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, Vigo and your host, Jupiter. 0:45 Good evening, and welcome to The GPL Podcast, episode number 145. 0:54 Well, guys, it was a good weekend for once. 0:58 I mean, this is the first sweep they've had all year. 1:01 They go to Notre Dame, a really, well, been a pretty good team. 1:06 And they sweep them, Veegs, what the heck? 1:10 Hey, get some good goaltending from Matt Robson, and look out, the team came out playing their game on Friday, really stuck to it. 1:20 It took a while for them to get the second and third goals, but getting a lead against Notre Dame is really important. 1:27 And when you have good goaltending, everybody keeps the faith, and paid off for them again on Saturday. 1:33 On Friday night, they obviously had the offense, Tami, but like Vigo says, I think Robson was even more important on Saturday night. 1:43 Yeah, we know, of course, that good goaltending has to be the backbone of a team. 1:47 I mean, if you're going to go anywhere, especially in the playoffs, I think that's going to be very important. 1:51 So having a guy playing really well in that position is hopefully he continues on because I think he's definitely going to be a big piece of the puzzle if they're going to get anywhere when it comes to the playoffs. 2:06 And we got a few guys scoring goals this weekend. 2:09 We got McLaughlin on the board with a couple goals and of course we got Mr. 2:13 Novak Veegs and I'm just going to say it right now, I called it pure luck, but I did call it that he would score Friday night, he did. 2:20 And it's got to be a relief for that kid. 2:24 I mean, he's obviously a great passer. 2:26 He loves setting things up, but Veegs, it's really great that he finally got one in the back of the net. 2:31 Well, I think it's more relief than anything for him. 2:35 He's a player, he's getting scoring chances, he's taking shots, maybe thinking pass first and then shooting its times. 2:44 But for him to finally get a goal has got to be just comforting. 2:49 And hopefully now in his game, maybe it gets a little more a component that shows up from night to night, the goal scoring. 2:57 But he is key for this Gophers offense. 2:59 And it shows up on the power play every night. 3:02 Sometimes it just takes a little while, I think, for him to get the goal scoring touch going. 3:06 Yeah, it had been a very long time since Novak had scored Hammy. 3:12 Well, it was almost a year ago. 3:13 We were very close. 3:16 You would know better than I would. 3:18 Obviously, I knew he hadn't this year. 3:20 But yeah, I mean, I don't know. 3:24 It's disappointing considering what he came into college, you know, the expectations. 3:28 He was never going to be a big goal scorer per se because he never was really that kind of a player, but certainly expected more offensive production to this point in his college career, and it just really hasn't been there yet. 3:41 So maybe he has a big half, you know, second half of the season and finishes off his career well, but hasn't been a, you know, gangbusters. 3:51 Of course, some of that's injury related too. 3:53 So you have to give him a little bit of a pass on some of that. 3:56 Yeah, I think that was a big part of it last year with him. 3:59 You know, the injuries just built up coming off the ACL, you know, injuring his wrists, you know, to the point where he'd need surgery and then shoulder injuries, you know, he's dealt with a lot trying to get back to health. 4:12 Well, I guess the most important thing is I need to thank Mr. 4:15 Rick Pizzo and our boy Cappy at the Big Ten Network for giving me a shout out for my little prediction Friday nights. 4:22 That was something nice they didn't have to do and I appreciated it. 4:25 Yeah, as if we needed your head to get any bigger. 4:30 Hey, I never get anything right. 4:32 I'm always going, you know, back to the old days, hey, we're going to sweep every weekend and my predictions suck, so it's nice to get one thing right once in a while. 4:40 Okay, I'll give you that. 4:42 But you know, I think another key this weekend, Veegs, is McLaughlin got on the board and he had some big goals. 4:49 It wasn't just his first goals. 4:50 It was really important goals. 4:53 Well, I think his lines have been playing with so much confidence lately. 4:57 And you know, I think they need him to be one of those depth scores of the team. 5:02 I think that's something they thought he would add when he joined the roster. 5:06 And the thing with him as well is, you know, he had that high ankle sprain in the first half of the year, and I think it really held him back. 5:13 He didn't have that extra step to get free and get goals. 5:16 And he's a player who's gonna be a scorer for this team. 5:20 And, you know, maybe this is a sign of things to come. 5:22 You know, these freshmen aren't freshmen anymore. 5:24 They've played a lot. 5:26 They're finding confidence. 5:27 And I think they're almost going to the net more than some of the veteran players. 5:32 Vig says, is this team slowly coming together like Matzko said at, you know, the first opening conference this year? 5:39 He said, you know, it's gonna take us a little while, but maybe after Christmas, hopefully we'll start getting things together and doing what he wants them to do. 5:46 Are they starting to get there? 5:48 I still don't know if they're coming together. 