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This is The GPL Podcast, sponsored by Vintage Minnesota Hockey, your exclusive source for throwback Minnesota jerseys.
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Visit vintagemnhockey.com.
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You.
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Now, here's Hammy, Vigo and your host, Jupiter.
0:45
Good evening, and welcome to The GPL Podcast, episode number 152.
0:53
Well, sweep of Arizona State sounds good, but before we get to that, we've got a guest with us tonight, and rejoining us for the second time this season from the Big Ten Network is Paul Caponigri.
1:05
Cappy, how you doing?
1:07
Great, great to join you fellas again.
1:10
We had a great time with you last time.
1:12
We figured we'd bring you on again with the Big Ten playoffs coming up soon.
1:15
So we're glad that you could join us.
1:19
Anyway, let's go straight off the bat here.
1:22
Hammy, 5'1 and 5'2 sweep of Arizona State.
1:26
First time we've ever played this team.
1:28
Non-conference game.
1:32
Boy.
1:35
Arizona was quite cheap out there.
1:36
I'll just go ahead and say it.
1:39
Yeah, and then they got a little bit chippy.
1:41
Yeah, they got a little chippy, especially that Saturday game after they got down quite a bit.
1:47
You know, I think Veegs kind of called it last week when he said that Arizona State had kind of Penn stated their way into the NCAA picture with their scheduling.
1:57
And I think that kind of, you could kind of tell because obviously the Gophers have been up and down and rather inconsistent throughout the entire season and to see them kind of, I don't want to say they steamrolled them necessarily, but they certainly, you know, drastically outplay them for most of the weekend.
2:14
And we haven't really been used to seeing that throughout this year for most of the opponents we've had.
2:20
So to see that happen, it kind of made you say, yeah, maybe Veegs was right.
2:25
Arizona State kind of did go that route.
2:27
Well, it did turn out that Minnesota lost a player this past weekend, had a couple other players dinged up.
2:33
I know that after that Saturday game, Motska was not happy because there was a couple of kneeing penalties and you had Sample Ranta get nailed by Jacob Wilson on Arizona State and Cappy.
2:45
That's one of the hardest hits I've ever seen.
2:47
Honestly, I was sitting there watching and my bones started shaking a little.
2:53
I mean, a college for sure, maybe the biggest hit.
2:56
And I don't know if I've seen any more that, I mean, that was pretty ridiculous.
3:02
You know, it reminded me kind of a Scott Stephens hit in the 80s and 90s, but I mean, that you just, I mean, obviously you can't do anything near like that anymore.
3:13
And I'm just glad he, I mean, 15 stitches he got and he came back later that period.
3:19
That was the shocking part.
3:20
No percussion, that's a good sign.
3:22
Yeah, I asked that, I asked Bob that in our coach talk call yesterday and he said, no, he said he was fine other than getting the stitches.
3:31
So I think that was the biggest, you know, relief I'd say, you know, from the situation.
3:38
As a hockey player, is it fair to say maybe he saw it coming last second and maybe was able to prepare for it?
3:45
Even if it's just a half second or something like that?
3:48
Yeah, I think, I mean, yes.
3:51
I mean, you could have got lucky.
3:52
You know, I really don't know.
3:54
I had some concussions playing and I got hit harder sometimes and didn't have a concussion or, you know, I hit, you know, it's just, it's a very strange thing.
4:06
Maybe he just got a little lucky and maybe did get his head up just enough and turned his head maybe, or I don't know, but it's a good sign that he's, he came back.
4:16
I mean, and you hear from all the time guys get stitches and come back, but usually that's for maybe like a puck to the face or a stick, not from that devastating of a hit.
4:26
So, you know, good signs for Sample and the Gophers.
4:30
I mean, Hammeh, I was pretty shocked to see him back on the bench just a few minutes after getting nailed like that.
4:37
Yeah, you really expect a guy, especially nowadays when they're so overly protective of any kind of a head injury, you kind of expect him to almost be very precautionary in not playing a guy, but obviously he must have passed whatever tests I put him through.
4:52
You know, the whole series, it kind of reminded me that the Canadian junior or Canadian, when we played the Canadian colleges and exhibitions earlier in the year, it's always interesting because those games, they're all kind of very physical, especially when there's not much of a competition there towards the end of the game.
5:12
It just reminded me of that a lot.
5:15
By the way, Vigo is going to be joining us in a little bit.
5:17
I had a little kid terrorism right around the time of the podcast.
5:21
He will be joining us eventually here.
5:24
We'll give him some time to join us.
5:26
One thing that did happen this weekend, we had a couple knee-on-knee hits, Hammey, and one of those turned out to take Burke out for four to six weeks, which was basically the rest of the season.
5:38
Yeah, it's unfortunate.
5:39
He's been part of that successful freshman line.
5:42
You hate to see that some of the chemistry broke up on the line.
5:46
It's been pretty much their best line, I would say, from a consistency standpoint throughout the entire season.
5:53
You got to hope that somebody can step in there and maybe continue on with building that chemistry with these guys pretty quickly.
6:00
I don't know who they're going to slot in there, but you just got to hope for the best.
6:05
Certainly, if you have Walker on your line, you're certainly going to be able to generate some offense no matter who's out there.
6:12
But I think that it's unfortunate when you have a line that's been playing so well together and have one of the Cogs get knocked out.
6:18
Now, Viggo, like you had mentioned earlier, Viggo mentioned that maybe ASU went Penn State on it, like Penn State may have done in the last couple of years, playing a little softer schedule, but winning their games, especially winning against inferior teams.
6:34
But I don't know, Cappy, I was just not that impressed with Arizona State this season.
6:40
I mean, at least maybe they couldn't handle the big ice or something like that.
6:44
I just, even with their star walker out, I don't think it would have made much difference this weekend.
6:49
Yeah, it's hard to say.
6:52
You didn't get to see them play.
6:54
At least I didn't see them play on TV or anything this year.
7:00
You just went by what you saw, the scores.
7:03
They played some Big Ten teams.
7:05
I think they split with Penn State, and I think Ohio State swept them early in the season out there.
7:13
They did beat Mankato, Minnesota State.
7:15
Yeah, at their tournament at Christmas, I believe.
7:18
I believe they got them in overtime or something like that.
7:23
Those tournaments are always tricky at Christmas.
7:27
From a Big Ten and Minnesota perspective, I just like the way they took care of business and are starting to show consistency a little bit.
7:37
We've seen it before.
7:38
I think it was a Michigan State series at home.
7:41
They wiped them out 7-2 the first night.
7:43
They weren't able to come back with the same energy on Saturday.
7:47
It looks like maybe they're getting over that hump with getting a couple of sweeps.
7:52
I think that's a couple of things they've been missing.
7:54
They weren't able to sweep those home series.
7:58
Probably those two losses right now are just looking at the St.
