0:08 This is The GPL Podcast from gopherpucklive.com. 0:23 Now, here's Hammy, Vegoe, and your host, Jupiter. 0:37 Good evening, and welcome to The GPL Podcast, episode number 161. 0:45 Well, it was a rough weekend for the boys, and oh boy. 0:50 I don't really know what to say. 0:53 It was just ugly. 0:55 But I do know one thing that our guest knows what it's like to get beat by Penn State, and that's Todd Milewski from the Wisconsin State Journal. 1:04 Todd, how you doing? 1:06 That's a heck of an introduction right there. 1:10 Well. 1:11 I personally don't know what it's like to get beat by Penn State. 1:14 I haven't been on the ice, but I've seen a few of them, yes. 1:20 Well, I would say it was a little different for Minnesota this weekend because, well, especially more Friday night than Saturday night, but Saturday night didn't end up well on the scoring end, but Penn State's pretty good, and you found that out covering them when the Badgers played them. 1:39 Well, they just come in waves a lot of the time, and it's not really a surprise when you look at the roster they have. 1:49 I mean, I forget a lot of the really good players that they have when I try to list them off because they just have so many of them. 1:58 And that was the reason why I think a lot of us saw them as being a fairly clear favorite for the Big Ten going into the season. 2:08 So yeah, they're a team that obviously will push it right down your throat, and they'll come back and do it again, and they'll do it another time. 2:19 And if you're not ready for it, it gets ugly fast. 2:23 And Veegs, Minnesota was clearly not ready for it Friday night. 2:30 The word I'll just use is just downright ugly. 2:33 Yeah, I mean, I counted three turnovers in the first minute of the game, and Bob Otskow shared that they made 52 on the night. 2:43 And when you're playing Penn State, they may not have like the best team speed, but they play so fast and hard that if you're not on their game, they're going to get chances. 2:53 And then if your defense isn't sharp or your goalie isn't sharp, they're going to make you pay with goals. 3:00 And Minnesota had a long weekend, and their body language just got really poor on Friday. 3:07 And when you start doing that on top of it, Penn State gets that extra step on every turnover and just runs away with the hockey game. 3:15 Well, I was texting you a little bit on Friday night, and I think my biggest frustration was that the first six goals, I want to say the first six, or at least six out of the eight goals were essentially uncontested. 3:28 There was one little deflection out in front where the player was fairly close, but there were a lot of Penn State players just standing in front of the net with nobody on them, nobody covering them, and it was like a shooting gallery for them. 3:42 And oh, boy, poor LaFontaine was just left hung out to drive eagues. 3:50 Well, they were just outmanned to the net because the way Penn State plays is their first two players are on the puck so fast that if you turn the puck over, you usually don't have support there to defend the net. 4:02 And that's what happened in Minnesota, and they kept getting outnumbered to the net, and Penn State seemed to have one extra guy. 4:08 And it just happened again and again. 4:10 It seemed like they were creating odd man chances off turnovers all night long. 4:15 And I think part of what happens is, you know, you get a team, they're looking to create offense, so they're not getting as low in the zone. 4:23 They're trying to leave the zone early. 4:25 Maybe they're not coming back as hard on the back check. 4:28 And that's just a recipe for failure against Penn State. 4:31 And we've seen Minnesota do that time and time again. 4:34 It doesn't matter who's behind the bench or who's on the ice. 4:37 That's been the problem. 4:39 And it's a game that requires you to play honest hockey. 4:44 And I think they're just too inexperienced to play honest hockey right now against a team like that. 4:49 Well, Saturday morning, I went and looked it up, everyone, after somebody tweeted, was that the worst loss ever at the new Mary Uchee? 4:55 And it actually equaled the worst loss, a six goal loss to your Badgers, Todd. 5:02 And it wasn't that long ago. 5:03 Yeah, it was a 6-0, a 6-0. 5:06 I'm just going with it. 5:07 It was a 6-0 win by the Badgers. 5:15 It equaled the worst loss on that ice at the New Era Uchee. 