5:51 I think they're learning what they have to do to be successful, and that's rely on their goaltending, rely on their special teams, stay out of the penalty box, and just stick to it, because I think there's enough talent on this team up front to score goals, and they've all shown that they can do it in their past. 6:09 And now we've got some freshmen who are acclimating into the college game. 6:13 You know, Sammy Walker's a player who's been probably the most consistent player on the roster right next to Matt Robson. 6:21 And as long as they can stick to that formula, they're gonna be in good shape the rest of the way. 6:27 You know, you look at some of the bad games they've had, it's where they get stuck taking bad penalties and when they make turnovers. 6:35 And if they can avoid those things, they're gonna be successful. 6:38 Now, Hammy, you're looking at how the team is finally coming along. 6:43 Obviously, that's positive. 6:45 Usually, we're not so excited over a weekend sweep on the road, but in these last few years, it hasn't happened often. 6:52 I mean, I think it happened at Wisconsin last year and technically Michigan State last year, but we hadn't even had any sweeps this year, even against lesser competition. 7:01 So it's gotta be a pretty nice positive to come out of that series with Notre Dame with six points. 7:09 Well, definitely. 7:10 We've also had a little bit, I mean, every year is different, of course, but Notre Dame's had a pretty good team in recent years. 7:17 We haven't been super successful against them. 7:20 I'm definitely excited about sort of the momentum we're seeing. 7:25 And I mean, for me this year was all about just seeing what the new culture was gonna be like and what kind of an impact it would be. 7:32 And I knew it wasn't gonna happen right away, but you kinda wanna start to see some progress and especially with some of the younger guys, since they're the ones that are gonna be around. 7:40 And I think we're starting to see some of those guys make some of that progress. 7:46 So it's that step you wanna see in that, either the second half of their freshman year or that first half of their sophomore year. 7:53 We're starting to see some of that with some of these guys. 7:55 And I think that's a great sign for the future. 7:57 And hopefully, you can't read too much into any one weekend. 8:01 So obviously it would be disappointing if all of a sudden they lay an egg this weekend, but hopefully they continue the momentum. 8:09 It doesn't necessarily mean it's a straight line every game, every week, but you hope that they keep that momentum going and they keep growing as a program. 8:19 Well, let's get into a few questions. 8:21 Remember, if you're listening live on Mixler, you just jump into the chat and ask us a question. 8:26 Or if you're on Twitter, just use the hashtag GPL Podcast and we'll try to get to all the questions. 8:33 I see one right here in the Mixler chat from Frozen 4 Champs. 8:36 He says, is Norman banged up or is he out of the fourth-line rotation? 8:42 He's banged up. 8:44 He took a shot to the lower body and has kind of been out of line up here for a little bit. 8:50 Probably be back sometime soon, but injury-related. 8:55 Same thing for Romanko, injury-related, lower body, still a couple of weeks on him. 9:01 And as a result, they've had to shuffle the lines quite a bit and that's where Novak ended up. 9:06 You know, we know that Novak hadn't been performing, but he got put back on the fourth line when Romanko went out and that actually worked out pretty well for him, didn't it, Veegs? 9:18 Yeah, I think Novak can be a good player to play with. 9:22 He can hold the puck and distribute to guys and create a little offense with anybody, I think. 9:28 So it's worked out okay. 9:29 I think the other thing that they've discovered is that Reedy and Ramsey can be a good combo as well as a checking line. 9:36 Yeah, definitely. 9:37 Well, let's set up some more questions from Twitter. 9:39 I see Dennis Nelson asked earlier today, what Big Ten road trip venue is the best? 9:46 Tips and suggestions might travel this weekend. 9:49 So he's kind of wondering, what are the best road trips in Big Ten? 9:52 I mean, I know quite a few of us have done a lot of the WCHA road trips. 9:58 I know you and me, Veegs, we've been to quite a few venues and I'm sure you have too, Hammeh, but Big Ten's a little different. 10:04 I mean, a lot of us have been to Wisconsin, but what about some of the other places? 10:07 Have you had a chance to visit the other places, Veegs? 10:10 You know, I haven't so much. 10:11 I've heard lots of good things about Yost Arena. 10:14 You know, one of the big things about that place is it's a little bit smaller, it's really historic, it's an older building. 10:21 There's lots of good brewery things to do in Ann Arbor. 10:26 So I think that's a good road trip, but I haven't gone to many Big Ten places as a fan. 10:32 And another thing is too is that we're all older now. 10:37 It's tough to get hit the road and spend a weekend off wherever when you have, like in your case, Veegs, you got young kids, me, I'm just old. 10:48 It's a little different these days. 10:49 We don't get out of the road as much as we used to. 10:52 Yeah, road tripping requires a little freedom. 10:54 And my freedom is a nice little road trip to St. 10:57 Cloud or Duluth here and there, but it's a little bit harder when you get to pack the bags and go to South Bend or Ann Arbor. 