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 The GPL Podcast number 112. 0:47 Starting to run down on the season here. 0:50 It's playoff time, and we've got plenty to talk about. 0:54 Veegs, are you there? 0:57 I'm here, happy to be here for the podcast. 0:59 Wow, right on time. 1:00 We were gonna go on without you, but then I saw you're online there, so. 1:04 Nice of you to join us. 1:05 Hope you got the kids all tucked away. 1:07 We'll see, we might have a BBC-like interruption later. 1:12 Nothing compares to a fire alarm going off in your house. 1:17 That's true, but a shouting toddler is always fun. 1:20 But we're hanging in there. 1:22 Yeah, like you said, have a BBC moment. 1:27 Kid comes in and just disrupts the whole thing. 1:29 Good God. 1:30 Well, we were gonna talk a little bit about recruiting while we waited for you, Veegs, but since you're here, let's just dig right in. 1:37 We had the Big Ten Tournament this past weekend. 1:41 Our Gophers were out in one game, which obviously is not the greatest. 1:47 But Hammy, this Penn State team, came in, won three games, two of them in double overtime. 1:57 You can't really do anything but just give them complete credit because they earned it. 2:02 I mean, to play that much hockey, to be able to win in two double-overtime games, in three games in three days, you gotta really just kind of congratulate Penn State on a great tournament. 2:14 Yeah, you do. 2:15 I mean, it's one of those things where they're kind of fighting for their lives, and they played some pretty tough hockey. 2:23 We know that they're a team that likes to throw a lot of shots on goal, and that's pretty much what we saw. 2:31 So you do have to give them a lot of credit for really coming up big when they really needed to, and actually winning three games instead of two. 2:38 So they didn't even have the luxury to buy. 2:41 So it's a pretty good weekend for them. 2:45 What are your thoughts on it, Vegoe? 2:47 I mean, can you really do anything but give them complete credit? 2:53 Well, you have to. 2:54 I was definitely as surprised as anyone that they were able to play the number of games they did and come through on top. 3:02 I thought against Minnesota, they played great. 3:07 Kind of surprising that Minnesota let them into the game a little bit here and there with so many turnovers and poor puck management, and they never really pressed their defense. 3:17 But credit Penn State, they got the job done. 3:20 The blueprint for building on D1 Hockey Program added another brick. 3:25 They definitely did. 3:27 Let's kind of go over what happened last weekend, Thursday afternoon and evening. 3:31 We had Penn State defeating Michigan, Ohio State beating Michigan State, ending Michigan's season, both of them, in front of, well, a not so big crowd. 3:44 In fact, I believe it was just over 200 or something ridiculous like that, actual attendance. 3:50 We move on to Friday afternoon, Friday evening where Wisconsin ended up dispatching Ohio State, putting Ohio State right on the edge of making the tournament. 4:01 Then, of course, we had that double overtime game with Minnesota and Penn State. 4:06 Let's talk about that game, Hammy. 4:08 I mean, jeez, not exactly how we d want it to end. 4:15 I mean, over 60 shots, or I think around 60 shots or saves that Shearhorn had to make. 4:22 This kind of hockey, we can't play it this time of year. 4:25 I know we have the luxury of knowing that we're already in the tournament, but I'm hoping at this time of year that you're a little more prepared than that and could be able to run four lines. 4:37 And out-hustle and out-tire a team that just played a game the day before, but that didn't happen. 4:45 No, I mean, I don't know. 4:47 I feel like to me, the second game isn't as big of a deal as it is. 4:52 It's really the third game. 4:53 I mean, they're still young guys. 4:56 Back-to-backs are not uncommon, you know, especially when you're in youth hockey. 5:02 So I think that sometimes a little bit of that is overdone. 5:07 But to me, the alarming thing is just the shots. 5:09 I mean, even Penn State does, like I say, throw a lot of shots on goal. 5:13 So you have to take that into consideration. 5:16 But I did, you know, the shot numbers are really what you do not want to see heading into this time of the year. 5:24 Some of it's, you know, you have to make sure it's not quality shots. 5:28 I mean, they could be thrown from anywhere and Penn State does. 5:31 But just some of the quality shots, you don't want to, you want to eliminate those. 5:34 You want to be able to shut down a team and not that three goals. 5:38 I mean, Shearhorn, you can't say that they didn't lose because of him. 5:41 I mean, he definitely played very well and he's played well the last few months. 5:45 So that is a good sign, but they definitely need to clamp down defensively, especially now that it's an elimination situation. 5:53 What do you think, Vase, is it an elimination situation? 5:57 What went wrong for Minnesota Friday night? 6:00 Well, I don't think they gave up a ton of quality scoring chances. 6:05 I would love to see the internal scoring chances, the metrics that the Gophers put together, because I don't think the shots are really, truly reflective of the game in terms of the quality of scoring chances given up either way. 6:20 I think the problem with Minnesota was they had so many one-and-done situations, so many turnovers all over the ice, and the minute that happens, Penn State generates a shot, whether or not that basically equates to a turnover in the game or just dumping in the pocket basically is something else. 6:39 But the turnovers are the thing that's concerning. 6:42 Of course, offensive zone penalties. 6:44 I think those are the two things that the coaches have been hyping on all season is this team needs to address that. 6:52 Part of it is that we've got players who are depth players trying to make fancy plays on the ice, and they're just not consistently able to deliver that. 7:03 I think for this team to be effective, they're going to have to rely on their top line of Pitlick, Cluse, and Sheehy and their power play. 7:11 Because if this team doesn't get rushed scoring, they kind of put themselves in too many risky situations where they're going to have trouble scoring goals throughout the rest of their lineup. 7:22 Well you talk about offensive zone penalties, and obviously that's kind of what bit them in the butt Friday night in the second overtime when I believe it was Brischdad took a penalty. 7:32 Obviously, the referees love to swallow the whistle, but they're eventually going to call something overtime. 7:41 I don't care which team it's on, you're eventually going to get busted. 7:45 Like you say, an offensive zone penalty was just a bad deal, Veegs. 7:53 Well, it's happened to them a couple of times this year. 7:54 They'll be in these tight games and they'll get overly aggressive on something or they'll get their stick in the wrong position and they're 200 feet away from their net or 150 feet away from their net and they're getting caught. 8:06 It's completely different than if there's a break going the other way and you have to take a guy down because he's beaten you to your own net. 8:14 But when you're on the forecheck, you got to be real conscious of not committing that penalty because Minnesota's penalty kill has not been great this year. 8:22 And at the start of the year, I thought Shearhorn was trying to over read the play a little bit too much. 8:28 And that was what was getting him in trouble. 8:30 But now it's that traffic in front of the net, the inability to box out, and the penalty kill not working as a unit of four that's gotten them into trouble. 8:41 The goal in overtime, they just kind of weren't on the same page, let a backdoor pass happen and not much Shearhorn could do on that one. 8:48 And that was right after you talked about role players trying to maybe do too much. 8:53 And that's exactly what Ramonko did. 8:56 He went into the offensive zone, had a fairly decent chance. 9:00 And I don't recall who, somebody was with him. 9:03 Who was with Ramonko? 9:04 Anyone, you guys remember? 9:06 Might have been Ramsey. 9:07 Yeah, and then you get outrushed the other way, there's a little bit of panic, guys are a little bit out of position, and the game's over, boom. 9:16 Hammey, you do that this time of year, your season's over. 9:22 Yeah, I mean, it's definitely a time of year where you have to play really smart hockey, and this isn't like the best of seven series, you got one game and you're through if you screw it up, so those little things really can cost you big time, so hopefully there's a little bit of a lesson learned with that, and some of these guys need to realize that they don't have the skill level necessarily to be kind of pulling off certain kinds of plays that it's better off to make the safe play this time of year, and hopefully these guys learn their lessons after that, after this last game. 9:55 I don't so much fault Romanko for trying to make some of the other chance. 