0:03 This is The Gopher Puck Live Podcast, episode number 13, recorded Tuesday, January 17, 2012. 0:20 Welcome to the Gopher Puck Live Podcast. 0:22 Along with Hammy, I am your host, Jupiter. 0:26 Ryan Cardinal could not make the podcast tonight, but he's got a pretty good excuse. 0:32 Ryan became a father early this morning to a bouncing baby boy. 0:37 Braden Cardinal, born at 1:16 a.m. 0:41 this morning, nine pounds, one ounce, big boy, 22 inches long. 0:47 What do you think of that, Hammy? 0:49 Sounds like a future gopher player. 0:52 Actually, I think he was saying it was a future blaze defenseman with his size. 0:58 Ah, okay. 1:00 Ryan's wife Tiffany and the baby are all doing well, of course, so big congratulations to Ryan and Tiffany. 1:07 Their lives will never be the same, will they, Hammy? 1:11 I wouldn't know that one. 1:12 I don't have kids yet at this point. 1:15 I'll assume. 1:16 We'll see how much he changes this next week. 1:18 We'll hear the crying baby in the background and whatnot. 1:22 He might be the one who's crying. 1:25 Oh, give it some time. 1:28 I heard it was over 24 hours of labor. 1:32 So he's going to have to put in some triple duty in the next few days to stay on her good side. 1:40 Definitely. 1:41 Just a reminder, we do record these podcasts live every Tuesday night, just after 9:30 p.m. 1:48 So if you head over the GPL Podcast page, you can listen to us there or else, you know, you can also, while we're recording, you can also send us, you know, questions to Twitter, you know, at Gopher Puck Live on the Twitter or via the podcast email at podcast at gopherpucklive.com. 2:06 So Hammy, it was an interesting weekend, a split up in North Dakota, which it's not hard to complain about. 2:14 I mean, they played, I think they played decent, you know, Friday night, they just didn't get the scoring they liked to. 2:19 And then Saturday night, they kind of got things together and played much better. 2:24 Yeah, I mean, I totally agree with you. 2:26 I, you know, it was funny. 2:28 I looked on GPL after Friday night's game. 2:31 And of course, you know, the typical meltdown mode after a loss that goes on there. 2:36 Every time. 2:37 Everybody, yeah, and you know, I just, I don't blame everybody, you know, because of course, everybody wants to win every game. 2:44 But I was just kind of like, okay, everybody calmed down. 2:47 You know, the Mike Tice calmed down, you know, and I didn't think they played that badly on Friday. 2:53 Of course, you know, they didn't bring their A game or maybe not even necessarily their B game. 2:58 But I didn't think they played badly. 2:59 I mean, you know, you go to Grand Forks, it's going to be a tough place to play, even if UND is down a bit. 3:06 You know, they're going to give you all you can handle and you kind of have to expect that it's going to be a tough game. 3:11 And I think that, you know, if you're going into a game one-one late on the road, especially at Grand Forks, you kind of have to say, well, we couldn't have played that badly. 3:20 It's not like, you know, we're down two, three, four goals or whatever. 3:24 I mean, that's a bad performance. 3:25 But all things considered, I didn't think Friday night was quite as bad as a lot of people were making it out to be at the time. 3:32 And then, yeah, they definitely had a nice rebound game on Saturday. 3:36 Came out and scored some goals in the first. 3:40 Bukestad was, of course, very important to get him on the board. 3:43 And, you know, it just seemed kind of just, you know, that early second period just snowballed. 3:48 And, you know, you're kind of wondering, you know, is this going to be a complete blowout? 3:51 But you kind of know that UND is going to, you know, I was saying, you know, that when it got to be four to two, it was like, okay, if they score one more goal, it could get real dicey. 4:02 And so that fifth goal that we got, you know, at the end of the second period, I was like, that was a real big one because I was like, if you go into the third, you know, up two goals compared to three in Grand Forks, that, you know, it can get dicey. 4:14 So, you know, that was a huge goal and certainly a big win. 4:18 Well, I also think that, like you said, the late goal in the second period and the late goal in the first, it seems like they haven't been doing that much lately. 4:25 And it did put North Dakota on their heels quite a bit. 4:30 Well, yeah, I mean, they always, you know, it's kind of cliché, but they always talk about, you know, scoring goals, you know, in the last minute of a period. 4:38 Or, you know, it's kind of like the two-minute drill in football, you know, it kind of gives you that momentum for, you know, the second half, or in this case, the next period. 4:47 And that definitely kind of carried over in that, you know, the first to second period. 4:50 And then, yeah, that late goal, you know, it's kind of a backbreaker in the second period. 4:56 I would agree, yeah. 4:57 I think, I just think that it kind of stuck the momentum out of North Dakota and their fans, you know, to be back down three goals again. 5:05 And because, you know, the Gophers have been a third period team all year long. 5:08 And even if they're on the road, they've still been very strong in a third period. 5:13 And you don't expect that they're going to give up three goals. 5:15 So it kind of, you know, that kind of, I think, was the one that broke their back. 5:20 And then, of course, following the game in the handshake line, we had a little incident with Ben Blood, Kyle Rowe, and Ambrose the Rescue. 5:30 Let's take a listen to Wally Shaver calling it, as it happened, Saturday night. 5:36 And now Blood has taken a poke at Ambrose, took one at Rowe, and now Ambrose is wrestling down to the ice with that longhead, Ben Blood. 5:45 He has started it. 5:46 He threw a shot at Rowe, and we almost have a bench clearing brawl. 5:51 And now Parks is grabbing on to one of the Gophers. 5:53 There's Travis Boyd down there. 5:56 What a dumb, stupid thing to do. 5:58 What an idiot Ben Blood is. 5:59 I hope there is some league repercussion on this. 6:02 And to answer your question initially, Frank, it is a cheap move by Blood to fire that shot at the end of the game. 6:08 Absorb the loss. 6:10 It's over. 6:11 And then he goes and throws a punch at Rowe and then gets, I'm glad Ambrose lined up right behind Rowe. 6:18 Not a bunch of cheap hose heads. 6:21 That's an accurate description. 6:22 It's just, yeah, just a bunch of hose heads. 6:25 I'm glad we're done with these guys. 6:26 Go form your own league. 6:29 Wally with some comedy gold there. 6:33 And that's the thanks to Learfield and ESPN 1500. 6:37 You can hear some guys laughing in the background. 6:39 That was off their broadcast Monday morning. 6:43 And I didn't hear it until then. 6:45 And boy, I think we've got a new nickname for the Fighting Sue, the Hoseheads. 6:50 Maybe they can get Hosehead from Strange Brew, a little dog with a little skunk tail going down the back. 6:57 They got a new nickname right there, the Hoseheads, the Fighting Hoseheads. 7:02 Yeah, I don't know how much they're going to appreciate that one. 7:05 So I don't know that it's going to catch on, at least not up in Grand Forks it won't. 7:08 But yeah, I mean, it's, you know, that topic has been kind of beaten to death on Twitter and on message boards, you know. 7:16 I mean, it's unfortunate. 7:18 I mean, they, you know, it was embarrassed. 7:22 You know, you don't typically feel embarrassed for the other team or for their, you know, one of their captains. 7:27 But this is a case where I'm like, you know, not only did I thought it was Bush League, but I was kind of embarrassed for the guy. 7:32 Cause I'm like, look, first of all, you know, it's a handshake line and it's kind of like, if NHL guys can fight for, you know, seven games in a hard fought playoff series and, you know, gather their wits and shake hands at the end and no problems. 