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This is The GPL Podcast from gopherpucklive.com.
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Be.
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Now, here's Hammy, Vegoe and your host, Jupiter.
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Good evening, and welcome to The GPL Podcast, episode number 155, and the season premiere of season number nine.
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Boy, nine years, guys.
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We're starting the nine years.
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And of course, always joining me is Hammeh and Vigo.
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Hammeh, how you been?
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Pretty good.
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Just looking forward to this season.
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It's been nice to have a little break, obviously.
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We all kind of need that after a long season, but definitely looking forward to what we have coming up.
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Veegs, what's going on with you?
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Life is busy as always.
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It's fun to be getting back into the rinks, though, and watching some hockey.
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I think this will be a very interesting year ahead.
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Interesting, yes.
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And you had kid duty, so you got down pretty quickly tonight with the kid duty, didn't you?
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Well, my son is seven now, so it's getting a little bit easier.
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He's a little more independent these days.
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He doesn't wander down and join the podcast in tears.
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Well, I don't recall that ever happening.
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I mean, it's not like a fire alarm going off that my kids have done in the past.
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Or get still ahead.
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Or the dog, you know, the dog can always bark.
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Who knows?
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Well, guys, a new season and a lot of new players we need to get to.
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But before we get to all the new faces and the new stuff with our hockey team, Veegs, we lost a few things.
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You know, we had Pitlick and Robson decide to go pro and we had Mr.
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Clayton Phillips decide he wanted to go to another school.
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Or actually, maybe he didn't decide.
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Maybe the school decided as in University of Minnesota.
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Probably a mutual decision there.
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Clayton Phillips just never really found his footing with Minnesota, thrust into the team mid-year, coming from the USHL.
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They were hoping he was going to be the solution for the power play that season.
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Just never really worked out for him.
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I think sometimes you get that scar tissue from a couple bad nights, a couple bad decisions, and it's hard to recover from.
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You know, I'm pretty confident he'll do well in the guy get out of his key system at Penn State.
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You know, he is a talented player, skates really well.
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It's more just the decision making that never fit, you know, what Bob Motzko looks for in his defenseman.
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And Bob's got a lot of talented freshmen coming in this season.
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And that's kind of one of the things, though, at least one of the questions we had when Phillips left Hammy is that how come he's not sitting out a year?
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Well, a lot of it has to do is that he didn't decide to leave, or at least on the legal end, it was the school that decided not to kind of cut him.
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So he's allowed to just go right to Penn State and start playing.
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Yeah.
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I mean, I don't know all the exact circumstances of what happened with him other than, you know, it's like Big said, you get rushed in sometimes.
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You get to bring a guy in a little bit sooner than you kind of want to, and they kind of lose their confidence, I think, sometimes.
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And I mean, it's kind of like when you will see baseball players stuck in the minors a little bit longer and fans complain about it.
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But it's a lot of times it's the team, not only for financial reasons, but also they don't want to rush guys and ruin their confidence.
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And I think that that might have happened a bit in this instance.
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So a change of scenery is obviously probably something that's going to be good for him.
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And it allows us to bring in some fresh players.
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Well, you know, besides losing the seniors, we also lost a couple of guys who decided to leave early in Pitlick and Robson Vs.
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And Robson, you know, we kind of saw this happening.
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Pitlick, we were kind of on the fence, weren't sure about him.
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But either way, it definitely leaves some big holes back there.
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Yeah, Matt Robson was such a plus for this program.
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Steady goaltender, really confident, I think brought the position to another level.
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I think he really kept Minnesota in tournament consideration all year with his play.
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Some of the games he played against Ohio State were just phenomenal, where he stood on his head and gave his team a chance.
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With goalies, getting that contract and getting an opportunity to play in that doesn't come along too easily.
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If he passed up opportunities to play in the HL this year, maybe next year, the teams that he wants to sign with don't have spots for him to play.
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So I think when goalies get that opportunity to sign with a team and get a chance to play, they kind of have to take it.
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And he had offers the year before too.
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So he did give Minnesota an extra year in the Nets.
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And Ren Pitlick, just a great player.
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I think there was always something a little bit more there waiting for him to hit on the ice for production.
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But he'll get a chance with the Predators to play in the HL this year.
5:27
And I think he'll make an impact at some point in the big leagues.
5:32
Any thoughts on Pitlick and Robson, Hammy?
5:36
You know, I think it's just a matter of, I mean, Robson, you can kind of tell just because of when he came into college and his performance when he was at the UU.
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So that wasn't really a shocker.
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Pitlick, obviously, it was kind of a, you could make arguments both ways.
5:50
Obviously he had a lot of success scoring a lot of goals.
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And I think that, you know, sometimes it gets a little bit frustrating when you see a player like that because you know there's more there.
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But unfortunately, you're just not going to see it on the college level because they do sign.
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So it's just kind of the nature of the beast ever since they change the collective bargaining agreement, you know, a decade plus ago, which is what we have to live with.
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Well, you know, the loss of Pitlick, Robson and Phillips, I'm guessing the biggest hole that we know is happening as well as the graduation of Shearhorn is back in goal, Veegs.
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We have three new goalies this year.
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One of them will likely be more of a practice goalie, but you never know.
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We got Justin Close, you got Jack Lafontaine and who else do we have back there?
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Jared Moe.
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Jared Moe.
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That's right.
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All three played in the exhibition game this past Sunday and I don't think they looked too bad in the second period.
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I believe that Moe was left out to dry a few times, but at least they got some game time in there.
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Really, what's going to happen is I'm guessing that LaFontaine is going to get the first crack at being the starter, won't he?
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Yeah.
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He played great for Penticton last year in the BCHL, goalie of the league and just a big athletic goalie, Carolina Pick.
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He looks very confident.
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He's learned a little bit from trying to battle for the net at Michigan for two years.
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He didn't end up winning the spot.
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He might have gone to college a little too early because he was a draft pick and wanted to get there sooner.
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You know, playing that year juniors, I think helps guys when they can play a lot of games and be the guy in that rather than having to battle and try to find a rhythm that way.
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Jared Moll, also another big athletic goaltender, Winnipeg Pick.
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Six foot four.
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He looks like he's in every bit of six foot four.
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He is a tall kid.
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So it'll be fun to see those two battle it out.
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I think Minnesota's had some smaller goalies in the past.
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Now following up Robson with these two, you're getting the big athletic goalies that are kind of the standard now in today's game.
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Close as tiny at five foot ten.
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Which is not really tiny, but compared to those other two, they list LaFontaine at six two or six three, and then like you said Mo at six four, and then little Justin Close at five ten.
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He does look tiny back there compared to those two.
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Yeah, he's a smaller guy.
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He did well for himself at the exhibition.
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I thought he looked good in that third period, but I think LaFontaine and Mo are going to be the guys that get first crack at playing goal.
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Hammeh, can you remember a time that we had no goalies returning?
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Well, I'm sure that we've had it, and I just don't remember immediately up the top of my head, but we've seen freshman goalies step in and be successful.
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Obviously, LaFontaine is not a freshman, per se, but we've seen guys come in and be successful right away.
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I'm not as concerned with that part of it.
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I think that the talent is there.
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That's actually one of the things that I'm most looking forward to this season.
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There's a couple different storylines that I'm most interested in, but obviously the goaltending and how that shakes out, given the fact that we did lose all the guys from last year and replace them with new players.
