0:05 This is The GPL Podcast, sponsored by Vintage Minnesota Hockey, your exclusive source for throwback Minnesota jerseys. 0:14 Visit vintagemnhockey.com Now, here's Hammy, Mego, and your host, Jupiter. 0:39 Thank you. 0:39 Good evening, and welcome to The GPL Podcast. 0:44 Episode number 127. 0:51 Well, we're having a little technical issues with Figo. 0:54 We're trying to get him back online. 0:56 Give us a little bit. 0:57 Hopefully we can add him to the conversation. 1:00 But Hammy's here, and Hammy, how you doing? 1:05 Doing well, doing well. 1:06 Well, that's good. 1:08 That's good. 1:09 And I'm trying to add Bigo, trying to get him part of the conversation. 1:12 We'll see if we can do it here. 1:14 We'll do our best. 1:16 Not sure what's going on. 1:17 But either way, Hammy, it was a good weekend. 1:22 I mean, obviously not the best weekend. 1:25 It was two road victories, and that's all that matters. 1:29 Yeah, I guess. 1:31 I mean, it would have been a disaster if he had split or got swept, especially against a team that's not very good this year. 1:37 So I guess that's one way to look at it. 1:39 I mean, before the podcast, like I had mentioned to you, that I don't know how I entirely feel about the weekend because, I mean, it is Michigan State. 1:50 They're not very good this year. 1:52 You have the Thursday game where we gave up four goals on not many shots, so we didn't get very good goaltending. 1:59 And then the Saturday game, which is cool that they got to play at a place like Madison Square Garden, but at the same time, to have to win on a late goal, just not exactly the most inspiring feeling as a fan. 2:15 Well, I can't disagree with you, but I'm just glad they got two wins. 2:21 And Figs, there you are. 2:23 Hi there. 2:25 I didn't even get a notification that you were trying to get a hold of me. 2:29 Skype can be a little weird. 2:31 I mean, you just never know. 2:33 But you're here and that's all that matters and you didn't miss anything. 2:36 So. 2:37 I just told him, I just gave my opinion. 2:41 He was actually on for that. 2:42 He actually heard your opinion. 2:45 Well, let's hear Vig's opinion. 2:48 Vig's, not very convincing wins against the last place team, but the way that Minnesota has struggled this year on the road against anybody, I can't complain too much, but it's still not the best. 3:02 Yeah, we always like to really rip the team when they go into these games and they drop one. 3:08 At least they didn't drop any points here. 3:11 I didn't think they played the greatest style hockey. 3:13 It wasn't that entertaining, but it got the job done. 3:17 Shearhorn has a steadier game on Thursday night. 3:20 We're probably not even talking about that being that bad of a game, because they were able to score some goals and they got timely goals this weekend. 3:29 So say what you will about Michigan State. 3:31 They're probably not quite as bad as their record indicates in the Big Ten, but the Gophers took care of business and that's what they needed to do. 3:41 They've got a much tougher challenge this weekend, but I give them a little credit. 3:46 Flat building on Saturday and they played okay. 3:51 They didn't flash a lot, but they played conservative. 3:54 Well, let's talk about that first Thursday night game. 4:01 They talked about how he's played there before and he should be able to handle those weird boards, but he just did not handle it well at all. 4:11 No, I mean, that's why they started that game was to give him the experience. 4:15 And it's just surprising that he cracked under that kind of microscope. 4:22 This is the first time he's had a challenge in net since he's been at Minnesota. 4:27 And it's not the most inspiring performance. 4:31 He's getting away from what gave him so much success early in the season, when he was calm in net, letting the puck hit him. 4:39 Now he's got a little bit extra movement, a little bit too much street hockey goalie. 4:43 And I think he's pressing too much to try to make saves rather than be in the right position. 4:49 And then on the flip side, Hamme, you've got a power play that didn't look that great, but you've got a penalty kill that scored two short-handed goals on one five-minute major against them. 5:01 Thursday was just kind of a goofy game. 5:04 Yeah, I mean, it's kind of the turning point. 5:06 I mean, first of all, whenever you kill a five-minute major without giving up any goals, that's usually considered a big momentum shift and a victory, but to actually score, outscore the other team when they have a five-minute major and their benefit, that's certainly something that you don't tend to see that often. 5:26 So, you know, that was certainly the turning point, I would say, as far as that game goes. 5:32 Well, that's fortunate that Shearhorn didn't give it back, right? 5:35 Yeah, well, then on top of that, you also had, you know, Michigan State getting a shorthanded goal on a, what is it, another five-minute major, I think? 5:44 Yeah, it was a weird night for shorties. 5:46 It was just weird. 5:47 Yeah, just getting a little careless at the top. 5:50 You know, you get in those five-minute major situations and, you know, I think there's a little bit less focus than in the traditional two-minute. 5:58 And, you know, you just have those guys, they're playing extended shifts. 6:02 And so they're maybe a little more fatigued in vulnerable positions sometimes, and that's what happened. 6:08 Is there any thought on maybe those five-minute majors to going more of a normal rotation that you would in, you know, five-on-five? 6:18 I think sometimes every once in a while, coaches will break it up. 6:20 They'll throw out a third or a fourth line just for a shift to kind of reset everybody because you're not used to playing, you know, your top six for six, seven minutes in a situation like that. 6:30 And that's kind of what ends up happening. 6:33 Yeah, I think in those cases, maybe he should because the power play hasn't been that great. 6:38 And, you know, five-minute man advantage, when they get one shot, maybe it was not looking good. 6:44 One shot, maybe on goal at the end, and they gave up a goal. 6:47 Not to mention, you know, what happened when Michigan State had their man advantage. 6:51 I mean, we had two short-ended goals. 6:53 So goofy night all around, Gophers, you know, kind of jumped up all over them in the second period. 6:58 And then, boy, Hammey, a lot of people were kind of nervous because then Michigan State got right back into it. 7:05 Well, yeah, when you give up three straight goals right to them, I mean, not exactly, I'll probably build the confidence in your teammates, but fortunately, you know, she kind of came through late and, you know, we got the win. 7:19 So I guess that's ultimately what counts, but, you know, like we've talked about, it wasn't an inspiring overall weekend in that sense. 7:28 So you've got the 5-4 victory Thursday night, then they have a night off, and then they move to Saturday night after the Gopher basketball team played Ohio State. 7:37 Not a very good game, but in the morning, early afternoon, they took out the basketball court, revealed the hockey rink, Veegs, and boy, I thought Saturday was kind of a boring game, two-to-one game, you know, late, late, kind of late, late minute win, I should say. 7:58 But I guess, you know, it's a good thing, you know, they got the points this weekend, but boy, it wasn't very inspiring against that last place team. 8:10 No, it really wasn't inspiring, but you know, the bright spot for me is it wasn't, you know, a mistake-filled game. 8:17 Sometimes you play in these uninspiring games and you're turning the puck over a lot and perhaps you're getting away because you're not playing a talented team. 8:25 I didn't really see the Gophers do that too much. 8:28 You know, they weren't giving the puck away and giving odd man rushes back the other way. 8:33 There just wasn't a lot of offense out there, whether it was Cole kind of putting the puck and the reins down on his team and just creating less chances all the way around. 8:41 You know, I definitely saw Minnesota passing up shots. 8:45 I think, you know, they only attempted something like the low 40s. 8:49 So the shots on goal weren't very inspiring for offense, but you know, I don't think there was a ton there either. 8:56 One thing I noticed is that they did put Middlestadt back on the off wing on the power play, which is something people have been looking for. 9:03 I think that's probably where he's gonna stay here through the next little stretch. 9:07 So I know that's something people were complaining about, and well, there you go. 9:11 Lucia's trying something different. 9:15 Well, as people might say, the season's kind of going away. 9:20 It's ending fairly quick here. 9:22 They're not having a great season, Hammy, at least in the Big Ten, you know, they're tied for fifth place right now. 9:28 Probably not gonna move up too much more because they've got a tough schedule, Hammy, but regardless of kind of what happens in the Big Ten, they've got a good enough record and they've played enough tough teams that their pairwise is probably gonna stay fairly high. 9:46 Yeah, I mean, I guess that's the one thing you can say is that they're, I mean, they're obviously not in a totally secure position, but. 9:54 No, definitely not. 9:55 Yeah, I mean, so you can't necessarily feel overly confident, but they do, you know, despite having a relatively mediocre record and not playing all that particularly great from a, you know, at least at times in the season, they are in a position to make the NCAAs. 10:12 And which team was it that we played earlier in the year that kind of was really the swing for us being higher in the pairwise? 