7:48 There shouldn't be any problem. 7:49 Now, grand, we're talking younger kids and whatever, and maybe their emotions aren't quite as stable. 7:54 But nonetheless, you know, you kind of have to put yourself above that. 7:58 And, you know, he's one of their team leaders and you just kind of say to yourself, you know, not to mention, I saw somebody mentioned on Twitter, you know, tonight that, you know, Ben Blood's, you know, 6'4, 220 or whatever. 8:12 And how are you going to live it down, that you're picking on a guy who's 5'8, you know, a buck 70 or whatever. 8:17 It's like, you know, it's just kind of like, you know, if you're going to be a man about it and do that kind of stuff, you know, maybe you want to try the next guy in line, which was Ambrose or one of the, you know what I mean, somebody that's a little bit of an equal stand. 8:33 So I don't know, but nonetheless, you know, they apologized and, and, you know, you got his assistant captain tag script for him, which I thought was, you know, probably the good thing to do for Haxdoll, you know, the show that he's not going to accept that kind of behavior. 8:49 So you have to give him credit for that. 8:50 But yeah, it's too bad to happen. 8:52 Well, it was definitely an internet sensation. 8:54 You know, I posted that video Saturday night and there's already 56,000 views of it on YouTube. 9:00 Wow, really? 9:01 Yeah, I was notified of that this afternoon. 9:04 I'm like, holy buckets. 9:06 It was just under 56,000 views. 9:08 So apparently a lot of people out there were checking it out. 9:13 They should have run a little commercial at the end of that one. 9:15 You know what I'm saying? 9:16 Who knows? 9:17 Who knows? 9:18 Or at the beginning, I guess I should say. 9:19 Yeah. 9:21 But one thing I noticed I thought was good on this weekend besides the split is that it seems like the past three, four, five years, Minnesota has been North Dakota's launch on their second half. 9:36 It seems like they get Minnesota off and they start really playing well in the second half of the season. 9:40 They're off and running. 9:42 Do you think that's going to happen this year or do you think it's going to be a little more difficult for them to get that second half launch? 9:47 I mean, look at right now. 9:49 Michigan Tech is still in front of them in the standings by a point, but you know, Michigan Tech is still there. 9:55 And right now, if the playoffs started today and they don't, they would be going to Michigan Tech for the WCHA playoffs. 10:04 Well, yeah, I mean, I've been saying it for the better part of the last month, you know, two months that I don't think this is going to be one of those typical UND years where they're going to have this big second-half rally. 10:18 You know, I've been saying it for a while now. 10:21 And, you know, to be fair, you know, a big part of it, of course, is they've been really, you know, hit hard with the injury bug. 10:28 I mean, it looks like, you know, coming out of this Gopher series, you know, they had a, let's see, it was, Parks was a little dinged up. 10:36 I'm assuming he's questionable. 10:38 And it sounds like that Brennan O'Connell is out, you know, until you add those to the injuries they've already had. 10:43 And so I really honestly have a hard time seeing where this is going to suddenly be, you know, like past years were. 10:52 I mean, let's face it, they're not even close to what they were last year. 10:55 I mean, they had a pretty stacked team last year and, you know, they could pretty much out talent teams last year in many cases. 11:03 And they're not going to have that luxury this year. 11:05 They're playing some guys that they probably normally wouldn't be expecting to play. 11:09 You know, they'd be up in the stands or whatever. 11:12 And I just have a hard time seeing it. 11:15 I haven't looked at closely at their schedule, but I know they're at St. 11:18 Cloud this week. 11:18 And it's, you know, they're going to have a tough goal of it. 11:22 So I don't know that this is going to be one of those, you know, typical hack style second half teams where they're going to just, you know, kind of roll through, you know, teams. 11:31 And suddenly you see them in the top, you know, three or four of the league and they're, you know, in the NCAA. 11:37 You know, I just, I have a hard time seeing it this year. 11:41 Well, I guess time will tell. 11:44 Well, I mean, they do play, they're at UMD yet, they're at Denver yet, they're at St. 11:49 Cloud, which, you know, St. 11:50 Cloud is playing a little better lately. 11:52 You know, they have some easier home series, and Wisconsin's been brutal on the road, and they have Tech at home. 11:59 Tech's been, you know, pretty solid, and they got Mankato at home. 12:02 So, I mean, they have some winnable series, but it's not like they have this easy second half, so I have a hard time seeing it. 12:10 Well, one other thing I wanted to talk about this weekend was the check from behinds. 12:16 Obviously, you had Crystal Friday night, you had Alt Saturday night, and you could have called, who else could have gotten called Saturday as well? 12:23 Serratory. 12:24 Serratory. 12:25 I don't care who they are or what team they're playing for. 12:27 It's getting ridiculous. 12:28 I think Serratory could have been for five. 12:32 I don't have a problem with these refs giving them five now because it's just got to stop. 12:37 It's getting out of hand. 12:39 And maybe they do need to change the rules and maybe make it more like a fighting rule. 12:42 Or if you check from behind and you get the major call, you're out the next game. 12:47 And then if you do it again, you're out for two games and so on and so on. 12:51 There needs to be more deterrent because some of these guys are just missing the game and then, boom, Crystal's back Saturday. 12:57 All is going to be back Friday night. 12:59 I think they might need to get a little more strict on what's going on because it's getting out of hand. 13:04 Well, I agree. 13:04 And I mean, I was actually, you know, I didn't know if you were going to bring this up at all tonight. 13:08 But, you know, I was thinking about earlier today and maybe it was after I looked at the video of Serratore's hit. 13:15 But yeah, I mean, you know, none of those three hits, in my opinion, were even questionable. 13:19 I mean, to me, I mean, even, you know, the Serratore didn't get called. 13:23 But to me, that should have been, you know, a five-minute check from behind. 13:26 And Alts wasn't questionable and Crystal's definitely wasn't. 13:30 I mean, it wasn't like one of those where sometimes you see a guy just turn at the very last second and, you know, you catch him from behind. 13:37 And, you know, in those instances, sometimes, you know, the player with the puck has to be a little bit responsible and realize that they have their own, you know, they can't put themselves at danger and suddenly just turn at the last second and get hit, you know. 13:51 So sometimes you understand that, you know, a check from behind can happen under those circumstances. 13:56 And it's not necessarily, you know, where somebody is just trying to kill the other guy. 14:01 But in these three instances, you know, it definitely wasn't even a questionable situation. 14:07 And, you know, I said it on GPL, I think I said it. 14:11 To me, it's a gutless play anyways. 14:14 I don't care if it's a gopher or whoever. 14:17 You know, the guy's defenseless, you know, it's just kind of, you know, it's like sucker punch in somebody essentially. 14:22 It's just, it's kind of a gutless play. 14:23 It's like, I understand that guys are going full bore and they're trying to, you know, they're trying to do whatever they can to help their team win. 14:31 But, you know, at some point you have to look at the other team and the other player and say, hey, that's a, that's a person, you know, they got a life. 14:37 It's not just about the game or whatever. 