0:05 This is The GPL Podcast, sponsored by Vintage Minnesota Hockey, your exclusive source for throwback Minnesota jerseys. 0:14 Visit vintagemnhockey.com. 0:19 Now, here's Hammy, Vego and your host, Jupiter. 0:39 Good evening, and welcome to The GPL Podcast, episode number 131. 0:47 We're back for another week, and it's an ugly week. 0:50 So to cheer us up, we're bringing in Drew Cove from the Minnesota Daily, a young little whippersnapper. 0:57 Drew, how you doing? 0:59 We're doing great. 1:00 How are you guys doing tonight? 1:01 We're doing great. 1:03 We've wanted to have you on for a little bit, and I almost forgot about talking to you about it again today, so I'm glad you were able to come on and join us for the podcast. 1:11 Yeah, no, certainly with the circumstances, it might have been easy to forget that you could continue with the podcast this week with no, obviously, no hockey going on, but yeah, no, I'm glad to be here, and thanks for having me on. 1:23 So really, you've been covering gopher hockey for a few years for Minnesota Daily, but I noticed this year you're covering a lot more, aren't you? 1:30 Yeah, yeah. 1:31 I covered football during that season. 1:34 We had a little spring ball started on Tuesday, so we started that back up, got to talk to PJ Fleck for the first time in a few months there. 1:43 Yeah, just a lot of fill-in stuff here and there. 1:45 I've probably been in just about every building this year to cover almost every sport, I think. 1:53 I got to come up with a running tally. 1:55 I got to write it on a post-it and sort of check the boxes, that kind of thing. 1:59 Well, I consider you a young little whippersnapper, so. 2:03 Thank you. 2:05 I don't know if I should go with that. 2:07 I think you should because I always forget when we're, like at Mary Uch's, like, hey, come on, have a drink with us. 2:13 Oh, wait a second. 2:16 You're still a college student. 2:17 I'm two days from 20. 2:20 Oh, geez. 2:21 Veegs, did you hear that? 2:22 He's two days from 20. 2:25 Fantastic. 2:26 It's been fun having Drew around. 2:29 Good Minnesota Daily representative and good to have you on the podcast. 2:34 Yeah, it's definitely good to have you on the podcast. 2:36 I wish it was under better circumstances because Hammy, four straight by Penn State and Minnesota season could potentially be over, probably not, but their Big Ten tournament is certainly over. 2:50 Well, hey, I called it last week. 2:53 So no shocker there. 2:56 No, I mean, you know, I'm glad that they seem to play with a little more spirit. 3:01 I mean, but nonetheless, the results are still the same at the end of the day. 3:05 So what can you really say other than it's time to throw a Hail Mary and hope for the best when you get to the NCAAs if we get there, that is. 3:13 Veegs, they did play with a little more spirit, but they didn't play with any more defense. 3:19 Yeah, they kind of build on Hammy's football analogy about the Hail Mary. 3:23 Playing Penn State is a little bit like playing the team that runs the option. 3:27 You just see a lot of fullback dive, a lot of fullback dive, maybe a QB keep or a pitch. 3:32 Every once in a while, they'll go play action. 3:34 But if your run defense isn't sound, they're going to make you pay. 3:38 And I think this last two weekends, we've seen Minnesota get punished for having defensemen who couldn't respond to the pressure. 3:47 Penn State pounds the puck below the goal line and puts a lot of pressure on defensemen to perform, and we saw the last two weekends, they couldn't consistently handle that pressure. 3:58 Well, Drew, what was your initial look on this past action? 4:02 Let's go with the last four games. 4:03 They have been struggling against Penn State. 4:06 Yeah, these last four games, certainly, when you think about that weekend that they had against Ohio State right before, I guess, facing off against Penn State for those last two weekends, there just looked like something different in terms of especially for check pressure, getting into pucks deep and sort of being able to sort of, they were able to surprise Ohio State with just sort of their tenacity on without the puck. 4:32 I think that completely changed against Penn State. 4:35 There's just something about that team that really had Minnesota's number. 4:39 Like Vig mentioned before, also the defense just wasn't able to really hold off, I guess, that just really aggressive style that they play, that speedy sort of get-in-your-face kind of style. 4:49 And I mean, even though it improved as the games went on, at least the fight for Minnesota, but still the results weren't there. 4:56 Well, the one positive we did talk about is that they did seem to have more energy in Vig's. 5:00 They did get a few more goals than they had previously been scoring. 5:05 Yep, and they got two goals from the power play each night, which is a pretty miracle weekend performance out of that group that ranks 56 out of 60 teams. 5:16 I think one of the things that surprised me was how much Ryan Lindgren played on the power play this last weekend. 5:22 He probably hasn't seen that much power play time since he was a bantam at Shattuck, and I thought he brought some confidence and some assertiveness to the power play. 5:33 He's pretty good at rushing the puck up the ice and getting them into the zone, and I think he was just a little bit more confident at the pivot, and that benefited Casey Milstap for sure on the power play. 5:45 And I noticed once that you had talked about is that Casey really hadn't scored a goal all season in foreign territory, except for kind of neutral sites, but I put that stat out there that I totally stole it from you, but in reality, Casey has not done much on the road. 6:03 No, he hadn't. 6:04 I think it helped a little bit to Pavlochev missed the weekend for Penn State. 6:08 He was seen around the rink with a sling and not having him checking middle set during the week, I think opened up the ice a little bit more for him. 6:17 And I think Casey also learned, you know, he's going to be more assertive on the road, despite whatever matchups they throw at him. 6:23 And he definitely stepped up to perform that RPM line that was put back together was the one line for Minnesota that got things done. 6:32 Hammey, what about the rest of them? 6:33 No, the RPM line was great. 6:35 Novak, Sheehee, where are the rest of these guys? 6:41 Yeah, well, we kind of talked, it's kind of been a recurring theme. 6:44 It is. 6:44 It shouldn't be. 6:46 That's been the frustrating thing. 6:47 I mean, if you had said before the beginning of the season that Brish dead would have nine points at the end of the regular season or whatever, you'd be like, you know, did he get hurt? 6:58 I mean, you never would have thought that the guy that with his background would have so little offensive impact. 7:04 I've talked about Zmitula. 7:08 He's before this year. 7:09 I mean, he's generally been pretty close to being a point per game player in his college career. 7:13 And he's one of those older guys that sometimes people like to talk about the Gophers need more of. 7:18 And he hasn't performed to the level that I expected. 7:21 And it's just been some of the other guys have been inconsistent. 7:24 Obviously, she has not had near the kind of year that he had last year. 7:28 So it's just been kind of a snowball effect for some of these guys. 7:33 So Drew, boy, they play, they won't have a game for possibly three weeks now. 7:42 And if they make the tournament, it looks like they will. 7:45 But boy, not to play a game for three weeks and going into the tournament, that could be tough on them, Drew. 7:51 Yeah, I know CHN, I think, has the 97% chance of making it. 7:56 But still, yeah, like you said, three weeks is a long time without playing a game. 8:02 They've just got to be practicing right now. 8:04 They probably took a few days off here during this week, especially with spring break coming up. 8:09 They might be able to get some practice time in, at least some ice time there. 8:12 But yeah, it's going to be a weird thing away. 8:14 And I know we mentioned on the podcast that me and at Gopher State, Nate Wells, Trustee Nate Wells, are due actually a day before today. 8:26 And we mentioned that it could really be a really good thing or a really bad thing. 