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.
0:43
Back for another week, and we're without Hammy this week.
0:47
He's out on a business trip out in Philly or something along those, on that case.
0:52
So, Hammy will not be joining us.
0:55
But later, we will have Brad Schlossman, Schlossman, gosh, I can't say that right, from the Grand Forks Herald.
1:01
So, he will be joining us to talk about the big series up in Grand Forks this weekend.
1:06
But definitely back with us, as always, is Vegoe, how are you doing?
1:12
I'm doing fantastic.
1:13
I'm excited for this weekend.
1:16
You know, the rivalry is back and I know the boys are looking for a good series up in Grand Forks.
1:21
Well, I know you probably got a lot of good audio today, especially from Lucia, that we'll put at the end of the podcast.
1:26
So, it looked like he was-
1:29
The Don is just in a great mood at media days this year.
1:32
I don't know what it is.
1:34
Maybe he's on his last year and he's not telling us.
1:37
But he is quite an equatious during our times together on Wednesday afternoons.
1:42
I saw some of the video today and he was all smiles and a little giggly and kind of very undone like.
1:50
I was joking to him, does he want to get suited up this week like Darby Hendrickson?
1:54
He said, heck yeah.
1:56
Now I want to get my pads on and slap some guys around.
1:59
And it's that hockey football mentality he had from Grand Rapids.
2:03
Well, before we get to the big UND series up in Grand Forks this weekend, boy, Veegs, another Jekyll and Hyde weekend for this Gopher team coming out flat, doing nothing, not getting a shot for the first, for most of the first period, end up losing last Friday night, three to one to Penn State.
2:23
And boy, what a disappointing performance that was.
2:27
Yeah.
2:28
You know, this team is missing a lot of guys that were leaders on the team last year, with Lattery and Cluse and Bischoff all moving on to play pro hockey.
2:38
They've left some pretty big holes in the lineup, especially down the middle, you know, losing all that experience in the faceoff dot, the centers, losing Bischoff as key player on the power play and the penalty kill, just having that much leadership gone.
2:52
You know, when you have these new guys push the front, and then Tyler Sheehy was scratched for the weekend for an injury he picked up, you know, it just was too much for them to overcome.
3:05
Yeah, they definitely, you know, you talk about the power play and the penalty kill, that was one thing that was not good.
3:11
Well, hasn't been really good yet this year, but you know, you look at Friday night, two power play goals against, not the way to start the season on special teams.
3:22
No, you don't so much mind the power play being a little slow to start, because you can play well at other parts of your game to get you back into it.
3:31
But when you're just 12 for 18 on the penalty kill in four games, that's not very good.
3:37
You know, you've given up six goals against on special teams in four games.
3:42
It's just something that's missing out.
3:43
I think, you know, you have the two things missing, Bischoff and having these guys thrust in the line up, even Ryan Collins, you know, he was a guy who was a good penalty killer for them.
3:53
And then you lose your centers who were winning draws.
3:55
And now you have a team that's got a lot of left-handed centers.
3:58
I think they're all lefties, and they've been losing a lot of draws on the kill.
4:03
And then they have so many penalties that they're having to kill so long each game.
4:08
So I think those those factors are really combining.
4:11
I don't think you can pin these goals against on Sheerhorn.
4:15
It's just these kills are letting seam passes get through the middle, and a lot of one-timers and traffic in front of the net and rebounds.
4:22
And it hasn't been good enough.
4:24
It definitely has not been good enough.
4:27
It wasn't just the special teams and the penalty kill Friday night.
4:32
It was just overall effort.
4:34
There was just nothing there, was there?
4:36
Well, I'd love to see the turnover stats that I know they keep.
4:40
Because that's something that Lucia has been talking about a lot.
4:43
They want to cut down on their turnovers by about six a game from last year to this year.
4:48
And if anything, it's gone up six a game.
4:50
You have so many players who are trying to force things to happen at the blue lines and turning the puck over.
4:56
I know we got into a little bit of a discussion about this on GPL about zone entries.
5:01
And the fact is, I talked to Tommy Novak today about zone entries.
5:04
And he said that when you have numbers, when you have speed, you put the puck in a position where you can protect it and you gain the zone if you can.
5:14
But if you're not having those three things with you, you should put it deep and go to work on the other team's D.
5:21
And there's almost been a refusal of the players to recognize those situations.
5:25
And it's getting them in trouble.
5:26
They lose a lot of momentum that way.
5:28
Well, I must say you did post that screen grab from the Duluth game on GPL this week showing their zone entry in overtime that ended up costing the goal.
5:38
There's four guys on the blue line where they lost the puck, leaving one guy back and a defenseman had tried to scramble to get back and completely out of position.
5:50
In a lot of these situations, the guys in front of the player are all standing still because the player with the puck hasn't moved it.
5:56
So they're having to wait for him to catch up.
5:59
And then he gets the blue line, he runs out of space.
6:02
And you have guys standing still.
6:04
And once there's a turnover, all the guys on that position are going the other way as fast as they can.
6:09
And all the Gopher guys are on the wrong side of the puck.
6:11
So it puts your team in a tough situation.
6:14
I think it's one of the reasons they've been taking penalties is they get in these situations where they're chasing the play, maybe a little fatigued and they're putting sticks on guys.
6:24
Yeah, well, it was obviously an ugly game Friday night.
6:29
And I was not happy myself at home watching on television trying to not tweet and be a smart ass.
6:36
But it's those same mistakes they've been making.
6:40
Like you said, turnovers, lack of effort.
6:43
I mean, I remember Don saying, even Saturday night, that he was saying that their Friday night effort, they had just a handful of shots in the first period.
6:53
And in the first 10 minutes of the second game, it was much better.
6:58
I mean, they didn't get a goal in those first 10 minutes.
7:02
I don't believe, no, they didn't.
7:03
But they had a lot of effort.
7:06
They were getting shots on goal.
7:07
They were challenging Jones and Nett for Penn State.
7:11
But Friday night, there was just nothing there.
7:16
And we've talked about all this year, the coaches telling the players how they need to play.
7:21
And it just seems like Friday nights, they haven't figured that out yet.
7:24
And Saturdays, they're like, oh, they see the video.
7:27
And from Friday, and they look at it on Saturday, and they just play much better.
7:32
I mean, what is going on?
7:35
Yeah, it's hard to say.
7:37
Don Lucia said on his coaches show this week that he doesn't want to have his foot up the rear in every film session with these guys.
7:43
You know, that's just as much a tough time for him as it is for the players.
7:48
You know, that's not stuff they want to do.
7:49
And he says that, you know, when he takes his foot off the gas a little bit on these guys, they also take their feet off the gas.
7:56
And so that's a bit of a problem for this team.
7:59
It's good to see them respond as they go from Fridays to Saturdays.
8:02
But one of the things is with these turnovers and these mistakes is that they compound it by not working hard to get the puck back.
8:10
Or they compound it by coming back on the zone and taking penalties.
8:14
And if you watch in the games that they've come back in the next night, if they lose the puck, they're still skating hard to try to get it back again.
8:22
They're really putting the effort out there.
8:25
So that's one thing as a fan to watch for.
8:28
If there's turnovers and guys aren't working to get the puck back, that's a bad sign for the night, especially in the first 10 minutes.
8:35
Well then you move on to game two and it was the exact opposite.
8:39
You know, we've got people scoring.
8:43
Excuse me, that sneeze just snuck up on me.
8:46
We have people scoring, we've got Casey Middlestead, you know, getting on the board in front of the home crowd.
8:53
And then out of nowhere, Brandon McManus picks up a hat trick.
8:59
Did anyone see that coming?
9:01
I don't think so, Veegs.
9:03
I don't think we saw it coming, but according to the players, McManus is going to be a player to watch.
9:09
He's got one of the most deceptive shots on the team.
9:13
You know, he can really hide the puck and change the angles on goalies.
9:17
It's a hard shot.
9:19
Donald, Lucia said a couple of times that, you know, when you're picking those corners from distance, you're a good shooter.
9:25
And it's pretty evident that McManus is a good shooter.
9:28
And that's the kind of player he's been at Chattuck and in Chicago in the USHL.
9:34
And that's why they recruit him.
9:36
And I got to tell you, more than ever, they're going to need him for this stretch of the season because headed into this weekend, Sheehy's probably going to be out.
9:43
You know, that's a right handed shot.
9:45
And Viridi is probably going to be out.
9:47
He's another right handed shot.
9:48
So really, the only right handed shots on the team right now are McManus, Tyler Nani, Jack Ramsey.
9:57
And only two of those guys have been playing on the power play.
10:00
So it's going to be an interesting opportunity for him, especially this weekend.
10:05
Well, one thing that I really enjoyed was his first goal, was his patience.
10:09
You know, he just kind of did that little hesitation, kind of pulled back and took a shot.
10:14
It's something you typically don't see from young players, that heads up that intelligence.
10:21
You know, if I just hold it for a second, the defenseman will get in a position where I can get it by them and the goalie.
10:26
And I was kind of really impressed by that.
10:29
Well, it's also pulling the puck either towards your body or away from your body and still getting it off heavy.
10:34
That's something, you know, people who watch the NHL, that's something Austin Matthews does probably better than anybody in hockey right now.
10:42
And a lot of guys have picked up on that and they're trying to emulate the same thing.
10:47
I think, you know, a year or two ago, you saw guys trying to shoot in stride.
10:52
I think this new thing is to change the angle and these composite sticks, you can still get a lot on it.
10:58
Yes, you can.
10:59
Nate Wells already giving us a hard time via Twitter saying he said on our first show that he's a guy who can score in bunches and boy did he ever, Nate.
11:09
He might be able to score in bunches but this is still, you know, a league that's a little further up the totem pole and he wasn't one of those big names that we heard coming in.
11:20
You know, everyone was all about Middlestead.
11:22
That's just how it was.
11:25
And luckily Middlestead is performing and Middlestead is doing very well.
11:29
He doesn't have, you know, quite the goals that McManus has, obviously since McManus had a hat trick.
11:35
But all I care about, Nate, is that it's a very positive look on what we need right now, like you said, with some key players out.
11:44
And I don't know how Nate knows this because McManus didn't score any hat tricks in the USHL, according to Nate's Twitter feed.
11:52
Gopher State, follow him, he's great.
11:54
He's one of my colleagues contributing articles to The Athletic.
11:59
Yes, and he's always listening to us.
12:01
So it's, and if you're listening live, you can always tweet us your questions.
12:04
Just use the hashtag GPL Podcast and we'll try to get to your questions.
12:11
We love those questions.
12:12
We love that live interactive stuff that we've got going on.
12:15
And I think one of the things for McManus is he got to play with Tommy Novak this last weekend.
12:20
And that's really going to be a nice thing for him.
12:22
Novak probably has got the best vision on the team.
12:25
You know, he's coming back from the ACL injury, so his skating, I don't think is all the way back.
12:30
I think he's kind of rushing back into the season because he wants to play so much.
12:34
But I think his skating is still taking a while to get back.