8:01
Lawrence and Ferris ones where they couldn't quote unquote put their foot on their throats and finish them off.
8:09
You're starting to see that with them.
8:10
And I think that's, I think more important, maybe Arizona State isn't what they are, but I think they're better than those two teams.
8:17
And they were able to kind of going away, win both.
8:21
So I think that's a good sign for them.
8:23
Well, Hammey, even though the game was five to one Friday night, I believe their goalie really saved them big time, especially Friday night, because that game could have easily been seven or eight to one for Minnesota without that goaltender playing as good as he did.
8:39
Well, I mean, they kind of came out of the gates, especially the first couple periods, you know, really all shot, man, they all shot them badly the entire game, but they definitely kind of came out of the gates and played real well and unfortunately got down early, but it's one of those things where, you know, we've seen that with our team this year.
8:57
Sometimes the rest of the team isn't playing particularly well and your goalie kind of keeps you in it for at least a certain amount of time.
9:03
And we just happened to be able to put some pucks and then a net and kind of take it home that particular night.
9:10
I guess, Cappy, we've just been kind of so up and down this season that we don't know what to expect anymore.
9:16
We just don't.
9:17
I mean, before going to your old alma mater, Ohio State, none of us saw a sweep there.
9:23
I mean, you just didn't see it happening.
9:25
And then they went into Ohio State and beat them two games up.
9:28
And now all of a sudden, you know, this roller coaster keeps happening.
9:32
But maybe now they're getting away from the roller coaster a bit more and just kind of building because, you know, it probably did start that weekend in Ohio State.
9:40
Yeah, I mean, I think when you maybe see results like that, you believe differently.
9:45
I mean, it's human nature, right?
9:47
If you see a couple, you know, you're beating a top five team at their own rank twice.
9:53
You know, hey, you know, we kind of maybe have a little remedy here.
9:57
We found the special sauce to a certain extent.
10:00
And then you back it up.
10:01
I mean, her name, that was a tough series, but you know, I think you want to play good teams at the end.
10:07
And then you see some wins and you go five and one, I think before, you know, that last six games, if you would have said you were going to go five and one, you'd have been really, really happy with that.
10:17
So, I mean, the way the Big Ten has been this year, it's just, it's crazy.
10:23
And, you know, seeing this for Minnesota, I arguably say they're playing the best hockey of anyone, the last, you know, for four weeks or so.
10:34
It has been crazy.
10:35
And the one thing that's been giving us a little confidence, actually, is that, you know, they ended up third in the conference.
10:42
They're going to be at home.
10:44
And the thing is that the two teams above them, they swept down the road this year.
10:50
So I think if they can get past this weekend, they could feel pretty good, you know, playing somebody like a Notre Dame.
10:56
Or if they get further into a championship game, a one-off game at Notre Dame or Ohio State, they've got to feel pretty good because they haven't lost on the road against either of those teams this year.
11:09
Yeah, I don't think any doubt in that stuff.
11:12
I'm pretty sure they're happy that they were not going Penn State this weekend.
11:16
I think we can all agree on that one.
11:20
But yeah, absolutely.
11:21
And who knows what's going to happen, you know, after this weekend, they could still be, you know, a home ice situation, you know, next week somehow.
11:30
I mean, you just never know.
11:31
I honestly think I see five teams, I think, in my mind that could win it, the Big Ten.
11:40
But if one of those other two teams that I don't think get to the semifinal, then you're talking about one game.
11:46
And it's not even one game like weekend.
11:48
It's, you know, back to backs.
11:49
It's one game.
11:50
It's like a one game playoff, and then you got a whole nother week for the other.
11:53
So I think it just opens the floodgates for anybody at that point.
11:57
But I, yeah, them on the road at those two teams, some, you know, they call it matchups.
12:03
Look at, they don't know what to do with Penn State because Penn State just runs and guns.
12:08
But in order, Notre Dame and Ohio State are just more structured and defensive oriented to a certain extent.
12:14
And that plays, plays well for the Gophers.
12:17
It does play well.
12:19
Well, now I guess we've got Viggo on the line.
12:24
Viggo, how you doing?
12:25
Well, we've kind of gone through Arizona State already, but I know you had a lot of kind of notes that you were writing down for the podcast tonight, you know, from the Burke injury to the Wilson hit on Sampo Renta to the cheapness of Arizona's play.
12:42
Kind of give your thoughts on what happened this past weekend.
12:46
Well, I thought it was a weekend where Minnesota really controlled the pace.
12:50
We haven't seen that much this year where they possessed the puck for pretty much the entire weekend.
12:56
They took their foot off the gas a little bit during the second period when they're up for nothing on Saturday.
13:01
But that was probably the most complete weekend we've seen out of this Gopher's team this year.
13:07
Matt Robson looked really good.
13:08
I thought the defensemen were good.
13:10
And I think Arizona State got a little fatigued as the weekend went on.
13:16
And I think Minnesota kept their cool during the kind of a difficult weekend.
13:21
It would have been real easy for them to go right back at the Arizona State players for running them.
13:28
And they didn't.
13:29
And because of that, they have almost full lineup for this weekend.
13:34
Burke will be out.
13:35
What Matzko said today is now two to six weeks.
13:39
So leaving the door open for him to come back sooner.
13:42
Usually when they say something like two to six weeks, I'm thinking it's an MCL or something like that.
13:48
Maybe they could put a brace on it just to protect the rest of the knee.
13:52
But it's not as bad of an injury for a hockey player as it would be like a football player or a basketball player.
13:59
Yes, definitely.
14:01
Well, and the interesting thing is is now Arizona doesn't play for three weeks.
14:06
And a couple of pairwise people say and they might be in a little bit of jeopardy if a couple teams win this week or in the next couple of weeks.
14:17
Veegs, are they still pretty strong for the tournament or is there something for them to be concerned about?
14:22
Well, there's always that scenario that happened in Minnesota last year where everything broke the wrong way.
14:28
You know, that is a mathematical possibility.
14:31
Would we see that happen two years in a row?
14:33
I kind of doubt it.
14:34
I could see someone in the Big Ten getting an auto bid who's not currently at large.
14:41
So we'll see what happens.
14:42
It's been crazy in college hockey.
14:44
Parody is king right now.
14:48
And it was crazy in the Big Ten this year, Cappy.
14:50
I mean, at that last week, Ohio State was the only thing we knew.
14:54
Everything else was up in the air.
14:55
And it was, you know, it was literally down to the last second, to that last game, you know, Wisconsin and Michigan in overtime.
15:04
And it was just crazy.
15:07
Wisconsin, you know, does it without, arguably, I think hands down their best player, you know, for missing him, Keandrea Miller, for a couple of weeks.
15:15
And that's why I just think anything, like I said, you know, the Gophers, if they can get by, could easily be at home again next week.
15:25
Just cause, you know, even with Michigan State, they've got the line.
