead who stick around and do that. 54:59 I mean, I've never been a guy that says, oh, they all have to stay home. 55:03 And I mean, whatever floats your boat, you know, every kid's different. 55:06 Some kids, it's great to move on. 55:08 Some, yeah, stay home. 55:09 I'm not telling them to do either way, whatever works for you. 55:13 But the people who want to hype up high school hockey and keep all the best kids at home, it's like, shut your mouth and appreciate when these kinds of kids stick around. 55:25 And they are kids still, and they're not always going to do everything 100% perfect. 55:29 But that doesn't mean that you as an adult should open up your mouth and criticize them. 55:33 I hate that. 55:36 Veegs, you got them going. 55:38 Exactly. 55:40 I want to get them going, because Luke Olson was asking us on Twitter what we think about Millset and Sheehy together. 55:46 And that would be a great top line if Millset were to slide in between Sheehy and Pitlick. 55:51 Well, he definitely would. 55:51 I think they'd be pretty attractive for Sheehy coming back too. 55:54 Now, Veegs, you weren't able to attend the regular media availability today, but we had Declan over at ESPN 1500 send us some audio. 56:04 So what happened today? 56:06 We know Lucia and Sheehy talked. 56:08 What are we going to hear? 56:10 Well, you'll hear about Lucia talk about Red Berenson, and this could be his last go-around at Michigan and what he means to college hockey. 56:18 You'll hear Lucia talk about some of his award winners on the Gophers, like Sheehy getting the top ten and the All Big Ten awards that they cleaned up on this year. 56:29 And you'll hear him talk a little bit about Spatula come back to the lineup and go over fitting in with Lindgren's injury. 56:35 And then with Sheehy, you'll hear a little bit about the Hobie Baker nomination and what a fortunate year he feels he's had playing for the Gophers. 56:45 And we thank Declan Goff for sending us that audio. 56:47 It's always nice to have that. 56:49 And we'll add that to the end of the podcast just like we always do. 56:53 Hoping for another championship this weekend, boys. 56:56 We haven't seen too many of these playoff championships. 56:58 They won a couple years ago, but it's been not coming as often as it used to be. 57:02 So, hope for the best, huh? 57:06 Word. 57:07 Should be entertaining hockey. 57:09 A lot of the Big Ten teams put up a lot of goals, so all the goals should be entertaining. 57:13 Definitely should be entertaining. 57:15 Well, we'll be back next week to wrap up this Big Ten tournament. 57:18 Hopefully, you know, we'll have a good seeding for the NCAA tournament. 57:22 We'll just have to wait to see. 57:24 Remember, you could follow Hammy on Twitter, at Hammy Hockey, Vegoe at eVegoe on Twitter as well. 57:31 Thanks for listening. 57:32 We'll be back next week. 57:59 It's quite a tribute to have four guys on the first team, Big Ten and all. 58:04 I thought that was really significant. 58:06 Well, I think they're all deserving, and I thought we probably could add a couple on the second team too, that we're deserving. 58:11 But I've always said, when the team does well, individuals will get rewarded, and that's certainly what happened this season. 58:18 We've had some guys that have had nice seasons, particularly our senior class, done a great job. 58:25 We won the Big Ten again, and nice to see our guys get rewarded, because I think it was earned. 58:30 How about with Tyler Sheehy, just what he's done being player of the year, plus a hole in the top ten? 58:35 Well, he's certainly deserving with the year he's had. 58:37 I don't know if any of us would have thought when the year began that he was going to have 50-plus points and be a Hopi Baker finalist and player of the year in the Big Ten. 58:44 And that's a reward for him and his hard work. 58:47 He puts it in the weight room, on the ice every day in practice. 58:50 He's a very natural offensive player, and he's playing with really good players. 58:54 And I think that obviously, whether it's your power play, your score, your line, that's one of the top lines in college hockey, when you have three good players to play with, a couple of other good guys to play with, that you're going to score some points. 59:06 And that line's really done that since we put them together in November. 