12:37
But his hands and vision are still there.
12:39
And he got assists on two of McManus' goals.
12:42
And that should be a pair that you should watch for this weekend as well.
12:47
Well, we're going to need something this weekend, because like you said, with some key players out.
12:51
Like you said, Reedy was one of those freshmen that people were going to count on this year.
12:57
And I guess I'm not really sure what the injuries are.
13:01
Do we really know what the injuries are with both Reedy and Cheedy?
13:04
We know that.
13:05
Cheedy.
13:05
That's a Cheedy.
13:07
Reedy took an injury in upper body.
13:10
He got a stick.
13:11
And I think he fell a little awkwardly.
13:14
Lucia isn't saying it's a long-term thing.
13:18
He skated today a little bit, but he wasn't a full participant, I don't think.
13:22
And they're preparing as if he won't be ready.
13:25
Sheehee, I'm not sure what it is.
13:26
They say it's something he picked up in practice.
13:29
We'll see.
13:29
He wasn't on the ice last Wednesday, but he skated today.
13:33
And one thing people need to remember, that, you know, we don't want this to be something that lasts the whole season.
13:38
So, you know, they might be out this weekend, which is a very important weekend, but it's more important that they're back healthy, you know, for the stretch run.
13:47
So that's just how it is.
13:51
You know they want to play.
13:54
Yeah, this is a big weekend for players going up to North Dakota.
13:58
As Lucia said, you know, they don't get to do this very often.
14:00
Next year, the game will be in Las Vegas.
14:03
The year after that, the players will be coming to Meridji, so they don't go again to Grand Forks for another couple of years.
14:10
Yeah.
14:11
Yeah.
14:11
It's going to be a little while.
14:12
So, any other thoughts on Penn State?
14:16
Obviously, it's a big ten games now, so that's three lost points right there.
14:24
So, I wasn't too surprised by the split.
14:28
I was disappointed with the performance on Friday, but I think Penn State is a good enough team where if you don't have a good game going, they're going to make you pay.
14:37
Peyton Jones is a pretty solid goalie for them.
14:40
He made some big saves including already an early candidate for save of the year on Smetula on Friday night.
14:47
Maybe Smetula pressing a little bit to give us his first goal, but a heck of a save by the goalie.
14:53
They've got some skill and they're going to score goals.
14:56
So, it was a tough matchup.
14:59
Just a reminder, no easy games on the Gopher schedule.
15:03
Well, definitely no easy games at all.
15:06
We don't see Penn State again until the very last series of the year, I believe.
15:10
So yeah, it's a ways away.
15:13
It is a ways away.
15:16
So, we'll just have to wait and see, folks.
15:19
Well, we're going to go get Brad on the line here, and while we're doing that, we'll have this commercial from our sponsor.
15:27
vintagemnhockey.com is a proud sponsor of The GPL Podcast.
15:32
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15:35
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15:45
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15:50
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15:59
So, make sure you check out those interviews.
16:01
It's a really great thing, but as like I always say, I think my favorite part is the store.
16:06
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16:14
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16:21
So, make sure you visit vintagemnhockey.com and follow them on Twitter at VintageMNHockey.
16:29
All right, well, thanks for Vintage as our sponsor this year.
16:35
Vegoe, it's obviously the big weekend going up to North Dakota.
16:38
It's been a long time.
16:41
I'm looking forward to it, but also looking forward to it is Mr.
16:45
Brad Schlossman from the Grand Forks Herald.
16:48
Brad, thanks for joining us.
16:51
For sure, guys.
16:52
We appreciate having you on.
16:53
I know Vegoe set this up early in this week, and he always thought you'd be a great guest to have on.
16:58
So I'm like, well, this is the perfect time to do it.
17:02
I hope I don't let them down.
17:03
Not many people know college hockey like you, Brad.
17:06
I mean, you're the one of the guys voting for Mankato in the top five.
17:09
I did.
17:10
I had them number two preseason.
17:13
And, you know, they lost that game to St.
17:16
Cloud, but you got to like the shot totals.
17:19
And now I'm feeling pretty confident after they went out to BU.
17:23
Yeah.
17:25
Mankato, watch out people.
17:27
They're going to be a force to reckon with this year.
17:30
Well, boy, let's first let's start off with the big controversy this week.
17:34
And actually that's been building, Brad, obviously, the TV situation.
17:39
And we all know that Midco owns the rights to this.
17:44
And, you know, they can do whatever they want.
17:48
But I'm guessing you're not only hearing from the Gopher fans, but there are many UND alumni here in the Twin Cities that are not happy that they may not be able to see this game.
17:59
Well, at this point, I would say stay tuned because I do think they are working behind the scenes to try to get something done.
18:09
But, yeah, I mean, otherwise, you are going to have a lot of people in the Twin Cities, as you mentioned, it's a big alumni base for North Dakota.
18:18
Obviously, the Minnesota fans are there.
18:20
A lot of people there that want to watch the game on TV and don't want to order NCHC TV for the weekend.
18:28
But, you know, we'll see what happens.
18:31
I'm still thinking something will end up getting done before the weekend.
18:35
Yeah, they are working on some of the stuff behind the scenes.
18:38
I do know that officially they do have MediaCom set up to broadcast the game.
18:45
MediaCom is a small cable provider for mostly rural towns like the one I live in.
18:51
Places like Hutchinson and Meconia and those kinds of places.
18:55
So MediaCom is going to have it.
18:59
From what I'm hearing so far, they're just like, stay tuned.
19:02
Really, they need to get some of the big guys, you know, your Comcasts, your Dish, your DirecTV.
19:09
So like you said, they're still working, wheeling and dealing.
19:14
I think they know that, you know, they figured, oh, it's just Gopher fans.
19:18
But then they realized, you know, oh boy, there are a lot of North Dakota fans down here who work here.
19:23
And that's a lot of unhappy people.
19:27
One of the dynamics here that's at play is Midco is moving into Fargo.
19:34
They've been doing that the last couple of years.
19:37
They want people who have Cable One to watch Midco.
19:42
And that's why they've limited the number of games that are on Fox College Sports.
19:47
UND used to have every game nationally on Fox College Sports.
19:50
Now it's down to five right now as they're trying to make Fargo people with Cable One move over to having Midco Cable.
19:58
So Comcast potentially isn't huge into the Midco markets.
20:04
So maybe I shouldn't speak too deeply about this.
20:08
I don't know all the markets Comcast is in.
20:11
But maybe there is something they can work out with Comcast.
20:15
I don't know if Midco competes heavily with them.
20:19
But you know, that's one of the things.
20:21
They paid the million some dollars for the rights and don't want to have a bunch of people watching the games on competing networks.
20:28
So that's kind of what's going on here right now.
20:31
But yeah, stay tuned.
20:33
I think something eventually will get done.
20:35
It's just part of the college hockey world now.
20:37
I mean, you know, when everything kind of broke up, people started doing their own TV.
20:42
And unfortunately, the fans are still pining for the old days.
20:46
I mean, you probably still hear it too.
20:48
You know, oh, we missed the final five, the WCHA.
20:52
All the games were on Fox.
20:54
You'd see all these big games and, you know, college hockey changed folks and you just kind of have to adapt with it.
21:00
Everyone's got their own kind of deals now.
21:04
And that's just that's just the way it was.
21:06
You know, it was that way up in Duluth a couple of weeks ago.
21:08
You know, it's just kind of a fact of life now.
21:12
Yeah, it, you know, obviously college athletics is becoming bigger and bigger business.
21:17
And, you know, I know some people, you know, you mentioned to me on Twitter, you know, this is another part of the breakup of the leagues.
21:25
But actually, I don't think the leagues have anything to do with it.
21:27
I think if they're all in the WCHA, UND still signs a deal with Midco.
21:33
You know, you're not just going to leave, you know, over a million dollars on the table.
21:38
You still sign the deal with Midco, and Midco still wants, you know, to fight for its business.
21:44
So, you know, I just think the business itself has changed.
21:49
Well, that is true.
21:50
That is true.
21:52
Veegs, have you already bought the NCHTTV package for this weekend?
21:56
I have purchased the package.
21:58
It's not that big of a price, and you get to watch all the games in the league, condensed version, you can go back.
22:05
I, for some reason, I'm a glutton for punishment.
22:07
I went back and watched the Duluth game just to look at the zone entries for the Gophers.
22:12
And that was one of the nice things about the package.
22:14
And you can do that in the Big Ten games, too.
22:16
I watched a little bit more of Penn State, Minnesota, on Friday night just to see how bad it was again.
22:22
Yeah, it's kind of nice.
22:23
You can do like picture-in-picture stuff.
22:24
So obviously, I don't watch any of the games when they're on because I'm at the North Dakota games.
22:30
But if North Dakota ever has a weekend off, I'm at home just nerding out hardcore with all these NCHC games going up.
22:38
So I personally enjoy it.
22:41
Gopher fans probably aren't quite as interested in the NCHC.
22:44
So but who knows?
22:46
College hockey fans love college hockey too.
22:50
They definitely do.
22:51
I mean, and that's just one of the things.
22:52
Obviously, this is one of the biggest rivalries out there.
22:55
There's been a lot of hate over the years.
22:57
I think some of that hate has subsided because they are no longer in the same league.
23:04
But, boy, there's still a lot of us fans out there who love these games.
23:09
I mean, they've been, there have been so many great games, you know, coming from the Gopher's perspective, that have been great and then have been terrible.
23:17
And the same thing on the North Dakota side.
23:18
They've been some great results and some terrible results.
23:22
But that's what makes a rivalry so great.
23:24
And it's nice that we're back playing this.
23:27
Obviously, the U kind of had their issues with the Indian name, which was just ridiculous.
23:32
Oh, it's out of our control.
23:33
Yeah, okay.
23:34
Well, the fans really suffered these past years until they started playing again last year, Brad.
23:40
Yeah, I just think it's one of those series where, first of all, like you said, one of the reasons why it's been so good is that it's kind of gone back and forth.
23:50
And you don't know who's going to win when you head to the rink.
23:55
They've had dramatic games.
23:57
I was saying, how many times have you left one of those games where you're like, ah, that was really boring?
24:01
Like, there's always something happening.
24:03
Like, it's always just fantastic.
24:05
Like, it would be great to watch a seven-game series between the teams because they just so often deliver.
24:13
Like, we hype these games up all week, and they deliver somehow almost every time.
24:20
They have so many dramatic endings.
24:22
And, you know, I was telling someone earlier this week that, you know, all you need to do is say a guy's name, and you know exactly what game I'm talking about.
24:30
All you need to do is say a Blake Wheeler, Aventrup, Robby Beena, 0.6, The Time Out, Neil Broughton.
24:37
Everyone knows exactly what you're talking about, and that's what makes the rivalry great.
24:42
Oh, boy, that is true.
24:46
You know, I look back to 2007.
24:49
You know, you've got that wonderful final five game in front of, you know, 19 some odd thousand at the Xcel Energy Center.