8:32 The rest could do them some good to reset the clocks a little bit and to find their way back into the wind column or else it could find a way to sit and dwell and not really fix anything. 8:44 So it could be just I guess either side of an extreme there. 8:52 Boy, I agree with that. 8:53 Veegs, three weeks. 8:55 Yikes. 8:57 Well, we're just going to keep going to football analogies here. 9:00 But it's kind of like preparing for a bowl game. 9:03 You know, you get the end of the season and you have that long break to prepare for your next opponent. 9:08 I think if Minnesota makes it, it's looking a lot like they could go out east and play like Cornell, so they get this long, 17 days or whatever to prepare for an opponent like that. 9:19 And I think it might be helpful for them. 9:22 I think one of the issues with Novak and Sheehy this season, they've been playing through injuries. 9:28 They don't want to be taken off the ice. 9:30 And maybe these couple of weeks will allow them to heal up and feel their best. 9:35 Because I think one of the things missing in their game is generating second chance opportunities. 9:40 You'll see Gates and Sheehy get first shots off, but there's not a lot of drive there to get second chances. 9:47 And maybe they can get a little extra energy by being off for a while. 9:52 I know that they're going to probably practice a couple days on, a couple days off here during the break, and we'll see what happens. 9:59 Now, Veegs, was it you that might have said on Twitter or somewhere else that you're not really fond of how we are in front of the net and screening the goalie? 10:08 Yeah, I'd mention something about that. 10:11 You'll have guys who are fronting the goalie as the puck gets moved around, but it seems like time and time again, Gophers tend to move to the side and try to tip the puck a little bit and look for rebounds too early, rather than just stand there, tripod it up and try to take away the goalie's eyes first and then go for rebound second. 10:33 That's the way I was always taught to do it and the way I think it's the most effective is you as a screener want to face up to the shooter as much as you can and force the goalie to look around you and try to get out of position so that he can see the puck because more holes will open up. 10:49 More likely there is that the puck will come out for a rebound. 10:52 Then as soon as the puck passes you, that's when you spin and look for the puck and get your stick on the ice. 10:58 Now going towards that, Hammeh, wouldn't that be something the coaches should be on him about? 11:03 Because that does sound kind of like basics to me. 11:06 Well, I mean, I was just thinking like, well, yeah, that's a basic thing a coach would say, but hello, as a player. 11:14 I mean, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to kind of figure that one out. 11:17 You know what I'm saying? 11:18 I mean, if you're going to be in front of the net, that is your goal is to take away the goalie's eyes. 11:25 And yes, rebound second. 11:27 And of course, you try to tip the puck in certain situations, but I'm just saying like, I don't even know, you know, why would a coach even really, I mean, yeah, you talk about it, but why would a coach even really have to bring that up? 11:39 That's just sort of, to me, a common sense thing. 11:42 And I don't know. 11:43 I mean, we like to talk about hockey sense and things of that nature, you know, and I would like to think that these guys have enough hockey sense where they would be doing things like that without having to have the coach ride their ass about it. 11:56 But does this come back to playing as a team? 12:00 I mean, Minnesota has been accused for many years of getting too many individuals and not playing as a team. 12:06 And you know, a real team player would stand out in front of that net and, you know, be the screen to let that puck come through or maybe deflect it instead of, you know, thinking, hey, let me get off the side so I can tip it in. 12:18 Any thoughts on that, Vakes? 12:20 I mean, you kind of have to be a team player to do that. 12:23 Well, we've heard a couple of times out of, you know, whispering to the locker room that the team needs to get on the same page and guys need to accept their roles. 12:32 And sometimes that message doesn't always get through. 12:35 And, you know, face it, the last two weekends, Minnesota hasn't really been in a must-win position like they were before. 12:44 And, you know, it kind of crept into their play a little bit. 12:47 It is a basic thing to do, but you also have guys who are coming to the Gophers who probably haven't played that role a lot. 12:55 You know, you've got guys like Romaco and Ramsey, you know, that's their jam. 12:58 But you have a lot of other guys, maybe that's not been their thing before. 13:01 You know, there may be a smaller guy who, you know, doesn't screen that out too often coming up. 13:07 And it takes some guts to stand in front of a shot head on and it might hit you, but something to pay the price. 13:15 It might hit you. 13:15 And Drew, you know, we're talking about, or Veegs is talking about there, it wasn't a must-win situation, but one thing that happened this weekend is that the Gophers are still technically in, but they have taken the control completely out of their hands. 13:31 They can't do anything now, except for just hope a lot of bad things don't happen. 13:35 Yeah, true. 13:36 They got to make sure, they got to really hope that the, I guess the situations that are supposed to happen do happen, is that, I think Coach Tachia mentioned it on the radio after the game Saturday. 13:49 He said, yeah, it's pretty much out of their control. 13:51 They don't really control their own fate. 13:52 Like, they've, they've preached a lot, especially down the stretch where they've considered the playoffs, that last 6-1 and one stretch before this 0-4 and 0 stretch, I guess, against Penn State. 14:04 But yeah, they don't, they don't have any power over that. 14:06 They don't control their own destiny, and they have to, they have to let, I guess, the odds fall where they will. 14:11 And I mean, they moved from coming into the two series against Penn State. 14:16 They were ninth in pairwise, now they're 13th. 14:17 And that's, that's a difference of a seed. 14:20 And that's on the, pretty, pretty close to on the bubble right there as a 13th in the pairwise, especially with, I mean, conference winners that aren't necessarily in that top 16. 14:32 Well, I do know that the fans were, again, angry this week. 14:36 And they've sent us a lot of questions via Twitter and a couple via the Mixler chat. 14:41 So I want to make sure we have plenty of time for that. 14:43 So before that, we need to listen to our sponsor. 14:48 vintagemnhockey.com is a proud sponsor of The GPL Podcast. 14:53 Well, what is Vintage MN Hockey? 14:55 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. 15:05 All information about any of those teams can be found on vintagemnhockey.com. 15:10 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. 15:20 So make sure you check out those interviews. 15:21 It's a really great thing. 15:23 But as I always say, I think my favorite part is the store. 15:27 The store, you can buy a custom historical jersey from the Gophers or the Bulldogs or some of your favorite high school teams. 15:34 And if you do make a purchase, just use the code GPL Podcast, all one word, and you'll get 10% off your order. 15:41 So make sure you visit vintagemnhockey.com and follow them on Twitter at VintageMNHockey. 15:48 Okay, well, if you're listening live, you can always tweet at us at use the hashtag GPL Podcast. 15:55 We'll try to get your questions. 15:56 And if you're listening via the Mixler app, you can send us questions there as well. 16:01 I see Paul Chatterton, hopefully I pronounced your name correctly, wants to know, I realize he's probably gone regardless, but do you think Casey has done enough this year to justify leaving? 16:13 Hammy, I would say he hasn't, but he may want to get out of this dumpster fire. 16:20 Well, I mean, it's never a matter of has he has or hasn't. 16:25 It's more what does the NHL team think and does he agree with it? 16:29 You know what I mean? 16:29 I mean, we all I would say this, you know, he has shown the tendency to be patient and to be kind of loyal. 16:37 I mean, that was at Eden Prairie. 