5:22 Boy, I just started laughing towards the end of the game there, Veegs, because it was just one of those nights where once it happened, they couldn't recover, and it just got worse and worse. 5:35 Yep, and the bad body language was, I think, something that upset the coaching staff the most. 5:41 And that's why you saw three new players put in the lineup. 5:44 You saw a couple of guys like Nathan Burke and Ben Brinkman, healthy, scratched, frozen four champs. 5:50 They were not injured. 5:52 They were taken out of the lineup because the coaching staff did not like how they played the night before, and they were trying to send a message and reset the attitude of the team. 6:01 And I think that paid off. 6:02 But then on Saturday, they didn't get very good goaltending from Jared Moe. 6:07 Jared Moe this year looked like maybe he was pulling the head a little bit, and the goaltending battle between him and LaFontaine. 6:14 But he just did not deliver a very solid performance. 6:17 We saw another game where Minnesota had a hard time clearing the front of the net. 6:22 We saw that happen against Minnesota Duluth, and the goaltender just couldn't see the puck, and let in some pretty soft goals that really killed his team's chances on Saturday. 6:32 And on the flip side, Todd, you guys had, I believe, a split with Notre Dame? 6:39 Yeah, the Badgers won a shutout 3-0 on Friday and then lost 5-4 overtime on Saturday. 6:47 Pretty crazy finish where Cole Caulfield has a breakaway on one side, and the puck ends up stopping on the goal line before it gets cleared off. 6:57 And it may have, if it didn't get cleared away, it may have continued to go in. 7:00 I know it's hard to tell, but then 15 seconds later at the other end, the Badgers are kind of scrambling in D-Zone coverage and it ends up going in their net. 7:11 So it's a pretty rough way for them to end the weekend and the game that they led in the third period too. 7:16 So, you know, I got to say, I'm liking the direction the Badgers are going. 7:21 They're young. 7:22 They got some really good young talent. 7:23 But I and it's been a little bit of a rough start in the Big Ten for them. 7:29 But, you know, I think they're slowly starting to get there. 7:31 I mean, what's the progress you've seen so far? 7:35 Well, I think anything before this season may have been a little bit unfair to judge, right? 7:42 Because this is the group that Tony Granato has wanted since he got here. 7:48 And, you know, for he's finally got it's not all his recruits on this team, but just about all. 7:56 So from that perspective, these guys play the way he wants them to play. 8:01 And so he can put out a line up that he thinks fits that description. 8:09 And he wants them to go fast. 8:10 He wants them to play with energy. 8:11 He wants them to get, you know, be direct, get bucks to the net. 8:15 Those three things haven't always happened this year, but we're seeing more of it more consistently. 8:20 And it's to a point now where they're getting a little bit better goal-tending, maybe not consistently again. 8:29 That's the thing that's always going to come up. 8:32 But they're also getting, most of the time, better play in their D-zone, which has, over the last couple of years, been, like I was mentioning in their overtime goal that they gave up on Saturday, kind of a scramble pattern sometimes, where guys were not sure what they were supposed to do and would flock to one side, and all of a sudden there's two guys open in front of them. 8:57 There's been less of that from the way I've seen it. 9:01 I think some people would disagree with me. 9:03 But it seems like they're taking a little bit better care in their own zone too, which is important because they're going to give up some odd man chances because of the way they go hard at it in the offensive zone. 9:16 It makes for fun hockey, I know, which that's one thing we've been waiting for from the Badgers, a little bit more fun hockey than the completely shut down neutral zone trap boring type of hockey. 9:27 Oh yeah. 9:29 And that was, I mean, Tony Gravano didn't say it expressly at his introductory press conference, but yeah, that's the way he's wanted to play. 9:38 And now he finally has the guys that'll do it on a regular basis. 