11:04 I know Michigan State, probably easy to get tickets for that one, and Ohio State, probably the same thing. 11:10 The atmosphere might not be the same, but I know Michigan, Notre Dame, Penn State would be great spots to go in terms of arena atmosphere and the fans. 11:20 Famous statistician, Rob Schiel, I was talking with him today and he says, we're thinking about maybe either doing Penn State or Michigan next year. 11:28 Just hit the road and go see some BigTen Hockey because like I said, I've never been in any of those places either. 11:36 I've been to Madison. 11:37 Madison's fine, but I would like to try some other places. 11:41 Hammy, have you been to any of the BigTen places? 11:43 When's the last time you went on a road trip? 11:45 Other than Madison, I haven't. 11:47 I mean, obviously that's because of the, we've been playing with those guys forever. 11:56 So in terms of the other, I haven't been, I'd kind of like to go to Yoast. 12:01 I'd like to see a game up there, but I just really haven't, like for the same reasons that you guys mentioned, I mean, part of it, it's just general life stuff. 12:11 It's, we all know it's not as convenient as WCHA, but it is what it is. 12:16 So, excuse me. 12:17 So, I mean, I would like to do a few of those and it'd be kind of cool to go out to Penn State to see their rank and all that. 12:24 So, I mean, I think that there's some great places to go. 12:27 It's just, obviously, you're not gonna be going to multiple ones every year because at least most people aren't. 12:36 So, it's gonna be more of a onesie per year kind of a thing. 12:40 And frankly, just because of life and career stuff just haven't really got around to some of that. 12:45 Maybe a podcast gang trip to Yost, live broadcast from Yost. 12:53 All right, exactly. 12:54 I'll start pitching it, don't worry. 12:59 All right, well, Nate Wells, he's still listening. 13:04 Man, you know he's out in New York these days. 13:06 And of course, he kind of went more NHL, but definitely go for related. 13:09 He goes, does Minnesota's NHL team, trading a Minnesota alum who was Mr. 13:14 Hockey three days before Hockey Day, Minnesota, go against the spirit of the holiday? 13:20 Obviously, some of you hadn't heard tonight, Mr. 13:23 Kloos was traded from the wild. 13:25 Obviously, he's down at Iowa right now to Anaheim, I believe, Veegs? 13:30 Correct, Anaheim. 13:35 Bad for him, obviously, but it's a business, isn't it? 13:38 I mean, that's just kind of how things go. 13:40 We'll see how well it goes. 13:42 I mean, I don't see, I saw someone on Twitter, is this going to be another Letty situation? 13:47 I don't see that happening at all. 13:49 Kloos is... 13:50 Might be a little sarcasm there. 13:51 Yeah, I hope so. 13:53 I mean, Kloos was one of my favorite gophers of the last 10 years. 13:58 He was so honest with us after games. 14:00 He bled maroon and gold. 14:04 So that's why, I know he was one of my favorites. 14:06 I'm sure he was one of your favorites too, Veegs. 14:09 Yeah, and it's probably a good opportunity for Kloos to get some fresh eyes and maybe get to a franchise that's in a different kind of rebuilding. 14:16 It seems like Boos Boudreaux never really had a place for Kloos in his lineup. 14:21 He likes to have a little bit of heaviness out of his bottom couple players, and that's not really something Kloos is gonna do. 14:29 He's gonna bring you a good hard effort, great legs, great speed, can play all over the lineup, and just never really got a good look here in Minnesota. 14:38 As we saw with Vegas, sometimes a fresh look is really good for a lot of players. 14:44 It is, it is. 14:45 Hammy, what are your thoughts about that Kloos coming down? 14:49 Do you really follow the NHL as much as you used to? 14:51 I mean, I don't to that level, but I mean, you know, I... 14:58 I... 15:02 Did we lose Hammy? 15:06 Uh-oh. 15:08 We're having some more problems again here tonight with... 15:13 Are you back there? 15:14 Can you hear me? 15:15 Yeah, there you are. 15:16 Having connection problems again. 15:17 It's weird. 15:18 Well, as I was saying, I, you know, I'm disappointed because I wanted to watch him here. 15:24 And he's been one of my favorite gopher players in the last, you know, 15, 20 years. 15:29 So, but if it gives him a better opportunity, you know, in the long run, as far as being able to get some NHL time, you know, that'd be the hope, you know. 15:39 So if it's going to provide him with more opportunity, then I think it's great. 15:44 I'm sure his family is a little disappointed because they probably felt like I'd see him more conveniently if he did get called up. 15:51 So, but you know, we'll see what happens and hopefully it works out for the best for him because I definitely like him as a player and I think he still has an opportunity to show something on that level. 16:02 Veegs, are you still with us? 16:04 Yep, I'm still here. 16:05 Okay, just making sure because it looks like we had a little more connection problems again. 16:09 Probably something on my end, who knows? 