10:20 Clarkson, wasn't it? 10:21 I think it was, right? 10:23 And I think that, you know, that's kind of one of those things where you say to yourself, I mean, I am not a pairwise guru, but I mean, where would we be without those two wins? 10:34 I don't think we'd be sitting nearly in this kind of a position. 10:38 So it's a little bit, you know, how good are they? 10:41 How, you know, I don't know. 10:43 It's a big question mark yet. 10:45 And really, Veegs, it's probably those quality non-conference wins that is keeping them, you know, top 10 in the pairwise right now. 10:53 Yeah, for sure. 10:54 Their non-conference record is the strongest it's been in the last five years of the Big Ten. 11:00 And on top of that, the Big Ten as a whole is playing pretty well this year out of conference. 11:04 It's the second best league in the country behind the NCHC. 11:08 So these games against the remaining teams on their schedule, even a loss isn't going to hurt them. 11:14 I think a loss to Michigan State probably would have hurt them pretty badly in the pairwise. 11:17 I think you would have seen them drop to 16, 17, 18, somewhere in there had they dropped one. 11:22 But now these games, you know, coming up against Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Penn State, you know, these are all teams that are in the running for at large bids. 11:32 So say what you want about the Gophers season. 11:34 They are in great shape for pairwise in making the tournament. 11:37 That hasn't always been the case the last decade. 11:39 Well, that's definitely true. 11:41 I mean, you just look at the history of the Big Ten itself. 11:44 I mean, they've won the league every year, but their non-conference has been really bad. 11:49 And so they've been, you know, kind of on the cusp of being in the tournament and having to win the Big Ten playoff to get in the tournament a few times. 11:57 So this year is definitely a different thing. 12:00 Not doing so well in conference, but you know, quality wins, you know, at North Dakota, you had St. 12:05 Cloud here, sweeping Clarkson, Harvard. 12:10 Their quality wins out there. 12:13 And like you said, the rest of the Big Ten season, they're playing teams that, you know, that are top 10 teams. 12:20 You got Notre Dame up there. 12:21 I mean, they've got a tough schedule. 12:22 Looking at the Jim Dahl rankings, the Gophers could get three wins out of their next eight and probably be anywhere from eight to 12 in the pairwise. 12:31 And that's just with going three and five here down the stretch. 12:35 So it's not all doom and gloom. 12:39 And obviously this weekend's gonna be a big weekend. 12:42 We'll have to, we'll talk about that in a little bit, but I just wanted to get to a couple questions here via Twitter. 12:48 And actually we have, actually a recruiting question from Dan Hogan, let's go this for you, Hammy. 12:55 Who are the top uncommitted players in the state right now? 12:59 Last week, lots of talk about the type of team LeChia has built. 13:03 What type of forward do you think this team is missing? 13:09 All right, well, cause I saw this question earlier, so I was thinking about it. 13:15 And honestly, I'm kinda gonna shirk it a little bit because it's kinda like, first of all, it's like what time frame are you talking about? 13:24 You know what I mean? 13:24 Is this somebody you're thinking for a year out, two years out, four years out? 13:28 I mean, there's a lot of different answers you can go as far as uncommitted players go. 13:33 So that's a little bit of a question mark. 13:35 The other thing is that, just as a general statement, looking at not just Gopher fans, but I see this with North Dakota fans, and you see this on USCHO with certain fans. 13:48 It's almost like they want to build a roster that's like an all-star team. 13:53 And it's like you're trying to just, and I think coaches sometimes do this too, where you're just trying to gather as much talent as possible. 14:00 Instead of thinking about, well, what do you have in the pipeline for that two to three year period of time, and what's going to really add to that from a team perspective, rather than looking at it from a talent perspective. 14:12 And I think that's something that fans tend to get caught up in. 14:16 I'm not going to say that I never do either. 14:18 Sometimes I do that, but I think it really comes down to what they're going to be looking at for certain kinds of players. 14:24 From a forward perspective, I know the easy answer is, oh, well, you want a guy who's like 6'2, and he's rugged, and he scores goals, and he's totally polished, or whatever. 14:35 But then it's like, well, that guy's going to be gone in a year. 14:37 And those guys don't just, they're not going to fall in your lap every single solitary year either. 14:43 So I don't really have a huge problem with how the Gophers have been from a forward perspective in recent years. 14:50 Obviously some years they're better than others, but I feel like they generally have two to three good scoring lines most years. 14:58 I have mentioned this in past weeks. 15:00 My biggest issue has been more from a defensive standpoint and what kind of players they've been bringing in. 15:06 I don't feel like they've had enough depth from a two-way defensive player perspective. 15:12 The best goal for teams usually have two to three really good offensive defensemen that can play both ends. 15:18 And I feel like in recent era, we've more had like maybe one guy who was really good and then a couple guys that were okay. 15:25 And then, you know, not that great after that. 15:28 And I feel like that's been more of a problem as much as anything. 15:32 Veegs, any thoughts on the type of recruit we're going after? 15:36 I do just know that this staff is hoping if they're sticking around to have some of their depth players be bigger, bigger players, bigger forwards, bigger defensemen as their depth players. 15:49 I think they've gotten into a bit of a tendency to look for kind of smaller skilled guys for those bench, you know, not bench rolls, but depth rolls. 15:59 And I think one of the things they're looking to do is add some size, older players for those spots. 16:06 So that instead of having, you know, 18, 19 year old smaller guys filling out the roster, they're going to have, you know, some 21 year old big players filling those spots. 16:15 So we'll see if they get the chance to do that, you know, but that's something they're hoping to do. 16:21 Well, and I think, you know, the other thing that people have to think about is, you know, it really comes down to player adaptability because a lot of these guys are playing similar roles when they're in high school. 16:34 They're top line guys, scoring line, you know, all the great stuff. 16:38 They go off to junior hockey and maybe they have relatively similar roles in juniors, but you get to the college level and you're going to have all these guys that have played those kinds of roles. 16:48 And then it comes down to, you know, who, you know, do you have enough guys that have the adaptability to play a third line or fourth line and still, you know, contribute and you're not getting guys that are necessarily one-dimensional. 17:02 You look at like a Taylor Comerata, he was kind of a one-dimensional guy. 17:05 I mean, if he wasn't going to be producing a lot offensively, what else was he going to do? 17:11 He wasn't a big gritty guy. 17:12 He wasn't defensive player. 17:14 And it sounded like you kind of were pigeonholed into that one kind of role for him. 17:19 And it's sort of, you know, identifying guys that, hey, maybe they're going to be scores, but if they're not, do they have the capability of really being highly effective in other roles? 17:30 And I think that that's a key that they really have to look at maybe a little more carefully. 17:37 Well, we've got a few more questions here that we'll get to in a little bit, and as well as Notre Dame and a couple other tragedies in hockey recently. 17:46 But before we get to that, let's hear from our sponsor. 17:51 vintagemnhockey.com is a proud sponsor of the GPL Podcast. 17:56 Well, what is Vintage MN Hockey? 17:58 Well, it's kind of the place to get all of your history of Minnesota hockey, from the pros to the minors, the collegiate teams, to even the high school teams. 18:09 All information about any of those teams can be found on vintagemnhockey.com. 18:14 They also have great interviews with some historical Minnesota hockey figures like John Mayessich and Lou Nani, Glenn Sonmore, some of the greats of Minnesota hockey. 18:23 So make sure you check out those interviews. 18:24 It's a really great thing. 18:26 But as I always say, I think my favorite part is the store. 18:30 The store, you can buy a custom historical jersey from the Gophers or the Bulldogs or some of your favorite high school teams. 18:37 And if you do make a purchase, just use the code GPL Podcast, all one word, and you'll get 10% off your order. 18:44 So make sure you visit vintagemnhockey.com and follow them on Twitter at VintageMNHockey. 18:52 Well, Veegs, in this past week, we've had quite a bit of tragedy in the hockey community. 18:57 We've lost kind of an icon in hockey and a young man, and it's just a, it's been a tough week. 19:06 Yeah, it definitely has been a tough week, especially for a lot of guys who grew up in the metro area working with Carol. 19:14 You know, he was looked at as a leader for these guys, and for him to, you know, have what happened to him is pretty shocking, and just a reminder for everybody to be available to their friends and help them through tough times. 19:29 Yeah, Andrew Carroll, the former, you know, Duluth hockey captain, unfortunately took his own life on Monday, and it's just a, oh boy, people. 