16:38 We've seen that similarly with kind of like how Kyle Rao was. 16:43 So you can sometimes take a cue from how a player kind of address things in the past. 16:50 Obviously, we all expect him to leave early at some point, if not after this season, probably after next season. 16:55 But point being is that he certainly has shown a willingness to be a little bit more patient and not necessarily rush to the next level. 17:03 He had obviously a chance to go to the Gophers or USHL the prior year. 17:08 He didn't do any of that because he wanted to play with his high school teammates. 17:13 I don't know. 17:14 We'll have to see. 17:15 I think he's certainly shown enough where you can't blame him if he goes. 17:19 But I certainly think that there's enough opportunity for development there for him that it wouldn't be a shock if he stays either. 17:26 So I don't really have a good opinion one way or the other on that one. 17:29 What do you think, Drew? 17:30 I mean, has Casey done enough to justify leaving? 17:33 I think certainly when you think about it, I like to think back to the North Dakota Games as to where you would see him get worked off of pucks on the boards. 17:44 I mean, just about whenever he had it in the offensive zone, he'd get work to the wall and then he'd lose the puck to a defender, and then the play would go the other way. 17:54 I think that's something that's definitely changed for him and that I've noticed, especially, I'll go back to the Ohio State Series, is when he got possession of the puck and he'd be pinned up against the boards, but he'd find something to do with it, to either keep it himself, make a nifty play, like I guess up the wall to himself, or get it out to the point or something like that. 18:13 I think that's one thing that, especially at the NHL level, when you have these really, really big guys that aren't necessarily 18 years old, 18 year old finesse players, they're going to be working them off the puck. 18:28 I think that made him, I mean, that development he's had against playing, just you think about the teams that, a lot of the college hockey teams that he's had to play against with a lot of bigger older guys like St. 18:39 Cloud State, North Dakota, those kind of guys, and especially even think about, I guess, the defense of Penn State a little bit. 18:46 It's pretty big and you got a guy like Nikita Pavlachev who's like 6'6. 18:51 Really big guy, just working him off all the pucks. 18:54 So that's definitely one thing he's gotten better at, I think, this season that makes him more NHL ready, but at this point, I don't know if he's gone either way, but I think his game has certainly developed in a way that takes him away from just being more of a really good, I guess, skill-wise player with just really, really, really great hands. 19:16 He's had those the whole time, but I think that really over the course of the season, he's gotten a lot better on the other stuff that helps him, that will help him at that next level. 19:27 And Veegs, you know, you kind of mentioned, you know, the difference between the last two weekends for Casey was the Big Russian. 19:34 He kind of shut him down, and then when he was gone, Casey had a little more reign. 19:39 Yeah, I don't think there's any reason why he has to go on unless he wants to be a pro and stop going to school. 19:47 He's a kid who stayed through high school, and I think that helped him come to, you know, at least the U-20 level and be a dominant player in the USHL and on the World Junior Stage, and I think he still has more to prove in college. 19:59 You know, we've seen a lot of college players have success in the NHL, but we've also seen some of those college players like Luke Cunning struggle this year to make an impact. 20:09 You know, there's different paths for everybody. 20:12 He's a guy who probably gets criticized for his strength and conditioning. 20:17 For the most part, he's gotten better over the year, but you still see him at the end of a shift kind of stand up a little bit. 20:23 But he gets a little bit easier to play against as the shifts go on. 20:27 So I think having another year at the University of Minnesota with their access to Cal Deets and all their strength and conditioning, it can only help them. 20:38 All right. 20:39 Well, we've got John Candel's wondering, he asked about the tournament and the rest, but we kind of already talked about that. 20:45 But Hammey, who starts in goal if the Gophers make the tournament? 20:51 I mean, Robson gave up a ton of goals the last two weekends and Shearhorn wasn't much better. 20:58 I mean, the defense wasn't great in front of him either, but who do we go to? 21:06 I think you go with Robson for sure. 21:08 I mean, for me, he's the one guy that you feel like gives you a puncher's chance at any game, you know what I mean? 21:13 And especially in the NCAAs where all it takes is a hot goalie for a short period of time. 21:20 And even if you're not a great team, you have a shot. 21:24 So to me, there's no doubt that he's the better of the two goalies on the roster this year in terms of what we've seen on the ice. 21:32 And so I think he would be, to me, the no-brainer. 21:35 I think Shearhorn has had his opportunities and just has never really seized it to the level that deserves getting a start in this situation. 21:43 I'd rather go the other way. 21:45 Drew, are you on board with Mr. 21:46 Robson? 21:48 I would say that given the last weekend and especially what I guess Robson's body of work so far is this year beating two number ones, shutting two number ones out, two different number ones, I think that that really solidifies his stance there in that I think the team has confidence in both guys. 22:10 Because if you think about it, if you look at Shearhorn's numbers this year, the I believe his numbers are just a shade above. 22:17 I don't think if you actually, if you don't count this last game here and the game he came in relief against for Robson, his numbers are above his career average for the first two years. 22:28 And those first two years numbers got him two Big Ten goalies of the year. 22:33 So I definitely think that Shearhorn's not playing bad in any right. 22:38 I think it's just Robson has come in and given him so much of a challenge and really, I guess, put that, I mean, not really given it just one goalie and then a couple backups just to sit on the bench. 22:52 Now it's two very capable goaltenders that have to fight in and out. 22:55 And Robson down the stretch proved to be the guy. 22:59 And I think he's the guy that gets the nod in the start of the NCAA regional. 23:04 Well, Veegs, you know, if the Gophers do make the tournament, you know, whoever is in goal is not going to really matter if the team defense in front of them doesn't play like they did against Notre Dame or against St. 23:15 Cloud. 23:17 You know, it could be a long night. 23:18 So it's not just about the goalies here. 23:22 Yeah, I think one of the reasons they went to Sheerhorn for the Saturday game at Penn State is he's a little bit more vocal back there helping the defense on puck retrievals and handle traffic around them. 23:33 And I think that was one of the things that made him attractive as a starting option that last weekend. 23:39 I think as they head in the NCAA tournament, that's not as big of a concern with the teams. 23:43 They'll probably be playing. 23:45 Robson has been the steadier goalie the second half and probably deserves the chance to start that game. 23:51 But again, you know, if they get a team that hammers pucks in front of the net, you know, the biggest thing for me is the defense have to step up their game. 23:59 The centers have to step up their game and play better in their own zone. 24:04 Chuck Taylor wants to know, will this be Lindgren's final game or games as a gopher? 24:10 What do you think, Veegs, is Mr. 24:13 Lindgren going to be gone? 24:16 Hard to say. 24:17 You know, he's a player who probably needs more time before he even gets a sniff of the NHL. 24:23 You know, his puck skills and offensive ability has kind of been taking a backseat as defensive shutdown game. 24:31 You know, you saw this last weekend, he got some power play time. 24:34 You know, that's something that can help develop his game for another year. 24:38 The only thing about this is he got very excited when he got to talk about the New York Rangers at availability the other week. 24:45 So it makes me, you know, wonder, you know, how much does that mean to him to be a pro? 24:50 You know, he is a guy who's hopped around quite a bit with his hockey career, going from JV Hockey to AAA Hockey in Florida, to Shattuck, to the development program, to the Gophers. 