9:59 It's a little bit that the other guys on the ice didn't back him up cautiously, finish the scoring chance, but in the back of the mind, you gotta have get back, don't let a rush come the other way and let us get caught out of position. 10:14 Lucia said something really interesting at availability today. 10:17 He said for some guys, it's a 50-50 chance. 10:21 Maybe it's 60-40 if it's a Clues, Pitlicks, Sheehy type player. 10:25 But for some of the other guys, a 50-50 is really a 10-90. 10:30 Most of the time something bad is going to happen when they try to force a play. 10:34 That's exactly what happened. 10:36 You had that bumbling play along the boards there where two guys ran over each other and all of a sudden, pucks in the back of the net, games over, Penn State moves on. 10:47 Well, we had Szmatula and we had Glover back in the line up after a long time. 10:51 Hamme, what are your thoughts on, obviously, I think Szmatula, we kind of knew what to expect from him, but Glover had not played in a while, Hamme, and how do you think he did filling in for Lindgren? 11:03 Well, I mean, it's tough to, you know, I mean, Lindgren is a freshman, obviously, but he's probably been outside of Bischoff, their next best defenseman. 11:13 So, I mean, it's tough to kind of step in and replace all of that. 11:18 I don't know that I thought he played badly. 11:20 I don't think that certainly, you know, you're going to be kind of shaking some of the rust off. 11:26 So that's certainly going to play a role in it. 11:29 Hopefully, you know, he got a little bit of that out of the system right away. 11:32 And, you know, he's going to need to step up. 11:35 I mean, defensively, the whole team is going to have to step up now. 11:38 So, but I thought, you know, overall, given the situation, I thought he played pretty solid. 11:44 Veegs, you know, Gopher being back, obviously his first game back in a while. 11:51 Probably for him, having two over times and a pressure, highly pressure situation was probably pretty good for him. 12:00 Yeah, that was one thing that I think we were all hoping to get out of this game was for guys to get some ice time and get acclimated to the pace of play. 12:07 There's nothing that does that like a elimination over time game, especially one that goes as long as this one did. 12:14 You know, I thought both guys looked fine. 12:16 I thought Szmatula maybe was fighting it just a little bit, which is something to be expected coming back after missing a month. 12:23 I thought Gopher looked pretty solid out there. 12:26 He's a big defenseman who can make nice plays in his D-zone, and he's probably one of the better guys at transition. 12:33 I think the last couple of times he had been in the lineup this year, he had been forcing things to happen a little bit, which got him in trouble. 12:40 And in a game like he played last weekend, he was just smart, playing the percentages. 12:44 And that's something that the lower depth guys need to do for this team to be successful in the tournament. 12:51 Moving on to the championship game, we had Wisconsin playing Penn State. 12:56 And I got to be honest, guys, I thought for sure that Penn State was going to run out of gas. 13:02 And there was times where they did run out of gas. 13:05 And I thought they were not playing very smart. 13:07 A lot of times they'd get their puck in their defensive zone and their forwards would take off. 13:12 And it just seems like they weren't playing smart. 13:16 But Vegs, they came through in the end. 13:19 They were tired, but they managed. 13:22 Jones played wonderful in net. 13:23 And sure enough, they win the game in double overtime. 13:26 And wow. 13:31 I was just really impressed, playing so much hockey. 13:33 And Wisconsin had played one game. 13:37 And then Penn State had played two and a half games. 13:40 And they came through and eliminated Wisconsin from the NCAAs. 13:47 Yeah, it looked at me watching that Wisconsin was the team with tired legs. 13:51 You know, they would, they just did not seem engaged enough. 13:54 And they weren't an aggressive team. 13:56 Even Cunin and Frederick looked kind of slow at times, which was kind of surprising to me. 14:03 And Peyton Jones played great for Penn State all weekend. 14:05 I thought he was probably their best player. 14:08 Really, you know, for a freshman to play that well and lead the team to the NCAA birth was impressive for them. 14:15 And probably the key that's been missing to their program to date was a big time goaltender, and Peyton Jones really came to the stage in that one. 14:26 Kind of sounded weird for a second there, but you came back, so you sound good again now. 14:31 It was really weird. 14:33 Oh, boy. 14:34 Well, Hammey, obviously, impressive win by Penn State. 14:39 But Saturday night, we're all sitting there waiting to see how it's going to turn out. 14:44 We had some other games going on at other conferences. 14:47 Will Minnesota be a four seed? 14:50 Will they be a six seed, or at least in the rankings? 14:53 And it came down to it that Penn State needed to win to get Minnesota that number four seed, the last number one seed. 15:01 And it was by what, two or one thousandth of a point in the pair-wise. 15:06 But it turns out that just that little bit was enough to get Minnesota that number one seed in the tournament. 15:12 So what were you thoughts Saturday night thinking? 15:16 Did you really think that Penn State was going to pull this out? 15:18 And essentially, you know, they gave a ticket to the tournament for Ohio State and eliminated Wisconsin. 15:26 Yeah, I mean, it was, I certainly didn't. 15:28 Obviously, we talked about last week who we thought was going to be the winner and all that. 15:32 So I obviously didn't pick Penn State to be the team that's going to be doing that. 15:37 But you know, I think that they played such, you know, they played the kind of hockey. 15:44 I mean, you have to have your goalie be your best player. 15:46 And that's certainly they got that, you know, Wisconsin, I mean, they've been kind of a little bit up and down in the last handful of weeks. 15:58 I mean, they lost, you know, they lost, they split with us. 16:02 They had that weekend where they gave up a lot of goals to Penn State, at Penn State, even though they split that series, they lost to Ohio State. 16:12 They did beat them, of course, in the Big Ten tournament. 16:15 But then, and so they haven't been playing great hockey. 16:18 So I guess in a way, I can't say I was shocked by it. 16:21 But you would think that given the amount of game or, you know, ice time Penn State had played at that point, that, you know, they would certainly have a ton more tired legs. 16:31 And it just didn't turn out to be that way. 16:33 Well, you could see in the overtime, there were times where they were getting completely outplayed, couldn't get guys off the ice. 16:40 But they survived Vegues, and, like I said, all the credit to them. 16:47 Yeah, I think Penn State could be a dangerous team in the tournament. 16:51 I don't expect them to go very far, but they showed this past weekend that they can compete. 16:57 Especially if they run into a team that doesn't have a steady goaltender, it's gonna get you in trouble against Penn State. 17:05 I would say so, I know. 17:06 I mean, you know, they didn't put up as many shots against Wisconsin. 17:09 Wisconsin was able to shut them down, unlike Minnesota, but it didn't matter in the end. 17:15 They ended up eliminating Wisconsin, which is, you know, obviously we need Wisconsin to be good for the conference to be good, but I think a lot of us still enjoyed watching Wisconsin be eliminated from the tournament. 17:29 And Wisconsin did have a very successful season. 17:31 Oh, they did. 17:32 They picked fifth finish in the conference by the coaches at the start of the year, and then to finish second was a nice achievement for them. 17:40 They just came up a little bit short. 17:42 You know, you always talk about motivation in these games, and you almost kind of wonder if Wisconsin was just kind of satisfied to be back among the top teams in the Big Ten, and they didn't really have expectations to go to the NCAA Tournament. 17:55 So if that, you know, played into how they played against Penn State. 18:01 So Wisconsin's back, guys. 18:03 Obviously, they didn't quite make the tournament. 18:04 They're pretty much the last team out. 18:08 And then what we thought may happen, but we're not sure, but Tom Anastas at Michigan State decided to resign yesterday. 18:17 What's going to happen there, Hammy? 18:19 Who are they going to get? 18:20 I mean, you know, we've been kind of seeing the last few years that it's not just the fans that aren't really behind the program there. 18:27 It's the university. 18:28 So, it's a lot more than just coaching there. 18:30 They need some support. 18:31 And I don't know what kind of direction they're going to go in. 18:36 It's hard to say. 18:37 I mean, I don't know. 18:39 To be honest, I have no idea what kind of candidates they might be looking at if they're going to look for somebody who's established or if it's somebody that's maybe a little bit younger that maybe has a little bit more of a fire in them. 18:50 You know, it's hard to say. 18:51 They definitely, you know, in a sense need a little bit of a PJ Fleck type of an injection of enthusiasm, you know. 19:01 So, I mean, we'll see what happens. 