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This is The GPL Podcast, sponsored by Vintage Minnesota Hockey, your exclusive source for throwback Minnesota jerseys.
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Visit vintagemnhockey.com.
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Now, here's Hammy, Vegoe, and your host, Jupiter.
0:40
Good evening, and welcome to another GPL Podcast, episode number 119.
0:49
We're back here, missing Hammy again this week.
0:51
Looks like Hammy's in Florida on business.
0:55
According to his Facebook, it looks like he's not doing much business.
0:57
He's just hanging out at the beach, but that's probably really not true.
1:00
But back as always, as Veegs, you're always with me.
1:03
It's Hammy that just can never find a way to show up, apparently.
1:08
Big business, let me get it done.
1:11
Yeah, he's got to get that business done, hopefully.
1:13
We'll have to see.
1:16
I'm kind of watching the Wild Game here, Veegs, and what's with that team?
1:21
I know we like to talk to Gophers here, but if the Wild don't start get it going here, we're going to need all these people to jump on the Gopher bandwagon.
1:30
Well, there's certainly a lot of them on the Wild bandwagon, and quite the following, obviously.
1:36
I can't diagnose it other than they're not playing up to their capability.
1:41
I don't know what it is, but they're not playing very well right now, and they have the talent to do it.
1:48
It's just such a fine line on the NHL.
1:51
Boy, it is.
1:53
And it is with the college hockey as well, obviously.
1:56
You've talked a lot in the past.
1:58
We tend to enjoy college hockey because the mistakes in college hockey makes it so fun.
2:03
You don't see that as much in the NHL, but last weekend, Minnesota didn't make too many mistakes.
2:08
Gave up one goal on the weekend.
2:10
Their penalty kill was 100% on the weekend, so that's positive.
2:14
Power play, one goal, not too bad, but overall, a good weekend with a 3-1 and a 4-0 victories.
2:23
Yeah, I thought it was one of those weekends where Minnesota managed the puck really, really well.
2:28
It was pretty obvious that they didn't have their A game.
2:32
They weren't really completely as far as first pass, first touch, clean breakout, but they played smart enough to win both games.
2:42
I think sometimes when you don't have your best game, you need to rely on puck management and goal-building to get you through.
2:50
Yeah.
2:52
Well, you do.
2:56
I would say one of the big positives on the weekends was that we finally did get Sheehy on the goal-scoring board here.
3:04
It had been a struggle for him.
3:07
I think he's definitely been playing through something.
3:10
He sat out a week of practice and a weekend of games to rest something to get back.
3:15
Been pretty good with not disclosing what the injury is, but it was obvious that he was nursing through something.
3:22
Then also, I don't think they were using him in a spot where he was comfortable on the power play.
3:28
He had him on the flank, outside the dots, near the circles, and that's really not a spot where he's going to one time the puck, catch and shoot kind of guy.
3:38
I think moving close to the net is probably where he feels more comfortable and actually has more success.
3:44
So I think making that personnel adjustment is something that helps him.
3:47
He mentioned that they made some personnel changes on the power play, and I think that's really going to help him going forward and maybe spark his game a little bit.
3:57
Nate Wells apparently thinks your audio mix is the equivalent of the picture on an old Wild 45 game.
4:06
Wow, Nate.
4:08
Thanks.
4:11
You looked great at practice day doing your fighting in jersey or hoodie.
4:17
He wasn't in a suit?
4:20
No suit for availability on Wednesday.
4:22
I wanted to go fighting in a hoodie.
4:24
I have never seen Nate without a tie and a shirt or something nice.
4:30
But since he's not on the podcast-
4:31
He gets dressed up and I want to see him with a tie and scarf at the game like Burke does.
4:42
Well, we're going to have more from Nate later because he wants to know what our favorite Michigan, Minnesota memories are and I think I've got quite a few, and I bet you have quite a few as well.
4:52
Boy, especially teams this year has been a struggle.
4:55
They've done a little better lately.
4:57
The penalty kill has been, I don't think they've given a penalty, a power play goal in four games, five games now?
5:06
I think in the four games, I think they've got a 14 kill streak going right now.
5:10
Okay.
5:10
Okay.
5:11
Well, I mean, the only way you're going to fix that is just keep killing penalties.
5:15
I know they are taking less penalties, which is also advantageous.
5:18
I mean, I saw this weekend, you know, well, they took seven penalties on the weekend.
5:24
Not the greatest, but they were doing much worse earlier in the year.
5:27
Sometimes they were taking three penalties a period.
5:31
Yeah, four and three is something you can work with, especially it seems like Donnelly and she has figured a few things out with his penalty kill units where he's got Novak and Sheehy taking some draws, and they've been good if they can get on their strong side.
5:46
And they've been getting clear, as Eric Schierhorn mentioned that today, that that's really the biggest difference in their penalty kill is that they're killing for less time because they're able to win draws and clear the zone right away.
5:59
And then deny any kind of rush through the neutral zone.
6:02
I think that's so key for power play to get through the neutral zone, clean and get set up and the Gophers have been pretty good at denying them.
6:10
We had heard that Michigan State was a little different team this year, a little more offensive, but that really didn't come to fruition this past weekend.
6:16
Only one goal on the weekend.
6:20
Not a good weekend for Michigan State at all.
6:24
I thought they looked a little bit better than they've looked in the past in terms of their skating ability.
6:30
Minnesota just did a pretty good job of not giving any kind of rush to Michigan State.
6:35
Anytime Minnesota had a turnover, there's a lot of back pressure by the Fords.
6:40
It's really hard for Michigan State to get anything going.
6:42
I think they're a little limited in the fact that they don't have a lot of depth.
6:46
Their top forward group with Cordovanko was going out against Lindgren.
6:52
They just had a hard time getting anything going.
6:55
Well, hopefully we see an improved Michigan State team in the coming years because we've seen Michigan State.
7:01
When they were in the CCHA, they had a lot of good teams.
7:05
A national championship team not too long ago.
7:08
So, you know, for the Big Ten to build to where we want it to be, Michigan State is one of those teams we can't have at the bottom every year.
7:19
And I don't think they will be.
7:20
I think they've shown that they've got a little bit more offense this year.
7:24
The Big Ten is going to be a tough league for them to play in this season.
7:27
There's a lot of talent in the league.
7:29
They're probably at the bottom, but they look better than they've been in the past.
7:35
Well, let me look here.
7:36
I know we had quite a few questions that you and I are going to look at this week.
7:41
Oh, here we go.
7:42
I know Mark Erickson, we're going to talk about the Big Ten this year and the strength.
7:45
Mark Erickson wants to know, is Notre Dame now the biggest thing standing between Minnesota and a fifth straight Big Ten regular season title?
7:56
I'm thinking it's Notre Dame and Wisconsin.
7:58
It feels like it.
7:59
Yeah.
8:02
Yeah.
8:02
I mean, Notre Dame is definitely a tough test for Minnesota.
8:05
I'm a little surprised that they're hanging in there despite all their losses.
8:09
Last year, they lost their goalie, lost their top forwards.
8:13
They returned Jordan Gross, great defenseman.
8:16
I think they're getting a little more offense from their blue line than the Gophers are right now.
8:21
But then Wisconsin, they've got Frederick up front, and then Hayden in that.
8:26
That's going to be a tough out for anyone.
8:28
Definitely going to be a tough out.
8:30
Well, I've got a couple more questions here.
8:33
Well, let's keep with Mark Erickson since he asked you quite a few hours ago.
8:37
Ryan Lindgren seemed more aggressive on offense last weekend.
8:42
Is that a change driven by the coaching staff?
8:45
What can we expect from him in the future?
8:49
I was at both games.
8:50
You were at the Saturday game.
8:52
It did seem like he wanted to step up and participate.
8:56
I saw the same move two nights in a row for him.
8:58
One night he scored, the second night he didn't.
8:59
But the first goal on Friday night, it was Sadik and Lindgren going in making a play.
9:06
The two defensemen and I believe the forwards might have been changing at the time.
9:09
So that's definitely one thing that the coaching staff has been talking about is stepping up when you have the chance.
9:15
And it looks like Lindgren is starting to do that kind of thing.
9:20
Well, I think the key for guys to stand up is seeing that they've got support kind of and obviously when there's a line change happening behind you know there's going to be three guys back there.
9:29
So I don't think we'll see that all the time with the defensemen joining the rush.