25:02 He's gone early to a lot of places. 25:05 So it's hard to tell. 25:06 I don't think it would hurt him to stay though. 25:09 What do you think, Hammeh? 25:10 Lindren was pretty good. 25:12 I think he might have a better chance of going than even Casey. 25:16 Well, I mean, he certainly has the physicality. 25:19 He's not overly big guy, but he's got the physical nature that I think would fit if he did go that route. 25:26 At the same time, though, and frankly, I don't know that his weaknesses are really going to be made significantly better by staying. 25:37 Because to me, his weaknesses, he's certainly not going to be slick with the puck all of a sudden and be great in those areas. 25:43 He's not bad, but he's just not ever going to be that slick offensive defenseman type of a guy. 25:49 So I don't know that he's really going to suddenly develop that aspect of his game. 25:52 Usually, when you see guys stay longer, it's because, a lot of times, because of their, you know, there's something they have to physically develop. 26:00 And I don't think that that's really something that's holding him back. 26:04 So it won't shock me. 26:06 I just don't know that I see him as having the kind of skills overall that would really get more than a cup of coffee at this point. 26:15 So I don't think that it would be wise for him to go, but if he does, he does. 26:19 Drew, he's a pretty young player too. 26:23 He's just coming off his 20-year-old season. 26:25 So it's not like we're talking about a mature guy who's played a lot of junior. 26:30 Any thoughts, Drew? 26:32 Yeah, I know. 26:33 I was going to say the same thing as Veeze did, was that he did sound really excited when he was asked about his trade from the Bruins to the Rangers. 26:42 One thing I also think about, I guess for his case and Casey's case for leaving, that doesn't get confusing, Casey's case to leave. 26:51 But you think about where the professional franchises are at. 26:55 You think Buffalo is certainly on the down swing. 26:59 They've been looking to get out of their rebuilding mode for four or five years now. 27:06 New York has found themselves out of the, I think at the bottom of their division right now, for the first time in a long time. 27:14 They might be looking to jumpstart there a rebuild or a process to get some young guys in, and they might want to say, hey, maybe we want to push to get Casey here now, or maybe we want to push to get Lindgren here now. 27:28 So who knows in that case, but I don't know. 27:30 I think definitely he's got some more time, obviously, at the college level, defensemen always seem to stay a little bit longer. 27:38 But who knows, all I know is that he sounded very excited to be a part of the Rangers organization on last Wednesday. 27:45 And just to add on to that, one of the things that Vinila Terry focused on when he signed with the Rangers was, there was a better chance for him to play there than there was probably a lot of other franchises. 27:58 They were looking for right-handed centers and there was a good spot for Vinny there. 28:01 So there could be a quicker path to the NHL with the Rangers than there would be with, say, the Bruins. 28:09 Well, the big elephant in the room that most people are asking about is Mr. 28:14 Lucia. 28:14 And well, let's just start with the kind of the widest topic of it. 28:19 And each side wants to know via the Mixer Chat, Veegs, is Lucia done if they don't make the NCAAs or go one and done? 28:31 This is kind of a hard call, I think, to speculate on. 28:35 It has a pretty inexpensive buyout when you consider the things that the university has done with their basketball and football program and the amount of money that could be lost in ticket revenue if he comes back for another year. 28:52 When I talked to Coyle back at the end of December, he said that to sign an extension, he wants to see postseason success and not just conference titles. 29:02 And I think any way you look at it, this has been a pretty disappointing season on the ice, excitement around the program, attendance. 29:12 And so these are things that Mark Coyle has his eye on. 29:15 And I wouldn't be surprised either way. 29:18 And at the same time, I wouldn't be surprised to see him stick around and coach another year without an extension. 29:23 I think Minnesota is probably one of the rare programs where it's not going to harm recruiting that much. 29:29 A lot of the players that are coming to Minnesota are coming because of the M. 29:33 They're not coming because of the coach. 29:35 And it will probably be used against them in recruiting by other teams, but I think a lot of the kids who grow up wanting to play for Minnesota didn't grow up wanting to play for Don Lucia. 29:44 They wanted to play at Mariucci. 29:48 And one of the things that we have heard over the years, Hammy, is that Lucia is not very well liked by his players, so much so that many of them will refuse to give money to donate to the U. 30:03 So I think it's getting to a point where it's not just to play on the ice, it's the whole program off the ice and the money and a lot of other little things that may go into this decision. 30:15 No, I mean, I would definitely agree with that. 30:17 I mean, I think it's going to be a combination of factors that Veegs talked about as far as what you're seeing in the stands, what you're seeing for just general fan, some fan apathy that's kind of set in with a certain segment. 30:32 Obviously, we've seen ticket prices, we've seen revenue go in the directions that a lot of people don't like seeing them go in, and then you see what the product on the ice has been and some of that. 30:42 So I just think that, look, we could talk about, yeah, it doesn't hurt recruiting and it probably doesn't, you know, at the U compared to a lot of places, how it would affect them. 30:53 At the same time though, I don't know that you can continue to delay that because I feel like, you know, especially from a fan perspective, there's going to be, in my opinion, we've seen a lot of anger with regard to some of the changes in recent years. 31:06 I honestly believe there would be a pretty significant revolt if Lucia return. 31:13 It's not because Don Lucia is a bad guy, not because he's even a bad coach, but it's more just the fact that they're not getting the results, and he has been around a long time. 31:22 There does, I've always said this, and I think Lucia even said this many, many years ago, every coach has a shelf life at a certain stop, and you don't want to outlive that because he's got a great legacy here. 31:36 Even with what's happened at times throughout his career at the U, he does have a great legacy, and it's like, what do you want to do with it? 31:43 Don't be like Red Berenson and over stay your welcome, and have people pretty much praying for you to leave. 31:50 Don't be like that. 31:52 I really hope the guy has it in him to really be honest about where things are at, not just take the ego out of the equation, and just look at the situation and say, look, I've had a great run here. 32:05 Things aren't going in the direction that we really want them to go in, and it's time for me to step aside and let the next guy put his mark on the program. 32:14 Think about the program, don't think about your own ego, and I hope he has that ability. 32:19 I don't know if he does, though. 32:21 One thing that we're hearing from Mote here is that our alumni are a powerful asset. 32:26 We don't use them. 32:30 And that's a big concern. 32:31 And Mote sends his love as well, though, to Hammy. 32:39 But Vegoe, this alumni thing, I think it's a big issue. 32:43 What happened with the weight room this year? 32:45 How did that money just all of a sudden disappear? 32:49 I mean, this was scheduled to be worked on over the winter break and whatnot. 32:54 And all of a sudden, it's put off to the side. 32:57 And all of a sudden, there is no new weight room. 33:00 Well, rich people are finicky at times. 33:03 And the donor who was slated to pay for that process stepped away for whatever reason. 33:09 And they're still trying to fundraise. 