19:42 What can you really say? 19:43 It's like, you know, sometimes you just don't know this is coming, and sometimes there's signs, and sometimes there isn't. 19:49 It's just awful. 19:52 But then on top of that, you know, a great pillar in USA hockey, Veegs. 19:58 Yeah, it's pretty amazing to see the outpouring of support for him on Twitter. 20:02 You know, a lot of people had high respect for him and what he did for USA hockey. 20:08 And to lose him, I think, was tough on a lot of people. 20:12 Tough week, Hammeh. 20:15 Yeah, I mean, you feel really bad when you see somebody take their own life, and I mean, I don't know anything about the circumstances, but it is one of those cases where, you know, you really want to, whenever people talk about that kind of stuff, a lot of times people get emotional and maybe don't take them entirely seriously, and I'm not saying anything about this particular instance, but just in generally speaking, you kind of just want to make sure that you're there for those people, and if they need help, try to get them that kind of help and be that kind of support system for them. 20:49 Yeah, there's a lot of outpouring, obviously, for Jim Johansen as well. 20:52 I think that's how you pronounce his name. 20:56 Obviously, he was going to... 20:58 Wasn't he the general manager of Team USA for this coming up Olympics, leagues? 21:04 He must have been. 21:05 He's the guy who's kind of headlined all these USA hockey things for the last decade. 21:12 Plus, he's a big reason for a lot of the success that the junior programs had. 21:19 It's hard on a lot of people. 21:25 Yeah, it's just a tough week all around. 21:29 I'm looking at more questions here. 21:30 Actually, it looks like we've kind of answered some of the questions because a few people were asking, can they remain top ten in pairwise? 21:37 I think if you just split with some of these teams like Notre Dame and Ohio State and Penn State in front of you, we're going to be good pairwise either way. 21:48 I don't know if you guys have any other thoughts on that because that's kind of the theme going right now is people worried about pairwise. 21:55 You know, Hammy, they should be worried about pairwise, but I think we're going to be okay. 21:59 Yeah, you know, I'm actually surprised. 22:02 I mean, I won't mention names because I think some of the people... 22:06 But I mean, I had somebody asking me, well, do we even want them to make the NCAAs because it's almost like you're worried that if they do well enough to keep a staff that a lot of people aren't exactly excited about, what is it? 22:23 I mean, I'm not of that mentality, but I'm a little surprised that you don't get some of those kinds of questions. 22:29 Do we really want it? 22:29 Because this team does have... 22:32 It's one of those things where you get to the NCAAs and it's just four wins. 22:36 I mean, when you think about it, granted, they're not going to be easy, but nonetheless, it's four wins. 22:41 And you're saying to yourself, well, in just a couple of weeks, just get really hot. 22:45 You never know if you have a goalie who just plays out of his skull for a few weeks. 22:49 And hey, you end up with something you never expected and everybody's happy and whatever. 22:56 So getting in is certainly special, but at the same time, you're like, well, what kind of a team do we really have and is it really moving in the right direction? 23:04 And if they do get there and they win a game or two, is that going to be something that in the long run that keeps the staff around that a lot of people aren't excited about? 23:14 So I don't know. 23:15 I'm a little surprised people didn't ask about that too. 23:18 Well, one thing, Veegs, is that you know what? 23:20 We just don't know with this team. 23:22 They are sort of Jekyll and Hyde. 23:24 They can shut out a team like St. 23:27 Cloud State and then just do a complete opposite and play terrible against Michigan. 23:33 Michigan is not a bad team this year, but it's just so hard to predict where this team could go. 23:40 It could really go either way. 23:43 Yeah, I mean, the talent is definitely there. 23:45 We saw it coming into the season up front for forwards. 23:49 This team had an embarrassment of riches, it seemed like, with so many returning scores and so much talent coming in. 23:56 Rem Pitlick, you hoped he would take a jump from a great freshman year into a great sophomore year. 24:01 It looked like that was going to happen. 24:03 Now he's kind of gone dry the last couple of weeks, and they're leaning on Gates and Middlestep more than I expected them to do. 24:13 Those guys are talented players. 24:15 They're good goal scorers type guys, but it's hard to know what you're going to get. 24:20 The surprising thing with this year's team though is they do have games like the Clarkson game, that series, the St. 24:27 Cloud game. 24:28 They have been able to lock down other teams when they put the effort out there. 24:33 Is this team going to be able to do that four times in a row? 24:36 We'll see, but I think they're going to get the chance to do that, and they definitely have the goaltending talent to get there as well. 24:43 And the one thing I think is that, you know what, they do have the offensive talent, too. 24:49 I mean, if you see somebody like a Brish dead or a Pitlick and some of these guys starting to score like they were scoring last year or anything like that, Hammy, this team could do a lot of damage, but the thing is, we just haven't seen that. 25:03 Yeah, I mean, I think that it's all well and good to talk about what we've seen in the past, but it's like you kind of have to be more, I'm more of a recency bias kind of a guy, and what have I seen recently? 25:15 And I mean, to me, the shocking one is Brischdad. 25:18 I mean, I never in a million years would have expected it this late in the season to see a guy that has his background with five points. 25:27 You know, I never, I don't think anybody would have predicted that even from a worst-case scenario. 25:32 I mean, people might have said, oh, well, you know, I suppose in a worst-case scenario, they probably think he'd have at least double or triple what he has right now. 25:40 I mean, that's the shocking one to me. 25:43 I don't know that any of the other guys, I mean, you know, Zmatullo, you'd expect, considering he's always been a point-for-game guy in college, you'd expect more out of him. 25:53 I mean, you know, some of these guys, it's just been, it just hasn't been the kind of year you really, really expected for one reason or another. 26:00 It just hasn't clicked. 26:03 One thing I keep thinking is how good the season would be if some of these guys just clicked or had a normal season. 26:09 But like you said, somebody like a Brish Stead, oh boy. 26:13 Veegs, what does he have, two or three goals? 26:15 And I think one of them is even an open net. 26:16 So boy, he is struggling. 26:21 And the strange thing is about him is he's still generating shots. 26:26 I'm not sure where he ranks on the team, but it's definitely in the upper third for shots. 26:32 He's a guy who's still getting the puck to the net. 26:36 There's no secondary support around the net for scoring. 26:40 You almost sense that guys get too spread out in the zone and they just can't get to those second chances. 26:46 They can't support the puck when the other team doubles up on it. 26:50 And he's still getting shots. 26:53 So that's part of the reason I think is they're just not creating enough chaos in the zone. 27:01 And plus, there's that just little bit of snake bit by Bristead. 27:05 I mean, he has had some really good opportunities. 27:08 He just hasn't been able to bury it. 27:10 And I think with him now, it's all in his head because you do see him out there. 27:14 You notice him. 27:15 He's out there. 27:16 He's busting his butt. 27:17 He's hustling. 27:19 It's just not going for him, Hammy. 27:22 Yeah. 27:23 I mean, it's one of those deals where sometimes it's like you start off the season not doing so great, and then the longer it drags on, the tighter you're holding onto your stick and the more you're pressing. 27:34 And it just snowballs on you. 27:37 I mean, sometimes you see that in athletes on different sports, whether it's baseball or hockey or whatever it is. 27:44 It's like they don't start off well compared to their past, and then they start pressing and that just kind of compounds the problem. 27:51 And I don't know if that's entirely what's going on with him, but certainly it's pretty surprising to see a guy with his background kind of struggling the way he's been struggling this year. 28:03 Well, we could just hope that he gets a nice goal one of these days and just kind of gets off of it, because if he starts to succeed, this team could turn around and maybe could win those four games, like you guys say. 28:15 Part of me would almost like to see him put on a line with Ramonco and Ramsey just because they do such a good job of possessing the puck. 28:23 There's not a lot of finish with those two guys, but maybe Leon, if he gets enough zone time, he could find something. 28:30 We'll see what happens here in the next weeks. 28:33 There's a lot of guys with flu. 28:35 There's a couple of guys banged up. 28:37 It's tough to move around the lineup too much, but that would be something worth seeing. 28:44 Well, we'll just have to wait and see. 28:47 Gopher State, Mr. 28:48 Nate Wells, he wants to know, guys, who would be your Hobie frontrunners? 28:53 Hammy, do you have any Hobie frontrunners right now? 28:57 I'll be honest with you, I haven't thought a tremendous amount about that just because I like to judge guys when they get down the stretch and see who's really contributing to their team's stretch run. 29:09 I haven't really thought too heavily about that. 29:11 I know it's avoiding the answer, but that's just the truth for me. 29:15 I haven't thought about it from that standpoint. 