9:33
But when they do have opportunity, I know that the green light that's something that you know Don Leo wants out of his team is he wants defensemen who can skate and join the rush.
9:43
And so as long as they have you know cover back there, that the green light to do that.
9:47
Now if you ask Matt back and you're trying to make a move by a guy in the four track, that's probably a yellow light red light situation for D.
9:54
So you don't want to see them doing that.
9:57
Then on the other side in the offensive zone, Don Schier really wants his defensemen involved in the offense.
10:02
He doesn't want to play three on five in that zone.
10:05
He wants them to play five on five.
10:07
That means forward getting the puck up to the point like Gates did with Danny on Saturday and they got a lot of shots from the blue line.
10:14
I think it was close to double digits both nights from the defense and shots on that.
10:20
That offense gets chaos in that zone and makes the other teams get out of position a little bit more, stress on the goalie, and gives you all those rebound opportunities that you need when you're playing against a hot goalie.
10:34
And we always seem to run into hot goalies come NCAA time, so it's a good thing to figure it out now.
10:41
I'll tell you that.
10:43
Okay.
10:44
Well, I mean, you got to be able to score in different ways.
10:46
Yeah.
10:47
You can score out of the rush, you can score off of your special teams, and you can score with traffic and greasy goals.
10:53
Those are three different ways to score, and Minnesota sometimes is a little too reliant on rush and power play scoring.
10:59
They need to find other ways to score.
11:01
And getting your blue line involved is a good way to do that.
11:05
Hey, curious, you know, I had heard the scan tickets Friday night was about 5,058.
11:12
Announcement was a little more than that.
11:13
Did you hear anything for Saturday night?
11:15
Because it did look like Saturday night's crowd was better.
11:18
It had probably in the 6,000 range at least.
11:20
Did you hear anything?
11:22
I didn't hear anything.
11:23
With the early start time, people filtered out pretty quick to get to their dates with their wives and significant others and things like that.
11:31
So there wasn't a lot of mulling around at 7 o'clock around Mariucci.
11:37
So I didn't hear.
11:37
It definitely looked like there were more fans.
11:39
I saw somebody on Twitter say that it looked worse on Saturday.
11:43
I don't think that was the case at all.
11:44
I know there are probably at least 6,500 there watching.
11:49
I'm thinking you're right because the crowd did look much better on on Saturday afternoon than it did Friday.
11:54
But still, you know, the topic we talked about last week and as we learned kind of even this week, I saw a retweet from Jess Myers yesterday talking whether it was either, I believe, a BC game last night, Tuesday night.
12:11
I'm not sure, but middle of the game, there was a lot of empty seats.
12:16
And Jess is, you know, in joking, says, you know, it must be the Big Ten's fault that no one's showing up at Boston College games.
12:22
But it's not just here where, you know, some other big programs are having problems as well.
12:30
Well, you know, there's a lot of attention for your dollar these days, especially in a place like Boston.
12:36
You know, there's other things to do than watch hockey, just like in Minneapolis, there's other things to do.
12:41
I know, you know, people were talking about the deer opener and section finals for high school football.
12:47
You know, those are things that impact attendance.
12:50
And you can't get around that stuff.
12:52
People apparently like venison.
12:57
Well, there's actually many times when we had, we were heading to Duluth for deer opener.
13:02
It seems like a couple years in a row, we were in Duluth for the deer opener.
13:05
And some people just refused to go because of that.
13:07
I'm like, really?
13:08
Are you kidding me?
13:10
But what can you do?
13:12
What can you do?
13:13
Oh, I see the Wild Lost again.
13:14
Isn't that sweet?
13:15
Yep.
13:16
Come jump on the-
13:17
How unusual.
13:18
Yeah, come jump on the Gopher bandwagon, folks.
13:20
Much better team.
13:22
Getting better as it goes and not getting worse like it seems like the Wild are.
13:26
So jump on the Gopher bandwagon.
13:28
We'll take you because we need more people in the stadium.
13:33
It's a team that will be playing competitive games at Excel in April.
13:37
Yeah, it could be.
13:40
I'm not sure that the Wild will be.
13:42
I mean, if they don't get their act together.
13:46
Let me see if we can get more questions before we head to the break real quick.
13:50
Oh, Eric Raymond was wondering, he was thinking of going to the game against St.
13:56
Cloud in January 6th and 8th, I believe.
14:01
I mean, you realize that's right.
14:02
It's Saturday, Sunday because they plan to do it after the World Juniors.
14:06
The final should be on that Friday night.
14:08
Okay.
14:09
So they're playing St.
14:10
Cloud Saturday, Sunday.
14:11
So Moscow can be back and Lucia said today, it's pretty obvious that players from St.
14:16
Cloud and Minnesota will be playing that week.
14:19
And that's what his question is.
14:20
He's kind of wondering how the World Juniors is going to affect it.
14:22
And I'm glad that they move some things wrong, though you might have some tired players.
14:29
Because if they do play up to the gold medal game, where is the juniors this year?
14:34
It's in Buffalo, I believe.
14:36
Oh, yes.
14:37
They love to keep it close to the border so all the Canadians come across.
14:40
Yup, and there's a USA-Canada outdoor game this year as well.
14:46
Yeah, but that is a pre-tournament game.
14:49
It's just so people know.
14:50
It's not a tournament game.
14:51
It's kind of one of those pre-tournament games that don't count in the standings, which I'm glad because I don't think a game like that should be played outdoors.
14:59
So luckily, it's just a warm up game to the world juniors.
15:03
But boy, that is always one of my favorite times of the year, is you know, I can tune in to, you can tune in.
15:11
Well, I tune in through a couple apps on my phone and watch the games while at work.
15:15
Nobody heard that at work, by the way.
15:18
And boy, the hockey is just, it's some of the best hockey in the World Leagues.
15:24
Yeah, it's fantastic.
15:25
It's definitely one of those games where both teams are going to make mistakes because guys are taking risks that they usually take, except in this game that, you know, they're really talented on the other side.
15:34
It's kind of like watching Michigan, Minnesota.
15:37
When there's mistakes, the other team has the skill to take advantage of it.
15:42
And maybe that's why it is so good because, you know, you've got a lot of young kids that are going to be superstars one day, and they do.
15:48
It is a similar game to college in that, like you said, there's mistakes that happen all the time.
15:54
And but the skill level is much higher, but these kids are still learning.
15:59
And it just seems to get better and better each year.
16:02
And it always seems to come down between the US and Canada.
16:05
At least it seems to do it a lot.
16:08
We'll see if that's the case this year, because you never know.
16:10
Every once in a while, you've got the Russians sneaking in there.
16:14
But it's something to look forward to.
16:15
And to get there, Raymond, the Gophers are probably going to be missing Middlestadt Lindgren for that week, those two weeks.
16:23
Whether or not they missed the entire St.
16:25
Claude series, we'll see.
16:27
But they'll probably miss that first game.
16:31
Yeah, I'm guessing that it's a game on the road in St.
16:35
Claude that first game.
16:36
And I'm thinking that the Don will give those guys the night off just for that reason.
16:41
They'll be coming right back.
16:43
And I'm guessing St.
16:45
Claude being a home game, they might try to play those.
16:47
Mascots might try to play those guys.
16:51
I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
16:54
Because boy, St.
16:56
Claude, what a good team so far this year.
16:57
Well, we'll see if they can keep it going all the way through December because right now they are on fire, seven and all, I believe, aren't they?
17:07
Yeah, they have got a great offense, a great blue line, and their goal timing has been better.
17:13
And when they're having an off night, they can out store their trouble.
17:16
Well, now Nate Wells is saying the outdoor game will count for a group round.
17:21
I was told last year that that was not the case, but if it is, that's a joke.
17:25
They should not be playing a game that counts on the outdoor ice.
17:30
It's just, they shouldn't do it.
17:33
That's like playing a Stanley Cup game on an outdoor ice.
17:36
It's a gimmick.
17:36
Don't do it.
17:39
I don't know.
17:39
Well, it's not quite like a Stanley Cup game, and especially interval juniors, those round robin games before have meant less and less each year, because I don't think there's a buy anymore that you can win out of it.
17:50
So.
17:51
Yeah, but they, they.
17:53
It's a money maker chance.
17:54
You know, I don't think it is part of the development program.
17:58
I don't think it's part of group play though, because should they even be in the same group since they finished one two last year?
18:05
They should be in separate groups.
18:07
I'm pretty sure they're in the same group.
18:09
They fix it so they get that game.