9:42 I'm with, you know, Cole Caulfield kind of being the front center guy, but Alex Turcotte's really good at it. 9:47 And Linus Weisbach's kind of opened up to play a little bit more. 9:53 He can be a little more of a complimentary role now. 9:57 And so he's playing that fairly well. 10:00 They do need to get a little bit more out of at least finishing out of guys like Sean Dewey, Tarek Baker, some of the older, more veteran guys. 10:11 But I think that maybe it's just a matter of time. 10:15 One thing that we've... 10:15 Isn't it kind of crazy that it takes a coach four years to get their team together in college hockey now? 10:22 Well, yeah, maybe it wouldn't have. 10:26 But, you know, when they got in, they targeted a certain kind of guy that was not available at that point. 10:36 They're already committed, or at least, you know, couldn't be swung away from their commitment. 10:42 I assume it would be hard to imagine that they weren't trying after some guys. 10:47 But then again, Cole Caulfield and his brother were committed to Ohio State. 10:51 So they did swing that one, I guess. 10:56 But, yeah, they had to wait a few years to get at the Turcots and Owen Lindmark. 11:02 And these guys kind of out of the geography that they're going after, heavy on Illinois, to see them coming around, yeah. 11:14 Well, I wanted to get back a little bit to this past weekend, Veegs. 11:17 And, you know, we talked about how Wisconsin is trying to get there growing. 11:21 I think Wisconsin was helped by having those international games earlier this year. 11:27 Minnesota didn't have that. 11:30 But I just had the feeling that we'd be a little further along in this. 11:34 And, you know, we might get swept by Penn State, but we wouldn't see that type of game we saw Friday night. 11:40 And then even Saturday night, where you say, you know, the goaltending could have been a little better. 11:44 I didn't think we would be seeing that. 11:45 I thought it'd be a little more competitive than what it actually was. 11:50 Yeah, I'm a little surprised when you were talking with Mike Carmen earlier this week in the quick shift. 11:55 That was pretty lengthy. 11:57 Sorry. 11:58 Mike was talking about how Minnesota teams historically are not old teams, but they're talented. 12:06 And this is still a pretty talented roster. 12:09 The players who aren't performing are some of your upperclassmen who are struggling under the weight of being first line players, first pair defensemen. 12:18 And it's just not coming together as quickly as the coaching staff would like. 12:23 And it is a little curious if they're going to get going. 12:26 It's a very difficult schedule. 12:28 The teams they're playing are all pretty good. 12:29 We saw CC take care of business at St. 12:32 Cloud this last weekend. 12:34 Minnesota Duluth is going to be right there. 12:36 I think Niagara is going to be at the top of AHC. 12:39 Notre Dame, obviously a tough team. 12:41 Michigan's probably been the easiest team on the schedule so far. 12:45 Michigan, it doesn't get any easier this weekend. 12:47 Michigan is struggling. 12:51 It's been a little ugly for Michigan. 12:53 I thought it would be a little better for them, but they are at the bottom right now. 12:58 But you can't have performances like they did on Friday night when you have a roster like Minnesota has right now. 13:03 You just can't give away nights like that. 13:06 We saw a better response on Saturday, but again, they have to play a really complete game right now to come out on top. 13:14 We'll see what happens here with Wisconsin. 13:16 I think they play a little bit more of an up and down game, maybe not as in your face with an aggressive forecheck, but there's a lot of talent there to make you pay if you don't pay attention. 13:27 And like Vegoe alluded to there, we did have Mike Carman on our little quick shift, which wasn't so quick. 13:33 Yeah, I know. 13:34 What can you do? 13:36 We get talking, we get talking. 13:38 Maybe we'll have to come up with a different name than quick shift. 13:40 What do you think, Veegs? 13:41 We'll work on it. 13:42 Work in progress. 13:43 Work in progress, but it was fun. 13:44 You can just go on any of the podcast sites and listen to what Mike Carman had to say. 13:49 It was interesting to have him on because he was given the perspective of an alum. 13:55 He played in the mid to late 2000s, or 2006 to 2010 or something like that. 14:02 He was frustrated, Veegs. 14:04 He sees fans getting up and leaving on Saturday night in a two-goal game. 14:12 He knows the players aren't going to say it, but he even said flat out, the players notice this, notice it. 14:18 And it can make a player get pretty down, though they will never tell you that. 14:25 But he pretty much came out and says, it affects them, it definitely does. 14:30 Well, I think both the fan bases for Minnesota and Wisconsin are in kind of difficult spots. 