0:08 This is The GPL Podcast, sponsored by Vintage Minnesota Hockey, your exclusive source for throwback Minnesota jerseys. 0:17 Visit vintagemnhockey.com. 0:32 Now, here's Hammy, Vegoe and your host, Jupiter. 0:45 Good evening, and welcome to the GPL Podcast, episode number 139. 0:53 Well, we're back for another week, and as usual, Vegoe is gonna be joining us just a few minutes late, because, well, he has young kids, and that's just how life is when you have young kids. 1:04 That part of my life is long over, Hammy. 1:07 And that part of my life never happened, so we're all good. 1:12 It's the good and the bad, let me tell you. 1:15 I have totally different problems with my kids being 15 and 17, so. 1:20 Like finding them a working vehicle? 1:21 Like I saw that on Facebook that year. 1:23 Well, no, my daughter's got the working vehicle, but the old Mazda6 was towed away today, and she's gone. 1:29 Oh, okay, I gotcha. 1:30 But it was a good first car for her, and she's had another car for a few months now, so good to go there. 1:37 What's not good to go? 1:39 The gopher offense, Hammy. 1:43 Boy, a 74-second span on Friday night. 1:47 Boy, they look like world beaters. 1:49 The rest of the weekend, there's just nothing there. 1:55 Yeah, I mean, it's hard to explain everything. 1:58 I mean, I think a lot of it. 2:01 The talent is there in some positions. 2:04 I just think that maybe, we've talked about some of the chemistry with some of the defensive guys, and that that was gonna be a weak spot this year. 2:14 We all kind of knew that when we're kind of fingers crossed that some of these guys would step up and develop a little more. 2:21 And of course, it's still early in the season, so you can't just automatically throw the towel in on all that, but it is early on. 2:28 I think that, of course, it's like anything when you make a big change in the culture of a program and the coaching staff. 2:41 You there? 2:42 Now I'm there. 2:43 Sorry, I dropped off, I guess. 2:44 I don't know if the interweb connection went haywire on me here or what, but sorry about that. 2:50 No, it's all good. 2:51 I don't know where I got cut off, but I think that culturally, you have that big change. 2:56 Some guys, I think it's just like anything in life, even in a business situation. 3:02 Some people are able to adapt to change and handle it pretty well. 3:05 Other people just aren't, and they kind of struggle with that change. 3:10 And I think that we probably see a little bit of that. 3:12 I think the coach certainly has different standards. 3:15 He's talked about some of the cuteness and some of that stuff that he doesn't believe that they should be playing with that kind of style and wants to eliminate some of that. 3:24 And I'm sure some of these guys have become accustomed to that over the years. 3:28 And so I think it's just one of those deals where they're just trying to find their way with a new coach and getting familiar with what his expectations are. 3:36 And hopefully they'll be finding their way as the season progresses. 3:41 I think just one of the disappointments are is that it's not like they were blown out or anything. 3:46 And it just seems like if they just had a little bit of, just a somewhat consistent offense, they'd probably have won quite a few more games by now. 3:55 And you have 74 seconds on Friday night. 3:58 And all of a sudden they won the game on that, which is great. 4:01 We call this split. 4:02 That's kind of what we saw. 4:03 But it's just the frustrating part is that you would see that if just a little bit of offense would make a big difference here. 4:13 Well, yeah. 4:14 I mean, I think it's one of those deals where guys probably are pressing a little bit and they obviously want to do well. 4:20 And so sometimes you grip that stick a little tighter. 4:23 You're pressing things. 4:24 Maybe you don't play quite as naturally because of that. 4:28 You're maybe overthinking things a little bit. 4:30 And so, I mean, I don't have the magic answer for that, but I certainly think that when you have guys that are feeling some pressure to produce and that things aren't going quite their way, that's natural to kind of press and maybe not perform to your capabilities. 4:49 Earlier today, Chuck Taylor on Twitter asked, will Novak score any goals this season? 4:56 Yeah, I mean, he's been going, he started off pretty good. 5:04 Then he had a better season and really since his sophomore year, it's obviously he's had injuries, but it's just nothing close to what we thought it would be. 5:14 Well, I mean, I think, first of all, he was never really gonna be, he never had that goal scores mentality. 5:20 He was always, even before he got to the U, again, he was always more of a set up guy. 5:24 It doesn't mean he can't score goals at all, but he always kind of had more of that playmaking mentality in the first place. 5:31 So I never expected him to be one of those 20 to 30 goal score type of guys, like a Buick stat or something along those lines. 5:38 I never really saw him that way, but you would expect a guy like that to score maybe in that 10 to 15 goal range and have another maybe like around 20 assists, something like that. 5:50 That's kind of what you would expect out of a player with that skill level. 5:53 He just hasn't really put it together yet. 5:56 Hopefully, it's just one of those deals where he's starting off slow and he'll find his way as the season goes on, but you never can count on that either. 