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The Gopher Puck Live Podcast 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 Tammy, Vego, and your host, Jupiter.
0:39
Good evening, and welcome to The GPL Podcast, episode number 127.
0:48
Well, Hamme, I hope you had a nice little vacation, work vacation, and where were you?
0:53
San Antonio last week?
0:55
That I was.
0:57
And how was San Antonio?
1:00
Actually, it wasn't too bad.
1:01
I haven't been there before.
1:02
It's kinda nice to see the Alamo.
1:03
But-
1:04
Yeah, I saw you did a little river walk, put pictures and a couple other pictures you posted on social media.
1:10
Yeah, it sure as hell beats, you know, what, zero to, you know, below zero degrees here, so.
1:18
Yeah, well, we could use some of that warming up, at least for the hockey team, because Veegs, what the hell is wrong with this team?
1:30
Well, the problem is when you fall behind and you're a team that's pressing like they are, not a lot of good things can happen.
1:38
And I think a lot of times this season when you've seen the Gophers chase a game or feel like they've lost control of a game, you know, they get away from playing, you know, hockey where you're looking for two-on-ones and sharing the puck and you get a lot of players who aren't playing with confidence and that sure showed up again this weekend.
1:56
Have they been swept ever in the Big Ten at home?
2:01
That was the first time at home they'd been swept at Ohio State obviously earlier this year, but that was the first time they've been swept at home.
2:09
It was ugly, Hammeh.
2:10
Were you back in time to see the games this past weekend?
2:14
I did not see the Friday game.
2:17
Saturday I caught, but you know, it doesn't all you can do is take one look at the box score and kind of figure out it wasn't the greatest start in the world.
2:25
So especially when you have to pull a goalie in the first period.
2:29
So that's not good.
2:32
Well, let's talk about that, you know.
2:34
Robson had a great game against St.
2:36
Cloud the week before, Veegs.
2:39
I don't know if Lucia, what he said after the game, I didn't catch his comments, but did Robson get pulled for his play or did he get pulled to try to maybe motivate the rest of the guys?
2:51
I think they got pulled to kind of shake things up.
2:54
He said after the game he didn't put all the goals on Robson.
2:58
He said one probably would like to have back, but really it was to shake up the team and maybe get someone who's a little more vocal back there.
3:05
I think Sheerhorns more comfortable getting after guys and communicating with the defense.
3:11
So I think that was it more than anything was just to shake up the lineup.
3:15
It's funny after their bad starts both games, they played where they didn't make mistakes really in the second and third, that cost them too much.
3:25
But just the bad starts killed them and this is a team that can't score a lot of goals.
3:29
So when you give up two, three, it's hard to overcome that.
3:34
Well, what now though, Veegs?
3:37
I mean, they're in sixth place now.
3:39
They are dropping in the pair wise awfully quick.
3:44
Things are just not looking good.
3:45
I mean, they're going to struggle just to get home ice for the Big Ten tournament right now.
3:52
Yeah, they're sitting at sixth in the Big Ten, which is obviously not where you want to be.
3:56
And they just need to start winning some games and scoring goals.
4:00
And it's really hard for coaching staff to make that happen.
4:06
It's got to be on these players to start finding ways to put the puck in the back of the net.
4:11
Lucia talked about on his coaches show this week, 15 years ago, you come out to practice after a weekend like this, there'd be no pucks, you'd line them up on the red line and you'd skate them to send a message.
4:24
But I don't think he could really do that this week.
4:26
One, they've got guys with a little junior.
4:30
Two, they've got the short week with the Thursday game.
4:33
And there's not a lot of depth on this team for scoring.
4:36
So what good is it going to do to skate them to try to find their scoring touch?
4:40
So not a lot of options.
4:43
Hammeh, has Lucia lost this team?
4:48
Well, I mean, I think, I mean, it's a discussion we've had off and on for, you know, a couple years.
4:55
And I don't know if he's lost this particular team or not.
4:59
But I do know that the way that the team is structured is obviously, I mean, the way I look at coaches is that in college sports, I mean, they're essentially the general managers as well as, you know, the coach.
5:12
And they do get to build the teams.
5:16
And so when there's gaps in how the team is built, if there's gaps in, you know, hey, we don't have enough of this type of a player, that type of a player, you know, in pro sports, you can kind of say, well, the coaches handed these players and he's got to live with them.
5:32
But college, you know, they build the team.
5:34
And if there's missing parts, that is on the coach and the staff.
5:39
And I do think that there are gaps in this team.
5:42
I do think that there's been a problem over the years.
5:45
In particular, I think at times with regard to the kind of defensemen that we've had, I think we like to look at scoring and just sort of say, well, it's because we don't have much depth.
5:56
But I also feel like when we've historically had good teams, we've had some pretty good offensive defensemen that contributed to the, you know, to the goals and to the points.
6:08
And we just don't really have those kinds of guys.
6:10
So you compound it with maybe we have some young players and we have some older players that frankly aren't really performing quite to the level we expect.
6:20
And it's just kind of a perfect storm of problems.
6:25
Well, it's just not a perfect storm, you know, with the player side.
6:29
I mean, you've got so much stuff going on with this program right now that the fans are angry.
6:34
And I was stoking them earlier today and earlier this week.
6:39
These fans are angry.
6:40
I mean, they're angry at the prices, they're angry at the atmosphere, they're angry at the performance.
6:49
Is Lucia in pretty big trouble here?
6:51
Because personally, I think he is.
6:54
If this team doesn't make the tournament, you're going to see season tickets go down even more.
6:59
And it's bad already.
7:00
I mean, is he in big trouble here?
7:04
Well, I think he's in trouble, and I think a lot of the stuff with the atmosphere was out of his hands.
7:09
Well, that is true.
7:10
I'm just kind of...
7:11
As is the tickets.
7:12
I mean, I get what you're saying, but...
7:14
Well, you know, I'm just trying to think, you got to start somewhere.
7:17
And right now, the fans are pissed off.
7:20
And you know what?
7:21
If the team was performing better, I think the fans wouldn't be so pissed about the ticket prices and some of the other things, but it's just kind of everything at once.
7:32
And you know, we've talked about it.
7:34
You know, maybe they just need a clean slate.
7:36
You know, you got to start somewhere.
7:39
And you know, yippee, they might, you know, they're not going to lower ticket prices, are they?
7:46
I mean, I think there might be a drop in ticket prices.
7:49
Well, I've been talking with a lot of people in the athletic department for the last month.
7:54
And the scholarship seeding is a big issue for people.
7:57
And it might have been too much too soon, especially with the re-seeding of everybody on Gopher Points, especially, you know, with the move to the Big Ten.
8:08
You know, putting all those things together at the same time made a major impact in the program.
8:12
There's a reason why this program has gone from 7,400 student or public tickets down to 5,400.
8:20
People are pissed about that.
8:22
And I don't think those people are going to come back if you drop tickets by a hundred bucks.
8:27
I don't think those people are going to come back if all ten of the non-conference games are against North Dakota, St.
8:33
Cloud, UMD, Bemidji, and Mankato.
8:36
Those fans are gone.
8:37
I think the Athletic Department has to find new fans.
8:41
Because I don't think those 2,000 season ticket holders are coming back regardless of the price of the ticket.
8:48
Well, I don't know.
8:50
You know, I was, you know, you look at the individual ticket prices and, you know, they have gotten out of control.
8:56
I don't care what anybody says.
8:57
Well, they have gotten out of control because the department is trying to figure out a way to not have people cherry pick the good games against St.
9:06
Claude, North Dakota.
9:08
But, I mean, but just look at, you compare to Wisconsin.
9:10
We should be comparing to Wisconsin ticket prices.
9:13
We're not, though.
9:14
We're compared to the Twins, the Wilds, the Vikings, the Timberwolves.
9:18
Yeah, and that's the problem.
9:19
They're trying to compare themselves to professional sports.
9:22
This is not a professional team.
9:23
This is a college team.
9:24
And the tickets are cheaper than those tickets.
9:27
You're not paying $150 like you are for lower level Vikings.
9:31
I mean, they're trying to make this a professional atmosphere, and this is not a professional team.
9:37
It's just, they're not.
9:38
And it's killed the atmosphere.
9:39
They're trying to do all this piped in music, all this other crap.
9:42
And you know what?
9:43
The fans keep going down.
9:45
I mean, they got to look at something here.
9:47
It's prices, it's atmosphere, it's the coaching.
9:50
They've done nothing to do this.
9:52
I paid $132 for two tickets to Wisconsin.
9:54
If I go to Wisconsin, it's half that price.
9:57
That is not right.
9:59
That is completely off.
10:02
I don't care about the wall.
10:03
We're talking about equal teams, college teams, the Big Ten teams.
10:08
This is Wisconsin and Minnesota.
10:09
They should be comparable.
10:11
They shouldn't be this ridiculously different in prices.
10:14
I mean, $24 a ticket and Wisconsin.
10:17
I was paying $60.