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So it'll be interesting to see how that shakes out, but I think the talent is there.
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Well, let's look into some of the other new players we've got coming in this year.
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Let's start right off the top, Veegs, with Mr.
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Bryce Brodzinski.
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He definitely has the name recognition.
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He does, and he's one of those Brodzinski guys who can shoot the puck, and that's something that Minnesota's been looking for, especially in the power play.
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It's been a while since they've had someone over on the off wing who can really hammer the puck at the net.
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You know, he's got that ability.
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I don't know if he's going to get a shot on the power play right away.
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It seems like Motzko is trying to slowly get these guys up to speed on special teams opportunities, but he's a guy who can score.
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He scored in the high school level, and then when he played in the USHL, he scored there.
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So I think you're going to see a guy who has that ability.
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I think he still has to figure out the pace of the game and how to get himself involved during the exhibition game.
10:20
It seemed like he'd kind of get lost at times on the wing.
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He's got to find the way to get that space and create chances for himself.
10:28
Now, Hammeh, doesn't Bratsinsky have one of those quote-unquote dads?
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Why do you have to drag me into that conversation?
10:38
Yeah, he's got a passionate dad.
10:40
Obviously, it's a big hockey family given the fact that they've had so many kids going in a Division I, not just at the U, but obviously at St.
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Cloud as well.
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So, you know, they're pretty passionate.
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And I know that's all I can really say.
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I think that you're aware of that.
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I think everybody's aware of that.
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And it's not always bad as long as, you know, with any parent, as long as they know when to step aside and let the coaches coach and not be a problem.
11:07
For me, it was strange to see dad and all go for gear during that open skate kind of introduction a few weeks ago.
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Because if I recall in the past, he really wanted all his kids to go to St.
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Cloud Vegas.
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Well, he's good buddies with Bob Motzko and he understands that connection.
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I think that'll go a long way with how things will go this year for them.
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I thought it was funny, Bryce during meat availability commented that if St.
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Cloud's at home and Minnesota's at home, he doesn't even need to ask where his dad's going to be.
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It's pretty obvious he'll go see his other boy Easton who's still at St.
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Cloud and wear the Husky red and black.
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But it'll be fun to see Bryce with Minnesota.
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He really wanted to play for Bob.
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He was one of those first guys to change his commitment when Motzko was hired.
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He just really trusts Bob's development and how he looks out for his players.
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Well, let's go on to the back end, Hammy, and the new guy, Ryan Johnson.
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Yeah, a bit of a legacy because his father was a part of the U back in the day.
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So, I mean, of course, he was a different kind of a player.
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But nonetheless, it'll be interesting to see.
12:28
This is one of the other storylines, him and Jackson LeCom, how they transition into college hockey.
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Obviously, one of the weaknesses that we had been seeing in recent years was having those two-way defensemen, those guys that can not only play good defensively, but also be able to transition to puck and almost be a fourth forward out there.
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And it'll be interesting to see how these two guys transition into college and how quickly they can step in, potentially step into those kinds of roles and be consistent factors.
12:58
And he's a first round pick, late first rounder, and he's certainly got the ability to be that kind of a player.
13:04
So hopefully these guys will be able to hit the ground running and do those kinds of things because this program has definitely been lacking that in recent years.
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Veegs, Hammy mentioned Jackson LeCombe along with Ryan Johnson.
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So let's keep them together as a pair.
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What are your thoughts on those two coming in?
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Well, I think they're definitely the two kind of players that this program needs.
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The Gophers have kind of missed on some of their defensive commits the last couple years.
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You know, guys who were doing really well at the 15 camp, the 16 camp, and then just kind of plateaued.
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They didn't really get in that high level status.
13:40
Well, these are two guys who have continued to improve.
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I don't think they were viewed as first, second round pick type players, you know, two years ago, but they've continued to develop and they're calm as can be on the puck.
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Ryan Johnson is kind of a human breakout guy.
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You know, he just seems to get back on his puck retrieval, check his shoulder and find the guy right away.
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So I think that that'll help Minnesota get in transition a little bit easier.
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I think that was a problem last year for this program.
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They just were too slow getting back and getting started.
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You know, having a guy like that does wonders for your forwards when they can get going even sooner.
14:19
Jackson LeCombe, he looks very confident at the offensive blue line, walking it, making plays, getting around shot blockers.
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So that flair will be much needed for this program as well.
14:32
I think, you know, he's a little bit smaller guy.
14:35
So we'll see how he handles four checks and breaking out the puck.
14:39
But he's a guy who I think will probably contribute on the power play this year.
14:44
Moving on, Vegs, I noticed one guy who kind of stood out to both of us in the exhibition is a less heralded guy.
14:51
But Ben Myers, he was doing just a couple little things on the ice that you don't usually see freshmen.
14:59
But you had mentioned, hey, he's older and he just makes better decisions than maybe some of the other freshmen.
15:05
Well, I think one of the things you noticed in the exhibition was the young guys trying to make plays really quickly or trying to take on too much.
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Ben Myers, 20 years old, scoring freshman, he's going to be mature.
15:19
He has that patience on the puck where he doesn't get in trouble, but he makes that play that's a little bit more delicate.
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He doesn't skate himself into bad space on the rink.
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He's patient, sees it very well, and I think he's going to play center this year for the Gophers, and they need that.
15:38
You know, Sammy Walker is the only productive returning center.
15:42
Scott Reed has kind of struggled the last couple of years, so they need more guys down the middle.
15:47
I think Ben Myers is going to be a valuable player for them.
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Talking to Brodsinski about his experience in the USHL, when he played Myers, the coaching staff said, this is the guy we have to be careful of.
15:58
This is the guy we need to stay on top of and check.
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So he should have a good year for the Gophers.
16:03
Not too often you see freshmen age 20 coming in.
16:07
And we noticed them right away.
16:08
We saw in a breakout in the second, actually the first period, just a slight little hesitation he did on a pass towards the Nets.
16:18
And you had been harping on, talking to me that evening, that these freshmen, they're making bad decisions, trying to get rid of the puck too quickly, but he really popped out at you, and that's why I wanted to talk about him.
16:31
Yeah, he's going to be a good player this year.
16:33
I think he's mature and ready to step into a big role right away, and that's what they're going to need for some of these freshmen, because it's a big difference being an 18-year-old freshman versus being 20, and this is kind of the kind of guy that Motzko wants to start bringing in more frequently.
16:47
He's a mature player.
16:49
We've heard this name for a long time, Hammeh, but Jackson Nelson has been on the radar for quite some time at Minnesota.
16:58
Yeah, he kind of made a name for himself down in southern Minnesota, in high school hockey, putting up some big numbers, Laverne, you know, back in the day.
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And so I think a lot of people were kind of a little bit concerned because they kind of had the Seth Ambrose memories, you know, from how he was, you know, obviously when he was in high school.
17:18
And then, of course, he actually did really well offensively when he was in the USHL, but just didn't pan out when he got to college.
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And so I think the fact that he didn't put up big numbers in the USHL, you know, especially his first year or so, you know, I think a lot of people were kind of hitting a little bit of the panic button.
17:36
But, you know, he's coming in, mature, big guy.
17:39
I think that, you know, he's one of those types of guys that you're not expecting big offensive output from, but I think he's going to be playing, you know, a role and doing a good job.
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And I think that you kind of hope that as his time moves along, he becomes a little bit more of a consistent goal scorer and producer, maybe on a second, third line type of a role as he matures.
