0:08 This is The GPL Podcast, sponsored by Vintage Minnesota Hockey, your exclusive source for throwback Minnesota jerseys. 0:17 Visit vintagemnhockey.com. 0:30 See. 0:32 Now, here's Hammy, Vegoe and your host, Jupiter. 0:44 Good evening, and welcome to The GPL Podcast, episode number 146. 0:53 Well, it's Badger Week, and when it's Badger Week, we try to get a guest on from Badger Nation, and we didn't do it earlier this year because it was kind of early in the season, but we're having them back because we had them back a couple of other times, but Todd Milewski from the Wisconsin State Journal joins us. 1:10 How are you doing, Todd? 1:11 I'm doing good. 1:12 I've gotten over the rejection of you guys, not having me on earlier this year. 1:18 I've worked through it and yeah, I'm okay. 1:23 Well, maybe we can make it up for you if we go out Friday night and we'll all go out and have a beverage together. 1:27 All right, I think I'll be up for that. 1:30 I figured you would because I assume you're coming up here. 1:33 Yes, I'll be there. 1:34 You're pretty much, you're always at Mariucci. 1:37 They even had cake for you last year, didn't they? 1:40 Was that the year before? 1:42 That was last year. 1:43 My wife sent that along because it was my 40th birthday on the Saturday night game last year. 1:47 And yeah, Deutsch was chirping me today, saying I've got to bring some cake again this year. 1:53 So I've got a lot to live up to, I guess. 1:55 There's no food in the press box anymore. 1:57 So bring a big cake. 1:58 That would be great. 2:00 I'll figure out a way to bring something. 2:02 I hope they're gonna let me in with anything, but I'll hide it. 2:06 We could sneak in somehow. 2:07 We used to sneak in jello shots back in the day. 2:09 So we'll see how that goes. 2:13 Well, on the gopher side, ah, jeez, Hammy. 2:17 Here we're getting all excited, a sweep at Notre Dame, and then they go in and our good friend Nate, gopher state, just been saying forever, and we've been saying forever, boy, the Gophers played at their competition and they did it and they did it really badly this past weekend against Michigan State. 2:35 Yeah, actually the lady I've been dating, Janelle, told me today, boy, you guys are going to have a lot of negativity on the podcast tonight because she listens to it. 2:43 So anyway, you know what? 2:45 It's kind of one of those deals where it's like what we talked about last week. 2:49 If you don't shut down that top line, I mean, they can really roll on you and that's exactly what happened. 2:54 I mean, they had a great weekend against our guys and you know, you didn't play good road hockey. 3:01 I mean, it's one thing to play that open style and be a little bit loose when you're at home, but you kind of have to be a little bit more conservative, I think at times on the road. 3:10 And they just didn't do a good job, especially against that top line. 3:13 And we talked about it, Vegs, all on the last week's podcast and how good this, I was at the KHL line is from Michigan State, the best probably, you know, the best line in the country and they bit us pretty bad. 3:27 Yeah, I didn't think they bit them as bad on Friday night. 3:30 I thought Minnesota got a little bit unlucky Friday night with some deflections that got past Robson and, you know, there just wasn't a lot of juice in the Gopher game to overcome that. 3:42 I asked Mots got a little bit about, you know, what makes the freshmen line so unique? 3:47 And I added, is it because they dumped the puck in and they can go win it back? 3:51 And he's like, obviously you've been watching the games because no other line is able to win pucks back. 3:58 And they just kind of refused to do that. 4:01 They don't like to play a good road hockey game where you put it back, put the other team under pressure and go win puck battles. 4:08 And the freshmen, you know, a bunch of guys, all under 165 pounds are the only ones that want to do that. 4:14 And you know, we've heard that in the past and you know, you don't have to be a big guy to do it, but you know, if you put out a good effort, you can get results and those guys are. 4:22 Yeah, it's amazing. 4:23 You know, some of their most consistent players are some of their smallest. 4:26 And, you know, Nathan Burke is making a good impression in his first year coming from the NHL. 4:32 Sammy Walker, you know, just impressing everybody with how quickly he's adjusted. 4:37 And now Blake McLaughlin's got his legs under him and he's starting to contribute. 4:41 And you'd like to see some of the other lines play a little bit harder. 4:45 You know, I think we saw each line let themselves get choked off, turn the puck over here and there and Michigan State made them pay. 4:54 I do think Michigan State's a little bit better than they've been in the past. 4:58 They have that really dangerous line, but I think overall they're a little bit better than they've been. 5:02 Yeah, they have been better and they have beaten a lot of the top teams as well. 5:07 I know they've beaten Ohio State and whatnot. 5:09 So, I mean, that's been a good thing. 5:12 On the flip side, you've got the Badgers playing Notre Dame this past weekend, you know, a game in Madison and then a game in Chicago. 5:20 Tell us a little bit about that, Todd. 5:22 Well, the game in Madison, well, and I guess really the whole weekend, the Badgers kind of continued this theme of being right there at the end or right there in the third period and not really having either the guns or the wherewithal to get it done. 5:39 And Friday, especially, they were the better team. 5:46 The Badgers were better than Notre Dame that night. 5:48 And I think Jeff Jackson would have admitted that too. 5:53 They just did not have the right combination at the end in a close game. 6:01 Couldn't get the goal that they had been getting earlier in the game. 6:04 It locked up. 6:06 They didn't, I don't know if they were gripping the six too tight, whatever cliche you want to pick, but it didn't go for them. 6:15 And then Sunday, probably a little bit closer of a game, but I still think the Badgers probably deserved a little bit better than they got with a tie and a three on three loss. 6:27 So it's really just been the way that this team has gone, especially since the break, that they came, they had Denver at home and they were right there with them, lost both games, the second game in overtime. 6:43 They had Notre Dame at home and then the Neutral Side game. 6:47 In both games, you know, lost and tied. 6:51 That's obviously not gonna get them anywhere this season, but that's kind of the reality of what they are right now. 7:01 They're a team that's looking for that killer instinct and that ability to finish. 