6:04 Hopefully, it's not a Leon Brish dead kind of situation. 6:10 Leon, though, I would say, it was almost like he was snake bit at times because he had a lot of great opportunities and he just missed on them or hits a post or just a nice save or whatever. 6:22 Novak, I know, sometime mid-game, I took a look at his stats on Saturday night and I'm like, jeez, no goals and he's minus six right now. 6:29 That's one of the worst on the team. 6:32 I'm like, this is not good. 6:34 And the thing is, I think, you know, if he's not scoring goals, at least he should be being a playmaker and we're not even seeing that. 6:43 Well, I mean, I think it's one of those deals where if you're a player that you're not producing in a certain way that you're expected to, you want to be able to at least contribute in other ways that help the team. 6:54 I mean, it's just, you know, whether it's in any sport, if you're not really playing your role well, you kind of want to pick it up in some other areas to contribute. 7:03 And obviously he's not doing it quite that way offensively. 7:07 And then of course, like you mentioned defensively, he's, from what I can see here, he's the worst on a team with a minus seven. 7:13 So he's not doing it on either end of the rink. 7:16 And that's not good, especially when you're a guy that was going to be counted on and certainly has the talent and you expect him to do a lot better than that. 7:23 So hopefully it's just an early season slump and he picks it up. 7:27 I hope so. 7:27 Cause you know, when you did look at somebody like a brush dead last year, you know, at least when he was out there, he was noticeable. 7:35 He was flying into the corners trying to get pucks. 7:38 Just the effort was there. 7:40 And I guess I'm just not seeing it with Novak yet. 7:42 And you know, maybe it is one of those things. 7:44 He just kind of needed some luck and just get a goal and just kind of get off the schneid. 7:47 Cause a lot of times that can kickstart a guy. 7:51 And you know, it's hard to diagnose it when you're not at practice every day and you're not in the locker room. 7:57 So I mean, it's difficult for us to, you know, kind of put together the answers that are going to sound perfect. 8:03 But I think that must be Veegs. 8:05 So anyways, I think that it's one of those deals where you don't know if maybe he's struggling with the transition to a new staff and different expectations and what does the coach want from me. 8:19 It's really tough to say. 8:20 And we can't really use the injury excuse any longer with him because he's obviously had plenty of time to recover. 8:26 So it's kind of a head scratcher. 8:30 Well, yesterday we had Vegoe and I went and saw our old friend Nate Wells off at a little lunch. 8:37 And one topic that came up was that Mr. 8:42 Sampo-Ranta, not big on passing the puck. 8:46 And right as Veegs joins us here, Veegs, the kids got to start being a team player here because, you know, especially past Saturday night, that kid was holding onto the puck way too long. 9:01 Well, I'm sure Sampo-Ranta has gone through his career with every coach telling him, shoot the puck every chance you get. 9:08 Because when you have a shot like that, you know, that's kind of your mindset. 9:12 I definitely think as players adjust to higher levels, they've got to find new layers to their game. 9:18 And for Sampo, it's going to have to figure out, you know, when do I have a lane to put the puck on that and when am I better off passing the puck? 9:25 As more and more college teams start to scout that he likes to shoot, he's going to have less and less clear looks at the net. 9:33 So something he'll have to adjust to. 9:35 You know, he's pretty young and the staff will have plenty of time to work with him on it. 9:42 I hope so because the kid's a great talent. 9:44 I would like to see him get some more assists and be a playmaker, because I want another thing we discuss. 9:50 You know, a goal and an assist. 9:53 Both are needed. 9:57 It's just kind of the way things are. 9:59 They are needed. 9:59 And he's going to be a huge threat on the power play. 10:02 You know, every time he gets the puck on the off wing there, he is a threat to score. 10:05 So teams are going to see that and they're going to shade that way. 10:09 You know, there was a guy who played at Excel the other night, Ovechkin, who makes a living off of teams expecting him to shoot the puck there. 10:17 And he's able to do both. 10:19 He's able to score goals there and able to move the puck to get assists. 10:24 One thing that we kind of discussed before you came on, Veegs, is this offense is still just not doing very well. 10:30 And the words I was using earlier this season was feast or famine. 10:35 Friday night, I think we saw both at the same time because it was famine. 10:40 And then for 74 seconds, it was feast. 10:42 And then it was back to famine for the rest of the weekend. 10:44 They only scored one more goal for the rest of the weekend. 10:47 Well, I think some of that on Friday is a little bit of game situation. 10:51 I thought the start of the game, we saw the same old Gophers where every time they came on the rush, they basically passed it into the goalie's glove. 11:01 I counted at least three or four rushes where the Gophers came down. 11:05 They had possession of the puck. 11:07 They had a clear look at the net. 11:08 And they just took a shot from outside the dots. 11:10 That was easy for the finish hammer just to glove up and freeze. 