16:10 Doesn't matter, got you back. 16:14 Well, I was leaving this question to the last just because of who he is, but the old Sal Paradise from prideonice.com, Matt Barron has a question for us. 16:23 And obviously, all three of us know about the old prideonice.com, it's where all of us initially came together all those years ago, back in the late 90s and early 2000s. 16:34 But he wants to know, he says, I think consensus is that this team just isn't very good. 16:41 Were Lucia's recruits highly regarded but just didn't pan out? 16:45 Or did Lucia recruit better players, or yeah, did recruit better players but couldn't land them? 16:53 Or are they just young and we just don't know how they were turned out? 16:56 What do you think, Cami? 16:57 I mean, I don't know if this team's terrible, but kind of the situation we're in is some of recruiting errors. 17:06 Yeah, I mean, I think for me, it's mostly defensively where we took a step back. 17:11 I don't think that the forward group is really all that bad. 17:14 And I think certainly goaltending, we feel pretty good about what we've got there. 17:19 But I think defensively, we, I always used to say that what separated the really great programs from kind of like the teams that would be sort of competitive every few years, but then drop off is how well they recruited defensively. 17:33 Because to me, those upper level defensemen are a little bit harder to replace. 17:38 And some teams just do a better job either because of their name recognition, program status, whatever you might want to call it, or coaches, or they are able to recruit those players more consistently. 17:49 And I think that that's kind of where we fell off to a degree in recent years. 17:55 I think certainly there was some mistakes. 17:57 I think we've seen, you know, even the pipeline, there's been guys that have been kind of cut by the current coaching staff that weren't panning out. 18:06 You know, and I've mentioned this on GPL, you know, we've got an ex-coach that's up in Northern Michigan that definitely played a pretty significant role in some of that. 18:15 And I think that, you know, Lucia gets grief because of course he's the head guy and he made the final call on things. 18:22 But I think that sometimes people point the finger a little bit, you know, too much at him and realize that, you know, it's kind of a team effort when it comes to your decisions on, you know, who you bring in and who you offer. 18:35 And then Vig Sal kind of finished up by saying, either way, the cupboards seem bare. 18:41 Is it really that dire? 18:43 Well, I think the forward group still has a lot of talent in there, but finding the right mix of players maybe has been a challenge for them. 18:52 But I think Hammy is hitting it right on the head with the defense. 18:55 You know, the looking at the best Minnesota teams, that's they had players on defense who could join the rush, start the rush, be one man power play breakouts, you know, some of the elite players in college hockey. 19:09 And one of the things I think was Minnesota hasn't developed some of those premier defensemen in the last couple of years in general. 19:18 It's a reason why Minnesota was in on some other players like Dante Fabro. 19:23 You know, they were in on him till the end. 19:26 You know, they were looking for other defensemen to add to this pool. 19:30 And it's just been, they've had maybe some misses with players that they've recruited who didn't develop quite what they wanted to. 19:37 You know, you look at college hockey right now, if you look at the pairwise, there's schools like Minnesota, Michigan, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Boston College, Boston University, who all will be missing the tournament unless they turn things around. 19:53 And I think a lot of it comes down to they had a lot of early commits who they've maintained ties to and those players maybe came in too soon or didn't pan out. 20:06 And it's really impacted their programs because you just can't turn that over very quickly. 20:10 You look at some of the schools who wait a little bit longer, like St. 20:13 Cloud State, they've been able to develop some defensemen who committed when they're later, like Jack Ashaw and Jimmy Schult. 20:21 Those guys didn't commit, I think, until they were about 17, 18. 20:24 And you knew what they were going to be when they came to college and they've been able to count on them. 20:29 But some of the guys that the Gophers have picked up didn't develop at the pace they expected, maybe got brought on too soon. 20:36 And it's been an issue for this team and an issue for last year's team. 20:41 And you mentioned the Boston schools. 20:43 And to see that Maine went into a Boston college tonight and beat them 7-2, there's a lot more trouble there than there is here in Minnesota right now. 20:54 Yeah, and those are the same kind of schools like Minnesota in terms of how they recruit. 20:59 So I think one of the things we look at is what Bob Motska is going to do with this program. 21:04 You know, he's not going to have 25, 30 kids committed to his program. 21:09 He's probably going to have 10, 15 committed to his program. 21:13 And then every year, he's going to be waiting for some of these guys to add, you know, as they get closer to the year. 21:19 And hopefully, you know, you have a more sure thing coming into college at that point. 21:25 Definitely. 21:26 You get any other thoughts on that, Hammy? 21:27 I think he covered it pretty well. 21:30 Well, I mean, yeah, I it's always going to be a little bit of a crapshoot. 21:34 You're not going to hit, you know, a bad a thousand, so to speak, on all your recruits. 21:39 So you kind of have to be a little bit level-headed in that sense. 