24:56
And the sad thing is the next weekend in Denver, they had another wonderful game, but it just wasn't quite the same atmosphere.
25:07
Another overtime thriller in front of about a third of the amount of people in that arena.
25:13
It was kind of a ghost town.
25:15
Well, nothing's ever the same as the final five because, you know, even the series at the home venues are phenomenal.
25:24
But the final five where you have, you know, half Minnesota fans and half North Dakota fans was just something that was a sight to see.
25:33
And it's too bad that, you know, fans starting to grow up right now aren't going to be able to experience that because those games were just phenomenal.
25:43
Vego, what are some of your favorite memories of Gopher's UND?
25:49
I mean, they've had some great tournament games.
25:51
I mean, obviously,.
25:52
6 and, you know, the Wheeler goal.
25:55
But basically, any Final Five at Excel was just peak college hockey.
26:01
You know, like Brad was saying, you get half North Dakota fans and half Minnesota fans there for one of those games.
26:06
And it's just a great atmosphere.
26:08
And you've got so many passionate fans.
26:10
And it's not the Corpies either.
26:12
You know, these are the true fans who get these tickets early and come to the games and stand up and cheer.
26:18
And it creates a great atmosphere.
26:20
And I think that's one of the best things about this rivalry is the fans really care.
26:24
And there's some real animosity between the fans.
26:28
You know, Don Lucia was saying some of his favorite things.
26:31
You know, Gopher's on the ice and the guy's behind him drinking eight, nine beers.
26:35
That's a great atmosphere.
26:38
Yeah, you know, I should hate this series because do you know how many times these two teams have ruined my deadline?
26:45
I mean, like, I'm never able to start writing the game story before the final buzzer.
26:52
Because something happens.
26:53
So as a writer, it's certainly been interesting.
26:57
I was actually in the elevator during Blake Wheeler's golf.
27:02
Oh, jeez.
27:04
Yeah.
27:04
So we had an early deadline that night.
27:07
I had to send in my first run game story during the intermission after the third period.
27:15
And back then at the XL, they didn't have wireless internet in the press box.
27:20
And you had to pay to get a line.
27:21
So I would always go in the photographer's room because there were a couple of live hard lines in there.
27:26
I would plug in and send from down there.
27:30
So I sent it during intermission, came back up.
27:32
I get a call at the start of overtime.
27:35
And they said, I never got your story.
27:36
Oh, no.
27:38
Well, make sure you check because I sent it.
27:40
And if you didn't get it, I have to go back downstairs.
27:42
He said, no, I didn't.
27:44
So I sprinted down there.
27:45
I went in the elevator.
27:46
And those of you who have been in the XL know you get off the elevator.
27:49
And there's that TV up to the right right there.
27:52
And I look up and they're all celebrating.
27:54
I'm like, oh, what just happened?
27:57
I have no idea.
27:59
And yeah, so that's one of my funny stories from that rivalry.
28:05
I was as a photographer right behind the net where Wheeler scored.
28:11
And I had no idea it was coming.
28:14
I was not ready.
28:15
I mean, I have seen myself on the video replay in the background.
28:19
All of a sudden, grabbing my camera and trying to take a picture after the fact.
28:23
So I was front and center and I completely missed it.
28:27
I think only actually one person, somebody from the stands actually got a photo of Wheeler diving and hitting the puck.
28:37
I know our friend Jim Roosevelt also was not prepared.
28:40
And he was just 20 feet away from me around the side trying to get that shot.
28:45
And he obviously got a great shot of Wheeler celebrating, but he missed it as well.
28:48
It was just a very unexpected play, but another of one of those great memories that we've had with this series.
28:56
And then, you know, it was too bad.
28:58
The next game that they played was in Denver, because if that would have been played at the X, it would have been a repeat.
29:04
Obviously, obviously in North Dakota's favor that time, it would have been a repeat because it was another classic game.
29:10
But people tend to not remember that second game the next week, which was a much more important game when North Dakota defeated Minnesota.
29:18
It's just kind of where you are and how big the crowd was.
29:24
And it's kind of interesting too, is we can talk about 2012 too.
29:32
Most of the, especially up here, I don't know, maybe it's different down there, but in Grand Forks, everyone remembers the comeback, the timeout game.
29:40
And the next week, Minnesota ended up beating North Dakota in the regional final to go to Tampa.
29:47
And no one really talks about that one up here.
29:50
Granted, that one wasn't a down to the wire classic game, but yeah, it's kind of funny that the two final five games are the ones that everyone remembers those years when they actually both played in the regional.
30:03
Although people up here do remember the Chris Porter goal, just simply because it's a better memory for people here, but definitely the one that people talk about are the two final five games.
30:14
Well, tell us about the squad this year up in Grand Forks.
30:17
How are they looking so far?
30:19
Well, it's a little bit different type of team.
30:22
You know, you don't have the Brock Besser, Tyson Joast superstar on the team, but they do have pretty good depth.
30:30
You know, they have 17 guys with points right now.
30:33
Nobody has more than three points.
30:36
So, you have 17 guys within two points of each other, which is, you don't see too often.
30:42
You know, they're tied for their leading scorer right now is defenseman Casey Johnson, who might have been last in scoring on the team last year, pretty close to it.
30:52
So, it's just been an interesting year to start, but I think that's the type of team they're going to have.
30:58
North Dakota's opened the season at Anchorage, who's predicted to finish among the bottom teams in the WCHA and St.
31:06
Lawrence, who's probably predicted middle of the pack ECAC.
31:10
So I don't know if we know a ton about North Dakota at this point.
31:13
I think this weekend and the next three weeks as a whole, we're going to learn a whole lot more about North Dakota because they play Minnesota, CC and Wisconsin coming up.
31:24
I think these games will teach us a lot about the team.
31:27
You know, I kind of miss that CC squad.
31:30
They've really kind of fallen on hard times the last few years and we've seen a lot of, you know, you guys have had a lot of great games with them.
31:37
Minnesota's had a lot of great games and seasons and it's kind of sad to see where CC has gone in the last five years.
31:45
Yeah, you know, at the end of last year, I thought they were a really tough team to play against.
31:52
They had a lot of really good players, but what they were missing, it was kind of like, they don't have that Marty Sertich, Brett Sterling, Tom Pricing.
32:02
They always had Peter Sanya.
32:03
They always had one or two guys that were just, you know, They'd kill you.
32:10
Yes, they would kill you.
32:12
And they don't have that guy.
32:15
They haven't had it since the Schwartz brothers left.
32:18
You know, maybe Aleksandr Khrushchelnitsky was a solid player, but they just haven't had that guy who just scares the daylights out of every opponent they play.
32:29
And I think that's what they need.
32:31
They have a solid core there.
32:33
They just need a couple of guys who are going to be the game breakers to try to get back in the mold.
32:38
Now, Veegs, what is the key for Minnesota going into this weekend?
32:41
Obviously, they're missing some of their key players.
32:45
Is this one of those weekends where, you know, what we've talked about in the past where, you know, they can, they need to take opportunities when they can and not force things like they have done against big opponents recently?
32:57
I think the big key for Minnesota right now is not to get into a special teams battle.
33:02
Either way, I don't know if they can really count on their power play.
33:06
You know, if they're taking penalties and their penalty kill has been pretty shaky if they do lose their discipline.
33:12
You know, the turnovers are obviously something to watch.
33:15
The other thing to look for is face-offs.
33:18
Don Lucia, I think, got the scouting report from Brad on a lot of the team's depth and senior leadership and no big superstars.
33:26
But he also mentioned they're about 60 percent in the dot, whereas Minnesota, I think, is about 44, 45 percent.
33:33
So that's a big difference.
33:34
Minnesota lost Latarian Clues, who took all their big draws last year.
33:39
Now you have Novak, who's coming off his injury.
33:42
He's now a big guy in the dot.
33:44
He's going to rely more on quickness.
33:46
You've got Casey Middlestad, who's a freshman, who's new to all this.
33:51
You've got Romanko and Smetula.
33:53
Not a lot of experience there winning lots of key draws.
33:57
So I think that's something to watch for in this series.
33:59
You've mentioned that this has really affected their power playing.
34:02
You lose that face off in the power play, another 20, 30 seconds has gone from your power play already.
34:10
Yep.
34:11
And then if they kill, it adds another 20 seconds to the other team's power play because they don't have to go chase it.
34:18
And I think that's been part of the problem for Minnesota.
34:21
They've been on the penalty kill too long every game, and they've got new guys going into those roles, and it's a little bit much for them to chew on right now.
34:30
That's definitely something to watch this weekend too.
34:32
With North Dakota's penalty kill, the area they've had the most success in is preventing zone entries.
34:41
When they can get that first clear, their penalty kill has been pretty good the last few years.
34:46
They've made it tough for teams to get zone entries and get set back up.
34:50
So definitely a tough or something to watch this weekend.
34:54
But I think if you ask North Dakota, they don't want to get in a special teams battle either.
34:58
So it's kind of funny that neither team probably wants to get into that.
35:02
And if the history of the series tells us something, we may get into that.
35:08
Well, either way, it's wonderful that the team is going back up to Grand Forks for the first time in forever.
35:15
I mean, I haven't been on a road trip to Grand Forks in a while.
35:18
I should have planned it this year.
35:19
I thought about doing it.
35:21
I thought about doing another trip to Winnipeg and seeing the Wild Play Friday night and maybe the Gophers UND Saturday night.
35:28
But, as always, Brad, it is a tough ticket up there.
35:34
Yeah, they sold tickets for 99 a seat, which is the most they've ever sold a UND Athletic sporting event ticket for.
35:45
And they didn't last a second.
35:47
So obviously, the demand is extremely high.
35:53
The time off from not playing here, it can go one of two ways.
35:57
It either increases the interest or people lose interest.
36:01
And clearly, people have not lost interest in this series at all.
36:06
Well, last year, I know that there were still a lot of empty seats in Mariucci Viges.
36:10
I really don't think we're going to see that in Grand Forks this year.
36:15
No, not a lot of other things to do in Grand Forks.
36:18
You got the Olive Garden.
36:19
The Olive Garden.
36:20
You got the Ralph.
36:21
I think the Ralph is going to be packed.
36:24
So I must say, I expect a great atmosphere.
36:27
The times I have gone, I have had a great time as a fan.
36:31
People call, you know, you've always got idiot fans from both sides.
36:33
And, you know, if you just as a fan of college hockey, if you're not having fun at these games, and if you're just drinking crazy and just being a jerk, that's what your experience is going to be.
36:45
But my experience has always been pretty good up there.
36:46
I mean, I, you know, you get the back then, the Sioux fans giving us a hard time.
36:52
And that's what the whole atmosphere is about.
36:55
I'm looking forward to getting back up there again sometime, maybe in a few years, Brad.
36:59
But you had mentioned, we talked earlier that asking me if I'm going to Vegas, I assume you're going to Vegas.
37:05
Vig, should we go to Vegas?
37:08
We'll work on it.
37:10
I got to go to Duluth this year.
37:12
So I get one early trip a year.