15:30
They went and beat Ohio State last weekend in the second half or in the second game.
15:34
I mean, it's just not, it hasn't been a ton of sweeps.
15:37
And then when you get into a game three, if that happens, and any of those, anything can happen.
15:43
And it's, and the way it's gone with how the team's finished and, you know, I talked to Bob yesterday and how, you know, two through six were a point apart, you know, from one to the next.
15:55
And I mean, it can't get closer than that.
15:57
So I'm really looking forward to this weekend to see how it shakes out.
16:01
You know, Hammeh, it's a little too bad that some, you know, the Big Ten has kind of been beaten up on each other this year because it has caused the league to look as if they were down.
16:10
But I don't think they're as down as people think they are.
16:15
No, I mean, I think that there's still certainly lots of good talent.
16:18
I just think a few teams maybe, you know, aren't quite what they were in the past few years.
16:24
I mean, we certainly have, as an example, Notre Dame has been very good in recent years.
16:28
They weren't quite as good this year.
16:29
So maybe some of that is the perception with regard to some of those kinds of teams.
16:35
But yeah, when you're looking at the league, you're not seeing sterling records up and down.
16:39
And that's, you know, nobody's gonna be, there are no leagues gonna have all winners.
16:45
I mean, that's when they were talking about all these different league changes years ago.
16:49
And some of these leagues are gonna have all teams that were essentially very successful up until that point as, you know, the National Couch Hockey Conference or whatever.
17:00
That, you know, you're gonna have losers.
17:02
So you're gonna have to see if some of these teams, you know, rise up during the season and kind of get to that, not necessarily the top two in the league, but maybe that middle ground and get into the NCAAs anyway with an at large.
17:16
Yeah, well, we'll just have to wait and see.
17:18
But I think this year there's been a lot of, obviously a lot of parody in the Big Ten.
17:24
The number of sweeps are down.
17:26
We saw those stats by our friend out in Wisconsin.
17:29
I'm just forgetting his name right now.
17:32
Todd Maleski.
17:33
Maleski, yes.
17:34
Just sorry about that, Todd.
17:35
Wow, you have the guy in the podcast?
17:37
Yeah, you know, I just swole his brain for this.
17:40
I was just looking at his tweets too and I just forgot his name.
17:44
But you know, he's been saying, you know, the sweeps this year are way down.
17:49
And it is a very competitive league this year.
17:52
So, well, we've got a bunch more.
17:54
Go ahead.
17:54
One last thing is I think the league has a lot of bad losses on their slate.
18:00
You know, you look at Michigan, they had some bad losses, like Merrimack and I know, I think Vermont and Notre Dame's got losses, Duluth and a couple others, I think.
18:14
You know, it's just, they put themselves in too big of a hole and once that happens, you know, your league just has a hard time pulling yourself out of it.
18:22
It looked like last year, Minnesota was gonna be bulletproof because they'd played so well in their non-conference and it just took that last weekend where everything went wrong.
18:31
You know, I noticed Lou Nanny was talking about it and a lot of people are talking about it.
18:34
Lou Nanny was talking about just the other day how a bad loss affects you a lot more than a good win against a top team.
18:45
Do you think there should be tweaks in the pair wise, Figgs?
18:49
I think so because if you play a poor non-conference schedule, you know, you're basically just protecting yourself if you beat the bad teams.
18:56
Like if Minnesota would have beat Ferris, if they would have beat St.
19:00
Lawrence, they'd be in great shape right now, but they didn't and now they're behind the eight ball and it doesn't matter who they beat that's good, they're not gonna get those comparisons back because you just don't have enough games against those other conferences to cancel that out.
19:16
And so I know Penn State qualified for the NCAA tournament.
19:21
That was a big talk at the coaching convention was tweaking the formula to reward people for playing tougher schedules and they put in that quality win bonus, but I don't think it's enough.
19:29
I think they're gonna probably take a look at that again after seeing Arizona State go through this.
19:34
What do you think, Cappy, do you think there should be not as much penalty for losing a bad game or you just, you know, hey, you gotta win those games?
19:43
I mean, well, it's hard to say because you generally are playing these teams twice and I don't care who it is, it's not easy to get sweeps all the time and so it's tough.
19:57
I think you should be rewarded at the minimum as much for a good win as a bad loss.
20:04
That's just my opinion.
20:06
And it was funny as I was talking to some of the coaches, all the coaches don't kind of understand why the Big Ten is down.
20:14
They looked at, I know one conference they looked at was the record against the ECAC was like 13 and three.
20:20
And I know there were some sweeps.
20:23
I think Penn State swept Clarkson.
20:26
There were a couple other ones, like Michigan State swept Cornell, at Cornell.
20:31
And just how does a team in that league has four teams pretty solidly in right now.
20:38
And the other league who had such a good record against them, I don't know.
20:44
I can't look at the pairwise and know exactly.
20:46
It's just kind of like, you kind of shake your head and like, I don't understand it enough.
20:50
And it would probably hurt my brain to try to figure it out.
20:54
But I'm just looking at straight numbers there and you're like, huh, a little bit.
20:58
Yeah.
20:59
So I don't know.
21:00
I wish I knew more.
21:02
I don't plan to ever know too much because I think it'll just drive me crazy.
21:07
But you know, I don't sometimes win losses or don't lie.
21:11
So.
21:12
And Hammy, that's kind of what Lou Nanny's frustration was.
21:15
He's like, Minnesota was like at 20 or 21 this past weekend when they started, they played the number 18 and neither team went anywhere, even though Minnesota swept them and beat them handily.
21:26
Yeah, well, what is it that everybody says on GPL?
21:29
It's simple math, right?
21:30
I mean, if you.
21:31
It's not every every game, you know, I mean, we all talk about how certain games, you know, have an influence or don't have an influence, and you don't really know until kind of the seasons at this point where you can look back and say, that one cost us that one cost us.
21:46
And sometimes it's hard to kind of recover from that kind of stuff.
21:51
And unfortunately, we've done enough damage to ourselves this year that a weekend like this last one didn't do enough for us to really bump us up enough.
22:00
So that's just the unfortunate aspect of the math.
22:04
Vig, it's really the RPI that's hurting Minnesota right now because those bad losses impact the RPI so much that even though they win some comparisons, you know, that's just gonna drag them down.
22:17
Would bringing back the last 16 games have a big effect, you think?
22:21
Because that was a big component.
22:23
Well, then I think it puts more of a weight on your conference record, just the way things go.
22:27
Yeah.
22:28
Okay, well, I was just curious.
22:30
I think Nate, I said something on Twitter and Nate Wells came on and he seems to know the most about it.
22:36
He talked about how, you know, Minnesota was at the top of its tier and then he said that Arizona State, even though they were eight, they're a lot closer to 14 than they are seven.
22:48
So I don't know exactly what that means, but I guess it makes sense, you know?