19:03 But it's definitely a program. 19:05 I mean, it wasn't that long ago where they won a national title. 19:08 So, I mean, you know, the capabilities are there. 19:11 It's just a matter of getting the right person involved. 19:15 And, you know, if we want the conference to be good, we certainly need every team to have pretty good coaching staff. 19:22 And, you know, not everybody's going to be a winner in a conference. 19:25 But you want teams to be competitive nonetheless. 19:28 Well, a few people throughout Guasdeki today. 19:32 What do you think Guasdeki would do there, Veegs? 19:36 Well, I think he'd be great for Michigan State. 19:39 I saw a tweet today from someone who worked for the Lansing State Journal say that anything Michigan State got the lowest number of clicks on their website. 19:48 Just saying the interest on the program is so down. 19:52 You bring in a guy like Guasdeki, very personable, very vocal, very media friendly guy, has had a lot of success. 20:00 I would love to have him back in college hockey. 20:02 He's an irritating guy to have at press conferences. 20:05 He most certainly is. 20:07 He does have a cushy job right now in Colorado with a prep school that he's been there for two years. 20:14 When he took the job, he wasn't sure if it was going to be a bridge type situation to go back to college hockey or if it was going to be what he was going to pursue long term, but he would be a great hire for them. 20:25 I agree he would be a great hire. 20:27 You have a lot of fans that only see certain sides of Plasdeki that think, oh, he's a power suit guy, he's snobby. 20:35 He's just not that at all. 20:37 Like you say, he's very personable. 20:40 I think he could make them a winner pretty quick. 20:44 But it would cost Michigan State quite a bit of money, and I don't know if they've got the resources right now or the support from the university to be able to pull that kind of coach in. 20:55 Well, you look at the budgets for the Big Ten schools, and with the Big Ten network checks going up, about $12-13 million next year at least. 21:03 Now, there is money there for a coach. 21:05 You're not looking at someone who, like PJ Fleck, is going to get a $20 million deal. 21:10 Even the top coaches in college hockey don't approach a million a year. 21:13 So, there's some wiggle room there if that's what they wanted to do. 21:18 But there's a lot of good assistants around the country who could be a good candidate for that job as well. 21:24 You might need someone who's young, maybe like Danton Cole, who's working with the US. 21:29 National Development Team. 21:31 You know, if Michigan State can get a couple guys from Ann Arbor on East Lansing's campus, that would be a big thing for them too. 21:38 Funny, right as you mentioned that name, that's who Toms mentioned in the Mixler Chat. 21:44 He says, what about Danton Cole from the Development Team? 21:46 So you guys are thinking along the same line. 21:50 So great minds think alike, huh, Toms? 21:56 Well, we'll just have to see what with Michigan State. 21:58 Obviously, obviously they've been terrible. 22:01 And it is like we said, it's not just the coaching, it's the support from the university, it's kind of the whole deal. 22:08 So, and like you said, with the money coming in if they wanted to, yes, they could get at Guazdequi. 22:16 I'd like to see that just like you would. 22:18 So we'll just have to wait and see. 22:19 I'm guessing we'll know in the next couple of weeks. 22:22 Michigan State as a whole is pretty solid with their football program, basketball program. 22:27 Unless Dan Antonio or Izzo wants to retire, they're set there for long term with their head coaches. 22:34 So they probably have some room to put in some money into their hockey program if they can get some fundraising behind it as well. 22:41 I would agree with that. 22:43 Well, before we move on to quite a few Twitter questions and the NCAA Tournament, let's listen to our sponsor. 22:52 vintagemnhockey.com is a proud sponsor of The GPL Podcast. 22:57 Well, what is Vintage MN Hockey? 22:59 Well, it's kind of the place to get all of your history of Minnesota hockey, from the pros, to the minors, to the collegiate teams, to even the high school teams. 23:10 All information about any of those teams can be found on vintagemnhockey.com. 23:15 They also have great interviews with some historical Minnesota hockey figures like John Mayessich and Lou Nani, Glenn Sanmore, some of the greats of Minnesota hockey. 23:24 So make sure you check out those interviews. 23:25 It's a really great thing. 23:27 But as I always say, I think my favorite part is the store. 23:31 The store you can buy a custom historical jersey from the Gophers or the Bulldogs or some of your favorite high school teams. 23:38 And if you do make a purchase, just use the code GPL Podcast, all one word, and you'll get 10% off your order. 23:45 So make sure you visit vintagemnhockey.com and follow them on Twitter at VintageMNHockey. 23:53 So let's dive into the Twitter questions this week. 23:55 If you're listening live or listening later on, you can always send us a tweet. 24:01 Just use the hashtag GPLPodguess and we'll try to answer your question or talk about your topic that you may throw at us. 24:08 We've got John Candels. 24:10 He wants to know, is there any carryover from the Heartbreaking Loss Friday that could affect this team? 24:17 What do you think, Hammy? 24:17 You think there could be any carryover from that one and done at the Big Ten Tournament? 24:26 Whoa. 24:27 I'm trying to keep up with the Hold on there, Hammeh, hold on there, Hammeh. 24:31 What's wrong? 24:32 All right, now you're back. 24:35 You're really sounding bad there for a second. 24:37 Okay. 24:38 You're still sounding bad. 24:39 All right. 24:39 You hear me now? 24:41 I can hear you a little better now. 24:44 Are you good now? 24:45 Yeah, we can hear you now. 24:47 Go ahead. 24:48 Any carryover? 24:50 I was gonna say that the, everybody tries to read tea leaves this time of year, but we've seen situations where a team looks good and then they lop in their first game or two, or I remember when Denver won one of their national titles, I think they had lost at the WCHA Final Five, like, I don't even know if they got there. 25:11 I can't remember exactly what it was, but they ended up winning a national title. 25:14 So, you can't read too much into anything. 25:19 I think just a matter of if teams learn their lesson or not, if they do happen to lose and how they adjust from that loss. 25:27 And, Veegs, one thing that people, we always have to take into account is, whether or not the team says, we're going for that hardware, we're going for that hardware, they know in the back of their mind that they're going to be playing next weekend, and that was the case this past weekend. 25:42 Yeah. 25:42 I mean, they knew they were going to be playing a tough team in the NCAA Tournament, whether they're one seed or a two seed. 25:50 They were going to play a tough team. 25:51 They weren't playing the Atlantic Hockey, you know, bid, auto bid. 25:56 So, not much to play for. 25:58 I think a lot like the Saturday Michigan State game, you know, it's hard to get engaged when you're playing against a team that's really motivated, and you're just kind of maybe motivated. 26:09 You've got guys who are just going through the motions a little bit, not acting like it's an olympic nation type game. 26:16 So, I don't really think there will be much of a hangover. 26:18 I think the players are going to be motivated for tournament success. 26:22 I think that's something that the guys have talked about all season. 26:25 They weren't talking about winning a playoff championship. 26:28 They were talking about winning an NCAA championship. 26:31 So I think you're going to see a more motivated group this weekend. 26:35 Tim Hapke would like to know, some GPLers have been critical of Lucia and his playoff prep. 26:43 Your thoughts? 26:45 Are we critical? 26:46 Should we be critical on Lucia and his prep for the team and NCAAs, Pammy? 26:55 I mean, I guess I would say, how would you know how good the prep is or not? 27:01 I mean, if you're just judging on wins and losses. 27:03 I mean, you know what I'm saying? 27:04 I understand. 27:06 This time of year, you're playing good teams no matter where you are. 27:09 I think people, I always get a little bit annoyed by people worrying about what the brackets are going to be like or whatever. 27:17 I mean, maybe that might have been a big deal in the 90s or whatever. 27:21 But these days, you're pretty much going to have to play some good teams to get to the Frozen Four. 27:29 I just don't buy into that because I think people just, they look at the end result and they say, oh, well, it must be the coach's fault because that's the one consistent. 27:38 I get it. 27:39 It's not like I don't understand that mentality, but I feel like they don't really even know what the prep is. 27:48 They just see an end result and it's like some of these games, like we saw this last weekend, I mean, one bad decision by one player and it costs you, and it's like, am I supposed to blame the coach for that or not? 28:03 It's a little too knee-jerk and the thinking to me is a little too shallow. 