37:17
Vegas will be quite interesting to have.
37:19
I'm not sure Vegas can handle that many college hockey fans in a town because as you know, Brad, we're kind of a different breed.
37:30
Yeah, it's going to be, I can already have visions of North Dakota and Minnesota fans roaming the strip with drinks in hand.
37:39
It's people are going to be confused.
37:42
People are going to be real confused.
37:44
Yeah, they won't know what hit them.
37:47
So we've got the Vegas game next year.
37:49
I believe the following year, they come for a pair here, and then back for a pair in North Dakota the following year after that.
37:57
Is that correct?
37:58
Yep.
38:00
And then two more.
38:01
Then they go back to Mariucci and then back to North Dakota.
38:03
So they're signed up for five years beyond this weekend.
38:09
Well, that's something I love to hear.
38:10
Hopefully, in future years, the television problem won't be there.
38:16
We'll just have to wait and see.
38:19
Well, I think Don Lucia likes having Barry at North Dakota.
38:22
There were some silence shots fired today at Haskell's old teams and Methods.
38:30
I didn't hear those yet.
38:32
I got a recording of the presser, but I haven't gone through all of it yet.
38:38
Well, actually, Vegoe records the whole thing.
38:40
So we'll be able to play that entire piece at the end of the podcast tonight, if you're listening on the download.
38:47
Yeah, I don't think Lucia was a big fan of Mr.
38:50
Haxdall.
38:52
Yeah, I don't know if, it's tough to know exactly because Dave Haxdall isn't super upfront about or open about that type of thing.
39:05
He's kind of a more, everything belongs behind the scenes with those type of things.
39:10
But I think Dave Haxdall was recruited to Fairbanks when Lucia was there.
39:17
Really?
39:17
And ended up, he ended up not going there.
39:22
And I think he may have been told a scholarship wasn't available anymore.
39:30
Are you there?
39:30
I've heard rumors of the same incident happening.
39:35
I know he verbally committed there.
39:37
I asked him what happened, and he said he didn't end up there, and that's about all he said about it.
39:44
So, Brad, that's a great postgame question for the Don, regardless of the outcome of the other game on Friday or Saturday.
39:52
Yeah, I'm sure that's it.
39:55
I had no idea about that one.
39:57
That's good stuff.
40:00
We could do a whole podcast on questions.
40:02
We could ask each side after the game.
40:05
That would entertain the masses and give us some fantastic stares.
40:11
Well, I'm just hoping it's another fun weekend.
40:14
I'm hoping it's a close game.
40:18
Obviously, on our side, we want the Gophers to win.
40:21
It's always good on your side when your team wins.
40:27
I'm guessing it's going to be a...
40:28
Come on, my deadline can be...
40:30
You don't want Ben Blood to cause problems in the handshake line again?
40:33
Oh, I'm sorry.
40:34
That was just a few years ago.
40:38
I tweeted out that audio today of Wally Shaver calling that Ben Blood thing and bunch of hoes heads, go form your own league.
40:48
That's one thing I love about hockey.
40:49
It just brings out the old timers in some people because that was definitely vintage Wally Shaver when he started calling out Ben Blood on the radio.
41:01
I'm like, is this really happening?
41:04
But it seems to happen every series.
41:05
Something happens almost every series.
41:08
Something happens.
41:11
I don't think really...
41:12
We had some great games last year and didn't...
41:14
I think it's because they hadn't played in a while, but something's going to happen this weekend, Veegs.
41:19
I don't know what, but something weird is going to happen.
41:23
Something has to happen, Veegs.
41:26
Yeah, it was kind of funny.
41:27
I was asking Ryan Lindgren about this game and if it suits his game, and he lit up, and he was like, sure it does.
41:35
Last year, we had a little bit of a scrum where somebody went after Pitlick, and I was young, freshman, excited, third weekend, and he goes right after the North Dakota captain and starts a little bit of a scrum.
41:48
So we might see the same thing happen on Friday night.
41:52
Yeah, Lindgren's from the cities, isn't he?
41:56
Lakeville or something?
41:57
Yep.
41:58
Yes.
41:59
Yeah, we had a kid from the Twin Cities and a kid from Greater Grand Forks mixing it up a couple of minutes into the game just to let everyone know the rivalry is still there.
42:11
So I kind of got a little bit of a laugh out of that when I saw those two guys go, and I'm like, all right, they hadn't played in a while, but it's still here.
42:20
It's almost like these young players, they grew up watching a lot of the stuff we were talking about.
42:26
Yeah.
42:26
The Wheeler, the 0.6, and at least with a lot of guys in Minnesota, they commit to Minnesota because they've been watching the Gophers their entire life, and that's the team they want to play for.
42:38
We talked about these recruiting battles that they get into.
42:41
For Minnesota, with a lot of these guys, that's where they wanted to be from the get-go.
42:45
And I think it's the same thing for guys who signed with North Dakota.
42:50
What a reason they had that allegiance right there, right from the get-go.
42:53
And so this rivalry goes back a long way, even though these guys have never played against each other.
42:59
Yeah, and you know what?
43:00
This week, it also makes you feel a little bit old when you're talking to some recruits or some young, some freshmen and sophomores on the team.
43:07
And they're like, yeah, I remember when I was really little, I was like eight years old, and my dad brought me to the game where Evan Trupp batted it out of mid-air.
43:16
I'm like, oh my god, you were eight when that happened?
43:20
That seems like it was three years ago, but yeah, it's interesting.
43:26
Well, how long have you been covering the team for the Grand Forks Herald?
43:30
The 2005 was my first year, so.
43:33
Okay, okay.
43:35
So you have seen a lot of good stuff.
43:37
You know, we started actually that final five in 2007 was the first year that Gopher Puck Live was credentialed for the final five.
43:45
And boy, I'm like, boy, are they all going to be like this?
43:48
Because it was it was a blast.
43:52
I must say it was a it was a crazy weekend.
43:55
And that was kind of our introduction to big time hockey and covering games was that, you know, 2007 final five.
44:02
So.
44:05
I actually started at the Herald in 2003.
44:08
I just wasn't the beat writer, but I was the backup in 2004.
44:15
And this is a game people almost have forgotten the books.
44:18
There's been so many other ridiculous things that have happened.
44:20
But the final five title game in 2004, when it was Parisi and Boczanski going back and forth with Vannik and I think it was Patolny, that was one heck of a college hockey game too that people don't talk about.
44:35
Oh, it was pure entertainment.
44:39
You have obviously some guys who became very popular in the NHL with Vannik and Parisi.
44:49
Did you say Boczanski too?
44:50
Is that a name?
44:51
Oh my gosh.
44:52
I will never forget the Boczanski bucks, the whole faking $20 bills and whatnot.
45:00
I mean, those are the kind of stories that we miss.
45:03
I mean, these kids getting into trouble, kids throwing lawnmowers.
45:09
Obviously, we had kids mixing Long Island ice teas.
45:14
I kind of miss those days.
45:15
These players are a little more protected than they were back then.
45:20
But so that's part of the fun that I miss.
45:22
I'm just glad that they did play a few years ago in the Frozen 4.
45:26
You know, obviously, the.6, the Gopher fans love it.
45:30
But I think that was one thing that, you know, since they hadn't played in the regular season in a while, that's kind of one thing that kept this rivalry going during the downtime.
45:39
And now that it's back, you know, it came back last year.
45:42
I think it's really going to ramp up this weekend because they did play each other last year.
45:46
And it's going to be, you know, thousands of rabid North Dakota fans in a very hostile environment.
45:54
I am really looking forward to this weekend.
45:58
Yeah, I think when you get that many fans in there that are going to be that revved up, it's impossible for the players not to get going.
46:04
No matter whether you've been part of the rivalry or even if you know nothing about it, how do you not get going when you see that crowd in here?
46:12
I think both teams should be at their best this weekend.
46:17
Brad, you were talking...
46:19
Go ahead, Veegs.
46:20
I was just saying, I was thinking one of the most exciting things to watch this weekend would be how Casey Middlestad handles the atmosphere.
46:26
This will be his only trip to Grand Forks as a gopher, more than likely, and he's flashed a lot already this season.
46:37
And you know he's going to want to play well in this weekend.
46:40
Well, I think he'll be fine.
46:42
I've watched him a little bit.
46:45
You know, the games I've seen, I've actually got to see a couple of Minnesota games this year.
46:50
And when he has the puck on his stick, he does what he wants to do with it.
46:56
You know, he's a big time player.
46:59
I think one of the things to watch is how the Minnesota defensemen handle a lot of pressure coming at them.
47:08
If they can play in the offensive zone and Middlestad gets the puck in the offensive zone, he's going to score and Minnesota is going to score.
47:17
But they have to avoid those mistakes that end up in the back of their net.
47:21
And that's what's killed them so far, hasn't it, Veegs?
47:25
Yeah, and I think one of the things with Middlestad is he's so good in the offensive zone about protecting the puck and exploding into space and creating scoring opportunities.
47:35
And when he gets a lot of guys drawn to him, he's got the vision to distribute the puck.
47:40
And if he's playing with a guy like Rem Pitlick who can really fire it, you know, it's a dangerous line to play against.
47:46
For sure, that's why I think North Dakota is going to do everything they can to make them play in the D zone.
47:54
And that's something to watch.
47:55
You know, like I said, if North Dakota can make Minnesota play in their own end, North Dakota has a good chance of winning this weekend.
48:04
If Middlestead has the puck in the offensive zone a lot on a lot of his shifts, Minnesota is probably going to win this weekend.
48:11
So that's going to be a really key matchup to watch where the puck is.
48:16
And I think another interesting matchup is North Dakota.
48:19
We're going to see are the third and fourth lines, because that's where North Dakota strength is.
48:25
They've had a pretty good time when their third and fourth lines are out there, out doing the other teams third and fourth lines.
48:32
And I watched the game on Sunday, and part of the Minnesota Penn State game on Sunday and really liked, I thought the Romanko line was really good.
48:42
And so I think we're going to see some really good third and fourth lines going at it too.
48:47
And so that's going to be another key matchup.
48:51
You say my Romanko, I mean that they have been him and Ramsey.
48:56
Ramsey is no longer on that line, but they have been kind of the key cogs and the key penalty killers.
49:01
And I'm hoping they play well as well too.
49:07
And I think you're going to see Romanko, Ramsey and Norman mix throughout the lineup.
49:12
It's not clear yet what the lines are going to be for the Gophers coming in the weekend.
49:17
But Lucia's like the way that Ramsey and Norman have elevated their games when they've been in more scoring roles with more skilled players.
49:25
So it's hard to know what you're going to see for lines yet out of Minnesota.
49:28
I think you'll see Middlestad and Pitlick together.
49:32
I think you'll see Novak and McManus together, but I'm not sure about the rest of the lineup.
49:37
Now Brad, go ahead.
49:40
Oh, I was just going to say the same thing here.
49:41
North Dakota's been shuffling lines every single game.
49:44
So who knows what we'll see this weekend?