11:15 That was the end of the momentum. 11:17 It would go to a TV timeout or whatever. 11:21 They stamped out of that. 11:22 They had their stretch there where they got their three goals. 11:26 And then I think they kind of held on for the rest of the game. 11:29 On Saturday, I actually thought they played a little bit better. 11:32 They had over 80 attempted shots. 11:35 A lot of them got blocked or missed the net. 11:37 But they had the puck a lot. 11:39 And they were putting the puck towards the net or into shin pads quite often. 11:45 That's the kind of word I'm thinking right there, Veegs, is shin pads. 11:49 Hammy, we've got defensemen who love shin pads again. 11:52 And we've seen this in the past. 11:54 It's something difficult to break. 11:59 But boy, are they still hitting a lot of shins. 12:03 Yeah, it's kind of funny though. 12:07 The fans will always be yelling, shoot, shoot, shoot. 12:14 When they pull the trigger and then they hit the shin pads, the fans are like, God, why does that guy shoot in the shin pads? 12:22 So I know what you're saying. 12:24 They really have to find those open lanes. 12:27 Part of that is puck movement and doing that crisply. 12:30 I think we've seen that sometimes they struggle with it. 12:35 Well, one of the things I saw them working on at practice today was the different patterns and the different options that the defensemen and forwards will have as soon as they move the puck up high. 12:45 They're working what goes into the defenseman's mindset when they get the puck up top, where do they move it, what are their options, where should their teammates be going? 12:55 And so I think that's kind of the next step. 12:57 I asked Motsko and Tyler and Annie about that today, the availability, and it's a work in progress for them. 13:06 Going back to your point about just kind of these lazy shots in on the goalie where he gloves it, they might not be lazy or whatever, but I've always heard in the past that if you're throwing the puck on net, keep it low. 13:20 It's a lot harder for the goalie to stop it when it's low. 13:22 I mean, there's a lot better chance for a rebound when it's low. 13:25 And if you are shooting it in the breadbasket or into his glove, the play is over. 13:30 You're shooting it low, maybe get a deflection or something like that. 13:33 Isn't that one of the basics of hockey Vs? 13:36 Well, I think you just have to realize how threatening is your shot. 13:41 Where are you located on the ice? 13:44 How much velocity can you put on it? 13:46 What's your angle? 13:47 Is there any traffic? 13:48 Those are the kinds of things that have to go into a shooter's mindset before they fire the puck. 13:53 Because if it's a low angle shot, there's no traffic, it's pretty easy for the goalie to save. 13:58 Maybe you're better off working the ground game and the cycle a little bit. 14:03 But if you're in a situation where you can move the puck across and make the goalie move, if you have traffic, if you're one time in the puck, those are more dangerous situations. 14:15 I think one of the things that was lacking for the Gophers all weekend was rebound chances. 14:20 And part of it's because of how they're shooting the puck. 14:22 If you're trying to pick a corner, but the goalie's squirty and sees it coming, you better have a rocket of a shot to beat them. 14:29 Some players do have that, but a lot of players don't. 14:32 Unfortunately, a lot of times they're trying to pick that corner, and if they're at not a great angle, it's hitting the glass, and it'll rip back out the other side of the zone. 14:42 Yeah, Lou Danny talked about that on Barrero this week. 14:44 He was tired of seeing that on the power play where guys were missing the net and clearing the zone. 14:48 That's a costly mistake. 14:52 It is. 14:54 We've been seeing it for years. 14:55 And the one thing is, at Mariucci, it's quite a big pond out there, and you have a little more room to do that. 15:04 But when you're on a little bit smaller sheet of ice, it gets out of that zone pretty quick, because it gets to the wall quick, and boom, it's around, and it's gone. 15:11 So I guess it comes to, you know... 15:16 We've seen this in the past, though. 15:18 Guys missing the net, missing the net. 15:19 Hitting the sessions. 15:22 We always wanted to see more of a greasy game. 15:24 You know, guys get down there, get the rebound, and we know that's what Moscow wants to kind of teach them, but we're just not quite there. 15:34 Well, it's going to take some games for that to sink in, you know. 15:38 Players just don't come out of summer hockey and have their game shape right away, and so it's going to take some time. 15:43 I think this team got a little bit tired at the end of the game on Saturday as well. 15:49 You know, they haven't had a lot of back-to-backs, and it's going to take time. 15:53 This weekend upcoming is a huge opportunity for them. 15:56 You know, the St. 15:57 Lawrence team is struggling, and a chance for them maybe to find their game a little bit. 16:01 Yeah, and we'll get into the St. 16:02 Lawrence games here in a bit. 16:05 If you're listening live, you have any questions for us, just send us via Twitter, use the hashtag GPL Podcast. 16:12 We'll try to get to them, and obviously we've got quite a few of you in the Mixler chat always throwing stuff at us. 16:18 And I see Motay, Jess and a lot of the normal gang are in there tonight. 