14:35 I read Todd's piece on season ticket sales being down this year at Wisconsin again. 14:40 Attendance is actually up, according to Todd's article, which is probably good to see for the health of the league. 14:47 But Minnesota, we're seeing some pretty quiet buildings. 14:51 And we looked at attendance last year for the Wisconsin series. 14:54 It was the best weekend of the year. 14:57 And I know that you really, really pressed and promoted that game last year. 15:01 They're not doing the same right now because they're very focused on the football program and trying to sell out that Wisconsin-Minnnesota football game. 15:09 It's going to be an interesting site in that building. 15:11 I'm wondering if we're going to see a lot of red. 15:13 You know, in the years past, we get a fair amount of red fans in the building. 15:20 I'm interested to see if we're going to see it this weekend because there are tickets available. 15:26 Very expensive tickets, correct? 15:28 Oh, there we go. 15:30 You can get in the building for 35 bucks for a premier game on the Big Ten schedule. 15:36 I don't think is that bad of a price. 15:39 I know that there are some people on our message board that still complain that the price is too high and the building shows it, but I like to eat filet and ribeye, and it costs a little bit more. 15:55 I will always say yes, that's true, but how much does it cost to go to the same game at Madison? 16:02 $24. 16:03 But Madison's a different market, too. 16:05 That's what I was going to say. 16:06 Yeah, it's a market that does not have a pro team, is not pulled by those factors to being able to charge a higher amount. 16:20 So yeah, it's apples and oranges, really. 16:22 But I think it's probably just a convenient crutch for people who talk about attendance and say, well, it's too expensive. 16:32 It's certainly a point to make it. 16:37 And for some people, it is a reason. 16:40 But I don't think it's the definitive answer for why anyone has attendance issues. 16:46 And I don't think we'll ever... 16:47 It might take a long time to figure out the answer there. 16:52 We've beat this horse pretty dead. 16:57 I think the one way to get around it is to start winning again, get people back to the routine of enjoying the game and attending. 17:06 And once you get people in the routine of attending and wanting to make that connection, I think that's when the university can start to step in and keep those people. 17:15 But right now, they're having to replace their fan base. 17:19 There are a lot of people who were rubbed the wrong way by all the moves that have been made that we have beaten to death on the show many times. 17:26 It's just going to take some time. 17:28 And I think for now, the people who are going will focus on these two young teams. 17:33 And this is part of what I like about Minnesota and Wisconsin hockey, is there's so much talent on the ice. 17:39 I was looking at the Wisconsin roster that Granados brought in. 17:44 Those are fun players that you can watch and players that you'll probably see in the NHL. 17:48 Maybe sooner than Tony would like, but they're going to get there. 17:52 And there's the same thing happening on Minnesota's roster. 17:55 I was watching Jackson LeCombe and Ryan Johnson today working on kind of a power play prep. 18:01 And those two defensemen are two that you just you don't see very often. 18:06 They are so skilled, giving, receiving passes, finding space, staying on the move. 18:13 That's what Minnesota is looking for. 18:15 And at some point, I think the reins are going to be handed over to those two guys. 18:19 And you're going to see some things happen. 18:24 Let's hope so, because it was a rough weekend for everyone last weekend. 18:28 But it is a new weekend, Veegs, and I'm excited. 18:35 I'll be honest, Todd, I haven't been excited about the Badger Series much these last few years. 18:40 But each year, I'm getting more and more excited because, like we talked about, Granado has brought a different style of hockey there. 18:47 It's just more fun. 18:49 Yeah. 18:50 And I mean, if there's any... 18:53 We've talked about this a lot here. 18:54 If there's any reason to get people in a building, it's to see Cole Caulfield and to see Alex Turcott. 19:00 I mean, Dylan Holloway, he's so young, but he's really good. 19:06 These guys are, yeah, they're the kind of guys that can either one-on-one or one-on-three or three-on-one, they're going to make something fun happen most nights. 