18:11
Well, I thought I always thought it was a preseason game.
18:13
Nate, keep looking because I thought if they finished one two last year, they should not be in the same group the following year.
18:22
They should be in different groups.
18:25
Because you take number one, number two, and it goes back and forth, doesn't it?
18:27
Isn't that how they used to seed these things?
18:31
I hope we can do it that way anymore.
18:33
Well, that's stupid.
18:37
We'll see.
18:38
Maybe Nate will find it out because I don't have time to look it up right now.
18:41
Any other thoughts on this past weekend?
18:42
I mean, obviously, they get six points, which is the most important thing.
18:47
You know, one thing that's going to be goofy about the Big Ten this year is there's always going to be, you know, once we get more into the heart of the schedule, there's always going to be someone not playing that weekend, which is going to be kind of goofy.
18:57
Eventually, it all evens out, but it's going to be kind of goofy having odd number of teams this year.
19:05
Yeah, I think it's, you know, one reason you're going to see it is you're going to see some non-conference games sprinkled in, which I think is good for teams in the long run.
19:13
You know, if you have a young team and you play all of your out-of-conference games early, it really impacts your pairwise quite a bit.
19:21
Big Ten, luckily, this year has done exceptionally well non-conference.
19:26
They could be the top conference in that stat, so that's going to help in the pairwise down the stretch.
19:31
You know, it's just something you get used to.
19:33
It'll be nice to sprinkle in conference games throughout.
19:36
It will be because, you know, obviously we have Harvard coming in next weekend, which is definitely a top team, even though they haven't played much yet.
19:46
Army, not much of an opponent in December, but then you do look forward, you know, the second half of the year, you've got St.
19:54
Cloud State, and obviously we don't have the North Star Cup anymore.
19:59
And after that, it is pretty much, it's all solid, you know, games through, all the way through the end of the Big Ten season.
20:06
So it's not, it's quite the same as it used to be.
20:10
I'm guessing one of those other teams will have to sneak in a couple of non-conference games.
20:13
But looking at the schedule here, it's not much of the case for Minnesota.
20:20
Yeah, I'm not seeing that.
20:24
But I thought it was a good start to the Big Ten for the Gophers.
20:27
I think their power play is making progress.
20:30
They're finding out some things that they need to know in terms of personnel.
20:34
I think you're going to see a little bit more of that overload look from them.
20:37
More, they've got Pitlick and Middlestat working out of their off wings with Sheehy on his off wing closer to the net.
20:45
You're going to see more of that in-zone offense using the defenseman for point shots.
20:49
And I think you're just going to see the Gophers start shooting the puck more.
20:53
It's such an emphasis right now with the coaching staff on the players.
20:58
Okay, well, before we get into Michigan and a couple more of your questions, we need to hear from our sponsor.
21:04
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21:09
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21:12
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21:22
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22:05
Well, you both confirmed it, Veegs.
22:07
It is a round robin game, which I think is bogus, but we'll have to see.
22:13
With the World Juniors, I don't like US playing Canada outside on who knows what the ice is gonna be like.
22:20
But obviously it's a round robin game, not as big a deal, but it could, you know, we'll see what happens later on.
22:29
But what does Nate say?
22:30
They placed together for the benefit of the outdoor game.
22:33
First time in a few years, it didn't work out naturally, is what Nate says.
22:37
So they cooked the books to get that big money game.
22:40
You know, maybe it was just a year ago when I was kind of questioning this.
22:43
I think originally it may have been, it was gonna be a pre-tournament game.
22:48
I know I saw that somewhere, but maybe I'm just losing it because I'm getting old, who knows?
22:53
Well, let's speak in a big combination.
22:56
Oh boy, you have no idea.
22:59
Nate had, he would like to know, what are our favorite Michigan, Minnesota memories?
23:04
And my initial memories go back to some of, you know, the Thanksgiving tournament, the College Hockey Showcase, when both Michigan and Michigan State would come here or we would go there.
23:18
You know, that tournament first started at the large arenas.
23:20
You know, we would have Michigan come in to the Civic Center or we would go, we would play them at Bradley Center or in Detroit.
23:30
I distinctly remember a game where Minnesota played Michigan in front of a full crowd at the Civic Center for the College Hockey Showcase.
23:38
And it was like, you know, I think Bayan Banan got a late goal to give him the victory.
23:41
And that's one of my kind of early memories of this series, because, you know, in the late 80s, they weren't playing Michigan hardly at all because they weren't in the conference.
23:52
They didn't have this college hockey showcase.
23:54
I really think most people started seeing Michigan when they started playing in the College Hockey Showcase.
24:03
Don't forget that mute button, Veegs.
24:07
I was wondering what was coming up next there.
24:09
I mean, my favorite member of Michigan is obviously the Frozen Four game.
24:14
Yeah.
24:14
I think that was 2003.
24:17
That was a pretty fun one to watch.
24:19
It's always great to see them play each other, though, because they play such similar styles.
24:24
When you play a team that's going to play defensive, like that Michigan State team used to do, they'd be in that trap and they'd sit back and they'd only wait for you to make mistakes.
24:34
When they're playing Michigan under a Red Baronson or a Mel Pearson coach team, they're looking to create offense too.
24:39
They're looking to jump in the rush and you can see that back and forth hockey.
24:42
I think you put those two schools with Boston College and that's kind of the elite of college hockey that play that style and it's a lot of fun to watch.
24:53
Yeah, obviously, you cannot forget that 2003 game with the Vannock with the overtime winner, obviously, was a pretty big deal.
25:01
I bet you Michigan was not...
25:02
Team Wolf.
25:04
And I bet you Michigan definitely wasn't happy because that was two years in a row that Michigan was taken out by the Gophers in the Frozen Four.
25:12
So they were a little bit bitter, but I remember quite a few games in the 90s where they took us out and I was not happy.
25:20
And all you have to do is say Mike Legg and that brings back a lot of memories for people.
25:25
And it's a bad memory.
25:27
It was a great goal, but I can still see that in my mind going, what the heck just happened?
25:33
So you're talking memories, Nate.
25:35
That's a bad memory, I think, for us all.
25:39
It felt like during the Woogera mission was always a team that just broke Gopher hearts in the playoffs.
25:46
They'd always run into each other and for whatever reason, Minnesota make that one more mistake or that one crazy play would happen.
25:53
And growing up, those are a lot of games I watched on TV in fuzzy standard definition.
26:02
Yeah, and one thing that was always frustrating though is Michigan had some obviously some great teams in the 90s.
26:09
It seems like Minnesota would play them very well and beat them by a goal or two in the college hockey showcase, but then when it came playoff time, they had lose to Michigan by a goal and it was just heartbreaking.
26:22
We've got, well, we've got Hammy.
26:25
I don't know if his Hammy is actually listening.
26:26
He could be, but he wants to know anonymously, he could be, but he wants to know anonymously, can we send Hammy on the road every week to tropical locales that have attractive ladies so he's not boring us on the podcast?
26:41
He's in Tampa or something like that right now, just soaking up the rays while we're here in cold Minnesota.
26:47
That son of a bitch.
26:49
Well, it is recruiting week where players are signing their NLI's.
26:54
Maybe Hammy is making some deals.
26:56
Hammy is wheeling and dealing in Tampa, St.
26:59
Petersburg, just having a good time.
27:03
Who needs you, Hammy?
27:04
Maybe we'll just kick you off the podcast.
27:06
Who needs you?
27:06
I guess we don't.
27:07
Kidding, Hammy, we definitely need you.
27:10
Let's get to some other questions here.
27:13
I know there was a couple more.
27:15
I just got to scroll up a little bit.
27:19
Oh boy, where did some of these go?
27:23
Oh, well, some people are complaining about TV again.
27:28
With no TV Friday night, again, this is one of the many reasons why college hockey is down in this market.
27:33
Hard to follow a team we love when games aren't on TV.
27:36
That's Scott Herrick from Earlier Today.
27:43
Boy, I'm just having a hard time complaining about an occasional game that's not on TV, Veegs.
27:50
Yeah, I mean, they have the best TV deal of any school in college hockey.
27:55
I think it's 31 games you'll be able to get on TV and a couple you'll get streaming.
28:01
This weekend, if you're a U of M person, you can get that BTN stream of the game.
28:05
That's the in arena feed.
28:08
There's lots of options to do it.
28:09
So it's not that big of a deal in my mind.
28:11
In the old WCHA, they'd have games done on TV either.
28:16
That's true.