14:39 And, you know, I know maybe it's a little hard to take that competitive mentality out of it, you know, in those moments. 14:46 You know, they are people, you know, and they have a life. 14:49 So you kind of have to be a little more careful. 14:51 And yeah, I do think it's getting worse and they do need to kind of crank up the, you know, some of the penalties on these guys. 14:57 So what about the physical play overall? 14:59 I mean, do you think they need to crack down on some of those rules? 15:02 I mean, there's a rule of hitting somebody after they've passed the puck. 15:06 I believe it's by the time the other guy has caught the pass, you can't hit the guy. 15:12 Sometimes it's a short pass, sometimes it's a long pass. 15:14 Do you think that the players are taking advantage of that rule a little too much? 15:16 I mean, there's a lot of times the puck is long gone, and these guys are nailing somebody up against the boards, taking them out. 15:23 Do you think they need to tweak that rule a little bit? 15:25 I mean, they're hitting just to hit. 15:28 I don't know if it's really that needed when the puck's already gone. 15:32 Yeah, it's a tough one because, you know, the more you, you know, you kind of say to yourself, sometimes we get so frustrated with referees as it is because you don't know what is or isn't a penalty, and you start saying, okay, well, what's, you know, what's a penalty? 15:46 Is it, oh, it's one step after the guy's passed the puck, or you know, I understand where you're coming from, but it's a tough one to decide. 15:55 I read a Let's Play Hockey article after some of the tragic events lately of checking from by in high school happened, and the writer was advocating, basically taking hitting out of the game, period, you know? 16:11 No, no, no, no, no, can't let that happen. 16:14 Yeah, I mean, he was like, I don't remember the exact arguments, but he was essentially, it's a skill game, let's focus on the skill and all that, and I'm like, well, you know, that's a great thought, but it just doesn't make sense in hockey. 16:27 You just have to have players be taught what's a more responsible way of playing the game, and whether it's the hitting from behind stuff or whether it's, I mean, yeah, you shouldn't be a kidding guy. 16:40 I just think the mentality, I mean, I remember when I played, sometimes when you're that age, you just kind of lose sight of the big picture and you just kind of want to get back at somebody for something they did. 16:50 I remember getting what I think I got speared one time in a hockey game and I remembered who did it and I remember that I just was out for blood in that game, just to launch myself at that guy when I had the opportunity. 17:04 And I got him a clean hit, but nonetheless, players get that mentality. 17:09 And you kind of just have to hope that as time goes along, I can teach players to maybe chill out a bit on that stuff. 17:16 What about going to half shields? 17:19 I know some of the coaches kind of like going to a half shield, so the sticks will probably stay down and maybe those hits will also stay down as well. 17:28 Well, I really don't have a problem with the whole half shield thing. 17:31 I mean, these guys, most of these guys come from junior hockey anyways, and they wear half shields there. 17:36 So to go from, it's like, well, why is it that it has to be one level down? 17:43 You're essentially playing with half shields and you go up and you have to protect everybody with a full shield. 17:47 I mean, I don't know. 17:48 I think they should go to have shields, but I understand the liability stuff and all that other kind of, you know, they have to think about that stuff. 17:55 But to me, yeah, I wouldn't have a problem with that. 17:57 Whether it would have a major effect, you know, it's hard to say. 18:00 I mean, you still see guys in NHL trying to kill each other. 18:04 And, you know, to me, it's a sport, you know, the entire sport has gotten too caught up in the violent aspect of the game. 18:15 I mean, you know, after what we saw happen to Bougard, you know, with the fighting, and I think they should outlaw fighting in NHL. 18:22 I mean, I know that's not popular up in Canada, probably, and maybe even some America. 18:26 But I was looking the other night at, you know, a show, I think it was, I don't know if it was on the NBC Sports or if it was on NHL Network or whatever, but they're showing highlights of fights. 18:35 And I'm like, well, what the hell you think's gonna happen with kids when these are the highlights you're showing them? 18:40 I mean, you're not, you know, if they're not showing all great plays on the ice and skill plays, they're showing guys trying to beat the hell out of each other. 18:48 It's like, well, that kind of mentality is what you're teaching young people. 18:52 And they think like, OK, well, that's what the pros are doing. 18:55 I'm going to go around hammering guys like that, maybe not with my fist. 18:58 But and, you know, you always hear you always see NHL players getting crushed from behind, you know, you see that quite a bit and you don't even get really penalties for it. 19:06 You know, maybe you get a boarding year there, but I don't know. 19:09 I just think that it's something that has to kind of come from the top down and I'm not sure that the NHL has the guts to really do that kind of stuff. 19:16 Now doesn't the USHL have fighting? 19:21 Yes, they do. 19:22 See that's and that's another thing. 19:24 The USHL seems almost have NHL rules and then you're kind of like you said downgrading when you go to the go to the college game, you know, no fighting, you can wear in full cages or shields. 19:35 So maybe it starts even at the USHL. 19:39 I mean, they could they could easily make that change. 19:42 Yeah, well, it's like I said, you know, it's gonna have to come from the top down, whether it's NHL on down or USA Hockey on down or whatever. 19:51 But to me, you know, it's become more and more about, you know, these little video clips and you see it. 19:59 YouTube is covered with, you know, fight, you know, this guy versus this guy or Bouguard's greatest hits or, you know, or you see, you know, and these are getting, you know, like you were talking about your views, they're getting, you know, five, six times that many views. 20:13 And, and, you know, like I mentioned, you see on national TV, you know, they're just, there's, of course, they're showing goals too, but I mean, they're showing guys duking it out and whatever it's like, you know, whether it's in a highlight package or it just, something needs to be done. 20:28 You know, if you want to eliminate some of these dangerous hits, I think you kind of have to look at, you know, the violence in the game as a whole. 20:35 I agree, I agree. 20:36 Well, WCHA, I don't know, do they have the balls to make these kind of changes? 20:42 I wish they would. 20:44 You know, maybe when we do get to the Big Ten, we'll have some different set of rules when it comes to that type of thing. 20:51 Who knows? 20:54 Any other thoughts on the weekend? 20:57 You know, nothing that we haven't really touched on, you know, that hasn't been really discussed. 21:02 I mean, it was, you know, last week I talked about, for me, the goal was to come out of it with a split and kind of maintain where we're at in the national picture for the NCAAs. 21:11 And that's exactly what we did. 21:13 So for me, you know, it was a successful weekend. 21:15 And the guys, you know, I don't think people should be focusing all their attention on the pair wise after every game, because we saw how that ended up on Friday and everybody was going freaking out about it. 21:26 But then the next, you know, the next day we win and we're back to where we were before. 