28:08 Thoughts on the prep, Veegs? 28:11 I think the prep is solid. 28:13 You hear the coaches talking about things they need to work on, and it's puck management, it's play at the blue lines, and making smart percentage plays, and staying out of the penalty box. 28:24 It's easy for a lot of us to see those three aspects of the game and say, they have to do those right. 28:30 Now, the magic of being a great coach is getting that message across and having the players carry it out. 28:37 That's something we want them to encourage the players to do, but it's up to the players to do it. 28:43 My one critique of the coaching staff is I feel like they play their full lineup almost too much. 28:51 Sometimes I would like to see them rely on their top players a little bit more. 28:55 Really the only times you see the top players play more is in a special teams battle where there's a lot of power play and penalty kill time. 29:02 That's really the only time you see the top players from Minnesota get a lot of ice time. 29:08 So I think that's the one critique I have at times of the coaching staff. 29:12 But at the same time, they develop a deep roster. 29:16 They do develop a deep roster, but I think your beef is legit. 29:21 Let's double shift some guys when you need to. 29:23 When you're down a goal, or obviously at this time of year, it's make or break. 29:28 So I think that's a legitimate beef there, Veegs. 29:32 We'll just have to wait and see. 29:33 Well, in my little coaching experience I had, when you can put a top line out against a third or fourth line from the other team and catch them, it makes a big momentum shift in the game. 29:43 So if you can do that as a coach, you can really throw the momentum in the game. 29:47 You get the other team worried about their matchups and lineups, and maybe they start putting out their guys defensively to match up against your top guys. 29:57 It's little games like that that you'd like to see the coaches do sometimes. 30:02 Bruce Boudreaux really does that well. 30:04 We didn't do that for the Roobs, did we? 30:07 No. 30:09 We just rolled three lines. 30:11 That's all we did, man. 30:12 We were successful. 30:14 I coached a little JV. 30:15 Happy and helped out a varsity program for a little bit at St. 30:19 Paul Academy. 30:20 Our head coach got thrown out on a couple of games, so got a little bit of varsity experience that way. 30:25 There you go. 30:27 That's the fun part of coaching is doing the matchups. 30:31 You saw Trent Clatt do that in the state high school tournament. 30:33 He rolled that number one line to his state title. 30:36 Whereas you saw Eden Prairie be cautious with how they did middle stat, and I think it cost him in the end. 30:43 Good point. 30:45 Rob Scheele, our favorite Rob Scheele of the stats crew, wants to know, how will injuries affect this team? 30:54 Will they get to the Frozen Four? 30:56 Kind of generic questions there by Rob, but we know him, so I thought I'd read it to Hammy. 31:01 Obviously, injuries have affected this team, and could be the reason why they don't get to the Frozen Four. 31:08 You lose somebody like Lindgren and Novak, that makes a great team a little weak in some areas. 31:18 Yeah, I think for me, it's just more, I mean, not that Novak's not important, but we've been living without him for a little while now, so I think that that's more of something that they've established. 31:29 It's more the late loss of Lindgren. 31:33 Certainly, defensively, he's been one of our best players, and I think that when you're bringing in somebody that hasn't been playing as much to replace him, and when I think about our opportunities to move forward in this tournament, I mean, to get to the Frozen Four, I really think that a lot of it's going to be team defense. 31:54 I mean, we know we have good offensive players, and Steerhorn has been playing much better. 32:00 So to me, it's about playing smart and playing pretty good defensively as an entire team, and certainly losing a good player like Lindgren and a late like we have, that's certainly something you have to change and fly and it hurts. 32:14 So that would be the tough one for me. 32:17 Well, Veegs, over last season and this season, Glover had been rotated in and out, up until around the midpoint, and then they kind of rotated Glover out. 32:28 All the fans are like, oh, good, he gets it now, but is that going to cost him that he has not played much? 32:33 You know, until this past Friday night? 32:36 Because they had been rotating him in quite often, you know, for a year and a half. 32:42 Yeah, it was kind of surprising that they didn't stick with him throughout the season. 32:46 I think it was a tough call on the coach's perspective at the same time. 32:52 He didn't come into the season prepared. 32:54 You know, he had the double shoulder surgery, which didn't allow him to really do anything in the offseason prepare. 33:00 So he was he was well behind the other guys in trying to make a leap in his conditioning for the season. 33:05 So I think that's kind of held him back. 33:08 And, you know, maybe they've really focused on building back that strength by keeping him out of the games and making him work harder during the week. 33:15 Maybe that's something they've done. 33:17 But he's he's definitely a guy who's got great vision. 33:21 And he's you know, it's not like they've completely shelved him in practice. 33:24 And so they just need him to come in and eat up some minutes and make the smart percentage plays and he's got enough experience where he knows what plays to make. 33:34 Yeah, it's definitely good that we at least got him back into the lineup and got some ice time this past weekend. 33:40 All right, boys, let's move on to the Big NCAA Tournament. 33:43 Minnesota is back in the tournament after a little break from it. 33:48 The win by Wisconsin, or the loss by Wisconsin, I should say, knocked them out and allowed Ohio State to sneak in as I believe the 15 overall seed. 34:01 I believe that Tech ended up being the last official team to get in. 34:07 But here we are. 34:08 We have a solid tournament. 34:09 We've got a lot of good regionals here. 34:12 Let's start out West. 34:16 Some people may have been surprised, but somebody had to go to Fargo. 34:21 And it's Duluth. 34:22 He was going to face Ohio State. 34:25 And we've got Boston University playing North Dakota. 34:29 Pretty much a home game for North Dakota. 34:31 But boy, I wouldn't put it past somebody like a Boston University from coming out of that region because Boston University is a pretty darn good team. 34:43 The thing with BU is they've got so much young talent that it's hard for them to probably go into an atmosphere like Fargo is going to be and win two games against the teams they're going to have to play. 34:54 Because they're going to have to play consistent hockey. 34:57 They're going to have to avoid the turnovers and putting themselves in negative transition situations. 35:03 They're going to be a fun team to watch. 35:05 But I don't see them coming out of the region. 35:07 I think it's going to come down to North Dakota, to the UMD final again. 35:12 Hopefully they don't have an NCHC refing crew doing it again. 35:16 And they get someone who can control the game. 35:19 We'll see what happens there. 35:21 But yeah, those are going to be a bunch, three real good games to watch at least. 35:26 But I think UMD is going to come out of the region. 35:29 They're just so deep and talented. 35:31 I don't know. 35:32 I just, you know, you talk about, you know, some of those young players, a lot of those young players were playing for the junior team. 35:39 Against Canada, in Canada. 35:41 And that's a lot of pressure, a lot of fans screaming at them. 35:45 Hammy, am I wrong to think Boston University could sneak out of there? 35:51 Just wishful thinking, maybe? 35:53 Well, I mean, I think it'd be tough for them to win two games against, you know, two pretty good teams. 35:59 I actually would not be shocked if they beat North Dakota because I don't think North Dakota's necessarily been playing great hockey. 36:06 And I think, contrary to kind of what Vegoe said about young players, sometimes being, having that youth, I mean, it's almost like you're oblivious to the pressure in a way, because you're just sort of just out there. 36:18 And sometimes young guys don't overthink it. 36:22 Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. 36:23 I mean, you just, you never know. 36:25 But I've seen instances where young teams really actually thrive because they just play loose, you know, as a young team. 36:33 So they got a lot of talent. 36:36 So I don't think they're going to win two games in a row. 36:38 I would agree that I would expect UMD to come out of that region. 