21:43 But there's considering the amount of talent that comes out of this state, there's always going to be players, you know, on other teams that you're like, well, I didn't the Gophers get that guy or, you know, I mean, you're always going to hear that every year or, you know, did we recruit that guy and whatever? 21:58 It's like you do have to make your choices. 22:01 You know, you don't have endless amounts of scholarship and opportunity. 22:05 So you have to do the best you can. 22:06 And sometimes you just don't quite hit as well as you do in other times. 22:11 So I think that the staff will be doing a pretty good job. 22:15 I think they had a pretty good pipeline with some guys. 22:17 I think, like I mentioned earlier, I think some of the guys that they were concerned about, obviously, they kind of cut bait on and I think that that's kind of a fortunate thing because the new coach doesn't have any, he's not breaking any promises, so to speak. 22:30 So it's nice for him to be able to make those kinds of decisions and at least, you know, maybe some of the guys that they did cut ties on, they can still have plenty of time to maybe find other opportunities elsewhere. 22:43 So hopefully it works out for everybody pretty well. 22:46 Yeah, I think you're going to continue to see him get a guy every class, like a Mike Castor for next season or Ryan Johnson the season after that, you know, guys who are, you know, top of their age group. 22:57 But I think what you're not going to see is a coach who has this entire recruiting class spoken for two years before they sign their analyze. 23:06 And I think that's going to be something Modsco is just not going to do. 23:12 Well, I'd be curious just because of some of the recruiting changes and if that's going to be more of a NCAA wide kind of a thing as opposed to just what we're going to do here. 23:23 I think that they would all probably prefer to do it that way. 23:26 It's just a matter of once you have one guy kind of bending things and the other guys want to do it and it becomes a competitive environment and people don't always make the right decisions in the long haul. 23:39 Just keep in mind the only thing that's official is the analyze. 23:42 So you can always flip guys who have committed somewhere else. 23:45 Right. 23:45 And I think that that's probably going to happen a little bit more. 23:48 We're still hoping for brink. 23:51 Still a year away. 23:53 People leave. 23:54 There's some people chatting on GPL this week talking about them, like, just relax, people. 24:00 Well, that's all we had the Twitter questions that we have. 24:02 But if any of you guys listening in the Mixler chat have any questions for us, send them our way and we'll try to get to them. 24:08 But before that, let's hear from our sponsor. 24:12 vintagemnhockey.com is a proud sponsor of The GPL Podcast. 24:17 Well, what is Vintage MN Hockey? 24:20 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. 24:30 All information about any of those teams can be found on vintagemnhockey.com. 24:35 They also have great interviews with some historical Minnesota hockey figures like John Maestich and Lou Nani, Glenn Sonmore, some of the greats of Minnesota hockey. 24:44 So make sure you check out those interviews. 24:46 It's a really great thing. 24:47 But as I always say, I think my favorite part is the store. 24:51 The store, you can buy custom historical jersey from the Gophers or the Bulldogs or some of your favorite high school teams. 24:58 And if you do make a purchase, just use the code GPL Podcast, all one word, and you'll get 10% off your order. 25:06 So make sure you visit vintagemnhockey.com and follow them on Twitter at VintageMNHockey. 25:13 Well, the past couple Mondays, the Gopher Hockey Team has been out in the public with some outdoor practices or actually one was indoor and one was outdoor. 25:22 Last Monday or the previous Monday, they were up in Roseville. 25:25 And this past Monday, they were in St. 25:28 Louis Park in their little outdoor arena or rink, which is a beautiful facility. 25:32 It's great ice and nice covering, great lighting, everything. 25:38 Veegs, something a little different from the team that we haven't seen in the, since I can remember, they're actually getting out there into the public and something different than, you know, just the skate with the Gophers. 25:51 It's, you know, just more interaction and, you know, out in the public and it's something we haven't seen. 25:56 Yeah, I know that with the loyalty program, they tried to take the skate with the Gophers and make it a more exclusive event for the season ticket holders. 26:06 What they wanted to do with that is make it a reward for people who get season tickets. 26:11 But at the same time, the program still wanted to get out and see the fans who aren't season ticket holders and really engage them in a different way. 26:19 And I think the administration, the marketing people, the coaches all realized that has to happen for this fan base to be rebuilt. 26:28 You know, you're going after a lot of kids who have no idea what the WCHA Final Five at Xcel Energy Center would be like. 26:36 And getting those experiences where they connect with the players, that's priceless for them. 26:41 And the university is hoping those kids show up and fill the building some days. 26:46 So they've got a leader right now, Bob Motzko, who's really on board with that. 26:51 And he's doing all he can to build enthusiasm and positivity around the program. 26:56 And I think it's fun for the players to see what it means for everybody to get up and close with the Golden Gophers. 