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This is The GPL Podcast, sponsored by Vintage Minnesota Hockey, your exclusive source for throwback Minnesota jerseys.
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Visit vintagemnhockey.com Now, here's Hammy, Vigo, and your host, Jupiter.
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Good evening, and welcome to The GPL Podcast, episode number 115.
0:47
Well, boys, the season started last weekend up in Duluth, and hammy, sort of like you predicted, if they lose against Duluth, there's gonna be a panic.
0:59
And I love that you love the reactions from the people panicking on GPL and elsewhere about the Gophers losing yet again the eighth time in a row to the mighty Bulldogs of Minnesota Duluth.
1:12
Well, I mean, I think it's, I understand part of it, but then at the same time, it's kind of like, okay, it's the first game of the year.
1:20
And you kind of know that the players haven't really had full practices for very long.
1:25
You kind of don't entirely know what to expect.
1:27
I mean, even veteran teams under those circumstances don't always start out strong.
1:33
Some teams, you know, we've seen some years where the Gophers are great out of the gate.
1:36
So then they fizzle and we've seen other years, you know, where it's not so great and then they continue to build momentum.
1:42
So it's just, I just feel like you can't freak out about it too much in the first weekend.
1:48
And I get it, it's sort of an in-state opponent.
1:52
And do you want to always, I mean, we all want to win every game, but you just don't know until the end of the season which games are going to be more important than others from a non-conference perspective.
2:02
And we'll find out when it gets to be like March.
2:05
Yeah, we will find out, but VX, this is starting to be not very funny for the players on the Gophers.
2:11
I don't think any of them have beaten Duluth, and is it in their head now?
2:17
Well, it's definitely in the head of some of the upperclassmen.
2:20
You talked to Tyler Bashi after the game, and he said, you know, it sucks and numbers don't lie.
2:26
They're having a tough time with Duluth.
2:28
And the problem with me is that in a lot of these big games, it's the same types of mistakes.
2:34
Liam Bristedt talked about this today at Availability that they have so many turnovers at the Blue Lines, and that's what comes back to bite them every time in these big games.
2:45
It's what beat them against UMD this last weekend.
2:48
It's what beat them against Notre Dame last year.
2:52
It's what beat them against Penn State.
2:53
You know, this is the problem with this team is they just don't show the discipline sometimes to tip it deep and get in on their forecheck.
3:01
And the coaches have been emphasizing that's what they want to do this year.
3:04
That's the kind of team they want.
3:06
And their first chance to do it, you know, and they shot a blank.
3:10
Boy, did they come out flat though, too.
3:12
I mean, there was just no jump to the game, mistakes all over the place.
3:16
Didn't Duluth almost score in the first minute, didn't they?
3:21
Well, I think what happened is you saw a couple of defensemen who wanted to try to make a statement and they stepped up on players through the neutral zone and whiffed and that gave Duluth opportunities to get some momentum.
3:33
Then the Gophers take two kind of bad penalties, a stick penalty and a holding penalty and go down five on three.
3:39
They almost escape it, but the last second goal gave Duluth a lead as they've had in the last eight games against Minnesota.
3:48
I put it in my piece for the Athletic, it was over 330 minutes they've had a lead in the last eight games.
3:54
The Gophers have had under 15.
3:56
So it's just been a big disparity between the two and who's getting ahead.
4:02
It goes a long way in College Hockey.
4:05
Well, we talked about that with Bruce Siskie this weekend when we were just after the game with him, how he was talking about that as well.
4:11
It's not just that the Duluth is winning, they're leading the game most of the time.
4:15
What did you say, 300 some odd minutes?
4:18
330 minutes on the last eight games, Duluth has had a lead against the Gophers.
4:23
And when you're chasing the game that much, it makes it hard to be successful.
4:27
Well, you were also talking with the players and how are they feeling about it?
4:33
Well, I think they're frustrated.
4:35
They're all trying to say that it's a new year, it's a new team, it's a clean slate.
4:40
But the way they played and made their decisions, they were still trying to force something to happen.
4:48
And it took a little time for them to get used to the, the officiating, I think, and moving their feet against a pretty good Duluth team.
4:54
Now, let's not kid ourselves.
4:55
Duluth has a lot of talent and they're hard to play against.
4:59
Riley Tufte in front of the net, he's a handful.
5:01
So, you know, they met their match on Friday.
5:04
It was good to see them recover and play better on Saturday, but it was two different games for them.
5:10
Boy, it was two different games.
5:11
And Hammeh, you talked about some of the people kind of already going off on the first game of the season.
5:17
Fire, Lucia, all this moronic stuff.
5:22
But Hammeh, from the fan's perspective, it's, you know, it's eight straight against Minnesota Duluth, and that's not a laughing matter.
5:32
Well, I mean, you don't like to lose any amount of games straight against any opponent, at least I don't.
5:37
You know, I know this won't be a popular opinion, but the reality for me is I don't look at Duluth as being any much more significant as an opponent out of conference than a lot of the other teams that we have out there.
5:55
I mean, it just, I understand we have a history there.
5:57
I understand to some extent there's that rivalry because of past WCHA and all that.
6:02
But to me, it's like, I don't look at that one game as being like so much more important than any other game during the year.
6:12
I honestly believe to UMD fans and the UMD, actually the team even, I think there is a certain level of, they place a significant amount of importance on that game that maybe right or wrong, that isn't coming from our end of things.
6:29
And of course, I want the players to match the intensity and I want them to care about every game significantly.
6:37
But I do feel like there is a little bit of that element where maybe even as much as the players might say it's important to them, I almost wonder if it just means a little bit more to Duluth to beat Minnesota than vice versa.
6:52
Probably not a popular opinion, but I think it's a reality.
6:56
But one thing though, Veegs, is that Duluth is quite possibly a team they could face at a regional.
7:04
And a regional in Sioux Falls this year.
7:08
I know they would love to put Minnesota, Minnesota, Duluth there together.
7:11
And with the psychology of hockey players, they haven't beaten Duluth yet.
7:18
So that's already an advantage that Duluth will have if they face each other in a real important game.
7:26
Yeah, I think the silver line there for me is the best line for the Gophers this weekend was what's been tagged, the RPM line.
7:35
Reedy, Pitlick, Middlestad, and they were on the phase.
7:38
I thought they played two really solid games.
7:41
And you're hoping by the end of the year that those guys are probably one of your better groups of players.
7:48
Middlestad was really impressive this weekend.
7:50
Pitlick, I think got bottled up a little bit on Friday, but he showed his speed again on Saturday.
7:56
And I think they're gonna be dynamic together.
7:59
Well, let's talk about that.
8:00
You get into a regional, sometimes one line is what you need to get you sparked.
8:06
Well, that is true, but I'm just trying to think psychologically.
8:09
I mean, you've got that many losses in a role against a team and it's gonna get in your head.
8:14
And like you said, none of them have beaten Minnesota Duluth yet, so time will tell.
8:19
Well, let's move on to the second game.
8:21
We have the next game.
8:22
We had about three people show up to the Minnesota Union game where Minnesota did win two to nothing.
8:29
It did look a little better.
8:30
They did seem a little more confident.
8:32
And one thing that you and I talked about this weekend while we were up in Duluth, thank you for me being your guest, by the way, Veegs.
8:39
That was fun.
8:40
It was fun.
8:42
You were telling me, you know, there's times where they just need to play smart.
8:46
They don't have to make the big play.
8:49
And I would say they did that much more Saturday afternoon.
8:53
You know, it was obviously a different opponent, but you know, they didn't try to make that risky play that would cause a turnover at the blue line.
9:01
It just seemed a little more solid play.
9:03
Exactly what some of the mistakes they had been making against Duluth.
9:08
Yeah, it's funny how the team can play so different from night to night.
9:12
I think it helped that they had the lead and they were able to play that way.
9:16
I looked back to last year, that game against North Dakota, where they were up two nothing.
9:20
And then the third period, you know, they just choked the clock down.
9:24
You know, they gained the blue line, gained the red line, got it deep.
9:28
You know, two forwards got off, one of them stayed on to forecheck.
9:32
And then he eventually got off when the line change was underway.
9:34
You know, it's just smart hockey when you don't want to take any chances.
9:39
And against Union, you know, time will tell how good they are, but they were, you know, a top 20 team.
9:44
I think they're 16 in the preseason poll.
9:47
You know, they just didn't let them get back in the game.
9:49
Even when they took the penalty, the five minute major to Lindgren, they are still solid.
9:54
They still played good discipline hockey and they didn't let up the seam passes.
9:58
So it was a good, you know, discipline to the system and performance on Saturday.
10:05
Hammey, were you able to see the game on Saturday or even the Friday game?
10:08
Did you pay to watch NCHC TV?
10:12
I did not.
10:13
I actually talked to a couple of people that were up at the game.
10:17
And then of course, you know, read some of the recaps and whatever.
10:20
So I watched the Periscope.