36:43 I actually, you know, and it's not meant as a disrespect thing, but I kind of feel like there isn't really any one great team. 36:50 I really don't think UMD is as great as some people think they are. 36:55 Not that they're not going to win at all. 36:56 I mean, they might win at all. 36:58 But I'm just saying, I don't really don't see a team out there that I'm like, oh, God, you know, I hope we don't face them or I hope, you know, I quite honestly I didn't want to be in the Fargo region, you know, but that was mainly because I didn't want to play North Dakota, you know, basically in a home game kind of an environment. 37:14 I'd play them anywhere else. 37:16 No problem. 37:16 But we knew if we're going to be a two seed, that's where we're going to go. 37:19 So other than that, I didn't even care so much who we were going to play in the first round. 37:25 So hopefully it's a situation where we'll have some entertaining games because it's a fun time of year. 37:32 Well, for me, it's the greatest weekend of the year. 37:34 Bar none. 37:36 You sit down Friday afternoon, you're solid hockey for the whole weekend. 37:42 For me, you know, like I said, I, boy, Boston University is the two seed playing the three seed, North Dakota. 37:49 I wouldn't be surprised at all if they could come out of that region. 37:54 I'm a little hesitant to all of that, but I do believe they can beat North Dakota. 37:58 I think North Dakota is beatable. 38:01 But most likely it is going to be a Duluth coming out of there. 38:04 They're playing so well and they're a very deep team. 38:07 So on the other side of that large bracket, you know, you've got the East Regional in Providence, Rhode Island, where you got Harvard playing Providence, Air Force playing Western Michigan. 38:20 Boy, another very entertaining bracket, Veegs. 38:26 Well, if I were to pick one bracket where I'd say this team is coming out of this region is not going to win the Frozen 4, it's this one. 38:35 You know, there's some big name teams in there who've had a history of success, but I just don't see a team there that wows me. 38:44 Harvard hasn't lost a game in the calendar year. 38:46 Come out of there, though. 38:47 Dude, Harvard hasn't lost a game in the calendar year. 38:50 Well, they play in the ECAC. 38:51 They play less games than everybody. 38:53 But they're still winning. 38:55 It's hard to know how good they are, I think, because they don't play a very difficult schedule. 39:01 I don't know. 39:04 They're the number three overall seed for a reason. 39:06 Maybe their schedule is not as bad, but boy, it's really hard to overlook them. 39:10 Hammeh, do you have any thoughts on that region, the Western Michigan Air Force, Providence, Harvard? 39:18 Are you there, Hammeh? 39:22 Yeah, sorry about that. 39:24 Did you have it on mute too? 39:25 I pulled it on one of your moves. 39:27 Oh, yeah. 39:30 I expect Harvard to come out of that region. 39:33 It wouldn't shock me if a team like Western came out, just because they do play some pretty good hockey throughout the year, and they're battle tested. 39:45 So if they matched up against Harvard, I could see them giving them quite a battle. 39:51 So it wouldn't shock me either if one of those teams come out of that region. 39:55 It's just tough for me with Harvard to look at their schedule and see the teams they played that were good. 40:02 It's like they played Quinnipiac and Lost, they played BU and Lost, they played Union and Lost, Dartmouth and Lost. 40:10 It's just you see that stuff happen on a team schedule and you don't see them play, really anybody from the NCHC or Big Ten, you know, that kind of stands out to me. 40:21 That's fair enough. 40:22 I mean, they could easily lose. 40:25 So for me, I kind of do like Western Michigan out of that bracket. 40:31 Obviously, they play a tough schedule in the NACHO Conference. 40:35 And I think that's, they're going to come out of the East and they'll end up facing probably like a Duluth in the Frozen Forest. 40:41 So moving to the Midwest and Cincinnati, we've got Denver as the number one overall seed facing Michigan Tech and Penn State in their first tournament facing Union. 40:54 Hammy, Denver has been pretty much the number one team all year. 40:58 I don't think they're going to have too much trouble with Michigan Tech. 41:01 You never know, but Denver really is one of the top teams. 41:07 Yeah, I'd agree. 41:07 I think that they should, you know, I believe that they'll come out of that region. 41:11 I'll be interested to see how Penn State kind of, you know, if they continue the momentum or, you know, they basically blew their wad against, you know, this last weekend, you know. 41:23 Oh, yeah. 41:23 It's a lot of hockey, you know, and it's like, it is great to, you know, succeed like that. 41:28 But there is kind of that emotional high that you're coming off of. 41:33 And you're like, is that sustainable or not? 41:34 They had to play a lot of hockey to get there. 41:38 And so you kind of wonder if they're going to be able to, you know, how that are going to look coming into that first game. 41:42 So, but I think it's, everybody would say that Denver is the odds on favorite to come out of that region. 41:50 Veegs compensated our Union surprise in that bracket. 41:54 I think it's going to be tough for them to overcome DU in a region final. 41:59 I think one of the interesting things about that Union Penn State game is looking at some of the offshore lines for this upcoming weekend. 42:08 They have the highest over under at seven and a half. 42:11 So, you're expecting a lot of offense in that game, if that's what they're set in the over under at. 42:16 The entertaining game to watch, it will be interesting to see if Penn State can keep the momentum, or if, once again, that emotion of just getting there, winning a conference tournament, they've already got a banner to raise, making an appearance is a big deal for their program. 42:34 Being placed in a regional at Denver, how much motivation do they have and how much juice do they have in their game? 42:39 And the one thing is, if Peyton Jones can keep playing the way he did this last weekend there, they could go anywhere. 42:47 I think one slight advantage that a few of those teams might have is they might be able to get a crowd there. 42:54 You're not going to see any Denver fans there, most likely. 42:58 But you know what? 42:58 Tech is not too far. 43:00 I mean, I guess it is a little bit. 43:03 But Penn State? 43:05 Penn State's not far from Cincinnati. 43:07 You know, this is their chance to really support their team. 43:10 So that's about it. 43:12 I'll be looking for Penn State jersey in Cincinnati because you hear all this talk about how Penn State didn't ruin college hockey. 43:19 If they want to make a name for themselves, they should show up in Cincinnati, Ohio. 43:23 Book that airfare, get there and support your team if you want to make yourself proud. 43:30 I've seen a lot of people on GPL figuring out ways to get to Manchester, New Hampshire. 43:36 Yeah, I'm sorry, I'm not paying 400 or 600 bucks to do that. 43:40 That's just me. 43:40 I'm just a cheap ass though. 43:43 So pretty much consensus that Denver is going to come out of there. 43:47 We'll see about some of those other brackets, but I think we're feeling the most strongly that Denver will come out of that region. 43:55 And that region will face the Northeast region where Minnesota is the final number one seed. 44:01 They'll be playing Notre Dame. 44:03 Everyone loves to talk up the Lucia thing with that. 44:06 Cornell and Mass Lowell on the other side. 44:09 Hammy-Mass Lowell, the two seed in this region, but essentially they are equal or as good as Minnesota. 44:16 Their RPI difference was thousands difference. 44:21 For Minnesota, this is technically the toughest bracket because they would pay the highest seed closest to them if they win. 44:31 Let's start over with Mass Lowell and Cornell. 44:33 I haven't heard much about Cornell this year, but we have heard about Mass Lowell and they sound like a very solid team. 44:41 Yeah. 44:41 If you look at their schedule, they basically only lost one game in the last 12 or so at least. 44:49 They have been playing pretty good hockey. 44:52 They had a little bit of a rough stretch in January, but other than that, they have been playing very good hockey over the course of the last three or so months. 45:00 So I think that they are going to be a pretty tough team if we end up facing them. 45:06 But yeah, it's going to be kind of a pick on them. 45:08 I don't really think either of these games, people will worry about, like I said, the brackets. 45:12 But to me, I think the Notre Dame game for the Gophers is going to be a tough one. 45:16 I do think that will come out on top in that game, but I don't expect it to be anything of a blowout by any means. 45:23 I think it's going to be a tight game there. 45:24 And certainly, it's probably going to be, if we face UMass, it's going to be kind of a pick-em type of a game. 45:30 So, you know, where it might be an overtime kind of a game. 45:34 And so, you know, I think we have a tough bracket. 45:37 I think that we have some matchups that are going to really challenge us, you know, both in the first game, if we get by that, and the second game, I think we probably end up playing UMass, and that will be a challenge. 