29:17 Veegs probably has better insight. 29:19 He thinks about this all the time. 29:24 Well, I do like Henrik Borgstrom from Denver. 29:28 He's a pretty flashy player on one of the best teams in the country. 29:32 I like Jimmy Schulte quite a bit from St. 29:35 Cloud State. 29:36 He's a defenseman who plays all over the rink, dynamic player. 29:41 And I like Ryan Donato from Harvard. 29:45 He looked pretty good against the Gophers. 29:48 He's got a lot of goals. 29:49 He's an impressive player. 29:52 Those are three I like. 29:54 There you go, Nate. 29:56 Nate just got back from New York. 29:57 He was there this past weekend. 29:58 Looks like he had a good time. 30:01 He also got a nice view of Grand Forks on his way back, thanks to Snow Nami and their two gates at their airport. 30:11 The metropolis up there on the Great Plains. 30:13 At least they had no snow. 30:16 Yeah, it was nice up there. 30:17 I heard it was temperate up there as well and good Deeks pizza. 30:23 Was he flying on a propeller plane? 30:29 Is that what they have up there? 30:32 All right, I see a couple of questions coming in from the Mixler chat, the people listening to us live. 30:37 We've got Go Gray, kind of a long paragraph here. 30:39 He goes, hey guys, thanks for doing this each week. 30:42 Per last week, don't think Lucia is going anywhere. 30:47 Do you get the sense he would leave on his own? 30:50 Also, the more we talk about inconsistencies, lack of effort, etc., the more we just aren't, the more I think we just aren't as talented as we hoped. 31:00 Chemistry is just not there. 31:01 Let's talk about the first part, Hammeh. 31:05 Do you think Lucia would even leave on his own? 31:11 Honestly, I used to think that because he was the guy, I remember a long time ago, he was the guy that was talking about a shelf life for a coach and he didn't want to outlive that and all that, or not outlive it, but outstay that. 31:27 I was like, okay, well, maybe this guy can put aside the ego and not necessarily be that type of a guy, but the longer it's dragged on, the more I'm like, is this going to be one of those cases where you got to push him out the door because the ego is just not willing to accept that, hey, maybe I can't pull them out of things. 31:49 Maybe it's somebody else. 31:52 I don't know that he's got that in him. 31:53 I just don't know. 31:55 VXL, I'll give you the kind of second part of that. 31:58 Are they just not as talented as we hoped? 32:00 Is the chemistry kind of a problem there? 32:02 What do you think? 32:04 Well, I do think there is something to the chemistry. 32:07 Darren Romaco said after the Michigan series that he needed everybody to get on the same page on the ice and off the ice. 32:15 So I don't know if we're having too many problems with guys not preparing for the games well enough or what, but there's definitely some sort of schism there that this team needs to figure out if they want to go anywhere this season. 32:28 The guys today, you'll hear Ramsey and Gates talk a little bit about how the trip to New York was a good chance for guys to be together and be around each other for an entire weekend. 32:40 They did some walking around New York, Times Square, and maybe all that time together is something that can help them finish out the season, because I definitely do think there is a bit of a disconnect there within the locker room. 32:54 Interesting. 32:55 And I would like to say that I don't think that's a talent thing. 32:58 I think that then the question talk about them not being as talented, but then it touched on chemistry. 33:04 Because to me, it's two different things. 33:06 I think the talent's there. 33:07 I think the talent's there. 33:08 I agree. 33:09 I think that, well, I mean, I would say, I don't know that I believe that defensively, but I believe there's enough talent there. 33:18 So I don't think it's necessarily a talent thing, but definitely I could see from a chemistry perspective, there's something that's not clicking. 33:25 And when I think of some of the best teams that we've had, it's usually been a pretty tight-knit group of guys. 33:31 And when we think of the title teams with, when they'd go to Kowalska's, and they'd have that kind of team bonding thing. 33:38 And I don't know if that's the case this year. 33:41 I mean, there's definitely been kind of a vacuum, I think, after you had guys like Kloos and some of those guys leave last year. 33:49 And I don't know that they've kind of replaced those kinds of leaders. 33:55 Remember, you can always tweet us your questions. 33:57 Just use the hashtag GPL Podcast either during the week or if you're listening live during the show, we'll try to answer them. 34:04 Tim Hapke just threw one up a few minutes ago. 34:07 Guys, what are your thoughts on Phillips so far? 34:09 He just came in a couple weeks ago. 34:10 How do you think he's doing, Biggs? 34:13 I think he's definitely adjusting to the college game. 34:16 You know, when you make a mistake at this level, you know, it can end up in your own net pretty quick. 34:21 He does flash the foot speed skills and the puck skills that I think have been missing on the blue line a little bit. 34:27 He just seems a little bit quicker laterally with the puck and making decisions. 34:32 I think there's just a little bit of adjustment. 34:33 There's little things that you can get away with at lower levels that you can't get away with at college, especially how he moves the puck at the top of the blue line on the power play. 34:45 But this is a stretch here for him to figure out if he can make an impact. 34:52 And that's one of the chances he took. 34:54 I mean, Lucia is bringing this kid in midseason. 34:56 It looked like he was kind of desperate, so he's going to have to have little pains here for the first month or so until he gets the player he thinks he's got. 35:06 Well, I mean, I don't think it's really fair to judge a guy when he comes in the midseason. 35:09 I mean, you got guys who have been kind of going through dry land in the summer, and then they got captain's practice, and then they have played half a season, and you're coming in, you know what I mean? 35:20 And that's not the easiest situation to step into, even if you're a pretty good player. 35:26 And so I just think it's one of those things where I think that we're just going to have to, whatever you see this season out of him, I think you just kind of have to chalk it up to just give him an opportunity to grow and develop and then let him start fresh next season. 35:42 And I think that he'll be much better once he starts from the beginning of the year. 35:46 And then on top, you got to think on top of that, Veegs, is that he came in in late December. 35:53 There's no school yet. 35:54 He can just do whatever he wants, but now school has started up, so it might be a little bit different for him. 36:02 Yeah, I think it's a little bit of an adjustment to be a college student. 36:05 He's a guy who they wanted to come in in the fall, but he wasn't quite ready academically to get into school and be eligible, so that was something he had to finish up in the fall before it was even an option. 36:17 But with a guy like Kim, they weren't expecting him to be a four-year player anyway, so this is something where they're not really losing any time at the end. 36:27 They're just getting him in earlier. 36:29 Yeah, it really is just you're losing the early part of the season this year, but I would agree. 36:35 Hopefully, he'll be broken in, should we say, within the next month or so. 36:44 From the Mixler Chat, we've got LFAHockey24 wants to say, he says, or she, who knows, seeing Middlestead is looking like a one-and-done. 36:55 Who can step up on the current team to fill that missing link next year? 37:01 Is someone able to be that dominant player like him, Hammie? 37:06 I mean, I think it's asking a lot. 37:09 I mean, first of all, I'm not convinced that he's going to be gone, but for the sake of the argument, let's say that he is. 37:14 I mean, I don't know that there's any guy that I see that would be stepping up to the degree that can fill his role on his own, but I do think like McManus, for instance, has the potential upside to be a good player as he kind of matures. 37:32 So that would definitely be one guy that I would point to that I think has that ability. 37:36 I think certainly Reedy, you know, I don't know that he's going to be a huge scorer in college, but I think he has the capability of being a very good contributor on that. 37:44 So I think you just kind of hope that other guys step up and not necessarily just one guy picking up the slack. 37:52 Veegs, any thoughts on someone filling his shoes next year? 37:56 Not too often you can fill the shoes of a high draft pick like that. 38:00 So I don't see anyone quite filling it like he does. 38:03 I think he'll be back. 38:04 I think he's got a lot of room in his game to grow that can benefit from another year in college. 38:10 I know when I talked to Scott Bell, he's got a good relationship with Jason Botterill, who's the decision maker for Buffalo, and he thinks that there's no way Buffalo pulls him into pro hockey just to play in the AHL. 38:21 You know, they want him to be a top-six forward, hopefully at center, because that's where he provides more value. 38:28 And I think you've seen Milstek get a little bit better at his details in the dot. 38:32 He's been more reliable in the circle on power plays. 38:37 You know, he's playing the penalty kill, and he's getting a lot of roles and a lot of ice time here at Minnesota, which isn't something you always see in a college freshman. 