21:31 So I think that people need to chill out on that stuff game to game. 21:35 But, you know, nonetheless, you know, I think it was a successful weekend given where we started and where we came out of it. 21:42 Well, in other WCHA action, we had Michigan Tech sweeping Alaska Anchorage. 21:49 I really no surprise there is there. 21:51 I mean, Tech is obviously better this year and Anchorage is Anchorage. 21:56 Yeah, I mean, Anchorage has struggled this year. 21:59 And they lost a top score too, didn't they? 22:01 Yeah, they just, I noticed that they had, I mean, not that he was a huge score, but you know, nonetheless, it's still not going to help a team that's already a little bit deficient offensively. 22:09 And you know, Anchorage hadn't played in a month, so it's kind of, it's not really that surprising that they'd come out and get swept on the road. 22:16 You know, they're a little rusty probably. 22:20 Wisconsin goes to Mankato and gets their first road victory of the season and then follows it up getting blank the next night. 22:28 Split, are you surprised about that? 22:30 Because I'm not. 22:32 No, I'm not really. 22:33 I mean, you knew eventually Mankato or Wisconsin was going to break through on the road and you know, Mankato is as good a place as any to do that because they're a last place team and you know, Wisconsin has more ability on their team than Mankato does. 22:48 And you know, I'm a little surprised that, you know, you kind of would expect that if Wisconsin wins the first night, you kind of think that they'd come back the next night and, you know, grab a few, you know, at least one more point. 23:00 But yeah, to get blank, I mean, that's not really a rebound from, you know, their first road win. 23:05 So I guess that's the way it goes. 23:07 Yeah, Bemidji goes to Denver and gets swept. 23:11 I thought Bemidji might be a little better this year, but it looks like they're going to be bottom third of the league. 23:19 Well, to be fair, you know, they've had, you know, a very challenging overall schedule, I mean, this year. 23:27 You mean it's not a Duluth-type schedule when it comes to the WCHA? 23:31 I'm not touching that one, but, you know, they've had, they started off with a pretty tough schedule early on, I mean, at Miami, at CC, you know, they had UMD a few weeks after that. 23:43 You know, so they've had a pretty challenging schedule, and at home, they've had UNO and North Dakota, and so, I mean, they've not played a bunch of weaklings, and so, but you kind of have to wonder, you know, they're not really a high skill team, and after at some point, you wonder if all that, you know, competition is going to wear them down, and, you know, maybe that's what we're starting to see a little bit with them going to Denver. 24:08 Then we have St. 24:09 Cloud splitting at CC. 24:11 St. 24:12 Cloud getting a nice little overtime victory on Saturday night, but, you know, I'm surprised St. 24:17 Cloud kind of hung in there a bit. 24:20 Yeah, I mean, I think that, you know, they're kind of a tough team to figure out. 24:24 I know we'll talk about, you know, this weekend series a little later, but I mean, you know, they're kind of a difficult team to figure out at times, and they have some real good skill guys. 24:33 And, you know, I think CC tends to, I think, struggle a bit against teams that play, you know, similar to them. 24:40 That's kind of how St. 24:41 Cloud is. 24:42 And, you know, they're kind of a skilled team. 24:46 They don't, they're not really gonna, you know, they're not a grinded out type of a team. 24:51 They're more of a finesse team. 24:52 And, you know, I think that St. 24:55 Cloud's got some good players, but they just haven't really been able, I mean, they've had departures, and they've had injuries, and, you know, not to the level of North Dakota, but nonetheless, you know, they've had some stuff. 25:05 And they might be getting a little healthier. 25:06 I don't know when Mike Lee is going to be back, but that should be, I guess, pretty soon. 25:09 And then you have LeBlanc, you know, he's coming back probably in the next month or something like that. 25:15 So, you know, they might be able to do a little, you know, maybe move up into that maybe last home ice spot. 25:21 You never know. 25:23 And finally, we've got Duluth finally losing a game and splitting at Nebraska-Omaha. 25:29 Obviously, Friday night, they kind of pulled away in the third. 25:34 Saturday night, it looks like they just couldn't score. 25:37 I mean, was it 44 or 45 shots to 15? 25:40 I mean, basically, three to one in shots against UNO. 25:43 But UNO got it done Saturday night. 25:47 Yeah, I mean, for once, you know, I mean, I've been kind of ripping on UNO's goaltending most of the year. 25:53 And, you know, here's a game where, you know, they got widely outshot. 25:57 And nonetheless, you know, their goaltender came up big and, you know, got them a win against the defending champs. 26:02 So, you know, you kind of have to tip your hat on, you know, to them on that. 26:05 And, you know, of course, you're in these shoes, you can't, you know, they had a huge streak, you know, for a while. 26:12 And, you know, we've had those here over the years at times. 26:15 And, you know, it's eventually going to end. 26:17 And, of course, they got a pretty easy series coming up next weekend. 26:21 So they'll probably easily rebound from the loss. 26:24 But, you know, for them, you just kind of want to stem the tide. 26:27 And but it just goes to show you, you know, I mentioned this, I think, a few weeks ago, that I always get nervous when my team looks like unbeatable for a decent portion of the year, especially, you know, when it's, you know, first half to middle of the year. 26:42 Because I'm always saying to myself, how's it's going to take? 26:46 Is that one bad game? 26:47 Kind of like what you saw with the Packers this weekend, you know, it's just you go on to the playoffs, you know, the NCAAs, and it just you have one kind of off game where it's like nobody's clicking the way they usually do, and you end up losing, and you're like kicking yourself because you had all those wins in a row or whatever. 27:03 So, I mean, I always get a little, you know, wary of that. 27:06 So, I don't know, I'm not saying that's going to happen with Duluth, but I'm just saying that it's something you always worry about in those situations. 27:14 Well, this week there's just a little fewer teams playing in the WCHA this week. 27:19 We start off with Anchorage heading to Wisconsin, and they're right next to each other in the standings. 27:26 So, Anchorage is back quite a bit, but a little cellar-dweller series in MadTown. 27:34 Yeah, I mean, they might be next week or close to each other in the standings, but to me, this series is Wisconsin's sweep. 27:44 I mean, like I mentioned, Anchorage had been off. 27:46 They just got swept by Tech. 27:49 Wisconsin's actually been pretty good at home. 27:51 They're 9-4-1 on the year. 27:53 Granted, some of those teams have been rather weak, but nonetheless, they have a pretty good record at home, and they do have more, obviously, more skill, especially up front and on defense. 28:05 They have some good players. 28:05 So I would expect this to be a Wisconsin sweep. 28:08 I'd be very surprised. 28:09 The only thing that might make me wonder a little bit is sometimes you get caught looking past a weaker team to the following week, and they travel in North Dakota the week after that. 28:21 I know Wisconsin does, so you kind of say, well, are they going to look past this series? 28:24 But I still think that Wisconsin will sweep. 28:27 I'm with you on that. 28:28 I think Anchorage is just spiraling down quicker and quicker each week. 28:35 North Dakota heading to St. 28:36 Cloud. 