7:08 And right now, because of that, they're tied for last place in the Big Ten. 7:13 Obviously they've played a couple less games, so it's maybe not as bad as people think, but technically they are in last place. 7:22 And actually, I think what's even more surprising, Veegs, is Penn State has played two more games and they are in last place. 7:31 And I didn't think that's where we would see them this season. 7:35 Well, I think it's just a testament to the Big Ten this year, that two through seven, everybody's pretty even. 7:43 Ohio State has kind of separated themselves as maybe the most complete team. 7:47 And even they've stumbled a little bit here and there. 7:50 But I think just two through seven, all those teams are also tight. 7:54 It's hard to get sweeps, which is surprising to see Minnesota go into Notre Dame and get a sweep and then travel to Michigan State and get swept. 8:02 Because I think all the teams are really close. 8:04 And if a team is giving consistent efforts each night, it's gonna be hard to take six points from them. 8:11 Yeah, so, Hamme, the Gophers get swept at Michigan State for the first time in 40 years or something like that. 8:17 But you know what, they still, they're still in second place, which is not so bad. 8:23 Well, I mean, it's definitely, it's better than being in last place, obviously. 8:27 So, I mean, I think it's put them in a good position at least, you know, make a run for, you know, having that buy and being able to kind of take advantage of a little bit, you know, of a breather at that point in the season. 8:39 But, you know, it's like I said last week, I think that this team is, if they're gonna get anywhere, they're gonna have to win their way in. 8:45 And maybe that's what they really need at this point with a new head coach and, you know, trying to develop a new culture there. 8:51 It might be the right thing for them to have to, you know, earn their way in. 8:55 And I know that we all like to feel comfortable like we're gonna make it no matter what, but, you know, sometimes in the long run, it might be better, you know, you don't know until you kind of, I mean, you look back in hindsight, but it might be for the best for them. 9:08 And for the Badgers, I saw you tweeting earlier today, Todd, that they need to pretty much win 11 of the next 12. 9:15 Yeah. 9:16 Or so, I mean, obviously they could win the Big Ten tournament, but it is a ridiculous number. 9:20 Yeah, it seems to be almost like that, just ridiculously impossible circumstance of trying to win 10, 11, 12 games out of, you know, just to end the regular season in a good enough spot to be in the pairwise race there. 9:42 But yeah, it's, well, they're two games under 500 right now, so they're really, this is the spot they should be in. 9:50 They're not a team that you would think with a record like that, and some of the losses that they've had would be anywhere close to a pairwise contention. 10:02 Well, the funny thing is, Deeg, Minnesota's kind of in a similar boat, you know, what are they, nine, 10, and four overall? 10:09 I mean, they're right around 500 or one game below right now themselves. 10:13 The only thing that's really might be keeping them in contention is that they are in second place and they can at least have a chance at doing well in the Big Ten, but overall, they're still right in the middle of the pack here. 10:26 Well, I think anybody in the Big Ten has a chance to get that at-large berth. 10:31 All the teams are pretty competitive with each other. 10:35 Every team has guys who can score. 10:36 I think if you're looking for positives out of Minnesota, it's that they have played pretty well the last two months, even this last weekend at Michigan State, even though they didn't have their A game, they were still generating lots of scoring chances. 10:51 They got three goals, both games. 10:53 You can point to the deflections as a little bit of bad luck going against them. 10:59 I think they're gonna have to win their way in though, because you look at what they are in the pairwise, I think 25 right now, and those bad losses to Ferris State and St. 11:08 Lawrence, they're gonna hurt them. 11:10 So I think this is a team that's gonna figure out a way to get in good spot at the end of the season and look to win their way in and just try to build from there. 11:19 I thought one of the most interesting things Motsko said this week in his availability was that this is a team with some issues, and if they don't play hard, those issues are glaringly obvious. 11:33 Yeah, well, you talk about some of those deflection goals, but I kind of just look at it that they gave up 10 goals on the weekend, and a few deflection goals are not. 11:44 Giving up 10 goals on the weekend is not a recipe for success, Veegs. 11:48 No, it's not, and I think part of the issue was they took a bunch of penalties. 11:53 I think they put Sparty on the power play seven or eight times on the weekend, maybe even more than that, and they didn't do a good job of denying the zone to them, and they just let them set up, and they let guys get those deflection chances. 12:10 So we've seen the penalty kill kind of rear-side a couple of times, where they just make a few mistakes, and they don't play as tough a man down as you'd expect them to, and a big part of the kill is denying easy entries. 12:23 And if you let a team get set up, especially in the Big Ten, there's enough talent on every team to be dangerous. 12:29 Yeah. 12:30 Can't disagree with that. 12:32 Well, earlier, actually, was it today, or I think it was today, or maybe yesterday, you were tweeting that there's some special meetings this week coming up for NCAA Hockey. 12:41 Vegas, why don't you tell us more about that and how it could really impact the recruiting in college hockey? 12:47 Well, I've heard some rumors today that the vote got pushed to April. 12:53 I haven't heard back from the NCHC or Big Ten office so whether or not that is actually gonna happen. 12:59 Basically what the legislation is is that it's gonna prevent schools from contacting players until August 1st of their junior year and it's gonna prevent players from contacting schools until January 1 of their sophomore year. 13:13 So that prohibits pretty much any contact from any school to any player before the middle of their sophomore year and doesn't allow schools to reach out until August 1st. 13:23 And I think one of the big pieces of this legislation is that any offer of financial aid or verbal offers can't happen until that junior year starts and the players can't take official visits until that date either. 