22:53
And he obviously knows what he's talking about.
22:55
I just, you know, we'll see what happens, I guess, in the next couple of weeks.
22:58
Arizona State might be just watching themselves drop or maybe they just sit there.
23:03
I know they can get close.
23:05
I saw a couple of tweets today that said if a couple like Northeastern winds or something like that, it could really affect Arizona State big time.
23:15
Well, and it also matters how many teams, you know, if Wisconsin wins the Big Ten or Gophers, who aren't supposed to, if, you know, if you get, like last year, you get three or four teams that, you know, win their conference to get in, that, you know, just keeps lowering the number of at-large bids.
23:35
Definitely.
23:36
Well, we got a lot more to get to here.
23:38
We got a lot of show, but first we need to hear from our sponsor.
23:42
vintagemnhockey.com is a proud sponsor of The GPL Podcast.
23:47
Well, what is Vintage MN Hockey?
23:50
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.
24:00
All information about any of those teams can be found on vintagemnhockey.com.
24:05
They also have great interviews with some historical Minnesota hockey figures, like John Mayessich and Lou Nani, Glenn Sonmore, some of the greats of Minnesota hockey.
24:14
So make sure you check out those interviews.
24:16
It's a really great thing.
24:18
But as I always say, I think my favorite part is the store.
24:22
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24:29
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24:36
So make sure you visit vintagemnhockey.com and follow them on Twitter at VintageMNHockey.
24:43
And Vintage is also gonna be at the Let's Play Hockey Expo starting tomorrow down at the River Center and at the X, just right next to the X.
24:51
Make sure you go down there and check them out.
24:53
That's kind of becoming a pretty big deal, that Let's Play Hockey Expo all around the state hockey tournament.
24:59
And one thing that's nice is that, Cappy, you're gonna be here for tournament weekend.
25:03
You're coming in for the Big Ten Network and maybe we can get you to watch a couple of those high school games, if we could.
25:09
I am, I'm excited.
25:10
I'm getting in tomorrow night.
25:14
And I think I've done one game and actually it was between the benches for a game between, I think it was Gophers and Badgers a couple of years ago in which the Gophers clinched the Big Ten Championship.
25:27
Might have been two seasons ago.
25:30
But yeah, I'm looking forward to it.
25:31
I love Mariucci and I saw today, it sound like with Minnesota Athletics that there's everything going on on campus this weekend.
25:39
Maybe aside from basketball, the women and the wrestling and I think swimming or something.
25:46
So, and then obviously the state tournament.
25:49
So I love it.
25:51
Give me all the hockey, give me all the sports all the time, so can't wait.
25:55
Yeah, and the one thing you were telling me is that this is gonna be a Big Ten network broadcast or produced, but it's gonna be broadcast by, you know, over the air on FSN Plus, I believe, correct?
26:07
Yeah, well, it'll be on FSN Plus and it'll be on Fox Detroit Plus.
26:12
So you'll get the two markets that with the teams and I think last year was the first time that they kind of had to figure things out because well, obviously it was the first year of the format and it was, you know, happening earlier on and I don't know how, who has rights and whatnot and all that stuff, but obviously it conflicts with a lot of basketball.
26:33
It conflicts with a lot of basketball in Big Ten Network.
26:36
Yeah, I think the women's tournament is on and they've got it all day Friday and then most of the day Saturday.
26:43
So, yeah, they've just done a good job.
26:46
I think the last years of making sure it's on and definitely in the Minneapolis market and then this year obviously in Detroit as well for Michigan people.
26:54
Yeah, and V is what's happening is we've got a Gopher Hockey this weekend.
26:59
You've got the women's hockey in their WCHA playoffs.
27:04
You've got, like he said, swimming.
27:06
There's a lot going down on the U on Saturday and Sunday.
27:10
And there's going to be snow coming down.
27:12
And there's going to be a blizzard.
27:14
Is there really?
27:19
Yeah, that's got to make you happy.
27:21
Is it supposed to snow like a foot or something like that on Saturday?
27:24
It might be big.
27:25
It might be heavy and wet.
27:26
And right now, what, VEx have sold maybe a thousand tickets?
27:31
A few more than that, but it's a little bit difficult to sell tickets.
27:34
I think they're 30 bucks, which is kind of a thing set by the Big Ten.
27:39
And there's a lot going on with state hockey tournament.
27:41
It's not included in the season ticket package for the students or the regular season ticket holders.
27:47
So we'll see what kind of atmosphere we get.
27:49
And luckily, it's going to be on TV.
27:52
I did see that.
27:53
Did they just see on Twitter that $10 for student tickets?
27:57
Yes.
27:58
Did they see that, Beegs?
28:00
That's not bad, right?
28:01
They can get into any game for 10 bucks during the season.
28:04
And so hopefully, some of them take advantage of it and get some atmosphere.
28:09
That would be good.
28:10
But in the past, in the older format and in the WCHA, that first weekend was always included in the season ticket package.
28:20
So it was never as much of an issue like it was, like it will be this weekend, Beegs.
28:26
Yeah.
28:26
And they did that to keep the cost down for season tickets, just for the optics of it.
28:31
So it'll be interesting to see what happens there with the fans.
28:34
But we've had some empty arenas already this year.
28:38
We have.
28:39
And this weekend, even in the past, we've had weekends of conflict with the state hockey tournament, Hammy.
28:45
And that's just the fact of life.
28:47
State hockey tournament is a pretty big deal around here.
28:50
Yeah, it is.
28:51
And it looks like it's going to be a good tournament this year.
28:54
So I would suspect that's definitely going to see what we're going to impact.
28:58
We're going to see at Mariucci.
29:00
Some of those casual fans probably going to want to see some of those high school games because it's looking pretty good.
29:05
But hopefully they'll get enough of a turnout, I think, for this particular series, other than Wisconsin.
29:10
It's probably the best opponent that the Gophers would ask for from a rivalry perspective in the league.
29:15
So I would think that we would all agree that Wisconsin would be the top rival for the Gophers in the league, but Michigan would be too far behind.
29:22
So I guess in that sense, maybe they'll get some benefit from that.
29:25
Well, actually talking with Frank Mazzacco and Wally Shaver after the games this past Saturday, they loved the matchup against Michigan State or Michigan.
29:35
And it's always been one of my favorite matchups is because Cappy, it's, you know, at least in the past, it's been a lot of up and down hockey.
29:42
I mean, even back when you go back to the old, you know, Thanksgiving tournament we had with the Michigan teams, it was always fun when Michigan came to town or we went to Michigan.
29:51
I wish this rivalry would build a bit more and they could have a little more hatred because I think it's a great rivalry.
30:00
Yeah, I mean, I think playoffs always help that.
30:02
Yes.
30:03
So I think the more you can do that and you get no best of three and, you know, I don't think last year we saw one, quite frankly, there wasn't in the first year, there was all sweeps.