10:19
Are you kidding me?
10:21
I mean, they've got to do something veegs.
10:23
I mean, you cannot keep comparing them to pro teams.
10:26
They're not a pro team.
10:28
And they keep pushing it like they are.
10:30
And you know what?
10:31
They're getting less fans showing up because the fans don't want this crap.
10:35
They don't want more pro prices.
10:38
They can't afford it.
10:41
Yeah, I'm just a little pissed off.
10:42
Well, here's the problem.
10:44
They're trying to milk a program dry because they have all these other, you know, expenses.
10:52
They're trying to use it to, of course, subsidize.
10:55
They don't get subsidized quite like football and basketball, of course.
10:58
But nonetheless, it is contributing to the positive side for the university.
11:03
And they're continually trying to milk too much out of it.
11:08
Hockey fans pay too much for this athletic department.
11:13
And people are tired of that.
11:16
There's got to be other ways that you can be smart about how you control your expenses and how much revenue you're trying to gain.
11:25
I mean, it's just, it's silly.
11:27
It's hockey.
11:27
It is, I agree with you, you know, I don't think that they should be priced in this way.
11:32
It has been this way for a long time, and it was one thing when the team is winning, and there's a lot more things that are advantageous with WCHA and everything.
11:42
But you have to be smart about the fact that you are losing some things with regard to the change in conferences, and you can't suddenly just jack it to the high heavens.
11:53
It is kind of all these factors coming together at the wrong time.
11:58
I don't think there was a lot of thinking about it.
12:00
But to me, number one, even though I agree with all that stuff, it ultimately, I think, comes down to if you put the right product on the ice, yes, we need to think about ticket prices and all that stuff too, but the right product on the ice, and you have to have somebody that the fans can get behind.
12:17
To me, right now, Lucia has lost the fan base.
12:20
As much as anything, that is the problem.
12:22
He's been around almost 20 freaking years, and I think we all appreciate what he did early on.
12:29
It's not like it's been terrible in recent years, but nonetheless, it's gone on too long.
12:34
I've talked for several years that they need to have some kind of a plan in place, and maybe they do, and we just aren't privy to it, but the fact is, is they need to make a change.
12:44
They need to make a change from an athletic perspective.
12:48
You think about anything in business, the CEO is not leading you to the kind of results that you're as a stockholder expecting, they get rid of them.
12:58
It's time to move on from this regime, and it's time to look for a fresh face.
13:05
Go ahead, Big, I'm sure you've got plenty of thoughts.
13:08
Well, I just think all the problems that you're putting on the program aren't necessarily because of Lucia.
13:15
For the last six years, they've won conference titles.
13:19
They've gone to two Frozen Fours in the last five seasons.
13:23
There is some success, and that's not making a difference in the attendance at Mariucci.
13:28
So for whatever reason that you can come up with, I don't think the two are necessarily related.
13:35
I can listen to an argument where you talk about this year's team not having an offensive right-handed defenseman to pair with Lindgren.
13:42
I can get on board with an argument where they don't have enough depth secondary scoring because they haven't recruited right.
13:49
I can listen to those things more than I can, ticket prices are too expensive and the Big Ten stinks.
13:56
There are two different conversations to me, and I don't think fans are having those conversations.
14:00
I think they're having one or the other for the most part.
14:02
But one thing I do think is key though is that they're having a hard time getting donations to upgrade the facilities right now, and you know what?
14:12
A lot of old players don't want to donate to Lucia because they don't like them.
14:15
They never did.
14:16
There's a lot of people who don't like Lucia, and it's affecting them raising money for the program.
14:21
So what do you think of that point, Veegs?
14:24
I mean, I think he's affecting the program as a whole, not just to play on the ice, but the other stuff as well.
14:31
If he can't raise money for the program, that hurts the program.
14:36
Then that's another valid argument.
14:38
You know, if that's something that Mark Coyle and Lou Nani are getting when they're talking to donors to finish these upgrades to Marriott Arena, you know, that's a problem.
14:49
On the other side, you know, they named it the 3M Arena at Marriott, and none of that money is going to the rink.
14:55
It's all going to the Athletes Village.
14:57
So that's another case of the athletic department milking the hockey program for other problems.
15:04
You know, because that money that named the rink would have done the strength and condition area.
15:10
It would have done shrinking the ice sheet from 292.5.
15:14
It would have built the M Club.
15:16
All the things that they want to do at the rink would have happened if that money could go to the hockey program.
15:21
And right now, that stuff's on hold.
15:22
I mean, they were going to do the weight room this winter, weren't they?
15:27
Yep, it was going to happen this winter, and they lost the donor.
15:30
How did they lose the donor?
15:31
Does anybody know this?
15:34
I mean, I wish we got some information on that, because I'm sure that's somebody's...
15:38
Some people have got that information, but I mean, that's kind of a big deal.
15:45
I don't know.
15:46
Well, I...
15:48
Look, I mean, here's the thing.
15:48
I totally agree with the Veegs that ticket prices, that's not Lucia.
15:53
Atmosphere, to a degree, I don't think that's Lucia, but I do think that obviously, the product you put on the ice is going to contribute to Atmosphere.
16:02
You can't just expect the fans...
16:05
You have to put on some kind of a product on the ice the fans are going to get excited about.
16:09
And I think it's obvious that that's not going on.
16:12
So I don't think that those things are totally Lucia, but to me, at the end of the day, he is the face of the program.
16:19
He is the guy that picks the players.
16:21
He's the guy that builds the team.
16:25
I just feel like we have to start looking in that direction.
16:28
And I feel like everybody wants to give them a pass because of certain things in the past, or they want to look at some of the Big Ten stuff.
16:36
And it's like, okay, great.
16:37
We did win some conferences.
16:38
We all know that the Big Ten hasn't been super strong.
16:42
So it's like, well, how much credit do you give them for that?
16:45
We've gotten the NCAAs.
16:47
We have gotten to a final.
16:48
Maybe if we had won against Union, it'd be a different story for some people in terms of their attitude about Lucia now.
16:54
I mean, as sad as it is to think about one game and one result, maybe making people think one way or the other, the fact is we did lose it.
17:03
So you can't really give them any credit for that and that.
17:07
So it's like, I don't know, I'm just frustrated, because I feel like we continually...
17:11
It's like there's two different types of fans.
17:14
There's the fans that can't see anything positive and can't like, even when there is positive, they can't see it.
17:22
And then there's the fans that they have their heads in the clouds and they want to see it with rose-colored glasses and they can't possibly criticize pretty much anything.
17:31
And it's like, whenever I see anybody, like this last week, was somebody was totally trying to defend Lucia and whatever.
17:39
And it's like, are you kidding me?
17:41
I get that, yes, it's not everything is his fault and whatever, but he's the one who pills the team.
17:47
And if it sucks or if it's underachieving or whatever, how can you not blame the coach?
17:53
It just, it's annoying to me and there's just, I feel like the middle ground people are just silent, either because they're just don't care anymore, or it's just that everybody gets out, shouts them.
18:05
I don't know, but it's frustrating.
18:06
There's a lot of, there's a lot of, there's a lot of apathy with this program.
18:10
I mean, you just looked, you know, how many, you know, we had Handyman come back to the site on GPL after a year had been gone.
18:18
And he was voicing his frustrations and there are a lot of legit frustrations.
18:23
I actually tweeted out his frustrations earlier today.
18:28
But, you know, we've got, it's just, there's no passion there anymore.
18:32
There's no love.
18:33
There's no, I mean, it's a lot of what Handyman said.
18:36
Did you end up reading any of his stuff, Veegs?
18:38
I mean, he kind of went, he went through the whole thing and kind of says the whole problem and a lot of it's legit stuff.
18:43
And obviously some of his stuff has nothing to do with Lucia.
18:47
But a lot of his sentiments are exactly what's happened to a lot of the fans.
18:52
They've gotten angry, they've left, they haven't come back.
18:56
Yeah.
18:56
And I think if this team were to some magically go on a ride and win the tournament, these people would be back next year as soon as they got swept by St.
19:08
Cloud or Duluth.
19:11
It's not going to make a difference.
19:14
They feel spited by what's happened in the program and they don't like Lucia.
19:19
And the minute that there's an opening for them to go after, they're going to take it.
19:24
I get all that things about a shelf life of a coach and maybe it is time.
19:28
I get the sense from Lucia that he doesn't want to coach forever.
19:31
I had a long interview with him and he said he wanted to leave the program in a better place than when he found it.
19:37
He's really been pushing for these facility upgrades.
19:41
I don't get the sense that he wants to be there a long time, but I think he would like to have some success before he leaves.
19:49
That's the problem though.
19:51
His ego is getting in the way and he needs to step back and be honest about it.
19:56
And frankly, the whole thing about having the program be in a better place, it's like there's ebbs and flows.
20:04
And frankly, the facilities is not about Don Lucia, it's about the program.
20:08
And that's, to me, where things have gone awry, is that we have to stop thinking about things from individual perspectives and start looking at it from the perspective of program.