16:24 So of course, Toms is too. 16:27 Toms is a little quiet tonight, which is kind of surprising. 16:29 I'm sure he'll wake up soon. 16:33 Boy, I'm just, you know, one thing was a split on the road, and in the past, Luchia was like, split on the road, sweep at home. 16:43 So a split on the road in the league is not a bad thing. 16:51 Well, it's not a bad thing, especially when the play is trendy in the right direction in terms of, you know, they were using the defenseman in the offensive zone. 16:58 You know, they were getting some cycle game going. 17:01 You know, the penalties, they still took a couple ones that make you shake your head a little bit, and maybe we'll see some adjustments to the lineup because of that. 17:11 But it's trendy in the right direction for them. 17:14 And, you know, they both, games got strong goal timing from Robson and Shearhorn, and the special teams were good again. 17:20 So there are positives to take out of the weekend, even though they only got a split. 17:25 Well, today was one of the early signing period days today, and Veegs, did we only have really one guy officially signed today? 17:34 Yeah, I think Purvix was the only one to officially announce his signing. 17:40 We'll see on the others. 17:42 Bob Otskow is a very quiet guy when it comes to confirming who he's recruiting. 17:47 He won't answer your questions at all. 17:49 No, he's pretty quiet about it. 17:51 So there's been some action where people are removing their commitment to Minnesota on Twitter here and there, so less players that could be signing. 18:01 I think we'll still see Moe sign, and I think we'll still see Meyers sign, but the rest of them, it's hard to tell. 18:09 The only thing I did get out of Monsko today is that with the signing period being open, kind of open-ended for next year, that he's going to be saving some spots on his roster for later in the year. 18:21 Now, Hamme, I think some of this, you know, with Monsko being quiet and compared to, you know, what he was before, is that he was in St. 18:30 Cloud, and a lot of times this stuff wasn't brought up, and it was easier to be quiet compared to here when Lucia had, you know, be a little more vocal. 18:40 You think that's part of it here? 18:43 Well, I mean, I'm sure part of it's just the philosophy of not wanting to tip your hand a little bit and not wanting to give any kind of competitive edge. 18:52 I mean, let's be honest, even the fans troll everybody's Twitter accounts. 18:58 I'm not going to lie, there's a couple times where I will intentionally follow some kid, just to see who's trolling my Twitter account. 19:06 And there's two people in particular that do it a lot. 19:08 So I think it's funny. 19:10 But anyways, I think some of it's just wanting to, you know, kind of have that little bit of a secrecy. 19:17 Because obviously back in the day, you didn't have everybody broadcasting everything. 19:21 And, you know, certainly not on their Twitter anytime they commit to anything. 19:25 So yeah, I think it's going to be a little bit quieter. 19:29 I certainly at St. 19:30 Cloud, they don't have the level of attention from the fan base. 19:33 And in terms of, you know, just being in the mix for a lot of these really super high end kind of players. 19:41 So it's just a little bit different animal here at the U. 19:44 And I'm sure that he's just wanting to take that same approach down here. 19:48 And, you know, so I would expect that moving forward. 19:51 And really, it's more of a spring thing where we get more of the hoopla, isn't it, Veegs? 19:57 Yeah, I think, you know, the springtime is when it's close to the season. 20:00 And, you know, people are going to make that last decision then because summer hockey is not really a great time to be making decisions on players joining a roster for next year unless you have an unexpected spot. 20:12 But usually, you know, this early signing day, people want to lock up players in the past. 20:19 And I just saw on Instagram, I was parenting earlier, but Mo and Myers have indicated that they're signing their NLIs. 20:28 It takes a couple days for the university to confirm that stuff because they have to sign it, their parents have to sign it. 20:34 It has to come to the U, get signed and then go to compliance. 20:37 So it will take a while for them to confirm that stuff. 20:39 But they have signed their lotters. 20:41 I'll be honest, I have no idea who any of these guys are. 20:47 I just don't follow the recruiting like I did way back when, when you could watch high school hockey. 20:54 That's all you needed to do. 20:59 PurrBix I heard of, but the other guys never even heard of before. 21:02 I guess I need to pay a little more attention, don't I? 21:07 It's up to you. 21:07 It's a tough business with these kids recruiting for so long and then finally getting here and playing junior hockey. 21:15 It's not like they used to where you'd watch them in the tournament. 21:19 Yeah, it's a different world and I'm just not into that deeply on the world yet, so I'll just leave it at that. 21:27 We've got to talk about St. 21:29 Lawrence and talk about a few other things coming this weekend, but first let's hear from our sponsor. 21:36 vintagemnhockey.com is a proud sponsor of the GPL Podcast. 21:41 Well, what is Vintage MN Hockey? 21:44 Well, it's kind of the place to get all of your history of Minnesota Hockey, from the pros to the minors to the collegiate teams to even the high school teams. 