30:13
I mean, I think, you know, when you get three games and you get to that third one and it's going to get dusty and everyone's battling for every inch, I think that's how you build a rivalry.
30:24
So I just can't wait to watch.
30:28
I was pretty happy.
30:29
I knew once Minnesota had clinched home ice.
30:34
I was kind of figuring out who could be going there on the weekend to see who I would be seeing.
30:40
And this was actually my first choice.
30:43
I mean, it would have been great for pretty much anyone.
30:45
But I just like the way, quite frankly, I like watching Quinn Hughes first and foremost for Michigan.
30:52
I mean, you get lucky when you have a guy with that much talent deciding to play a second year in college hockey, and watching him on the big ice sheet will be fun, and then, you know, which line, you know, I mean, I've watched Sammy Walker, you know, skating up and down against Quinn Hughes.
31:10
That's going to be fun.
31:11
So I was really happy for the matchup.
31:13
And I think it's going to be just great and tight games.
31:18
And, you know, it might go two games, but I could see them both being overtime games.
31:22
And if the same team wins, you know, on a lucky bounce, that could happen, or I could see it being three games.
31:26
But I think it's going to be really tight, and I'm looking forward to it.
31:29
Hey, I mean, I think we need a good series with Michigan.
31:32
Something where some hate is actually built up.
31:37
What, do you think they're going to go all Arizona State on the bit?
31:39
No, I don't know about that.
31:40
You know, I just, you know, it's just, you think, you know, when you had things happen actually, we've had things happen recently with Michigan, you know, taking some of our guys out and some hate was built there, but you kind of need these good, hard fought series to kind of build those rivalries and they kind of need that for this, you know, this league to work more.
32:04
Yeah, well, I mean, I think it's all about competition, right?
32:07
I mean, I would be, I have my personal feeling is that we'll probably see three games this weekend.
32:13
And I think that that's the kind of series that, you know, can build some of that up.
32:16
And we've got plenty of history with Michigan, obviously, a lot of it was before this current Big Ten was put together.
32:24
But certainly, we got a lot of history there.
32:27
And I think it'll be a great series that we've talked about the style of play that Michigan tends to like and what we tend to at least emphasize here may not be quite as effective this year as what we'd like to see.
32:38
But nonetheless, I think it's it should be a really entertaining and competitive series.
32:42
So I think it'll be a good one.
32:43
Well, one thing that's interesting is that some of those older games from the from the from the 90s and 2000s still hurt, you know, a hand, a Veegs.
32:52
We've got Motay in chat saying Mike Legg still stings.
32:57
That just sends a shiver of every gopher fan's spine thinking that.
33:01
But there's been some stuff recently, too, you know, Michael Downing down going after a couple of Gophers.
33:08
You know, that was a stinger for Gopher fans.
33:11
I think seeing Kyle Conner on the power play basically end Minnesota's season a couple years ago, knocking them out of the Big Ten championship basically by himself.
33:20
So there's been some stuff recently.
33:22
It's just fans around Minnesota tend to focus more on what they don't have rather than what they do have.
33:29
And I think this will be a great series.
33:31
I think the big challenge for Minnesota this weekend will be to keep Quinn Hughes out of the middle of the ice.
33:36
You know, when he comes up wheeling and dealing with the puck, he likes to be in the middle.
33:41
So he's got lots of options.
33:43
I think it will be a big key for Minnesota to funnel him to the sides and kind of give him one way goes.
33:48
And Monta needs to remember that Vanik knocked Michigan out in the semi-finals back in what, 2003.
33:58
So we got our good ones.
33:59
Two years in a row, they knocked him out in the semi-finals.
34:03
We definitely have the good memories, which is nice.
34:09
But you know, Cappy, one thing that Minnesota has done a fairly good job is taking care of Mr.
34:14
Hughes.
34:15
He hasn't really lit them up the last couple of seasons.
34:19
At least not that I remember.
34:20
Well now you jinxed it.
34:21
Well that's fine.
34:23
That's fine.
34:24
You know what?
34:24
You got to beat them.
34:25
You got to beat them.
34:27
So I think we've locked them down fairly good so far, I should say.
34:32
Yeah it'll be interesting, you know, if now in a playoff scenario is, I mean, he already plays a ton and it's remarkable how he never looks tired out there.
34:43
But you know, how much is he going to play?
34:46
And then if you get to three games, you know, is he going to wear down at some point?
34:50
And I've noticed him actually taking the body a little more in the last couple of weekends against Ohio State and Wisconsin.
34:57
And that wasn't a big, you know, a couple of open ice hits.
35:00
And I was surprised to see, but you know, they've had a couple of guys kind of a couple of their freshmen forwards have kind of come along lately, Nolan Moyle and Jimmy Lambert scored some goals.
35:13
They needed that because of, you know, losing Josh Norris.
35:17
But, you know, I like what Minnesota has done.
35:19
Some guys that have really kind of stepped up McManus and then, you know, I call the freshman line.
35:24
I don't know.
35:24
Once they don't look like freshmen anymore and you're in the playoffs now, but there's just, it's gonna be a lot of fun to see because with Minnesota, the last five or six, they've looked like a team, like maybe you're looking at the roster and this is what they could have been a little more of all year.
35:41
And with Michigan, you just, you see spurts of just fantastic play and I thought they were really good against Ohio State the week before for the majority of the time, but you just haven't seen them be consistent enough.
35:54
And if Minnesota is able to kind of stay on this train they've been on the last couple of weeks, I really like them against Michigan.
36:04
But yeah, Quinn Hughes is the one guy that with his talent could change a game on his own a little bit, can draw some penalties with his speed and his stick handling, you know, or he could be the goat in the game.
36:18
We saw it at Madison Square Garden against Penn State.
36:20
He just had three awful turnovers because he was pressured and Evan Barrett stripped them.
36:25
So, you know, those are the things that I'm looking at going into the series right now.
36:31
And it's going to be fun.
36:33
I think it's going to be really fun.
36:34
Veegs, you know, we've kind of talked about this before, you know, it seems like Minnesota can contain a one guy superstar like that, but it's when they play a KHL type of line where they struggle when they've got a whole line coming right at you.
36:48
Minnesota seems to struggle with that, but they have better luck shutting down somebody like Hughes.
36:55
Yeah, they've done a pretty good job.
36:57
And I think one thing Minnesota has really done here the last couple of weekends, they've been playing for defensemen a lot.
37:05
They've been playing Danny Brinkman and Zulestorf and Sadick.
37:08
And I think that's really stabilized them.
37:11
One, those guys are all really good skaters and they are able to keep things up.
37:15
Two, they have to pick their spots more because they're playing so much ice.
37:20
You know, they're getting so much ice time.
37:22
You know, they can't go on the rush every other shift.
37:25
So they kind of sit back a little bit more and play defense and they just have played smarter.