13:38 So I think it's a pretty big change to pushback recruiting and I think because of that, if it gets voted on, it's gonna go into effect immediately. 13:47 Maybe there's some pushback by some of the coaches and that's maybe why I'm not hearing back from the conferences, but it's something all six conferences worked on. 13:56 It was gonna be up for a vote this week and then all of a sudden it's not on the agenda. 14:01 So read into it what you want, but I think this is a change that would be good for college hockey if it gets through. 14:07 What are your thoughts on that, Ham? 14:08 I mean, this does sound like a pretty good deal. 14:12 Well, I mean, obviously it would make recruiting the cycle go on longer. 14:17 You'd probably be making a little bit less mistakes simply because you'd get more opportunity to see guys play. 14:22 You're not necessarily going for those young guys and you don't necessarily know if they're gonna be putting in the effort as they mature and how some people rest on their laurels. 14:32 So I think that from a coaching perspective, I don't know why they wouldn't want that. 14:36 I think some of the talk in the past about potentially losing players to Canadian major juniors and having to make offers earlier or whatever, to me, that was kind of a bunch of baloney for most college teams. 14:51 I think there's very few that face that kind of pressure to that level. 14:55 And frankly, if a kid's gonna go that route, then let them go. 14:58 I mean, there's a lot of good players out there. 15:00 So I think it'd be good for college hockey in general. 15:04 And I'm sure coaches, I mean, heck, Lucia used to talk about it all the time when he was a coach, you know, that he would love to not have to recruit any players until they got to be seniors. 15:14 So anything that can delay the process and give them more time to look at players, I think is going to be a good thing. 15:21 Pretty much the same feeling there in Badgerville, Todd? 15:25 Well, I had two thoughts on it, that one that, yes, something, I think everyone realizes something had to happen and this is probably the best, the best they could ask for or that they could realistically enforce and you know, putting those kinds of restrictions on it, the being that, you know, they're going to find out, obviously, if there's been an offer made before, it's not permissible. 15:47 So, there's some real possibility that you get in trouble on something like that. 15:56 But the other part of it is that, you know, coaches, you know, often say one thing but when they're out recruiting and out making offers, they're acting pretty differently. 16:09 So, I remember, I think it was this year's BigTen coaches pre-season call that Mel Pearson was saying that, you know, this has got to stop. 16:27 I'm one of the offenders. 16:28 We have to get away from, you know, offering 14-year-olds, but it's hard to do that, right? 16:37 I mean, that's, you're in a competitive situation and maybe some of it is major juniors and probably not, most of it is the other schools. 16:47 And it needed someone to be the big person in the room, I think, and I think they finally got around to doing it and with the NCHC kind of being the catalyst for, as they are in a lot of things in the last few years for getting stuff like this done, it probably is the right way to go, but I'm sure there's gonna be a lot of grumbling privately from coaching staffs, you know, around here. 17:22 I don't think they're gonna be that big of a fan of having to wait a couple more years than they have on some of these guys. 17:34 But as long as everyone's having to play about the same rules, that's probably as well as you can ask for. 17:39 Well, and I think that's the big deal right there is that, like you mentioned, coaches are not good at policing themselves in a competitive environment. 17:49 And so it's important for there to be some kind of guidelines that they all have to live by. 17:55 So it just kind of makes things more clear cut because if coaches in a competitive environment, if there's a loophole to be found, they're gonna try to find it. 18:03 And the more that you can kind of define things and make it kind of a no go no matter who you are, I think it's gonna be best for everybody. 18:12 Interesting that it got tabled though, huh, Veegs? 18:14 I mean, bye. 18:16 Yeah, it was all set. 18:18 The NCAA released the notice that it was gonna be on there. 18:22 And I've been kind of following up with a couple contacts to see if it was gonna be as controversial as I anticipated it might be because I know the Big Ten threw out the delayed enrollment eligibility thing that was gonna go right in the NCAA meeting and then that got tabled. 18:40 So it's interesting to try to figure out why they aren't gonna vote on it this week. 18:45 I think it's important for college hockey because I think it's not only the coaches who fall into the trap of end up offering these young kids, it's the players and their parents who are pushing the coaches to make that offer. 18:58 And the coaches are kind of like, well, I don't want to lose him. 19:01 So I might as well make the offer and offers don't mean anything anyway. 19:06 So it's only the national letter of intent that really counts. 19:10 Well, I mean, you can obviously police the schools on reaching out and having visits. 19:17 But how do you stop the kids from doing that? 19:20 I mean, let's say a 13 year old or whatever reaches out to Wisconsin or something like that and does this Wisconsin have to say, sorry, we're going to have to, we can't talk now, you're going to have to wait. 19:32 I mean, but it's really hard to stop a kid from doing that, isn't it? 19:36 Well, it'd be kind of like me saying I'm going to write full time for the athletic. 19:40 You know, I'm freelancing for them. 19:42 There's no full time job there for me to take. 19:45 So I could say it, but it doesn't really mean anything. 19:50 And in that case, I would assume the schools would just have to say, sorry, we can't talk to you right now, and that's about all over the country. 19:55 I think they couldn't even comment on it. 19:57 Really? 19:57 The NCAA would probably come knocking and they would say, I don't know why this kid is saying this. 20:01 We can't make an offer. 20:04 So they better not have. 20:08 I think they're supposed to, in theory, point them toward academic admissions people instead of, oh, you want to come visit our campus? 20:18 Well, okay, go talk to admissions instead of come talk to the hockey program. 20:25 I think players could still do that. 20:27 They could still go for their usual campus tour. 20:30 They'd still be able to go to the hockey camps that all the schools run. 20:34 There just couldn't be any recruiting, no talk of offers, no special treatment, things like that. 20:41 That gets into one of the gray areas there, though, is what becomes a recruiting conversation in those camp settings. 