10:23
Yeah, I was not gonna be paying the NCHC for the rights to watch a couple of games.
10:30
So, you know, I think that one of the things we just need to realize, and sometimes I wonder if the coach, I probably shouldn't question the coaches on it, but, you know, there's some years where you, well, there's some years where you have the players, especially on the blue line to play the style of, you know, that you really, really want to.
10:49
I mean, Lucia has always had kind of that push the puck, you know, from the blue line, kind of be like the fourth forward, you know, that kind of a thing.
10:57
And, you know, there's been some years where we've definitely had that, you know, back in the championship years, a few years after that, you know, when then we have Mike Riley, and we've had some of that.
11:08
But then there are other years, like this year, for instance, where we really don't have that really dynamic guy, you know, or a couple dynamic guys that can really carry the puck and create a lot of offense.
11:21
And sometimes I wonder if the mentality amongst the players that don't have that skillset is like, I have to be that kind of a player because that's what's expected from the coaches.
11:32
You know, I don't know, but I do think that sometimes you kind of need to adjust the way you play based on the talent you have out there instead of just saying, well, we're going to play the same way every year.
11:44
And I just don't think that we have those kinds of horses on the blue line this year to be playing that style.
11:50
So for me, it's more about playing the smart, you know, doing the smart thing, being a little more conservative, just making that good first pass to get out of the zone.
12:01
Don't try to make the big flashy play, just kind of make the solid play.
12:05
And I think that we kind of have seen that when we don't have the guns on the blue line to play that flashy style, that that's when the Gophers are more successful is when they have players that just play smart.
12:17
And so hopefully we're not going to be taking as many chances this year from the blue line because I just don't think we have those kinds of guys, or at least if we do, they're young and not established enough to really do that on a consistent basis.
12:31
Well, one thing that Lucia did do on Saturday afternoon is flop the lineups quite a bit.
12:38
I mean, he didn't change the lines a lot, but he changed the order of the lines.
12:42
Vig, I know you and I were out in Canal Park when the lineup came out and you said to me, shots fired, kind of Lucia trying to send a message that I'm going to put the guys up front who worked the hardest Friday night.
12:57
And that's what he did.
12:59
Yeah, he said after the game that the thing that surprised him most was how disappointing his returning forwards were.
13:06
And it wasn't an accident that he listed Bristedt, Novak, Sheehy at the bottom of the line chart for Saturday.
13:12
He wanted to send a message to those guys that there's a lot of other talented players up front this year and if you're not gonna compete hard enough, I'm gonna send some messages.
13:25
And it was one of those weekends where I don't think he was able to shake up the lines, just because of the limited amount of practice they've had.
13:31
He wanted to get Joey Maruni in the lineup and unfortunately Brandon McManus didn't do anything deserved to get out of the lineup, but Lucia wanted to shake things up and his upperclassmen responded with a better game on Saturday, but those guys, Novak's coming back from the ACL injury, Sheehy's coming back from the back injury.
13:53
Now those guys may be a little slow, but they're gonna have to compete and Friday wasn't an easy game to compete in.
13:59
Well, it's still pretty obvious that that fourth line does a lot of work out there, don't they, Hammey?
14:05
I mean, you got guys like Romanko, you got guys like Ramsey.
14:08
They're not gonna score a lot of goals, but they are put out there in key situations, whether it's penalty kills, trying to slow the other team down, end of the game situations.
14:17
These guys are playing a lot more, and maybe it's because the rest of them weren't playing that well, but that fourth line or quote fourth line is getting a lot of work.
14:28
Yeah, well, and they did contribute offensively this, you know, against Duluth, and I mean, so you have to give them a little credit for that.
14:35
I think that there, you know, you want that fourth line to eat up some minutes and give the top lines a breather, but also occasionally pitch in, you know, some goals here or there.
14:45
I mean, when I think of the best Gopher teams, we always had kind of a fourth line that at least had some, you know, had the ability to score to a degree.
14:53
I mean, they might not be first line guys, but they were going to contribute offensively over time.
14:58
And hopefully, you know, what we saw a little bit of this last weekend will be something that we'll be seeing on a continual basis throughout the season.
15:07
Veegs, what are your thoughts on Schiehorn's weekend?
15:09
I thought he did fish a lot of shots Friday night.
15:13
He probably kept him in that game, the first half of the game, though the last goal, probably a little soft.
15:17
It was a little bouncer off the top of his pad and into the goal.
15:21
But what do you think of Schiehorn's performance?
15:24
Yeah, I thought overall he was pretty solid.
15:26
You know, he made some great saves in that first period to keep the game close and give his team a chance to be in it and get to overtime.
15:34
You know, he said over the off season that he worked really hard on his game.
15:40
Lucia complimented him on his diligence this off season, working with goaltending coaches.
15:46
I think he was working with Andy Kent and the mega-goaltending crew this summer, which was something he didn't do last summer.
15:54
So he really was focused this year on getting himself to be a better goalie.
15:58
And he does look calmer out there.
16:01
He's not moving around so much, which is good for him.
16:05
And then, you know, when he gets the breakaways, he's still real aggressive and shows this athletic ability.
16:11
So I thought it was a good weekend for Schiehorn.
16:12
It was a good start.
16:14
You know, I think seeing the other goalie come in this year, Robson, you know, really motivated him to have a good year.
16:22
So we'll see how it goes as it progresses.
16:24
He's gonna have a tough test this weekend with Penn State.
16:27
He throws a lot of pucks at the net.
16:29
It's a challenge for him to be calm and not give up any rebounds to them.
16:34
Any other observations from this weekend, Veegs?
16:36
Any other kind of notes that you picked up while you were covering up there for the Athletic?
16:42
I thought Tyler and Annie looked good on the power play.
16:45
The big difference to me between Friday and Saturday was that the Gophers used their defensemen a lot more.
16:51
I know that's something Lucia always harps on.
16:53
You know, you don't wanna play three on five in the offensive zone.
16:56
You gotta figure out a way to use your defensemen.
16:59
And I think that's gonna be an emphasis for this team, even though they don't have the real dynamic guys back there.
17:04
You still gotta use them in the offensive zone to open up some space.
17:08
So I think that's something to look for.
17:09
Nanny looks pretty confident on a puck for somebody who hasn't played for over 900 days between games.
17:16
So it'll be interesting to see how he does as the season goes along.
17:20
Hopefully he doesn't tire out.
17:21
Hopefully he's stored that energy.
17:23
And hopefully he stays healthy because obviously he's had a rough go of it with his health scare.
17:30
Hammey, so basically bottom line, we shouldn't panic yet?
17:34
I wouldn't first weekend of the year.
17:36
I would hope that people would have a little more patience than that.
17:41
I would hope so too.
17:43
I guess this isn't like missing the World Cup, Jube.
17:47
Don't get me started on that, man.
17:49
Really?
17:49
You just had to say that, didn't you?
17:51
I had to because I was expecting Minnesota to play better on Friday.
17:55
You know, I thought with all the veteran forwards, they'd be ready for this game.
17:59
They talked all week about playing a smart game.
18:02
Then they go out in the first two minutes and they play without a head for a while.
18:08
So it was a little disappointing to see, but it was good to see that they rallied on Saturday.
18:12
And this team does have a lot of talent.
18:15
It was good to see Pelika Middlestad out there with Reedy.
18:18
I thought they looked real good together.
18:20
Well, let's talk about Middlestad.
18:23
He obviously was a factor this weekend.
18:26
I really don't recall what he did Friday night, but he did have a goal and assist on the Saturday game.
18:34
He had an assist on Friday and a goal on Saturday.
18:38
A goal on Saturday.
18:40
Yeah, it was a nice goal, too.
18:41
So him and Pitlick had a couple of nice goals.
18:44
But let's talk about Casey.
18:45
It was his first weekend.
18:46
It was his debut, I should say, in a hostile environment.
18:50
At least Friday night was hostile.
18:52
How do you think he did?
18:53
Did he hold up pretty well?
18:55
I think he held up pretty well.
18:57
Well, I think one of the things you'll see with Middlestad is how well he plays in tight spaces.
19:01
He's able to handle the puck with pressure on him.
19:05
He's got that low panic point.
19:07
And he's got really nice vision.
19:08
I think on the big ice at Mariucci, you're going to see him make a lot of great passes, especially on the power play, off the rush.
19:17
So it's going to be an exciting season to see how he puts up points.
19:22
People forget, obviously, he's a scorer.
19:24
But he is quite the playmaker.
19:27
And it's so far, even in an exhibition and in, I think, that assist Friday Night Against the Luth, he is quite the playmaker, Hammeh.
19:35
And we should expect a lot more from him on that.
19:39
Yeah, I mean, it's like Vig said.
19:42
I mean, you get him on the open ice sheet at Mariucci with that fast skating, those quick hands.
19:48
I mean, I know that we saw the one clip.
19:51
I think Vig's, are you the one that recorded that clip at Mariucci, the exhibition game?