59:09 With the Hopi having an off-ice component to it, how does that apply to Tyler? 59:14 Just he's a class kid. 59:15 I mean, like all of the young men in our program, they're one of the things that makes it so enjoyable to coach this group, is that you don't have to wave on the way from the bench. 59:23 They're involved in whether it's community service or getting good grades after the end of the year. 59:27 They just, you know, lie in bed or wake up on a Sunday morning worried about a phone call that you're going to get, that somebody's going to get in trouble. 59:34 And you know, whenever you get those phone calls, you know they're never good. 59:37 And it's just nice that you don't have to worry about that with this group. 59:41 How hungry are you guys to have a tournament championship to the regular season style? 59:44 Well, I think we are. 59:45 I mean, last time we were in Detroit, we were able to win it. 59:48 Obviously the stakes were high then because we had to win it in order to make the NCAA field. 59:52 And it was fun. 59:54 It was fun to go into Detroit. 59:55 We know this is the last time this format is going to be there. 59:58 We are going to be back at the campus rinks next year. 1:00:00 Just the next phase. 1:00:01 I mean, goal number one is the regular season. 1:00:03 You know, goal number two is to try to play well this weekend and get to Saturday night. 1:00:08 We don't know who our opponent is going to be, so we are just practicing and worrying about ourselves at this point. 1:00:12 But we know whoever we are going to see, whether it is Michigan or Penn State, that in some cases their season may be on the line. 1:00:18 And it is always difficult to end somebody's season. 1:00:22 And we have seen that. 1:00:23 Michigan is playing their best hockey. 1:00:25 It is a huge game for Penn State on Thursday night to try to win and get to the next round for their pairwise comparison. 1:00:32 So a lot of teams have a lot to play for this weekend in their Big Ten Tournament. 1:00:37 A different mindset this weekend or you are going to be less aggressively knowing what lies? 1:00:40 No, I mean, we are going to win. 1:00:42 I mean, there is no doubt that we have talked about that we won't have Lindgren this weekend, but we are not going to have him the rest of the year. 1:00:48 It is a great opportunity for Jack Grover to get back involved. 1:00:52 We are excited. 1:00:52 Smetunas will be back this weekend. 1:00:54 He is practicing and has looked good. 1:00:57 So that will give us back that continuity in our line up. 1:00:59 So really, it is your last weekend of dress rehearsal before the most important games the following week. 1:01:06 But we want to do everything we can to win on Friday and get to a championship game. 1:01:11 I just believe right now, the more playoff games you can play, the better off it is going to be because it is going to go up. 1:01:17 The intensity is going to go up. 1:01:19 When you make a mistake, you are going to pay a little bit more when you make a mistake this time of the year. 1:01:23 We would like to see our guys play real well this weekend. 1:01:26 Is it going to be Gopher kind of sliding Lindgren's style of fish offs? 1:01:29 No, we have moved some guys around. 1:01:34 We have Sadik right now with Bischoff and Gopher with Johnson. 1:01:37 We left the Zoelsdorf and Collins alone right now. 1:01:40 But you get in the game, obviously, you can move some people around whether it is a D or forwards based on how people are playing. 1:01:45 You have the TV timeouts and if 6D play good, 6 will play. 1:01:49 If not, then you can always shorten the bench. 1:01:51 Bischoff is up to 85 block shots now. 1:01:54 What does it say about him that he is willing to do that painful drop over and over and over? 1:01:59 Well, I think it says a lot when not only you do that, but you are a power play type defenseman too. 1:02:04 So he is one of those defensemen that is just as concerned about what is going on in the defensive zone as the offensive zone. 1:02:11 And not only him, but the other defensemen are going to step up, have to do that this weekend because Lindgren was one of our best shot blockers too. 1:02:18 And so more guys are going to have to take the knee. 1:02:20 But you know Jake is the type of leader that if you need a key block with 30 seconds to go in a one goal game, he is going to sell out in doing it. 1:02:27 Sometimes those don't get enough credit as somebody is scoring an important goal. 1:02:32 And it is just important to make that play and prevent a goal from going in. 1:02:35 And that is what Jake has been able to do and it says a lot when your captains are willing to take a knee. 1:02:39 And you are right, it doesn't feel good. 1:02:41 I mean get the ice bags out. 1:02:42 But usually we play our best hockey when the most ice bags are in the locker room after. 