20:51 There's going to be those who's going to find a way around this rule and this rule. 20:57 That's the way everyone works, is trying to stretch it as far as they can. 21:03 Well, yeah, that's kind of always been that way, though, isn't it? 21:06 Oh, yeah. 21:07 I mean, you know, you heard about guys eons and eons ago, you know, was it the LSU coach had Shaquille O'Neal in for a camp and he was, he couldn't recruit him yet, but he sort of recruited him. 21:20 So it's, it's kind of interesting, you know, how they've been, they've been running a model camp at the U forever, so during the summer. 21:29 So it's not like that's anything brand new. 21:32 And the Wuger had his camp back in the day too, and he had his camp for much longer. 21:36 So I guess, who knows? 21:41 There's a difference from a camp like that and bringing a kid around, you know, with a tour of the assistant coaches and taking pictures and go for jerseys and sitting them down with, here's your plan, watching film with them one on one, you know, there's a difference between what's an unofficial official visit and what's a camp experience. 22:02 Well, and ultimately, you have to have an offer to accept that you're going to a school. 22:08 If you can't offer anything in the first place as a college, then all the discussions might be have some meaning, but they don't have all that much meaning. 22:19 And kids are not going to commit without knowing what the heck they're committing to. 22:24 So that's just ridiculous to even assume that. 22:29 Well, we'll have to see what happens. 22:30 We'll have to see if it gets back. 22:31 You know, it would be really disappointing if nothing happens on April VEGS. 22:35 If somehow somebody keeps it out of there and then it's going to be like, nothing's being solved. 22:40 Yeah, I think that would be a big sign that it's having trouble again, enough votes to pass. 22:45 But we'll see. 22:46 All six conferences worked on it. 22:48 So maybe it's just the mid-year implementation that's scaring people off. 22:53 It is kind of odd to do it right in the middle of the season. 22:55 I do think April is pretty appropriate, if you ask me. 22:58 So we'll just have to wait and see. 23:00 If you have any questions for us on Twitter, just use the hashtag GPL Podcast and we'll try to get to them. 23:06 Obviously, those of you listening live, you just chat in the Mixler chat and we'll try to get them. 23:11 I see Motay is watching the Wild Game. 23:12 Looks like it's two to two. 23:13 But how about some questions, Motay? 23:15 You got anything for us? 23:17 But before we get to all that, let's listen from our sponsor. 23:22 vintagemnhockey.com is a proud sponsor of the GPL Podcast. 23:27 Well, what is Vintage MN Hockey? 23:30 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. 23:40 All information about any of those teams can be found on vintagemnhockey.com. 23:45 They also have great interviews with some historical Minnesota hockey figures like John Meisich and Lou Nani, Glenn Sonmore, some of the greats of Minnesota hockey. 23:54 So make sure you check out those interviews. 23:56 It's a really great thing. 23:57 But as I always say, I think my favorite part is the store. 24:01 The store, you can buy a custom historical jersey from the Gophers or the Bulldogs or some of your favorite high school teams. 24:08 And if you do make a purchase, just use the code GPL Podcast, all one word, and you'll get 10% off your order. 24:16 So make sure you visit vintagemnhockey.com and follow them on Twitter at VintageMNHockey. 24:23 Well we've got Skyy Robb being funny again on Twitter saying, Does Barry Alvarez feel bad for earning the WCHA? 24:32 And of course he did say half joking. 24:37 How are they feeling over there in Badgerville about this WCHA thing? 24:40 Are you guys still adjusting to the Big Ten yet? 24:44 I feel like I hear less and less about that every year. 24:50 Maybe it's just perception and maybe I'm tuning it out in terms of the people who are pining for WCHA. 24:57 Well it is Barry's fault. 24:58 It's all Barry's fault. 25:01 Sure. 25:02 We'll go with that. 25:07 I think you've got to remember when that play was made to try and get the Big Ten formed. 25:19 There were a lot of schools that were, shall we say, less than enamored with the WCHA leadership. 25:27 And Wisconsin being front of that line, and I think Minnesota is probably up there somewhere. 25:33 The WCHA that we're talking about from before the split was a great league on the ice and run not so great in the background. 25:53 The small schools had maybe outsize influence in some things. 26:01 And I mean, let's face it, now, you know, put the Big Ten schools together and you've got, you know, the, what the NTHC call it, like minded institutions when they formed. 26:12 I mean, that was a big thing for them at that point. 26:14 So, all right. 26:17 Yeah, it happened. 26:18 Yeah, the names changed, the teams changed. 26:22 You're not getting a lot of that back. 26:24 But, you know, I think we've gone past the point of, you know, crying about it or making a big deal. 26:34 And it's, you know, get used to it. 26:38 Yeah, no, I agree. 26:40 I just love just to poke at it a little bit because everyone's like it's Barry Alvarez falling. 26:47 It was so many things at once. 26:48 It's an easy person to throw it at. 26:53 Yeah, well, of course it is. 26:54 So that's all great. 26:57 Mill City was asking Mill City JP earlier today, he was wondering any updates on Norman and Runmanko status? 27:04 Did you hear anything at media availability this week, Figs? 27:08 They've both been on the ice the last two days. 27:10 I don't know if they're going to be in the lineup or not, just based on coming back after being away for so long, but they're both skating two days in a row here. 27:19 So we'll see what happens this weekend. 27:22 Some options, at least for Motzko. 27:24 Yeah, he does have options. 27:25 So I mean, he's been playing some other guys, you know, one of those Maroonis first game in quite a while this past weekend, wasn't it? 27:33 Yeah, he's been stuck on the practice line for a while, but he got some action. 27:38 We'll see what happens. 27:39 Yeah, we shall see, as we always say. 27:43 And of course, now, Mote just starts throwing all these questions at us, but he has a question for Todd. 27:49 I hate Bucky, but it's better when Bucky is good. 27:53 What is the prognosis of the rise of Bucky? 27:58 And I think you would agree, you know, when both schools are good, I love getting that hate going. 