18:00
So we'll see what he brings to the table this year.
18:03
I don't expect him to be big numbers, but, you know, hopefully getting his feet wet, being a physical presence and, you know, being there for his teammates and support.
18:12
That's the kind of thing that you're looking for a guy would like that.
18:15
Boy, a lot of guys with the first name with a J.
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You know, we got Justin, we got Jackson, we got Jack, we got Jared, we got Jackson.
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And now we got another Jack and Jack Purbecks, Veegs.
18:25
What do you know about him?
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I know that Bob Motzko is looking for him to be an impact physical player.
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He's a guy who likes to play the body and aggressive on the forecheck.
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I don't think he's going to be asked to score a lot or play a lot of, you know, power play special teams, but I think he's someone they're going to look to kill penalties, be aggressive, getting the puck back and support other players in the lineup.
18:50
So it'll be interesting to see how he fits in because Bob Motzko's style, you need hard forecheckers and you need guys to buy into that.
18:59
Hammey, what do we know about Johnny Sorensen because I have never heard his name until recently.
19:08
Well, you know, the funny thing is, is that he was a multi-sport athlete.
19:12
I think it was St.
19:12
Louis Park.
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Correct.
19:15
And so, you know, he's a, I don't remember what, I don't know if he was a quarterback or what position he was, but he was a very good player and just never really focused entirely on hockey.
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Like you see a lot of players these days as they get older, they're certainly kind of specializing in one sport at some point that they see as their future.
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And he really didn't take that route.
19:35
He didn't do that.
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So when he finally got to focus more on hockey, I think that people saw the potential that he had and he started to really excel.
19:45
So I think that, you know, it's kind of hard to say.
19:47
He's one of those guys that maybe you think they just haven't reached their potential yet and they're a little rough.
19:53
But we'll see what he can bring to the table this year.
19:57
But, you know, there's that potential with him that I feel pretty good about that he might be a guy that surprises people as time goes along.
20:05
But certainly with any freshman, you can't have too high expectations unless they're the superstar type.
20:11
So you have to, of course, temper things.
20:13
But I think that he has an opportunity to be a good player for the Gophers in the upcoming years.
20:18
And then we just got a couple left here.
20:19
But Matt Stoddicker Veegs, what do you know about this freshman from Fenton, Michigan?
20:25
Don't know a ton about him so far.
20:27
You know, it's hard to see guys stand out so far in practice.
20:31
But everybody describes him as a gritty, grinding defenseman.
20:36
So we'll see how he fits into the program.
20:38
He's going to be more of a depth guy, I think, for the program, along with Matt Denman.
20:43
You know, it's kind of those depth D who, you know, play solid defensively.
20:47
And that's what they're looking for out of him.
20:48
Okay, what about Noah Weberham?
20:51
He's our last guy of the new guys here.
20:58
Well, so, yeah, you're throwing me the guy from Wisconsin.
21:00
Yeah, the kid.
21:01
Well, he was at Schadek, so.
21:03
Well, yeah, I know, but he's still from Wisconsin, right?
21:08
Yes, he is.
21:10
You know, I think he's one of those guys that just kind of came, you know, was kind of a little bit off the radar because, you know, he doesn't come from the stereotypical background that we know of.
21:20
You know, he does obviously with Schadek, but he is an older player, was a leader, you know, and he was a captain at the USHL level.
21:28
So, I mean, I think that, you know, you look for guys like that to be, you know, good character guys that, you know, can produce, you know, in the positions that they're given.
21:36
They're not looking at him as obviously a star kind of a guy, but somebody that's going to, you know, play one of those lower line roles, except what they get for, you know, whether it's penalty kill or being that kind of checking line type of a guy.
21:49
And hopefully you get a little bit more out of it and, you know, from an offensive perspective than what we've seen in recent years from the fourth line.
21:55
But that's kind of the type of character guy and leader that you're kind of looking at with this kind of a player.
22:04
All right.
22:04
Well, we've got some questions from Twitter, you know, that were earlier today.
22:10
I thought I'd talk about some of them.
22:12
We've also got the people in the Mixler chat who are always there asking questions.
22:17
Like somebody called Here For Vigo.
22:19
Is that a relative of yours?
22:23
He says that McLeod deserve an Oscar for his role in Mystery Alaska, obviously referring to Doug McLeod no longer being the voice of the Gophers on Fox Sports North.
22:35
I'm not sure if he deserved that, but at least we know you're here for Vigo.
22:39
So that's all.
22:40
I appreciate it.
22:41
Thank you.
22:43
And maybe it's your mom because your dad's usually listening in.
22:47
So it's a family affair with you, isn't it, Veegs?
22:52
I wore the Marrior.
22:55
Well, we got our stats guy Rob Scheele and he was tweeting earlier today.
23:00
He says, fellas, loose term.
23:03
What did you see Sunday, strengths and weaknesses?
23:07
Which freshman did you see staying in the lineup?
23:11
Or maybe that's just kind of a day-to-day thing, week-to-week process.
23:15
And he says he's thinking 45 in net.
23:19
Gosh, he's really shutting things up.
23:20
But he says he'll listen tomorrow since he's busy tonight.
23:23
But who stood out for you, Veegs?
23:26
But we know that Ben Myers kind of stood out a little bit.
23:29
But was there anything, anyone else who stood out for you?
23:32
I thought among the Fords, Ben Myers was really the only one who stood out for me.
23:37
I think the other guys are still kind of finding their spot on the ice.
23:41
Myers, you know, just looks more comfortable out there.
23:44
He's more experienced.
23:45
He's pretty well put together.
23:47
He's a solid, you know, 200 pounds, kind of that tank build.
23:52
And then, of course, Johnson and Lacombe both brought what they bring.
23:56
You know, they've got offensive skill with the puck, smooth skaters.
24:00
So I thought those three looked pretty good in the exhibition.
24:03
I think it's going to take a little time for this team to figure things out because there's just so many new players.
24:08
And I wouldn't make too much of the power play stuff that was going on in the exhibition.
24:14
They haven't really worked much on their power play system.
24:18
They just had kind of gone over what they want to do on their breakout, but hadn't done anything in zone.
24:24
This week they worked on power play quite a bit more.
24:27
They're still trying a lot of guys out on power play.
24:29
I saw Johnny Sorensen working on the power play this week, among the freshmen, Bryce Brzezinski.
24:35
So we'll see those guys maybe contribute there.
24:38
One thing that people were asking, who were at the game, were asking about it there.
24:41
They see a lot of Robbie Stucker on the power play.
24:43
And I think Stucker might be just one of the guys that Motzko wanted to use because he doesn't want to throw Lacombe out there right away.
24:55
He talked about this in his media meeting a couple weeks ago.
24:58
He doesn't want to just throw guys out there and hope they swim.
25:01
So I'm thinking we saw Robbie Stucker on that kind of first unit just so there's a lot less pressure on maybe Lacombe.
25:07
What did you see?
25:09
Yeah, it's hard to tell.
25:11
Stucker's a pretty smooth skating guy.
25:13
He's done it for a while now.
25:15
He didn't get much of a look last year with the team.
25:18
So I think it's a little bit of Motzko just trying to see what he has there.
25:21
You know, Stucker was still working with the power play units this week.
25:24
You know, he's a right-handed shot, something you kind of want to have out there sometimes to help move the puck around and set guys up for one-timers.
25:34
So we'll see how things shake out.