28:37 One point apart in the standings. 28:39 Obviously, we really can't figure out St. 28:42 Cloud, but North Dakota could be on the rise. 28:45 You never know. 28:47 I'd love to see them lose, but what do you think? 28:51 For me, this is a really tough series to call. 28:53 I had mentioned already about the injury stuff. 28:56 We have two more players that might be out. 28:58 North Dakota might have two more players that are out this week. 29:01 I don't know what the status of Parks is, but you add those to the other injuries, and it's tough to know what North Dakota is going to bring. 29:11 They just had a huge series against their biggest rival at home, and you don't ever know if there might be a letdown on the road. 29:19 On the flip side of things for St. 29:21 Cloud, is Mike Lee going to be back? 29:24 Will that overtime win spur them on at home, or are they going to have a letdown on their own? 29:30 St. 29:30 Cloud hasn't been good in the last couple months. 29:34 They have three wins in their last 11 games. 29:37 It's kind of a tough series to pick, but I think in this case, St. 29:43 Cloud played well enough at CC for me to think like they are going to come on top in this series. 29:48 So I'm going to say that they are going to get three out of four points. 29:51 Okay. 29:52 U&O heading to Mankato. 29:55 Any thoughts on that? 29:56 I mean, obviously, U&O is at the top, Mankato is at the bottom. 30:00 Well, I should say U&O is not at the top, but they are at the top half of the game. 30:04 Yeah. 30:08 Like I mentioned for being a letdown type of a series, it might be that for U&O. 30:15 You go on the road against the last place team, they just played a big series against Duluth at home. 30:20 You have the defending champs in your rink and you're all jacked up about it. 30:24 Now you're going on a road and you're playing in front of a pretty stale environment, not a lot of fans and not very energetic. 30:33 You don't know what's going to happen. 30:35 Sometimes those are the sleeper games that you just kind of sleepwalk through and the next thing you know, you're lost. 30:43 I do think the smart money says that Omaha is going to sweep and that's probably what I would go with. 30:50 But I wouldn't be surprised if something happens and Mankato pulls one out, it wouldn't shock me. 30:56 And finally, we've got Colorado College heading to Mariuccipe, The Gophers. 31:02 Looks like Minnesota leads that overall series 160-84-7. 31:08 And over the last 10, Minnesota is 6-4 against CEC and actually they've won the last four games against Colorado College. 31:17 Looks like both games are on FSN this weekend, none of that plus stuff. 31:21 And obviously, Saturday's game will be 5 p.m. 31:24 as part of the whole Hockey Day Minnesota. 31:27 So, what are your thoughts on the series? 31:30 You know, it will be interesting. 31:34 It's kind of a mirror image, in a sense, of offense. 31:38 We're talking about the number two and number three scoring teams in the country. 31:43 So, obviously, you would expect it to be kind of one of those up-and-down racehorse hockey games, or series in this case. 31:49 So, you kind of expect something like that. 31:53 You know, it's probably the cliché. 31:54 You know, it comes down to special teams and goal-tending. 31:58 You know, the one major difference that I noticed is CC's, you know, defense, they've given up, you know, not quite a goal more per game than the Gophers, but 2.95 goals a game to, you know, 2.12 for the Gophs. 32:11 And, you know, so they, you know, defensively, they're a little bit more porous in that sense. 32:16 I think some of it is, you know, they had some goal-tending issues with Howe early on, and this one, I think it's Thornbert, I think, is how you say his name. 32:25 You know, he's seemingly solidified their goal-tending, so maybe that'll help them kind of lower their goals per game against. 32:34 CC doesn't take many penalties, so the power play opportunities might not be as abundant for the Gophers, so you kind of have to, I think, play, you know, better five-on-five. 32:44 The Gophers, you know, have done pretty well in that sense, so hopefully they'll continue that, but I think five-on-five will be important. 32:51 And, you know, the penalty kill, you know, CC's got a potent top line with the Schwartz brothers, and so you kind of have to limit their opportunities, you know, with a man advantage. 33:03 So, you know, we've been kind of, over the, you know, over the course of the season, taking a lot of penalties, so hopefully, you know, we'll be able to limit that. 33:10 I don't expect this will be a more physical series, because they're, you know, it's more of a skating series. 33:17 So hopefully, that means the Gophers, you know, aren't going to be taking as many penalties as they've kind of taken in some other series. 33:22 So I honestly think that this is a series, the Gophers, I'm going to pick them to sweep. 33:31 I mean, I do believe CC certainly is a good team and have the capability of, you know, taking a game at Mariucci. 33:38 CC has a losing record on the road in the league, so it's not, you know, outrageous to expect your team to come out with more points than them on the road, you know, when they're on the road. 33:50 And I just think that our goal-penning, I think that, you know, this last game, my hope is that, you know, it's going to kind of spur them, kind of like, you know, that last game that we played in North Dakota at Mariucci kind of sucked some of the life out of the team. 34:06 I'm kind of hoping that this win at North Dakota, where we pretty much control the game, I'm kind of hoping that that spurs them on, you know, moving forward. 34:15 Like, so I kind of, I'm hoping, well, hoping, I'm thinking it's going to be a sweep, but, you know, you can't be etching that in stone, certainly. 34:23 CC is a good team. 34:24 Well, another key to this weekend is it's the only time we faced Colorado College this year. 34:29 They're only four points back. 34:31 They're right there, you know, challenging us in Duluth for the lead. 34:36 So, I think it's key that they either get three or four points this weekend to put Colorado College behind them. 34:42 You know, have the tiebreaker, put them away in points. 34:46 I think that would be the most ideal situation. 34:51 Yeah, I mean, I agree. 34:52 It's very important that, you know, you come up, I mean, you know, you talk about pairwise and things like that. 34:59 And so, yeah, I mean, it's very important, I think, to come on top of the series. 35:04 And plus, there are only four points behind us in the standings. 35:06 You want to make sure that you, you know, kind of keep that gap. 35:10 I mean, you want to be in the top two. 35:13 You know, if you get to the final five, you want to be in the top two. 35:16 Yeah, so, you know, you get that buy, you know, for that first night. 35:20 So it's very important to make sure even if you're not going to win the league, you want to be in the top two. 35:24 So, yeah, it's an important series. 35:27 Definitely an important series. 35:29 So let's look at some feedback now. 35:32 Let's, I know there's a few questions coming in. 35:34 I know a lot of people are wondering about some recruiting news. 35:39 We got Lars Svav wanting to know, with Shay and Riley lined up for next year and no senior defensemen on the roster, what's the plan, you know, depending on possible early departures? 35:52 Well, as far as I know, you know, they're both coming in, you know, and I haven't heard otherwise that they're going to, you know, hold any back. 36:00 I mean, you have to figure, you know, Shay, he could be a first round pick. 36:05 I mean, he's that first, second round kind of an area. 36:08 And, you know, he's very talented, very good skater, you know, good size. 36:13 And, you know, he's not the kind of kid you say, hey, you know, go off to the USHL for another year. 36:19 You know, and Mike Riley has already been drafted, you know, and you just kind of as far as I'm aware of, they're coming in. 36:27 And I really expect that to be, you know, a major strength on the team next year is the defense, because, you know, like the person pointed out, they're not expected to really lose anybody. 