28:05 The rivalry, it's just so much more fun. 28:08 Well, I mean, you think about your best memories of this rivalry, they're not in the series where both teams are under 500, are they? 28:15 I mean, the last series that both teams started under 500 was WOOG's last year. 28:22 So, yeah, this is better when Phil Kessel is putting his hand to his ear, when, you know, they're playing for something. 28:32 I mean, I still, it's hard to believe they haven't played each other for a championship since 1990. 28:39 I mean, there's so much of those, you know, good times in the rivalry or times that it felt like it really, really meant something nationally or, you know, in the past now and seeming sometimes like the distant past. 28:57 So, yeah, it's better when both teams are good. 28:59 As far as what you're asking about the prognosis, the way that it's been portrayed to me is that when this coaching staff came in in 2006, or 2016, sorry, they had to, yeah, maybe sometimes seems like that for a long ago to me, but they, you know, weren't able to bring in recruits that they would have looked for that were, you know, 16, 17 or 18. 29:30 They were looking at the 14 and 15-year-olds then. 29:32 And so starting maybe this season was maybe the first real, you know, kind of top-end group that they wanted, but next year is really when it starts, when they get Cole Caulfield and Alex Turcotte, first-round picks probably, almost, you know, definitely for them. 29:52 Dylan Holloway is going to be a first-round pick in 2020. 29:56 He's, I mean, people are talking about in top 10 potentially. 29:59 They get Owen Lindmark from the National Team Program as well. 30:07 And those four guys being really high-end forwards are going to transform a lot of what they have in their, you know, top 12 in terms of what they have at forwards. 30:19 They haven't done that yet in a lot of ways. 30:22 They're still playing with a lot of the players that, you know, came through or were here when Granado took over. 30:32 And so I think next year is a really key year for them to make that turn. 30:37 And it seems like it would be next year because, you know, who knows how many years they're going to have those guys that are going to be first-round picks. 30:45 It might just be one year. 30:48 But they do have more coming after that. 30:50 So they've started that recruiting. 30:52 It's taking maybe a little bit longer for the payoff than they thought. 30:57 But they really have seen or they really are thinking they're going to see it all kind of come together next year. 31:06 And then the next couple of years after that are going to be pretty strong for them. 31:13 And, Hammeh, you know, to Mote's point, it's just so much more fun when the Badgers are good. 31:22 Well, I mean, I think some of the most memorable games that I can remember, you know, like Nick Chekho on overtime, you know, WCHA playoffs, you know, stuff like that. 31:34 The Badgers weren't necessarily good that year, though. 31:36 Yeah, they were. 31:37 But they were on a hot streak from what I remember at that time. 31:40 Yeah, they were on a hot streak. 31:41 And, you know, so it was a very competitive game, obviously, to go on OT, and it was in Wisconsin, if I remember correctly. 31:47 So just stuff like that. 31:49 You know, those are the kinds of games you tend to remember. 31:53 And, you know, obviously, I'm biased from a gopher perspective. 31:58 But I mean, like when Danny Erman scores, you know, on a penalty shot and pretty much blew the roof off Mariucci that night and just all those kinds of great plays. 32:10 And remind me, was it Nate Schmidt? 32:13 Did he make that one great play? 32:14 Was that against Wisconsin? 32:17 Yeah. 32:17 I mean, just stuff like that. 32:19 You remember. 32:19 I mean, like you said, I mean, it wasn't like Wisconsin was necessarily great that year. 32:24 But you remember big plays and big games. 32:28 And you kind of can throw out the records even, you know, in down years. 32:33 You can kind of throw those out a lot of the time because it's just a rivalry and you kind of just want to beat the hell out of each other. 32:41 So, you know, if one team isn't great, sometimes that still doesn't really mean anything. 32:45 You still have a very competitive series. 32:47 Apparently a fun memory for Moate was Rasmussen running Krug or Tim Krug into the future. 32:54 He seems to remember a big hit against Tim Krug. 32:57 I don't remember that, but I remember Tim Krug because I went to high school with him. 33:02 So I played youth soccer. 33:04 And Eric Rasmussen went to St. 33:05 Louis Park. 33:06 Yeah, that's right. 33:07 Eric Rasmussen did go to St. 33:08 Louis Park. 33:09 But Tim Krug, I played youth soccer with him from third grade on. 33:13 So yeah, he was a good kid. 33:15 I liked Tim Krug. 33:18 You stole a couple of Jaguars from my high school. 33:21 Krug, you had obviously Joey Bianchi. 33:27 Oh, who was the other kid from the last 10 years? 33:29 There's a couple more, but you stole a couple of our guys. 33:34 Frozen 4 Champs as a question specifically. 33:36 We're talking about Jefferson. 33:37 Remind me. 33:37 Oh yeah, I'm a Jefferson kid. 33:39 Tommy Gilbert, you're probably. 33:41 Gilbert, yeah, that's who it is. 33:43 I just totally forgot. 33:44 Yeah, Frozen 4 Champs has a question for you, Todd. 33:47 He says, Todd, as an outsider, what's your view of the current state of the Gopher program? 33:52 You know, I hesitate to answer that because I haven't seen enough of it, but if you're talking about state of the program, I think it's still in pretty good hands here. 34:08 You've got a coach that knows what he's doing. 34:11 You've always had, well, I mean, from my perspective, you've always had coaches who know what they're doing. 34:17 Maybe that doesn't always translate to what the fans like to see, but I think there's a method behind it. 34:28 And the worst part of things now is waiting for the turnaround to happen, right? 34:33 It's happening here in Wisconsin. 34:35 I'm sure this season isn't sitting well with people in Minnesota, but a new coach comes in, you've got to give him time to make it his team. 34:46 I don't know. 34:48 What I've seen maybe is that I don't know if this is Bob's team yet. 34:52 And you guys would know that better from being around it more, but it felt like in Lucia's first year, that sure wasn't his team that he played with that year. 35:03 I remember that. 35:06 And a couple of years later, yeah, he had his guy. 35:09 So it's painful for a couple of years, yeah, but you hope that there's the payoff. 35:21 And Vicks, I mean, to that point, obviously this is not Matzko's team yet, but we are seeing glimpses of how he wants the team to play at least. 