19:56
Yep, that was me.
19:56
I was just figuring something special would happen on one of his first shifts.
20:00
So I recorded the first two and I was one for two on some magic.
20:04
Yeah, so I mean, but I mean, I think that's just kind of an example of just the kind of skill set and this is the things that he can do out there.
20:13
I would imagine as the season goes on, we're going to see some pretty special things from him.
20:19
I'm hoping that his performance will help raise the game of some of the other guys around him to kind of try to match that kind of special play.
20:29
Well, one of the things I noticed was on Pitlick's goal, both Middlestad and Reedy were driving on the opposite sides of the ice.
20:37
So that really kept the other checkers from getting to Pitlick.
20:41
So that helped create the space for him to drive all the way past his defender and to the net.
20:47
Those guys aren't doing that stuff, that hard work, that space isn't there for him.
20:52
So it's nice to see those players already do that.
20:54
I think it's a hard thing for hockey players sometimes to understand that while they might not be getting open for a pass, they're occupying a defender and creating space.
21:03
And those guys already have that in their head, which is good to see.
21:08
Well, if you are listening live or even listening later on, you ever have a question for us, just hop on Twitter and use the hashtag GPL Podcast, and we'll try to answer your questions during the podcast.
21:20
You know, last week was, we had a lot to talk about, so we didn't get too much except towards the end there, but our old friend Nate Wells, who was with us this weekend, wants to know the best beer at Hoops, Veegs, and you guys had to drink so fast because they shut down.
21:34
Did you get a chance to test the best beer at Hoops?
21:38
Other IPA 48 is pretty spectacular.
21:41
Mike Hoops has done a long shift at Fickers Brewing, and he knows how to do IPAs and that hard water from Lake Superior, and that IPA from there is quite tasty.
21:53
I preferred our drinking later that night when we were trying all different kinds of whiskey and just having a good time.
21:59
That stuff's good too.
22:03
I think you liked the larceny bourbon.
22:05
That was pretty good.
22:07
It was good.
22:08
Thank you for introducing it to me.
22:10
Definitely feeling good till four o'clock in the morning.
22:14
A lot to break down.
22:15
Duluth is always fun.
22:16
You always have to stay up late in Duluth because it's a good time.
22:21
We have another question, but it talks about this weekend, so we'll get to that after in a little bit.
22:28
Well, first, let's get to our sponsors and then we'll talk about Penn State coming in this weekend.
22:35
vintagemnhockey.com is a proud sponsor of the GPL Podcast.
22:40
Well, what is VintageMNHockey?
22:42
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.
22:53
All information about any of those teams can be found on vintagemnhockey.com.
22:57
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.
23:07
So make sure you check out those interviews.
23:08
It's a really great thing.
23:10
But as I always say, I think my favorite part is the store.
23:14
The store, you can buy a custom historical jersey from the Gophers or the Bulldogs or some of your favorite high school teams.
23:21
And if you do make a purchase, just use the code GPL Podcast, all one word, and you'll get 10% off your order.
23:28
So make sure you visit vintagemnhockey.com and follow them on Twitter at VintageMNHockey.
23:37
And thanks to Vintage for sponsoring us yet another season here.
23:41
Well, boys, Penn State's coming to town last year.
23:45
Minnesota did pretty well against Penn State until the final game they played them and lost in double overtime.
23:51
But a lot of expectations coming with Penn State this year, Hammy.
23:56
And this is a program that's growing really fast.
24:00
And I think it's good for hockey that they're growing fast because it was because of them that this whole hockey scene was turned upside down.
24:07
So I think it's good that they're becoming kind of a really good team pretty fast.
24:14
Well, if you went back and listened to podcasts from a long time ago, I always said that I thought that Penn State had a really good opportunity to be a big player in college hockey and to really make an impact because they obviously had the rank, they had the support.
24:33
The fans came out early in their program's history and clearly had a passion for things.
24:41
And when you have all those kinds of variables, it's just a matter of time before you start bringing better talent in.
24:48
And I think that that's kind of the direction that they're going to continue to head in.
24:52
I think that there'll be a program that's going to be heard from on a relatively consistent basis.
24:57
I mean, it's hard to do that every single year, but I think that they'll be one of those teams that will certainly be contending for NCAA spots on a relatively consistent basis, given what they have built to this point.
25:11
And it's not a big surprise to me.
25:14
It's one of the reasons why I didn't have a huge issue with the Big Ten as far as early on and the way that it wasn't really kicking ass right away.
25:24
It was like, well, you kind of have to, at least from a Penn State perspective, give them a little time.
25:29
And of course, Wisconsin's gonna turn it around with a new coaching staff and Michigan will as well.
25:35
So I think that, you know, all these teams are gonna be headed in the right direction.
25:39
And Penn State to me is not a big shock, not a shock at all.
25:44
Well, we've got John Candels.
25:46
I think that's how you pronounce it.
25:47
Wants to know, is this weekend a must sweep?
25:51
I don't know if that's the case.
25:52
It's the first league weekend of the year.
25:55
So I don't think that's truly the case.
25:56
But I think what he's kind of getting at, Veegs, is that, is this a must sweep just to show us that this team is as good as they should be?
26:04
I don't feel like this weekend's a must sweep.
26:08
I think it's a good chance for them to sweep, just because I think their style play at Mariucci presents a big advantage over the style play Penn State plays.
26:16
So I think from that perspective, it's a big opportunity for a sweep.
26:20
But I don't think it's a must sweep.
26:22
I think when Michigan State comes to Mariucci, that's a must sweep.
26:27
But Penn State's pretty good.
26:28
They went to the tournament last year.
26:30
They've got some nice players on their roster.
26:32
Smirnoff is a tricky player.
26:34
They've got defensemen who like to get in the rush.
26:37
They're a team that can score goals.
26:39
So as much as Gopher fans don't like to face the fact, Penn State's a good team and it's gonna be a tough challenge for them.
26:48
And like you guys said earlier, they do like to throw a lot of pucks on net.
26:51
They might not be quality shots, but you throw a puck in, you get a good bounce, you get a good rebound, that's how you win and score.
26:57
So, Hammy, that's gonna be Penn State's MO this weekend.
27:02
Throw pucks on the net, get rebounds, get dirty goals and they've been pretty successful over the past couple of years.
27:10
Yeah, I mean, that's definitely kind of the style of play that they've become known for.
27:14
I mean, even this last weekend, the first weekend of the year for them.
27:16
I mean, they had 39 shots, 35 shots on goal.
27:21
A little low for them.
27:24
Yeah, for them, yeah, exactly.
27:25
It's probably even a little low for them.
27:27
So, we know that they're...
27:28
Well, they were on the road, so...
27:30
Oh yeah, they're on the road, so...
27:31
They had stishes this time, so...
27:33
Yeah, exactly.
27:35
If it wasn't within six feet of the crease, it's a shot for Penn State, apparently, and on home ice.
27:42
But anyways, I just think that that's just the style of play.
27:46
If we can get those pucks right away and kind of transition it, like I said earlier, just make the smart, good first pass and kind of get the talented forwards headed in the right direction.
27:57
I think that it's gonna be, it's a successful way of counterpunching that kind of a game.
28:03
So I think that hopefully we'll have that from our defensemen this weekend.
28:07
They'll be supporting one another in terms of team defense and transitioning when we do kind of collect the puck and go the other direction.
28:15
Well, plus, you know, Veegs, I don't think that style of game works as very well on the big sheet at Mariucci.
28:20
I mean, you dump it in, the goalie puts it over in the corner.
28:23
That corner is much deeper than it is on a standard rank.
28:25
It's much further away.
28:27
It's a totally different game and maybe that style just doesn't work so well at Mariucci.
28:38
The metrics of shots against St.
28:41
Lawrence, they attempted 72.
28:45
So if that tells you something, they attempted 70 against Clarkson.
28:51
So they're throwing pucks at the net.
28:54
The Clarkson, St.
28:54
Lawrence scores probably just didn't market the way a Penn State score might.
29:01
So that just shows you a little deeper into the stats that they haven't changed at all, and Schiehorn's gonna have to be steady and not give up on any rebounds when they do that, because they're gonna throw the puck and they're gonna have bodies charging the net.
29:15
Yeah, they are, they are.
29:18
But overall, how do you think, I mean, this is an important weekend.
29:21
It is a league weekend.
29:22
This is a team you're not gonna see until the very last weekend of the year.
29:26
So I do think it is important that they make a statement.
29:29
Like, if it's either a win and a tie, I think, or a sweep, that's what they really need.
29:36
They need to get ahead of the game.
29:39
I mean, it's a different ball game this year.
29:42
Yeah, I thought it was interesting talking to Leon Bristedt today when we talked about managing the puck and turnovers.
29:50
And he kinda, in the middle of his answer, he started saying, well, maybe we should be just playing simple, straight ahead hockey early in the game and not put ourselves at risk early.
30:02
You mean what the coaches have been telling them over and over and over?