36:38 And you're getting all these guys, you know, with another year of experience. 36:43 And, you know, you bring in two very talented players, and that should definitely be a very strong point of the team next year. 36:48 And it's going to be a definite battle, you know, some guys that you see in a line up this year might not be in a line up next year. 36:54 So, you know, there's going to be, you know, some of these guys are going to be battling. 36:58 And I kind of like, I want to see that, you know, you see glimpses of some of these guys, you know, like Hall and whatnot, you know, it seems like, oh, God, what do you do that for? 37:07 But then there's other times he does, like, really smart things with the puck. 37:10 And, you know, the same thing with some of the other players, but maybe if they get pushed a little bit more next season, they'll up their game even more, because right now, obviously, they're just not getting pushed. 37:23 Yeah, I mean... 37:25 Unless there's an injury, I mean, there's nobody back there. 37:28 Yeah, I mean, I have been frustrated, you know, with a few of the defensemen this year. 37:33 I mean, you understand that most of them are younger underclassmen. 37:36 So, you know, especially, you know, a kid like Ben Marshall, I mean, he's a freshman and you understand there's going to be bumps in the road with the first year guy at times. 37:44 And so but for me, you know, some of the guys that, you know, have been around, you know, especially like a hole and definitely Helgeson, you know, those two have been frustrating for me at times. 37:56 So, I mean, those guys need to step up. 37:59 And but yeah, I really think it's going to be a, you know, a real, you know, battle to get playing time, you know, for some of these guys next year. 38:07 And because, you know, these are a couple of real talented guys who are going to be coming in. 38:13 I have another question. 38:15 Hammy, are there any incoming recruit grinders or are there any high-end skill guys coming in? 38:20 I think we are missing Grant Petone types who stand in front of the net and gets their, you know, their nose dirty, although they think Ambrose may be the next guy to do this. 38:28 This is from Frozen 4 Champs. 38:30 Do you think, do we have any guys that are kind of grinders that can make things happen? 38:35 If you're talking up right, what we have lined up right now at Forward for next year, we really, you know, we don't have one of those prototypical guys that are coming in the next recruiting class. 38:47 Now, that being said, I know that they're looking at some players that kind of fit the bill. 38:53 I heard, you know, a name, a USHL player. 38:57 I don't want to say who, but I heard of, you know, one guy who fits the bill. 39:02 You know, he's a little older. 39:04 He's a, you know, big kind of physical kid and, you know, he could fit the bill. 39:08 I know they're looking around for that kind of guy to add to the mix. 39:12 Maybe, you know, one or two guys. 39:14 I don't know, you know, exactly what their plan is with that, but they're definitely looking for that. 39:19 I mean, they, if you look at their recruiting for the next couple of years, I mean, they've obviously got, you know, the kind of smaller, real super skilled guys, they've got that lined up, you know. 39:31 What they're kind of need to fill in the blanks with is some guys that are, you know, going to throw their weight around, be a little more physical around the goal and, you know, get the pucks, you know, out of the corners to the, you know, point in the skill guys or whatever it might be. 39:45 And that to me, from what I understand is kind of where the focus is right now. 39:50 And I know they're looking at players like that. 39:53 So I suspect that we'll see some additions yet that might fit that bill. 39:58 How many or when? 40:00 We'll see. 40:00 But I think that we'll see that. 40:02 Question from Twitter from Minnesota State of Hockey. 40:05 My question for Hammy is whom, in his opinion, are The Gopher's top recruiting targets for 2014 and beyond? 40:14 Yeah, I saw that earlier today. 40:16 And it's a little bit of a challenge when you're getting to that far out. 40:20 Definitely. 40:22 Right now, that would be basically kids who are sophomores and younger. 40:27 And we've seen so many times how kids can peak real early. 40:32 And then by the time they're seniors, they're not quite what they were expected to be. 40:37 And I really like the guys that they got in for 2013 because they're smaller guys that are real skilled and they're proving that they're real skilled. 40:49 When they're playing at these USA hockey events, or maybe they're in the USHL and playing pretty solid roles at the age of 16 or whatever, and those guys are going to eventually blossom. 41:01 But from what I, you know, what I, you know, I mean, we've talked about Shane Gursich and, you know, I like Jack Glover, who's a sophomore defenseman at BSM. 41:13 I would say that for me, those are a couple of the kids that I'm sure that the Gophers are keeping a real close eye on. 41:19 Tyler Sheehy from Burnsville, sophomore forward. 41:24 Dylan Momquist, he's a freshman at Edina. 41:27 Jack Ramsey, who's Mike Ramsey's son, you know, the ex-Gopher and ex-Wild Coach. 41:32 He's a sophomore at Minnetonica. 41:35 You know, if you want to look a little older, Dom Tarnato from Duluth East. 41:40 I've heard his name thrown around a little bit. 41:43 You know, there's going to be some guys, but you know, if you're talking real young, you know, it'll play out probably after this next summer, especially when they see them play at, you know, these national events again and see how they're kind of stacking up. 41:55 And, you know, they'll look at them. 41:58 I'm assuming, you know, the NTDP tryouts, the USA team tryouts will be in a few months. 42:06 And so, you know, we'll see how it goes. 42:08 But, you know, those are some of the names that I would probably keep an eye on. 42:12 Another question from Frozen 4 Champs here. 42:15 Any concerns that Boyd has not scored a goal yet this year? 42:19 He had a great camp in Washington. 42:21 So do we have any fear that he may want to go to Canada? 42:24 Should Lucia replace Matson on the number two power play unit with Boyd in an effort to get him going or, you know, what should he do with it? 42:33 No, I don't think it's a real concern because, you know, first of all, you have to remember that Boyd accelerated his education to get here early. 42:40 And so he's, you know, very, you know, very young. 42:44 I mean, he's I don't even know if he's turned. 42:47 Has he turned 18? 42:48 I don't even know. 42:49 I know he's, you know, he's 18, basically. 42:51 I mean, he should be a high school senior, essentially. 42:54 And so, you know, you're not really expecting a guy like that, you know, to come in and just light it up. 42:59 And plus, you know, he's been playing essentially a fourth line role. 43:03 And you're not expecting those guys to kind of light it up. 43:06 And, you know, so I think for what he's done, you know, I've been impressed with how he's played for the most part. 43:13 I really like his effort. 43:14 I really think he busts his butt out there. 43:16 And I also think he's got some pretty good stick handling skills. 43:19 He's been a little snake bitten here and there. 43:20 But I'm kind of with you. 43:22 I kind of like what he's done out there, even though he hasn't scored. 