35:31 Well, I think we're seeing it with that freshman line, with how they play with so much energy and pressure on the reload and all over the ice. 35:40 That's how Bob wants his teams to play. 35:42 I think one of the things holding this year's team back a little bit is defensemen who are able to move the play quickly. 35:48 I think there's just too many times where they're hesitant and it slows the play down. 35:54 They don't get it going as quickly as the coach would like, and that's just going to be a limitation of this team because when they do that, everything starts to slow down and then they don't get pressure on the puck and the game just gets handed over to their opponents. 36:10 I think one of the things that's interesting with Bob's rebuild is he's not doing it with 14- 36:15 and 15-year-old commits. 36:17 He's looking at guys like Sorensen, who just committed from Fairbanks, who's from St. 36:23 Louis Park. 36:24 He's doing it with Purbecks, who is committed to Notre Dame. 36:27 He's doing it with Myers, who's having a great year in Fargo. 36:30 He's trying to get some older players in here to mix in with what's already here because there's talented players on the roster. 36:38 He's just trying to mix in a little something more to get his game going. 36:43 Well, we've got a big weekend coming up. 36:45 It's always great when the Badgers come to town. 36:48 The Gophers are in second place. 36:50 The Badgers are in last place, but I still think they're not going to be there because you get a couple more games played and they'll be right up there. 36:56 But it kind of gets to, we've got a big weekend. 36:58 We've got the celebration on Saturday of the 40th anniversary of the 79th championship team. 37:04 I was looking at Kevin Lucknow here in the Mixler chat. 37:07 He's like, well, Gophers bring in potential recruits this weekend. 37:12 It's a big weekend and I'm thinking it's a great time because they should probably have some pretty good crowds. 37:19 And now you get some of these old timers that were on that 79th team. 37:25 That might help recruiting quite a bit, Hammeh. 37:30 Well, maybe. 37:32 I don't know that I want to put too much stock on anything like that, but I certainly think weekends like this where you're playing a rivalry, a rival, and you have pretty good crowds, certainly those are the times when you want to capitalize on what playing at the U is like. 37:48 And so I certainly would expect them to have some players and even guys that have already committed. 37:54 It's just nice to have them experience what it is like when you are playing one of your key rivals. 38:01 So I have no doubt that that will happen. 38:03 And on the how many people are showing up kind of thing, Veegs, you brought it up again today in your Twitter feed that the Badger Week intends to bring out the students. 38:15 And right now, they could have 3,000 kids show up for what, 1,700 spots or something like that? 38:23 Yeah, I think they would find spots for them if all those kids showed up. 38:27 But they have opened up the passes. 38:29 So typically, the students at Mariucci either buy a Friday night or a Saturday night ticket. 38:34 Well, based on the way Redemptions have been this year, they opened it up to both for all nights. 38:39 So we'll see what happens. 38:42 I know Saturday, regular tickets are getting pretty close to sold out. 38:46 There's only a couple hundred left. 38:48 So we could see some atmosphere in the building this weekend, which would be a rare sight these days around 3 a.m. 38:55 at Mariucci. 38:56 I got to agree with you there. 38:58 It's just it is still that potential of people not showing no vegs. 39:05 We'll see. 39:06 It's supposed to be really cold on Saturday. 39:08 Maybe people won't want to leave their homes, but it would be nice to, you know, these tickets that are sold and people aren't showing up and these corporations, you know, I don't know if the U can do much about it. 39:19 I mean, you know they've got the data. 39:21 They know who's not showing up. 39:22 They know which corporate seats are getting filled. 39:25 And I think the corporate seat thing is a bit of a myth. 39:28 I'm doing a State of the Program article for the Athletic here right now. 39:32 And I've asked them a little bit about it. 39:34 And it's not necessarily corporate seats that are no showing. 39:38 It's a variety of seats. 39:39 It changes from night to night. 39:41 They're getting pretty good data on it. 39:43 And it's just, that's a myth out there that it's all corporate seats not showing up. 39:48 Well, I think, you know, people have traditionally thought, you know, the high end seats in the middle by the M, you know, we shouldn't be even seeing the M on television. 39:57 But you do a lot because there's a lot of empty seats there. 40:01 Yeah, that might just be the rich people seats and not so much corporate seats. 40:05 Because those are the ones that people hold on to. 40:08 You know, they've got money where if they don't use the tickets, you know, they don't care as much. 40:13 And, you know, they might even think that they've given it to someone who's going to use it, and they don't end up going to the game. 40:19 So it's more complicated than just corporate people not showing up. 40:23 Now, Vegoe sounds like he's speaking from personal experience with those rich people. 40:31 You know, I do believe there's some Donald over there in section like 17 or not 17, maybe 20 or something like that. 40:38 He's in the corner. 40:39 He's in the $600 donation seed. 40:42 I think that's where he was though. 40:44 Yeah, he got a little fed up, I think, with the donations and the reseeding that happened to the bowl. 40:50 And I know that the administration at the U realized that that was a mistake, but different people in charge and they're trying to get creative with new ways. 40:59 On the flip side, you know, the past seven or eight years, the season tickets and total tickets have gone down in Madison as well, Todd. 41:07 Is it starting to rebound? 41:11 No, I guess it's the short answer. 41:15 They had a pretty good bounce back in Granado's first season that summer. 41:24 They had a pretty strong marketing campaign going. 41:29 Like I remember seeing, I was at an event in Milwaukee, and there was a TV in the background, and I saw a commercial on a Milwaukee channel for badger season tickets, and I had never seen anything like that before outside of Madison, maybe on a couple of billboards. 41:44 But since then, it's kind of just reverted back to the trend that's been going on for, like you said, the last 10-plus years now that the fan base that they had is getting older, maybe not as willing to come out every night. 