25:35
You know, I don't think they want to put their two freshman 18-year-old defensemen on the blue line right away on the power play.
25:42
Hammeh, we'll throw this question to you.
25:43
We've got Tim Hapke.
25:44
He's always asking this question.
25:45
He says, of these sophomores, who will show the greatest improvement?
25:49
And he's looking at Ranta, McLaughlin, Waite and Brinkman.
25:54
Which one of those guys would you like to see the most improvement?
25:59
Oh, that's a tough one.
26:00
You know, for me, just because of, you know, what the team needs, I really believe offensively, you know, especially McLaughlin and Ranta, those would be the two guys that I would really hope to see, you know, that next step up.
26:16
Just didn't have the consistency throughout last year.
26:19
And I'm kind of hoping that both of those guys are able to, you know, kind of find that consistency.
26:24
I know that Ranta kind of had a pretty good off season.
26:28
You know, people were pretty happy with his performance when he was at this summer.
26:32
So, I mean, I think that that's something that we can be positive about.
26:35
I think McLaughlin showed some really good things last year.
26:38
But those would be the two guys that I'd be the most excited about, just simply because I think that we do have some, you know, I think a little bit more of a question mark in terms of, you know, who's going to step up and score.
26:50
We know about the Sammy Walkers of the world and all that, but it's just some of those other guys that are going to need to step it up.
26:55
And I don't want to put all the pressure on the new guys, the freshmen.
26:59
So you kind of want to see some of these second year guys or the Reedys or the McManuses of the world step it up and kind of be more of a consistent producer.
27:10
Hey Veegs, could Ranta have fallen into that trap last year about being thrown out there in the beginning, which he did have kind of success that first weekend, in fact that first night against Duluth.
27:21
But then he kind of went quiet.
27:23
Could it be one of those things that Coach Motzko was talking about, about throwing guys out there and it might hurt their development?
27:30
It's hard to know what got into Ranta's head last year because it definitely seemed like it was a mental issue for him.
27:36
You know, he's got a lot of offensive skill.
27:40
And I know one thing that he worked on this offseason was actually losing some weight.
27:44
He thought he was probably carrying around too much weight in his upper body.
27:49
And so he got a little bit leaner this year.
27:51
He looks quicker on the ice this fall so far.
27:56
And he did really well for Finland at the World Junior Camp.
28:00
But he just struggled last year.
28:01
I know it was really important for him to try to make the World Junior Team.
28:04
And I think that was weighing on him during the season as well.
28:08
And so sometimes, you know, players can be their own worst enemy.
28:11
I think he's going to be a breakout sophomore though this year.
28:13
Well, that would be good.
28:16
We could really use that.
28:17
We've got, boy, Kevin Cavernum.
28:21
I'm not sure I can pronounce your name right.
28:23
Sorry about that.
28:24
But he wants to know which players will be our more physical guys this year.
28:29
Who's going to be cracking some skulls there, Hammeh?
28:36
Well, I mean, that's kind of a good question.
28:37
I mean, it was kind of funny because I noticed in the U's, their weekly, I don't know what they call it there, if it's like a press packet or whatever it is that they had mentioned how the Gophers are the youngest team in college hockey in terms of actual age, years and months.
28:54
But they're also, I think, the heaviest team, which you don't tend to put hand in hand because usually those younger guys, they don't tend to be as physically mature, so it was kind of interesting to see that.
29:06
So I think that this is actually going to be a team that is going to have a little bit more of an edge.
29:11
I'm not saying that they're going to go around playing like a bunch of thugs by any means, but I think that you'll see them mix it up a lot more just as a team in general.
29:20
I think when you have players, I think we talked about Ben Myers, I think Jackson Nelson with his size, I think that those are the kinds of guys from a new player perspective that are going to be good.
29:34
It will be interesting with Brinkman and some of the defensive guys if they're going to bring a little bit more of an edge to the table.
29:40
I actually think that this is going to be a team that can handle that kind of game a little bit better than maybe what we've seen in recent years simply because even though there's some youth there, the physicality I think is still there.
29:53
That physical strength and size is a little bit there, a little bit more there than I think we've seen in some seasons.
29:59
Who's going to bring the physical play there, Veegs?
30:03
Well, I think McLaughlin I think is going to be a physical guy this year.
30:07
He put on a little extra weight.
30:09
He had a full offseason.
30:11
He's healthy, wasn't injured at all.
30:13
Like last year he had that high ankle sprain right away that really slowed him down.
30:16
He got sick I think for a little bit during the year.
30:20
So it was kind of a tough year for him that way physically.
30:23
Ben Myers looks like a hard player.
30:26
Purbic's a hard player on the forecheck.
30:28
Very aggressive.
30:29
And this roster has a lot of solid hockey player builds.
30:34
So I think they'll be able to stand up to that kind of game.
30:38
One thing I think with what people are looking for for heavy hitting teams though is kind of out of style in college hockey.
30:44
You know, everything has to be pretty measured I think.
30:47
So you're not going to see a team that's just going to go out and run people.
30:50
Mm-hmm.
30:51
Frozen4Champs in the Mixer Chat is asking if Bickel is back as a grad assistant and I saw him Sunday evening.
30:58
So I assume he's going to be there all year along with Ryan Patoni.
31:02
Isn't that true, Avi?
31:05
I don't know about Ryan Patoni.
31:06
I think he graduated.
31:08
So I think he's out.
31:10
But Bickel's back.
31:11
I've seen him on the ice every time I've been at the rink.
31:13
So he's back again.
31:15
He's got, I think, two more years of school to get done.
31:19
So he was one of those guys who was an undrafted player and got that deal after his freshman year.
31:25
He left after a year.
31:27
Well, he's back.
31:31
He's back.
31:31
I saw him on line today with Cullen Munson and Jackson Nelson.
31:35
So he's back on the ice.
31:38
Hopefully his face is not rearranged like those last few pictures that we saw him in his professional career.
31:44
He looked beat up, kind of like how Robson looked in the preseason here.
31:49
Getting used to that cat-eye cage in the pros.
31:53
Boy.
31:54
Yeah, it says Robson didn't look so great recently.
31:59
That's why they don't let the kids wear those.
32:01
You got to be a professional to get that kind of cage.
32:03
Yeah, well, it doesn't look like it's protected all that well.
32:06
Well, it looks like the league coaches have predicted that Minnesota is more of a fifth place team this year, Hammy.
32:15
I'm thinking they might do a little better than that, second or third, but fifth place in the Big Ten.
32:23
Oh, and Jess is asking the same question in the Mixo Chat.
32:28
Is that, where do you think the Gophers should be?
32:30
A little higher, a little lower?
32:31
Where do you think the Gophers are supposed to be this year?
32:35
Well, I guess I don't blame anybody for kind of having questions.
32:40
I mean, we do have question marks.
32:41
We have a lot of youth, you know, and obviously these kinds of, excuse me, these kinds of polls are largely based on what, you know, the people already know.
32:52
And when you don't know as much about a team, you're kind of going to downgrade them to a certain extent.
32:59
So, I mean, I think that I'm not surprised by where they're placed, but at the same time, I think there's a lot of talent there.
33:05
And it will be interesting to see how it all comes together.
33:09
We all know that when you have young teams, you're going to take your lumps once in a while.
33:14
That inconsistency is likely going to be there.
33:17
So, I mean, I think I'm not surprised by it, but I also won't be surprised if they kind of, you know, overachieve in some sense and end up being maybe in that top three.