27:03 And the one thing it also does is that it gets them out in the media and more awareness. 27:07 I mean, Eric Perkins was there for, I would say, a good hour. 27:12 He was there to interview Motzko before everything started, and he sat and watched it for a while. 27:17 That's a lot of things they haven't been getting recently is that extra media pub that we used to get all the time. 27:23 So I mean, I was there. 27:24 I snapped quite a few photos. 27:26 It was a fun night. 27:26 I could be on the bench there and hear some of the banter. 27:29 It was quite fun. 27:30 And then they opened the door, and all these little kids come out, and it was just a good time. 27:36 Hammy, I'm sorry, but we never saw that with Lucia. 27:39 Just nothing like that. 27:42 Well, I mean, I don't want to put it all on him, because I'm sure a lot of this stuff is just as much somebody's idea in a marketing role as opposed to anything else. 27:51 You know, I don't know that he would have gone for it, of course, but I think that, you know, when you're making these kinds of changes and some of these things have gone on in recent years, you kind of have to, you know, build some more goodwill, do some things that are a little bit different. 28:06 And I think certainly, you know, I think when we think about go for hockey at its best, you know, there's a certain amount of, you know, it's kind of woven in the fabric of the hockey community, you know, go for hockey in general, you know, not just in the Metro, but in general. 28:21 And they have to kind of get back to that. 28:25 I know there are other, of course, other teams in the state, but I mean, you have to be able to build on that goodwill and outreach, so to speak. 28:33 So I think it's great that they're doing this. 28:34 And I hope they keep continuing, you know, looking for new opportunities to promote the program and create that goodwill. 28:42 I definitely think part of this is bringing more of the promotions and sales in-house. 28:47 You know, that was something that under previous ADs, they haven't even had to think about. 28:52 And now they've got committees who are really focused on how do we improve things. 28:57 And you'll see it here with the Wisconsin series when they do the throwback pricing. 29:01 You know, that's something they can do tangible that the fans will appreciate. 29:06 And I actually wanted to get into that a little bit, not just the throwback pricing, but they're kind of kicking it up for this week or for the next weekend against the Badgers. 29:14 You know, they do have the throwback pricing on the food, not the tickets, people. 29:19 One step at a time. 29:21 But also, Hammeh, they're also bringing back the 1979 championship team to celebrate. 29:26 They're really pushing this for people to get out there and show off, not just buy tickets, but you already have tickets. 29:33 Please come out and watch the game because, you know, for one thing, the team's pretty good. 29:38 We're celebrating 40 years of our 79 championships all around. 29:44 It will be a good weekend to come out, Hammeh. 29:47 Well, I mean, I agree. 29:49 I think it will be fun. 29:50 I think it's, you know, I think you kind of have to touch on some of those historical elements. 29:54 People obviously value that, especially when you've had these kind of conference changes in recent years and you have a certain segment that complained about that, but you want to at least kind of continue to connect with your past. 30:07 And that's one of the things that we've always talked about as being kind of an advantage in go for hockey is having that, you know, tradition and being able to build on those elements. 30:16 And I think this is, you know, these kinds of things are great for them to do. 30:22 And Veegs, one thing I've always enjoyed is that a lot of these guys haven't seen each other in years, but in true hockey style, when you get these guys back together, they are giving each other grief as if they were still in the locker room two minutes ago. 30:38 That's the great thing about getting your teammates back together. 30:42 I had a chance to get back together with a bunch of my teammates last Saturday. 30:45 It wasn't for as fun a reason, but you just start telling the same stories that you told 15, 20 years ago, and they all come out and everybody's still got the same personality quirks, and you can really needle them just the same way. 30:59 I remember getting stuck in an elevator with, I want to say, the 80 Olympic guys when they were celebrating them a few years ago, and there's Neil Broughton and Bill Baker, and these guys are just going after each other in the very slow elevator ride up back to the top. 31:14 And I'm glad they're starting to do this, because we've talked about the last few years that the alumni have really kind of stayed away. 31:23 We think some of us, you know, angry with some of the Lucia stuff and whatever, but it is really important, Veegs, that we get these guys back in the building. 31:35 Well, there just is that situation where if there's not enough communication between two people, one side is just going to make it up anyway. 31:44 And I think that's part of what happens here is these people have just stayed away for so long just because they didn't hear much on the other side. 31:52 So they make up their own story and get a little resentful. 