21:54 All information about any of those teams can be found on vintagemnhockey.com. 21:59 They also have great interviews with some historical Minnesota hockey figures like John Mayessich and Lou Nani, Glenn Sanmore, some of the greats of Minnesota hockey. 22:08 So make sure you check out those interviews. 22:10 It's a really great thing. 22:12 But as I always say, I think my favorite part is the store. 22:16 The store you can buy a custom historical jersey from the Gophers or the Bulldogs or some of your favorite high school teams. 22:23 And if you do make a purchase, just use the code GPL Podcast, all one word, and you'll get 10% off your order. 22:30 So make sure you visit vintagemnhockey.com and follow them on Twitter at VintageMNHockey. 22:37 All right, thanks for Vintage, as always, for sponsoring the GPL Podcast. 22:43 Fellows, we've got St. 22:44 Lawrence coming in this weekend. 22:46 It used to be kind of a mediocre team from out east. 22:50 Now, not so hot at all. 22:53 And my first question, Veegs, is going to be, could this be the lowest attended games of all time at Mariucci Arena? 23:02 It's going to be a little bit of a struggle for attendance, I think. 23:05 I think this is not one of the premier games, and it's not a premier weekend on the calendar. 23:09 We've got a lot of people competing for fans this weekend with the Prep Bowl, and the Gophers have a football game on Saturday, and parking could be an interesting situation for people coming down to campus. 23:22 So we'll see what happens. 23:24 I'm not able to count all the empty seats right now available for tickets. 23:30 You can't sit there and count like you used to? 23:34 I don't have that kind of time. 23:35 It used to be you'd see one or two seats a section, and this one you're seeing some pretty big sections open. 23:44 It's just kind of the way things are going. 23:46 St. 23:46 Lawrence, nobody cares about it. 23:49 And until this team really starts to win and put on a really superior product, at least in the fans' eyes, it's going to be a tough sell, Hammeh. 24:01 Yeah, I mean, like Vegoe said, it's not exactly a premier opponent. 24:05 And we already have the fans kind of belly-aching about ticket prices and some of the non-conference. 24:13 And here you have a team that's pretty woeful this year coming in. 24:17 So it's not exactly going to be a high-demand kind of a thing. 24:21 So maybe it's opportunity for some fans to be able to get in there and enjoy it in a good seat that maybe they might not normally have against some of the better teams. 24:32 So I guess there's different ways to look at it. 24:34 And VEGS, you know, I looked at a Briller today. 24:36 The cheapest ticket is $21. 24:38 The most expensive ticket is $35. 24:40 I don't know how many of those $35 tickets are available, but if you just want to come see some hockey, this is the weekend to do it because these are pretty cheap seats. 24:49 This is the cheapest they get. 24:51 And you could probably organize a group sale still and get in for $10 a seat. 24:56 I know that's something that Gopher Sports is really trying to do this year. 25:00 If there's a group of, I think you just need like 10-plus people, you can get together and you can get $10 tickets to at least this game and the Ferris State games. 25:11 There's other games that are cheaper, too, if people are looking to organize and get a little outing going. 25:16 This would be a good opportunity to bring kids. 25:18 Penn State, I believe, is one of those options too. 25:22 If you have enough people in your group, you can get $10 or $15 tickets, isn't it? 25:27 Yep. 25:28 It's a good way for people to get together if they're only going to go to a game or two and want to all sit together with a big group. 25:36 Yeah, well, one interesting thing this weekend is this is the only home game that will not be on broadcast television. 25:46 Apparently, we had heard that Fox is covering or producing 16 games this year. 25:52 They're not doing 17. 25:53 They're not going to do that. 25:54 BTN is basketball, and no matter what you say, basketball is going to take precedence over hockey any day of the week here. 26:02 The U could have just said, hey, you could pay for Big Ten Plus and pay five, ten, whatever to do it, but VEG's, they decided to do something different. 26:11 They're doing a free broadcast on Facebook, and a lot of fans are already belly-aching about it, but I think this is a pretty nice thing. 26:19 Yeah, it's a good deal for fans. 26:20 Minnesota is really trying to find a broadcaster for this game, and like we said, it's a busy weekend with football and basketball stuff going on, so this is a great option for fans. 26:32 If you have one of those smart TVs, you can just stream it to your TV, and it shouldn't be too big of a difference. 26:38 Or your phone or your computer, or if you know what, if you just go down and pay tickets and go see the game, it will be easy to get into Saturday night. 26:49 There will be plenty of open seats to find one. 26:52 Well, unless you are coming from the south side, because I hear 35 is closing at 10 o'clock Friday night. 26:56 So remember that if you are out late after the game Friday night. 27:00 Well, I will have to remember that, V, because if we go out, you can't get home going the old way. 27:06 So, well, Hammy, St. 27:10 Lawrence, not a very good team. 27:14 We have been talking about this feast or famine. 