20:18
Well, you could say the same thing about the donors who are holding back their money because they don't like Lucia.
20:25
Why don't they just kind of man up and say, you know what, it's for the betterment of the program, I'm going to help get this done because I value the University of Minnesota.
20:34
You can make the same argument at those people too.
20:36
And I don't dispute that.
20:38
In fact, that's my sentiment.
20:39
I feel like, look, you might not like the coach, but it's about the freaking program, it's about the school, it's about your pride in those things.
20:47
And don't let one man, as much as you might not like him, don't let that get in the way of you showing your appreciation for a program and for a school that contributed to your life.
21:00
The fact that you're letting one man get in the way of that, to me, is idiotic.
21:04
I don't think Lucia should be around probably any more than these people do, but I'm not going to say, I'm not going to give money to the school or to the program, because I'm mad at one guy or I don't like one guy.
21:17
You have to think bigger pictures than that.
21:19
And to me, the fact that anybody would do that is stupid to me.
21:24
And unfortunately, that's probably what a lot of the more well-to-do guys are doing.
21:29
And that's sad to me.
21:31
It's sad, but the thing is, it's hurting the program.
21:35
And I get the idea of, you know, you kind of vote with your wallet and all that.
21:40
I don't disagree with that when it comes to tickets and things like that.
21:45
Because it should be supply and demand and how much you're getting, you know, how much the costs are.
21:50
I get that.
21:51
But I also feel like if you really care about the school, you really care about a program, you shouldn't let one particular individual get in the way of you providing what you normally would provide.
22:04
So that's where the donors have lost me.
22:07
It's like I don't feel any sympathy if, you know, you're just doing it because of one guy.
22:11
That's stupid.
22:15
Well, it's all unfortunate.
22:18
You know, it's just like you guys have said, it's a combination of so many things right now.
22:23
It's a marketing department.
22:26
It's the higher-ups at the university making bad decisions at bad times.
22:30
It's Lucia.
22:31
It's just so many things.
22:35
And it is encouraging for me to hear from you, Veegs, that the department is trying to do something here, at least on the ticket side.
22:45
Maybe they will lower ticket prices next year and try to do something.
22:49
Hopefully, they're aware of this.
22:51
But like you said, it's going to be tough.
22:53
You got to get new fans in here.
22:55
I mean, a lot of those other people, they're gone.
22:57
They've scared them away.
22:58
It's unfortunate, but I hope the output to get are planned, Veegs.
23:04
Yeah, and I think they are.
23:05
I think the people who do stick with and have season tickets are going to have rewards that are more applicable to them.
23:13
Don Lucia did a Chalk Talk the other day with season ticket holders.
23:17
Right now, if you go to games and you get a scan tickets, you're going to get rewards like autographed pucks from the team and things like that.
23:25
There's going to be opportunities for special tailgates and things, parking perks, and all the things that people are emailing the Athletic Department, they're legitimately interested in pursuing.
23:38
And you're going to see some changes because Mark Coyle is a guy who's going to make hard decisions.
23:43
If he feels at the end of the season that moving on from Don Lucia is in the best interest of the university, he's going to do it.
23:51
I think he's a pretty calculated guy when it comes to stuff like that.
23:55
And he cares about the hockey program being successful.
23:58
So if you're a hockey fan in Minnesota, I think Coyle's got your interest in mind.
24:04
And I don't disagree with that.
24:05
I actually feel now is the time.
24:08
If you think about football, we're pretty, Fleck was a good hire, and I think that we're pretty good shape there.
24:16
Patino was kind of in question for a little bit.
24:18
And obviously, those are the big two coaching situations that is going to get an athletic director's attention.
24:26
And it was almost like, because that's what he had to focus on early on, you almost give him a pass to a degree about the hockey stuff.
24:32
But now those situations seem pretty settled, and it's about focusing on the next situation, which to me is hockey.
24:41
And I do hope that they do take some drastic...
24:44
I do think if they made one decision, they would re-energize the hockey fan base.
24:51
Because I think it's grown stale.
24:54
The head coach to me is stale.
24:55
He himself talked about it a long time ago, about the shelf life of a coach at any one spot.
25:01
Funny how that seems to fly out the window with him.
25:05
Maybe, and that's where I say sometimes I think ego gets in the way.
25:09
But they need to make that decision.
25:10
And then all the other stuff, it's like great, low rank ticket prices, all that stuff would be smart.
25:16
And I totally agree with the fact that we got to stop looking at college hockey as if it's like pro hockey.
25:23
College hockey should be treated as its own entity.
25:26
One of the things I always loved about college hockey is that it felt like college hockey with the band and the students and the chants and all that kind of stuff.
25:36
Don't try to turn it into something that historically it hasn't been.
25:41
And that's where I think they're falling short on some of those things.
25:45
But to me, it ultimately comes down to you make a decision, you bring in some new leadership, re-energize the fan base, then you make all those other things after the fact.
25:55
But you really have to start, if you don't take care of the Lucia situation, to me, all the other stuff is just sort of like, it's just the fringe stuff.
26:04
And it might help a little bit, but it's not going to really help the ultimate problem, I think, and that's that everything has just grown stale.
26:11
All right.
26:12
It definitely has.
26:14
But well, before we move on, I know, V, you're going to have to cut it short tonight.
26:17
So let's, I want to get some of your thoughts on a few things before you go.
26:20
But before we do that, we need to listen to our sponsor.
26:25
Vintage mnhockey.com is a proud sponsor of The GPL Podcast.
26:30
Well, what is Vintage MN Hockey?
26:32
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26:42
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26:48
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26:57
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26:58
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27:00
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27:04
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27:11
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27:18
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27:26
Veegs, I know you got to go in a few minutes here, but before we let you go, I just wanted to get your quick thoughts on this weekend against Michigan State.
27:35
Minnesota has not played well on the road at all.
27:38
They go to MUN tomorrow night.
27:40
They go to Madison Square Garden Saturday night.
27:43
I would usually say this is an easy series, but nothing's been easy this year and especially on the road.
27:50
Yeah, I think it's a problem for this team because they get on the road and some of their guys don't get put in the right matchups.
27:57
We've been talking about the depth issue with this team all season.
28:02
And it's just created problems on the road.
28:05
They want to get Ryan Lindgren out against the other team's top lines.
28:09
Michigan State's got a good one this weekend.
28:11
They've got 30 goals between the three of them.
28:14
That's pretty impressive in college hockey these days, but the team doesn't have a lot of other depth.
28:19
So I think you're going to see Gensel really watching the Michigan State lines to make sure he gets that matchup.
28:25
Up front, I think Lucia is going to have to split up some of his players and try to get some guys on different lines to get scoring chances.
28:34
Because when he had the RPM line going up on the road, the other teams were matching checkers against it, and it really nullified the effect that Pitlick and Mittelstadt could have on the game.
28:45
So you might see them spread out a little bit in the lineup and on special teams, try to get those guys out against different penalty killing units.
28:54
But it's a big test for them.
28:55
They need two wins this weekend, because this is a team right now that's going to be in a battle to stay above 500 if they don't start getting some wins.
29:02
Oh boy, are you right.
29:04
Also you did some writing on Lindgren this week, didn't you?
29:09
Yep, there's an article on the Athletic on Ryan Lindgren, a lot about all the intangibles that he brings.
29:16
Gopher fans saw a big hit again in Michigan against Pastor Jav.
29:22
The weekend before, they saw a big one on Esamant, that was maybe a little over the line, but talks a lot about his background.
29:30
I talked to a bunch of people.
29:32
I talked to John LaFontaine from Shattuck, and he said that putting him at defense wasn't really an intentional thing for him.
29:39
It was just how it was listed on the sheet when they had their first practice.
29:44
When I talked to Lindgren and Lindgren's father Bob, they didn't know why he was playing defense, but it turned out to be a great decision.
29:53
It was interesting to hear about Lindgren playing AAA hockey in Florida for a year because he was on a AAA team in the Wisconsin fire that folded, and he was trying to play JV hockey as an eighth-grader, and just was looking for the next team, and he ended up playing in Florida for the year, so that was interesting.
30:12
But just the value he brings to the lineup.
30:14
I think you saw it in that St.
30:16
Cloud State game on Sunday.
30:18
He spoke to the team that morning, and kind of laid it on the line for them, what he expected, and they responded.
30:26
And I think if this team really gets it going in the second half, it's going to be because his voice is going to be resonating in the locker room.
30:33
All right.
30:34
Well, thanks, Veegs.
30:35
I know you got to cut it short tonight, so I thought I'd let you get your stuff in there before you had to take off.
30:41
Yep.
30:41
In the audio that I sent you, you'll hear from Lucia kind of talk about what to do with this team going forward, you'll hear from Casey Mittelstadt and Steve Johnson on better starts.
30:54
All right.
30:55
Thanks, Veegs.
30:56
All right.
30:57
Good luck, guys.
30:58
Thanks.