33:29
I don't think that's certainly an insurmountable thing for this team.
33:32
And a lot of it will just be how the different facets come together.
33:36
New goalies, some new key players on defense and up front, and we'll see how it all goes.
33:42
And really, Veece, it's just kind of similar to what Hammey said there.
33:45
A lot of times these coaches are saying, hey, Minnesota's got a lot of unknowns, three new goalies, a lot of young team that could take longer than they thought.
33:54
So maybe their prediction of fifth is pretty much in line.
33:59
It's really hard to put them much higher.
34:02
I think Wisconsin is probably being over-hyped a little bit this year, the teams in the Big Ten.
34:08
But the conference is pretty strong.
34:10
I think the bottom of the league has gotten better the last couple years.
34:13
And I think the Blue Bloods like Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin are going to be better.
34:18
So it's going to be a tough league from start to finish.
34:23
Penn State, the cream of the crop, Ohio State, who do you got up there at the top of their Vs?
34:28
I probably have Ohio State at the top of the conference just because I think they play such a structured game that they're going to be in it more often than not.
34:39
You know, they still have Lysinski back.
34:41
They lost a couple of players with Jobst and Joshua leaving, but they're going to be a tough team to play against.
34:47
I think Rolex really kind of found his rhythm as a head coach and they're going to be a veteran team that's going to be tough to beat.
34:54
I don't know if that climber is going to be devastated that Dakota Joshua is gone, Hammeh.
35:01
Oh, well, he'll get over it.
35:06
He loved himself from Dakota Joshua.
35:10
Oh, boy.
35:11
Who knows, guys?
35:13
Speaking of climber, he is back with FSN and Doug McLeod is obviously out thinking a lot of that has to do with some comments he made at the high school hockey tournament.
35:23
And the funny thing is the young man who took over for Doug McLeod in the high school hockey tournament for his games was Charlie Beatty.
35:33
And Charlie Beatty is the new FSN guy.
35:36
And I've been kind of pushing for him.
35:38
I thought he'd be a good choice.
35:40
Veegs, you know, I've been hoping they would go young, go fresh.
35:43
And that's exactly what FSN did here.
35:47
Yeah, Charlie's a young guy, a local kid who's worked a lot with the Saints, high school sports, the Prep Bowl.
35:55
I thought he did really well when he filled in for the state hockey tournament.
35:58
He was thrown in there.
36:00
Yeah, I mean, he was thrown in with like half an hour of prep.
36:03
Yeah.
36:03
And he did a great job.
36:05
So I think it will be a good voice.
36:08
I think you'll have someone who's really bought in to doing a good job and he'll value the position, the role.
36:14
And I think it was just maybe time for Doug to step away.
36:17
I think we always gave him a hard time for his Middlesdorf and mispronouncing guys and bringing up players who played for the Gophers 20 years ago every once in a while when calling numbers.
36:29
But I think he's a great choice.
36:32
And they also lost Katie Emmer to the NHL.
36:35
She's with Flyers now.
36:36
So I think we got Bobby Bowling now.
36:39
She's a local kid as well who played golf at Minnesota State and then transferred to St.
36:45
Cloud when she realized she wanted to get into broadcasting.
36:47
Yeah, that's kind of the place to go for broadcasting at St.
36:50
Cloud.
36:51
A lot of people have come through there and producers and people behind the scenes have gone through St.
36:56
Cloud as well because of their media program up there.
37:00
Really, I think, Hammeh, is that, you know, there was, you know, we had Motzko for a long time on TV.
37:08
People were upset when Lopanta came on and then they brought back McCloud.
37:13
He was good maybe that first year and I just think, I still think it goes back to people being angry they got rid of Motzko at the time.
37:21
But I really like the decision of him going young and just starting fresh and starting new in the broadcast booth.
37:28
Yeah, I mean, I can't argue that with that.
37:30
I think it was, I think the thing with McCloud is a lot of people, a lot of longtime fans remember him, you know, when he was, you know, more at his peak and, you know, he used to do North Star Games as well.
37:42
You know, and I remember that as a kid.
37:44
I remember him doing both, you know, Gophers and North Stars games.
37:49
So, I mean, when they first talked about bringing him back, I was excited about that because I remember he had a great voice and, you know, he kind of did make the game a little bit entertaining with some of his, you know, his little quirky sayings and whatever.
38:02
But it's unfortunate kind of what happened, you know, at the state tournament.
38:09
You feel bad for the guy in that sense because nowadays, all it takes is one flub like that in those kinds of career positions and it can really hurt you.
38:19
So I feel bad for the guy in that sense, but I think that a lot of people knew that in the performance in recent years, it just kind of wasn't what we all remember a long time ago.
38:28
And having somebody in there with a new kind of new way of calling games, a new vision, a new voice probably is going to be passionate because it's a great opportunity for him.
38:39
So I think it will be a good thing.
38:42
Hopefully the fans won't nitpick the hell out of them because we know our fans tend to nitpick the shit out of everything.
38:48
They do.
38:48
So hopefully they will give him a shot and allow him to make the occasional mistake and not make a big deal out of it.
38:55
But I certainly wish him well.
38:57
And Doug McLeod on Facebook today kind of said his goodbye to Gopher Hockey and posted some pictures.
39:03
And I posted that to the GPL Twitter accounts.
39:06
Make sure you go over there and read what he had to say and saying goodbye.
39:09
He was very graceful.
39:10
And he's had a long career in this area.
39:14
He kind of started to go for hockey, radio and TV back in the early 80s.
39:20
So it was fun to have him come back.
39:23
But like you said, Hammy, it probably just was time for something new.
39:26
And V, boy, you say something wrong on TV these days and they get you off the air real quick.
39:32
And that's unfortunately what happened to Doug.
39:36
Yeah, unfortunate timing, I guess, for him.
39:39
But I'm excited for Charlie.
39:40
It should be a good change for college hockey.
39:45
I'm very excited for it as well.
39:46
Well, boys, we're kicking off the season.
39:49
And one thing that I'm really excited about, Hammy, is that we're seeing a team we haven't seen in a little while, a former WCHA foe, but we've had hundreds of games against this team.
40:00
The Colorado College Tigers, part of a two-year set when we're going to go out there and they're going to come back here next year.
40:05
But the Gophers open up the season against the Tigers in Colorado Springs this weekend.
40:12
It's nice to see a team like this again.
40:15
Yeah, I think obviously Colorado College kind of fell on tough times for a little while after all the conference changes and all that.
40:26
And they're trying to kind of find their way again to what we remember, especially back in the 90s and the early 2000s when, you know, kind of during the Lucia, the end of the Lucia era there and kind of the handful of years afterwards for them where they were still kind of a powerhouse program.
40:43
And now they're trying to find their way back to that kind of success.
40:46
And they didn't have a great year last year, but I think that it was kind of a little bit stepped forward considering what they had been like.
40:54
And I noticed that they seem to be trying to make more of the inroads back in Minnesota as far as recruiting goes.
41:03
It seemed like they kind of got away from that, either got away from it or they were just getting their ass handed to them.
41:08
You know what I mean?
41:09
Either way, they kind of got away from it because they certainly had done well with Minnesota players for a long time.
41:15
So I think it'll be fun.
41:17
I mean, I was reminiscing today about all the different message boards that I had used over the years.