27:16 This is sounding like a more famine type or feast type weekend, I should say, where we could see a lot of goals and maybe get some confidence back in this offense again. 27:27 Well, that would be the hope. 27:28 I mean, when you have a one-win team coming in, certainly you want to take advantage of that. 27:33 You know, just to say I haven't exactly seen any St. 27:39 Lawrence games this year, but just judging from their statistics, I mean, they're almost giving up four goals a game. 27:44 So it's not exactly a stellar defense whether it's goalies or defense. 27:50 So there should be opportunities there for some of these guys to get healthy. 27:55 So hopefully that's what happens. 27:56 And we see some guys gaining confidence as we get into some of the other meteor parts of the schedule. 28:04 And maybe Vig's a sample. 28:06 Randall will start passing the puck. 28:08 Yeah, we'll see what happens. 28:10 This is a game where he's probably going to want to shoot though. 28:13 Yeah. 28:13 St. 28:13 Lawrence will play that pack it in style that we're used to in some of those teams that don't have a lot of talent. 28:20 They'll pack it in and force guys to shoot through some traffic and won't give up easy pass to the net. 28:27 So it would be a challenge that way too. 28:30 Probably see both goalies this weekend, I'm guessing. 28:32 Maybe even Sheerhorn Friday night. 28:35 Yeah, I would think we'll see both goalies. 28:37 Monsko is pretty confident when he talks about both goalies being competitors and wanting them to both get a chance unless the guy who plays Friday stands on his head and doesn't give away the net. 28:49 But I think we'll see some different lines as well. 28:52 Looks like Walker will move back to the wing. 28:55 And then we'll see some other guys get shook up a little bit throughout the lineup. 29:00 Well, we were talking before you came on. 29:02 There's a Novak, zero goals, minus seven this season. 29:07 So he hasn't been doing it on either end of the ice. 29:11 This might be a good weekend for him to kick start his senior season. 29:16 Yeah, I'll disagree with you a little bit. 29:18 I thought he looked a little bit better this last weekend. 29:21 You're seeing a little bit more battle and pace out of him. 29:26 He's finally healthy, which I don't think people realize. 29:28 I'm writing a feature on him for the Athletic this week. 29:32 He's gone through a lot of injuries, not just his ACL, but he had a wrist injury last year that he had surgery on, which prevented him from really shooting the second half of the year. 29:42 He's battled groin issues last year that really hampered his skating. 29:47 So he was a pretty limited player last year, and I think this year he's still kind of come on up to speed. 29:53 He hasn't been healthy for almost two years, and he has some of the best vision and passing on the team. 29:59 When he's going, he's going to help this team quite a bit. 30:03 I definitely agree with that. 30:04 I just think he's got to get it going first, and sometimes you're just snake-bit. 30:09 Whether if it's a great pass for a set-up or a nice goal, this could be that weekend, Veegs, where he could kind of get off to Schneid and kind of kickstart his senior season. 30:19 Yeah, I mean, the opportunity is definitely there for him this weekend. 30:22 He's going to have time and space. 30:23 I think that the key for him is not to overuse that time and space. 30:28 You know, I think it's going to be important for him to force the action a little bit. 30:34 What else do you guys see for this weekend? 30:35 I really don't have much thoughts, really. 30:38 I want to hear your detailed scouting report on St. 30:43 Lawrence, because I know you watch it every week. 30:45 Just don't give a rat's ass about St. 30:47 Lawrence. 30:48 You don't know anything? 30:50 Yeah, I never know anything. 30:51 That's why I leave it to you guys. 30:53 And the thing is, it's St. 30:55 Lawrence, but nobody really knows much about them. 30:57 I mean, do you know a lot about them, Veegs? 31:00 No, not too much, other than the fact that they do like to pack it in defensively, and I think they're going to try to make Minnesota beat them. 31:07 They'll probably sit back. 31:09 There'll be time and space. 31:10 I think the key is for Minnesota to avoid turnovers at the offensive blue line, both when they're in the zone and coming into the zone. 31:18 I think that's one of the ways that they could get beat, and the other way is avoid taking the bad penalties. 31:24 Blake McLaughlin took two really bad ones this past weekend, and we'll see what Moscow does to address that. 31:33 He's talked about he's taken out the whip for guys. 31:35 He's had private conversations. 31:37 He's had team conversations. 31:39 He's sat guys. 31:41 I'll be interested to see how he moves forward with this issue, because he's never really dealt with a team that's taken a lot of penalties, and certainly not in the manner that this team is taking them right now. 31:53 That has been the ongoing thing as well. 31:55 I've got to agree. 31:56 Penalty kill has been pretty good, but jeez. 32:01 Especially when you see those offensive zone penalties or just the behind the play penalties, it's really frustrating, Hammeh, and it just can't continue. 32:15 Well, man, it's a disciplined thing. 32:17 It's moving your feet. 32:18 There's a lot of different reasons for different plays and different penalties. 