33:12 When I asked Mark Coyle about it, he said that it's a priority for the university and he's confident that it will get done here shortly. 33:20 But getting money into this program and the university is an important thing. 33:24 And there are some alumni who just, they will never be on Don's side. 33:29 That's true. 33:29 He's not their kind of guy. 33:31 And there's no amount of winning that's going to change that. 33:35 They can win the national title and there's a lot of people are going to have hard feelings. 33:39 And sometimes players don't like their coach. 33:42 It's not always the coach's job to be buddies with everybody. 33:46 He's got to pick the players to play on the power play. 33:49 He's got to pick the players to scratch. 33:51 It's not going to be a happy family for everybody. 33:55 You just want everybody pulling at the rope at the same time and not being a distraction during the season. 34:01 It's harder than people think. 34:03 Yeah, it's harder than people think. 34:04 But then when you hear about a lot of other coaches out there, they do the same thing. 34:10 They are making the same decisions and they are still well liked. 34:15 We just don't hear that from Lucia. 34:18 I think it's really starting to hurt the program. 34:22 He can only get Paul Martin to donate any money from the NHLers now. 34:26 He's the only one. 34:27 The rest of them don't want to donate because they don't want to associate with Lucia. 34:31 That's killing the program. 34:35 Well, one thing, Veegs and Hammeh, we've talked about all year is the attendance. 34:40 Drew, I would like to hear your opinion on where have the students gone? 34:44 Because the students this year pretty much sold out the section both nights. 34:48 One night was sold out and another one was really close. 34:51 Where are they? 34:52 Why aren't they not showing up? 34:54 Why aren't you in the student section? 34:55 Because you should be. 34:57 Well, I don't think that would go too well for the, I guess, the journalistic side of it. 35:03 No, hey, they've called the game for TV from the student section before. 35:09 Wait, what? 35:10 Yep. 35:11 Frank Mazzocco and Doug Wu actually called a game from the student section years ago. 35:17 Interesting. 35:18 It was a little different. 35:19 But where are the students? 35:22 I mean, are they apathetic too? 35:23 I mean, they purchased tickets as well and they are not showing up. 35:29 Yeah, I don't know. 35:29 I've seen from what I've been able to see. 35:32 I mean, obviously from our position up in the press box, I've seen a lot of it. 35:37 It looks like it's fuller, obviously, when school is in session and stuff. 35:42 And you think about the times when there's nobody, I guess, when it's a break time and you notice that it's a lot emptier over there because you got three sections dedicated to the students and then they're pretty much all empty. 35:53 But I really haven't done too much looking into that. 35:58 And I don't talk to too many people who go to the games there or who have tickets and don't go to the games. 36:06 But yeah, the people I do know that I am in class with and are friends with, when they have their tickets and they go. 36:13 And I don't know, I think some of the great might be the, obviously, the postseason success and not being able to, and I guess some of the expectation that some students, I think, come in seeing that, oh, they've won the past six conference championships, four Big Tens, and it's expected that they win the Big Ten. 36:35 And when they don't do that, maybe it's not as appealing as they thought it would be. 36:41 And really the expectation just is there that they should be winning the Big Ten regular season or tournament. 36:48 So yeah, I'm not really, I can't really get too accurate of a gauge on that because I do a very, very small sample size. 36:57 So I'll have to ask around. 36:59 That will have to be my next story, that's for sure. 37:01 It'll have to wait till next year because there's no more games left at Mariucci this year. 37:05 Exactly. 37:07 Mote comes back and says he's heard from some alumni that they're chomping up the bit to help out and they just don't want to while the Lucia reign is still there. 37:19 So I'm kind of on board for him to go away, but he'll probably end up keeping his job if he wins some games. 37:25 But I mean, pretty much all the questions we've had this week. 37:30 Nick C, if Lucia is relieved of his duties, would the U admin be brave enough to try for an experienced coach? 37:37 Not affiliated with or attended the U of M before. 37:41 You think they would go this direction, Veegs? 37:45 I almost think they have to consider a non-M man for the job. 37:49 I don't know if there's a lot of alumni from the University of Minnesota who are in a good position to be the head coach for the Gophers. 37:57 Grand Tony, he needs more time at Northern Michigan and the WCHA to figure things out. 38:04 Todd Richards, Ken Janander, those guys are pro coaches. 38:07 They're probably not the best at recruiting and motivating young college kids. 38:11 It's a lot different in the professional game. 38:15 I just don't know if there are a lot of names out there that people like to look for out of alumni that could be the head coach. 38:22 Not even alumni, but the popular person this week, Cami, is definitely Mr. 38:29 Motsko out of St. 38:29 Cloud. 38:30 I just don't think he'd come here. 38:33 Well, I don't know that he would or wouldn't. 38:36 It's hard to say, but the irony for me is that he's a coach that didn't even make the NCAAs last year. 38:43 I mean, I'm not saying he's a bad coach by any stretch. 38:49 I think he's a good coach, but I also think that people think that there's some magic in somebody's name, the hot names. 38:57 I see people throwing out guys out East. 39:00 I sometimes feel like they just are throwing anything against the wall to see if there's anything that will stick. 39:07 And I feel like sometimes they don't think about just the general fit. 39:12 I think that some people will start throwing out Eastern names and it's like they spent their entire career out East. 39:18 Their contacts are pretty much all out East. 39:21 They barely recruit Minnesota. 39:23 Look, whoever you have in the head coaching job at the U has to have a pretty good foundation with regard to the recruiting grounds in this state. 39:34 Does it mean he has to only recruit Minnesota? 39:37 But you have to know and you have to understand the way things work here and you can't just pick some guy out of a thousand miles away, drop him in here and expect him to really thrive. 39:49 You have to really have the right type of fit. 39:54 Sometimes I don't think people do that. 39:55 They just see a guy succeed in one place and just assume, oh, well, that's just automatically going to translate to another place and just isn't that easy. 40:02 Veegs, I think Tom Ward might be a legitimate candidate, don't you? 40:10 I mean, he's definitely got the heartbeat of the hockey in Minnesota. 40:14 Yeah, it's just he hasn't done it at the college level before and that's a big risk. 40:18 Well, he was an assistant coach years ago. 40:21 Well, college hockey has changed a lot. 40:23 True. 40:23 He was an assistant coach, too. 40:24 I'm just throwing it out there, because that's one of the people, people saying, you know, Richards and Patoni, Gensel, Bell, maybe even Trent Clatt, you know. 40:35 Yeah, but that to me, okay, so let's just, you want to start going through names. 40:39 I mean, Patoni, look, part of this current problem that we see on this team, he contributed to. 40:46 Yeah. 40:46 Just because he goes away for a year and shows some success, it's like, don't forget he contributed to some of this. 40:52 Just because he's not here doesn't mean like he doesn't have any influence on what happened with this year's team. 41:01 It just bothers me that people, and plus he doesn't have the experience. 41:04 You don't give somebody with one freaking year of D1 experience at the head coaching position, you don't give them to the Gopher job, you just don't. 41:14 I don't understand, anybody who throws him out as a name, I just shake my head and go, what the hell are you even thinking? 41:19 Honest to God, what are you thinking? 41:21 I understand throwing him out as maybe a future candidate down the road a ways, totally understand that, but make him learn and earn it. 41:29 He didn't have any coaching experience before the U. 41:34 Lucia had to freaking change the job description. 