19:16 And they may not win the game, they may not score, but they're going to impress a lot of people, I think. 19:26 Well, I know I'm excited. 19:28 Let's hit up some... 19:28 a few Twitter questions that we've had over the last few days, actually. 19:34 Let me see, we've got Skye Urah from, actually, yesterday. 19:37 He says, last week we seemed to pass up a lot of chances to finish checks. 19:43 With how hard PSU was pressuring us, putting a hat on them during a forecheck would have seemed beneficial or my eyes deceiving me. 19:50 And he kind of talks about finishing checks there, Veegs. 19:54 And that's kind of one thing that even Mike Kerman was talking about. 19:58 We need more of a physical presence out there, and that seems to be missing from this team. 20:04 I will say that on the Olympic rank, a physical presence can sometimes be overrated because if you're in on the forecheck and you take that extra step after the puck has gone and you deliver a hit, you are a long way from getting back in the play. 20:19 Maybe if you're trying to send a message, that's when you want to make some physical play. 20:24 As Mike was saying, that's kind of the old school thought. 20:29 The modern school thought is unless you're making a hit to separate someone from the puck and create a turnover, you probably shouldn't be making the hit. 20:37 You should be getting back and protecting some space. 20:40 And I think that's the way modern coaches are coaching the game. 20:43 And something that the fans may not like, but that's really the reality of hockey today, is that you're more valuable getting back into the play than you are making a big hit. 20:56 Okay, we've got a question for Ted Schminke. 20:58 I'm going to put this one towards you, Todd. 21:00 He says, in terms of levels of intensity, as a fan, I would say the rivalry with Wisconsin is the highest rivalry. 21:07 Our thoughts, Bucky number one. 21:09 I would say on our side, one or two. 21:11 What is it on the Badger side? 21:14 Is Minnesota their number one rival right now? 21:18 I would say so. 21:25 I think there's something brewing with Penn State, but I don't know if I would call it anything close to what is there with Minnesota, just because maybe history is a bad thing to lean on, because these guys are 18, 20 years old. 21:42 The guys that are playing, what do they know of old Mariucci? 21:48 They're playing at the Coliseum and the beer garden and all that kind of stuff. 21:52 So maybe that's part of it doesn't mean quite as much to the players, but I know it still does to the majority of the fan base that's still around, at least on the Wisconsin side and probably on the Minnesota side. 22:10 Everyone remembers a Wisconsin-Minnesota game. 22:14 I mean, no matter what, it could be a good result for your team or a bad result for your team or a part of a game that was just really weird that sticks out in your head, but everyone's got one of those if you're a fan of one of these two teams. 22:29 For you guys, you get the Wisconsin series and the North Dakota series right after it. 22:36 So that's a pretty entertaining couple of weeks, I would think. 22:40 It totally is. 22:41 And Veegs, he talks about Penn State starting to be a rival. 22:46 That is exactly what this league needs. 22:52 Totally agree. 22:53 We need Penn State to be a rival. 22:54 We need Ohio State to be a rival. 22:57 I think in the long run, maybe it's good that Penn State does come in here and kick our butts, because we need more rivals built right now after quite a few rivals have disappeared, Veegs. 23:09 Yeah, you'd think Penn State would be a rival the way they've been taking it to Minnesota, the way they change college hockey. 23:16 They're the big bad team in that process, but the fans just haven't embraced it yet. 23:23 I know that there have been some Minnesota fans who've traveled out to Hockey Valley and put the scarf around the line, but we just need more time, I think, for that to develop. 23:32 But it is something that's going to be there. 23:34 I mean, Penn State plays a style that's very similar to a North Dakota style, very aggressive. 23:40 You know, it's a fun game to watch. 23:43 You know, I was just going to say, go ahead, Todd. 23:46 I just want to throw in that it seems like it's becoming more difficult to get college sports fans to be passionate about a lot of things just in general. 23:57 I only say that just because, look, we're all pulled in different directions. 