30:06
Right, cause that's what the coaches are telling them.
30:09
And I think the players think that they need to carry the puck across the zone cause that's their philosophy.
30:15
But especially early in the game, especially against Penn State, you'd like to see Minnesota come out and play a conservative 10 minutes, aggressive, hard, set the tone and maybe capitalize off of Penn State's mistakes.
30:28
And I think that game plan's gonna pay off for this team down the road if they can get it through their heads that that's a good way to play.
30:35
Leon Bristedt always asks why.
30:36
That's one of the great things about him is he wants to know and understand why he's doing things just now.
30:43
How he's doing things or what he's doing.
30:45
And if they can figure that out as a team collectively during the year, they're gonna be in better shape when they play in the tournament.
30:53
And that's what's killed them lately is these big games, they get into them and they don't play a smart style of hockey.
31:00
So what do you think?
31:01
What's your prediction on the weekend then, Hammeh?
31:04
Is it a good weekend or is it a bad weekend?
31:07
Yeah, well, you know, it's kind of like I said earlier, it's kind of hard sometimes early in the season to predict.
31:13
I guess my hope is being on home ice and hopefully getting some of the, you know, that first week, that first series kind of getting it that off of your shoulder on, you know, just kind of moving forward in terms of feeling like you're going to learn from that experience.
31:31
And hopefully some of the veteran guys will kind of shake off a little bit of the rust and contribute, you know, immediately rather than having it be kind of a committee situation and having them get punished in the second game.
31:44
So I do feel like it's going to be like a three point weekend, maybe a win and a tie.
31:48
I would suspect that I'm not comfortable predicting sweeps early in the year, just because this is, like I said, hard to know what what we're going to see.
31:58
What do you think, Veegs?
32:01
I think they're going to get at least three points on the weekend.
32:04
Minnesota, remember guys, just plays better to their game.
32:08
It is a possible six points.
32:10
So you think they're only going to be a split, huh?
32:13
Yep.
32:14
Yeah, come on.
32:18
Well, I mean, this is a team that, you know, has some new pieces and they're planning to get the team that's really going to force the game into your face like Duluth did.
32:28
So, you know, you get those back-to-back nights where, you know, you might not have a consistent performance.
32:36
And Penn State's not a pushover.
32:38
They're going to come with a chip on their shoulder.
32:40
You know, last year they came out and I think they gave out five in each game at Mariucci.
32:45
Don't know if that's going to happen this weekend.
32:47
Mm-hmm.
32:48
Especially with that.
32:49
I got to say four out of six points then, Juke.
32:53
Well, that's better.
32:54
If we're going to go officially, like, we'll go...
32:57
I can't go old school with the three points, so I can't...
33:00
Yeah, I know.
33:01
It's tough to remember that because it's so goofy.
33:04
Tim Hapke wants to know, it appears Lucia doesn't like the Penn State coach very much.
33:10
Is that true?
33:12
Do we know anything about that, Hamme?
33:15
I haven't heard anything specifically about that.
33:17
I don't know if there's some kind of behind the scenes history there or not.
33:23
I don't imagine that they'd be crossing paths too often in certain ways.
33:28
So I haven't heard that, but I guess it's totally out of the realm of possibility.
33:34
I know certain coaches have issues with other coaches because there's a personality conflict or whatever.
33:41
So it's possible.
33:42
Who knows?
33:42
Well, he may not have a problem with the Penn State coach, but we do know that a lot of the NCHC coaches have a problem with the Big Ten coaches and a lot of it is related to recruiting practices.
33:58
And I know you were at the NCHC media day and you had some good talk with a lot of people there, didn't you?
34:07
Yeah, I tried to take the temperature of all the coaches from the NCHC about how they feel about early recruiting, how they feel about the gentleman's agreement and how they feel about delayed enrollment.
34:19
And they certainly feel like the Big Ten is throwing its weight around because the Big Ten has a big voice when they set rules like that with the NCAA because those institutions have a lot of power there.
34:30
Whereas some of the other schools, like Denver, CC, St.
34:34
Cloud have very little voice in those groups.
34:37
So which way the Big Ten goes, a lot of those other leagues are going to follow.
34:42
And I don't think the NCHC coaches like that.
34:45
They feel like, you know, the Big Ten isn't respecting gentlemen's agreement.
34:49
I think Wisconsin got another verbal today from a player and that puts them at like 33, 32 maybe on their verbal commit list.
35:02
And so I think that rubs a lot of coaches the wrong way.
35:05
They think that the Big Ten is trying to get the best to both worlds and is making things difficult by having their new conference and forcing College Hockey to change.
35:14
And so there's definitely some animosity there.
35:17
Well, there's animosity and then there's also controversy.
35:20
And Hammy recently, a lot has been talked about some of the young verbals that are happening in College Hockey and specifically with Minnesota recently.
35:30
We had some very young kids verbally commit to Minnesota and you know, a lot has been talked about with this, about the whole, how young are we going to recruit these kids and how long are they going to be in the hopper before they get to actually play for the school?
35:47
It's getting a little tenuous out there with the, you know, how people feel about this.
35:52
Well, I think the first thing that we all have to realize is that the Gophers just happen to be the winner of the sweepstakes.
35:59
It's not like they were the only one on the, you know, it's not like they were out on an island.
36:04
You know, these kids were getting offers, you know, from a lot of different places.
36:09
So it's not a matter of just one school going rogue and everybody else shaking their head at them.
36:14
I mean, they were, you know, pretty much the schools that you would all imagine would be trying to get these kids were trying to get them.
36:21
And so I think that maybe sometimes people, you know, because the winner gets them and you know that they were the obvious ones that offered, they don't entirely realize how many other schools were in the hunt trying to do the exact same thing.
36:34
And so it's a little hypocritical to get overly, you know, harsh on what the Gophers are doing when a lot of these other schools are doing the exact same thing.
36:43
It just, they're not the ones winning in this specific instance.
36:46
So, you know, there's not one specific reason why these early, you know, commits happen.
36:54
I mean, I think it's a variety of different reasons that are contributing.
36:58
I mean, we've talked about the gentleman's agreement in the past.
37:01
I think that created almost like a race to the bottom for certain coaches where it's like you want to get those kids locked in as soon as you possibly can because then you're locking out all the other opportunities out there.
37:16
If you get a kid who's, let's say, 15 years old on a recruiting visit, maybe it's early in the process for that kid and you're like, okay, here's your offer.
37:26
You've got two weeks to make up your mind, otherwise, we ought to go in another direction.
37:30
Well, when you're a 15-year-old kid and you don't totally know what else is going to be out there, you might have little ideas here or there.
37:39
You're probably likely to take that even if it's not even the best option you might have.
37:44
Then you have this gentleman's agreement and everybody else is locked out.
37:51
And to me, the gentleman's...
37:53
what's that?
37:54
But are they really locked out?
37:57
The other teams?
37:57
Well, they're not as much now because more and more of them are saying, to hell with it.
38:04
I'm not going to play that game anymore.
38:06
This is not a specific rule by the NCAAs.
38:10
But in the past, that's how it was.
38:14
And it became a race to get commits, and then it doesn't benefit...
38:19
the gentleman's agreement doesn't really benefit anybody other than a percentage of college hockey coaches.
38:26
It definitely doesn't benefit the best...
38:29
the programs with a lot of the recruiting might, the Boston colleges, the Michigan's, the Minnesota's, the UMDs, the UMDs.
38:40
It doesn't really benefit those schools as much as it does other schools because you're going to have that opportunity that recruiting might...
38:52
you can swing that around and you're not afraid of losing commits because you're just not going to tend to lose them to other schools and it doesn't benefit the recruits because the recruits, especially if they've committed young, they don't have a freaking idea what their options really are.
39:08
And I've said this before, if you're a kid or if you're a coach, excuse me, that feels really confident in his sales pitch about his program, I've got the best program for you kid, I got a great staff for you, we got great opportunities, we got a great education for you.
39:24
If you're that confident in what you're offering a kid, what do you have to fear in keeping the options open elsewhere to let other schools make their pitch?
39:34
If you're so convinced you've got the best program, then lay it out there and let the kid listen to other options.
39:42
But these coaches don't want to because they know that there are other options out there that are better than their program and they don't want the kid to know about it.
39:50
That's what the Gentleman's Agreement is all about, it's about protecting your turf from other schools.
39:55
It's not about the kid and it's not about, you know, oh, let's just be fair with Marla, it's protecting turf.
40:01
That's what it's about.
40:03
And I think it's also about protecting time, because in college football, you have these huge staffs and you have these recruiting coordinators.
40:12
In hockey, you know, you have your three full time coaches, and then you have, you know, a hockey ops guy, a video guy and a goalie guy who are kind of secondary staff guy who aren't coaching.
40:25
So I think that's part of it too with hockey is why it's maybe a little bit different.
40:30
I think that the only legal thing holding up coaches from recruiting guys is the National Letter of Intent.