28:16
I mean, people tend to forget, you know, there's many times where the games weren't on TV and we were listening to the old radio.
28:24
So I love those games that were on TV, but they didn't send out the announcers.
28:30
And so they'd have Wugamizaka in St.
28:33
Paul or something calling the game on the screen.
28:35
That was one weekend.
28:40
It seems like it was more than one.
28:41
Yeah.
28:42
It was such a great experiment.
28:44
It was, and it was really bad.
28:46
I remember it was Colorado College and they sent Marnie out there and that was it.
28:50
Everything else was green screen.
28:51
And it was, well, to a few of us, obvious, I think they pulled it off pretty well for the most of the people.
28:58
That one just didn't quite turn out so well.
29:01
We have a message here from Jess on the Mixler Chat and he wants to know, Veegs, when you're going to have another article in The Athletic?
29:08
What are you working on right now?
29:11
I'm working on a feature on Eric Schierhorn right now.
29:14
It should be in this week, probably Friday.
29:18
And lots of insights in his off season about how he stepped it up to another level.
29:23
And everyone noticed he's been by far the most consistent player for the Gophers so far this season.
29:30
His goals against a percentage probably the best it's ever been in his Gopher career.
29:36
He's climbing up the shutout chart for most career shutouts by Gopher.
29:42
Really cementing himself as one of the premier goalies wearing the Mernin Gold.
29:48
Can't disagree with that.
29:50
And one thing I have noticed is that the defense in front of him is playing a bit better than it used to.
29:55
I want to say his first two seasons, he was bailing us out a lot on breakaways and I'm not noticing those breakaways as much this year.
30:05
I don't think it's as frequent, but when they happen, he's been making some pretty big saves.
30:10
I think in the Michigan State Series, there are a couple of chances where Michigan State could get back in the game if they got a goal in the rush and he makes the big save there.
30:19
We've seen some of the defensemen with that last man back, turning the puck over, quick transition, Schierhorn's been there, so he still has that to his game.
30:29
He's just been so much more consistent on the end zone play.
30:33
That's I think where you'd see him, he'd get himself almost out of position and give up an easy one.
30:39
You're not really seeing that this year.
30:41
He's playing so much sounder.
30:43
That's exactly what we need.
30:45
It'll be kind of curious to what Don does.
30:50
I mean, it's going to come to a point here in December where Robson will be part of the team.
30:55
And, you know, Schierhorn has started.
30:59
It was over 70 games in a row or something along those lines.
31:02
It's pretty long, isn't it?
31:06
Yep, he's got the streak for most consecutive starts now for the Gophers, and I don't think he can really pull them out of the net.
31:13
You know, if he's playing this consistently, I think, you know, his past suggests that every once in a while he'd have a tough Friday night who would come back and play really well on Saturday, much like last year at Yost when they gave up eight on Friday.
31:28
He came back the next night and I think he only let in two.
31:31
So there's a much better performance from him on Saturday, but you're just not seeing those cold and hot performances out of him.
31:37
No, you're not, but it does beg the question, will Lucia start Robson when he becomes that age?
31:44
Or maybe he gives them the, not the Marriott Classic, but I guess it's the Army Series in late December.
31:51
I think if there is a game to start Robson, that's probably it.
31:54
Just to get his feet wet, get him into a real game.
31:57
That's why they wanted to play him in the exhibition, was just get him used to the experience of playing at Marriott.
32:03
I think playing Army might be the spot.
32:06
You know, you'd have to break that streak.
32:08
Maybe they start Schierhorn and they bring in Robson for part of the game, so they keep the streak.
32:13
I don't know if Schierhorn or Don cares about that kind of stuff, but you might see something like that where they split a game.
32:21
Hammy is wondering, can we recruit Tampa State Pete for talent?
32:25
Not hockey talent, but talent in the male chauvinistic kind of way, asking for a friend.
32:31
Didn't they recruit somebody from Florida who didn't make it?
32:37
With Don's strict academic and culture?
32:41
Was it Gertler?
32:43
Gertler.
32:44
Wasn't he from Florida?
32:45
He may have been, but Gertler was there.
32:49
I don't think that's the kind of hockey talent we need here in the state of hockey.
32:54
I think, Hammy, if you're doing anything down there, you should just keep pushing for another Frozen 4 down there, because the Frozen 4 in Tampa is top-notch.
33:04
They do such a wonderful job.
33:06
The whole town gets into it, so it's kind of wonderful.
33:11
Wow, Vegoe.
33:13
He thinks you sound better on Mixler than you do on Skype.
33:17
So he is listening.
33:18
That's great.
33:19
That's good.
33:20
Hammy, if you're on Mixler, why can't you just get on Skype and we can add you to the podcast, if you'd like to participate unless you're drinking heavily.
33:28
We'll have to see.
33:29
We got a question from Mixler, actually, the chat there.
33:34
T knew well wants to know, Pitlick has been outstanding this season.
33:38
What do you think his NHL future will be like?
33:43
Will he be here next year?
33:44
I definitely got one.
33:45
Scott Bell said he and Middlestead are probably the two Gophers who have the best chance to be power play contributors in the NHL.
33:54
And he's just got that first step quickness, the ability to make plays under contact, great shot.
33:58
He's really good on the rush.
33:59
He can change speeds.
34:01
He can change his lateral place on the rush.
34:07
It's pretty impressive.
34:08
I think he's definitely one guy with NHL future.
34:12
I would have to agree with that.
34:13
It's another friend in the Mixler Chat.
34:17
John J Dunbar says, Gertler is a floor idiot.
34:23
So Gertler was from Florida.
34:24
We had it right.
34:27
I love how Tom just comes up with new names each week in the Mixler Chat just to harass us.
34:32
It's just wonderful.
34:34
We'll have to see.
34:35
OK, we've got Michigan this weekend, Veegs.
34:38
Out to Michigan, out to Yost.
34:41
Not always the greatest place for Minnesota, but I don't remember the last time they were actually swept there.
34:47
They tend to get at least a split every time they go out there, at least recently.
34:51
What are your initial thoughts on the weekend heading to Michigan?
34:56
Well, I think Michigan's a team on the rise again.
34:58
I think under red at the end, they were just a little too lax with the puck, and you're always going to get in a shootout with them.
35:06
If you tighten up defensively and manage the puck, you were in a good place to get ahead in at least one game.
35:13
This year, I think Michigan's playing a little bit better all-around game.
35:17
They're getting good goaltending, but they're going to be dangerous because they're young, they're talented, they've got a lot of skill.
35:24
They've got 10 players from the National Team Development Program, and they're off to a pretty good start.
35:30
Don Lucia said, If you don't manage the puck well against Michigan, you're going to hear Hail to the Victors a lot, so get used to it.
35:39
Yeah, a lot of people hate that song.
35:41
I don't hate it so much because it was our song at Jefferson, but not something we want to hear this weekend.
35:47
You definitely don't want to hear it eight times on Friday night like you did last year.
35:52
No, we do not want to hear that.
35:54
That would not be a good thing.
35:55
Well, we had Red Barrens and finally to finally retire after a bajillion years.
36:02
You mentioned Mel Pearson is taking over there.
36:05
Has he really changed anything or is he just picking up the torch for Red?
36:12
I think it's a little bit of both.
36:13
I think he's got their attention in playing a more consistent game.
36:17
They're not just so reliant on outscoring you.
36:19
I think they're playing a little bit better overall.
36:22
But also he's walked into a situation where he's got five returning defensemen with a lot of experience.
36:28
And then he's got Quinn Hughes, who's probably going to be a top 10 pick in the NHL draft this summer.
36:33
He's a real young player, but he's definitely a talent to watch.
36:38
For hockey fans out there, even if you're not a Gopher fan, he's going to be one to watch this weekend because of what he can do with the puck.
36:45
Okay.
36:46
Well, we'll have to definitely have to keep an eye out for that.
36:50
You mentioned earlier that the Friday game looks like it's going to be streamed on the Internet.
36:56
Did you get any more information on that?
36:58
Is it a free stream?
36:59
Is it a paid stream?
37:00
I haven't had the chance to actually look myself.
37:04
I'm pretty sure it's one of those streams where if you're on campus, so if you have your VPN connection through the university, you can get that stream through BTN or if you're one of those subscribers, that BTN Plus, you can get access.
37:19
It's just the in arena video, so it's not the highest quality, but it's something you'll be able to use to watch the game.