41:37 He was going to be a volunteer. 41:39 Right. 41:40 He didn't even fit the job description. 41:42 Lucia had to change it, so it was instead of five years of coaching, they also said, or five years of professional playing experience. 41:49 That's what they did for him because they were just basically going to hand him the job. 41:52 So it's like, look, I'm not saying he's a bad coach or is going to be a bad coach, but come on, let the guy earn it a little bit longer. 42:00 Let him get some of that experience under his belt before you start talking about this kind of a job for somebody like that. 42:08 Last year was the only year that he had coached the power play. 42:11 There's some myth out there that one of the assistant coaches always runs the power play for Minnesota. 42:18 Don Luchia has done that in his entire career at Minnesota. 42:21 Last year, he gave it to Grant to help build Grant's experience and resume. 42:26 Don's got the power play back this year. 42:30 It's not like Grant was the reason the power play would click in the past 10 years. 42:34 Not according to fake Don, he never controls the power play. 42:38 Only when they score. 42:39 Only when they score. 42:41 Drew, does the next coach need to be an M guy? 42:47 I don't know. 42:48 I mean, from what I've looked and what I've heard from previous podcasts in the past that we've talked about, we've looked into who a replacement could be. 43:00 I don't know if there's a lot of guys out there that have worn the M and have coaching experience to meet the expectations that people have of Don Luchia. 43:14 If people are going to still have the same expectations of contending for the Big Ten title every year, especially with how competitive the Big Ten is now, and making a Big Ten tournament, or not a Big Ten tournament, an NCAA tournament berth and make a run to the Frozen Four every couple years, I don't know if there's a coach out there ready to, that has that pre-rec on his resume to get there. 43:39 But it'll be interesting to see if anything does happen, that who they go for, who they look for, if it is exclusively former Minnesota players, or if they really broaden the search to a lot of guys who are, I guess, younger in sort of jumping into the prime of their coaching career. 44:01 I guess from what I've heard, I know Don Lucia was hired when I was, I couldn't have been one year old yet. 44:08 So I was hesitant to bring that up. 44:12 Oh boy, that's so good. 44:14 Well, let us old folks educate you to what was going on at the time. 44:19 There was really, when Wuger was let go, or whatever they wanted to call it at the time, it was basically Lucia and Dean Blaze. 44:28 I mean, those were really the only two guys that anybody really legitimately thought about as the next coach. 44:35 I mean, and to me, they were head and shoulders above everybody else as candidates. 44:40 And so it was kind of obvious who it was going to be. 44:45 It was going to be one of those two guys. 44:46 And more than likely, it was going to be Lucia simply because Dean Blaze was at North Dakota and obviously had a pretty good deal going there. 44:52 So this is just a really different situation in a sense that there isn't really that one guy that just totally stands out in one way or another as the guy that you absolutely have to go after. 45:05 I know people will point at Motzko, and yes, he's a great coach and he's right up the road. 45:10 And obviously he's coached at the U before. 45:13 And so there is some of those ties and whatever. 45:15 So yeah, I get that. 45:16 Or you have people throwing out names that really have no connection at all. 45:21 And I get, I mean, I understand we don't know all the people that are going to potentially apply if the job opens. 45:27 I think that that'll be the really interesting thing is that a lot of people we talk about are kind of more, a little bit more of a no brainer candidate that you would expect them to at least discuss. 45:39 But I think there's gonna be some candidates that are kind of off the map that maybe we wouldn't expect. 45:45 And I don't think it's really all that surprising to think about maybe a pro coach coming down to the U and doing that if they have ties to the area. 45:52 Because it's really about having good assistants then. 45:55 Just because you're not necessarily an experienced in the college game on that level doesn't mean that you can't be successful at it. 46:02 And if you have a couple of really good assistants that understand the ins and outs of recruiting and all that kind of good stuff, then I don't think it's quite as big of a hurdle as maybe some people think with a pro coach. 46:15 I do think you can count out Mike Gensel as a candidate for the coach. 46:19 I know that there's been defensive struggles this year, and this group of defensemen is underachieved. 46:25 But I think if you look at those NHL alumni who could potentially be big donors, a lot of those guys respect Mike Gensel. 46:33 And a lot of those guys want to see him get a shot. 46:36 And I get the feeling that Don Lucia thinks Gensel deserves that opportunity. 46:42 I think the struggles probably take that out of their hands a little bit, but he's going to be a candidate when it comes down to it. 46:48 Yeah, and everybody knows that I've always liked Gensel. 46:52 I mean, I think he's a great guy, and I think he's got a lot of passion for the program, and I think he's a lot of great things going for him. 46:59 You know, obviously, the pattern that we've seen in recent years doesn't help the cause. 47:05 And I think that certainly from a fan perspective, that's part of the reluctance with him is just hasn't been great. 47:12 And, you know, unfortunately, the one thing that I feel like we really dropped in the last, say, 10 years or so compared to what we were more earlier in Lucia's tenure is defensively. 47:23 You know, we, from a depth perspective and from a talent perspective, back in the day, you know, it was like we had like two, three guys that you would roll out there, and they were great or pretty damn good both ways. 47:37 And it seems like in the last handful of years, maybe you got one guy who was really, really good, you know, as an offensive and defensive player, but the rest are sort of in that average area. 47:48 And it just hasn't been up to the standards that we, you know, really had early in Lucia's tenure. 47:53 And I feel like that's going to maybe potentially be held against them as well. 47:59 Oh, boy. 48:00 Well, people on the chat are saying, you know, if Gensel is hired, my season tickets are gone, according to Big Mistake. 48:08 And then you've got Moate saying the players love him. 48:11 Well, the players do love him. 48:13 And the thing is, he's tough, though, too. 48:15 He's really tough on these guys. 48:17 It's not like he's a pushover or anything like that. 48:19 You know, obviously, I got in trouble for saying how tough he is on the bench from a couple of years ago. 48:25 It's unfortunate. 48:25 It's kind of a guilt by association. 48:28 Yeah. 48:28 Situation, you know what I mean? 48:29 And I get it. 48:30 I mean, I understand why. 48:32 But it's also people need to realize that he's ultimately not calling the shots. 48:38 He's not the one who's making the ultimate decisions on lineups. 48:41 He's not making the ultimate decisions on who do we for sure offer him. 48:45 He has input, but ultimately it's a coach. 48:49 And look, Mike Gensel is not going to do things exactly the same way that Don Lucia does. 48:54 And so I don't think that people give him enough credit in that sense. 48:58 He's definitely, you know, got a mind of his own. 49:01 And obviously him and Lucia, shit, he left the program because him and Lucia couldn't see eye to eye. 49:08 So obviously, you know, he's not just some bobo for Don Lucia. 49:12 So I think people kind of need to give him a little bit more credit in that sense. 49:17 But I do understand why people might be reluctant to have him have that job. 49:21 But I also think that maybe he's a better candidate and a better coach than maybe some people are giving him credit for right now. 49:28 Well, Veegs, I do think if they were to go with Gensel, that the transition would be the smoothest as it could possibly be with the recruits coming in and things like that. 49:40 I think having Lucia being replaced by Gensel would be the smoothest of them all. 49:48 Yeah, and I think one of the strengths of the Gopher Hockey program is that it's a good, clean program. 