45:47 So, hope the boys are bringing their A game this weekend. 45:51 Well, you know, if you want to be successful, you got to beat the tough teams, Veegs, and I think if Minnesota gets past Notre Dame, and I'm guessing UMass will take care of Cornell. 46:02 Boy, that could be a wonderful regional final. 46:06 Yeah, UMass, Lowell has been hot. 46:08 You know, they've played a very good stretch of hockey here. 46:12 They played a tough non-conference schedule. 46:14 You know, they played Minnesota Duluth. 46:16 You know, they were the one team that gave it to Penn State earlier in the season, I think. 46:22 And they've got older guys, you know, this is a 23, 25-year-old group of guys. 46:27 They don't have very many 20, 21-year-olds even on the roster. 46:31 So this is going to be a tough team to play against hard-nosed. 46:34 I think it's going to come down to whether or not Minnesota can manage the puck. 46:38 You know, if they can avoid the catastrophic mistakes and avoid taking penalties, you know, they're going to be in this game. 46:45 I'm also curious to see how Lucia uses his top line to see if he tries to do anything unique with them, or if he just kind of rolls it and says, guys, let's see what you can do on your own. 46:57 But it's the toughest region, I think. 46:59 All four teams in there are pretty good. 47:02 And one thing that you kind of mentioned there are penalties, and we've seen it many, many times. 47:11 Minnesota having to kill a lot of penalties in these regional games because, you know, they've got a different reffing crew. 47:18 They call it a little tighter. 47:21 Boy, a penalty kill is going to be so vital, and staying out of the box is going to be huge this weekend, Hammey. 47:31 Absolutely. 47:31 I mean, we haven't had the greatest penalty kill this year at times. 47:36 And certainly, you know, you have to limit those special teams opportunities for the other team. 47:42 Like I mentioned earlier, you have to play very smart defensively. 47:45 And that's everybody, from the defensemen all the way to the forwards, you know, taking care of their responsibilities in the defensive zone, and Shearhorn playing, you know, the way he's been playing lately. 47:55 So it's going to take a total team effort, you know, and I do like the idea of, you know, shortening the bench at times, especially with some of the TV timeouts and things of that nature. 48:07 So hopefully that's something that they're going to take advantage of. 48:10 They get the last change so they can try to dictate some of the matchups. 48:14 So hopefully they can play that to their advantage as well. 48:18 So Hammeh, do you think Minnesota is going to come out of this region? 48:22 You feeling good? 48:24 You know, I mean, you know, I think I mentioned a few weeks ago, one of the parents of one of the current players asked me about, you know, how I feel and are we all in? 48:35 I'm like, yeah, we're all in, you know. 48:36 I mean, I honestly don't think that there's one team out there that I'm like, is so, you know, such a huge favor. 48:43 I mean, Denver's lost. 48:47 Yeah, I just don't see a great team out there. 48:50 I do think we have gaps in our current team, especially with Alengrin being out. 48:57 You know, there's a, I think we're going to win the first game. 48:59 It won't surprise me if we end up losing to UMass in the second game. 49:05 So that's kind of where I'm leaning right now. 49:06 But the Gopher fan in me says, you know, we're all in and we can do it. 49:10 So, but that, if I was going to think with my head, I'd probably say win one, lose one this weekend. 49:17 Veegs, can Minnesota do it? 49:21 I definitely think this team has the makeup of a team that can make a deep run in the playoffs. 49:27 You know, they've got a very steady goaltender who has changed his approach where he challenges shooters and he's been very effective doing that in the second half of the season. 49:36 I think his safe percentage the second half of the year is over like 9-2, 9-3, which is very good. 49:42 The key is going to come down to decision making and discipline. 49:46 I think this team has done a pretty good job of limiting their penalties for the most part, but they do take that, you know, neutral zone, offensive zone penalty every once a while and it costs them. 49:56 So if they can, you know, avoid that, I think this team is undefeated when they're perfect on the penalty kill. 50:03 I think that's the one thing that could get them is if they take too many penalties and give up power play goals against, that could sink them. 50:09 But if they can avoid that and play smart hockey, you know, this team could easily get to Chicago. 50:16 Well, like you said, I believe that, you know, you're going to get some kind of East hockey or, you know, it won't be hockey East refs, but you'll probably have ECAC refs in this game. 50:27 And they're going to call it tight. 50:29 And, you know, I just cannot stress enough of staying out of the box because the things that weren't getting called before are going to get called this weekend. 50:39 And I hope Lucia stresses that because we see it every year. 50:45 Teams that are like this and they just keep, they give up two or three power play goals. 50:51 And they're always in the box. 50:52 So I buy that's my biggest fear on the weekend is being in the box. 51:00 I don't know what else to say. 51:01 It's a big thing to watch for. 51:03 It plays such a huge role in these games that are going to be low scoring because most teams are very conservative in their game plan. 51:10 Chipping pucks behind D, you know, all the things that coaches talk about wanting their guys to do. 51:15 The players typically do listen to that stuff in the playoffs. 51:18 It's whether or not they can stay out of the box. 51:20 It will be the big challenge. 51:23 Well regardless, like I said earlier, this is my favorite weekend of the year. 51:29 Not the last weekend and not even the Frozen 4 weekend. 51:32 This weekend is my favorite. 51:33 You know, with all the one and done games, I'm just having my couch the entire weekend and even at work streaming it, doing whatever I have to do to see these games. 51:44 Praying for some lengthy over times. 51:48 True. 51:49 You know, if you know, if Maslow and Cornell can go to five over times, that'd be wonderful. 51:54 You know, I could make it a late game for Minnesota Saturday night. 51:58 But that's what makes these tournaments so great. 52:03 We all love it. 52:04 You know, even if Minnesota wasn't there, I'm still glued to my couch watching it all weekend because it's always a, it's always a fun weekend. 52:11 And you know, you can have one game streaming on your phone while you get another game up on the TV or whatever. 52:18 You know, people have complained about the coverage of ESPN. 52:21 You know, I believe some games are only on ESPN 3 shown live. 52:25 But you know what? 52:27 Put it up on your laptop or your computer, your phone. 52:30 And there's access to all these games where there wasn't as much access in the past. 52:35 If you had a special sports package, you might see a game on Nesson or something like that. 52:40 But ESPN does a pretty good job to get them as much as they can on live. 52:44 So, enjoy the weekend, folks. 52:47 You know, whether Minnesota wins or not, it's college hockey. 52:51 It's why we're all here. 52:52 So, if you're not at the game, make sure you're watching it. 52:58 Why? 52:59 That's pretty much all I have for this week. 53:01 Vig, we had some audio for media day today. 53:07 Yep, you'll hear Lucia talk about, you know, making smart plays, playing the percentages, the benefits of having Szmatula and Glover back in the lineup, getting a lengthy overtime game experience under their belt. 53:20 You'll hear Ryan Collins talk about the decor, what they need to do well. 53:24 I thought one of the interesting things he had to say was talking about Shearhorn, not just being a goalie that they have confidence in, stopping the puck, but helping them in their retrievals and breakout, and how he's a very vocal goaltender back there helping them out. 53:38 Something that's kind of underrated, I think, throughout hockey is communication, and this year's team definitely seems to communicate very well. 53:46 Then you'll have Mike Szmatula talking about being a little chipper at Joe Louis Arena when he was little, and trying to convince the rest of the Gophers that it's a great rink. 53:55 I think most people are happy to see it being replaced. 53:58 He and Brent Gates Jr. 53:59 had some special memories of the Red Wings. 54:03 Well, it's a great old arena, so maybe they didn't keep it up like they should have. 54:08 You got a massive square garden that's kept up pretty well, but they're getting something new in Detroit, so they should be happy. 54:16 I think going back to campus sites for the conference tournament is the right move. 54:19 You saw the great atmosphere at Michigan Tech for their WCHA final. 54:24 I think it's something that all the leagues need to take a look at, even the NCHC, because if North Dakota doesn't make their final, there's no crowd there either. 54:33 So it's just something. 