31:00
Hammy, let's move to some questions.
31:02
I've got some Twitter questions here.
31:06
Just curious, Chuck Taylor wants to know, who's the number one goalie from here on out?
31:11
We thought we might have a good rotation going, but we're not really sure what Lucia is going to do now.
31:17
Well, I mean, honestly, for me, I guess I would probably continue with the rotation thing.
31:24
I'm disheartened when I see fans already kind of throwing in the towel on a player that's basically a hand, you know, not even a handful of starts into his college career.
31:34
Oh, I completely agree there.
31:36
That totally annoys me.
31:37
Like, oh, well, we don't have any goalies.
31:39
And it's like, okay, he had a bad performance, you know, or I mean, granted, it wasn't all on him.
31:46
But yeah, we get that.
31:47
But we're talking about a kid who's basically four games into his college career.
31:52
So it's like, hello.
31:55
You know, it's one thing if you want to say something about Shearhorn, because he has played a lot.
31:59
But, you know, it's kind of like give the guy a chance, for God's sake.
32:05
So I would continue rotation until, you know, unless somebody really starts stepping it up several weeks in a row.
32:13
But I just don't think that now is the time to really pick one guy over the other.
32:18
I think you continue to play both.
32:20
You know, I look at some of these other questions and a lot of people are like, can this team turn it around this year?
32:25
And they're worried about tickets and, you know, they don't want to renew their season tickets for next year.
32:31
I mean, basically, it's not even just about the team.
32:35
It's about the anger of the fans.
32:37
Well, I mean, look, I don't disagree with the sentiment in a lot of ways.
32:45
I totally understand it.
32:47
I think, you know, if you're going to be throwing that kind of money down to go attend games, you want to feel good about what you're spending.
32:54
And I think a lot of it, you know, right or wrong, like I said earlier, people are going to point to Lucia, you know, even on things that really don't, you know, aren't under his control.
33:06
And it's because he's the face of the program and people are frustrated with, you know, some of the things going on.
33:12
And naturally, you can't.
33:15
It's kind of like the old saying with especially in pro sports, you can't fire the players, so you fire the coach, you know what I mean?
33:21
And that's just kind of how it is.
33:23
And I think what is frustrated with me over the years is that it just kind of felt like even though, yes, there were some good years in there, so I don't want to discount that, but it just kind of felt like there was a lot of living on the past and it was kind of like you couldn't look at him in a critical manner without people just sort of throwing things in, like, you know, from what happened, you know, many years ago.
33:46
It's like, I think we all appreciate what happened years ago and some of the things that Don Lucia has contributed to the program.
33:53
I'm not trying to take that away from him, but all things must come to an end at some point.
33:59
And I feel like that's kind of the thing that hasn't been, I don't think the hard eye has really been given.
34:05
You know, I don't think they've really looked very, very hard on, you know, some of the things that have gone on.
34:11
I feel like there's been too much of a pass.
34:13
And I think that where people get frustrated is they feel like there isn't that kind of a really analytical way of looking at things, at least that we see.
34:23
I'm sure that they look at things, but I don't know that we're seeing the kind of analysis that the fans look at it with, you know.
34:30
A lot of us on GPL, we look at things with a fine-tooth comb.
34:34
And I don't know that that's how they're going to look at it in the athletic department.
34:37
Well, the one thing that's different than when we ran the Wuger out of town, they ran Wuger out of town after a couple of bad seasons.
34:47
But you know what?
34:48
That program was still making tons of money back then.
34:51
They were still over 9000 people in the arena every night with a losing record.
34:56
The difference now is the team is up and down, can come back and forth, but they're not filling that place anymore.
35:02
So they're taking a hit financially a lot more than they were when they ran the Wuger out of here.
35:09
Well, and here's the thing.
35:11
I feel, you know, it's like I said earlier with the coach, they have all the decision making power and how a team is built, all that stuff.
35:20
When I look at the University of Minnesota head hockey coach, you can't really ask for anything more than what that position is given for tools to win.
35:31
I mean, you have, you know, first of all, that the person in that position is going to be paid, if not the highest paid, he's going to be pretty damn close to the top of the of the mountain as far as pay goes.
35:42
You got that going for you.
35:44
His assistants are going to get very well compensated.
35:47
Six figures plus that you have going for you.
35:50
You have a great arena.
35:52
You know, you can take the atmosphere part of it.
35:55
Maybe it hasn't been great, but nonetheless, it has that potential when things are going right and things are working all together.
36:02
That's great.
36:03
You have a great school, you know, academics, a Big Ten school, all that you can sell to players to come to your school.
36:11
I mean, you can't ask for, you have facilities, you have the Athletes Village, you have all this stuff going for you that you can offer kids and really promote your program to the top of the line players.
36:24
And they do that.
36:25
And they do still do pretty well with regard to recruiting.
36:29
But it's not really panning out in some ways.
36:33
And there's some key misses, I think defensively is a sore point for me right now.
36:39
But you have all that going for you.
36:40
And you really, there's no excuses.
36:43
I mean, can I see a year here or there every once in a while?
36:47
That's not so great.
36:48
Okay, fine.
36:48
I mean, it's not going to be 100% awesome all the time.
36:52
But when you're the coach at the U, you should be having a team that's in the NCAAs and is a serious contender, you know, probably eight or nine out of ten years.
37:02
And when you don't have that kind of a rate going for you in the last ten or so years, that's a big problem for me.
37:09
I don't expect an NCAA championship every year.
37:13
But you should be in that conversation with them almost every year.
37:17
And when it's not like that, I don't feel a lot of sympathy for the head coach.
37:23
And I think that's where the fans are really looking at things.
37:27
I can't disagree with that.
37:28
You know, it's just, we're just kind of in a pickle right now.
37:32
There's so many things happening at once.
37:33
And we're just going to have to wait and see what happens.
37:37
You know, and the weird thing is I had a player, I had a, like, I'm not going to say who it was or anything like that.
37:42
But I specifically was told about, it's about two years ago now, not quite two years ago, that Lucia pretty much flat out told one of the key players on the team that he was, that that year was going to probably be his last year.
37:59
And then it's like it didn't turn out that way.
38:01
And it's like, that's the frustrating stuff for me, is feeling like we're finally going to make that change.
38:08
We're finally going to have some fresh new blood, some new outlook on things, and something that the fans can really get excited about.
38:16
And it doesn't happen.
38:18
And it's like, God, you know?
38:20
And then years ago, we talked about a shelf life, you know, of a coach at one role.
38:26
And he didn't want to outlive that shelf life.
38:28
You know, he wanted to be able to walk away, and it didn't happen.
38:32
And I feel like the ego is getting in the way.
38:34
And just, it's frustrating for me, because this place should be way better than what it is right now.
38:41
And I can't disagree.
38:44
I mean, you just look at the users on GPL, it's clearly down.
38:48
Usage.
38:49
You know, when I started keeping track 10 years ago, we used to have a lot more people engaged on the site, and it has slowly gone down, almost like the attendance has gone down.
38:58
That's just because we pissed everybody off, and they don't want to be there.
39:01
Yeah, there is that as well.
39:03
Or I pissed them off, or who knows, who cares.
39:06
You banned them all probably, dude.
39:07
No, I just banned a few people.
39:09
Well, I banned more Gopher fans than anyone else.
39:12
Because usually it's those guys who deserve banning.
39:16
There's only a few non-Gopher fans that have ever been banned from GPL.
39:20
You know, and the thing is, is that you just, it's almost like it would be refreshing to hear some, you know, if you were to ask, you know, Mike Gensel, or even if you were to ask Lucia, it'd be just refreshing not to, and I'm not saying Gensel would necessarily do it, but it's like you're going to get that politically correct response.
39:40
Like if you're a media person and you, you know, give them a hard question about the state of the program, it's almost like you feel like you're going to get some bullshit, you know, kind of sugar-coated answer.
39:53
And that's what really frustrates people, because nobody, everybody hates it when you feel like you're being lied to.
39:59
You know what I mean?
40:00
Like you kind of see things that are obvious.
40:03
And then a coach has asked a question and it's just given some baloney answer.
40:09
And there's nothing that pisses people off more than that when you make them feel like you're trying, you know, the coach is trying to pull the wool over their eyes and bullshit them, and people hate that.
40:20
And I feel like that's kind of another thing that people get.
40:23
And it's not just here, but it's like coaching in general, because nobody wants to really truly be honest, because they don't want to ruffle too many feathers.
40:30
But it's just, that's how it is, and it bugs people.
40:33
That's why sometimes people are refreshed by the Mike Tises of the world that open up and maybe say some stupid things, but the reality is at least they're honest.
40:42
That's true.
40:42
And you know, quite honestly, you know, Beyond the Pawn on KFA has Grant Petone on once in a while.
40:51
And when he's on that program, he's pretty open and honest.
40:57
Very not Lucia-esque at all.
40:59
You know, when we saw him as an assistant coach at Minnesota, he was quiet, kept to himself.