37:26
And then the Friday game initially wasn't going to be picked up at all, but the Big Ten Network decided to add that game.
37:33
It looks like they probably don't have any night football games that night, so they just wanted to kind of fill it.
37:38
So luckily, we'll get to see Saturday night's game on the Big Ten Network, but yeah, the first Big Ten Network game of the year for Minnesota.
37:46
So that's nice that that happened.
37:49
I think that we're just lucky that football didn't have a night game because if football would have had a night game, sorry, folks, we wouldn't have had that game on TV either.
37:56
So just to feel good that we'll get to see that game at least.
38:01
And I'm not sure, you know, maybe FSN didn't want to travel.
38:06
I'm not I don't even know if FSN has anything going on Friday night.
38:09
So I'm not really sure what the deal was with their why, you know, FSN hasn't been doing too many road games, or at least not as many as they used to once when the Big Ten League started.
38:19
So I'm not really sure what happened there, because I believe I looked at the schedule earlier this week, and I don't think I think FSN had some college basketball games from somewhere else in the country Friday night.
38:33
So it's not like FSN had something going on.
38:35
So I'm kind of curious kind of what what really happened there.
38:40
Well, it's also sometimes an issue for cameras, for FSN.
38:44
If it's just one game and it's out there, it can be an issue for them.
38:49
Yeah, you're right.
38:50
I mean, because a lot of times these camera guys are all part of a union and part of a crew.
38:56
And maybe a lot of times when they were going to Michigan, they could pick up some of those camera guys who would usually be doing FSN Detroit games.
39:07
You definitely don't want to pick up anybody off the street who doesn't do hockey.
39:10
We've seen that in the past and it could be some terrible camera work.
39:13
That's one good thing about living here in Minnesota.
39:15
We do have a lot of quality camera guys who have been doing this a long time.
39:20
So whether if you're watching The Wild, you know, from all kinds of sports, we tend to get some pretty good camera coverage here, you know, via FSN.
39:28
And you know, even when you're on the other networks, Big Ten Network or even ESPN News, it's the same crews working behind the scenes.
39:37
It's just different producers, but the cameramen and all that, it's all the same guys.
39:41
So we have it good here in Minnesota.
39:44
Maybe not the case so much in other towns.
39:46
At least that's what we're finding out.
39:48
So why I take it that Minnesota is practicing on Ritter Arena all this week, Vig?
39:54
What did the Don have to say about practicing there and other things that he may have sent up media availability today?
40:01
Yup, they've been at Ritter all seasons or all week so far.
40:05
They've played a couple of games on NHL size sheets already this year, so it's not one of those years where they rarely play on the smaller sheet.
40:15
Just getting more comfortable with indirect plays, getting plays coming out of the corner a lot faster.
40:21
That's one of the things when you get in those NHL corners, that radius is tighter and so they can get to the net a lot quicker.
40:28
So everybody needs to be on their game there.
40:31
And just being smart about getting pucks to the net.
40:34
This is a team that overpasses too much and Lucia is really emphasizing when they're below the top of the circle, between the dots, get the puck to the net and the other two forwards on the ice, expect the puck to go to the net.
40:45
So be there for rebounds and second chance opportunities.
40:50
Hammy wants to know if Mike Legg is the best player on the Wolverines this year.
40:56
He also wants to know if Petolni Mikhail will get into a verbal sparring match this weekend.
41:04
Oh, Hammy, are you drinking down there in St.
41:06
Petersburg?
41:07
Could be some strong beverages being served down there.
41:11
Because I'm sure his meetings and whatever he was doing is over since it's getting close to 11 o'clock at night there.
41:18
If he's drinking, he would have been perfect to add to the podcast tonight.
41:23
You'll also hear from Tyler Sheehy talking about going to Michigan, the atmosphere there, and things that the Fords need to do to up their game, especially the sustained zone pressure, making smart, heavy plays, protecting the puck, not being too quick to throw the puck away.
41:40
That's been one of the pet peeves for the coaches so far, is the Fords trying to force plays when they're not there.
41:46
I think it's really important, especially going to Yost, is to have that good start with your time in the game, being heavy on the puck, and playing smart.
41:55
Eric Schierhorn also talked about how the Yost fans really try to get in the goalie's head, and he's expecting to hear ugly goalie every time he takes off his helmet, and he loves the atmosphere.
42:06
These are the reasons you play college hockey, and he's looking forward to it.
42:10
Well, I'm hoping the atmosphere is good, because I've seen the atmosphere hasn't been that great at Mariuccigah this year.
42:15
Hopefully if the team keeps swimming, the fans will keep coming back.
42:19
Hammy has another question, wants to know, what's the over-under of a knee-on-knee hit from the Wolverines this weekend?
42:26
We did actually see that quite a bit in the past, you know, against Michigan.
42:30
I don't remember the player, but wasn't it a couple of series in a row or a couple of years in a row that they had a guy kicked out for a five-minute major for various different things?
42:39
He's no longer there.
42:39
I'm trying to remember the name.
42:40
I can't think of it right now.
42:43
Yeah.
42:45
But yeah, he's gone, so maybe not.
42:47
Maybe it's a little bit cleaner team this year for Mel.
42:51
You know, you mentioned it earlier.
42:54
I love it when we play Michigan.
42:55
I love the style of hockey.
42:59
Hopefully, it is a raucous crowd this weekend, because Michigan has always been my second favorite team to play.
43:06
The number one team has always been North Dakota because of the rivalry, but Michigan's always been my number two team.
43:11
That's why that college hockey showcase was always a big deal for me.
43:15
And I'm hoping it keeps building here in the future.
43:21
It looks like Nate's already come up with it.
43:22
Michael Downing.
43:24
Nate is always...
43:25
Michael Downing, Florida player.
43:27
I always wanted to ask Kyle Rowe when they got to Florida camp, he'd be like, hey, Downing, what's up with the Cheepets?
43:33
I'm sure Kyle Rowe and Cherpo.
43:36
Oh, yeah.
43:37
Kyle Rowe plays for the Iowa Wilds, so maybe they'll see each other in a HL game someday.
43:43
It could be, but I think we need more.
43:48
The Downing thing actually brought the rivalry up a bit.
43:54
We need those things to build this rivalry and build the Big Ten.
44:00
That's the biggest complaint.
44:01
All these teams aren't rivalries.
44:02
Well, I would disagree on Michigan and Michigan State.
44:05
They were for all those years, but I'd love to see some really good games between these two teams because we need Michigan to be one of these big rivals like Wisconsin or like North Dakota.
44:22
Yeah, I think the rivalry with Michigan has always been there.
44:25
I feel like there used to be more of a rivalry between Michigan Hockey and Minnesota Hockey when the USA Hockey Camps just did their teams by area.
44:34
So when you went to the national camp, there'd be a Minnesota team and there'd be a Michigan team.
44:38
I think there's always some rivalries that started there because you'd have so many kids from Minnesota play in Minnesota.
44:45
And so many kids from Michigan play in Michigan.
44:47
Now you don't have that so much because you have the Red and Aqua and Teal teams when they'd go to the national camp.
44:54
But I definitely think Minnesota and Michigan players know the rivalry between the two schools.
45:00
May not be as intense as North Dakota, but it's up there.
45:04
Now, I agree and I hope it just keeps building because I love the style of play and I've always loved the games that they've played against each other.
45:12
T Newwell from the Mixler Chat wants to know, we have kind of talked about this a little bit in the past, but speaking of ring size, there were rumors a few years back of converting Marriotchi to NHL size.
45:24
Did that idea get swashed or did they run out of money during the remodel?
45:30
Vig, you kind of mentioned this earlier that it's still in the plan, but it's still going to take a few years, isn't it?
45:37
Yup, I think the initial goal was 2020 to put in the new ice plant.
45:42
That's one of the things that has been legislated out there.
45:46
And they want to make it 92 and a half feet.
45:48
So not quite down to the NHL size, but a little bit tighter.
45:53
And then the big thing is put it in the NHL radius corners.
45:57
So you'll see that the corners not quite be the big expanses that they are at Marriotchi right now.
46:03
You know, I had heard that they are going to be in between NHL and the Olympic that it is now.
46:10
Well, that's the width.
46:11
No, no, no.
46:12
I realize that.
46:12
But I had it in between.
46:13
I remember Craig Flohr saying that I believe that the radius for NHL is 24 feet and Marriotchi is 28 feet radius.
46:28
I can't remember the exact numbers.