43:25 Yeah, I think he'll he's going to turn into that kind of a player, probably, you know, the second half of his college career. 43:33 Once the opportunities open up a little bit more and he gets a little bit more maturity. 43:37 But yeah, for right now, I like what he's brought to the table. 43:41 And, you know, he actually only lives or his parents, at least only live like a few blocks from where I grew up. 43:47 And so, you know, he's a kid I'm relatively familiar with. 43:51 And I don't see, you know, I don't foresee any problems there. 43:54 I think that he's done a solid job. 43:56 And, you know, I think he has got a good future ahead of him. 44:01 Just another question from a Dan Caraveau. 44:03 Is there any word on the white jerseys with the Gophers written on the front? 44:07 And I hate to tell you, Dan, but we have not heard a thing. 44:12 As far as we know, the university or the, you know, gold country has no plans to get those going, but maybe I'll look into it a little more this weekend. 44:21 You haven't heard anything, have you? 44:23 Are you kidding? 44:24 I don't even know. 44:25 Exactly. 44:26 I don't pay any attention to the uniform and all that kind of stuff. 44:31 Obviously, I think it's kind of a huge mistake by the U because there's pretty nice looking jerseys, but there's nothing else we could say until we hear something. 44:39 And if we ever hear anything, right now it's not looking good. 44:44 So, what's up? 44:45 You think Michelson might be making some changes here? 44:51 You know, I don't know. 44:53 I mean, it's just ruminal stuff or whatever. 44:56 But for me, it's like I mentioned earlier, sometimes you see these kids at 10th grade and you're like, you know, they're looking great. 45:04 You know, I mean, he had a very successful sophomore year at Apple Valley, and he's been a good player for a while. 45:11 And he's definitely got elite speed. 45:14 But you know, he's not producing in the USHL. 45:17 I don't know what, you know, his scholarship amount is, but I'm sure it's a decent amount. 45:20 And you know, he did flirt with the idea of, you know, last summer of playing in the WHL, which is Canadian Major Juniors out west. 45:31 And so, you know, it wouldn't shock me. 45:36 I'm not saying it's going to happen or whatever, but it wouldn't shock me if, you know, the Gophers say to him, hey, look, you know, you're not, you know, we're not seeing the progress here. 45:45 You know, we should probably delay your, you know, your entry into college, you know, another year. 45:51 And, you know, it might, of course, depend on where he's drafted to, you know, in the next NHL draft. 45:57 And his stock has dropped a lot. 45:59 And so, you kind of say to yourself, you know, if he's flirted with the idea once and if the Gophers say, hey, you know, we're not, you know, ready to bring you in here because of what we've seen, he might just say the hell with it. 46:10 You know, I'm not saying he will or, you know, I'm just saying that it wouldn't shock me. 46:15 I'm not saying it will, though. 46:18 Anything else on the recruiting front since you kind of solo today? 46:23 You know, not too much. 46:25 I know that the hot name that I've heard lately has been a defensive player for Edina named Parker Reno. 46:34 I think that most fans are aware of him. 46:37 He had a knee injury last year, so he didn't play during the high school season. 46:42 I think he hurt it in the elite league. 46:44 A lot of teams are apparently looking hard at him. 46:47 I've heard at least half a dozen teams. 46:51 Sounds like he hasn't scored a lot, but he's one of those guys that already have good size and skating ability. 46:58 It's something to keep an eye on. 47:01 Sounds like the Gophers are involved there. 47:03 That might be one to look out for. 47:06 I just noticed on Twitter that Brad Schlossman is saying that UND's recruit Luke Volton is not at the National Team Development Program anymore and should be looking at playing in the USHL. 47:22 That's pretty interesting, because he's a pretty good player. 47:24 That tells me that there probably was some sort of a disciplinary thing going on there. 47:29 So interesting. 47:31 Definitely. 47:34 Any other thoughts? 47:37 What are your thoughts on Hockey Day in Minnesota? 47:39 Do you like that? 47:40 Yeah, I really do. 47:41 I mean, it's unfortunate that the game is not going to be played outdoors. 47:45 You know, the high school stuff isn't going to be outside this year. 47:48 I mean, that's kind of a bummer, because that's the one thing I personally look forward to. 47:53 The most about that day is just seeing them out on a lake or a river pond, whatever a particular is going to be that year. 48:01 But it would have been nice to see a game on Lake Minnetonka. 48:04 And Duluth East is a really good team, and Minnetonka is a really good team. 48:08 We're talking a couple of the top two, three, four, five teams in high school hockey this year. 48:14 And that would have been a great thing to see outside. 48:16 But nonetheless, it will still be a great game. 48:18 And then you get the Wild and the Gophers. 48:21 And I know that a lot of the other D1 schools in the state always belly ache if the Gophers aren't playing one of their teams. 48:29 And I kind of say to myself, it's not Fox Sports North's doing, you know. 48:36 I mean, they just kind of have to plan based on schedules. 48:40 And they don't make the schedules for the Gophers or for whoever else. 48:44 And whatever is convenient. 48:45 So I don't think they're intentionally getting screwed. 48:49 So well, definitely they're not. 48:50 And obviously, you know, you've got the people in Duluth saying, hey, there's other teams. 48:54 Why don't you show that? 48:54 Well, maybe they have a beef. 48:57 Maybe, you know, if Duluth played maybe a noon game or something like that. 49:00 But then it kind of takes away from the high school. 49:02 And, you know, Fox, they've got the contract with the University of Minnesota. 49:07 It's going to be that team no matter what. 49:11 And like I said, if they could schedule it with, you know, Duluth or St. 49:15 Cloud, that'd be nice. 49:17 I believe they have in the past. 49:18 I think at least St. 49:19 Cloud. 49:20 But a lot of times, like you said, it's just whatever the schedule comes out. 49:23 And they kind of pick that weekend and they just kind of go with it. 49:27 Yeah, I don't really understand what the big deal is with that. 49:31 I mean, I understand that you want visibility for your team. 49:33 And if you're a Minnesota team, you feel like, you know, you deserve to be a part of the show, so to speak. 49:38 But, you know, when you're trying to coordinate all this stuff, I mean, you're talking about different entities. 49:44 I mean, you know, obviously, high school hockey is going to be flexible. 49:46 But, you know, you got the Wild and the Gophers who have set schedules way ahead of time and, you know, who they play and all that. 49:53 I mean, you know, it's just one of those things where you kind of have to look at the big picture. 50:00 And if that's how it is, that's how it is. 50:01 I don't think that's anything intentional. 50:04 Well, I'll be curious to see in a couple of years, you know, Minnesota wants to start up that new kind of Minnesota Cup type of tournament. 50:11 It's going to happen towards the end of January. 50:14 Maybe that gets rolled into a Minnesota, you know, Hockey Day Minnesota or something along those lines. 50:19 Who knows? 50:21 Yeah, you never know. 50:23 Now, did I read correctly in the Star Tribune that the Gophers have agreed to a scheduling contract of sorts with Notre Dame? 50:33 Yes, they're playing Notre Dame the next four years. 50:36 So they played them once this year. 50:38 Minnesota is going out there one time, I believe next year. 50:42 I don't know why it's one game. 50:44 And then the two following years, they play each other twice. 