49:54 They have great academics there. 49:56 The kids, for the most part, stay out of trouble. 49:58 And they've done a good job graduating players. 50:01 So, I think having Gensel would continue that success. 50:05 For the most part. 50:07 For the most part. 50:08 There's, you know, that's hockey players. 50:10 Stuff's going to happen sometimes. 50:11 But peeing on sidewalks and getting in trouble during the summer once in a while. 50:19 That doesn't happen. 50:21 Yeah, not a lot of bathrooms can still water at 2 a.m. 50:24 Oh, jeez. 50:26 But, you know, that fundraising is going to be key for this program. 50:30 You know, they need to get this weight room. 50:33 That's goaltending. 50:34 That's a whole other deal. 50:35 You know, they need to get this weight room paid for. 50:38 You know, they got to get the ice surface thing paid for. 50:40 You know, they want to have that M club renovated in the upper reaches of Mariucci. 50:45 You know, there's things that they need to have happen. 50:47 And, you know, if they have somebody who's connected well to the alumni, it's only going to benefit the program in the long run. 50:53 And, Drew, you know, we were talking about smooth transitions and whatnot, but we've said that Gensel is very well liked. 50:59 I think for the program as a whole, Gensel would be a pretty good choice. 51:06 I mean, when you think of things like, when you think of things like, not just recruiting, but like you said, the donors and the facility upgrades, Gensel would be the perfect choice. 51:17 See, I, there's a lot of stuff I guess I know I don't know about my Gensel, but what I do know about him is that when we talk to him, at least in media availabilities, he's a very honest guy. 51:31 He's very, I guess, a very personable guy to talk to. 51:35 He's very generous with his time, I think. 51:39 From what I've seen in practice is that he's tough on his players, but he tries to get the most out of him. 51:45 That's definitely what he does. 51:46 Obviously, from a defensive standpoint, as I've seen him, I've asked him a lot about certain defensemen, and he lights up with what they can do and what situations he knows they thrive in, for also what they can do well, but then he can also be very quick. 52:03 He knows exactly what they need to do better. 52:05 That's just something that, at least from a defensive standpoint, he knows his players inside and out. 52:12 I think that really helps them, especially for their development here, but also moving on to that next level. 52:19 What do you guys think of maybe Gensl as a head coach and bringing Clatt in as one of the assistants? 52:24 I mean, Clatt decided to no longer coach Grand Rapids this past year, and he's going back and getting more schooling. 52:30 He might be thinking of that college type of job. 52:33 Veegs? 52:35 Hard to know. 52:36 He did a heck of a job getting Grand Rapids turned around. 52:39 He knows a little bit of the path to get to the NHL. 52:43 We'll see what they decide to do, but I think if they're looking for a coach, maybe they're looking for maybe a younger guy, because a big part of having your assistant coaches is having them recruit and be on the road. 52:56 I know that's one of the reasons why I think Klatt stepped away from coaching, because he wanted more family time and wanted to work on some more personal stuff. 53:05 Well, Klatt used to scout quite a bit, a long time ago as well. 53:08 He was a scout for quite a while. 53:10 So, I'm sure being, on one hand, he's obviously gone through that grind and understands how to scout talent. 53:19 But like you said, it's kind of does he want to do that at the stage of the game after doing that all for quite a while. 53:25 Moate is asking, how has Scott Bell done this year? 53:29 Do you want to keep him, Hammeh? 53:32 Well, I mean, look, I think it's kind of one of those deals where, you know, he didn't, what do they say? 53:38 He didn't shop for the ingredients, so to speak. 53:41 So he's doing, I think, the best he can. 53:43 Right. 53:43 So I think that's part of it. 53:46 You know, Vig's already touched on people just assuming because he's the forwards guy that, you know, oh, well, you must be doing the powerplay work and whatever else. 53:55 And it's like, you know, I just think that sometimes there's just a gap in knowledge and people assume things. 54:02 I think that, you know, he's kind of like in the Gensel mode, I think, you know, he's a passionate guy. 54:08 And I think that he's certainly, you know, he's done well in his previous stops in terms of, you know, scouting talent. 54:16 And I think that he's got a lot of contacts. 54:19 I know he's, you know, in the youth ages right now, he's had a lot of familiarity with the players that are up and coming. 54:24 And so I personally wouldn't think it would be, I mean, obviously you want, if they have a new coach, you want them to have the people that they want on their staff. 54:33 But I wouldn't feel bad if he came back by any means either. 54:38 So guys, what do we do for these next couple of weeks? 54:42 How are we supposed to keep busy? 54:43 I was actually invited to come down and watch Mankato this weekend. 54:48 Hey, there's the attorney this week. 54:50 Well, yeah, we do have the high school. 54:51 And actually I recall, you know, there was a question on Twitter. 54:55 Hammy and Ivitha, one of you three, who should we be watching as potential recruits for the Gophers at the tournament this weekend? 55:03 Well, like I said, on GPL, just wait for the first anonymous, like relatively unknown kid that has a big game. 55:10 And that's who we should recruit. 55:12 Because that's what I hear every year on like Twitter or on GPL. 55:15 Yeah. 55:15 You mean like when Lucia recruited Pat White after you had the big... 55:21 Well, yeah. 55:21 That didn't go so hot. 55:22 But I'm just saying like every year, it's always some kid who comes out of nowhere and blows up for a game, especially like in the early rounds. 55:30 And that kid can get like that. 55:31 I think Hammy missed my post on GPL. 55:34 I was putting odds on players on who can ever break out. 55:37 Tournament would be a fan favorite, you know, like Lucas McGregor, Joe Molinar, Mason Nevers. 55:42 No, but yeah, but you pick guys that people kind of know. 55:45 You have to pick some guy who's like a third-liner that, you know, just blows up, you know. 55:51 You have to take some chances with them, you take a risk. 55:53 Well, you know, Sam Huff was, Sam Huff was, you know, an uncommitted senior last year at a great tournament. 55:59 And, you know, they signed him and he's playing juniors now. 56:02 I think that's, you know, if they can get a guy, maybe one out of these five or six forwards and get him to play two years of juniors, you know, that's a win for Minnesota. 56:12 Well, it's kind of ironic because if you remember way back in the day, this was sort of like the prime recruiting time, you know, where they would basically be making offers right after the state tournament because that's kind of how things rolled back in the like the 80s and the 90s. 56:30 It was like, you see who's kicking ass, see how well they do in the state tournament, you know, feel good about it. 56:35 And then you kind of made your offers. 56:38 And now it's like, you know, all these top guys are probably already committed for two years before they're even at the state tournament as a senior. 56:46 So it's a lot different world. 56:49 Well, the world's completely different for Drew because he wasn't even born when most of those players, most of those superstars from the high school tournament were... 56:59 That's the history lesson. 57:02 Drew, any thoughts on the high school tournament and those players? 57:07 Not too many. 57:07 I just know that I think we're going to watch a lot of future Gophers hip checkers on that Edina team. 57:15 So that's about all I know. 57:18 That's okay. 57:18 But it's a good time of year. 57:20 I know back in middle school for me, which you know was three years ago, not too long ago. 57:26 I know one of my teachers gave us the benefit of streaming the back when the stream was free to stream the tournament in class. 