32:26 Like I said earlier, I think some of it's just guys feeling unsure at times and maybe not necessarily grasping all the expectations and some of those kinds of things. 32:36 I'm sure that when you're thinking a lot, you're just not naturally reacting to the game and the flow of things, and sometimes that gets you into trouble. 32:44 You end up reaching or pulling guys, whatever it is, and that's where you get your trip to the box. 32:51 Well, there's so many selfish stick penalties that are happening where the play is done and the player for some reason puts their stick into the body or skates of their opponent as the puck is leaving the area. 33:04 I mean, if anything, you should get your stick out of the way at that point, not leaving it in there, because you're just asking for a penalty there. 33:13 Yeah, well, hopefully this weekend they can get a little better with that. 33:17 Jess was asking in the Mixler Chat, and I kind of agree, but how important is this weekend for pairwise Vego? 33:25 And any kind of non-conference game is important. 33:29 It might not be able to help them a lot, but it could really hurt them if they tie or lose a game. 33:36 Yeah, if they lose this comparison here, that's bad news. 33:40 You want to hold this comparison over the ECAC. 33:43 It's going to be your only one for the season. 33:47 I think it's important not to lose the weekend. 33:51 I think it's important that they sweep and that they sweep convincingly. 33:54 Well, they can win and tie or they can split, but it's really bad for them in the pairwise if they were to lose the weekend. 34:01 Yeah, that's not good. 34:06 I don't expect that to happen. 34:07 If we're going to predictions already, I think they're going to sweep. 34:11 I think we saw enough out of this team last weekend that they're trending in the right direction. 34:17 You can't overstate how difficult those series were against Minnesota State and North Dakota. 34:21 Those are teams that are hard for Minnesota to play against when they're playing well. 34:26 When they come off a break like they did, those games are really a big challenge for them. 34:30 I think we saw some progress there, and any time that the special teams and goal tendeity is doing well, they've got a chance to be successful. 34:39 We've got a question via the Mixler chat. 34:41 I think it's Thompson with another new name. 34:43 I'm not really sure, but 20 years ago today, Gopher's retired, Mayessage's number, old number eight. 34:48 Should there be any other numbers retired guys? 34:51 Broughton, Pat McAleady? 34:52 He kind of wonders, should there be any requirements for a player's number to be retired? 35:00 What do you think, Veegs? 35:02 I'm kind of in the anti-retiring numbers camp. 35:06 I like that they do have Mayessage, who's so important to the program, retired, but I don't like the idea of retiring lots of numbers. 35:15 I think the way that Minnesota has the murals up, I think that's the cred that you want. 35:22 You want guys, I think, kind of wearing numbers that tie you to history. 35:27 When you have someone who wears number seven, they're wearing it honoring Neil Broughton. 35:34 You've got guys who are wearing number nine, they think Johnny Pole, 26, Wheeler, Vannick. 35:42 You want that history in your program, I think, and I think that ties it together. 35:45 I think when you put it up in the rafters, you're kind of distancing yourself from that. 35:50 Any thoughts on retired numbers, Hamie? 35:54 Yeah, I mean, I guess I agree with the mural way of looking at things, but I also think if you're going to retire a number, you have to do something that's truly, you know, special. 36:06 And I think that we've had a lot of great players come through here. 36:11 But I don't know that there's a guy that I would say, you know, especially nowadays when players leave early after, you know, having a little bit of success. 36:21 I mean, it would have to be a guy that really stuck around for, you know, all four seasons or at least three great seasons and truly made some kind of a major impact on the program with, you know, Hobie Baker and national championships and maybe all time, you know, in that vicinity of the all time scoring record or whatever it might be from whatever, depending on the position. 36:46 But to me, it's that kind of guy that maybe you honor. 36:49 I mean, that's why Mayessich makes so much sense, given all that he's done for Minnesota hockey, not just for Gophers, but just hockey in general. 36:57 That makes a lot of sense. 36:58 But to me, you're not going to retire the number of a player, unless he does something spectacular, given all the great players that have come through the program over the years. 37:09 Mote thinks if they did, it should be brought in. 37:13 The thing is, would it have been brought in by two seasons? 37:16 One season he was 14, the other he was number 7? 37:19 Did he maybe play three? 37:21 I can't remember. 37:23 Right, because obviously he took, you know... 37:26 He was 14 his freshman year, but everyone really kind of remembers him more as number 7, Veegs. 37:31 Yeah, and I think that's the hard thing with, you know, retiring numbers is what is your standard? 37:37 And I agree if you do retire, it's got to be almost more than because of what they did on the ice. 37:42 It's what they did to the program or the state of hockey in general. 37:47 But I just love the idea of it, you know, tying the history together and, you know, who wore your jersey before you? 37:53 Yeah. 37:54 Big retirement today. 