37:31
And so I think that's a benefit to Minnesota right now.
37:34
They've really got their defensemen playing the way they need them to play and they're playing more patient and they're counterattacking more.
37:41
And the forwards have got the message as well and they're protecting them with layers.
37:45
And this is a different team than it's been the rest of the season.
37:50
Well it's definitely moving up the way we want it.
37:53
We're sick of this roller coaster stuff.
37:56
We need that.
37:56
Definitely that line, keep going up, keep improving, keep improving.
38:00
And one thing that's good, Hammy, is that at least it does seem like they're going into these playoffs feeling good about the direction they're going.
38:09
Yeah, I mean, I think that is the one good thing that we have had some positive momentum here in recent weeks.
38:15
Hopefully they're peaking.
38:16
I mean, maybe we'll get a good stretch of play from them and certainly it'd be nice if we get some of the solid goaltending.
38:24
I mean, obviously that's the big equalizer no matter who you're playing is if you have some really good goaltending and now's the time to see something like Robinson really kind of step up and do great.
38:34
Well elsewhere in the Big Ten, your alma mater gets the week off because they won the tournament this year, Cappy.
38:42
That's got to make you happy, doesn't it?
38:44
Or they won the league, I should say.
38:46
The first time they won the league in 40 years?
38:51
They won a regular season title in, I think, 47, so.
38:54
I think it was 72.
38:57
The year I was born.
39:00
The last playoff one was my senior year in 04, so yeah, I mean, it's great.
39:07
I think, you know, I love their coaching staff and their philosophy now.
39:11
And, you know, yeah, they do have a lot of veteran talent, but I think, you know, they're trying to build something where, you know, the next guys that come in are just going to fill right into that spot.
39:21
So I think, you know, they're one of the question marks when the Big Ten started.
39:25
Can they, you know, can they hang with, you know, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Notre Dame?
39:32
And, you know, I think they've come along now.
39:34
This would be their third straight year going to the NCAA tournament.
39:39
So you know, I just think it's making the Big Ten even stronger.
39:43
And, yeah, I think a week off is going to be good for them.
39:46
You know, it might get one of their, their freshmen, maybe the best freshmen forward, Gustav Westlund back for the playoffs, but could you help?
39:54
And then I think guys like, you know, Mason Jobs, who plays a ton and takes a beating out there, I'm sure his body could use an extra week of rest going into the playoffs.
40:04
Because you know, they didn't finish the season all that well.
40:07
I mean, they got swept by Minnesota at home.
40:12
They got the, they did get two points out of Michigan that weekend.
40:15
But for a little while, there was like, they just needed one point to win the league and it wasn't happening.
40:21
So they didn't finish the greatest, you know, and then they got, then they lost to Michigan State there at the last game that they played.
40:28
Oh, I, yeah.
40:29
And that's why I say, I think, you know, obviously the biggest thing is they're in the semifinals, semi-finals, you know, which is they get to sit here and watch six teams, you know, beat each other up for possibly three games.
40:43
I think that's, that's a key and they'll be home ice.
40:44
But like I said earlier, I think there's minimum of five teams that can, can win this BigTen championship.
40:52
And, you know, who knows what kind of crowd they might get there on a Sunday afternoon next week.
40:58
So, and we talked about Minnesota.
41:01
They went in there too, Michigan State just beat them there.
41:05
So there's, there's no clear cut favorite, they're, they're the slight favorite, I think to win the BigTen championship.
41:12
But there's definitely no clear cut favorite this year.
41:16
I do think it's tough for some of these teams to keep the mojo going at the end of the season when they don't have a ton to play for.
41:23
You know, when you have just one point to win the league, it's hard, I think, for some of the players to focus and execute, especially when you have other teams playing for their season.
41:32
I mean, we've seen that so many times with Minnesota, where they already have a one seed locked up going in the NCAAs, and they just lay an egg in the conference tournament.
41:42
So I think you see that and you can't discount that as well.
41:48
Yeah, I think that and, you know, it had been a long time and you know what, social media is everywhere and you're hearing it all over the place from everybody.
41:57
Oh, first time they could win it in 47 years and then you lose one game and then it's two.
42:02
And then all of a sudden you start thinking about it more and it's human nature.
42:06
You start squeezing the stick a little bit and you know, maybe it will be a little bit of a maybe a little gift to them to kind of, oh, we had to wake up a little bit at the end instead of coasting into the playoffs.
42:16
So it's, you know, it's tough though, because you're also looking at the national thing.
42:22
You're like, we got to get these wins.
42:24
I mean, they lost the two, the sweep by Minnesota dropped them from I think two in the pair wise like five and then, you know, they lost the Michigan that's they're all at seven, you know, in a matter of a week and a half.
42:35
So that's big for them too, because you want that number one seed going into a regional and see double ASU.
42:41
So, so Veegs, who do you think has the most chance of getting upset this weekend?
42:46
I think that Michigan State Series at Notre Dame could be quite interesting because with that one superstar line, Michigan State could knock.
42:56
I think they could knock Notre Dame right out of there.
42:59
Yeah, I just I feel like it's going to be tough for Michigan State this during two out of three games together.
43:06
I think that's a that's a team where they can catch you one night.
43:09
But I think Notre Dame is such a structured team.
43:12
It's going to be tough to do that over a weekend.
43:14
I mean, I really think if we're looking most likely upset, it's hard not to look at Michigan.
43:21
Yeah, they've got top end talent.
43:24
They are not your typical bottom of the conference type team, you know, facing them as the road team here.
43:31
I think they're probably the most dangerous.
43:35
Interesting.
43:36
I don't disagree with you.
43:38
Go ahead.
43:38
I you know, it's funny.
43:40
I know it's it's just crazy.
43:42
I you know, two weeks ago, I went to Penn State and did the Friday game with Wisconsin.
43:48
And it was just not even close.
43:51
It was a two.
43:51
I mean, it was, you know, boys versus men.
43:54
And I left there thinking, you know, OK, it could be close tomorrow.
43:59
But you know, I think Penn State will still get this.
44:01
And then it was a 7-3 game the other way.
44:04
So it's just Penn State is just so up and down.
44:08
I think one of the things I like mostly about Minnesota going in to not get upset is their goaltending.
44:15
I think by far, you know, by far, Notre Dame, too, with Kael Morris.
44:20
But those two teams easily have the best goaltending going on this weekend.
44:24
And obviously, you guys know, goaltending is pretty, pretty important in the playoffs.
44:29
And every other team has kind of been going back and forth with guys.
44:33
And, you know, it's just a lot of questions.
44:35
That's Michigan, I think, biggest question is their goaltending and who's going to start?
44:39
We don't even know who's going to start the first game, let alone, you know, finish them.
44:43
So that's why it's hard to say who's going to who's the most likely to get upset.
44:50
I almost want to say Penn State because of just what happened there and the inconsistency they've shown stopping pucks from going in their net.