40:37
And I think that's going to be what's going to happen with college hockey is you're going to hear coaches, you know, chasing the bushes a little bit, finding out how firm these commitments are.
40:46
Well, you also have to remember that college hockey coaches don't have to recruit 25 guys a year like they do on football.
40:53
I mean, they're recruiting, you know, they might get a recruiting class of six guys, maybe eight guys, maybe a few less some years, a few more other years.
41:02
And yes, they're still having to talk about the pipeline, you know, that are coming after that.
41:06
But it is a little different in that sense.
41:09
So I don't really think that the numbers game is necessarily why college hockey is different.
41:16
I think sometimes people try to use the whole Canadian juniors, you know, that threat is if like that's, you know, oh, we got to make our pitch at 15.
41:25
Because if we don't, then all these kids are going to go north of the border to play major junior hockey.
41:30
And to me, it's like, first of all, it's bullshit, because that was not the case a long time ago.
41:36
And secondly, a lot of these kids are going to that are going to if they were going to go to major junior, they were going to do it one way or the other anyway.
41:45
If they have a college hockey commitment, a lot of times they're just trying to game the system and avoid playing for a certain school or, excuse me, a certain program up in Canada.
41:56
And so it's like, well, I'll have the threat of college hockey in my back pocket so I can manipulate the system to go where I want to go.
42:02
So that's another excuse that just doesn't wash.
42:05
If their kids are going to if that's a big deal, let the kids go.
42:09
There's only going to be a small handful of them that go up there anyway.
42:13
Let them go.
42:14
I would rather have an age limit, you know, 16, 17 years old and if some of these kids at 15 go north of the border, so be it.
42:24
Well, I know you talked to a lot of people over there at NCHC and should we have some rules how young is too young?
42:35
Well, one of the big things I heard from NCHC coaches is because of the way hockey is structured, there is so much contact between coaches and players all the way through up.
42:46
You know, at the model camp, you know, a lot of the best players from Minnesota are going to be on the University of Minnesota campus and there's seminars and things where they talk to the Gopher coaching staff.
42:59
You know, stuff like that's going to happen.
43:01
There's the select 15s, you know, they're going to bring in college coaches to talk to kids.
43:07
So, that's a piece of the puzzle that makes it hard to legislate and maybe better off, you know, putting out some limits on when you can offer the scholarship percentages and get that verbal agreement, but it's going to be hard to cut off contact between these college coaches and players, regardless of what age you put it at.
43:27
The other thing they talk about is what can you do on an unofficial visit?
43:30
You know, can you take a guided tour by the coaching staff or can you just take the general tour that any interested student will take?
43:38
You know, there's a lot of things that, you know, they might try to legislate like that.
43:43
You know, the number of games they can invite players to and give tickets to.
43:47
That's another thing that they might talk about.
43:51
But a lot of NCHC people don't want to put rules on it because there's so many ways around them.
43:58
Well, it's an interesting topic and we'll keep seeing.
44:01
I mean, I know some coaches and some people say it's, you know, we're recruiting 13 and 14 year olds.
44:08
These kids have not even hit their growth spurt yet.
44:11
I mean, there's just a lot of iffy things and then it ends up affecting things further down the line.
44:18
I mean, you know, all of a sudden, maybe this kid doesn't develop as quickly and then also you have to delay his, you know, his incoming in the school.
44:26
So I think that's where a lot of the frustration is too.
44:30
I think you're going to see that in college hockey become more of an issue.
44:34
The NCAA sent out compliance reminder to schools that you can't push back kids if you don't have the financial aid that you've committed to them available that year that they come in and pushing back the year has to be the kids decision.
44:48
It can't be the school's decision.
44:50
And if the school makes that decision, you know, then the players recruitment gets to open back up.
44:56
And that's something that's kind of been abused by coaches for a while.
44:59
I think you're seeing it all over college hockey where guys, you know, de-commit.
45:05
Maybe there wasn't a spot for them anymore.
45:08
I think William Falstrum just opened up his commitment again, and he was committed to you for a long time.
45:13
He was, but it just, you know, partial part of it is that obviously maybe we recruited him pretty early and he's not playing as well.
45:20
And then so we just kind of delay it, but and then the kid gets frustrated and leaves or you know, you've got the situations too, where, you know, kids are scheduled to come in and then all of a sudden you maybe get a late signing from somebody who's really good and all of a sudden we're going to delay a year and, and that kind of sticks it to the player and makes them angry.
45:38
So it's, there's just a lot of variables here and it's who knows where we're going to go with it.
45:44
So who knows?
45:47
Any last thoughts on this kind of young recruiting hammy?
45:50
What, what can we do?
45:51
Is there anything we can do?
45:52
Can we change anything or is it just going to kind of keep festering for a few more years?
45:57
I just think that you have to have some kind of legislation by the NCAA on an age limit on when you can actually, you know, verbally offer a scholarship or any kind of thing for to a kid.
46:12
I think that that would help it.
46:15
I think that, you know, you're always going to have coaches try to find some kind of loophole to get around things or whatever, you know, as long as you don't have it legislated, you know, by the NCAA and they'll always try to, if these gentleman's agreements and all this kind of verbal baloney, it's like, even though, I'm going to be honest with you, the ones that even the ones that say that they're for the gentleman's agreement will find loopholes for, like, oh, well, we just don't, you know, poach from, you know, our fellow conference schools, but we'll have an open game against other conferences for their recruits.
46:57
You know, it's like, there's what that's the way that's the mentality, though.
47:02
The mentality.
47:03
And that's something.
47:06
That's something I heard at the CAC is those coaches aren't going to poach from within themselves, but, hey, you know, if there's a kid committed to a Big Ten or hockey school, you know, maybe they have a different perspective.
47:21
And that's what I'm saying.
47:22
It's like, well, either you're forward or you're not.
47:24
You know, it's like if you're going to just kind of have these like little kind of asterisks for when it's OK to do it, it's like, well, then you're basically saying you're not completely in agreement for it.
47:36
You know what I mean?
47:37
I mean, just so to me, it's like just throw the whole throw it all out.
47:40
I mean, the end football and basketball, they basically recruit kids until, you know, they've signed their letter of intent.
47:48
And it's not like these kids in those sports crumble from the pressure or whatever.
47:53
I would like to think that kids that play high school hockey or junior hockey or whatever it is are just as tough as you know, mentally tough as football players or basketball players who, frankly, face even more attention than your typical college hockey recruit.
48:11
And so it's like, they can handle it, you know, hockey players can handle it.
48:16
So let's just forget about this crap and let's just keep it open until letter of intent time.
48:21
So basically, I think what you're saying is that let's get a minimum age and then it's a free-for-all and get rid of this damn gentleman's agreement, huh?
48:31
Well, like I said earlier, I don't think it's just the gentleman's agreement.
48:34
I think that that's a big contributor.
48:35
I think, like I said, it's also coaches using the Canadian juniors as an excuse, like, oh, well, we got to throw our offers in before these Canadian juniors sweep these kids away from us.
48:48
I think that's a part of it.
48:49
I certainly think that the lack of any kind of real hard guidelines from the NCAA on when you can actually offer a scholarship to a kid, I think that's a part of it.
49:01
There's just a lot of, you know, there's a lot of contributing factors, but I do think the gentlemen's game has played a significant role in the last, like, say, 10 years.
49:13
It definitely has.
49:15
It's just, you know, you see, you know, when a big school like Minnesota starts looking at these 13 and 14 year olds, even though other schools were after them, it's going to be a story and that's exactly what it was.
49:27
And everyone's going to say, oh, bad Minnesota, bad Minnesota.
49:31
But like you said, a lot of other schools are doing the exact same thing.
49:36
It's just, you hear about it because Minnesota got the two kids.
49:39
So bingo.
49:43
Yeah.
49:44
And the thing is, they're right.
49:45
And you know, it's just, it's just a slippery slope and we do need some clear definitions from the NCAA.
49:52
Who knows if we'll all forget that because the powers that be might prevent that from happening or do their best to prevent that from happening.
49:59
So it's, it's just a big game.
50:02
I'm not really sure there's much we can do about it, but it's a great topic to talk about, which is why I wanted to talk about it.
50:07
And I knew we didn't have time last week to talk about it because we had so much we were busy about last week.
50:12
But so any other final thoughts?
50:15
I mean, you know, we've talked about the recruiting thing.
50:17
That's kind of goofy.
50:18
We've talked about how, you know, this is a key weekend, no matter how early it is in the season, because it's a conference game.
50:25
And obviously, the conference is a little different this year, a little more powerful with Notre Dame coming in and being a quality squad.
50:32
So Veegs, any final thoughts on this weekend?
50:38
I think it will be interesting to see what kind of crowd we get.
50:40
You know, we have our first Sunday game that had to happen because Gopher football got flexed to that night spot against Michigan State, which forces the game to move to Sunday.
50:51
You know, Penn State is one of those schools that fans have been slow to embrace.