31:55 And, you know, I think that's one of the big challenges for Bob is to get that alumni group back together, because all those people live around here still. 32:04 They're all very opinionated about hockey and the game and the program and where it should be going. 32:09 And they're not shy about sharing those opinions. 32:11 So that's that's kind of the beast you have to deal with with this group. 32:15 But it's a beast that's very passionate. 32:18 And I think as this program continues to regain its footing, it's going to be an important part for them. 32:24 Frozen Four Champs just asked, will the Blue Line Club ever be brought back? 32:31 From what I don't know the exact story, but from what I know, they sort of took that in house. 32:38 But they're not really doing anything with it. 32:40 I know they just kind of, you know, the nice ladies that were running it were asked not to run it anymore from what I understand, Veegs. 32:50 Yeah, it was just kind of an organization that I think lost its leadership and lost its aim and, you know, it's having a hard time running successful events. 32:58 You know, maybe it just had run out of steam. 33:01 So in-house, I think the only two successful booster programs are the Goal Line Club, really, for football and the Dunkers a little bit, which is more of a business networking group. 33:14 Well, let's get into this weekend, guys. 33:15 We're heading out to Michigan State and after a nice sweep in Notre Dame, Hammey, we can't have a letdown this weekend. 33:25 Michigan State is not a good team. 33:26 They do sometimes play some good games and have beaten the top teams, but overall, Minnesota should really do well against this team. 33:36 Well, we split with them earlier in the year, so I don't want to say too much. 33:39 Granted, that was when I think we weren't playing as well, so I would expect better performance consistently both nights, but yeah, they are. 33:49 Michigan State is better. 33:51 I guess that goes to show where they were in past years. 33:54 They certainly were down, and they've been a little bit better this year. 33:57 They have one real good line that obviously they rely quite heavily on, so I think that it will be really important to make sure that we buckle down on that line and make sure that we kind of take advantage of maybe some of the other opportunities we have in some of those other lines out there. 34:14 So I think that that to me is a big key, is cutting down their opportunities on that line, and of course, you know, continue to get good goaltending and playing good road hockey, so to speak. 34:26 And Veegs just kind of mentions that. 34:27 He says the Gophers need to contain the KHL line. 34:31 Yeah, it's pretty amazing. 34:33 I mean, this line legitimately has half of the goals scored by the Spartans so far this season, which is baffling to me how that's possible. 34:41 You know, three forwards just can't get shut out by other teams. 34:45 You know, there's obviously going to be a lot of attention paid to them, but they caught the Gophers in that second game of their series early in the season. 34:53 And it was just situations where the Gophers were just not conscious enough of who they were out against on the ice, and they made some risky plays that that line is going to put in the back of the net. 35:05 So I think this week in practice, Moscow has been real intentional by telling guys, hey, be aware. 35:12 We cannot let that KHL line beat us. 35:15 And he said, you know, if he had his choice, he wants to put Jack Sadick out against that line. 35:20 But if Sadick comes off of a long shift and is tired, somebody else is going to have to step up and do the job. 35:27 And it's going to take a unit of five to stop them. 35:29 And, you know, just be smart with the puck when they're out there and try to make the KHL line play in their own end a little bit. 35:35 And that's something that the Gophers squad sometimes struggles to do. 35:39 It's just drive, play and force the other team to play defense. 35:43 Maybe don't take the first shooting opportunity that shows itself. 35:47 Cycle the puck a little bit and tire those guys out too. 35:49 It's a lot harder to play defense than it is to play offense. 35:54 It certainly is, especially, you know, we've been seeing it over the past couple of years. 35:58 You harp on it, Veegs. 36:00 You know, we have these forwards coming into the offensive zone. 36:05 They don't have a play. 36:06 They don't dump it. 36:07 They don't pass it. 36:08 They end up losing it at the blue line. 36:09 And all of a sudden it's going back the other day way really quick. 36:12 They seem to be doing better at that, Veegs, but that's what you said. 36:17 They really have to be disciplined on. 36:19 You absolutely cannot make a clean turnover at the offensive blue line, especially when you're trying to preach your team to get defensemen in the rush. 36:28 Because the minute you turn the puck over clean and the team is going the other way, all of a sudden it's going to be a definite odd man rush the other way. 36:36 And you're going to have a hard time getting back pressure. 36:39 So that's a situation where your skilled players, if they're going to turn it over, they just can't turn it over clean. 36:45 And if you're a less skilled player and it's a risky play, you're just pushing bad against bad against the house in that situation. 