45:02
Well, it's one thing that's interesting is that we know that Minnesota had wanted nothing to do with going to Penn State, Hammeh.
45:08
You were kind of disappointed with some of the players even saying that.
45:12
That can't happen.
45:13
Obviously, we could still play Penn State, but Minnesota just wanted nothing to do with going to Penn State, but maybe Wisconsin's got a chance to take them out out there.
45:25
You never know.
45:25
I mean, I just think that, yeah, I mean, I touched on it last week.
45:30
I just don't like hearing any players say they don't want to go to a certain place because to me, it's like you're a competitor.
45:36
You want to take on those kinds of challenges and you kind of owed them after what happened last year.
45:40
So that was just my attitude with that.
45:43
I understand the logic behind it, but I just like to hear my guys, you know, not being afraid to play anywhere and going up against anybody.
45:51
So but, you know, whatever, I'm not on the team.
45:55
I'm just one of the people watching from the stands.
45:57
So but yeah, I mean, I think it'll be entertaining weekend.
46:01
I'm sure we'll see an upset.
46:02
I can't, you know, the way that we talked about the league being, I don't know that there's going to be one obvious one for me that stands out.
46:10
Wisconsin certainly got a puncher's chance.
46:13
I mean, they're certainly more offensive than they used to be back in the day.
46:15
So, you know what, just have to see how it goes.
46:19
Now, now, Cappy, are these other series, they're going to be streamed at least.
46:23
They won't be on TV.
46:25
Do you know much about that?
46:26
Right.
46:26
They're just going to I think both of them are just going to be on BTN to go, like on the plus, like if you were during the regular season.
46:33
So if you have, though, if you've bought that all year, you'll have that.
46:40
So, yeah, it's just, you know, when they redid this formatting, you know, something had to give and they're not, you know, I don't think there's any way they can give up, you know, the women's basketball tournament.
46:55
I think they could maybe adjust it to where maybe you don't get the Friday games because they got, you know, they're going to have their four quarterfinal games, but you could, you know, maybe do the semifinals during the day on BTN and then have the men's hockey in the evening on Saturday, and then obviously possibly on Sunday.
47:13
But that's probably something hopefully down the road.
47:15
But yeah, I mean, it's tough.
47:18
You know, there's a lot of sports going on right now.
47:20
And luckily, everything else will be on BTN, the semifinal and final after that.
47:26
And the people in our chat are like, women's basketball, yuck, televised the tournament.
47:32
I don't make those decisions.
47:36
So but one thing I got to do is I got to thank you and Mr.
47:40
Rick Pizzo for calling me out on a broadcast of a couple of months ago.
47:44
Yeah, Rick loves it.
47:46
He's he loves I couldn't believe it.
47:50
And I give him credit.
47:51
He's he's he's a smart guy, too.
47:53
He just remembers so much, and I mean, I think that's why he's so good at his job.
47:56
But he's really good at that stuff.
47:59
And he enjoys how much you guys, you know, pay attention.
48:03
And obviously, the whole banter with games, you know, Pizzo's fault always for when basketball goes long.
48:12
Yeah, the other sport.
48:13
I do enjoy that.
48:14
And I enjoy also getting in on that as well.
48:18
Yeah, it was a surprise because, you know, you know, the Gopher game was on another net.
48:21
They were on the NBC network, sports network that night.
48:24
And all of a sudden, somebody saying Pizzo just called you out.
48:26
I'm like, what?
48:26
We weren't even on that network.
48:29
So we'll have to have Rick on the podcast again, because he was a great guest.
48:33
We had him on a few years ago.
48:34
So I might have to get him back on again.
48:37
But I appreciate that you guys call it.
48:40
Yeah.
48:41
You like you even said, you guys just made his name.
48:44
We know you guys are watching because you guys always are.
48:50
Minnesota fans bitch about TV the most, but they do watch.
48:54
They're there to watch.
48:55
Yeah.
48:56
And then that's just it.
48:56
They kind of they still kind of run the league when it comes to TV, because when you pick a TV, a series to televise, most a lot of time, it's involving Minnesota because they've got the biggest crowd, because they've always had the most television.
49:11
Yeah, I mean, that's I think we hit on this the last time we were on is, they've been so fortunate to be on television for a long, long time, whereas these other teams are really excited that they're getting on maybe 8 to 10 games, which is fantastic or maybe a few more.
49:29
And the fact that FS1 did a game this year, I think it did really well and hopefully they'll do more because BTN and Fox are the same company.
49:40
So yeah, I mean, it's a way to grow.
49:44
The more hockey on TV, the better and whichever networks, I'm happy that more and more is on because grow the game, right?
49:52
Definitely grow the game.
49:53
But still the fans weren't happy, were they, Veegs?
49:56
They were kind of commenting on your article.
50:01
And Hammeh, didn't you get involved as well, too?
50:03
Yeah, a little bit, just some uneducated stuff.
50:10
I don't know.
50:10
It's the usual internet.
50:11
You know, you got some people who are pretty well-informed and you have other people who, it's like, where have you been?
50:19
I've joked with Nate Wells that you need to have a bingo card for the comments on any Gopher story.
50:24
And one of them is going to be TV.
50:26
One of them is going to be Friday, Saturday nights.
50:28
One of them is going to be the old rivalries.
50:31
You know, you can just do a blackout on that.
50:33
You know, they lost the fire of Lucia, you know, square.
50:36
But, you know, the comments are always the same.
50:39
You need more grit, more none, Edina kids, even though Edina just keeps turning them out.
50:46
That was my other article in the Athletic this week.
50:48
And it was a fun one to write, talk to the coaches to do the PEE double A's and the Bandham double A's and get their perspective on what makes that program so special.
50:58
And it's always fun to see the comments on that one too.
51:02
Oh boy.
51:05
That's what the internet's for, Veegs, for people to just bring you down.
51:09
It's just to give everyone a voice and I appreciate the readers.
51:14
I hope they read the whole article though.
51:17
And that's just that they're probably just, they're skimming over it just so they can complain.
51:21
Because if anyone's ever read like the Minnesota Gopher Facebook, I'm surprised they still have one for how negative people are on that platform.
51:34
It is just ugly.
51:39
Yes, that's not good.
51:41
You gotta have thicker than alligator skin to run that page.
51:45
You do because it's usually every comment is bring back the WCHA.
51:50
Like you said, the same comments you just said.
51:53
And then you've got a couple of games this weekend that are kind of odd times, which some people just don't understand.
51:58
But my gosh, other sports have times all over the place.
52:05
I think it's great.
52:05
You're gonna be able to watch the Gopher game on Saturday, and then you're gonna be able to go watch the double A title game.
52:11
It should just be outstanding this year.
52:14
I completely agree with you there.
52:16
I love that the Gopher game on Saturday is so early, because then we can get out of there and we can go out to Maxwell's and watch the game on TV and have a few breverages.