49:47
It's early.
49:48
That's kind of typical what happens early in the year.
49:52
So Brad, I understand you're working on an article in the next day or so about the North Dakota Minnesota Series, but from a different perspective, and that's from the referee perspective.
50:04
What can we expect to hear from you on that?
50:06
Yeah, it'll probably be hitting our website in a half hour.
50:11
Sometime tonight, I filed it about three minutes before I jumped on the podcast.
50:18
Yeah, I just thought that might be an interesting storyline.
50:22
We always talk about what a crazy series this is.
50:25
What if you're the guy responsible for keeping a lid on the series?
50:29
What's it like being that guy?
50:31
So I talked to the guys who have wrapped it more than anyone else, which would be Derrick Sheppard, Don Adam and Mike Schmidt.
50:41
In the last 20 years, I think those three, including Marco Hunt, have probably reffed as much as anyone.
50:48
So, you know, I think they had some interesting stories to tell.
50:54
They had some funny memories and funny lines.
50:57
You know, some of them liked them.
50:59
Marco Hunt did not like reffing that series.
51:03
For obvious reasons.
51:04
But, yeah, you'll have to check that out.
51:07
It's kind of a fun angle to hear what it's like to be a ref when these two teams get together.
51:14
And on the flip side, Vegoe, you're working on a Casey Millenstedt article.
51:19
Yep, I got to talk to him before the season.
51:22
And during the year, I've talked to Scott Bell and Cal Dietz and Don Lucia and a bunch of his teammates to kind of see how he adjusted to come in to college hockey, how his training going.
51:34
We'll talk about the pull ups, his skill, all kinds of stuff.
51:38
So there'll be some good insight in there from those guys.
51:42
You and I listened to some of that pull up audio that you captured.
51:45
That was some good stuff from Casey.
51:49
That'll be Friday morning.
51:50
And that's on the Athletic.
51:52
So if people haven't started subscribing to that, you need to get out there and subscribe to that.
51:56
It's good stuff.
51:57
And I understand that they're...
51:59
Russo was mentioning today that they're also adding a lot of Vikings coverage within the next week as well.
52:03
Aren't they, Vakes?
52:05
Yep.
52:05
They hired Britt Robson to cover the Timberwolves this week.
52:10
And they'll announce their Viking rider here shortly.
52:12
And there's a 30% off promo going on right now.
52:16
I'll retweet it here after the show.
52:18
It's good stuff.
52:20
We like the hockey coverage.
52:21
I mean, you and Nate are covering, and even I believe Jess Meyers is part of it.
52:26
And it's just nice to have more hockey coverage.
52:29
Go ahead, Brad.
52:31
Yeah, Bruce Siskie, I think, is doing some too, maybe.
52:33
Yes, he is.
52:35
We spoke to him at length a little bit last weekend.
52:37
And, you know, we should get Bruce on the show, shouldn't we, too, Eegs?
52:40
He'd be a good guest.
52:41
Be a good perspective.
52:42
He'd be a good guest.
52:43
You know, maybe we'll get him on later in the season towards a, you know, towards a regional time, because I have a feeling Minnesota and Minnesota Duluth are going to run into one of each other.
52:52
You know, I have a feeling we're all going to end up in Sioux Falls, Brad.
52:57
That would be fun.
52:59
I was surprised Minnesota didn't end up in Fargo last year.
53:02
Obviously, Duluth did.
53:06
And that would have been something to build on right there.
53:11
A regional, you know, in big UND territory.
53:16
You know, we've talked about this recently.
53:19
You know, Vegoe and I and even Hammy as well.
53:23
No one else is bidding for these regionals.
53:25
North Dakota and Minnesota are pretty much it these days.
53:28
And North Dakota's got three or four in a row that they're hosting because no one else is hosting.
53:34
And there's not many facilities to host.
53:38
You hear about a lot of the other schools complaining, but you know what?
53:41
They could host as well.
53:42
They don't have to host in their home arena, but some of these other schools have not stepped up.
53:46
It's really only been Minnesota and North Dakota the past ten years that have really stepped up for a West Regional.
53:56
Yeah, it's been very interesting.
53:59
I think Vegoe knows how I feel about the regionals.
54:02
We've had some conversations about that before.
54:08
I would like to see them go back to home sites just simply because I just don't know if it's fair for, if you earn a one seed and you end up in Fargo against North Dakota.
54:22
I mean, I don't know.
54:24
That's happened too many times.
54:26
This goes back to way before North Dakota is ever hosting regionals.
54:30
I remember Miami has earned a one seed twice in the last decade.
54:35
One time they got sent to New Hampshire to play New Hampshire first round.
54:39
The other time, they got sent to Providence to play Providence first round.
54:42
And they lost both of them.
54:43
And so, you know, from Miami's perspective, here's your two greatest teams in the last decade.
54:49
And that's the draw you earned after a long five month season.
54:53
You know, I don't know.
54:55
That's I think that if you earn that one seed, you deserve the advantage.
55:01
And I would like to see teams that earn the advantage through their play on the ice get rewarded rather than teams that earn the advantage through good administrative work two years earlier.
55:14
So, just my thoughts.
55:16
Nobody agrees with me.
55:17
So, I have no illusions that anything's going to change.
55:20
But that's my thoughts.
55:24
You know, Brad, I had a great talk with Jim Montgomery about this.
55:27
And he thinks the best of three first round at a high seed would be great hockey.
55:32
He thinks, you know, you get those game threes on ESPN, you know, the coverage won't be as wide as it is now.
55:39
But I think the games will be better.
55:41
Yeah.
55:41
And I don't think, you know, a lot of people say, oh, well, that'll ruin the upsets and there won't be upsets anymore.
55:49
My first few thoughts are, A, are there any upsets anymore?
55:54
Is there anything like we think when a team, when a four seed wins first round, is it, were we really like, oh my gosh, Notre Dame beat Minnesota.
56:02
That's just crazy.
56:04
I mean, no, I mean, that's a, there are so many four seeds have won.
56:08
What is it, 12 years in a row, a four seed has won?
56:11
It's, we've eliminated the fact of the upset because there really are no upsets.
56:16
B, I do think teams would win best two or three on the road.
56:20
And C, if the top four seeds all reach the frozen four, would that be a huge disaster?
56:26
You know, I think that would be a phenomenal hockey.
56:30
So those are my thoughts on it.
56:33
I know a lot of people disagree with me and it's a fun chat to have I think though.
56:38
And we see upsets in the conference tournaments even when they're home hosted in the first round.
56:43
I mean, that happens.
56:44
You know, Alaska Anchorage came to Mariucci and beat the Gophers.
56:49
Yeah.
56:50
You're talking in Alaska Anchorage team that was probably 40 in the pairwise.
56:56
And we're talking about teams that are going to be 15.
56:58
Like there's no bad team that's going to be in the tournament.
57:01
So upsets are going to happen.
57:05
I'd like to see it actually.
57:07
I mean, you see these empty regionals that have no atmosphere and not much going on.
57:13
I mean, is it to the point where the NCAA just doesn't care?
57:19
Well, there's a lot of teams that don't like the teams getting home ice advantage.
57:26
And if you look at it and you think about it, yeah, it's probably going to be an advantage for the top college hockey teams.
57:32
And a lot of the teams in the Atlantic Hockeys and the ECACs and some of these, the ECACs had great success, but still a lot of their coaches are not in favor of that.
57:45
And, you know, maybe part of the reason is because the current set up for regionals does work out east.
57:49
So they don't see the problems that we do out west all the time.
57:53
But you know, I think, like you said, we see too many empty buildings.
58:02
I saw North Dakota play Yale to go to the Frozen Four in front of 1,500 people in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
58:09
And that's your biggest game of the year.
58:11
And there's nobody there.
58:13
And these are the games that are broadcast on ESPN.
58:16
And this is what everyone sees on national television.
58:19
And this is not what I see all year long when I go around to college hockey venues.
58:23
I see awesome venues with great fans, whether it's 3,000 people in Union or, you know, 12,000 people in North Dakota.
58:33
There are awesome environments and fans that tune in on ESPN to the national tournament don't see what we do all year.
58:41
Yeah, and we always tell them how great the old Final Five was.
58:47
And then what could be literally the next weekend at the X, and there's half as many people there.
58:54
And I mean, obviously, a lot of people in the old days had season tickets to the WCHA Final Five.
59:01
That was just their, that's where they spent their money every year.
59:04
But if it was regional on campus, I think someplace like Amsoil will be a fun place for a regional.
59:15
And just the places like that, this year, we've got Sioux Falls.
59:22
That's not exactly close for anyone.
59:24
I mean, there's no teams in that town.
59:27
It'll be full, but it's not, I mean, Fargo is close for North Dakota, but Sioux Falls is not exactly close.
59:35
It's probably might be more of a bus ride than for Minnesota.
59:38
You have UNO just down the road, but really it is a little bit isolated out there.
59:46
Yeah.
59:46
I mean, it'll probably work.
59:48
I think it will.
59:50
But we all watch the NHL playoffs and we see what those buildings are like.
59:55
And that's what makes the NHL playoffs so awesome, is they're just insane.
1:00:00
And I think we could see some of that in college hockey if the playoffs were in home venues.
1:00:05
I mean, I even think of what would Houghton, Michigan be like if Michigan Tech is hosting a series?
1:00:10
That place would be insane.
1:00:13
Oh boy, there would be a lot of drunk people there because they love to party.
1:00:18
And beers are like 30 cents still up there.
1:00:22
Well, at least they can drink beer up there.
1:00:24
Unlike some places like Mariucci where you cannot.
1:00:28
Yeah, I know.
1:00:30
That's just the way it is for the University of Minnesota, where we are a bunch of goody-two shoes here and we just have to live with it.
1:00:35
Sorry folks.
1:00:37
It's just-
1:00:37
It's going to change one of these days.
1:00:39
I think they may have to, Veegs, because with the amount of empty seats or even though they're sold, we're going to come to a head eventually here at Mariucci.
1:00:48
Something's going to have to happen.
1:00:51
Well, even last year or last weekend, the amounts of attendance were in the 8,000s.
1:00:57
When you have 1,200, 1,400 unsold seats, that could add up.
1:01:02
It does add up, but there was probably less than 5,000 there.
1:01:08
Right.
1:01:08
It was empty.
1:01:09
I'll be curious to see what your scanned data will happen, how it's going to look this year.
1:01:16
Without somebody like North Dakota coming to town to boost up those scanned ticket numbers, Marriott and actually Amsoil is becoming the same or similar in some aspects.
1:01:30
People aren't showing up.
1:01:31
They don't have those problems in North Dakota.
1:01:33
They've never had those problems in North Dakota.
1:01:37
But Minnesota...
1:01:38
Brad, have you ever done a scanned ticket request from North Dakota?
1:01:42
You know, they haven't.
1:01:44
They don't need to.
1:01:47
I'm sure it would back up the idea here that people use their tickets.
1:01:53
Yeah, there aren't many open seats.