46:29
And I remember Craig Flohr mentioning to me that they couldn't quite go to the NHL, that they were going to go kind of go halfway in between on the actual radius of the corners.
46:40
But like you said, it's a few years away.
46:41
Things can still change.
46:42
I think it was mostly because of the way that the stadium is and the way the rows and all that comes together.
46:50
But you are right that the 92 and a half feet was exactly what it was going to be.
46:54
They couldn't go all the way.
46:55
Otherwise, they had to dig a bunch more to accommodate that size and that's just not going to happen.
47:00
You know, one thing we do not know that's not going to happen is the weight room is not going to happen over break like it was supposed to.
47:07
Have you heard any update on that?
47:10
No, no update yet.
47:12
Just the money is not going to work out for doing it over break.
47:17
So it's going to get pushed out.
47:18
They don't have a final date yet when they're going to get working on it.
47:21
But I know Calditz doesn't exactly want to have his weight room under construction during the summer.
47:27
So it might be something where they're going to push it out until next year during break because, you know, Calditz is a big part of this program and he does a lot of work with the players.
47:37
I know they will be able to use the Athletes' Village for some of that stuff.
47:42
But a lot of it's centered in Mariucci.
47:45
And yeah, and actually that's what they were kind of waiting for this year.
47:47
They're waiting for the Athletic Village to open up so they could close down and do the reconstruction.
47:52
But the last I heard, something about a donor's money kind of fell through for this year and he wasn't happy.
48:00
I don't know the exact specifics, but something weird happened with the money for the room this year and it just didn't happen.
48:06
So like you said, we're just going to have to wait and see.
48:11
Obviously, that's not good for the players because it's an important part of the whole program, but we'll just have to wait and see because I know they want to do some stuff with the club room.
48:23
I'll have to ask around and see if we can get any more updates on what's really going to happen.
48:27
But right now, it's going to be quieter than we thought it was going to be, unfortunately.
48:32
All right, Vegs, a lot of things are on hold for the university right now.
48:36
They've still got to pay off $60 million for their Athletes Village.
48:40
They still have to pay off their track and field complex.
48:43
I know the golf team is trying to raise money for their practice facility.
48:48
There's just a lot of hands out right now in the Athletics Department as they try to catch up with their peers in the Big Ten and go for hockey for a long time has been that second option because they've been pretty self-sufficient for the last 25 years.
49:05
And we'll see how long that self-sufficiency keeps going.
49:08
Obviously with the season ticket holders down and even total sold tickets are down.
49:17
We've kept track of people actually showing up but the total ticket sales are still declining.
49:23
That means less money in the coffers for the U and it's something that's going to have to be looked at eventually here, Veegs.
49:31
Yeah, I've published the revenue stuff in the past on GPL.
49:37
It's not looking like they're going to make 5 million this year in revenue.
49:40
So we'll see what the final number looks like at the end of the year, but I bet it's going to be lower than it has been, which means they might not be the top producer in college hockey this year.
49:50
It could be, but yeah, there were years, even recent years.
49:57
I would say towards the end of the WCHE, I'm not sure the Big Ten, but they were profiting double the number two team, which was North Dakota at the time.
50:09
That's also when their expenses were much less.
50:12
Expenses have gone up dramatically because of the travel of the Big Ten.
50:16
They have to fly just about everywhere now, so that expense has gone well.
50:20
Well, it has.
50:24
They haven't gone up that much because they had to travel to Denver and CCE and Alaska before.
50:30
I don't think it's the travel so much that's restricting their expenses.
50:35
I think it's going to see a decline in revenue.
50:37
Yeah, but now they're traveling to Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Notre Dame.
50:44
That's five flying trips all right there.
50:49
And actually, you know, even last year, they travel out east, which something they hadn't done much in previous years.
50:55
So I think expenses are quite an issue.
51:00
It's a lot different when you're doing a lot of short bus rides.
51:04
You know, for the rest of the year, we've got a bus ride to St.
51:07
Cloud and a bus ride to Madison, but the rest of the road games are all flights, aren't they?
51:13
That's Jub, I'll dig in for you here.
51:16
I don't think it's a huge difference to their budget.
51:18
Well, you look at the expenses though, and their expenses are a lot more than they used to be.
51:23
Some of that's, you know, funny accounting, too.
51:26
Yeah, and that's the part I hate.
51:27
You always try to figure out some of that accounting, and who knows?
51:31
Anything else on this weekend?
51:32
You know, we kind of already talked about the audio you captured today, and like, as usual, you always throw that on the end of the podcast, Schierhorn, Sheehy, and Coach Don Lucia.
51:42
How do you think the team's going to do?
51:44
I'm hoping a minimum of split.
51:47
What do you think?
51:50
Yeah, I definitely think a split is what I'm expecting coming out of the weekend.
51:55
You know, with the consistent goal-tending play that Schierhorn's provided, and I think the consistent puck manager on this team has shown, you know, they're not going to get in one of those games where they're giving up four goals plus.
52:06
So I think they're going to be in every game here down the stretch, and I think going to Yos is a tough proposition for any team, and I think fans should be happy if they get a split.
52:17
I'm thinking a four or five point weekend for the Gophers, so a win and a tie and kind of depends on the shootout.
52:25
Probably more, probably more four points, because I don't believe they've won a Big Ten shootout yet, have they?
52:32
I think there's about less so far, so I think it's just going to be three points.
52:37
Yeah, we're going to see a tie.
52:38
Okay, well, there you go.
52:41
That's all we have for this week.
52:43
Remember, you can always follow Vegoe on The Athletic and on his Twitter account, at eVegoe.
52:49
We'll be back next week to recap the Michigan Series.
52:55
Hammy thinks it's going to be a split, but you saw, we'll have to see.
52:58
And then we're going to preview a good team coming out from the East in Harvard.
53:02
So thanks for listening.
53:29
You've done about the only blemish on this front.
53:30
You guys have had a Big Ten titles and all of that.
53:32
It was two years ago when Michigan knocked you out of the NCAA tournament.
53:35
I know you've got rivals everywhere, but is this one, is there something there because of that?
53:39
Well, I've always felt that way.
53:41
For me personally, it might go back to my playing days.
53:44
I mean, we had some good games against Michigan in the old WCHA days, and then probably 1996 still sits in my craw a little bit.
53:53
Sure.
53:54
So I was seeing that in a respectful way, but obviously disappointing.
53:59
Then as I go back to when I came in 1999, I felt that if we were going to be the team we hope to be, you got to beat Michigan.
54:07
I mean, they had won it in 96, 98, and lo and behold in two and three, we beat them in the national semi-finals.
54:14
I just felt that the road goes through Ann Arbor, and if you want to be an elite team, it's always a team that you have to be.
54:21
And we knocked them out in Joe Lewis the year before, and they knocked us out the next year from getting in the NCAA tournament.
54:30
And they're a much improved team, you can see it.
54:35
They're getting good goal-tinting.
54:36
Their specialty team play is good.
54:38
Their top couple of scorers were freshmen a year ago, and they've got a couple of elite incoming freshmen in Norris and Hughes.
54:47
And now they start to resemble a deeper offensive team.
54:52
And if you look at last year's team, they just couldn't score.
54:54
They were young, and I think their leading scorer had 20-some points.
54:58
When has that ever happened?
54:59
And now they're much deeper with three good lines and can score.
55:03
And they're a fourth line that's harder to play against, five to 60-year returning.
55:08
And then you had a kid that's projected to be a top ten pick in the NHL draft this upcoming season.
55:14
And that's why you see the improvement in their group.
55:17
Knowing Mel, too, I mean, it's probably not a surprise to see them bounce back as quickly as...
55:20
No, I mean, you can see it coming.
55:22
And, you know, for Mel, it was such an easy transition for him to go back.
55:26
And, you know, we've remained pretty close over the years.
55:29
I've always had great respect for Mel.
55:32
And go back to playing against Southern High School when he was at Edina.
55:35
And, you know, he made the right move going to Michigan Tech, become a head coach, did a really good job there, rebuilt her program, and he was the rightful hire for Michigan.
55:47
And he'll do a good job.
55:50
He's done a good job.
55:51
And Yost is always a difficult place to play.
55:53
It's been, I mean, hey, we're under 500, I think, since we've been in the Big Ten at Yost Arena.
55:59
You said when you play North Dakota, you don't need the video to know the kind of style you're going to play against.
56:03
Is it similar with Michigan, but a different game?
56:04
I mean, yeah.