50:55
Season ticket sales are down this year for the U.
50:59
So looking at that crowd and how many empty seats are there will be something to watch for.
51:04
They were definitely doing some special packages, you know, via the ticket office and things like that, like a four pack and with hot dogs and drinks and stuff like that.
51:12
So they are definitely trying to get some of those empty seats filled.
51:17
I'm kind of curious, you know, we talk about how many no-shows there are.
51:22
I'm kind of wondering how many tickets are available this weekend, not just no-shows.
51:27
It's kind of, it'll be frightening to see, because it hasn't looked good and your story is on season ticket usage and people not showing up is, hopefully somebody at the U is listening to this because we know the hockey people at the U know what's going on.
51:43
They're trying to do their best, but it's really the people above them that need to pay attention to all this.
51:49
Yeah, I was kicking around some ideas.
51:50
I know Duluth is having the same issues where they have people who buy tickets and don't use them.
51:56
I've got some data from them that I'll be sharing at some point here this winter about their ticket usage as well.
52:03
And some ideas potentially to get people to show up.
52:06
I think the ticket office needs to create some energy.
52:11
They dropped their third party company that they're working with on tickets this year.
52:17
So they're trying to do it in house and influence people to show up.
52:21
So I know they've done a lot more public things with football as far as food and beverage and the game day experience.
52:29
I think they're a little bit slower on hockey, but it'll be interesting to see how many people do show up.
52:34
And Nate Wells is telling us that Sunday sales are lacking right now.
52:38
So I think they're worried about Sunday afternoon, and I would be too.
52:41
You switch that game, if it was already a tough sell in the first place because of Penn State, and obviously we know Penn State is good, but still Penn State is new and it's not a big name for hockey.
52:53
I think Sunday is the big concern, is season ticket holders not showing up because the Vikings are playing the Packers, and that's just the fact.
53:03
Exactly, let's be honest, the NFL is basically another part of Sunday religion.
53:11
To have any kind of a game on a Sunday during NFL season is going to be a tough one.
53:18
Even if the fan bases might be a little bit different, it's still going to be a pretty healthy portion of that fan base that's going to be like, yeah, I kind of want to watch the NFL.
53:27
It's once a week.
53:29
It is, and it's the Packers, it's the biggest game and obviously it's a home game for them.
53:35
I think Sunday is going to be a tough sell, it could be an empty place, but one could be a lot of traffic as well.
53:42
Yeah, get down there before the Vikings game.
53:45
Don't be late because I believe the game is at three, Vikings game is at noon, so you should be at Mariucci before the Vikings game gets out.
53:53
You should not have traffic problems.
53:56
But the good thing is that the games will be on FSN, you'll be able to see TV this weekend.
54:00
We'll be able to see Casey Middlestead kid and hopefully he'll light it up for us.
54:07
Every week I add the audio that Vigo captures of media day.
54:12
Vigo, what are we going to hear this week?
54:14
You'll hear about Eric Schiehorn and a little bit of his off season and how he's changed his game for this year.
54:20
You'll hear Lee Emberstead talk about the struggles last weekend and what the team needs to do to play a little bit more solid and you'll hear Don Lucia recap the weekend and preview Penn State.
54:30
He talks a lot about how when Penn State joined the Big Ten, he was one of the people that said, it's not going to take these guys long.
54:37
In college hockey, you just need two or three recruiting classes to get right into it.
54:42
When you get $100 million, a 6,000 seat arena that's sold out with fans packed in the seats, it's an easy sell when you're next to Michigan and Ontario and you have the name brand of Penn State.
54:57
Well, we'll have to see.
54:58
We're hoping all the crowd will show up this weekend and we're hoping that the Gophers play well.
55:02
I'm going to predict a sweep.
55:03
I know.
55:03
Shocking, right, guys?
55:06
We'll just have to see.
55:07
But we'll be back next week and we'll recap this Penn State series and then we're going to preview North Dakota.
55:44
I joked with Brian about who keeps stats in state college, but it seems like somebody's got 55 shots every time you play these guys.
55:50
Well, that's just part of their philosophy, is shoot from anywhere.
55:54
And so it's incumbent on our goaltender to be ready.
55:58
It's incumbent upon our defensemen to make sure we do a really good job boxing out, because they do, they come out firing.
56:05
That's part of who they are, and we have to understand that.
56:10
So being clean with pucks coming out of our own zone, making sure whether it's our forward, back and our 2D, that we have to do a really good job of not giving them second shot opportunities.
56:20
Do you key on a guy like Smirnoff?
56:22
I mean, you see the...
56:23
Well, you have to, yeah, you have to be aware, but I mean, they do a really good job of activating their D.
56:27
They're very involved offensively.
56:30
So it's going to be really important for our F2 and F3 not to get beat up the rink.
56:34
So your job's not done just because you're not the first forward, back.
56:37
And they thrive on that too.
56:39
So you're going to have to defend all five, because all five guys are going to get up into the play.
56:44
Five years ago, there was as much talk about, you know, Penn State being in the middle of all that potential recruiting.
56:49
There was as much talk saying, you know, this team's going to be buried for 10 years.
56:53
They're not going to be competitive.
56:54
Who said that?
56:55
I heard a lot of that.
56:59
Not the coaches.
57:00
Do I have to have names?
57:02
But, you know.
57:02
You're wrong.
57:04
I mean, all you had to do is look at how they were building the program.
57:08
First of all, somebody gives them $100 million to build a rig and endow scholarships, okay?
57:12
Then they build a, you know, 6,000 seat arena and they sell it every day.
57:17
Now it doesn't take rocket scientists to know that it's not gonna take long.
57:21
They have a good location.
57:22
I mean, you drive 300 miles radius around state college.
57:25
You're on the East Coast.
57:25
You're up in Ontario, in Toronto.
57:27
You know, you're in Michigan.
57:29
So, in Pennsylvania, hockey's really improving.
57:34
Now that they're in the Big Ten, they can come into Minnesota and get kids.
57:38
So, their footprint, everybody's heard of Penn State.
57:42
I mean, you can go up into British Columbia.
57:44
You can go up into Edmonton.
57:46
Because of football, I mean, everybody's heard of Penn State.
57:48
So, they did it the right way.
57:51
And it was just, there was two or three years in recruiting that was all you need because in many cases, you don't have seniors anyway.
58:00
So, you know, you could see them getting better every year.
58:03
You know, they built it early with some transfers that cycled out, they built it with some older kids.
58:10
And now I think they've developed into a very strong program like we all anticipated they would.
58:16
There's that theory that fans are going to really start to latch on to these Big Ten rivalries with epic games.
58:23
You guys had one in the tournament last year.
58:25
Yeah, I mean, when you look at the games we've had, I mean, sometimes you can just complain to complain.
58:30
And, you know, I can go back and say the way things were in their own range in the 70s versus the way they are now.
58:38
It's a little bit different, but it's the way things are.
58:41
And so it's the new reality, and I think it's critical that we all embrace where we're at today.
58:48
The programs that we have are, you know, have all been very strong in hockey over years.
58:54
They're all invested in their hockey programs at Notre Dame coming in.
58:58
So we got four teams that played in the NCAA a year ago, out of seven.
59:02
Wisconsin just missed out.
59:05
Michigan State won a national title ten years ago.
59:08
You know, Michigan played for one, what, five years, six years ago.
59:11
You know, so they'll cycle back, and it's just going to become, I believe, a real bear of a league.
59:18
And I think you're going to see some of that this year with, I think, every team.
59:24
Every game is going to be really competitive this year.
59:26
I just don't think you're going to see anybody, you know, run away with the league.
59:30
I think, you know, and they're probably seeing a lot of splits, a lot of weekends.
59:33
Eric Schiehorn, approaching his 77th consecutive start, going to be Gopher record.
59:38
What does that say about him as just like his durability?
59:40
Well, durability, knock on wood is one.
59:44
You know, he's a very competitive kid.
59:46
The one thing I've always liked about Eric is, and the players love him, his teammates do, and they want to play for him.
59:52
And Eric struggles in a game.
59:54
You can pretty much count on that he'll be really good the next game.
59:57
And I think that's part of his, you know, mental makeup and competitiveness that he brings to the rink each and every day.
1:00:03
And, you know, he worked really hard this summer at his craft with goaltending instructors, which he didn't do this summer before.
1:00:11
And I think we've seen that in his game early on, that he's a little bit quieter.
1:00:15
Now he's still going to, you know, at times, because he's so competitive, be a little bit of a street hockey goalie.
1:00:20
But, you know, he's much more square to pucks than what I saw in his previous two years.
1:00:25
And I think because he's athletic, he can make those saves, you know, when he continues to really quiet his game down, then he can go to another level.
1:00:33
When you got Bristedt here, were you sure he was going to become the kind of team leader he is?
1:00:39
You know what, Leon's been great.
1:00:41
And, you know, he...
1:00:43
A lot of Europeans, they've played over here.