41:26
And I think the very first one I ever used was back in the AOL days when everybody used to use AOL to get back, you know, to get online and get the dial up.
41:35
And they actually had the College Hockey Message Board on AOL.
41:39
This is like, God, I don't know, 93 or whatever it was.
41:43
And I remember that the only other poster I remember from back then that used it was Randy May, who was a huge Colorado College fan.
41:52
And I think he actually started their message board.
41:54
I'm assuming their message board still exists.
41:56
But so I was kind of thinking about that today, how we used to get in those kind of war of words whenever CEC and the Gophers would play.
42:04
And obviously it's not like that anymore.
42:06
But it'll be good to kind of get reacquainted with them.
42:09
Well, it's nice that we're getting back with Colorado College.
42:13
I'd like to see them, the Gophers, play Denver again as well.
42:16
The last time the Gophers played Colorado College was the 2013 Debbie CHA Final Five where Minnesota lost two to Zip.
42:25
Their last time in Colorado Springs was a 4-2 win and a 4-4 tie in early December of 2012.
42:32
But it's been some time and was it close to 250 games these two teams have played, Veegs.
42:40
So there's a long history with this school.
42:44
Yeah, long history.
42:45
I think CC plays a fun style because they've got the big ice at their rank, the world arena.
42:51
And it will be a tough matchup.
42:53
I think Havlin's finally starting to get the program that he wants to have.
42:57
I think when you have these coaching transitions, it's so hard to get players right away because everyone's committed at 15, 16, 17, you know, your blue chip players.
43:08
He's starting to get some of his own guys now that are, you know, type A players that he can put on the power play and score goals against other teams.
43:18
And they're starting to make some noise at the NCHC.
43:23
That's a tough league as well.
43:25
I think they're kind of a team that's going to battle for home ice this year in that conference.
43:30
I think it will be a great test for the Gophers.
43:33
You mentioned there that, sorry, just lost my train of thought there.
43:41
Well, it's the start of the year.
43:42
It's the start of the year.
43:44
Motzko said in the exhibition that they made 152 mistakes, so we're bound to make a couple.
43:49
Yeah, my train of thought just totally left me there.
43:53
It's fine, I guess.
43:55
We were thinking about that new sideline reporter chick.
43:58
I haven't seen her yet.
44:01
You're such a liar.
44:02
No, if I saw her, I wouldn't know who she was.
44:08
Right.
44:09
Seriously, I wouldn't.
44:10
I heard she's a smoke show.
44:11
Well, I'm sure she is.
44:14
Aren't they always?
44:16
Well, I guess they are.
44:17
Usually.
44:19
It kind of started with Jenny Taft over there.
44:24
The Fox Sports North girls.
44:25
Yeah, and Jenny, she's a big deal now with Fox.
44:30
So a lot of success there.
44:33
Yeah, correct.
44:33
It started with just Jenny, and then she became Jenny Taft.
44:37
And now she's working FS1.
44:40
You are correct.
44:41
She was just Jenny, an FSN girl.
44:44
But good for her.
44:46
Yes.
44:47
Jess is kind of asking about, he says, what did the WCHA, they did to the Alaska schools in Huntsville is horrible, but the WCHA didn't do anything to them.
45:00
It was the other schools that are deciding to leave the WCHA, Hammy.
45:10
Well, I mean, it's really tough.
45:11
We all knew that it was going to be a struggle for some of these programs after some of these teams left the conferences that they were in, especially those Alaska schools where it just basically feels like it's the middle of nowhere and the travel costs and just all of that kind of stuff.
45:29
It just isn't an easy situation.
45:31
You've got to feel bad for them.
45:33
We all remember playing Alaska Anchorage at 10 o'clock at night, our time, and watching the videos, the internet stream with the weird commercials and all that kind of stuff.
45:46
It was some good entertainment, but you feel bad for them.
45:49
Certainly it's a tough situation for them to be in.
45:52
You just don't know how those teams are going to survive in the long run when those kinds of changes happen.
45:58
Anchorage was way ahead of their time by streaming on the internet because they were doing that long before anyone else was doing it.
46:06
Well, that they were.
46:07
We even did a live broadcast where I think I went through a lot of gin that night.
46:15
That broadcast is still somewhere.
46:16
I have it saved somewhere.
46:17
It's pretty bad.
46:20
Part of me does wonder though if being out of a conference for them might actually be a good thing for them because the NCAA allows you to get those games added onto your schedule as two extra games.
46:33
You can see them playing a pretty competitive schedule against teams that want to give them guarantees to play.
46:38
Yeah, but they almost didn't play this season, both schools.
46:42
Well, I think that was financial funding from the state legislature in Alaska was the main issue there.
46:49
I've seen some things from the regents from the Alaska schools saying that they're going to be fine going forward.
46:55
So I think the programs are healthy.
46:57
They just got to figure out how to schedule a season.
47:01
And now my memory has finally come back to me.
47:04
You know, we were talking before the show started about no kind of new rules in the NCAA this year.
47:09
But what it did remind me of, though, Veegs, when you were talking earlier about some of the recruits and the young kids, is that the NCAA did kind of enact some new rules on recruiting and the age of recruiting.
47:21
And that kicked in, was it May 1st or something like that?
47:26
Yep, they wanted to get through the current season before they implemented the rules.
47:30
They were going to start almost immediately back in December, but they wanted to have that class kind of finish up the season.
47:37
Those rules are in place right now.
47:39
We saw a flurry of kids commit before that went into place.
47:43
Now you can't even make a verbal offer to kids under 16.
47:48
I think they can't even talk to coaches here until the first day of school, and then they can't commit anywhere until January 1st.
47:56
It will be interesting to see when January 1st comes around how many kids commit again, because it's been pretty quiet for recruiting for young kids lately.
48:03
That's kind of one of the things that LeChia was getting frustrated over.
48:08
A lot of schools were getting frustrated over being almost forced to recruit kids so early, but some of that's been taken away from them now, Amy.
48:21
Yeah, I think that will be a good thing.
48:24
It's one of those things where it was kind of a race to the bottom sometimes.
48:29
You know what I mean?
48:32
You feel like you're almost obligated to do it even though you don't want to do it.
48:40
And then when a kid commits before you really add your opportunity to give them your pitch, and they had the gentleman's agreement back in the day and all that stuff, it just created a lot of problems.
48:53
It just created a race to get them younger and younger.
48:57
I think it put pressure on kids earlier than it needed to be.
49:01
Although in some cases, it was the parents pushing the issue.
49:06
I think for both sides, it's going to be a good thing.
49:10
I just think that as long as you...
49:13
To me, it's just all about waiting and keep recruiting until the letter of intent is signed.
49:18
I think that the whole verbal commitment thing and all that's a little bit of a joke anyways.
49:23
I think players change.
49:25
Heck, Ben Myers was on our team.
49:27
He changed, what, twice, I think?
49:31
I think that you just got to do what you got to do, but keep recruiting them until they sign and just handle it like they do in football and basketball.
49:40
Then see where it happens when they get back to school.
49:45
So what's going to happen this weekend, Veegs?
49:47
I mean, boy, that first opening game is really hard.
49:50
I mean, they're traveling on the road.
49:54
Even the altitude will be a factor early in the season.
49:58
So it's hard to know about anything that's going to happen or predict anything.
50:04
I'm kind of tempering my expectations this weekend for the Gophers.
50:08
They're going to be playing against a more veteran team in Colorado College.