50:50 It's a four year contract, so they'll be playing Notre Dame. 50:53 And obviously Lucia is going to love that because he's going to be playing against his kid. 50:57 So a little more incentive there. 51:00 Well, yeah, and I mentioned this on GPL. 51:02 People are talking about this rivalry going away and that and whatever. 51:07 And I'm like, well, there's only so many games. 51:10 You got 20 home games that they're going to play every year. 51:14 And you got 10 league games on the road. 51:17 So that's 30, and so that basically leaves you with four games to play non-conference against whoever. 51:25 And when they're talking about, Haxdall apparently was talking about, oh, we're saving two games for the Gophers, like a home and home also there. 51:35 Good luck. 51:36 Yeah, I'm thinking to myself, that's to me, and Lucia said, we're not going to be able to play everybody every year. 51:42 That's just a pipe dream to me. 51:43 And I don't see, I just don't see that happening. 51:48 And it's going to be people, you know, including North Dakota, I mean, I know this is going to sound arrogant, but it's going to be like, hey, get in line. 51:56 You know, I mean, it's, and I, you know, I saw some people talking about this on GPL, about, you know, who we should play or who should have priority. 52:06 And I honestly believe that Minnesota and in-state schools deserve the priority. 52:12 I mean, it's our, I feel, I mean, if you want to look at it from a historical standpoint with the Mariuchis or the Herb Brooks of the world, it's our responsibility as a, you know, to kind of grow hockey and keep hockey strong in Minnesota, you know. 52:26 And to me, that means supporting the other Division I teams in the, in the state, especially, you know, a Mankato or Bemidji who are, you know, they're going to be in a WCHA, which is, will be all right still, but it's not going to be one of the Premier Leagues any longer. 52:42 And so I think it's our responsibility to play those teams. 52:45 And so I don't see where we're going to be able to, you know, be scheduling the North Dakotas and whatever else that often. 52:52 I think one of the things I did here is like, you know, the year, you know, during that Minnesota Cup tournament, you know, there's only going to be four teams. 52:59 And the fifth team that's left out each year will have a series with Minnesota. 53:05 Now whether that's a home or road series, I'm not really sure about that. 53:09 I heard actually it was going to be a road series for Minnesota. 53:12 So I kind of like the way they're putting that together, if that's how they do it. 53:16 You know, you got the four teams, and then hey, you're not in the tournament this year, we'll come to your barn that year. 53:24 Well, and the bigger question for me is then, you know, how is that counting against the schedule? 53:28 You know, as far as, you know, is this, I'm assuming they're playing at, they're playing at, like, Excel or are they talking about? 53:34 They would play at the tournament, I would be at the Excel Energy Center towards the end of January. 53:39 Okay, so then our Gophers... 53:39 This is what I heard. 53:41 And it looks like the Mariucci Classic is gonna go bye-bye. 53:44 Okay, so then, if that's the case, you know, what, how do you count that in their schedule? 53:50 I mean, you know, the Gophers are not gonna want, I mean, I personally ask Maturi, you know, how many home games are we gonna have? 54:00 You know, I mean, cause we're, you have 20 now and, and, you know, his answer was, you know, the same, we're gonna shoot for that. 54:06 And, you know, whether they can for sure keep that or not. 54:09 I mean, I'm not involved in those conversations, but, you know, that's their plan. 54:13 And so I don't, you know, if you're gonna have this, you know, kind of event every year, then that's taking away other opportunities, you know, for potential non-conference. 54:24 So once again, you kind of have to wonder where these teams think they're gonna get the opportunities to see the Gophers. 54:31 Well, it's gonna be interesting to see how things change in the next few years, but pretty much right now, all we can do is wait and see what happens, you know. 54:39 Things will start to leak out, you know, next year, you know, what's our schedule gonna be and who we're gonna play. 54:44 But right now, it's kind of a hurry up and wait. 54:46 And that's all we can do. 54:51 Anything else? 54:51 Any other thoughts on this weekend, Hockey Day, Minnesota CC, recruiting, whatever's on your mind? 54:58 No, I think that I'm looking forward to the series. 55:00 I think a lot of the fans, I mean, now I heard Lucia talking. 55:03 I do think it's a series that the fans really like because, you know, it's typically been a skill series. 55:10 You know, it's a series where you're up and down the ice, a lot of skating, good, usually pretty good flow to the games. 55:17 You know, it's more about puck movement and, you know, a lot of the extracurricular crap usually isn't there when you're playing CC. 55:23 So, you know, in many ways, it's kind of a little bit of a mirror image in some respects. 55:29 I mean, I think the Gophers are a more physical team, but, you know, especially this year with some of their kind of trees up front, so to speak. 55:36 But, yeah, I think it's going to be a good series. 55:39 And, you know, I do think the Gophers should sweep, but I won't be shocked if we don't. 55:46 I mean, CC is a good team and, you know, they've got some real high-end skill guys up top, you know, on that top line. 55:52 So, we'll see how it goes. 55:54 Well, CC has always been one of my favorite teams ever since, you know, when they came in number one and Minnesota was like number two or number three back in the Crowley days. 56:04 That series really kind of seemed to, you know, CC was really on the rise of Lucia back then and Minnesota was up there. 56:10 And I think that really kind of was the beginning of the love for me, for the CC teams. 56:17 I really like the way they play there. 56:19 Obviously, they're well coached. 56:20 And it's always exciting hockey. 56:22 So I'm definitely looking forward to this weekend. 56:24 Yeah, I remember that Crowley didn't he score a backhand and goalie. 56:28 That backhand goalie kicked it to his stick, you know, the pass from Rasmussen and the patience that kid had just standing there. 56:36 The goalie just looked foolish. 56:40 Yeah, I remember, you know, that was some, that was some fun times. 56:43 That was maybe the loudest that Mariachi ever was that I recall because that was just quite, quite the game, of course, you know, CZ came back the next night and did get the split. 56:54 So since then, I've been a big fan of their, of the series with CZ. 56:59 So I think that just about does it, huh, Hammeh? 57:03 Sounds good. 57:03 We lasted much longer. 57:04 Congratulations, Cardinal. 57:05 Definitely. 57:06 We lasted a lot longer than I thought we would. 57:08 I thought this would be a half hour podcast. 57:10 We're pushing an hour here, so it's time to shut her down. 57:13 And I'm sure the people listening want us to shut it down. 57:16 Remember, you can always follow Hammy on Twitter, at Hammy Hockey, and you can always follow Gopher Puck Live at Gopher Puck Live on Twitter as well. 57:25 And if you want to follow me, I don't think there's really a reason to, but look for Fat Planet. 57:31 Don't know what the status is with Cardinal. 57:34 I do believe he's having Jeff write for him this week, but who knows, he may be on with PA, I'm guessing. 57:40 He may find time for PA to do his little radio things, so make sure you're listening Thursday on KFAN. 57:48 That does it for the GPL Podcast. 57:51 We'll see you next week when we'll review CC and preview St. 57:56 Cloud State. 57:57 Thanks for listening.