1:00:47
You know, Eric Howler played over here.
1:00:49
A lot of, you know, kids played over here.
1:00:51
They don't come directly from Finland or Sweden very often, the Euros.
1:00:55
And Eric did.
1:00:56
So he had a transition.
1:00:57
You know, you're dealing with language.
1:00:59
You're dealing with, you know, homesickness or a girlfriend from back there that you're trying to, with eight-hour time changes, be able to talk to.
1:01:08
But, you know, when I think of Leon's, I mean, nobody works harder at practice.
1:01:12
I think when they see that, his work ethic each and every day, how hard he wants to get, how much he wants to get better, he stays after practice.
1:01:21
And he's a really good student.
1:01:23
He's inquisitive.
1:01:24
He's always asking questions, so that's how he learns.
1:01:27
Everybody's a little bit different.
1:01:28
So, you know, with Leon, he's going to have eight questions that, you know, he wants to know why.
1:01:33
And he's just, he's fun to be around.
1:01:36
And, you know, he still learned, like, we had a captain's meeting today.
1:01:41
I forget the word I used, but he didn't understand what I meant.
1:01:44
And then I was talking to him about his girlfriend.
1:01:47
You know, let me see a picture of your girlfriend.
1:01:50
And I asked him if he would kick his coverage.
1:01:52
He didn't understand what that meant.
1:01:54
So it's kind of fun, you know, sometimes to, you know, you deal with that.
1:01:58
But then when I explained, Edwin and the other guys explained to him, he got a good chuckle out of that.
1:02:02
So he goes, yeah, I would kick my coverage.
1:02:03
You had someone else do it for you.
1:02:07
Yeah, yeah.
1:02:08
Well, that's a football analogy.
1:02:10
Yeah, you needed a hockey analogy.
1:02:11
But, yeah, I forget the word I used today.
1:02:15
And he didn't grasp that English, what it really meant.
1:02:18
But Leon is just a consistent effort.
1:02:22
He's a dog on a puck.
1:02:25
I really enjoy being around him.
1:02:27
He's a fun kid to be around.
1:02:28
Do you put Friday's film in the archive and focus on Saturday?
1:02:32
No, we didn't.
1:02:34
The Friday's film was very much in play Saturday morning.
1:02:37
I can promise you that.
1:02:38
But again, it's early.
1:02:40
And it was interesting that Scotty Bell showed me the quote from Mike Sullivan after the first couple of days, trying to get across the guys, that this is not one big flow drill right now.
1:02:53
We're back in season.
1:02:55
That's kind of how I felt our guys played, especially up front, that we didn't play as competitively as we needed to.
1:03:03
And it showed what chances, and even though we didn't play great, I thought we had a chance to win the game or tie a game.
1:03:12
I think as much as we didn't play great, took too many penalties, but we had a chance.
1:03:20
And even heading into overtime, you got to come up with a tie.
1:03:24
I mean, you just don't make a couple of colossal mistakes that we made by older guys at that point in the game.
1:03:29
I think that's probably what disappointed me more than anything, that you find a way to, you know, you're 3-3 heading into overtime, and then you just kind of give it away with a couple poor decisions.
1:03:40
But that's the learning process that you have to go through.
1:03:44
You know, summer hockey's over, and things are a lot more competitive now.
1:03:47
You mentioned after Saturday's game that you kind of wanted to get Casey and some of the other freshmen on the penalty kill.
1:03:53
Is that still kind of the plan for this week?
1:03:55
Yeah, I mean, we don't have anything set on who's going to necessarily play, but, you know, he'd get a five-minute major, and it's too long for him to sit and watch.
1:04:05
You know, one of the things we did last weekend, though, is, you know, his line was the first out after every penalty kill, so they got back into the flow, but, you know, I mean, he's got to get his minutes.
1:04:15
I mean, you saw this weekend, you know, he's a pretty special player, and I thought even Rem from Friday to Saturday, Rem was really good on Saturday, both real impactful players, so we just, we got to get some of the older forwards to play better than what they did last weekend.
1:04:29
I think that certainly we've seen that they can, and, you know, it's, you can't rely on, you know, freshmen to carry the mail, and you got to have the older guys do it.
1:04:37
Conference play started earlier this year compared to the past four.
1:04:40
Yeah, I like it.
1:04:41
I like that.
1:04:42
I never really liked the fact that you play, you know, one start conference till Thanksgiving.
1:04:47
It's nice to, you know, play some conference games and go back to a non-conference game, and, you know, they're mixed in throughout the year a little bit more.
1:04:54
Then, you know, only having 20 league games, it was limiting.
1:04:58
And when you, when we're going to play those conference games, it's always after Thanksgiving to begin with.
1:05:04
So, I'm glad we're starting them in October now.
1:05:06
Did you pick up any injuries during last weekend that come and play this weekend?
1:05:11
No, not as of today that, you know, we still, we're hopeful that, you know, everybody that could play last weekend will be available this weekend.
1:05:20
Ryan Lindgren, what's your balance between his tenacity and trying to keep him out of the penalty box?
1:05:26
How do you struggle that one?
1:05:28
It was, you know, time and distance.
1:05:32
You know, I thought it was kind of a tough call when I watched the video.
1:05:38
You know, his hands were down when he came in and hit.
1:05:40
But as I told him, I mean, if you think of, we've all been around hockey enough that one major's called on one team, well, you know, with the old marbles, you know, and I said, you know, we're up to nothing.
1:05:54
There's 12 minutes to go in the game.
1:05:55
You really don't need a big hit like that to, you know, is it a major?
1:06:00
Is it not a major?
1:06:02
You know, was it two?
1:06:03
Was it not two?
1:06:03
I mean, it was, I don't think I've seen a major called on that situation before where they huddled together when nobody made a call to begin with, but they did to our guys' credit.
1:06:14
We killed it off, but not just Ryan in general, but we had far too many penalties.
1:06:19
I mean, we had, I mean, even the Duluth game, we had a good three, four minutes to start the game and then boom, take two penalties, hookings, holdings, 15 seconds apart.
1:06:29
And now you're down, now you're chasing the game.
1:06:32
And we can't take six, seven penalties each game.
1:06:38
And so we have to do a better job with our discipline and moving our feet and not reaching with our hands or reaching with our stick and take those type of penalties.
1:06:46
So it would be nice if we get back to three or four penalty kills a game and not spending 12, 14 minutes on the kill.
1:06:53
There was one of those calls in the Duluth game, too, where they didn't call anything initially.
1:06:57
They went to the review in major.
1:06:59
Is that something they're trying to take out of college hockey?
1:07:02
Yeah, well, I don't know if the big hit they're trying to do, but there's obviously sensitivity to getting hit in the head.
1:07:10
When I even looked at that one, I can't tell if the guy got hit in the head or they hit helmets or what.
1:07:15
I just know that I already end up hitting here.
1:07:19
When Ryan got the extra game last year, his arm was up.
1:07:22
And obviously you can't go into a guy with your elbow up and hit him in the head because that's not what we're trying to do.
1:07:28
But I think college hockey is always trying to protect the player, especially along the boards or, again, those open ice hits when your hands are up.
1:07:37
My junior got hit the day before against Duluth in the middle of the rink, and that was a clean hit.
1:07:43
His head was down, and you don't want to dangle in the middle of the rink with your head down.
1:07:48
Not a good idea.
1:07:50
I didn't think there should be a penalty just because it's a big hit doesn't necessarily mean it's a penalty, but you got to learn.
1:07:57
You got to understand the time of the game.
1:08:00
It's one thing in the first period you're trying to establish how you want to play, it's another late in the game when you're ahead.
1:08:12
Does it, I mean, in terms of the durability it takes though, I mean, I know it's just a record, but just the way you stop and think about 70 in a row, what that signifies.
1:08:23
Yeah, I mean, it definitely does signify durability.
1:08:28
It's a little easier in college than in pro and juniors, but I'm just happy that Don's stuck with me, and I feel really good, so it's good.
1:08:41
What's it going to be like to come back to Mariucci?
1:08:44
What's that atmosphere like in the first home game of the season?
1:08:46
Yeah, I mean, I can't wait.
1:08:48
It's fun playing on the road in hostile environments, it really is, but it's also fun having your fans behind you, and especially fans in Mariucci, so we're all psyched for that.
1:09:00
You like the idea of conference games this early?
1:09:02
I know it hasn't been the case for the last few years.
1:09:04
Yeah, I mean, I don't really care when we play them.
1:09:07
They're the same thing, whether they're now or whether they're early December or the second half of the year.
1:09:15
What are you guys looking to build off from last week?
1:09:19
I think the big message is getting pucks behind opposing teams D and going to work on our forecheck.
1:09:26
We don't want to be too much of an East-West team, fancy play, I mean, we got skill, but we also got to work, too, so I think that was the big message.
1:09:34
Four regular season wins against Penn State, and then you had that multi-overtime after the playoffs.
1:09:38
What do you think facing them again?