50:13
And there's just so many unknowns right now with the Gophers.
50:16
I think they've got a lot of talent.
50:18
I think they're going to be able to score goals, but it's going to be a struggle, I think.
50:23
I wouldn't be surprised to see a Tigers sweep.
50:27
Jess was asking, no TV.
50:28
Well, there's TV Friday night.
50:30
It'll be on FSN Plus.
50:32
They're picking up the AT&T Sportsnet feed from out of Denver or wherever that is.
50:38
And then Saturday night, the only streaming available, I believe, for video would be NCHSheet.TV.
50:46
No broadcast that night.
50:48
And you can always listen to Frank and Wally on the radio.
50:50
They're always there.
50:51
So, Hammy, what are your thoughts going into this weekend?
50:57
You think they could get swept?
50:58
I'm thinking, personally, more of a split.
51:00
But what are your thoughts?
51:03
You know, I honestly don't even know.
51:07
It's tough.
51:08
I don't know.
51:09
It's really with all the new faces.
51:12
And I mean, we all know that, like I said earlier, that there's going to be bumps in the road.
51:17
You don't know what the chemistry is going to be like.
51:19
You get players trying to figure out their roles.
51:23
Fortunately, I think we do have enough talent there that we can come out with a win.
51:28
But whether they do that the first weekend, I don't know.
51:32
It's not like CC has been a juggernaut either.
51:34
So it's really a tough call.
51:37
I think that my heart says split.
51:40
My gut says we might get swept.
51:46
I don't expect us to win two on the road.
51:48
So I guess I'll say a split.
51:51
But tentative on that because of all the unknowns.
51:55
Just a lot of unknowns.
51:59
Well, Veegs, I assume you're back with The Athletic this year covering a lot of local college hockey angles.
52:06
Are you writing anything right now or pondering anything right now for The Athletic?
52:11
Yeah, I've got a couple of things that are in progress.
52:15
I got to sit down with the Nanny family earlier this fall here to talk about the experience of the family.
52:22
You know, Tyler and Lou being captains at Minnesota is kind of a big story and kind of hearing about how the families embraced this season.
52:32
You know, Tyler's gone through a lot to be where he is right now with the heart conditions and the Ohio State and now back at Minnesota having to wait to play and then going through a lot of growing pains last year after being off the ice so long.
52:48
So I think it's a big year for him and the family is pretty proud.
52:51
It was pretty funny today.
52:54
They're asking Ben Brinkman, you know, is Tyler the stereotypical Edina kid?
53:00
And he's like, yes.
53:03
When your name's Nanny and that's the family you grew up in, you are the stereotypical Edina kid.
53:11
But it's fun to see him get the opportunity this year.
53:14
He's always been a leader.
53:15
He's won a lot of championships with Edina.
53:19
He's really disappointed the way the last two years I did for Minnesota.
53:23
So he's looking to make sure that doesn't happen this year.
53:28
Well, make sure you follow Vegoe on Twitter, at eVegoe and follow him all year long at the Athletic for all these new things, like the Nanny story he's working on.
53:39
Hammy, any last thoughts for you?
53:40
Nope.
53:43
I don't have anything else to say.
53:45
I hope it's a good season.
53:46
I hope everybody enjoys the season.
53:49
Yes.
53:50
Be patient.
53:50
Yeah, be patient.
53:53
I think that there's been a tendency in recent years, at least with a certain percentage, maybe a small percentage of just overwhelming negativity.
54:11
Time to just get a little bit different of an attitude, give them a chance.
54:14
It's a young team.
54:15
I think that we...
54:16
Last year, I think, was all about the coach trying to get his culture instilled into the program as a first step.
54:25
I think this year is more...
54:27
It's, to me, his first real year where it's more of his team, even though I'm not a player he recruited, but it feels like it's just a lot more of his team.
54:36
I'm hoping that they'll give that an opportunity to grow.
54:40
I think that as the season progresses, we'll see a lot of improvement in the team.
54:46
Of course, many of you probably are already following Hammeh at Hammeh Hockey on Twitter.
54:51
Though, you kind of have it locked down, though, don't you?
54:54
Yeah.
54:54
Only special people give access.
54:56
Dude, honestly, like I said earlier, I don't post on GPL really anymore.
55:01
I'm pretty much done with that.
55:03
I don't really use Twitter that much.
55:05
I'll read stuff once in a while and maybe now that it's hockey season, I might be a little more active on there, but yeah, I don't know.
55:13
You guys can just, you can tell.
55:15
You blame my girlfriend for it.
55:17
Hey, there's nothing wrong with that.
55:19
That's life.
55:20
Things change.
55:21
That's just how it goes.
55:24
And like I said, she's a former cheerleader, so we'll be at the game, I think.
55:28
We're going to the game next Friday.
55:30
So one year anniversary.
55:33
So it makes sense to like go to the Gopher Hockey game.
55:35
I don't think she'll wear her cheerleader outfit though.
55:37
Maybe if I, maybe later in the evening, she'll probably listen to this.
55:41
So maybe if I bribe her in some way, she might.
55:46
All right.
55:46
Well, that's going to do it for the season premiere of the GPL Podcast.
55:50
For those of you listening live, stay tuned for a little bit of overtime.
55:55
For the rest of you, we'll be back next week to recap the CC series.
56:00
With preview Niagara coming to town.
56:03
Until then, have a good evening.
56:35
On Sunday, you said there were 152 things to correct.
56:37
How many of them did you get to?
56:40
No, there were things that sometimes they're not even things you're gonna correct.
56:43
They're gonna correct themselves, most of the time.
56:46
And sure, things that we have to address.
56:48
But you're catching a good day.
56:51
Like, we look like a hockey team today.
56:54
And we had to take yesterday off, today was our first practice back.
56:58
We're gonna keep getting better.
57:00
As fast as I wish I could, you know, speed things up, you can't.
57:06
And it sounds like the minute I say that, I'm being negative, I'm not.
57:11
We are just are what we are.
57:13
We're inexperienced in those areas that I talked about.
57:15
And it showed that and all the penalties in suiting up extra guys, you know, that caused some, you know, it threw things off kilter the other night.
57:28
First, you know, part of the first period, we looked like a pretty good team and we'll get back at it.
57:32
We'll, you know, one day at a time, we'll just keep moving forward.
57:35
And we're gonna get experienced every single day.
57:37
We're gonna gain, we're gonna gain strength every day and we'll keep getting better.
57:43
Other coaches have said they like going on the road early in the season, especially with a young team.
57:47
You're going on to Colorado on Wednesday already.
57:49
I mean, is that an opportunity for you to kind of get to know each other?
57:52
I'm one of those coaches.
57:54
I couldn't come at a better time for us to get on the road and bring the whole team and little team building and team bonding and play two games.
58:03
And that's what we need.
58:05
And they're a good hockey team.
58:06
It'll be fun to watch us get better as we go through the weekend.
58:11
On the ice, what do you want to accomplish this weekend?
58:15
Well, if I got a wish list, the biggest thing is I'd like to see some not get crazy with penalties, you know, because that's what sends it all.
58:27
You know, just a good hockey game.
58:28
It's what I'd really like to see right now.
58:31
We actually, you know, we're going to make mistakes, but I think you have to make them to learn from them to get better.
58:36
We're going to, and we're still trying guys out in spots.
58:39
We're playing young guys in a lot of spots.
58:42
And I did say it after the game.