1:02:47 Say something that says, this might be Red's last game or last tournament. 1:02:52 What does he mean to you and to foul in general? 1:02:54 Well, I mean, I think the first time that I go back to about 95 when I brought a CC team into Michigan to play against when they really had a role in at that time. 1:03:04 And the next year we played the 96 for a national title in Cincinnati. 1:03:08 And just being back at Minnesota now we're playing each and every year we had the showcase. 1:03:13 And it was always a highlight for me to play against Michigan. 1:03:17 Even my thought when we came here, when I came to Minnesota in 99, was that Michigan had just won it in 96 and 98. 1:03:23 And I said, you know what, if we're going to get to where we want to be, we've got to be able to beat Michigan on a regular basis. 1:03:28 And that was one of the benchmarks in college hockey that Michigan was one of those gold standard programs, it still is. 1:03:35 And it was always fun to compete because the games, I think the fans really enjoyed the game because they were up and down. 1:03:41 They had skilled players, we had skilled players, and they were some of the, I thought the best games we played all year was playing against Michigan. 1:03:48 He's been there 40 plus years. 1:03:50 What does that say about him not leaving? 1:03:52 He obviously loves the game, you know, to do it as long as he's done it. 1:03:57 And he's had a great staff, you know, a lot of outstanding players. 1:04:00 And, you know, he went there and came back to college hockey. 1:04:03 And I think his love for college hockey is the big thing because, you know, I think he's had a few times he probably could have left to go back to the National Hockey League. 1:04:10 But he was always about the education, the four years of being a college hockey player. 1:04:16 It obviously meant a lot to him coming down from Regina, where he grew up and played in the Canadian League and came down to Michigan and returned to his alma mater. 1:04:25 And he has had a huge impact in college hockey. 1:04:29 A couple of thoughts about Collins, his second half this year and the fact that with you being 1D down, what you'll need from him and what he's brought. 1:04:38 I think he had a good freshman year. 1:04:41 He kind of had some ups and downs as a sophomore, kind of didn't get out of the gate like you'd hope. 1:04:45 But then since that time, I think he's played more physical. 1:04:49 I think his play with the puck has been better. 1:04:52 And many times he talked that when he's assertive with the puck, his whole game is assertive. 1:04:57 And you'd see that the improvement he's made in the shot, that he's as good as defensively as we have, is when he gets it and getting it off quick and one time in the puck. 1:05:04 I think that's been a real important part of his game. 1:05:07 He and Zollsdorf have been a good pair. 1:05:10 They've been together most of the season. 1:05:12 And they're both pretty good in the plus minus. 1:05:14 And guys that we count on in critical defensive situations. 1:05:18 It's gratifying to see that growth. 1:05:20 Yeah, I mean, that's a part of it. 1:05:21 He's still a young kid. 1:05:21 He's 20 years old. 1:05:22 I don't think he turns 21 till April or May. 1:05:25 And he's got a bright future. 1:05:27 There's still parts of his game he's got to work on. 1:05:30 You know, he's so tall and lanky that, you know, he's going to probably put on another 15, 20 pounds before he's all said and done. 1:05:37 Congratulations, first of all, being a Hovey finalist and also player of the year in the Big Ten. 1:05:43 Pretty impressive. 1:05:43 Yeah, it's an awesome honor to, you know, to take home. 1:05:47 I think, you know, I obviously didn't do this on my own. 1:05:50 I had unbelievable teammates and coaches. 