38:45 You know, this isn't the situation of Kiefer Bellows, where he's been pushed to the third line because college hockey is too big of a step for him. 38:53 You know, this is a situation where Casey's learning on the job quite a bit, and I think he's getting better at it. 39:00 All right. 39:01 Go Gray kind of has a follow up to his previous question on talent. 39:05 He goes, the talent concerns me because Ohio State, Penn State seem to have caught up to us. 39:12 And a young Michigan team has our number. 39:14 So kind of his concern is, you know, where is the talent? 39:19 And these other schools have caught up pretty quickly. 39:21 I don't think it's a matter of catching up is a matter. 39:24 I mean, look, if you look over the years, you know, you'll see seasons where there's certain teams that you don't expect typically to have the same kind of talent level as the Gophers, but they do, you know, or maybe they're even better. 39:38 But it doesn't necessarily pan out, you know, two, three, four seasons, you know, beyond that. 39:45 So I don't really look at it from that standpoint. 39:48 I think the talent that is there, I certainly think that if you look at the pipeline, they have a very good pipeline of talent. 39:54 You know, granted some of it's young and unproven yet, so we still have a ways to go before we can feel totally confident about that. 40:02 But I think that we, I don't think it's necessarily a talent issue other than I do think that they are missing, you know, some really game changers on defense that I would like to see them do better at. 40:14 Any thoughts, Spiggs? 40:18 Yeah, I think the hole in the team is defense. 40:20 Like Hammy said, I think we knew that coming into the start of the year that was going to be a big question mark. 40:25 You know, there are a couple of guys that just haven't grown as much as we hoped they would have grown. 40:29 There's no Mike Riley on this team. 40:31 There's not even a Jake Bischoff. 40:33 And that's really hurting them on the power play. 40:36 I think it's hurt their rush scoring. 40:38 If you look at the numbers, I think they're probably down scoring off the rush, and I think it's because they have a harder time getting into transition. 40:45 You see a lot of times where this team is doing DDD passes, you know, in their own zone at the circles, while the forwards are already at the red line or blue line. 40:54 You know, that's a problem. 40:55 You can't have big gaps like that. 40:57 You got to come up the ice with speed, and because of the defensive depth this year, that's not happening. 41:04 All right, well, thanks for all the questions, folks. 41:06 We need to get forward to this weekend, guys. 41:08 We've got Notre Dame coming in town. 41:10 They started off the season 13-0 in the Big Ten, had one 16 straight, but this past weekend at the United Center in Chicago, the Wisconsin finally broke their streak, beat them 5-0. 41:25 It was basically a 3-0 game, most of the game. 41:28 But Veegs, it doesn't matter. 41:30 Notre Dame is still the king of the Big Ten right now. 41:34 Yep, they've run away with it. 41:36 They're going to get the first round by pretty much regardless of what they do here down the stretch. 41:41 And they're a team that gets it done with defense and goaltending. 41:44 Minnesota found out in their series earlier in the year that it's hard to get anything going against Notre Dame. 41:50 They played probably five of the six periods better, but weren't able to get any secondary chances, weren't able to get any rush scoring chances. 41:59 And when they were on the power play, they got the two backdoor goals, but they didn't really get a lot of puck movement against them. 42:05 So it's a tough challenge. 42:07 It's a team where you can't make mistakes, because if you fall behind early to this team, you're going to have a hard time catching up. 42:13 Veegs, will the bigger sheet of ice help them with that space, though, this weekend? 42:18 Well, Notre Dame's got a big rink, too. 42:21 Yeah, I suppose they're hybrid. 42:23 I think it's 92.5 or 95 wide, not quite 100. 42:27 I think just being at home and being able to control the matchups will help. 42:32 I think you'll be able to get middle stat and Gates away from some of the top checkers from Notre Dame. 42:38 But on the flip side, Notre Dame's got a lot of defensive depth. 42:40 They're a real veteran group back there. 42:43 Well, Hammeh, they were a Frozen Four team last year. 42:47 And they lost some pretty darn good players, and yet they have really stepped it up a whole other level this year compared to last year. 42:57 Yeah, I mean, you have to give them credit for having lost some of that talent, but then pretty good about replacing it. 43:03 I mean, they're obviously a great offensive team. 43:06 They're solid. 43:08 But obviously, from a defensive standpoint, this is kind of what you would expect. 43:13 You have a coach that, in his background, has always been kind of more of a defensive-minded coach. 43:20 So you kind of have to look at that as being kind of the key point. 43:25 And as we said, if you get behind them, you're going to have a tough time because Jeff Jackson is kind of a good defensive-minded coach, and they're going to play pretty solid over the rink. 43:40 We had a podcast question show up on Twitter here while we were talking. 43:43 The Craze wants to know, is a visiting number one seed in Notre Dame going to bring any more fans than usual this weekend? 43:50 What is a successful weekend here for the Gophers? 43:53 He asks. 43:54 Any thoughts on that, Veegs? 43:57 Basically, the best team in the country is coming in, or one of the best. 44:03 Are the fans going to show up? 44:06 Don't know if the fans are going to show up. 44:08 I would expect, you know, Notre Dame has a pretty good alumni base here in the Twin Cities. 44:14 You'd almost hope that they're buying tickets to see their team play the Gophers when they're ranked so high. 44:21 But I don't know. 44:22 I don't know what kind of crowd we'll see this weekend. 44:24 The crowds haven't been great all year. 44:26 I think the Army crowd is one of the better ones of the season. 44:29 I think it's just a spiteful ticket market at times here. 44:34 But I think a successful weekend is a split for the Gophers. 44:38 It's going to be a tough task this weekend. 44:41 Any points out of it is going to be good points. 44:44 Ham, are you kind of on the same book there? 44:46 A split would be a pretty good weekend for the Gophers? 44:49 Yeah, I think that's probably... 44:51 Of course, you're always aiming for the home sweep, but I think that it's more likely a split. 44:58 I think that one of those nights we're probably just going to have a real difficult time. 45:02 Actually, probably both nights we're going to have a difficult time scoring, but I think at least one of those nights will play pretty well defensively and maybe win it by one goal, kind of like we did this last week, maybe with a late third period goal. 45:16 I do think that a split is probably the best outcome that we're going to be looking at. 45:20 There's Nate Wells finding all the facts when we need him, when he's listening. 45:24 Compton, 90 feet wide. 45:25 Not a huge difference. 45:30 So we shall see. 45:33 By the way, I just want to let you know the Army crowd on Friday on the 29th was the biggest scan ticket crowd of the season. 45:41 Interesting. 45:43 And that's more than Wisconsin. 45:45 It's more than Wisconsin. 45:47 You've been collecting a lot of this data this year when kind of holding on to it, you know, and I know you've given up some hints of some of this stuff so far this year, but you have gained quite a few interesting numbers this year, haven't you? 46:01 Yeah, it's probably one of the worst years for attendance and scan ticket data at Mariucci. 46:07 We've seen since I started taking this data, there will be an article in The Athletic on Friday about the state of the program with some interesting quotes from Athletic Director Mark Coyle, Donald Lucia, a couple of people from the Athletic Department who work in ticketing and marketing. 46:23 So I hope people read it. 46:26 Well, yeah, I look forward to the PDF. 46:32 Oh, you're not going to send me one? 46:33 What's up with that? 46:37 Here we go. 46:38 It's a great deal. 46:39 It's a lot cheaper than the Star Tribune. 46:40 It's all I'm saying. 46:41 If you're a hockey fan, the Athletic is a good new source of media for you. 46:47 It's definitely all good there, Reggie. 46:48 It's definitely all good. 46:49 Well, besides this weekend, one thing that was a little different this week at Media Day was Mr. 46:56 Guentzel was talking today. 46:57 Noah Lucia, what was the deal with that, Veegs? 47:00 Well, the flu bug is going around the team. 47:03 And Don Lucia is one of the guys who picked it up. 47:06 So he sat out practice day and stayed home to try to heal up. 47:10 And Mike Guentzel was there. 47:12 You get a lot of detailed responses from him that you'll hear after this podcast. 47:16 And he's entertaining as always. 47:19 He had a good interview with Frank Mazzocco last week where Frank gave him a compliment about how good of a radio analyst he's going to make. 47:27 And Mike said, maybe even next year. 47:32 Yeah, that originally was supposed to be on the Thursday game. 47:36 But due to some technical difficulties, they were off the air for quite a while. 47:40 So Frank sent me the audio of the Guentzel interview. 47:43 It's about a six, seven minute interview. 47:45 And we do have a poster on GPL if you wanted to check it out. 47:49 Because Guentzel is just a flat out better interview than Lucia, and it's not even close. 