37:55 Paul Martin decided to call it quits after a great career. 37:59 Never won the Stanley Cup, but boy, he was a solid defenseman hammie. 38:04 Yeah, I mean, it's interesting because it takes me back to, you know, I'll never forget their championship, their first championship year, you know, when they broke that long spell and being at the media day. 38:18 And, you know, some of these guys now, like I remember talking with Ballard that day, and now, you know, he's retired from pro hockey, and now Martin's retired, and you start to think to yourself about just how much time has passed over the years and how many players have come and gone. 38:36 And it just kind of blows you away, you know, how time flies. 38:41 And he certainly had a great career, is a great athlete. 38:46 People tend to forget that, you know, he didn't have the greatest first half of his freshman year. 38:51 He didn't really contribute a lot offensively. 38:54 And, you know, he kind of needed that. 38:56 Everybody used to talk about, I mean, nowadays, everybody expects freshmen to be immediate impact. 39:02 But back then, it was almost like we had more patience and you let guys kind of get to their sophomore year, at least partway through it. 39:09 Exactly. 39:10 Back then, you know, he struggled a bit in the first half of his freshman year. 39:15 And then he kind of came on towards the end. 39:16 And, you know, it just kind of vaulted him into the next few seasons where they have won national titles. 39:21 So a great player and certainly deserves all the accolades that he gets. 39:27 Both Don and Bob have some good words to say about Paul today, huh, Veegs? 39:32 Yeah, there's been a lot of good... 39:34 Paul Bon Martin, there's also a story from Russo in the Athletic Today that kind of talked to a lot of guys that Paul played with in his angel career with what they thought of him in the locker room. 39:45 And, you know, he was a real good team player. 39:47 He had a lot of skill, a lot of talent, and when he went in the NHL, he became more of a complimentary guy. 39:53 Somebody who played responsible and played calm and allowed his partners to really shine. 39:59 And he's done a lot for the program. 40:01 He's stuck around the Marriott Arena in the summers to train, worked with Cal Vietz every summer. 40:09 He's a guy who's contributed money to the program. 40:12 He's one of the few, actually. 40:14 Yeah, he's been really loyal to the University of Minnesota. 40:19 And they're lucky to have him. 40:22 A lot of guys were not big fans of Lucia, so they never really wanted to participate in that kind of thing. 40:29 But Martin will always... 40:32 I believe they gave him stuff and got some equipment or hot tubs or whatever it was. 40:37 Saunas. 40:38 Sauna, there you go. 40:40 All kinds of stuff down there. 40:41 But I think guys like Paul Martin is a big reason why a lot of players come back in the summer to train at Mariucci, because I think he started that. 40:50 He got his buddies to skate with him. 40:52 He brought in some NHLers with him to up the talent level a little bit. 40:57 He's one of the guys they can thank for having that happen during the year. 41:02 It is. 41:03 A nice, solid career. 41:05 He's not a superstar, but boy, that's one thing I liked about him, Hammeh, is that he was so consistent back on the D. 41:13 So consistent. 41:15 Yeah, I mean, I think it's because he wasn't super flashy kind of guy. 41:20 He didn't really skate circles around people and dangle and do all that kind of stuff. 41:25 He just made a lot of smart plays. 41:28 I think we all remember in that second national championship when he made that diving play against Michigan. 41:35 You know what I mean? 41:36 That was certainly one of the great plays that we all remember defensively in that era especially. 41:44 That was a huge play. 41:45 We all remember he saved a goal at a key time. 41:49 So it's just those kinds of things that you remember. 41:52 It might not be the flashy plays like we remember with Vanec, especially his freshman year, but he made a lot of great plays that helped that program. 42:02 And certainly that's the kind of defensive core that we hope to rebuild into what we had back in those days. 42:10 Boy, it would be nice to have that kind of defensive core, wouldn't it, Veegs? 42:14 Yeah, they might have some good players coming along here, but they just got to get that system in place. 42:22 We'll just have to wait and see, I guess. 42:24 So Veegs, you're working on something for the athletic side, your little Tommy Novak stuff? 42:29 Yeah, little Tommy Novak stuff. 42:31 Hopefully people will understand what he's been going through the last couple of years, and the talent is there. 42:37 So we'll get to take a look at some clips and hear some quotes. 42:41 So maybe sometime later this week that will be coming out on the athletic? 42:45 Yeah, but I think it will be out Friday. 42:47 Well, there you go. 42:48 Remember, you can always follow Vegoe at eVegoe on Twitter and follow him on the athletic and when he's writing for GPL. 42:55 Hammy, he's always keeping track of all these recruits, guys. 42:58 You got to follow him as well at Hammy Hockey. 43:02 And we'll be back next week to hopefully recap a nice sweep. 43:09 Well, we can only hope so. 43:10 A nice sweep of St. 43:12 Lawrence. 43:13 And then on to a Thanksgiving feast with Michigan State here at Mariucci Arena. 43:19 Thanks for listening.