1:05:52 And we've had an unbelievable year so far. 1:05:55 So being honored by those two things means a lot. 1:05:59 What do you guys take away from the weekend series last weekend that helped you in the tournament? 1:06:05 I think we just got to make sure we're competing every single night. 1:06:08 And I don't think last weekend was our best two nights of the weekend. 1:06:12 And I think we understand that we watch film and we know what we got to do to get better going into this weekend and then moving forward. 1:06:20 With Lindgren out, how much has that changed for you guys' play? 1:06:22 Yeah, a little bit. 1:06:23 I think it's just one of those things where you just got to have the next guy up. 1:06:26 So one guy goes down, it's part of the deal. 1:06:30 We've experienced it with Tommy Novak and obviously that's really tough for two really good players. 1:06:35 But it's just something we're going to have to adjust to and work around. 1:06:39 Are you going to be doing this in a different mindset, knowing that after this you're going to be in the tournament, or as the years pass you kind of had to fight your way in? 1:06:45 No, I don't think there's any change in the mindset. 1:06:48 I think when you go into a tournament like this, you want to go in and you want to win it. 1:06:52 And we're going to be playing on Saturday night for a championship. 1:06:55 So I think that's kind of the way we look at it either way. 1:06:58 But it's obviously great to be in the spot where... 1:07:01 Michigan's won four of their last five. 1:07:02 They've been kind of hot lately. 1:07:04 You guys have a pretty good... 1:07:05 Do you think they have a pretty good chance to win this tournament too? 1:07:08 I think everybody has a good chance. 1:07:09 This is obviously a great league. 1:07:10 And it's really shown this year with the rankings and the pair-wise that this is a really competitive league. 1:07:16 So yeah, I think anyone has a chance this weekend. 1:07:19 And you know, whether you get hot or not, you just got to play your best. 1:07:26 For radio purposes, can you give your thoughts separately first on Michigan and then Penn State on what you remember those two and playing them? 1:07:33 Yeah, well, I think when Michigan came here the first time when they came here, we swapped them. 1:07:39 So we had a good weekend when we went there. 1:07:43 I think they beat us the first night. 1:07:44 So we had to bounce back and win the second night. 1:07:47 So we just recently played them guys. 1:07:49 So we kind of have a good idea what kind of game they're playing right now. 1:07:53 And then Penn State obviously has been competitive all year. 1:07:56 So they're a really tough team to play against. 1:07:58 And we're going to have to be ready to go either way. 1:08:01 Bischoff is up to 85 blocked shots now. 1:08:03 What does it mean to the team to have a guy doing that kind of dirty work? 1:08:07 And can you even imagine that many in a season? 1:08:11 Yeah, it's incredible. 1:08:12 I think, you know, he's done a great job of selling out for the team every single night. 1:08:16 And, you know, he's been honored for that great defensive play. 1:08:21 So, yeah, he's definitely a guy you look to. 1:08:23 And you understand that he's going to give his best every single night. 1:08:26 So, him blocking shots or just doing anything that he does, he's a great player. 1:08:31 How banged up is he usually after a game? 1:08:33 I'm sure he needs a few extra ice packs each night. 1:08:35 But, yeah, he's a tough kid. 1:08:38 About the mindset of the team, what are you guys feeling like? 1:08:41 I mean, you've got pretty significant accomplishment in the Big Ten Championship and pretty confident. 1:08:46 And, you know, you're going to be playing in the NCAAs once we come up. 1:08:49 What's the mindset of the team? 1:08:51 I think, like you said, just confident right now. 1:08:53 And we just understand we got to get better every single weekend. 1:08:56 And every day in practice. 1:08:57 And, you know, the ultimate goal is to be playing on Saturday night in the last few years. 1:09:01 So confidence is going to be key going forward. 1:09:04 And I think if we have that, we're going to be in a pretty good, pretty good spot. 1:09:07 Have any thoughts going to Jody and Serena, your first time? 1:09:10 Yeah, like you said, my first time. 1:09:11 So I don't know. 1:09:12 I don't really know what it's like there. 1:09:15 I'm excited to play there. 1:09:15 It's going to be fun.