1:01:56
You know, I think if that were a bigger problem, I probably would have done it by now to see that.
1:02:01
But, you know, it's pretty evident about where the ticket sales are.
1:02:08
I did hear a year or this was several years ago now.
1:02:11
But the, what do you call it?
1:02:15
The rate of purchased versus scanned was like 97% one year, something absurd like that.
1:02:24
That might be almost 10 years ago now.
1:02:26
I'm getting pretty old here.
1:02:29
Oh, you're not old.
1:02:32
Yeah, it would be interesting to see for sure.
1:02:36
Well, what's your prediction this weekend, Veegs?
1:02:41
I think we're going to see a split.
1:02:44
I think one thing that's happening for Minnesota right now is they've got some really elite talent up front.
1:02:49
I think they showed a hint of that last weekend, so I think they can score some goals.
1:02:55
This is a North Dakota team that doesn't have the star power of a Yost or a Besser.
1:03:00
So I think that could hold them back a little bit if Minnesota gets some momentum and gets hot.
1:03:05
But I don't think Minnesota is playing consistent enough to win two games there.
1:03:10
Brad, your thoughts?
1:03:12
I think the same.
1:03:13
It's really boring.
1:03:14
I know the pickest.
1:03:16
Well, the games will not be boring.
1:03:19
They should not be.
1:03:20
No, no.
1:03:21
I do think more often than not, we've seen splits in the series.
1:03:25
It's probably the safe call and the smart call.
1:03:29
Well, I would agree with you guys as well.
1:03:31
Usually, I love to call Gopher sweet, but I just don't see it with how, like you said, Vegoe, how inconsistent they've been.
1:03:38
It could be a little bit of a bumpy Friday night, but I think they'll bounce back pretty well Saturday night, and it'll be another great series into the history books.
1:03:46
So like I said, I can't wait.
1:03:49
Hopefully, we'll find out if more television gets added.
1:03:53
You know, different type of cable networks is how Midco is going about it right now.
1:03:58
They're not going through anything like a Fox.
1:04:00
So Fox is going to have nothing to do with this, folks.
1:04:03
So don't even, don't bother them.
1:04:05
They're not going to be involved.
1:04:06
So, you know, Midco is, you know, they've already got MediaCom on board.
1:04:10
You know, we'll see if, you know, in the next day or so, if they can get a couple others on board, you know, that Sensors, which is already a North Dakota bar, Gophers were pushing people to go to Sensors.
1:04:23
So there could be quite the atmosphere at Joe Sensors in both Roseville and Bloomington this weekend for people watching those games, because I've been there with, during some of those games against North Dakota, and it's fun at those places, but it might be the only place you get to see it.
1:04:42
It's either that or you're going to be listening to the radio, folks.
1:04:45
Obviously, I do know that the NCHC does not charge bars a premium for their streaming service.
1:04:53
So if there's another bar out there that wants to pick up the package, for a month, it's like 30 bucks, 26 bucks, and they could stream it at their bar as well.
1:05:02
So that's an option for people.
1:05:04
Well, my town here...
1:05:05
If a bar takes that initiative.
1:05:07
My town here that I live in, Norwood Young America, is a media com town.
1:05:12
So I'm guessing a couple of the bars will actually have it on broadcast television here.
1:05:17
So I might be in luck.
1:05:19
Sorry, suckers, the rest of you are not in luck.
1:05:21
Too bad.
1:05:22
You don't get to see it.
1:05:23
You have to listen to the radio, which will be fun.
1:05:26
Brad, we appreciate you coming on the show.
1:05:30
It's been fun to have you on.
1:05:31
Hopefully we can have you on again in North Dakota and Minnesota to play again next year.
1:05:37
Yeah, you can have me on from Vegas.
1:05:39
We'll see how it goes.
1:05:40
Oh, yeah.
1:05:42
We'll get you.
1:05:42
Well, maybe we'll all be in Vegas.
1:05:45
We'll just have a roundtable and just talk about hockey for a couple of hours because it's entertaining.
1:05:52
Obviously, a lot of us think this is an important series, but I think it's important for college hockey and college hockey fans that this series is happening because it's just fun.
1:06:03
Win or lose, it's always fun.
1:06:06
And that's what we love.
1:06:07
I mean, that's why we all love college hockey because you never know what's going to happen.
1:06:11
There's so much passion with the fans.
1:06:13
And that's why I love it so much.
1:06:17
Yeah, there's tons of passion, tons of people getting worked up behind it.
1:06:23
But don't forget to have fun because this is fun.
1:06:28
This is what makes sports fun.
1:06:31
So go ahead, get riled up.
1:06:33
Don't forget to have some fun at the same time.
1:06:36
And don't be a knucklehead.
1:06:38
No.
1:06:39
Gopher fans going up there this weekend, don't be a knucklehead.
1:06:42
Just have fun.
1:06:44
If you have fun, the knuckleheads on the other side will not give you a hard time.
1:06:48
So, like you said.
1:06:49
And nobody throw anything on the ice.
1:06:52
You're going to ruin my deadline.
1:06:55
Or no players.
1:06:56
And Don says don't throw anything at the bus with a pint bottle on it.
1:07:03
One of the referees was telling me a story about someone throwing a vodka bottle on the ice and it's shattering.
1:07:08
The first thing I thought is, that's 10 minutes to clean up.
1:07:11
You're missing deadline tonight.
1:07:14
Well, you might as well just plan missing your deadline.
1:07:19
It's going to happen, especially with the 730 start Friday night.
1:07:23
You're guaranteed to be late.
1:07:25
So you're just going to have to deal with it, Brad.
1:07:28
Sorry.
1:07:30
I'm sure.
1:07:30
I'm used to it.
1:07:31
Yeah.
1:07:31
Like you said, you're used to it.
1:07:32
It's just part of the deal.
1:07:34
Well you can follow Brad in all of his articles and The Grand Forks Herald.
1:07:39
You can follow him on Twitter.
1:07:40
It's not hard to find him.
1:07:42
He's out there.
1:07:42
He's participating in all of his social media.
1:07:45
We really thank you for coming on.
1:07:47
Like I said, we're going to have you on again sometime.
1:07:50
Sounds good.
1:07:51
Thanks guys.
1:07:51
Yeah.
1:07:51
We appreciate it.
1:07:53
Veegs, big weekend.
1:07:55
You're not going up there, are you?
1:07:58
No.
1:07:59
I know Nate Wells will be headed up.
1:08:01
Joe Christensen is going up for the Strib, but my five-year-old has might hockey practice on Saturday and Sunday.
1:08:08
So I'll be on the ice in the morning and watching the Gophers at night.
1:08:12
Well, it's going to be a fun weekend, folks.
1:08:14
We'll be back next week.
1:08:16
We're going to recap this legendary series and see how it goes.
1:08:20
Then we'll also preview the series with, I believe it's Clarkson coming into Mariucci next week.
1:08:28
Until then, thanks for listening.
1:08:57
Is that McManus?
1:08:58
Is that indicative of what we're going to see, or do you have a good night?
1:09:01
Well, I think it's a little bit of both, and I don't think you can expect to see a freshman get a hat-trick on a regular basis, but he was recruited because of his offensive ability, his shooting ability, and I think you saw that in the game on Sunday, because those are goal scorers' goals.
1:09:16
I mean, not everybody can pick top corners from distance, and I think that's the difference in a true goal scorer to have the ability to do that.
1:09:23
So, you know, it's good for him, because, you know, for the young kids, it gives them confidence.
1:09:27
You know, he's scored now, and so, I mean, Middlestad scored a goal, Reidie scored a goal, Rossini scored a goal, so some of the young guys have contributed, and it just, you know, makes them feel good to get that first goal.
1:09:38
I told you 20 years ago that a kid from California would come in and do that.
1:09:42
Would you believe me?
1:09:43
Well, there was a kid 20-plus years ago, John Boo, who was from California, was a goalie.
1:09:47
Okay.
1:09:47
You forgot about that, didn't you?
1:09:49
So, he's not the first California guy.
1:09:52
You know what?
1:09:53
But it's just indicative to where hockey is at today, that it's a global sport.
1:09:57
It's certainly in our country, elite players are coming from anywhere now.
1:10:04
And, I mean, he's an indication of that is, a lot of players dotted throughout the National Hockey League.
1:10:09
You got to go pretty far back to get before me, but blue doesn't.
1:10:13
Colorado College, is that a reputation for recruiting Southern California very well?
1:10:17
Did you do some of that when you were there?
1:10:18
Yeah.
1:10:18
I mean, I remember flying out to Noah Clark, Justin Morrison, Brooke Nelson.
1:10:23
Those three kids were from Southern California.
1:10:26
So, you know, that was for me the first time.
1:10:29
I think my first recruiting trip to California was probably Justin Morrison.
1:10:34
Going to, you know, he lived close to Hollywood, and I was a little out of my element.
1:10:40
I can still remember that recruiting trip because I locked the keys in my car.
1:10:45
So I got to the hotel and said, okay, how am I going to get there now?
1:10:48
But I was able to get it.
1:10:49
But I mean, I had spent very little of any time in LA and Justin had played at Omaha.
1:10:54
And that's what most of the kids are doing.
1:10:56
I mean, they're playing their midget hockey, but then when they get to that age, they're going to go play junior hockey, part of it, because they're good players second, I mean, the expense.
1:11:04
When you play hockey in California or Arizona and the Southern, I mean, it's expensive to play because ice is more expensive, but then just to travel.
1:11:12
You get the plane and all that added expense.
1:11:15
So probably for a parent, you know, it's kind of nice when they get to that junior age where they don't have to foot the bill for hockey anymore.
1:11:20
So you've got that Orange County Dinkytown Pipeline establishment?
1:11:25
Well, I should have went on a recruiting trip out there.
1:11:27
That was a bad move.
1:11:30
God forsaken places I've been.
1:11:33
Recruiting days and I passed that one up.
1:11:35
But you know, for Brandon too, I mean, he was at Shattuck and that's where we first saw him in his Shattuck days.
1:11:42
And that's always an important recruiting area for us at Shattuck Prep School.
1:11:47
And he did a good job in USHL.
1:11:50
I'm just, you know, happy he's here and just getting used to what college hockey is all about.
1:11:54
Because he's young.
1:11:55
He's probably one of the younger players in college hockey.
1:11:57
He just turned 18 this summer.
1:11:59
What does it mean for you guys to be able to have those freshman players step up and provide that spark?
1:12:03
Well, we need that.
1:12:04
You know, I think the important thing in the next few weeks for us, you know, we got to get Bristead on the score sheet, Smetula on the score sheet, Gates got his first goal.
1:12:14
You know, we've been getting good production from, you know, Norman and Ramsey's played very well.
1:12:19
Romanco, you know, that was one thing we talked about going into Sunday's game, that, you know, those guys were all elevated and they contributed on the score sheet and it certainly in other ways.
1:12:28
And, you know, and, you know, using analogy, you know, we lost some guys that were at the front of the bus last year.
1:12:35
And, you know, we need the guys that were sitting behind them now to move up in those seats.