1:09:42
You know, they got a lot of returning guys, I know that, and they shoot a lot and they work hard, so we kind of know what they're bringing, so I'm sure our coaches are working to combat that with the game plan, and like you said, we beat them four times last year, so, you know, but they were tough tests, so it's not going to be an easy game.
1:10:02
That high shot volume, what are the keys for you to have a good weekend?
1:10:05
Rebound control.
1:10:06
Rebound control is the biggest thing.
1:10:08
They step inside the blue line, they fired on you, and they're looking for a rebound, so I think if I can just suck everything up or put everything to the corner, I think it makes it more difficult for them to create offense, so I think that's key for me and to help our team defense.
1:10:26
How about your game, are you doing anything tactically different this year?
1:10:30
Do you have a different approach at all compared to previous games?
1:10:33
I just think the summer work, I just feel more fundamentally sound, and I think I look like it too, just watching video from the first three appearances now, and I can feel it in practice too.
1:10:43
It's a lot of body position.
1:10:45
I'm not all over the place.
1:10:47
I still have that athletic aspect, but at the same time, I'm just in control and making saves where otherwise in the previous two years, I might have made them look a little more difficult.
1:10:57
They're a little more routine now.
1:10:58
You just touched on it, but you beat them four times last year.
1:11:01
Did the double overtime loss stick with you guys that would motivate you a little bit?
1:11:05
I mean, yeah, that one hurts.
1:11:06
We're not gonna forget about that one.
1:11:08
BigTen tournament knocked us out, but I mean, it's a new year.
1:11:12
We gotta put that one past us, and just like we gotta put the four wins past us, and I mean, it's a clean slate.
1:11:18
About the ups and downs in last weekend, how difficult was that to go?
1:11:23
To start the year as Friday as you did, and then after rebound, was it a disappointment?
1:11:28
How disappointing was Friday?
1:11:29
Oh, it was really disappointing.
1:11:31
I mean, we had two leads in the third period, and we blew them.
1:11:37
That never feels good, but you have to have a short memory in this game, and I think we did.
1:11:42
I think we reset going into Saturday, and I think that showed, whether it was on the shots or just overall scoring chances.
1:11:50
We just played a lot better as a team on Saturday, and that's the way we need to play.
1:11:56
Think it was a good wake-up call on Friday?
1:11:59
Yeah, I think it was.
1:12:00
I think it showed that we got talent, but we still gotta work hard.
1:12:04
I think it was a good lesson.
1:12:09
You got to beat Penn State four times last year, and then they got you in the Big Ten tournament.
1:12:14
Did the loss stick with you more than the wins in that?
1:12:18
I mean, looking back at it now, that's what I remember.
1:12:22
And they won the most important game, and that was the Big Ten.
1:12:26
Big Ten game there.
1:12:27
So, obviously, we have some revenge for this weekend, and we're really excited.
1:12:33
You end up, you start the conference play earlier, the past three years you've had to await.
1:12:37
Do you like it?
1:12:39
Is it different?
1:12:40
No, I like it.
1:12:40
You know, we get thrown in it right away, and it's good.
1:12:43
I mean, obviously, I don't think too much about it, but it's nice to make sense on conference right away.
1:12:50
Soon also you can play those auto conference games a little later into the season as well.
1:12:54
So it's always nice to mix it up a little bit, and I think it makes ourself alert.
1:12:59
What are some of the takeaways for you from the first weekend, and especially your line?
1:13:05
So personally, our line, obviously not good enough.
1:13:10
I think the expectations we should have on ourselves and the people should have on us should be high, and we did not score or produce as much as we wanted.
1:13:21
Not only we didn't put the puck in that, but we had too many mistakes, and we didn't play good enough defensively.
1:13:28
So I think coming into this weekend for all those three, both Ty, Tom, and me, we know we can do a lot better, and we're really excited to go into this weekend and try to prove to everyone else, especially ourselves, what type of players we are.
1:13:43
How much will you think about the start you had Friday night at UMD and just getting off to a better start this weekend?
1:13:51
It's big.
1:13:52
For some reason, we didn't play well against Luthe, and that has been the case a couple of times here and all, but we can all look forward, and I think the game against Union was a step in the right direction, for sure.
1:14:05
We came out much harder.
1:14:06
We played way better defensively, and it was a completely different energy.
1:14:09
For those of you who watched it, I think you could tell the difference.
1:14:13
We felt, and we seemed to play like a team out there, and what I really liked is that we had some young guys contributing, you know, Rahman, Casey, and Reid.
1:14:24
It was really good.
1:14:25
I think they carried us through that game, so I'm excited.
1:14:30
It just shows that we had three lines.
1:14:32
We were in four lines.
1:14:33
The blue line was great, too, so everyone can produce and everyone can score, and now it's all about getting consistent and keep building.
1:14:42
Don talked a lot about puck management on Friday and Saturday nights.
1:14:45
How do you adjust from summer hockey to live action with decision making?
1:14:51
Well, it's hard, but, I mean, we should look at ourselves as professional hockey players, and that's what we should expect out of ourselves.
1:15:01
We got to make sure we come to the rink every day and work in our habits, and even before season starts, we should get away from summer hockey mode.
1:15:08
It's hard, but, as I said, we have to do it.
1:15:11
Does it influence your play to be more conservative at the start of the game going into this weekend?
1:15:16
Due to what, you mean?
1:15:17
With your decision making, you know, when to make a play and control the entry versus dump it and get on the forecheck?
1:15:23
Not really, I wouldn't say so.
1:15:25
You know, you have everything back in your head.
1:15:27
You play, you just play with it by instinct.
1:15:29
Maybe think a little bit more about being careful early in the game around the blue lines and play a little more straight type of hockey, especially when you have a new group of guys and everyone hasn't really learned the system yet.
1:15:41
So maybe then you have to play a little more conservative.
1:15:44
But for me personally, you know, I just try to play the right way, play smart, be a leader.
1:15:50
Show the team and everyone around what to go for ways.
1:15:54
Some thoughts on Eric Schiehorn and his consecutive game streak and what it means to you guys as a team to have an Ironman back there who is as durable as he is?
1:16:04
Yeah, I mean, he's unbelievable.
1:16:06
I think I saw stat.
1:16:07
He has the most starts in Big Ten now.
1:16:09
I'm not sure if that's correct, but I think so.
1:16:11
I mean, he's been unbelievable for us.
1:16:13
The three years he's been here.
1:16:16
And it brings confidence to our team, you know.
1:16:18
We didn't play a really good defensive game up there in Duluth, but he bailed us out and he was the reason we ended up with overtime.
1:16:27
So he's good.
1:16:29
I think Robson is going to be a really good addition to our team, make sure everyone is alert and gives Eric some competition and other three goalies.
1:16:36
But as I said, Eric is a great guy and even a better goalie.
1:16:41
What's his demeanor off the ice?
1:16:44
He's kind of funny.
1:16:46
He will sit quiet and then he'll throw out a little funner, unexpected comment every once in a while.
1:16:52
And he's a really fun guy to be around.
1:16:55
He always smiles and especially easy to be around.
1:16:59
So definitely a guy you want around your group and around your team.
1:17:02
It was like seeing a guy like Tyler Nanny who had to sit out last year, get his first games in last weekend.
1:17:09
I was super excited for Nanny.
1:17:11
Nanny said he hadn't played a game for 900 some days.
1:17:17
So I can't imagine how it felt for him to play.
1:17:19
Obviously it's normal if you're a little out of shape or timing's not always there, but I think he played really well.
1:17:27
I mean, we all have some stuff that's correct, but he bought shots and he played hard and everything else will come to him as a smart player.
1:17:38
What are the most important things you could do to help make sure your horn's job a little easier?
1:17:42
You know, I think it's coming together as a group, coming down and make sure we play within our system and everyone has to do their role.
1:17:53
We have to play better in front of our net.
1:17:55
And as some of you guys said, we have to clean up.
1:17:58
We're losing too many players on the boot lines, too many turnovers, and that in turn creates a lot of odd man rushes.
1:18:06
So, I mean, I don't think once we're in our zone, we have a lot of trouble, but what kills us at this point or what has been killing us the last couple of years are all the turnovers.
1:18:18
And that's usually where Eric has to come up and make those big saves.
1:18:21
Tommy Novak, after his injury last year, to see him back out on the ice and to be playing with him again, what's that like?
1:18:28
I'm happy.
1:18:29
I'm excited to have Tommy by my side.
1:18:31
Well, we played together a lot, in our sophomore year, and we obviously had some chemistry there, so hopefully we can build on that.
1:18:38
I think Tommy wasn't on the ice for probably six months, so as everyone else, he still has a lot of work to do in order to get back where he can play.
1:18:50
But I'm not worried at all.
1:18:52
Tommy has probably the most skillful guy in our team, at least top two, top three.
1:18:57
Unbelievable hands and really good playmaking ability, and I'm sure you're going to see a lot of that this year.
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