41:04
Maybe that was on purpose.
41:06
I know the fear was that he was going to turn into another Lucia.
41:09
But when he was on the radio just a couple of weeks ago, when he was talking about the World Juniors, just his honesty and, you know, communication, it just it was very not Lucia-esque.
41:20
And I kind of like that.
41:21
I'm not saying he's a great coach.
41:22
He's going to come back here.
41:24
But my opinion of him is a little different because of that, because he's not that Lucia clone that we thought he was going to turn into.
41:33
Well, I mean, I think, yeah, I think I don't know that anybody was really concerned so much that he was going to be a clone as much as that he was just going to sort of be a yes man.
41:44
I think he got out of here at the right time.
41:47
I think it was perfect timing.
41:49
Yeah, I mean, I definitely think, you know, I don't think we can excuse Grant from things because the fact is, is that he did have a pretty, you know, he had a voice in building the current team.
42:01
Yeah.
42:01
You know, and there were mistakes that he made that I know they had to scramble around to try to rectify, you know, especially Gensel.
42:09
And so I don't want to make it seem like, you know, he's kind of been absolved of any of that because he was a part of it.
42:17
But ultimately, you know, you have one man who makes the final decisions and he gets paid the big bucks.
42:27
And, you know, and the thing is, is that when you're in that position, you have to, it's kind of like this last weekend's Vikings game, you know, you have a miracle finish and the guy who blows the play for the Saints was, you know, a thing I respected him about is he manned up and he answered the questions and he was honest.
42:44
And it's kind of like I thought to myself, that's why those athletes are paid big dollars.
42:49
It's not just to perform on the field, but it's also when you screw up, you have to be there to answer the hard questions.
42:56
And I sometimes feel like that's not really how the head coach is.
43:01
It's like, I'm not saying he doesn't answer questions, but it's sort of like he ducks things and that bugs me.
43:08
Yeah, well, you know, here's the bottom line.
43:13
If they get swept this weekend, it's going to be, all hell is going to break loose, Hammeh.
43:20
That puts them in dead last place in the Big Ten.
43:24
Their power play has been terrible.
43:25
They've got nine losses already in the conference.
43:28
You put them at 11 losses, and in last place, the place is going to go ape shit.
43:34
Well, I mean, you can look at it.
43:36
And you can't blame them either.
43:38
Yeah, well, and I don't.
43:40
But you can look at it different ways.
43:41
I mean, sometimes it's kind of like you got to hit rock bottom, right, in order to make changes.
43:46
I mean, I always talk about that with addicts and so on and so forth.
43:50
But it's kind of like maybe this is our time to kind of hit rock bottom.
43:55
Maybe it's time that, hey, this is what it takes to make these drastic changes in the program that we all feel that need to be made.
44:03
And it sucks when you're going through it, and nobody likes to lose, nobody likes to be disappointed.
44:09
But maybe that sometimes that's what you need to do in order to kind of take that step back, make those big decisions that are going to drastically change what the next 10, 15 years of the program's futures like in a positive, highly successful way.
44:23
And maybe this is where you look back and kind of like we look back on those last years with WUG.
44:29
That sucked back then.
44:31
Nobody liked being 500 or worse.
44:34
But that's what it took to get somebody new in here that had some fresh perspective with how we were going to recruit and how we were going to play hockey.
44:44
And obviously it paid some seriously big dividends back then.
44:48
And maybe that's what we need right now is to kind of go through that for a year and have Coyle wake up and be like, okay, we got to make changes in all these different areas.
44:58
And now we're kind of going through that crappy time.
45:01
But maybe when we look back 10 years from now, we'll kind of say, point to this time and be like, well, that's what it took.
45:09
And so we'll see what happens.
45:11
Well, I think another unfortunate thing though, too, is that this team was supposed to be pretty good this year, Amy.
45:18
And I think that's just another thing on top is that, you know, and it's not, you know, I can't, you know, we've talked about Lucia, but you know what?
45:25
We've had a lot of players that have really underperformed.
45:31
I mean, you look at, you look at Brischdad and the kid has done nothing this year.
45:35
And he, and this team's going nowhere if he's playing this way, unfortunately.
45:39
No, and I don't disagree.
45:41
You can't, you know, obviously the players can't shirk responsibility for some of the, what we're seeing here.
45:46
I mean, that's a big part of it.
45:49
They're the ones who have to perform.
45:50
But at the same time, I also feel that it is about leadership.
45:56
It is about, you know, inspiration.
45:58
I mean, you know, you're talking about relatively young people.
46:01
And I think that, you know, people want to be inspired.
46:04
I mean, even as an adult in my career, I want leadership that I feel is inspirational.
46:10
And they have that long term vision.
46:14
And you want to feel really good about what you're doing every day.
46:18
And when you feel like you don't have that kind of leadership, it does make, you know, showing up at work and feeling good about what you're doing and doing your best, it makes it more difficult.
46:27
And I mean, I don't know about you, but for me, I've been at places where professionally you don't have that kind of leadership.
46:34
And everybody kind of grumbles about things and everybody feels negative.
46:40
And I can't say 100% if that's what some of these players are going through.
46:43
But you know, they are young and they are impressionable and they want leadership.
46:47
And look at PJ.
46:49
Flack.
46:49
I mean, you can argue whether or not, you know, he's a good coach or not.
46:53
People can say that stuff.
46:54
But you can't argue the fact that he inspires his players and they want to play for him and they feel excited.
47:01
And to me, that's what's lacking with what we're seeing here in the hockey program.
47:06
And I kind of hope they find something like that, you know, if they move forward to a new person next time.
47:12
Well, that's kind of my view.
47:15
I'm like you, I'm dumb with Lucia.
47:19
And like you said, it has nothing to do that he's had success and stuff like that.
47:24
I think he's a good coach.
47:25
It's just they need a fresh face.
47:27
They need to, yeah, just like you said, the fresh face of the program.
47:31
That's what they need.
47:32
And they need someone who, not someone like Flack, but like you said, someone who inspires these players to play.
47:37
Because how many times have we seen these players just come out with little effort?
47:42
I'm like, are you kidding me?
47:44
How you, you guys just play, you guys just play a great game against St.
47:48
Cloud, that second game, and you come back and basically take a dump against Michigan on home ice.
47:54
That's embarrassing.
47:55
And you know what?
47:55
That does come to leadership.
47:57
You got to get these kids motivated.
47:58
This is ridiculous.
48:00
And, you know, you can make arguments, you know, well, should you have internal motivation and all that stuff?
48:06
I think it kind of all comes together.
48:08
But I guess for me, I don't think it's just inspiration for the players.
48:14
But I also think it's somewhat inspiration for the fan base.
48:17
I mean, I don't know about you, but I really like to get behind.
48:20
It's like the Vikings.
48:21
I mean, I don't, I like Zimmer because I feel like he's a guy that, you know, brings the team together and is a guy that you can pull for.
48:29
And he seems like down to earth and personable.
48:31
And maybe he's not as rah-rah as somebody who's like, you know, PJ Fleck.
48:35
But nonetheless, you know, he wins you over with how he approaches things and you feel good about it.
48:41
And I don't see that with Don Lucia.
48:43
I feel like there's a distance there.
48:45
I feel like there's a wall.
48:46
I feel like it's clinical.
48:47
I don't feel that, you know, excitement and passion.
48:51
And I don't feel I know that he might get together with fans and do certain things like Veegs mentioned earlier.
48:56
But it's like, you know, to me, it's almost a little bit too little, too late for some of that kind of stuff because he's already lost so many of the fans.
49:05
And I just really want somebody that can come in, you know, and just turn things around and inspire the players, inspire the fan base, you know, not in a disingenuous way, but in an authentic way that people can feel really good about.
49:21
Well, I can't argue with that.
49:24
I know Veegs is much more cautious, but I think even maybe Veegs kind of knows this is the end here.
49:33
Unless this team has a more miraculous turnaround, which I just don't see happening.
49:38
They're going to win some games, but as we've seen in the past over 15 years, they can't win a regional that's not in Minnesota.
49:49
So this team's not going to make the past.
49:52
They might not even make the tournament, but they're not going to get to the Frozen 4 in Minnesota here.
49:57
So it's just time.
49:58
It's just time.
50:00
And the other thing about this year is that it's not like we had some massive departures that we weren't expecting.
50:07
You know what I mean?
50:08
It's like sometimes in past, like, you know, years ago, like when we had that rough stretch, it's like some of that was, you know, we had players leave early, and maybe you could kind of expect them to leave early, but it was kind of like they weren't prepared.
50:22
And it was like now it's like we don't have that excuse anymore.
50:25
I mean, they recruit years ahead of time.
50:28
They kind of plan out that things in a certain way because they've been bit in the past by that.
50:34
And it's like this year we didn't have any of that.
50:36
And it's like yet we're still with this constructed team that they had planned out and we're seeing the results.
50:43
And that to me, that's what bothers me.