54:35 We were spoiled by the WCHA final five, and I think it's probably in the best interests of college hockey to not go to these big neutral sites where the crowds can be so iffy. 54:45 Well, I sure enjoyed publishing those numbers this weekend. 54:49 I love getting this discussion going. 54:51 People get all bitter. 54:54 Kind of get out the fishing pole and reel them in because, you know, sure, I know people are angry and I just kind of I kind of pray on that a little bit. 55:01 I know, I mean, I had some back and forth this week and last week, so I think it's fun banter, Hammeh. 55:12 I mean, to me, it's just the indifferences of way of looking at things. 55:16 That's all. 55:17 So I don't disagree. 55:21 Well, the plan is, you know, if Minnesota loses this week, we'll be back to recap the week or the season next Wednesday. 55:31 If they do make it to the Frozen Four, we'll probably take a week off and we'll come back the Wednesday before the Frozen Four and have another show. 55:38 What do you think about that, guys? 55:39 That work for you guys? 55:42 Sounds good. 55:43 Good plan. 55:44 I think it's a plan as well. 55:45 So like I said, if we're back next week, it means our team is lost and we're done. 55:50 Hopefully, we'll be back in two weeks and be talking about a Frozen Four in Chicago. 55:57 Enjoy the weekend, folks. 55:58 It's the best weekend of the year. 56:00 It's our favorite sports. 56:02 Thanks for listening. 56:33 Coach, you know the Notre Dame program well. 56:35 What do you see in them as a first round player? 56:37 Well, a lot like our own team. 56:39 They've got a really good goal tender in Cal Peterson, certainly one of the best goalies in college hockey. 56:44 They've got a mobile defensive core that will get up in the play. 56:47 I think Jordan Gross has ten goals on the season right now. 56:50 Their top end guys are real good. 56:52 And, you know, we played them eight times, and ended up five and three in the last four years, and all the games were close. 56:59 And, you know, that's obviously the expectation this weekend. 57:02 Perhaps it's a bit premature, but what do you think of playing them more in the upcoming years? 57:07 Well, I think it's good for our league. 57:09 There's no question that we want to try to get to eight teams, and now we're at seven. 57:12 And, you know, they obviously have a very good program, and it's a perfect fit as far as the other Big Ten members. 57:18 And it was a logical seventh, and now we'll figure out who the logical eighth is, if there is one. 57:23 Quite a few guys on your team, including your goaltender, are going to be first-time participants in the tournament. 57:27 How do you manage any nerves they might feel? 57:30 Well, I don't know if you can. 57:31 I mean, it's just you try to prepare like any other game. 57:34 Obviously, there's a little more magnitude in the format when it is one and done, but I don't think you have to do anything different. 57:41 I don't expect you guys to practice any harder or practice any longer or prepare any different from one week to the next. 57:46 And, you know, I thought Eric played really well the last game. 57:50 He's played really well the second half of the season, and obviously we know that's going to be a key component of the goaltending play, but we've got to do a good job in front of him. 57:59 And there's areas of our game that we have to be better at than last weekend, and hopefully we will. 58:03 What do we need to see from the D with Lindgren out and then again with Eric Veto first time in the East LA? 58:08 Well, I think it's more of our forwards have to do a good job of, you know, not turning pucks over just inside the offensive blue line. 58:15 We have to do a good job coming back. 58:17 Make sure we don't get caught with odd man rushes. 58:19 It's just, you know, you got to play well defensively this time of the year. 58:23 Goals are our premium and, you know, it's specialty teams have to be good. 58:27 And, you know, this is a time when, you know, you make one poor decision or take a bad penalty. 58:32 And, you know, your season is over. 58:35 So you just, I want our guys to play free. 58:36 I want them to play confident. 58:37 I want them to play on their toes. 58:38 I want them to make plays. 58:39 But, you know, just play the percentages, you know. 58:42 Some guys are better off, still can make a play maybe when it's 50-50 or 60-40. 58:47 And other guys, you know, when it's 50-50, maybe it's really 90 for them. 58:52 You know, so they have to understand that and make those good decisions because it's all sports. 58:57 I mean, you're playing a playoff football game, you better not fumble or throw an interception. 59:02 And, you know, basketball you turn over a lot. 59:04 You know, they get those transition baskets. 59:07 And same thing with hockey. 59:08 I mean, we gave up one goal in a transition play just inside the offensive line last game and gave up a couple of power play goals. 59:14 And, you know, you end up going home when you do that. 59:16 Now that you've had a few days to sit back and look at the video, what do you make of your team's performance in double overtime? 59:22 I thought we got better in the over times. 59:24 I thought that as the game went on, I thought our play was better. 59:28 I thought that, you know, we had some good looks to try to end it, which we didn't. 59:33 I thought Eric did a good job. 59:34 I mean, you can't fault him on the back door goal in any way. 59:38 And I think that's good for us because a lot of times you get in these NCAA games and you do get into overtime, so you get a feel of what that's all about. 59:47 And just playing smart. 59:49 I mean, you get to this time of year, you want your guys to play the best they can play and then so be it. 59:55 We're in a really good regional. 59:56 I've watched Notre Dame play twice, Cornell play twice, Lowell play. 1:00:00 And all three are really good teams. 1:00:03 And I think any of the four teams can come out based on how they play this weekend. 1:00:08 The Eastern teams are going to have a little bit of a home ice advantage, especially Lowell being less than an hour from their campus. 1:00:13 I think they'll end up with a good crowd. 1:00:15 Cornell always travels well. 1:00:17 And it should be a really good matchup with Notre Dame and ourselves. 1:00:21 You've known Justin Cluess since he was just a, I don't know how long, but a long time. 1:00:27 How have you seen him mature as a person even away from the hockey ring? 1:00:31 Well, I mean, Justin's just always been a first-class kid. 1:00:36 I mean, he was young. 1:00:37 I mean, he comes from a great family. 1:00:39 He's brought up the right way. 1:00:41 There's no question when he came into our program that he was going to be a captain here someday that this is where he wanted to play. 1:00:46 And he's given us everything to this program. 1:00:49 And he's going to walk away with adding a lot of banners to the rafters and getting his degree and having an opportunity to play professionally after this. 1:00:57 But we don't want that to happen too soon here. 1:01:01 So the concentration is, that's always a danger too. 1:01:04 You get to the end, and it's like, okay, what's next? 1:01:08 What's next is Saturday. 1:01:10 And let's keep our focus on what's ahead of us here. 1:01:13 Well, Don, you've gone the distance and you've seen everything in the NCAA Tournament. 1:01:17 Aside from goal-tenning, is there a common denominator that you see when you go a long way in the tournament? 1:01:20 Yeah, I think sometimes you get in there and the guys kind of seem to have dead legs. 1:01:26 And for whatever reason, other times they feel great. 1:01:28 And we're trying to do everything we can that their emotions are involved in the game. 1:01:33 And the puck drops, we need a lively bench. 1:01:36 And we need the talking. 1:01:37 And we need the communication. 1:01:39 And that's usually a good sign that the guys are ready and excited to play. 1:01:42 And some years you get in there and it's quiet. 1:01:44 And whether it's the moment or anything else. 1:01:46 And so I've seen both sides. 1:01:49 I've had teams where you got to get there, got to get there, got to get there. 1:01:51 And then you get there and it's like, we made it. 1:01:53 We're done. 1:01:54 And then other teams, they surprise you. 1:01:56 And they go on a really good run. 1:01:58 So you do it long enough, you see it all. 1:02:01 And I think this group is a talented group. 1:02:05 You know, they've played together as a team all year long. 1:02:08 I don't know for a bunch of superstars, we're a bunch of good players that, you know, are playing for the right reason for each other and the program. 1:02:14 And we're just going to go there and drop the puck. 1:02:18 And I just, I want to play their best. 1:02:19 That's the big thing for me is just, you know, play in your toes, make plays. 1:02:25 You know, you got to go win the game too. 1:02:26 You can't just sit back. 1:02:27 You got to go win it. 1:02:29 How important is playing in neutral zones, especially in the respect to CTA? 1:02:33 Well, it's that transition. 