47:58 And then he'll be able to be on GPL Podcast, man. 48:01 Oh, man. 48:03 He'd be a good guest, wouldn't he? 48:07 I'm sure we could get him rolling. 48:09 I'm sure we could because he's been up to sweet five a few times back in the days, and he's very entertaining. 48:19 And I think where he'd be fun to talk to you, because I've had a few conversations about this stuff, is just more like the recruiting game and some of the things that you come across. 48:29 You don't tend to hear on some of his radio interviews and whatever, where they have limited time and maybe the fans that they're listening to the station, they don't necessarily care as much about that. 48:40 But for our listeners tend to be a lot more involved with that stuff, probably interested. 48:48 Well, Veegs, what else are we going to hear on the media day stuff that we put on the end of the podcast? 48:54 What are the players talking about this week? 48:57 They'll talk about their experience going to New York. 48:59 I think all the guys liked it. 49:01 About the bonding experiences of going over there with Ramsey and Gates. 49:06 And also what kinds of things they've learned this season about how to be successful. 49:11 The good starts are key for them. 49:14 In the series against Michigan, awful shifts to start the game both nights. 49:20 Michigan State, there was definitely a directive to manage the puck better and get through the opening part of the game without giving up a goal. 49:28 And that's not being ultra-conservative, but it's just being direct. 49:32 And then talking about how they need to do that to be successful against Notre Dame and create second chances. 49:39 Something I know that she has been harping on this team about all year is not getting too spread out. 49:44 Be available to support the puck and create more chaos. 49:49 OK, guys, well, we seem to think a successful weekend would be a split, but Veegs, what actually happens this weekend? 49:57 I mean, a split would be good, but what do you feel is really going to happen? 50:04 I hate to say it, but I've got a bad feeling about this weekend. 50:07 Oh, boy. 50:08 I think Notre Dame is going to come in and win two bull scoring games. 50:12 I think they're going to shut down the Gopher offense. 50:15 I don't think it's going to be as good a performance as the one they had at Notre Dame. 50:20 I don't think they're going to control play for five of the six periods. 50:24 I feel like fatigue and a little bit of the flu bug is going through the lineup right now. 50:29 And it's hard to see them coming out with a lot of energy. 50:35 Oh, boy. 50:37 Hammy, what actually happened? 50:43 You know what? 50:43 I still think, well, I don't know. 50:47 I guess I do. 50:48 I wouldn't be shocked if it's not a split. 50:50 I'd be surprised. 50:51 I wouldn't be surprised if it was a, you know, you get like maybe a tie one night, lose it in the shootout and then get beat the other night. 50:57 You know, I don't know. 50:59 I just know that I don't expect it to be very high scoring games. 51:05 I expect it to be kind of lower scoring and kind of just want to try to eliminate as many of the mental mistakes so you're not giving up as many opportunities. 51:15 Well, I can feel the negativity because if that actually does happen, Veegs, that they get swept. 51:23 But boy, are the fire Lucia people going to come out of their holes real quick. 51:29 I mean, they're emotionally kind of invested in this thing and it sucks that that would have happened. 51:35 But that's what we've been seeing lately. 51:39 These fans are coming out and they're pissed off and if they get swept at home again like they did against Michigan just a few weeks ago, it might get a little ugly. 51:48 And even though, you know, Notre Dame is a great team this year. 51:54 Yeah, wear your hard hat to the game on Saturday night. 51:58 You know, if it does happen, that's what I fully expect out of this fan base. 52:03 Notre Dame is a great team this year. 52:05 The Big Ten as a whole is great this year. 52:07 They've been complaining about the Big Ten not being good. 52:11 Well, it's good this year and Minnesota is going to find their game. 52:15 I'll be surprised if it happens this weekend pleasantly. 52:18 I just don't know if I'm going to see it because the power play just has not gotten going. 52:24 And I think they're having a hard time scoring goals. 52:26 And Notre Dame is such a disciplined team. 52:29 I don't see them giving you chances to get easy ones. 52:33 Will Don LaChia be wearing a Notre Dame fighting Irish tie? 52:40 Or did I say that? 52:44 Maybe he'll be wearing his kid's jersey. 52:47 Underneath the suit, maybe. 52:48 Could be. 52:50 Notre Dame Boxers. 52:51 There is a funny line from Mike Guentzel about how intensely Don takes the series. 52:57 So be sure to listen for that. 53:02 All right, guys. 53:02 Any other thoughts on this week? 53:07 No. 53:08 After this week, they get a bye week for the Super Bowl and then a final six game stretch to figure things out. 53:14 And we'll be on a bye week. 53:16 Probably a good time for the bye week to come for this team. 53:19 And we'll be on a bye week next week as well, because if the team's not playing next week, we're not going to have a show. 53:26 So we'll be back after that and recap this whole Notre Dame, either success or debacle. 53:35 We'll just have to wait and see, because if it's a debacle, I think maybe having that week off to have us cool off might be a good thing. 53:43 Remember, you can always follow Hammy on Hammy Hockey on Twitter, Vigo on eVigo. 53:49 Remember, Vigo is always writing for the Athletic as well. 53:52 It's got that story coming out this week about the state of the program, so make sure you check that out. 53:58 Like I said, we're off next week, but we'll be back the week after that, and have a good week. 54:31 Say that again. 54:31 Does it mean more to Don playing against Notre Dame? 54:33 It should. 54:34 It's your alma mater, right? 54:36 Or I guess another Notre Dame dad? 54:38 Yeah, I'm sure when his son was playing there, it meant a lot to him too, you know? 54:42 You always want to win, so you have the last laugh at the house and the meals. 54:45 And so yeah, I'm sure deep down, you know, it should mean something to you. 54:49 You wore those school colors for four years and probably still have a lot of school pride. 54:52 So I know, if that was me, I'd feel that way. 54:55 You know, finally the truth. 55:00 Mike, what's your team learned since you played them the last time? 55:03 And you know, is that the same team you're going to face or are they growing too? 55:07 Well, they lost one game since then. 55:10 So, I mean, obviously they feel for their vulnerable. 55:12 Yeah, they're vulnerable. 55:13 You know, I don't know what to expect. 55:15 Either they're going to be real ornery because they lost the first one in 17 or maybe they're going to feel a little bit vulnerable right now. 55:21 So who knows? 55:22 I mean, it still comes down to how we play. 55:24 I mean, we were real happy the way we played when we went over to Thanksgiving weekend on Friday night. 55:28 I think we outshot them 45-23 and outchanced them significantly and ran into a real hot goalie, and that happens. 55:34 And you have to give them credit. 55:36 When you have the best save percentage in college hockey, at 95%, you're going to win a lot of games. 55:40 And they score well enough to win. 55:43 They defend like crazy. 55:44 They're power playing, penalty killer right up there, the fourth best team in college hockey and face-off. 55:48 So we have a tall order in front of us. 55:51 And what we've hopefully learned is that it's going to take four lines and six defense and a great goal tank for us to have a chance. 55:56 What's stronger about your team right now than maybe at the beginning of the season? 56:00 Well, you know what, we've been up and down. 56:03 I mean, I certainly, like I said yesterday to the guys, I mean, I don't think we can feel good about, you know, how we left this rink two weeks ago when Michigan was here. 56:09 And I think we have to, for ourselves and for our program and for our fans, put a better effort for Friday night. 56:16 And, you know, hopefully we can play better. 56:18 The last time our number one team was in here a couple of weeks ago, St. 56:21 Cloud, we had a good night. 56:22 And we have something to draw back on with that experience. 56:25 And I think, you know, Notre Dame will present different challenges, but certainly their ranking is well deserved and it'll give us a significant test to see where we're at with eight games to go. 56:34 Mike, you've coached frozen four teams in Buffalo and Philadelphia and a bunch of different places. 56:39 How is it different when it's in St. 56:40 Paul, when it's in your backyard? 56:42 Well, when I go back to 2002, I mean, it's obviously something that sits out in front of you to know it's a big goal of everybody's. 56:49 I mean, obviously, the hockey people in the state that support the Gopher program would love to see the big school in the national tournament. 56:57 But, you know, I don't think it draws at real significance until you get into the regional, and then it gives you a real incentive and a real goal at that point to say, hey, you know, I remember when we went to Ann Arbor that year and we had to win two games. 57:09 I mean, we knew what was at stake, and that was to get back at home. 57:12 And if you got home, you knew you were gonna have a big backing and a lot of following and a lot of support. 57:17 And I think the pressure the first night to get to the second game was significant. 57:21 And once we won that game, we relaxed and played a lot better the second day because we knew we were so close to the goal. 57:27 So it's a little far away right now. 57:29 I think the big goal is to just play well enough to get into the NCAA tournament. 