1:12:39
And, you know, because the guys that were maybe behind them have moved up and, you know, taken a nice jump.
1:12:43
But, you know, whether it's, you know, when you're a leader and you just haven't got on the score sheet, sometimes you start to press a little bit more.
1:12:50
You know, so hopefully, even though they're playing hard, that, you know, they can get on the score sheet and feel better about themselves too.
1:12:57
Can you do anything to prepare guys for what they're going to experience, if not Dakota, with the crowd and the rink and all that?
1:13:01
Yeah, I don't know.
1:13:02
I mean, I, you know, they play, they're going to play hard.
1:13:05
I mean, I don't anticipate a lot of stuff after the whistle or anything like that because I don't think with the staff now they, I've seen them play that way.
1:13:11
And, you know, we had a great series last year.
1:13:15
Both games could have gone either way.
1:13:17
Very competitive, but, you know, for the most part, it was, it was whistle to whistle.
1:13:21
And, you know, I'm sure their fans are excited like ours were a year ago.
1:13:25
We haven't been up there, I don't know, what is it?
1:13:26
Four years, five years now.
1:13:28
This is our last year in the WCHA.
1:13:31
It's always a fun environment.
1:13:32
You know what?
1:13:33
As, if you're a competitor, you like to, as a coach you want to be in that environment.
1:13:39
As a player, I think you want that as well.
1:13:42
And you know what?
1:13:42
You find out who the men are when you're going to go up there.
1:13:45
So I think there will be a little bit of, you know, the first period, you know, to get through it.
1:13:50
And then the game starts to settle in and you play the rest of the weekend.
1:13:54
How important is it to create depth now, this early in the season?
1:13:57
Well, we don't have any choice.
1:13:59
You know, Tyler actually and Scott both skated today.
1:14:01
But I doubt that they'll be playing this weekend because you know what?
1:14:04
We're going to take a long term approach with, unless we feel really comfortable.
1:14:09
But you know, as we're preparing, like they won't play.
1:14:13
But the other guys did a good job.
1:14:14
I mean, we, you know, are lined up on Sunday with, you know, three important players.
1:14:18
And the other guys stepped up, like you hope.
1:14:20
That's what a team game is all about, that you're going to have nicks, you're going to have injuries.
1:14:24
And, you know, you can't use it as an excuse.
1:14:26
You know, we're going to have 18 skaters ready to go.
1:14:28
I don't know who they are yet, but we'll have 18 guys that are ready to go.
1:14:32
And like you touched on in the long run, it's going to make us a better team.
1:14:34
Because I've seen tremendous growth the first two weeks in Ramsey, you know, doing more.
1:14:41
You know, Romenco, Norman.
1:14:43
So guys that you start to feel that, you know what, that they're able to play in elevator roles.
1:14:48
They did a good job for at least for one week.
1:14:50
And now we'll see if they can do it another.
1:14:52
We've talked before about how in this region anyway, the Gophers are the big game for just about everybody.
1:14:56
But, you know, with the history of going back 70 years between Minnesota and North Dakota, is this one different or special in any way?
1:15:02
Well, it's more, it's fun.
1:15:04
There's no doubt the fans get used.
1:15:06
It's a little different because it's non-league.
1:15:08
I mean, say what you want, I mean, these are non-league games.
1:15:12
And even though you're not playing for points, it's important from the national picture.
1:15:17
And I mean, it's just, you go back to the history of the games.
1:15:20
I mean, like we told, all you got to do is YouTube, and you can see some interesting stuff that went on between the games.
1:15:27
Two gloves on the ice.
1:15:28
Yeah, two gloves on the ice and some interesting handshake lines.
1:15:33
Maybe a bird flying through the arena.
1:15:39
I thought everybody got that one.
1:15:40
Yeah, no, I got that one.
1:15:46
I think it adds to it.
1:15:47
And I think the fun part is, I think it's more fun when, even as a fan, I've always said that, when the kind of rivalry goes back and forth, and maybe one team gets a few extra wins, and then the other team kind of pulls it back, and that's more fun.
1:16:02
I mean, nobody wants to go to a game and watch the home team win eight to one.
1:16:06
I mean, you want to watch a competitive game, and hopefully your team can win, and that makes it extra special.
1:16:11
And I think that's what's in the history of our rivalry, from what I've seen and experienced there.
1:16:17
There might be a stretch for a couple of years, somebody gets the better of it, but then it kind of goes back the other way for a while, or a lot of splits and kind of evens up, and they're really competitive games.
1:16:25
And hey, there's a reason why the ticket's a hundred bucks up there for the games this weekend.
1:16:30
What have you seen from them so far on tape?
1:16:32
Just, you know, typical North Dakota, they're a little more, they're balanced.
1:16:35
You know, they're not sitting there with a Brock Besser or Joseph, it's a first-round pick, but what they have is a lot of good parts.
1:16:43
It could be good face-off guys.
1:16:45
I mean, their team face-offs over 60 percent, their specialty teams have been good.
1:16:49
You look at their goal scoring through four games.
1:16:52
I mean, three of the four goals, they haven't scored games, they haven't scored much, they've been getting shots, then they broke out with six on Saturday, but a balanced team.
1:17:00
I mean, they can, they're gonna play four lines and they can play 6D and, you know, they're gonna get a puck in deep and they're gonna come at you and finish your check and like playing against Penn State, we have to make sure we're a good box out team because they're gonna throw pucks there and we, you gotta make sure you keep it clean for Eric.
1:17:17
Those are all important ingredients for when you play them and that's the way they're gonna play.
1:17:21
I mean, it's, I mean, I don't need to flip on the tape to know what's, how North Dakota's gonna play.
1:17:27
I mean, they're just gonna come and they're gonna keep coming and coming and coming.
1:17:31
And you gotta match their intensity and their energy.
1:17:33
How much do you think a competitive series of Penn State compared to you guys?
1:17:36
Well, I think it always does.
1:17:38
I think, you know, we were up in Duluth and, you know, so we've played good teams.
1:17:42
We touched on, you know, for our first four games.
1:17:44
Now we're NCAA tournament teams.
1:17:46
There's two more.
1:17:47
I mean, and then we come back for Clarkson, who beat Michigan and is undefeated, beat Penn State.
1:17:53
They're undefeated so far this year.
1:17:54
So we knew October would be a real test for us.
1:17:58
And it's a real test when now you start with the depth and everything else, getting guys an opportunity.
1:18:04
So we want to go up there.
1:18:05
We want to continue to get better.
1:18:09
We want our game to continue to improve, become consistent.
1:18:13
You know, we've got to do well on face-offs.
1:18:15
That's been an issue.
1:18:16
We haven't been great on face-offs this year.
1:18:18
We lost probably our two key face-off guys.
1:18:21
And starting with possession.
1:18:23
I mean, if we're chasing, it's going to be a long weekend.
1:18:26
And if you're chasing the puck all the time, because you can never start with possession, I think that's hurt our specialty teams.
1:18:31
It's hurt us on the penalty kill because we seem to lose every draw in our own zone and same even in the power play.
1:18:36
At times, you know, you lose a draw to start the power play, and now you just lost 20 seconds of it.
1:18:41
You added Scott Bell to your staff this offseason.
1:18:43
What have you seen from him in the first couple of months?
1:18:45
Energy, confidence, a lot of pride in the Gophers.
1:18:52
A very enthusiastic, energetic recruiter.
1:18:57
He's, you know, kind of always thinking about recruiting, which is a good thing.
1:19:01
As coaches, we all know, we're a lot smarter with good players.
1:19:05
And so he's been very effective.
1:19:06
He's got a video session coming up here with our forwards, and he's done a nice job.
1:19:10
It's been a real nice transition having him on our staff.
1:19:13
His work with the power players, a lot of shifting personnel there from a lot of the guys leaving last year.
1:19:17
What is it like with that?
1:19:19
Well, we've been sharing it right now, and I'm trying to transition that a little bit because the last couple of years, I'll let Grant, we kind of ran it together, but Grant pretty much ran it.
1:19:29
Scott's still trying to kind of get used to how we do things here and getting up with the video and all that.
1:19:35
So we're kind of, our whole staff is kind of doing it together right now.
1:19:39
And then as the year goes on, we'll just kind of throw more and more at them.
1:19:44
For your entire team, it's their first trip up to Grand Forks.
1:19:46
What do you kind of expect out of them?
1:19:48
You know, it's just another game.
1:19:50
I mean, it's the old Hoosiers.
1:19:53
You know, get out the tape, it's 285, it doesn't change.
1:19:56
You know, your cell phone number might be printed by a student in the stands, a dead Gopher on the ice.
1:20:03
You know, there might be somebody asking me behind the bench how 12 got on the team.
1:20:08
You know, so that's the fun part.
1:20:10
I mean, you got the guy, he'll come out of the tunnel, he'll be yelling at us up top.
1:20:13
So, you got to enjoy the atmosphere, you know.
1:20:17
I mean, that's the reality of it.
1:20:18
I mean, that's, hey, you're going into Alabama, you better enjoy the experience if you're a football player, right?
1:20:26
You're going in there, you better enjoy the experience.
1:20:29
I mean, our guys, we'll have some guys that, you know, we won't get up there now for what, three more years.
1:20:33
I mean, we're playing at Las Vegas next year, the following year, they're here, and then the year after that.
1:20:39
So, you know, for a lot of guys, this is their one and only trip up there.
1:20:43
What's the most interesting thing that's ever landed in your bench up there?
1:20:47
What are the most awful?
1:20:49
Somebody spitting on it.
1:20:51
That would be the worst for my standpoint.
1:20:55
A fan came running down and hocked one on us, and it's like, really?
1:21:00
Classy.
1:21:02
You know, but I'm sure there'll be a few dead gophers on the ice, and that's all part of it.
1:21:07
But they have a good time.
1:21:09
I mean, they said, we're going to drive up, and the good thing is now the bus is going to drive up, and they can't pelt it with snowballs.
1:21:15
It hasn't snowed yet.
1:21:17
When I go back to the old world, that was my first experience.
1:21:20
It's like, OK, we got to gun it to get through.
1:21:22
Boom, boom, boom, boom, crash.
1:21:24
This is probably a pint bottle mixed in with a snowball.
1:21:30
So, you know, enjoy it.
1:21:32
I mean, I'm looking forward to it.
1:21:34
I can't wait.
1:21:35
I mean, they have great fans, they have great enthusiasm, proud tradition.
1:21:39
You know, they're the Thunderhawks, but let's be real.
1:21:41
I mean, they're going to be the Fighting Sioux, right?
1:21:45
I mean, we all know it.
1:21:45
I mean, the fans are going to say, let's go Fighting Hawks.
1:21:48
And so, it's fun.
1:21:50
It's, it's an enjoyable experience.
1:21:53
You know, I, I, I think the, the rival was pretty high there when it kind of took a breather.
1:22:01
And I think, you know, the breather was probably good in some ways.
1:22:03
And now I think it will be back and, you know, in a respectful way.