52:30
Was that the strategy, or was that how some of the time choices were made for this weekend?
52:37
Yeah, I'm thinking maybe Saturday it was, but there's also so many other things going on.
52:42
You get the WCHA women's tournament with four teams over in that building.
52:49
There's just a lot going on down there this weekend.
52:53
I'm thinking at least the Saturday game had to be state tournament related.
52:57
Don't you think?
52:57
Yeah, it's hard for me to understand exactly how it works because I know The Wild don't play on Saturday.
53:05
They play Friday and I think Sunday.
53:07
So, that wasn't part of the issue, but hey, just be happy they're on TV.
53:13
If you're watching The Vikings, you've got a bunch of different time slots to look for them too.
53:18
It could be noon, it could be 3.30, it could be seven, it could be Saturday if it's late in the year, it could be Monday football.
53:24
If you care, you can just go online, look with time, look with channel, go to Gopher Puck Live, see the schedule.
53:31
There's even a link there.
53:33
It's not that hard.
53:34
It isn't that hard, and that's what we've given people a hard time for so long.
53:38
I mean, all these, if it was back in the day when you didn't have a guide in your TV and you couldn't search, it might be a different case.
53:47
But you know what, you can find the games.
53:49
It's not hard, it really isn't, people.
53:52
You giggle, but it's what we hear all the time here.
53:55
Sure.
53:56
Where are they, what network are they on, what time is it, it's not hard.
54:01
I mean, basketball is all over the place, and it always has been.
54:05
People don't complain about that.
54:07
Yeah, and I think now with television and everything, and I was actually speaking to one of the coaches last week, is you're starting to see everyone kind of go away from the traditional seven o'clock Friday, seven o'clock Saturday, 4.30 on a Saturday afternoon, or something, a 5.30 start and stuff like that.
54:28
And it seems like more fans are liking on the weekend to go to a game maybe a little earlier, or catching the game, it's January, February, you can sit on the couch and watch late afternoon.
54:39
So that was interesting what he said, that he said that.
54:42
And I think it's just part of the whole TV thing and packaging in, okay, we're gonna put a game in here at 4.30 ahead of the basketball or before the wrestling or whatever you have on, or the pro sports.
54:54
So I think it's evolving and hopefully, people will evolve with it.
55:00
I think that's what you hope for.
55:02
And actually that just finally happened where hockey delayed basketball and the Big Ten Network.
55:07
Oh, I had to put a big smile on your face.
55:09
You actually liked that tweet when I mentioned that.
55:13
I loved it.
55:14
It doesn't happen often, but it was kind of nice because you know how we always get fear when there's basketball before and there's three minutes left and it's going to take 15 minutes at least.
55:23
You're like, well, here we go again.
55:25
Blame Pizzo.
55:27
It's just, it's fun to do so.
55:29
So what do we got here this weekend, guys?
55:32
Let's get your final prediction.
55:33
Hammy, how many games and who's going to come out this weekend?
55:37
I said earlier three games and I think the Gophers will come out on top.
55:42
Veegs?
55:44
You know, I said that Michigan has probably got the best chance of pulling out the ups up, but I do think if Minnesota is playing well, they'd get it done in two.
55:53
There you go.
55:55
Cappy, careful now.
55:59
Are you allowed to call the game, Cappy?
56:01
I don't know, I gotta go curb street here on you.
56:06
I think-
56:06
You say what's gonna happen if you see wins?
56:09
I think it goes three and I think goaltending wins it.
56:12
And I'll just leave it at that.
56:14
Wow.
56:16
I mean, if you want to read the lines-
56:18
You're a smart boy, you're in broadcasting.
56:19
From what I said earlier, I think you can guess what I think.
56:26
Hammy, what you working on with the app?
56:28
Oh, not Hammy, sorry, geez.
56:31
Dude, if I'm right and it's gonna be some kind of a business plan thing, so I don't think anybody's gonna-
56:37
I'm losing it.
56:38
Obviously, you just had your three-part articles come out, Veegs, but what's next for you at The Athletic?
56:45
You know we're gonna wait and see how this weekend turns out, we'll probably be doing a mailbag here, coming up at the end of the season or maybe before the NCAA Tournament, but please go and check out that three-part series, a lot of hours, a lot of people I talked to to get those done, and if you're interested in Edina Hockey, a lot of good feedback on that story that went on today.
57:08
Jess says part three was damn good, he liked it.
57:12
Well thanks, it touches on what the coaching staff is looking for in recruits, talks about what kind of style of play they want their forwards to play, you can guess it's a lot like the BMW line, how they want their defensemen for college hockey and how they look for them.
57:28
I think one of the really interesting things in the article was, I looked at St.
57:31
Cloud States recruiting historically and they've been okay taking some younger forwards and putting them into the college ranks but with defensemen, they really like to wait until those guys play their junior, senior year of school and then have them come in as 19, 20 year olds.
57:49
Very rarely do they bring a defenseman early and when they do, it's been like Will Borgen who is a high pick for Buffalo and Choleski who ended up leaving earlier for the Red Wings.
58:01
So it's an interesting thing.
58:02
It'd be fun to watch what kind of recruiting they do and I think they're gonna get older there finally.
58:10
That would be nice.
58:11
We could use some little bit of age back on defense.
58:15
Well, Cappy, thanks for joining us again.
58:17
We appreciate you coming on with us.
58:20
Yeah, this was a blast.
58:21
I always love it.
58:22
It's twice this year.
58:24
I'll look forward to hopefully get an invite next year.
58:26
And one thing I just gotta say is I'm looking at Twitter here a little bit, and these kids in high school at the state tournament are just, they're upping their hair game and beard game and mustache game.
58:38
Like it is becoming maybe like the best Twitter-verse ever here.
58:43
Looking at these pictures in some of the video, these kids are just at the top of their games with the hair and the sideburns.
58:50
I'm just looking at one right now.
58:52
And it's fabulous, I love it.
58:54
Well, I'm thinking maybe Saturday night, we should all go out and watch the game at a bar.
59:00
Sounds like a bad plan to me.
59:01
Well, hopefully, hopefully we, you know, the game, our game doesn't go too long because you never know.
59:12
Yeah, you never do.
59:13
Well, the jinx on that.
59:16
I think with these two teams and the big ice, we don't gotta worry about that.
59:20
There we go.
59:21
I hope so.
59:22
Well, that's our show for this week.
59:24
You know, be sure to follow Vigo on Twitter at eVigo and Hammy Hockey at Hammy Hockey and Cappy at Cappy27.
59:31
You know, for those of you listening live, stay tuned for a bit of overtime coming up next.
59:37
For the rest of you, we'll be back next week to recap these big 10 quarterfinals and hopefully, knock on wood, preview some semi-finals for the Gophers.
59:48
Until then, thanks for listening.
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