42:05 So maybe they're giving up season tickets and buying a couple of nights' single games a year. 42:12 The student section has shrunk dramatically. 42:18 I mean, they still have the same number of seats for them, but the number of people, the number of tickets sold and the number of students that show up is down pretty significantly. 42:28 And to me, that kind of sets your atmosphere a little bit. 42:36 Because I think we've all seen games here at the Cole Center that when the student section is good and loud and large, those are the fun games to watch. 42:48 Those are the fun games to be here for because there's noise, there's a buzz, they get cheers going, they do all the stuff. 42:56 And the other nights, it's just kind of like, okay, twiddle our thumbs, wait for something to happen. 43:04 The band is playing the same songs it did 30 years ago, I swear. 43:07 And not much has changed that way. 43:12 So I think there may be some more push for marketing, for maybe opening things up to students a little bit more and knocking ticket prices down or giving them away or something. 43:27 It's not the prices there. 43:29 The prices have been the same forever. 43:31 That's one of the things a lot of Gopher fans like to go to Madison because they know the tickets are going to be $24. 43:38 Right, no, I'm talking specifically about students though. 43:41 Students, yeah. 43:43 They've done this for volleyball, and volleyball has had a resurgence here in the last couple of years where they basically a lot of nights let the students in for free and give them pizza and say, here, make some noise for us. 43:55 It's worked out. 43:58 Frozen4champs has another question for you, Todd. 44:00 He wants to know, what are your thoughts on bringing NCAA regionals back to campus? 44:04 I mean, we've got a Midwest regional that's basically, you know, in Pennsylvania this year. 44:15 I've hesitated to jump back on that bandwagon. 44:19 I used to be all for that. 44:20 I mean, those were great atmospheres, a lot of them, unless you were on the visiting side. 44:26 In which case, they weren't. 44:27 And so that was kind of what turned me into someone who would think that the neutral sites were better for the, I'm not sure how to describe it, but just for having it be a fairer test for both sides. 44:48 If you're having a team hosting that maybe, well, and it happened here at Wisconsin one year, I think it was 2008. 44:58 Badgers were the three seed. 44:59 They snuck in the tournament that year, hosting at the Cole Center. 45:03 And Denver was the two seed. 45:07 And so Denver had to play Wisconsin here in the first round. 45:12 And well, Wisconsin won, even though Denver always has won like 85% of the games they've played here for whatever reason. 45:19 But Denver lost that one. 45:20 And that one stuck with them as being something that was always absorbed. 45:25 And you can understand why. 45:27 That's not fair for a higher ranked seed to be going on the road to play in another team's barn. 45:36 So unless you can control those kind of things and say, well, the four one seeds get the host or whatever, and I don't know that that's plausible given the buildings of some of teams around the country that might end up as one seeds. 45:53 I don't know if it's worth the little boost you'd get, or maybe a big boost, I don't know, in terms of attendance and atmosphere. 46:03 But really that's what it comes down to, Veegs, is attendance and atmosphere. 46:07 We're seeing attendance down all over the place. 46:10 There's a few schools that fill in the arenas. 46:14 They always do in North Dakota because there's nothing else to do in North Dakota. 46:17 I was even watching some of the Western Michigan, St. 46:21 Cloud games this weekend. 46:23 St. 46:23 Cloud's top of the heap pretty much most of the year. 46:26 Western Michigan's been really good. 46:28 And there were a ton of empty seats at the National Concrete Center. 46:34 Yeah, it's hard to know what the issues are with attendance everywhere. 46:39 There's so many ways to watch a game these days and so many other distractions for people. 46:44 I personally, I want that first round game to be something like a best of three hosted by the high seed. 46:50 I think that would be great. 46:52 That's going old school. 46:52 Todd's talking about a three go to a two. 46:55 That's not fair for the three team. 46:58 But if the two got to host the three seed in all four regions, that would be awesome. 47:03 It'd be great atmosphere. 47:04 ESPN can figure out how to televised softball for the NCAAs all over the place. 47:11 They can figure out how to do D3 football games when they get to that point. 47:15 I think they could figure out how to do a My Hockey TV. 47:18 It's just going to be a different atmosphere than they're used to. 47:22 I think they definitely can. 47:25 There's a want to. 47:27 That is probably the limiting factor there. 47:32 Let's talk about hockey this weekend. 47:36 Hammy, the Badgers are coming in. 47:38 Both teams have kind of struggled this past weekend. 47:42 Minnesota more than I would say the Badgers. 47:46 This is a big weekend for the Gophers. 47:47 If they do want to do anything and stay close to striking distance in the Big Ten, Minnesota has got to take care of the Badgers. 47:57 Absolutely. 47:57 If they want to buy, they absolutely have to sweep the series. 48:02 As we've seen the last few weeks, this team is pretty much bipolar. 48:05 One week they're great, doing a lot better. 48:08 Next week it's like you don't know what's going on. 48:10 It's one step forward, one step back. 48:14 It's like where are they going? 48:16 So yeah, it is a big series. 48:18 Obviously we've talked about all the hoopla that can revolve around a rivalry. 48:24 Hopefully the guys are excited, especially the young guys who have yet to play against Wisconsin at home. 48:32 Hopefully it will be a fun weekend for them and they'll bring some great energy to the rink. 48:36 And Vegs, you know, we do hear, like Hammy was saying, there is quite a bit of hoopla this weekend, not just because of the Badgers, I should say, but you know, we've got that anniversary, 1979 team coming in on Saturday. 48:48 But what was Matzko talking about? 48:51 He probably talked about that, but what was he saying that the Gophers needed to do to be successful this weekend? 48:56 He just wants to see them come out and play with energy again. 49:00 He thought they were flat for both games against Michigan State and didn't really find their legs until the last period of the weekend. 49:08 Maybe it's because they've been off school for so long or the weird start times or something. 