57:34 How important are the starts this weekend against Notre Dame? 57:37 It's so hard if you're chasing the game against them. 57:39 I think they're the team that would tell you that for us, if we fall behind the way they defend, it'll be difficult. 57:45 You know, I think we learned a valuable lesson against Michigan, I mean, we got behind 14 seconds one night and a minute and a half the second night. 57:51 You know, you can't chase games against any opponent. 57:54 I mean, it's just a difficult game and we have some youth in some areas and maybe some lack of scoring has been our big enigma this year. 58:01 So I don't think that it is in our best interest to be behind early. 58:04 I think we have to try to really work to get that first goal and play ahead and put some pressure on them. 58:09 You know, obviously make them uncomfortable in front of their net this weekend. 58:12 That's the biggest goal. 58:13 We gotta get to the net and we gotta make their goalie uncomfortable. 58:16 You think after last weekend, the team is a lot more offensively confident than they were, say, in the Michigan series? 58:21 I would have said Friday morning, yeah, when we scored five goals, we felt pretty good about ourselves. 58:25 And then, you know, I look up there with, what, three minutes to go on Saturday night and it's 1-1 again. 58:30 So, you know, it's day to day. 58:31 It's period to period, it seems like. 58:34 I mean, I can't believe how many times I've looked at the scoreboard this year and said, man, we're stuck at 0 or 1 again. 58:40 I mean, it's just, but, you know, hey, we've gotten goaltending, we've defended well. 58:44 I mean, there's certain numbers that are trending the right way, it's just our power plan, our scoring have to get better. 58:49 And, you know, that seems to ease a lot of people's apprehensions and tensions on the bench. 58:53 And, you know, you feel a lot better about yourself. 58:55 I know when you score five, and when you score one or two. 58:58 When you guys are scoring five, what is clicking for you guys? 59:01 Well, I think depth in our lineup. 59:02 You know, I mean, you look at the second half scoring, I mean, Ramsey shows up, Romanko shows up. 59:07 You know, we get a goal here and there from our D. 59:11 You know, another night Towersheahee gets two like he did in Michigan State the other night. 59:14 So, I mean, it's just, it's that depth that you'd like to have throughout your lineup. 59:18 And, you know, when you look at your line chart every night, you know, your first line should be your, you know, line that contributes the most. 59:23 But it's certainly like to have two, three and four that have some significant value in the offensive end too. 59:28 And, you know, there's been nights where maybe our offensive players haven't been our best defensive players and our best defensive players haven't been good enough offensively. 59:35 And we have to level that off a little bit and, you know, get a goal here and there from our D-corps and, you know, hopefully, you know, get... 59:41 I think at this point in the season, if you can get to three and hold the opponent to two, you got a real good shot, you know. 59:46 And if we get to four, we feel pretty good about where we're at. 59:48 And despite the numbers, do you see the power play coming along? 59:53 You know, there's good signs. 59:55 I mean, I chart the scoring chances on a nightly basis. 59:58 There's a lot of nights where we have 6, 7, 8 grade A scoring chances and good opportunities. 1:00:04 You know, we've missed some, you know, maybe some plays that have been on the rink that we should have made, back door tap ins, missed some one timers, but I do think we're trending in the right way in scoring chances. 1:00:13 We're not giving up much on our penalty kill and we're getting a lot more chances on our power plays. 1:00:17 So hopefully that bodes well, but I mean, hey, everybody's got a goal. 1:00:20 They want to win the special teams battle every night and, you know, they're not going to lay down and let us just score. 1:00:25 And unfortunately, it looks like every night when you pre-scout opponents, I mean, teams come in, you're with an 87, 88, 89 save or a penalty kill percentage and you're going against the best. 1:00:33 So it's been the way it is this year and it's made us challenge ourselves to be better. 1:00:37 Did you catch yourself looking at the pairwise ranking or is it too soon? 1:00:41 Oh, with one eye, just with one eye. 1:00:44 You know, it's so turbulent at times. 1:00:48 You know, I saw on Twitter last night, you know, Mankato wins 1-0 and they go to one spot and Duluth goes to another spot. 1:00:53 I mean, you know, you could win, you lose the game and all of a sudden you look after the game, you're like, oh, you're 13 and then when the night's over, you're 9. 1:01:00 Because there's other games that haven't finished yet. 1:01:02 So, you know, we played a really good schedule. 1:01:05 That helps us, but the best thing we can do right now is win games and certainly win our home games. 1:01:10 How's it going? 1:01:11 You've been out for a while. 1:01:12 Yeah, a couple days. 1:01:13 You know what, most guys at this point, you get some illnesses and that was a tough trip. 1:01:17 And we got home at 3.30 Saturday night from New York City. 1:01:21 So, yeah, just a little under the weather. 1:01:23 I mean, some guys get the crud and some guys are getting the flu. 1:01:26 So, you know, we just got to take care of ourselves in our dressing room and make sure our trainers are our best player right now. 1:01:31 What would you take away from the trip to New York City? 1:01:34 What do I take away from it? 1:01:36 You know, it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience for kids. 1:01:39 I mean, no kid's ever going to tell you that playing in Madison Square Garden or the Xcel Energy Center or the United Center or wherever it may be isn't anything other than a thrill for them. 1:01:47 I mean, everybody aspires to be an NHL player and to get an opportunity just to be in an NHL rank means something to kids. 1:01:53 So, you know, it's obviously the most famous arena in sports. 1:01:56 And just to get there, I mean, it was my Don's first time, my first time, a lot of our players first time. 1:02:00 So, pretty cool. 1:02:01 Are you a fan of having these destination games? 1:02:04 Yeah, I think it's good. 1:02:05 I mean, it's a significance for our program and I think it's good. 1:02:08 I mean, the next year going to Las Vegas and different opportunities like that I think are good for the Gopher Hockey program. 1:02:20 How much of an opportunity is it anytime you get to face a team that's having the kind of season that their name's having? 1:02:25 It's huge. 1:02:25 Obviously, you win any game against a team that's ranked that high, it's going to give you a good chance to make the NCAA tournament. 1:02:32 Are you guys starting to think that way, that some wins are going to be worth more than others, especially with the schedule you guys have closing out? 1:02:38 Yeah, I mean, I think that we put ourselves in this situation early on in the season that we do need to think about, okay, if we lose this game, yeah, it's going to hurt us. 1:02:45 I mean, obviously, last weekend winning both those games was huge because that definitely would have hurt us. 1:02:50 Like I said, looking forward to Notre Dame, these could be a couple big wins to pick up for us and especially pick up some confidence rolling into the end of the season. 1:02:57 You guys have a sense that we've seen it so many times in College Hockey, just the way it works. 1:03:01 Doesn't matter how you get in, you get in, and as long as you're picking at the end, that's all that matters. 1:03:04 You guys kind of see that it doesn't really matter what we've done. 1:03:07 Let's just get forward and get in and see what happens. 1:03:09 Yeah, 100%. 1:03:10 I mean, you've seen that with teams over the past few years that have got in as one of the bottom few seeds, it takes a hot goalie and, you know, some confidence in the end of the season. 1:03:19 What do you take from that last series against Notre Dame usually going forward here? 1:03:25 Like a couple months ago against Notre Dame? 1:03:27 I mean, it's going to be more than just getting shots on net. 1:03:31 You know, we have to get in the paint, finish on those shots, on those rebounds. 1:03:35 We've got to play well defensively. 1:03:37 If it's a 2-1 game, it's a 5-4 game. 1:03:40 I don't think it matters to me personally. 1:03:41 I just want to get those Ws. 1:03:43 Jack, the Vikings had the whole bring it home theme, play the Super Bowl here. 1:03:46 It didn't happen, obviously. 1:03:47 The Frozen Fours here. 1:03:48 Do you guys think about that fact that, you know, you could be taking a 10-minute bus ride to the Frozen Four if things play out? 1:03:54 Yeah, for sure. 1:03:54 I mean, we would have a good home crowd behind us if we were there. 1:03:57 Coach Bell talks a lot about it. 1:03:59 You know, talks about St. 1:04:00 Paul, like the habits that we have to get there. 1:04:03 So I think it's a good thing for coaches to remind us of, to get us in the butt a little bit, remind us that that's what we're playing for. 1:04:10 What's something now that you think is stronger with the team than maybe at the beginning of the season? 1:04:15 I'm starting to give you an essay question there. 1:04:18 Yeah, I can go a lot of ways with that. 1:04:21 I think team chemistry, you know, obviously we haven't had set lines throughout the whole year. 1:04:25 Obviously yesterday I was on a different line than I was today in practice. 