50:45
And I'm really, really, really bothered by the defensive situation.
50:50
That really bugs me because the one thing that I've always felt about Gopher Hockey is, getting great defensive players to me is the key between being a great program and a mediocre or worse program because you can find scoring forwards.
51:05
And they have some good forwards on this team.
51:07
Maybe they're not doing great, great this year, but they have talent there.
51:11
What separates to me the good from the great is when you have, you know, two or three really, really good defensemen that can contribute on both ends of the ranking.
51:22
And when you think about great Gopher Hockey, that's what I think about is, you know, some of those great defensemen.
51:28
And we just haven't really had that to the level we should.
51:32
Even when we've had successful years, I feel like we've been lacking a little bit of that.
51:38
Mike Riley was great, Nate Schmidt was great.
51:40
But I felt like it kind of just didn't stack up beyond that.
51:45
And that's what's frustrating for me, because I feel like that's what really drives this program as much as anything.
51:51
And just look how kind of desperate they got midseason.
51:54
They brought in Phillips.
51:56
Right.
51:57
I mean, if they would have had a decent...
51:58
I feel bad for the kid, because it's like, you know, there's this expectation that...
52:02
Thrown to the Wolves.
52:04
Right.
52:06
And I do think he's going to be a really good player.
52:07
And I will say that they do have some real good defensive prospects in the pipeline.
52:12
But it's kind of like you want to see...
52:16
You don't want to see gaps in time where you have these problems.
52:20
And I know you're not always going to be perfect.
52:21
But it's like I said earlier, to me, when you're coaching at the University of Minnesota, you don't have the excuses that you might have at some of these other programs.
52:31
Even ones that are doing better than us this year.
52:34
They don't have a lot of the things we do and you can't make excuses.
52:38
I don't want to hear any more crap about parody.
52:41
I don't want to hear that crap because it's like, okay, yes.
52:44
Parody when it comes to winning a national title or some of that stuff, I get it.
52:49
But there isn't that much parody that the University of Minnesota Hockey Team should not be a serious NCAA contender most years.
52:58
Doesn't mean you win it every year, of course.
53:00
But you should be contending seriously pretty much every year.
53:04
And I don't want to hear that parody crap anymore.
53:06
That's bullshit.
53:09
I can't argue with that.
53:13
Can't argue with it at all.
53:14
And well, this weekend, obviously, Minnesota's playing at Michigan State tomorrow evening.
53:20
And then they're on to Madison Square Garden for that special doubleheader with the basketball team.
53:25
They'll be playing Saturday night at the Madison Square Garden to probably about five people.
53:31
Because I just don't see many people showing up for that game.
53:35
And hand me this is for last place.
53:42
I know that if Michigan State sweeps this weekend, Minnesota is in last place.
53:48
Minnesota right now is three points ahead of Michigan State.
53:55
Yeah, like I said, they've been terrible on the road, Hammy.
54:01
It would not surprise me if they were swept.
54:04
I'd be pissed off, but it wouldn't surprise me.
54:09
You know what?
54:10
I will never ever, ever vote against my alma mater and anything.
54:17
But it's like I am at the point where if they lose, they lose.
54:22
You know what I mean?
54:23
I don't feel the pain right now.
54:26
I'm numb because I care, but it's like I'm numb because I feel like the reality is, is that they need to make changes.
54:36
I feel like the only way they're going to really make, I mean, if they go on a streak right now where they win like 12 games in a row and they have this late surge or whatever, there's a part of me that's like, is that good?
54:52
Is that good for the program in the long haul?
54:54
You know what I'm saying?
54:55
Yeah.
54:55
It's not that I want voting against them, but it's almost like you say, I want what's in the best interest of the program, not just this year, but next year, four years from now, 10 years from now.
55:07
I want to build, I want to continue to be great and have this program be where it should be.
55:12
And I almost say to myself, is winning a lot of games right now, this year, is it going to be beneficial in the long run?
55:21
And I don't know, because I don't know what Lucia's, you know, to me, if his attitude is, oh, we had a great end of the season and I'm coming back.
55:29
And then it's like, I don't know that that's good.
55:34
Yeah, well, we're going to see.
55:36
Yeah, I think you and I are on board.
55:37
We just need to convince Bigs that it's time for a change, because he's still kind of on the fence, because he's the one asking Lucia the questions at these games.
55:47
So he's right in front of me.
55:50
And the funny thing is that Lucia really likes answering questions from Bigs, because he's the only guy in there who's played hockey, it seems like.
55:58
And so he asks hockey questions that Lucia is just not used to answering.
56:04
And he's in front of most of the media.
56:06
So I think he loves Bigs.
56:08
Yeah, well, I mean, I don't blame him.
56:11
I would say these things right to Don Lucia's face.
56:15
But I'm also not having to see him every week either.
56:17
So it's probably a little easier for me to be able to say that kind of stuff.
56:23
But the reality is that I'm not saying there's only one way to look at the situation.
56:29
I just think that, like I said earlier, there's either, it's like you're in two camps, you're either only all negative or you can't see anything negative.
56:39
You know what I mean?
56:40
It's like the in-between people, that's where I feel like they're the silent majority and it's not being heard really.
56:50
But I think right now even those people are probably more on the negative side than the positive.
56:56
Well, the funny thing is I like seeing this anger and I want to see more anger because it at least shows me that there's still some people out there who are not apathetic, who still have the passion.
57:07
And I think that's a good thing.
57:10
Anger is not great, but the passion is.
57:13
We need more passion right now because it's getting lost all over the place.
57:18
There's fans leaving all over the place.
57:20
So any way to get the passion back, any way to bring passion back in some fans that have become apathetic is good in my book.
57:28
And that's why I'm kind of stoking the fire here.
57:31
Talking about ticket prices and things like that, I want fans to be angry.
57:35
I want them to do something about it.
57:38
Well, for me, I just want them to be angry about what's on the ice.
57:42
Well, they're angry about that too.
57:44
Yeah, I mean, I don't have any problems with being angry about ticket prices and atmosphere and stuff like that.
57:49
But to me, that is not what plagues things right now.
57:53
I think that that's an issue, of course.
57:55
But what I think is hurting us is leadership and some of the just the stale messages and all that.
58:04
I just feel like that's what's holding things back.
58:07
The other stuff I think can be rectified.
58:09
But if we don't rectify the CEO, so to speak, then I feel like a lot of it's just going to seem empty.
58:18
Yeah.
58:21
I can't disagree with you, Hammy.
58:23
I'm with you.
58:24
Like I said, we just got to get Vego over here on the dark side and we'll be good to go.
58:28
I think what we need is for Coyle to be on the dark side.
58:32
Vegs can think whatever he wants.
58:34
Actually, we all can think whatever we want, but ultimately, it's one man that has the control.
58:39
I'm just hoping that he's going to look at it kind of the way that I feel like it should be looked at.
58:46
Hopefully, I remember somebody on GPL had their list of things that they feel like they should do, and one of them was like, don't listen to Lou Nani and whatever and stuff like that.
58:59
And it's like, I don't have a problem listening to Lou Nani, but just don't let him be a key decision maker.
59:05
I don't want any of that.
59:06
You know what I'm saying?
59:07
I understand.
59:08
I don't want any of that.
59:09
I want somebody who the athletic director can take opinions fine, but just make a decision that you feel is best for the program.
59:19
Don't give a shit if it's an alum or not.
59:22
I just want a great coach in there with some passion, some fire and some strategy and some vision.
59:29
And I don't think we have that right now.
59:33
All right.
59:33
I think we've beat enough anger for tonight.
59:35
Do you have anything else you want to talk about before we wrap this up?
59:40
Not really.
59:42
I think we all just wanted an event.
59:45
I know I did.
59:47
I'm sure people probably tuned out about a half an hour ago.
59:49
No, actually, we've got probably...
59:53
Well, we've got the biggest live crowd of the season right now.
59:57
I mean, there's 43 people listening to us live right now.
1:00:00
And that's the highest I've seen all year because they...
1:00:03
I think they knew they were going to bitch.
1:00:05
And they like hearing us bitch.
1:00:06
We didn't get any Mixler questions.
1:00:08
There was a ton of people commenting, not really questions.
1:00:11
There was actually a ton of them.
1:00:13
I mean, people talking about, you know...
1:00:15
Oh, there's a ton of them.
1:00:17
But, you know, they're mostly commenting.
1:00:21
We just didn't have time for it.
1:00:24
That's just...
1:00:24
We're busy flapping our gums.
1:00:26
Yeah, well, we're pissed off.
1:00:27
I'm pissed off.
1:00:29
I mean, what else can we do?
1:00:30
I mean, people ripping on the marketing, you know, the ripping on the rosters, on the Frozen 4 roster.
1:00:37
What else we got?
1:00:42
Just a lot of stuff, so.
1:00:45
It's all good.
1:00:46
Well, you know what?
1:00:47
Well, people, it's just like a therapy session, people.