1:02:35 Notre Dame is a good transition team. 1:02:36 Their D are going to jump up into the play. 1:02:38 And, you know, if you shorten the rink on anybody, I mean, you just leave yourself really vulnerable. 1:02:43 And, you know, that's something we've been trying to stress and stress and stress that you don't have a play. 1:02:48 There's nothing wrong with, you know, making them go 200 feet. 1:02:50 And, you know, they'll play the same way. 1:02:54 And that's why I think it's a really good matchup on Saturday. 1:02:56 It should be a really good brand of hockey. 1:02:58 What's really been the message of practice knowing it's a win-and-go-home situation? 1:03:03 I think number one is just taking care of the puck. 1:03:05 I mean, you got to be battle ready. 1:03:07 I mean, whether it's defending and really digging in defensively. 1:03:12 And, you know, team defense is the most important thing because you're not going to have a bunch of odd man rushes. 1:03:17 You're not going to have, you got to defend. 1:03:20 You know, you got to take care of your net front. 1:03:22 Just the game almost shrinks a little bit. 1:03:26 You know, you get to them just because people are a little bit more conservative. 1:03:28 They don't want to make a mistake. 1:03:29 So that's why you see the scores usually go down this time of the year. 1:03:33 And you're seeing really good teams and good goaltenders. 1:03:35 And, you know, it just that's what happens that you get to this point. 1:03:39 What does the top forward tying hard defensively blocking shots to the rest of the team as a whole? 1:03:44 Well, it just kind of gives an indication of where we're at mentally, that we're going to be involved and we're going to sell out in a game. 1:03:50 I mean, that's pretty evident when, you know, the ten minutes, we haven't been consistently good the first ten minutes of the game. 1:03:56 Obviously, that's going to be really important this weekend that we start well. 1:04:01 I think it's really important that we get off to a good start. 1:04:06 Yeah, everybody that can play, you know, is available, other than two guys. 1:04:14 All right? 1:04:18 Of the, I guess, the new infusion of Jack Lover into the lineup after a little bit of a match, what was the game like, especially going to extra, for extra time on Saturday or Friday? 1:04:29 I mean, it was good. 1:04:30 It was a good test for us. 1:04:32 You know, I think he played well. 1:04:33 I get our team's models kind of next man up, you know, we've had a couple of injuries this year and guys have done a really good job of stepping up and, you know, filling that role. 1:04:41 So I think he did a great job of that for his first game. 1:04:44 And as far as overtime, I think it was good for our team to play in a high pressure playoff game like that heading into the weekend. 1:04:52 You were there two years ago when Manchester was missing a goal, right? 1:04:56 What do you think you guys need to do this time around? 1:04:58 I mean, I think it's completely different. 1:04:59 I mean, we have a different team. 1:05:02 It's hard to kind of compare them now. 1:05:05 I think our biggest focus right now is on ourselves. 1:05:10 You know, we need to manage the puck better than we did last weekend. 1:05:14 We need to clear the net front a little bit better than we did last weekend and not let them get as many shots as they did. 1:05:19 So those are kind of our focuses from last weekend to this weekend. 1:05:22 What did you kind of learn from that experience that maybe you kind of have been giving advice to the younger guys? 1:05:27 I mean, I think the biggest thing, and Jake Bischoff said it best in our practices, doesn't matter what year you are, you know, you don't know how many chances you're going to get to do this. 1:05:35 And, you know, as a freshman, you play the tournament, you think we're going to make the tournament every year. 1:05:39 Then of course, last year we didn't. 1:05:41 That's kind of a wake up call. 1:05:42 So, you know, guys that have been here feel lucky to be able to have this chance again and are a little more confident this time around going into it. 1:05:50 Did playing a double overtime game on Friday, guys, despite the result, give you guys a little bit of confidence that you can do it if the situation comes up again? 1:05:58 Yeah, I mean, I think that was the first chance we had that we really played a full overtime. 1:06:02 We played a couple, five minutes. 1:06:04 I think we only went into like one shootout this year. 1:06:06 It usually ended in the five minutes of overtime. 1:06:09 So, yeah, it is a good situation to practice and it was good to get a little exposure to that. 1:06:17 Do you think, I mean, from the Defensive Corps' standpoint, seeing Eric put on such a good show, saving, I think, almost 50 shots, what kind of confidence does the Defensive Corps just have after you see a performance like that? 1:06:29 It gives you a lot of confidence. 1:06:30 And I mean, we always have confidence in our goaltender. 1:06:33 I mean, he's obviously proven that he's a great goaltender and he gives us confidence not just through saving pucks, but little things like talking to us, telling us, you know, what he's going to do with the puck and puck retrievals and things like that. 1:06:47 So the defense especially working with the goalie is big. 1:06:50 We have a lot of confidence in his abilities. 1:06:57 So last weekend was your first game back. 1:06:59 What did it really feel like to feel right back in those things? 1:07:02 It took me a little bit, I think a period or two. 1:07:06 You know, I got my win back and after that I was pretty personal standing so I was happy to get back a game before a single elimination here in the regionals. 1:07:14 As a Detroit guy, how did it feel to be able to play Joe? 1:07:17 It felt cool. 1:07:17 I mean, I was telling the guys the whole weekend, it was the best week pretty much ever. 1:07:21 I don't know how many people believe me except Gates, but it was really fun to get there. 1:07:28 Had friends and family come. 1:07:29 So growing up, going to games there, it was a really cool experience. 1:07:33 Have you ever played there before? 1:07:34 I think I was there. 1:07:36 I played in between periods of the Redwoods game when I was like six. 1:07:41 How were the ice conditions that we did? 1:07:44 They were good for how much hockey was being played on there, I thought. 1:07:49 What was the most important thing to practice before coming back? 1:07:52 You just want to make sure your hands are there. 1:07:55 You try to keep your card up as best you can, but nothing really takes place with that except playing games. 1:08:00 So yeah, just watching film and like I said, just being patient with it and be ready to go when you're cleared. 1:08:08 What was really the message of practice this week? 1:08:11 I think we're focusing on the details, doing a lot of film, focusing on the little things, face-off, face-off plays. 1:08:19 Really, it's just attention to detail because it's been in the past, face-off loss for a goal can end a team season. 1:08:26 Nobody wants to have that, so just attention to detail. 1:08:30 You have experience playing Notre Dame and playing UMS LOL from time in hockey. 1:08:34 What have you kind of been telling the guys? 1:08:37 They're really hard-nosed team to play against. 1:08:39 It's a tough league over there, so obviously both teams are having a good year. 1:08:44 But I don't think much changes. 1:08:46 We just want to make sure we play our game, and if we eliminate our own mistakes, we're going to be just fine, so that's the message really. 1:08:53 Is it difficult to go and play teams that you maybe don't know or haven't seen at any point this season? 1:08:58 I think, for me personally, I feel like it works for an advantage for us, just because both teams, it's more just what you're going to do. 1:09:06 It's one game, you never see them, so try to do as much film as you can, but it really comes down to who plays their game better and doesn't shoot themselves in the foot. 1:09:16 How are you guys feeling about playing your own game coming off of that double overtime? 1:09:20 I think we feel pretty good even after that. 1:09:23 It's a tough way to lose, but we've had a great year so far, and a lot of confidence in the room this week, so I know we're all excited to get going. 1:09:33 You guys are without Lindgren and Eric Scherhorn. 1:09:35 It's going to be a first time NCAA goalie. 1:09:38 What does the team as a whole need to do defensively to make sure that everything's in place? 1:09:43 Well, I think obviously losing Ryan, he's a huge part of our defensive core this year, but that's what being a team is part of. 1:09:51 I know we want to raise our level of play for him, and also Eric's going to rock all year, so we got guys that are going to step in. 1:09:57 Like I said, we want to play for Ryan, and he's been a big part of where we are right now. 1:10:03 So yeah, I think we'll just play our same game and make sure that defense first is the most important. 1:10:11 Have you played in that rink in Manchester, or do you know anything about it? 1:10:15 No, I haven't played there. 1:10:17 I don't know anything about it. 1:10:20 All good? 1:10:20 Yep, thanks.