1:04:29 So you never know what you're going to get when you come to the rink, but you know that you're going to be playing some good hockey players. 1:04:34 So as long as we get that chemistry figured out, it's good to make the trip to New York, that was another thing too, add chemistry for sure, but I'd say chemistry. 1:04:41 Have you ever scored a goal like you did on Thursday? 1:04:45 No, no, I definitely, I don't think so. 1:04:47 I've seen it a couple of times, but maybe I need to start working on it a little bit more. 1:04:50 It's kind of gives you confidence. 1:04:51 You had a little bit of a stretch where it seemed like you hit a post or just go and make a great save and have that go in that way. 1:04:57 Is that a two-year stretch or? 1:05:00 Yeah, no, for sure. 1:05:02 It's nice to see that go on. 1:05:03 I mean, it was good to get on the board for the team and definitely get some confidence going on the stretch. 1:05:09 I mean, I think over the past few weeks, Darren and myself and anyone that's been on that fourth-line roll with us, we've been getting to the net, getting pucks in the net, and we've been scoring some goals like that. 1:05:18 So it doesn't take too much skill around the net like that. 1:05:20 Was there a New York moment or like a minute like walking in the rink and anything that kind of hit you about the trip to play there? 1:05:26 Honestly, I think it was getting off the ice after the game. 1:05:31 I think it's Alicia Keys and Jay-Z. 1:05:33 They started playing the song in New York. 1:05:34 After we won and that started playing, I was like, oh, this is pretty cool. 1:05:37 That finally hit me then when we were getting off the ice. 1:05:40 But you blocked it out pretty good. 1:05:45 Yeah, you got to bask in some of it and you got to have a serious face most of the time. 1:05:50 Do you think that trip came at a good time for you guys to come together as a team here with the stretch coming up? 1:05:55 Yeah, for sure. 1:05:57 It was a tough series against Michigan. 1:06:00 I think it was nice to get on a little bit of road trip like that. 1:06:05 Obviously, school has just started up again, but get the boys tight-knit, get us on a bus, get us on a plane, get us in the hotel, team meals with each other. 1:06:14 All sorts of bonding stuff. 1:06:15 I mean, we were walking around Times Square, all memories like that for the rest of my life. 1:06:18 Definitely a special experience. 1:06:21 Is it important for you guys to come together as a team here with tough games coming up like Notre Dame and then maybe a tough road to the playoffs? 1:06:28 For sure, 100%. 1:06:29 I mean, on the ice and off the ice, if we're going to have to play the number one team in the country like Notre Dame, like St. 1:06:35 Cloud, and we're going to have to win 2-1, 1-0, we're going to have to be close knit, we're going to have to be laying our bodies on the line for each other. 1:06:41 What's the emphasis to come out and have good starts in games like that? 1:06:45 I'd say right away you've got to limit the turnovers and you've got to focus on what the coaches have said, get the bucks deep, get it behind their goal line, and just go to work. 1:06:52 I mean, if you're coming out there and playing soft, I'd like to get out there and get hit and give a hit for a shift. 1:06:57 Do you guys have that first five-minute game emphasize this weekend against Michigan State? 1:07:03 Against Michigan State? 1:07:05 Yeah, for sure. 1:07:05 I think that we wanted to have that five, ten-minute game. 1:07:08 I think on Thursday night, I think we had 12 shots or so after the first five, ten minutes. 1:07:13 I mean, I think we were down 1-0, but it was good to get those shots on the board and get the ball rolling a little bit. 1:07:18 Playing a little more direct. 1:07:19 Exactly, yep. 1:07:22 That's a good question. 1:07:26 I mean, we have a lot of depth players, and I think you can scoot anyone around, really. 1:07:32 Like today, we had to practice. 1:07:34 A couple of guys are sick and just battling back and forth. 1:07:37 But like I said, that whole chemistry thing, guys are willing to play with each other, and guys are comfortable playing with each other, so it doesn't really matter. 1:07:48 Do you guys relish the opportunity to face a team that's done what Notre Dame has been able to do this year? 1:07:53 Yeah, I mean, it's a great opportunity for us, obviously, in conference and the way that they are in the standings. 1:08:00 It's nice to have them in our building now and get another crack at them. 1:08:04 Every win counts the same in the standings, but how confident are you guys that some wins just do mean more than others once we start talking pairwise and NCAA tourney? 1:08:12 Yeah, I mean, I think it's obviously in the back of everyone's mind, where certain teams are at, who you'd be, keeping teams behind you. 1:08:20 But like you said, every game does matter, and we try our hardest not to worry too much about who we're playing and really just worry about what's going on inside our locker room and then keep building our team. 1:08:30 Last week, did you have a New York moment or anything? 1:08:32 Was it a time where you kind of looked around or kind of hit you like, oh, this is kind of a cool situation? 1:08:36 Yeah, it was really cool. 1:08:38 I think, you know, I didn't really realize. 1:08:40 I've never been in New York City, and then that first night we got there, we got to go into Times Square for a little bit. 1:08:46 It's like a whole different world. 1:08:47 I mean, it was pretty crazy. 1:08:50 And then we went and dropped our gear off at the Garden. 1:08:52 And I think kind of everyone was like, wow, this is pretty cool, just seeing all the posters and who's been there, you know, and performed and played sports there. 1:09:00 So it was a cool experience. 1:09:02 Does being from not too far away from Notre Dame, does that mean more to you? 1:09:07 Yeah, I mean, I went to some games growing up and rooted for them a little bit growing up. 1:09:12 But like I said, treat every team the same. 1:09:17 But for sure, I mean, when we played there, it was easy for my parents to get out and watch and stuff like that. 1:09:22 But just trying to focus on my game and our team's game. 1:09:25 How do you feel your game's coming along? 1:09:28 You know, I think it's starting to click a little bit. 1:09:31 You know, I feel like as our team is figuring things out, you know, guys individually are too. 1:09:36 And I'm pretty happy with the way that I've been playing, you know, down the stretch and hoping to keep being able to help out the team. 1:09:44 Is there one attribute around the team, whether it's on ice, off ice, whatever, that you feel better about now than maybe you did at the beginning of the season? 1:09:53 You know, I think we just keep getting closer, you know, every week. 1:09:56 I mean, we're trying to do more outside as a team and, you know, just kind of bond because I think we got, you know, we got young guys, we got older guys, and it's just getting everyone together and making sure that we are a tight-knit group. 1:10:10 And I think we're getting better with that. 1:10:12 And, you know, hopefully it starts to show on the rest, too. 1:10:16 Are you skating with KD again or KC again this week? 1:10:19 Yeah, that's what it's been so far. 1:10:21 So as of now, yeah. 1:10:23 And as we learn, that could change tomorrow. 1:10:25 Yeah, we never know. 1:10:27 What does Notre Dame do so effectively to limit scoring? 1:10:30 You know, their defense and goaltenders have had such a good season so far. 1:10:34 Yeah, I mean, you hit it on the head. 1:10:36 They have a good decor, you know, veteran group, and their young guys are doing the job and their goal has been really well. 1:10:43 And when we went there, actually, he had an amazing weekend. 1:10:46 Their goalie did. 1:10:46 So, you know, I think they just, as a team, they kind of buy into the defensive game and they take pride in holding teams to 0-1-2 goals. 1:10:56 And when you got your whole team buying in to do that and you got some good players with it, it's a good combination. 1:11:02 Is it hard because they take away the rush scoring opportunities so much or is it the layers, the defensive zone, second chances that they limit? 1:11:09 Yeah, like you said, they block a lot of shots. 1:11:12 Their forwards all come back through the middle hard, so it's hard to make those seam passes and get them stretched out. 1:11:18 And then obviously their goalie is not giving up a ton of rebounds. 1:11:21 He's pretty good with his rebound control, so that helped too. 1:11:25 Coming out of that November series against Notre Dame, you guys kind of felt good about yourselves despite the sweep. 1:11:29 What lessons do you kind of take away from that that you can put towards the home series against them? 1:11:34 Yeah, we outshot them, I think, pretty heavily, especially the first game and their goalie stood on its head a little bit. 1:11:42 We had a couple lapses defensively as a team, not picking up guys in the slot. 1:11:48 That was just stuff we were trying to figure out earlier in the season. 1:11:52 We're hoping that we've got that figured out and we can take care of our zone first and then get the goalie to crack and keep putting bucks on them. 1:11:59 This team's had a lot more success at home against those top teams. 1:12:03 How do you continue that against Notre Dame? 1:12:06 Yeah, I mean, obviously it helps having our fans and our energy in the building. 1:12:12 I think we love all the fans that come out and it's a little extra energy for us coming out of the gates. 1:12:20 We just got to use that and use the big ice, use the familiar, the rink, and just come out and start the game well. 1:12:26 All right.