36:54 Just make the smart play when you're out there against a line like the KHL line. 36:59 And of course, Hammy, we are going to have the people complaining about the Big Ten complaining this weekend because it is a Saturday Sunday series, God forbid. 37:09 Well, I mean, honestly, while I understand people like their live games and whatever, just if you're that worked up about it and you want to watch it in your convenience, then just DVR it. 37:22 You know what I mean? 37:24 I DVR so many things nowadays that it's like I don't, unless it's something really, really important to me as far as a live event, that's usually how I roll when I have opportunity, so I guess I don't usually tend to care as much about some of that stuff. 37:40 I kind of like the 4.30 and 4 o'clock times this weekend, Veegs. 37:43 4.30 on a Saturday afternoon, that's not so bad, especially when we're just going to be watched on TV. 37:50 Yeah, it won't be too bad for me. 37:52 It's a good opportunity for family time around go for hockey, that's for sure. 37:57 Yeah, totally. 38:00 One thing I wanted to talk about, we had this, you even mentioned it last week, Veegs, where Minnesota would be if they happened to sweep this past weekend, if they had won those important games earlier this season. 38:14 And sure enough, Minnesota sweeps Notre Dame. 38:16 There's still like 21 or something in the pair wise, but that St. 38:20 Lawrence and Ferris State losses could really hurt them because where would they be right now, Veegs? 38:27 They would be ninth. 38:29 And I've talked to Bob Motska a little bit this week and he's saying, you know, all I'm doing here is trying to say positive and see if this team can get in the right direction. 38:37 But you can't hide that those two games will haunt them because they would leap into the top ten for pair wise. 38:45 And this would be a much different situation down the stretch. 38:50 Well, you know, it's going to come back to you. 38:53 You're just going to have to win a lot more games than you would have had to win. 38:58 That sweep, obviously, at Notre Dame is a huge deal. 39:03 You win the next four more games, maybe you're going to get way up there. 39:06 That would be nice. 39:07 But you'd be much higher if you wouldn't have lost those other games. 39:10 So no matter what, it's going to be a struggle unless they win their tournament, Amy. 39:15 Right. 39:16 And I don't know. 39:17 And I was thinking about this the other day is that maybe it would be better for this team to have to win their way in. 39:25 I mean, maybe in the long run, of course, you would love to feel comfortable when you get in the playoffs, but maybe that's just something that this team needs to actually earn their way in. 39:35 And if you don't do it, then, hey, that's a lesson you learn for future seasons. 39:40 For me this year, like I said earlier, was just all about seeing the growth and what can happen with the new culture and new leadership. 39:47 And if we got in the NCAAs and all that, that's great and whatever. 39:51 But for me it was more just where is the next turn headed, where are we going for future seasons and what do we see as some of the younger guys as the season progresses and the culture. 40:03 So maybe winning it, having to win your way in, maybe that's something that would be actually beneficial to them. 40:10 Nate Wells is asking, what does Jupe need to do to extend his BTN shout-out streak to two? 40:18 Hashtag GPL Podcast, hashtag miss you guys. 40:21 We're going to have to get Nate on. 40:24 Just so he doesn't miss us as much. 40:26 Does he have an accent already? 40:30 Who knows? 40:31 I don't really think there's anything I can predict. 40:32 I mean, who hasn't scored? 40:38 Oh, I don't know. 40:40 I have to go look. 40:42 Mine was just dumb luck with Novak. 40:45 Novak hits his second goal. 40:46 Who knows? 40:46 You can't really say much. 40:49 So who knows? 40:51 Veegs, what are you working on with the athletic right now? 40:54 Well, I've been interviewing all kinds of people around the hockey program for a big article that should be out next week. 41:01 You'll get all kinds of good information on the program, where it's at, where it's headed, things that they're doing, insights into that process right now. 41:12 Should be a lot of fun. 41:13 I'm hoping to talk to Johnny Pohl this weekend. 41:15 Ooh, nothing wrong with that. 41:20 Yeah, he's one of the guys that came back to the program this year, had a little locker room talk with the boys to give him his perspective on being a gopher. 41:29 And so we'll talk about that a little bit. 41:33 All right, I see Jess asking, we need fake Don Lucia on here. 41:37 I've tried and he feels his voice would give him away. 41:42 So, you know, too many people know who, too many people know the person who plays him. 41:48 They might not know that he plays this person, but he's afraid his voice would give himself away. 41:54 So sorry, Jess, I don't think we're going to have the fake Don on. 41:57 It's just not going to happen. 42:00 So we'll just have to wait and see. 42:02 Maybe one of these days we'll give it up. 42:04 We'll say who it is. 42:06 Not likely. 42:08 Well, you know, that's our show for this week. 42:10 You know, be sure to follow Vigo on Twitter at EVGO and Hammy at Hammy Hockey. 42:15 For those of you listening live, stay tuned for some overtime coming up next. 42:20 For the rest of you, we'll be back next week to recap the Michigan State series and preview the Badgers. 42:26 We'll see you next time on The GPL Podcast.