1:00:50
So hopefully, like I said, we're bottoming out now, and we'll look back on this and be like, I remember that.
1:00:59
Well, you know what, Hammy?
1:01:00
We're gonna wrap it up right now, but we're gonna be back next week and maybe we can vent a little more because if the team plays bad, Hammy, we're gonna vent because it's gonna be ugly.
1:01:12
Remember, you can always follow Hammy on Twitter at Hammy Hockey and of course, Vegoe at eVegoe.
1:01:17
We'll be back next week to, maybe we'll be pissed off, we don't know, but we'll recap MSU and preview Notre Dame.
1:01:26
Thanks for listening.
1:01:59
How about those Vikings, huh?
1:02:01
I thought you'd come out wearing a Vikings jacket, like Craig's territory.
1:02:03
Yeah, I don't have that levity, and I also, as I told somebody, I'd probably get fined by the Big Ten if I said some of the things he said, so.
1:02:12
But obviously happy they won, standard to the world.
1:02:14
Were you a little different in Atlanta, Kyle?
1:02:16
I watched it at home by myself.
1:02:17
My wife took my mom to Arizona and get her settled, and so it was probably one of the few games I watched from start to finish, so I did make sure I got my mental health Sunday morning.
1:02:28
I went to Mass.
1:02:30
As I told my wife, I always feel better when I get out of there, and I needed it after the weekend.
1:02:34
Did my video work before the Vikings game came on, so that was behind me, and then I just kind of watched the Vikings, and I watched it right to the bitter end and waited for the last play.
1:02:46
It almost reminded me a little bit, because my son called me Tony, and I said, you know, it's kind of reminded me when I was a young kid, and I saw live the Frank O'Harris Immaculate Reception, and I was by myself.
1:02:58
I had nobody to go, yeah, with, but...
1:03:02
So that was another moment I got to experience, but I guess when you watch sports your whole life, you're going to have a few moments like that, and that's what makes sports so great.
1:03:11
That's something you take to your team and say this is it?
1:03:13
You know, it's, I mean, you just, you play to the end.
1:03:16
I mean, that's the bottom line, is that, you know, there's some crazy finishes, you know, and bring, brought back to, you know, back in 02 when, you know, we had to pull a goalie and we score, and then we ended up winning in overtime.
1:03:29
So, I mean, just, you got to have belief to the very end, and, you know, sometimes you need a little luck, or somebody in the opposing team to make a mistake, but that's what sports is.
1:03:38
It's a game of opportunity and a game of mistakes.
1:03:41
Big event coming, obviously, on Saturday night.
1:03:43
Do you have to guard against looking ahead?
1:03:45
I mean, you do have a pretty big game, important two points on the line or points on the line on Thursday.
1:03:49
Three points.
1:03:51
Yeah, I mean, I just, somebody asked me about it last week, and I said, I haven't even put any thought to it, to be honest.
1:03:56
I mean, you just live so into the next game and the next moment that, you know, it just, it seems like any normal trip other than we're playing on Thursday.
1:04:04
I mean, we're going to practice tomorrow and get on a plane and go to East Lansing and play.
1:04:08
And when that game's over, we'll have a light skate at East Lansing and then move on to the next spot.
1:04:14
So until we actually are getting in in New York, it probably won't seem like, you know, that's actually happening.
1:04:21
You know, it's in the back of, I'm sure, everybody's mind.
1:04:23
But, you know, we have to maintain our focus on what we need to do to be successful Thursday.
1:04:27
What's your experience at Madison Square Garden?
1:04:29
Never been there.
1:04:31
I've only been in New York once in my life.
1:04:33
And I think that was a couple of years ago when we had an off week in Notre Dame.
1:04:38
I was watching Mario.
1:04:39
They played up at Hartford and then at Barclays Center.
1:04:42
Okay.
1:04:42
And, you know, my wife, she didn't want to go originally because she thought it was at the Barclays Center again.
1:04:47
I said, no, it's at Madison Square Garden.
1:04:48
I said, no, okay.
1:04:49
So she's, she's coming and a couple of my kids head out there to watch.
1:04:53
But I haven't spent much time in New York City.
1:04:55
I've been there, like I said, one time for a day or two.
1:04:59
I think we stayed in, I think it was in Brooklyn, walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, actually went to the ground zero, which was really neat.
1:05:06
I wish we had a little bit more time so the guys, it would be nice if we got in early on Friday and had the afternoon to go do and tour or something like that.
1:05:15
But we're just, we're not going to get in until Friday night and then you play Saturday and you leave right after the game.
1:05:19
So it's such a quick trip and turn around.
1:05:21
They won't have the opportunity to do that.
1:05:23
You know the pair was, you know the standings.
1:05:24
I mean, it's pretty cut and dried now.
1:05:26
Yeah, I mean, whether we won or lost, you got to win.
1:05:30
And, you know, we put ourselves in a tough spot within the league just because of what we've done in the last number of games.
1:05:38
And you don't realize it almost because there's been such a mix of non-conference games we've done well.
1:05:44
And then all of a sudden, boom, you're in and not where you want to be.
1:05:47
But at the same time, if you win, you know, you're playing teams you can, you know, move ahead of.
1:05:51
But you got to win.
1:05:53
And as we've said, I mean, there's the, it's been an offensive challenge this year.
1:05:59
And it has continued throughout the year.
1:06:01
And if we have to win a game two to one, that's the way we have to play.
1:06:05
I mean, the St.
1:06:06
Cloud two-nothing game was probably, you know, the way we have to play.
1:06:09
We have to have good goaltending.
1:06:10
We have to, you know, we did score a power play goal each night, which is a plus.
1:06:16
But there hasn't been very many years where you get to this stage and, you know, you're still mixing on lines.
1:06:21
In the last couple of weeks, we've had guys with the flu.
1:06:23
And even today, somebody left practice.
1:06:26
We thought, you know, it's like, okay, he's sick growing up before practice.
1:06:29
So go home.
1:06:31
And, you know, Casey missed all last week, had one day of practice.
1:06:35
So it's been a little bit disjointed the last couple of weeks, but that's all part of the deal.
1:06:39
You know, we've got players that have to produce on either offensively or you've got to produce defensively.
1:06:46
So, I mean, that's the big thing is that it's not, what's your fallback, Aiden?
1:06:50
If you're not scoring, you know, you've got to bring something else to the table, find a way to win games.
1:06:54
Tommy Novak will be back this week.
1:06:56
He's practicing.
1:06:57
We haven't made a decision yet whether he will play.
1:07:00
You know, he's feeling better every day.
1:07:02
He's been cleared to play.
1:07:03
But, you know, now the question is, is he ready to play?
1:07:06
A big assist guy like him, how much would that help the team?
1:07:09
Well, I mean, he's one of our top scorers, you know, not goal wise, but certainly he's in on a lot of plays.
1:07:13
And it just makes you a little bit deeper from the offensive forward.
1:07:16
And we have jumbled the lines around today.
1:07:19
And, you know, we'll probably have a completely different look than what we saw last weekend.
1:07:24
And move some guys around.
1:07:25
But we just got to find some guys that are going to mesh and play together.
1:07:29
And so we can hopefully score on a more consistent basis.
1:07:31
Because, you know, we've I think that's probably the frustrating part.
1:07:34
We've lost too many games.
1:07:35
We've given up one or two goals.
1:07:37
I mean, you got to get to three or four some nights and be able to win games.
1:07:40
And I think that's the thing that's, you know, we've talked about, you know, losing games or you're only giving up a couple of goals because you can't get to three or four.
1:07:49
Is Michigan State a different team than the one you saw earlier in the season at all?
1:07:52
Well, their top line is very good.
1:07:54
I mean, you know, their top line has 30 goals.
1:07:57
I mean, they've settled on a goaltender, you know, so they've played better at home than what they've done on the road.
1:08:03
And, you know, certainly they're playing some young guys and, you know, just giving them the ice time for the future.
1:08:10
Over the weekend, talk about the team, guys trying to do too much individually.
1:08:13
Do you see them relaxing a bit more on the ground?
1:08:15
Well, you know, sometimes you try to do it on your own instead of, you know, you got to share the puck.
1:08:22
I mean, as I've told our players, I mean, the puck, nobody can skate as fast as you can move the puck.
1:08:27
So the more we, the hockey is a game of two on ones.
1:08:31
Hockey is a game of outnumbering.
1:08:34
And I think we have to do a better job of moving to get to the area of the rink where we can outnumber somebody from both an offensive standpoint and a defensive standpoint and work harder without the puck.
1:08:42
And when you do have it, you know, possess it a little bit more, you know, get to the net front a little bit more.
1:08:47
I mean, we're still, you know, score goals if you're going to be on the perimeter.
1:08:52
You've mentioned that guys who historically provide the scoring kind of need to get back on track.
1:08:57
What have you been doing working with them?
1:08:58
I don't know.
1:09:00
I need a psychologist degree, I think.
1:09:02
You know, and that's the hardest part at every level.