49:12 Whatever it was, they never really found their game until it was too late. 49:16 I don't think they'll have any problem getting up for this weekend. 49:19 This is a big series and a big point of the season for them. 49:23 There should be some great crowds. 49:27 Getting back to that point about bringing recruits on campus, if I was having recruits, I'd tell them to bring their parents with because they're the ones that probably remember the 79 Gopher team. 49:37 So that might make a better impression than the kids. 49:40 It's funny even talking to the players. 49:42 They don't really know a whole lot about the 79 team other than a lot of them went on to play for the Olympic team in 80. 49:50 So it's interesting. 49:51 It'll be good to have those people around. 49:54 I know the alums are around more often at Mary G than they have been in the past. 49:59 So should be some good atmosphere for them too. 50:01 Thank you. 50:02 And on the bad side, the badger side, I should say, Todd, what do you expect from the Badgers this weekend? 50:09 I mean, it's looking like it'll be a pretty good atmosphere. 50:13 I mean, Minnesota celebrating their old championship team. 50:16 What better would the Badgers love to do than to spoil that? 50:19 Yeah, and you know, I kind of chuckled at myself when you said what do you expect out of the Badgers because that's the kiss of death. 50:26 You expect something out of them, but you get something completely different, it seems like. 50:31 But it kind of strikes me that these two teams are kind of similar in what you would expect of being from a desperation standpoint. 50:41 You're getting to that point in the season where, boy, they need wins. 50:45 If you're going to be part of this race for a championship or for a top-two spot or for whatever, you've got to start converting games that you're close in into wins. 50:57 And you can't fix the past. 51:00 You can only worry about what you've got ahead. 51:01 And so the Badgers have been saying the right things that we know we're close. 51:08 We think it's still there. 51:10 But I just wonder how much these last couple of weeks have really just graded on them and maybe taken away some of the what could be confidence out of the way they've played, but maybe turn it into just a sour feeling out of the way the result has come up. 51:28 So I don't know what to expect out of them. 51:31 I think if they play like they've played in the last couple of weeks, I think they'll be okay. 51:40 I don't know if that means a split or if it means they get two points or if they get whatever it ends up being. 51:46 But they've played well enough lately to be right there in this series. 51:54 Well, what are you working on this week for the Wisconsin State Journal for pre-series? 51:59 I have a story I'm working on tonight about Will Johnson, who is one of their senior forwards. 52:08 He's been on the first line most of the season. 52:09 He got knocked down in November. 52:15 Knocked down to the fourth line, and it was just kind of a wake-up call for him. 52:20 So getting into that a little bit, and he's from California, so a little bit into his background and how he got into things, and originally an Air Force Commit, and so that's an interesting twist on things too. 52:32 But he's an interesting kid. 52:34 He's probably one of the most friendly guys on the team, and so he'll talk with you for 20 minutes if you want to. 52:43 So some good stuff coming from him. 52:46 And do you expect that to come out maybe Thursday night, Friday morning? 52:49 That'll be on our site tomorrow, maybe midday-ish, but yeah, it's in Friday's paper. 52:55 Veegs, what are you working on for the Athletic? 52:58 Well, I've been digging under the hood of Gopher Hockey the last couple weeks, talking to Mark Coyle, Mike Weirspicke, who's in charge of marketing, Bob Matskow, some alums like Jordan Leopold and Johnny Pohl, just to kind of get a sense of the pulse right now around the program and what things are happening and what things they're trying to do these days. 53:21 Should be out sometime this week. 53:22 We'll see what my editor thinks when he takes his mighty sword to it and gets it ready for the site. 53:31 You never know. 53:34 You just never know what those editors like to do. 53:36 Well, my editor just had a kid, so time is a little challenging these days for these parents of the young children. 53:43 Maybe you could slip by them then. 53:46 We'll see. 53:47 Well, Todd, thanks for coming on with us again. 53:49 Hey, thanks for having me. 53:52 And we'll definitely see you this weekend. 53:54 Are you going to be writing to Friday night there, Veegs? 53:58 No, I'm just going to be there Saturday. 54:00 My kid has outdoor practice on Friday, so I'll be outside trying to keep the kids from getting frostbites. 54:06 That's not good. 54:07 It will be fun. 54:09 I'm going to pond hockey this weekend, too. 54:11 I'll be playing Friday and Saturday morning. 54:13 So that will be a busy weekend coming up. 54:15 Yeah, it is. 54:15 It's a busy weekend. 54:17 Todd, hopefully we can get you to come out after one of these games. 54:22 Well, it's going to have to be Friday. 54:25 We'll make it Friday. 54:26 We're on the road on Saturday as we tend to be. 54:30 I think we can make that happen. 54:31 It's always fun to get out and have a few beverages and a meal late in the evening. 54:38 I'll definitely contact you about that. 54:41 About 99% of the time, I'm up for that, yes. 54:47 Other than that, what do you got going on, Hammy? 54:53 I will be at the bar Saturday night. 54:58 I will be watching the game from the bar Saturday. 55:02 But Friday is to be determined yet. 55:06 We'll have to see what that means. 55:10 We'll see. 55:11 Maybe you'll get me up into the press box, right? 55:16 Actually, we probably could. 55:17 It just depends on how a few certain people feel about you. 55:22 Yeah, well, you know, I have burden bridges over the years. 55:26 So I won't look for any favors. 55:30 Well, thanks, Todd, for joining us. 55:32 I'm sure we'll get you on again the next time we face you guys. 55:35 That could be in a Big Ten Playoff Series. 55:41 Hey, if that happens, I would be more than happy to come back. 55:47 I'd look forward to that. 55:48 That would be fun. 55:49 That would be fun. 55:50 That would definitely be fun. 55:53 Well, that's our show for this week. 55:55 Be sure to follow Vego on Twitter at eVego and Hammy at Hammy Hockey. 56:00 For those of you listening live, stay tuned for a bit of overtime coming up next. 56:04 For the rest of you, we'll be back next week to recap the Badger Series and preview the Wolverines coming to town. 56:12 We'll see you next time on The GPL Podcast.