56:05
The history says that we're going to go in Friday night, and we're going to turn the puck over too much, and then ram it down our throat.
56:12
Then we're going to bitch hit our guys for turning pucks over Saturday morning for an hour, and then we play good on Saturday and manage the puck.
56:21
So if you go, the history when you go to Yost, the first 10 minutes are critical.
56:26
I mean, they come out usually really strong.
56:29
And if you mismanage the puck, they're a transition team, they're a rush team, they're a skill team, and they make you pay.
56:37
And so, it really comes down to you want to shorten the rank, then get used to the fights on.
56:42
We are the victors, because you're going to hear a lot.
56:47
Don, they've always had a big pipeline into the Ann Arbor program.
56:50
They've got 10 kids in a team right now.
56:51
It's a way to recruit.
56:52
It is.
56:53
But how much of an effect do you think it might have now that Danton Cole's gone to Michigan State for the rivalry there?
56:59
You know, kids for the most part are still going to go where they're going to go.
57:01
I mean, this day and age, my gosh, most of the kids are already committed before they even get to Ann Arbor.
57:05
You know, it's not like the old days when, you know, you weren't recruiting, you were recruiting those kids at the end of that first year that spring.
57:12
So they're all available, but that's not the case anymore.
57:16
Is it an advantage?
57:17
Sure it is.
57:17
I mean, the tryouts are there, you know, and they can come over to your games, and they get used to living there.
57:23
They have billet families that, you know, they can probably go back to when they're at Michigan, but...
57:30
So they've been able to get some good players there.
57:32
You know, I think what's hurt Michigan is the last number of years is all the defections to the pros and the CHL.
57:39
I mean, it lost a lot of guys that never got there, including some good goaltenders, and the one-and-done is the last few years, so, you know, they paid the price for that.
57:47
Like, you know, a lot of us have.
57:49
What do you think of the names like Stauber and Shelfstead and, you know, some of the legendary goalies who have come through this program?
57:54
Is Eric there?
57:55
I mean, you know, the record say he is, but...
57:57
Well, yeah, I mean, he's...
57:58
This year, he's playing well.
57:59
You know, we're ten games in.
58:01
I think he is safe to say that he's played his best hockey as a golfer.
58:06
And I think that, you know, we're seven and three.
58:08
There's obviously some areas of our game that we still have to improve upon, that we're certainly not a finished product, but Eric's been there to bail us out so far.
58:17
And you look back to a year ago where he, the first half of the year, he was hot and cold.
58:23
And then the second half, he evened out his play, and our team made a step.
58:28
And this year, he's been, you know, pretty much, he's yet to have a bad game, you know.
58:35
And I think that's the big reason why we're seven and three so far.
58:39
Obviously, we're going to need him this weekend.
58:41
We went in there last year, and he played really well in game two, he won three to two, or four to whatever it was, and that's what you have to have.
58:49
I mean, we're going to Ann Arbor, we're going to play in Yost, it will be a good atmosphere, tight corners, the play is going to come at your net quickly, and he's going to have to make some saves.
59:01
And so far, he's been able to do that.
59:03
And he can continue to give up a couple of goals a night.
59:06
He puts us in a great position to try to win games.
59:10
Is it going to be a little weird to look across the bench and not see Ray Barrett in there?
59:14
No, I think for me, not so much that, I mean, Mel's been such a big part of the program for so many years, it's kind of like for him, it's like an old shoe going back there.
59:24
And, you know, the style that they're going to play has not changed.
59:28
It's not like when you think of Michigan or you think of Minnesota, you think of teams who want to get up and play offense.
59:33
And that's certainly the case for Michigan this year.
59:36
You know, we've been more defensive this year, and that's been a key to our success than what we've done offensively, because we've got a long way to go offensively.
59:45
We just, we haven't generated enough shots, we haven't generated enough goals on a consistent basis.
59:52
I think our defensemen are doing a better job of creating some offense, getting more shots on goal, but the onus is on our forwards to, you know, play a heavier game, to play a faster game, and to generate more shots, because I think we overpass that times right now.
1:00:07
You've said you're looking for more sustained zone pressure.
1:00:10
What are the keys to that?
1:00:13
You got to move your feet to get to the next spot in the ice.
1:00:15
That's number one.
1:00:16
Number two, you have to, you know, puck protect and win some of those confrontational battles, and then you have to make a skilled play under contact.
1:00:27
That's part of it.
1:00:28
I mean, there's, you can try, but you have to be effective, too.
1:00:31
I mean, at some point, you have to make an offensive play, and to go on with that is, I think, when we do have chances, sometimes we overpass and be at nothing.
1:00:41
And it's still a good play to get a puck on the net and be on the net for rebounds.
1:00:45
And our guys still, at times, I think, too often want to make two or three tic-tac-toe tap-in goals rather than, you know, you have the puck inside the top of the circles, you have the puck inside the dots.
1:00:56
The mindset has to be deliver the puck to the net, and the other two guys shouldn't understand that.
1:01:01
No, that's where it's going to be delivered, and now you're in a position to get rebound goals.
1:01:07
The polls in November don't mean a lot, or maybe don't mean a lot at any time of year, but you knowing about Moscow as well as you do with all the returning scoring, they had coming back, you can't be too surprised to see them.
1:01:16
No, I mean, you know, talking to Bob, they knew they were going to have a really good team this year, and, you know, I think what hurt them last year was goaltending, and they're getting really good goaltending so far this year.
1:01:27
They got a deep and defensive crew, and they can score.
1:01:33
And when you can score, you get to four on a regular basis, you're going to win a lot of games, because that's the difference, for the most part, between, you know, good teams and elite teams is, you know, how good offensively are they, how deep offensively are you, and when you've got that offensive firepower, you can, even if your goalie has a bad game, you can overcome it.
1:01:55
A lot of teams, if your goalie doesn't play well, you don't have enough offense to overcome it.
1:02:00
Is he going to be here for that series in January, or will he still be at World Juniors?
1:02:04
No, actually they get back.
1:02:06
That's why it's a Saturday Sunday.
1:02:08
I knew we'd be missing a couple of guys, and they would too, so we just said, let's play it Saturday Sunday, so we're going to be back that weekend.
1:02:15
Makes sense.
1:02:17
Eric, I guess four straight wins, what's the feeling?
1:02:21
How's your game right now?
1:02:23
It's good.
1:02:24
No complaints on my end.
1:02:26
Dear doing their job, forward doing their job as far as defensive responsibilities, so it's nice to get on a four-game roll here.
1:02:36
Going into Yoast, haven't had the best of luck on Fridays the last couple of years, so we're looking to turn that around.
1:02:41
You mentioned earlier in the season that you've sort of, I guess, calmed down your game a little bit.
1:02:46
Can you talk a little bit about that and how that's really attributed to your success?
1:02:49
Yeah, I mean, it's just a sense of calmness in my game that I think you can see, whether it's second saves, body positioning, rebounds.
1:03:01
I'm making things a lot easier on myself as far as not getting out of the crease too much and that positionality and that calmness, again, helps me make those second saves and helps me eat up first shots too.
1:03:14
You mentioned the defense really stepping up.
1:03:17
They went through a lot of changes coming into this season.
1:03:19
What have they done to really help you out?
1:03:21
Well, I think the biggest thing, and I've said it before, is you look at shots on goal, right?
1:03:26
You go 19 shots on goal, 27 shots on goal, 26 shots on goal, and I think 19 again in the last four games.
1:03:33
I mean, averaging out in the lower to mid 20s, that's good for me, it's good for the team, and it's going to equal success.
1:03:41
Penalty kills had a streak of success lately.
1:03:43
What do you see different as a goalie on the penalty kill unit?
1:03:47
I mean, clears.
1:03:48
I mean, I think if you look at the video of the penalty kill, we're winning draws, and we're clearing it right away, and from there, we're not letting them set up.
1:03:55
So I think the biggest thing is that first draw.
1:03:57
When we get that first draw and we kill it, and clear it right away, we never allow them to get momentum or zone time.
1:04:03
You mentioned Friday night not having as much success in Michigan.
1:04:06
What are you guys trying to do to change that?
1:04:08
I mean, we're just coming to an extra focus.
1:04:10
I mean, I guess you can't really think about past Friday nights, right?
1:04:13
But there's definitely extra emphasis.
1:04:16
We know that we haven't been great on Friday, but we've came back Saturday.
1:04:19
So, instead of doing that, this time we want to go Friday and Saturday.