1:09:04
I mean, you have guys that go through stretches.
1:09:06
You know, I was talking to another, Mike was talking to another coach about, you know, one of his seniors really having a tough year.
1:09:12
He just got the plan.
1:09:13
I was just not talking to him anymore.
1:09:15
You know, he's got to figure it out.
1:09:16
And I don't know what, there's not much you can say to somebody to score.
1:09:21
You got to score.
1:09:22
Well, it's not easy.
1:09:23
They have, the other team's got defenders, the other team's got a goalie.
1:09:26
And I think I said it earlier, when you look at even our power play, when the opposing team has a 93, 94 save percentage on the power play against you, I mean, that's unheard of most of the time.
1:09:37
I mean, you've got a much better shooting percentage when you're on the power play.
1:09:41
But that's, you know, how it's gone this year about putting a puck in the back of the net.
1:09:46
And then it gets harder.
1:09:47
I mean, the longer you go, you know, it's not like we're in NHL season where there's 80-some games.
1:09:51
You might go 10 or 15 games without a goal and then obviously you get hot.
1:09:54
You know, 10 or 15 games is a big chunk of our season.
1:09:58
You're not getting on a bus Sunday taking the team down to Philly.
1:10:01
Do you have any bad memories of Philadelphia?
1:10:03
No, no, I don't have any bad memories.
1:10:05
I mean, that was a team that probably overachieved a lot.
1:10:07
And, you know, I just obviously hope they win.
1:10:11
So that's the big thing to be great.
1:10:13
I mean, especially for all of my said, all the Viking diehard and I'm one of them.
1:10:18
I mean, I go back.
1:10:19
I lived through the 70s.
1:10:22
I still remember crying on my couch when they lost it.
1:10:24
Kansas City Chiefs got a little bit of redemption the next year when they beat them.
1:10:28
But it was too late.
1:10:29
But obviously you're happy for the organization and the coaches and, you know, all the fans.
1:10:34
I mean, this has been a diehard Vikings fans since they established themselves in the 60s.
1:10:39
And those of us who grew up, I mean, you don't lose your allegiances, that's for sure.
1:10:43
I mean, even though you move around the country, I mean, that's a great thing about the NFL.
1:10:47
I mean, you can still watch the games.
1:10:51
All right.
1:10:51
Thanks a lot.
1:10:52
Thank you, Coach.
1:10:54
Casey, what does this weekend mean to you, get back on track?
1:10:58
Yeah, I mean, obviously last week I was disappointed, especially coming off the big win at St.
1:11:02
Cloud.
1:11:02
So this weekend for us is huge.
1:11:04
It's pretty much do or die.
1:11:06
So we definitely got to go out there and get a couple of wins.
1:11:09
Knowing all the hype that's coming on Saturday night, New York City and all of that, how do you focus on playing a game Thursday, you know, just in somebody else's building?
1:11:18
Yeah, I mean, honestly, I think for us, it should be pretty easy.
1:11:22
Like I said, last weekend was tough, and now we pretty much got a win here.
1:11:25
So like I said, we need two wins this weekend no matter what.
1:11:28
So it shouldn't be too hard for us to kind of put that in the back of our heads for a night.
1:11:33
But it does make the math pretty simple now.
1:11:35
I mean, after two losses to Michigan, you pretty much have to win.
1:11:39
There's no if this guy beats this guy or any of that.
1:11:42
Yeah, I mean, like, yeah, I think definitely, honestly, like I said, we know what we got to do this weekend and moving forward.
1:11:49
So for us, it's definitely a big weekend to go out there and get a couple of wins.
1:11:52
How's the focus been in practice this week?
1:11:54
How have the practices been?
1:11:55
Yeah, I mean, I think our practices are usually pretty good.
1:11:57
I think we've had some good competitive games at the end, which is always fun for all the players to get a little heat with each other.
1:12:03
I think that's always fun, kind of score some goals and have some fun against the guys.
1:12:08
So I think it's been a really good week of practice and we definitely should be ready to go this weekend.
1:12:12
You've been to MSG before?
1:12:13
I've not, no.
1:12:16
What have you heard about it or what are you looking forward to?
1:12:19
I mean, I've heard it's amazing.
1:12:20
I think pretty much anyone you need to talk to says it's amazing.
1:12:23
I've been to New York City twice, maybe.
1:12:25
And obviously that was pretty cool.
1:12:27
So I never got to go to Madison Square Garden, so I guess going there this time will be a little bit of a cherry on top.
1:12:31
And obviously getting to play there will be something that we'll remember for sure.
1:12:35
Sorry if this was already touched on, but it seems like you guys are getting a lot of opportunities, but not really capitalizing on those.
1:12:41
What have you guys been working on in practice to sort of bounce back from that?
1:12:45
Yeah, I think obviously in practice, you just work on scoring.
1:12:48
I think coaches are giving us a little bit more, a little bit more drills for the four.
1:12:51
It's just working on putting pucks in the net and making some plays.
1:12:54
So for us, I think it all starts in practice, getting a few goals and then kind of seeing the puck go in and then hopefully it translates into the games.
1:13:00
What kind of things need to change defensively to shut down the defense?
1:13:06
I don't know if it's so much anything that really needs to change defensively.
1:13:09
Obviously, we need to have better starts.
1:13:11
But for the most part, we've been pretty good defensively, I think.
1:13:14
I think more than anything, we got to get our offense going.
1:13:17
And when we're playing well offensively, that helps our defense.
1:13:21
So I think for us going into this weekend, we just got to make sure that we're better offensively and manage the puck a little bit better.
1:13:26
How about kind of bouncing back for World Juniors?
1:13:28
Is that still in your head at all or have you been able to refocus?
1:13:33
Honestly, obviously being out there was a blast, but it's kind of in the past now.
1:13:37
I think coming back here, we got to win, like we've said.
1:13:40
So it's pretty much where we die.
1:13:42
So you got to close that page pretty quick and realize what's going on here.
1:13:45
The power play got a couple this past weekend after a long, tough stretch.
1:13:48
Do you see a positive there that it's getting better?
1:13:51
Yeah, I mean, obviously, special teams is huge and our power play hasn't been good enough for the guys that we have.
1:13:55
So hopefully going forward here, we can get a few big goals from our special teams.
1:13:59
Obviously, our penalty kill has been pretty good for the most part.
1:14:01
So it would be nice to get the power play going here, help us out.
1:14:04
And anytime you get a power play goal, it's definitely a huge bonus.
1:14:07
Saturday night, it seemed like, you know, they're still playing the national anthem and it's 2-0 Michigan.
1:14:11
What do you do to get, you know, a better starter, a quicker starting game like that?
1:14:16
You know, I don't know if it's one specific thing.
1:14:18
I think everyone gets ready for the game in a different way.
1:14:21
I think, just making sure we're ready to go at the puck drop though.
1:14:23
I mean, obviously, that's not good enough, especially at home.
1:14:26
So for us, we got to be ready to go right from the puck drop.
1:14:28
And especially in that first shift, try to get in their zone, dictate the pace a little bit, and kind of start the game off right.
1:14:34
Any thoughts on Michigan State specifically?
1:14:37
No, I think we played them this fall, obviously, and they got some good players who can go.
1:14:42
I think they got a really good first line, a couple good Ds.
1:14:44
So we're definitely going to have to go out there and try to play our game, dictate the pace early, like I said in the last question.
1:14:50
And try to score some goals for volunteer.
1:14:55
What do you guys got to do to get the better starts in these games?
1:14:57
Yeah, for sure.
1:14:58
I mean, you know, last weekend it was tough starting out both games down and goal within the first, I think, two minutes.
1:15:04
And that's something that we preach about.
1:15:06
Coach Lucia always talks about the 10-minute game, which is the first 10 minutes of the game.
1:15:09
And we got to, you know, get out to a hot start.
1:15:12
I think the biggest thing is to just, you know, play our game and get pucks in deep and kind of go to work in their zone and let our Fords do the work and get pucks in the net.
1:15:20
Do you feel a sense of urgency right now with the guys in sixth and the Big Ten?
1:15:23
Yeah, I mean, definitely.
1:15:24
I mean, what do I think?
1:15:25
We have like 10 games left.
1:15:26
So, you know, it's something that we preach about all the time.
1:15:29
And I think there's definitely such an urgency.
1:15:31
But at the same time, we just got to, you know, understand who we are and play our game.
1:15:36
And we got a lot of talent in our room.
1:15:37
And so we just got to play our game and, you know, be confident out there.
1:15:43
Is it tough not to look ahead to the Madison Square Garden game?
1:15:47
Yeah, I mean, that's a game that, you know, I think all of us had scheduled or circled on our calendar at the beginning of the year.
1:15:53
So but at the same time, like you said, you can't really look past it.
1:15:56
I think we play Thursday and that's something that, you know, we have to keep our focus on right away.
1:16:01
And then once that game is over with, then we'll have fun with MSG.
1:16:04
But right now we got to prepare and focus for Thursday.
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