57:37 It was wonderful. 57:39 Back in our days. 57:40 Yeah. 57:41 Back in our day. 57:42 Middle school with the good old and the Internet was still good. 57:46 It was great. 57:47 Back in our days. 57:49 We used to just skip school and fiddle with the rabbit ears on top of the TV. 57:56 Yeah. 57:57 Or else we would have Channel 4 coming in good. 58:02 We'd have teachers roll TVs in to a classroom. 58:06 The big picture tube. 58:07 Well, big, probably 19-inch. 58:09 That's because you went to Jefferson when they were in it every year. 58:15 Yeah. 58:15 See, I went to a high school that didn't have hockey, so we just had to latch on to a team. 58:20 Still want to be the closest. 58:22 Jefferson no longer has hockey. 58:23 They shouldn't even try anymore. 58:25 It's ridiculous. 58:28 I'm not bitter. 58:30 What else do we got to talk about here, guys? 58:32 We're going to take next week off because nobody's playing. 58:36 So we're going to hold out until after the NCAA tournament field is announced. 58:42 So we'll be off next week. 58:44 We'll be back on the 21st. 58:45 It looks like we're going to have Big Ten Networks' Paul Caponegri as a guest on in a few weeks. 58:51 But it's kind of weird taking a week off right in the heart of playoff season here, Veegs. 58:58 Yeah, I'll have something in the Athletic this week about what needs to happen for the Gophers to make the tournament or more precisely what can happen that can get them out of the tournament. 59:09 And then I'll be covering the NCHC Final Five or Frozen Face Off for the Athletic next week at Excel, who have taken the place of the Big Ten at the big, the big rink. 59:21 Yeah. 59:21 Drew, are you going to be covering the women's team at all? 59:23 I mean, they had that great upset this past weekend over Ohio State and Wisconsin, and ended up getting into the tournament. 59:29 Are you going to be covering the women at all? 59:31 No. 59:32 Our wonderful Max Beegert, if you don't follow him on Twitter, look up at silk underscore Beegs, B-I-E-G-S. 59:40 He's had great coverage on the women's team this year. 59:43 He's done a great job. 59:44 I think he's working on a pretty long story right now that should be out very soon. 59:49 So yeah, go check him. 59:51 I think he's going down to Madison to go watch that game. 59:54 But yeah, the coverage this weekend he gave especially was great. 59:58 Everyone should go check him out if you haven't already. 1:00:02 They should follow you on Twitter as well at CoveDrew. 1:00:05 Yep. 1:00:05 Yep. 1:00:06 Oh yeah. 1:00:07 I got everything. 1:00:08 This time of year it will definitely be softball. 1:00:10 I didn't mention that earlier but I'm covering the softball team. 1:00:13 I have everything hockey as well as most people know that if they already follow me. 1:00:19 Football stuff as well and just about anything in between. 1:00:21 So anything if the team wears an M on their chest, I'm probably there. 1:00:27 Will you be doing more periscopes? 1:00:31 I don't know. 1:00:31 There's no more games at Mariucci. 1:00:33 Well, what about for the other sports though? 1:00:34 I can harass you when you're doing periscopes for other games or sports, can't I? 1:00:38 I'll figure a way out to do that because I definitely enjoy doing those. 1:00:42 But yeah, I'll have to figure out a way to do those with no more games at Mariucci. 1:00:48 I'll pencil it in for Frozen 4 time. 1:00:50 Well, there you go. 1:00:51 Veegs, do you think you're going to go to the Frozen 4 for the athletic? 1:00:55 Yeah, I think that's part of the plan is that whoever's there, hopefully there's a Minnesota team there. 1:01:00 Obviously, St. 1:01:01 Cloud and Minnesota State are looking promising to get there. 1:01:05 I may try to get credentials if a Minnesota team makes it myself. 1:01:07 We'll have to wait and see. 1:01:10 When it's close, it's kind of hard not to go. 1:01:14 It's a fun deal, Minnesota there or not. 1:01:16 I mean, I gotta admit, it was pretty cool to see Duluth win it back in 2011. 1:01:23 That was already a long time ago. 1:01:24 Yeah, we gotta show people around town and take them to Blue Door University for Blue Seas. 1:01:29 Maybe we can do a Periscope at Blue Door. 1:01:32 Oh yeah. 1:01:33 I'll have to do that. 1:01:34 But I don't know yet. 1:01:35 We could, I think John Candles also asked, because I know the podcast I'm usually a part of, we're planning, we're trying to think about do a live podcast somewhere down in a tailgate area or in a bar around the X, around Frozen Four Times. 1:01:53 So maybe we could do a little mix and match. 1:01:56 I don't know. 1:01:56 We could get the two podcasts together. 1:02:00 We could do our own Radio Row. 1:02:01 We could. 1:02:02 I might just come crash that anyway. 1:02:04 Yeah. 1:02:04 That would be exactly the more the merrier, right? 1:02:08 Then we get Suhan and Russo to do their podcast down there. 1:02:11 We just have a triple header. 1:02:14 We'll revolutionize Radio Row for the Frozen Four. 1:02:17 Hammeh, what are you going to do in the next couple of weeks? 1:02:21 Well, are you secretly hoping that the Gophers don't make it? 1:02:26 And that Lucia will be gone? 1:02:29 No, I don't want that. 1:02:33 For the greater good, Hammeh, for the greater good. 1:02:35 Well, I did say elsewhere that you almost say to yourself, okay, if you could look in the future, what would be the most beneficial result? 1:02:43 Because it's like, well, that's what I want to happen. 1:02:45 And I kind of feel because if you have Lucia win, if his team wins a couple of games, suddenly, has he given them an excuse to not make any changes when really, you probably should at this point make a change? 1:03:03 I don't know. 1:03:03 I mean, of course, hey, if they suddenly stunned the world and won four games and won a championship, yeah, of course, everybody's going to be happy about that. 1:03:12 But I don't vote against them, but I also do think logically, what is the best result for the program in the long run? 1:03:23 And I guess we don't know right now. 1:03:25 Well, if the Gophers do end up winning a few games and make it to the Frozen 4, MoTay says he's going to buy a beer for all of us. 1:03:31 Okay, MoTay. 1:03:33 Well, no, not me. 1:03:35 Not Drew. 1:03:36 Not Drew. 1:03:37 I get that enough from Tom Schreier over here. 1:03:40 College kids do not drink at all. 1:03:43 If Drew's parents are listening at this point, we will make sure he does not get any beer until a year and two days from now. 1:03:53 And Deadwood keeps saying if the Gophers are placed in Sioux Falls, there will just be a party at my house. 1:04:01 Thank you, Toms. 1:04:01 I know that's you, Toms. 1:04:03 Toms is on vacation and he's listening to us from Florida. 1:04:06 Dedication. 1:04:07 That is dedication. 1:04:08 That's a real dedication there. 1:04:10 Hey, I podcasted from California last week. 1:04:14 I thought it was pretty cool. 1:04:16 I should have ditched Minnesota Hockey. 1:04:17 I appreciates that. 1:04:18 I should have done it on the beach. 1:04:20 Oh, that would have been sweet. 1:04:21 It's the waves crashing in the background. 1:04:23 The crashing waves might have been a little annoying to people. 1:04:25 No, it would have been awesome. 1:04:27 I think it would have made people jealous is what they would have done. 1:04:29 Could have been. 1:04:30 That's it. 1:04:32 I would have recommended it. 1:04:33 Hammeh was showing us some great sunset shots from his trip out there. 1:04:40 It was pissing me off because it was cold and crappy here. 1:04:43 Well, Drew, thanks for coming on. 1:04:45 We're definitely going to have you on again. 1:04:46 You guys, I really, really appreciate it. 1:04:48 Well, we enjoy having you on because you're kind of part of the gang down there at Mary Eugene. 1:04:53 We've had Nate on enough. 1:04:54 Jeez, it was time we got you on. 1:04:56 Yeah. 1:04:57 Well, we appreciate you coming on. 1:04:59 Of course, you could follow Drew at the Minnesota Daily or on Twitter at CoveDrew. 1:05:04 You can always follow Hammeh at Hammeh Hockey and Twitter, and then you can follow Vegoe at EVegoe and follow him on the Athletic. 1:05:11 So we're going to be back in a few weeks. 1:05:14 We'll have Paul Caponegri on for the Big Ten Network, and hopefully the team is in the tournament. 1:05:21 If not, there's going to be hell to pay. 1:05:23 Thanks for listening.