1:04:23
The Yoast crowd is pretty legendary.
1:04:25
Do you like those atmospheres?
1:04:26
Sure.
1:04:26
You love it.
1:04:27
You know, as a goalie, at least I take pride in, you know, wanting to shut those guys up, right?
1:04:33
But yeah, it's awesome.
1:04:34
You want to play in those environments.
1:04:37
You know, you take an environment like that ten times out of ten over a dead crowd.
1:04:41
Do you hear it or are you able to block it out?
1:04:43
You hear some of it.
1:04:44
You mostly hear it between whistles or TV timeouts.
1:04:49
You know, they give you the ugly goalie chant when you take off the mask.
1:04:53
But during the game, you don't really hear much.
1:04:56
You're piling up goalie of the week honors pretty good here.
1:05:00
Thoughts are going through your mind as you collect these?
1:05:04
You know, not much.
1:05:06
I don't read too much into it.
1:05:08
I like to say their team awards, obviously, because, you know, going back to talking about shots on goal and how well our defense is doing, you know, I'm not getting these awards if they're not doing that.
1:05:18
So, you know, wins are the awards you want.
1:05:22
What type of things are you expecting from Michigan and how are you going to battle?
1:05:26
I mean, they're always a fast-paced team and they're a highly skilled team.
1:05:30
So I think as much as our team can, you know, make smart plays and limit our turnovers, I think that'll, you know, be able to slow down their offense a lot.
1:05:39
Don has talked about physically keeping you in shape and if you need a day off here and there, you know, he's willing to give it to you.
1:05:45
How much of that do you factor in?
1:05:47
Or is it just only two games a week?
1:05:49
I mean, I don't think I really need days off.
1:05:52
You know, I played two seasons in juniors where I played, you know, in the mid-40s of games and that's a 60-game schedule spanning, you know, more time.
1:06:00
So, you know, the forwards don't get days off.
1:06:04
I don't need days off.
1:06:06
Do you track how many consecutive saves you make, you know, where you have to make back-to-back saves?
1:06:11
And are there very few this year?
1:06:15
You're facing very few second shots.
1:06:16
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
1:06:17
No, I don't keep track of that.
1:06:20
But I have noticed it, you know, whether it's one shot and I'm holding it on so there's no rebound or one shot and the defense is clearing them right out.
1:06:30
I mean, that's a big contributor to why, you know, our goals against is below two right now.
1:06:36
And yeah, and why the shots are so low.
1:06:39
So yeah, I have noticed it.
1:06:40
Is there anything you do track besides goals against and save percentage?
1:06:44
No, honestly, I try not to look at those too much either, because I just feel like if I stick to my process of being square, being aggressive and tracking the puck, those numbers will come and the winds will come along with it.
1:06:56
So I try not to get caught up in that because you can get distracted by it.
1:07:02
You're probably a monkey off the back with that goal, eh?
1:07:04
That had to be feeling good.
1:07:05
Yeah, it was getting a little bit frustrating.
1:07:07
I hit a few posts early on and just couldn't find the back of the net there, so it was good to get a nice pass from Tom and then see it finally go in.
1:07:17
What kind of things are you looking for, if you defensively, to shut down Michigan offense?
1:07:21
Just kind of stick to what we've been doing.
1:07:23
I think our defensive play has been pretty good these last few weekends and kind of talked about the little details and getting pucks out.
1:07:32
For the most part, our offensive game playing down low is going to prevent their offense.
1:07:37
So as long as we're on them playing hard, hopefully we can shut down their offense.
1:07:41
Anything special playing Michigan?
1:07:43
They were the team that kept you out of the NCAAs two years ago.
1:07:45
It's about the one-way blemish on this run, and the Gopher's about the Big Ten.
1:07:49
Yeah.
1:07:50
You know, whenever you're going to Michigan, Minnesota and Michigan is awesome.
1:07:55
You know, playing at Yost and their fans is great.
1:07:58
Like you mentioned, a couple of years ago they kept us out of the tournament.
1:08:01
They had a great team and unfortunately beat us in that last game, the Big Ten tournament.
1:08:06
So there's always going to be something going into the game, and hopefully we can carry out good battles this weekend.
1:08:13
Nice skating with Tommy Novak, isn't it?
1:08:15
What's the play like between the two of you?
1:08:17
Yeah, we've played quite a bit together in the last few years, and he's just a guy who can put the puck on your stick, make a ton of plays, and sometimes you just got to sit back and watch him, and just kind of, you know, drop your jaw a little bit.
1:08:31
He's a really good player, and that's always great when you get to play with a guy like that.
1:08:34
Eric's finding his consistency a little bit earlier in the season this year in the first half.
1:08:39
Is there anything different about him?
1:08:40
I know you've been roommates now, anything different off the ice?
1:08:44
Well, I just know he put in a lot of work this off season.
1:08:47
He did a great job of getting in the weight room and then working with his goalie coaches.
1:08:51
He's been phenomenal so far this year, and like you said, consistent, which is most important.
1:08:57
He's always going to have a solid effort with us, and we can definitely rely on him in the back end there.
1:09:03
Coaches always say when a goalie's on his game, guys can take more risks or play more relaxed.
1:09:07
I mean, is that for real?
1:09:08
Do you feel that?
1:09:09
Do you think, oh, maybe I shouldn't make this pass, but Eric's back there, we're fine?
1:09:14
You know what, I think there's going to be times where you do make that play.
1:09:17
Obviously, you're not trying to say, oh, Eric's back there, we're okay.
1:09:21
But when you do make that play, it's going to happen throughout the season, throughout the game.
1:09:27
And you kind of know Eric's got your back.
1:09:28
He's going to make a great save.
1:09:31
I've seen him these past few years make unbelievable saves and he's been the backbone these past couple of years.
1:09:36
And he's deserved the Goal of the Year award a couple of times.
1:09:40
So yeah, when you make a mistake, you definitely know he's back there to save you.
1:09:45
The power play started off a little bit slow this year, but what type of adjustments have been made where it's beginning to click a lot better?
1:09:50
Yeah, there was a few personnel adjustments and we've just been working on it quite a bit in practice.
1:09:57
We've been trying to incorporate it a couple of times throughout the practice, you know, split between drills and just kind of moving the puck, getting shots in that, we really talked about.
1:10:07
Teams in NHL who have the best power plays are the ones who shoot the most, so we kind of try to incorporate that into our own power play.
1:10:13
And these past couple of weekends, it's been good, not only scoring a couple of goals, but getting the momentum as well.
1:10:20
Yeah, because earlier it seemed like you were working the perimeter a lot, but not getting a whole lot of action towards an ad.
1:10:25
Yeah, it was kind of one of those things.
1:10:26
We couldn't, you know, we weren't shooting off the pass, and we just, you know, frankly, we're not shooting a lot.
1:10:32
So we focused on that, we try to get as many pucks as we can and get guys there.
1:10:36
So we've had a good few goals here in the power play.
1:10:41
John said he's looking for more sustained pressure in the offensive zone.
1:10:45
Have you noticed that in film sessions, and what's missing for your game to get that?
1:10:49
Yeah, we had a film session just with the forward group about playing heavy, and we kind of went over plays that we weren't heavy, and then plays where we were playing, you know, strong in the puck and making heavy, relentless plays.
1:11:02
But yeah, you can notice it in video when we're not playing relentless and playing heavy, but you know, overall these past couple weekends, I think we've improved on that a little bit, so it's a good step for us.
1:11:14
Is that key for playing a team like Michigan on the road is to play heavier?
1:11:17
Yeah, absolutely, especially right off, you know, on Friday night right away.
1:11:21
You want to have that good ten minute game and get right on them.
1:11:24
So yeah, you know, when you're playing Michigan, they're going to be skilled and fast, and you want to, you know, you want to be able to, you know, give it to them a little bit.
1:11:30
So it's definitely going to be important this weekend.
1:11:33
What's the biggest challenge those Michigan players give you guys?
1:11:37
Well, you know, I don't know a lot about them just because they're so young, but they're so skilled, that's the thing.
1:11:42
You know, last year I think they had a little bit of a down year, but like I said, they're young.
1:11:47
But those guys, their best players are the young guys, so yeah, they're going to be really fast, really skilled.
1:11:53
You know, they get all those guys from Ann Arbor, and usually those are the guys that are fast and, you know, can make a ton of plays, so we just got to make sure we're playing well defensively.
1:12:04
Thank you.
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