1:22:06
And I think that's the way we want it.
1:22:08
I mean, we have great respect for their alums, their hockey players, their coaches and fans.
1:22:15
It's, it's, it has great tradition, as do we.
1:22:18
And that's what makes it a fun rivalry.
1:22:21
Sounds like one of the weeks where you want to put on the pads like Darby Henderson did.
1:22:23
Yeah, I told the guys that.
1:22:24
You know what?
1:22:25
Yeah, I mean, I don't have as much game as Darby yet.
1:22:28
But, you know, as a former hockey and football, it's like, yeah, you get juiced.
1:22:32
I mean, you'd like to go smack somebody.
1:22:33
But, you know, you have the opportunity to do it.
1:22:37
That's how a live doctor is, isn't it?
1:22:40
Respectful, huh?
1:22:41
It has been a while since you've been up there.
1:22:42
Huh?
1:22:42
You're expecting respect?
1:22:44
Yeah.
1:22:44
All right.
1:22:45
You got to be respectful.
1:22:46
All right.
1:22:50
Why does that mic go in there?
1:22:52
It was a trip.
1:22:53
Yeah.
1:22:56
Last year, this series was kind of a coming out party for you.
1:23:00
Take on extra meaning for you?
1:23:03
I mean, I don't know about that.
1:23:04
I mean, obviously, you get to play North Dakota anytime, especially at their barn, too.
1:23:08
It's going to be fun.
1:23:10
But, yeah, last year, it was a big series for our team and myself, as well.
1:23:15
And I think it will be a big weekend for us this year, too.
1:23:19
We're coming off two weekends where we had one good night and one not-so-great night.
1:23:23
So we're going to see what our team's made of this weekend.
1:23:26
Does a series like this suit your game?
1:23:28
I think it does, yeah.
1:23:29
I mean, I'm a competitive guy.
1:23:32
I like to get in the face of opponents.
1:23:34
And it's a big rivalry.
1:23:35
And I think that's the type of game it's going to be.
1:23:38
North Dakota likes to give it back to us.
1:23:40
So, yeah, I think it suits my game really well.
1:23:44
How hard is it in a game like that to keep the intensity without letting it boil over?
1:23:49
Because it's done that in the past in this series.
1:23:52
Yeah, for sure it has.
1:23:53
Yeah, you got to find a line.
1:23:55
You want to get to that line, but you don't want to cross it.
1:23:58
So I think that's going to be big for us.
1:24:01
Discipline is a big thing we talk about.
1:24:03
We've been so great with that.
1:24:05
We've already had a couple of major penalties.
1:24:07
So we just got to watch that.
1:24:08
We've got to watch all the penalties.
1:24:10
That's going to hurt us in the long run.
1:24:11
So you want to be tough, but you want to be smart as well.
1:24:16
Ryan, do you remember how that series started last year where Hitler got hit and then you got into a scrum right away?
1:24:23
I mean, it just seemed to kind of set the tone.
1:24:26
Yeah, I think I got into it with Gage Osmonds last year.
1:24:30
They're captain.
1:24:31
But yeah, I just remember just kind of going after them a little bit, and then we got a little scrum.
1:24:37
You know, I think it was only like our third weekend last year.
1:24:40
I was a freshman, so I was pretty excited, pretty nervous.
1:24:43
I think I was just kind of wanting to get out there, and I would have fought anyone.
1:24:47
So I just was excited, and I think it was big for me, and I think it helped the team as well.
1:24:54
Did you, had you spent the week kind of, you know, not only your own memories of the rivalry, but listening to Patoni and some of those guys talk about it?
1:25:01
Yeah, it's, you know, there's a lot of talk going into it, into the weekend, and yeah, you can hear stories from Patoni, and obviously Gander and Don have a ton of stories as well.
1:25:12
So yeah, you listen to it, but it's another weekend, you gotta treat it that way.
1:25:17
So we just gotta make sure we come out there and play well.
1:25:22
But yeah, it's obviously a big weekend for us, and there's a lot of history that goes into it.
1:25:26
How do you prep for that atmosphere?
1:25:27
You know, the rink is legendary, it's one of the real amazing places in college.
1:25:31
Hockey, they're fan base, all that.
1:25:33
How do you prepare for that?
1:25:34
Yeah, you know, going into it, it's gonna be, you know, you're already here, it's gonna be sold out.
1:25:38
So yeah, I just think, you know, we haven't really played in an atmosphere like that.
1:25:44
You know, Duluth was pretty good, but you know, there's nothing like going to the Relf.
1:25:49
So you just gotta go into it and not think too much about the fans.
1:25:52
You know, you just gotta think about, you know, playing your game, you know, staying together.
1:25:56
You know, they're gonna be all over you, they're gonna be heckling you.
1:25:59
So we just gotta make sure we stay together and not lose control out there.
1:26:04
As far as McManus, today, you see him a lot more than we do.
1:26:08
Is that for real?
1:26:08
Is he here?
1:26:09
Is that...
1:26:09
Do you just have a good night?
1:26:10
No, it's for real.
1:26:12
He's a great player.
1:26:13
He's a great guy.
1:26:14
You're gonna see a lot more of that.
1:26:18
Penalty kill has kind of been a soft spot this year.
1:26:22
What do you guys need to firm up there?
1:26:24
Yeah, we were working on a lot today.
1:26:27
You know, I just think it's, you know, it's a new year.
1:26:29
You got new guys, you know, you know, trying it out right now.
1:26:33
I think communication is a big thing, and just kind of knowing where to be, and, you know, there's different sorting that needs to go along with it, and making sure we clear Puck.
1:26:42
So I think we got, you know, the right guys to do it, and, you know, we're eventually going to have a really good penalty kill, I can tell.
1:26:49
But, yeah, it's early in the year, and, you know, there's some kinks we need to work out.
1:26:53
The power play has struggled a little bit as well.
1:26:55
What did Jake bring last year that might be missing this year?
1:27:00
Yeah, I mean, you know, obviously the power play, too, it's early.
1:27:02
I mean, we only had, you know, four games to work on, so, you know, obviously we need, you know, a little more practice.
1:27:08
But, yeah, Jake obviously brought, he's a heck of a hockey player, he's smart, and he's got a great shot.
1:27:13
So, you know, we missed that a little bit.
1:27:15
But, you know, I think we got great guys in the power play right now, and, you know, I think it's coming along really good, and I think we'll have a really good power play as well.
1:27:25
Tommy, you guys are working on the power play through practice.
1:27:28
What do you think the power play needs to do better in this series this weekend?
1:27:34
Yeah, we definitely, we've struggled up to this point just trying to set up and, you know, get things going.
1:27:38
So, I think if we can get the puck moving around and get some shots on net, you know, we have the skill to score a lot.
1:27:45
So, you know, just getting quality shots off and getting to the net.
1:27:50
I think you guys are looking forward to playing in the environment you're going to be playing in this weekend.
1:27:54
Yeah, I mean, I'm sure it will be one of the best that we've all ever played in.
1:27:57
So, it's going to be definitely a really fun series and just obviously a great tradition with these two teams.
1:28:04
So, you know, we're all looking forward to it.
1:28:06
Do you remember watching some of these games when you were coming up?
1:28:09
Yeah, for sure.
1:28:10
I mean, the most memorable being in the Frozen 4 game, in the 0.6 seconds game was definitely, you know, that was right when I was in high school.
1:28:18
So, I was, I mean, that was the one that really sticks out in my head.
1:28:21
But yeah, all these games, even last year, they were incredible games.
1:28:24
So, definitely looking forward to it.
1:28:27
Freshman stepped up a big way on Sunday.
1:28:29
What does it mean for them to be able to ride that spark?
1:28:33
Yeah, I mean, we have a lot of skill up and down our lineup and our freshmen are definitely a key part of that.
1:28:39
I mean, they all can shoot and skate.
1:28:42
So, they're all definitely ready to play at this level and they showed that this weekend.
1:28:46
Is that who McManus is for those of us that haven't seen him that much or do you have a good night?
1:28:51
I mean, I don't know if he'll score every shot like that again, but he definitely has a rip and he can score and he can make smart plays.
1:28:59
So, yeah, he's a really good player.
1:29:01
How have you been feeling since you've gotten back on the ice this year?
1:29:04
Yeah, I think I've been getting better, just like acclimating back to playing at this pace.
1:29:08
So, it's tough going down with an injury, but I just keep getting better and hopefully progress throughout the year.
1:29:15
I know some of you guys faced off in Dakota last year, but for the freshmen and stuff, do people kind of give everybody kind of the history of the lab or is everybody in the room knows mistakes?
1:29:28
I think it's mostly like not even need to be said.
1:29:30
Like, I think mostly everybody knows the tradition between this game.
1:29:35
So, it's almost, I mean, we don't really need to say anything.
1:29:38
I think they mostly just know it's going to be one of the biggest games.
1:29:44
How much do you think going up against a team like Big Ten, or Penn State and Big Ten series like that, and splitting a series with them, how much do you think that prepares you for North Dakota?
1:29:56
I mean, the Big Ten is a good conference.
1:29:58
So, I mean, it's definitely a good test for us to go into the weekend.
1:30:03
I mean, obviously, North Dakota is a good team, so is Penn State.
1:30:06
So, I mean, it gives us a good test.
1:30:07
We know we're going to be up again.
1:30:08
So, we'll just go in and try to play our hardest and hopefully come away with some wins.
1:30:13
What's the most important factor for coming out as strong as you did on Sunday?
1:30:19
I think it's just our focus in the first 10 minutes, you know, just getting pucks in the net, and hopefully, you know, just getting started right away.
1:30:24
That's been our struggle.
1:30:25
So, if we can get started right away on Friday, I think we'll be ready to go.
1:30:30
What have the coaches been focusing on on Phil this week?
1:30:32
I know Don's talked about, you know, not wanting to be too hard on you guys, and then he had good film on Sunday to show.
1:30:39
Yeah, this week we showed a lot of positive clips on our, you know, our offensive side.
1:30:43
I mean, getting pucks deep, protecting the puck, making plays, and also, you know, on the D side, just, you know, hitting, pinning, eliminating guys, and, you know, getting these nice clean breakouts that we need and these nice entries that we're getting.
1:30:55
So, or we got Sunday, so.
1:30:58
There's a lot of positives throughout the week in video.
1:31:00
What goes into the decision making for entries?
1:31:07
Is it speed through the zone, is it how the defense is playing you?
1:31:10
It's definitely, it's, I mean, it's more or less just what your numbers look like.
1:31:14
And, you know, if you got, if you got a clean entry, you don't want to take it in.
1:31:17
But, you know, you don't want to be turning pucks over.
1:31:21
Obviously, in the blue line, you want to get your pucks deep and, you know, work their D down low.
1:31:24
And, you know, just establish a good ground game so we can, you know, really get grinded on their D and, you know, just create chances from down low and on the rush so, you know, it really depends on the numbers you have and, yeah, I mean, the speed that goes to the intertidal and stuff like that.
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