58:44
You look down at the bench and they were, you know, you're in a hockey game and it's two to one and two to two.
58:51
You want to win the darn thing.
58:52
And you couldn't help, but we're throwing, you know, we're going to throw young guys over the boards right now in a lot of situations.
59:01
And I'm good with it.
59:03
It's what we are and we'll keep moving forward.
59:06
What do you expect from my Cavaline Coach team?
59:09
You know, I've really watched Javi since he got there.
59:12
One, he's a really good dude.
59:14
And I really enjoyed, you know, being in the same league with he and his staff and they're doing a terrific job.
59:22
And they're playing the right way.
59:23
They're bringing in skill and talent.
59:25
They got the big sheet out there.
59:27
I know they're going to build a new rink here.
59:30
They play in the league that's competitive every single night, doesn't phase and he's been through everything.
59:38
We watched him on film, you know, one exhibition.
59:41
Real similar.
59:41
They didn't have the penalties that we had in our game, but boy, the pace fell off.
59:45
And that's what happens early in all of our games.
59:49
Just conditioning and getting in game shape.
59:51
Every college coach will tell you, we wish we could have four exhibition games, four scrimmages.
59:59
Why can't we drive up and play St.
1:00:00
Cloud in the scrimmage at 10 in the morning, just to work on things?
1:00:04
And unfortunately, that's what our sport does.
1:00:08
It's so many, and the computer starts ticking now.
1:00:14
And those years you start with real experienced teams, you get out of the blocks and then those years you're not.
1:00:21
Weston Michaud was the guy we all knew at Colorado College.
1:00:23
He's at North Dakota now.
1:00:24
Who do you look forward to be the guys you have to shut down?
1:00:28
Well, they've had some balance.
1:00:35
And if I pronounce your name wrong.
1:00:46
So don't put it in, Bertinelli, Chris Chank, Wilkie, and Bertinelli are both seniors.
1:00:52
They both scored the first two goals the other night.
1:00:54
How about us last week?
1:00:55
You saw McLaughlin and Walker, guys that you're going to lean on.
1:00:59
But I saw seniors for them doing that.
1:01:01
Then they got their Minnesota guys that are in there with great speed, the young kid from Edina and Versace, Cristiano playing at St.
1:01:14
Thomas Academy.
1:01:15
You know, they're going to have a handful of those Minnesota guys, a big game for them.
1:01:19
So that's what they started to recruit, talent, skill.
1:01:22
They get around the rink real well.
1:01:24
The young defenseman that led their team for defenseman Goon.
1:01:32
Don't put it out, edit it if I'm saying the wrong name, okay?
1:01:36
Because otherwise if you're going to ask me that, I want the...
1:01:39
But he had good points last year, and he's a sophomore coming back.
1:01:45
He looked like good hockey players.
1:01:46
So they've got hockey players over in their locker room.
1:01:50
Do you make anything of the altitude?
1:01:51
You know, everyone talks about playing in the mountains.
1:01:53
Does it mean something?
1:01:55
Yeah, when I'm walking up to my room in the elevator, it hurts.
1:02:00
So it takes me a while to adjust while I get out of there.
1:02:04
Is that why you're going out on Wednesday?
1:02:06
I've got to adjust to it.
1:02:09
But I mean, on the ice, is it a factory thing?
1:02:13
You grow through the weekend.
1:02:14
You know, it starts to hit you a little bit.
1:02:17
You feel it Thursday, you feel a little bit Friday, you don't feel it by Saturday.
1:02:22
Do you feel any freshmen have asserted themselves maybe personality-wise?
1:02:26
Maybe they look more like a sophomore now?
1:02:28
Yeah.
1:02:30
No, we're not there yet.
1:02:31
You jumped just a little too far ahead.
1:02:33
But I'll give you like one example.
1:02:36
You know, let me get it.
1:02:43
Like Ben Myers had been terrific in practice.
1:02:46
You know, and just jumped, and then you get a little amped up, you get a little nervous, and the game was a little sideways.
1:02:53
And then today was right back to what we're going to see.
1:02:56
And that, you know, conversely on the other side, like Jackson Lacombe was real quiet for a week or two, and all of a sudden last week it was like, he just flipped the light and goes, okay, I'm here to play.
1:03:08
And that's what we thought he did in game.
1:03:10
And so you see that blend of freshmen.
1:03:13
Well, what happens with us when you've got 11 of them and they all played, right?
1:03:18
Oh yeah, they all played and they're in the lineup.
1:03:20
You're gonna see this mixed bag of some get off to a good start, some have a great game, you know, and it's that little bit of roller coaster that you live with freshmen and tell you, you know, there's gonna be a day where we're all standing on solid ground together.
1:03:34
And we're gonna have some, you know, there are gonna be some nights we're gonna look good.
1:03:39
There's gonna be some nights early that we're gonna be in trouble because it's just we're, that's what's gonna happen.
1:03:45
And right now we have to be a coaching staff that just stays positive and keeps moving forward with this group because I'll go back to, we like this hockey team, we're gonna be fine.
1:03:55
And so you guys are gonna have to calm me down some nights because that's what's gonna happen with it.
1:04:01
But we're gonna get through it.
1:04:04
Sammy and Tyler both have a C on their sweater, but Sammy said after his first game as captain, he kind of defers to Tyler a little bit with some of the captaincy things.
1:04:13
Do you see that in Tyler, kind of the fact that he's a senior and he's kind of the leader in some of that area?
1:04:19
Well, he's a lot prettier and he likes that.
1:04:22
And I think being an older, you know, he's an older senior.
1:04:26
We already talked about that.
1:04:27
We said, let Tyler handle the pageantry that comes with a college captaincy.
1:04:33
Sammy, you're leading that middle ground with us, that 19 freshman, sophomores on how to care about our program every day, show up and work.
1:04:44
And he goes, okay, I got it.
1:04:47
And Tyler will enjoy that other side of it.
1:04:50
And he'll be great at it.
1:04:52
And then I'm really pleased right now with Zulsdorf and McManus and Reedy, you know, three guys that have to be part of our leadership team.
1:05:00
And I think they're doing a very good job right now.
1:05:03
You mentioned the new rink that's coming to Colorado College.
1:05:05
Did you play or coach at the old Broadmoor, the original rink out there, any memories of that place?
1:05:10
One time, it was, I mean, 1993, you know, that I was in there and I don't remember much of it.
1:05:18
So I just hear the stories.
1:05:20
Wood folding chairs, if I remember.
1:05:24
That's for you old guys to talk about.
1:05:28
I'm excited.
1:05:28
It'll be a good trip like for, you know, so I've always enjoyed that trip, one of my favorite trips and one of the reasons we wanted to get it back on the docket, too.
1:05:39
Have you named your goal yet or what do you expect to do?
1:05:45
How many are you bringing?
1:05:46
We're bringing everybody.
1:05:48
Got that.
1:05:49
We were together the other day to talk about it as a staff.
1:05:53
I mean, that played itself out.
1:05:55
We'll do it later in the week.
1:05:58
Friday's line chart?
1:05:59
No, we'll do it earlier than that.
1:06:01
We're not hiding anything.
1:06:02
We're going to play a lot of guys early in this year.
1:06:07
And we're going to have fun with it, too.
1:06:10
That's what I'm going to tell you.
1:06:14
There might be some nights I come in here after a game, but I know we're going to get through it, so that's what I'm excited about.
1:06:23
All right, guys.
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