24:02 Maybe we see that there's, you know, it's harder to see college athletics as what it was maybe 20, 30 years ago because of everyone's playing in really comfortable buildings and their suites. 24:19 And there's all this kind of stuff that makes it seem a little bit like a pro experience. 24:25 So I just don't know if it's as easy to get that kind of, you know, fever up with people about anything in college sports anymore. 24:37 Maybe football is different, maybe basketball is a little bit different, but it seems like anyway that you're seeing less and less of that in hockey. 24:47 And Penn State may be a little bit different because they're new. 24:51 If you've been there, you see that there is a legitimate, what's the word I'm looking for, organic kind of experience happening there with their student section and with the fans that I think comes from being new and being exciting to watch. 25:12 But a lot of other places, maybe you don't see that anymore. 25:16 Well, except for Michigan. 25:18 I would say, you know, we saw those games at Michigan just a few weeks ago, and the children of Yost and the student section at Michigan are still hugely into the game, Veegs. 25:31 Well, I do think part of it is these more intimate buildings. 25:35 And you look at Penn State's building, you look at Yost, these are smaller rinks. 25:39 You look at the old deck. 25:40 You know, these are places where people are on top of you. 25:43 It doesn't require quite as many people to make it seem like a big atmosphere. 25:47 You know, old Mariucci, you know, that barn was rocking some nights when he had students running down from the upper deck right up to the penalty box and banging on it and making runs, you know, the station for a quick one. 26:01 It was just a different time. 26:04 And so, you know, things are definitely different, as Todd's saying, and I totally agree with him. 26:10 The blue collar fan is a little bit different than the white collar fan. 26:14 And it's just going to be a little less intense. 26:17 You are seeing some weekends where I think the penalty box gets into it, but it's just not as consistent. 26:23 And then, you know, we had that question, you know, why doesn't the, from Voner, he says, you know, what's up with the ice box? 26:29 They don't cheer anymore. 26:31 And I think that just has to do with the students just not being there, Veegs. 26:36 Yep. 26:37 I mean, they're not consistent. 26:39 And it's not the same people every night, whatever it is. 26:42 Maybe that'll start to change again as the Gophers hopefully can turn things around here and make a better team out there consistently. 26:50 But it definitely drives the atmosphere in the building. 26:53 Being at the Penn State Minnesota football game, that was a great atmosphere to be in. 26:58 And it was that way because the crowd was a great game on the field. 27:02 But the crowd is really what made it a special environment. 27:05 But Todd, I think it still comes down to these days. 27:09 It's not about all the amenities and all this. 27:11 It's about winning. 27:13 And the Badgers have started to turn it around now or start winning. 27:16 And you're starting to see some of the crowds that had been down are coming back now. 27:21 Yeah, they've made some good kind of experiences out of these games so far. 27:32 So they're moving in the right direction, I would say. 27:35 I would cautiously say. 27:37 Because we know that can turn really quickly. 27:41 I mean, Vegs mentioned what I put out earlier this week about season ticket levels. 27:49 And I mean, looking at where that graph starts in 2006 and 2007, they had 19,000 season ticket holders because it split between two nights. 28:00 And now, split between two nights, it's what, barely 10, nine something? 28:06 I can't remember off the top of my head, but that's a lot of people you've lost. 28:15 And there's a chance you can keep losing if you don't make the experience right for people, I guess. 28:22 So, I'm looking in the Mixler Chat, we got Matt asking, you know, blame some of the staff at Mariucci, because, you know, they get threatened to kick up for, you know, hitting the glass a couple times, banging on the glass a little bit. 28:33 You know, I think that they've got a point there. 28:36 Sometimes the staff of the school has pinned the no fun police, whereas you can go to other arenas and they're banging on the glass making noise. 28:44 It seems like Mariucci could just let them go a little bit. 28:54 Yeah, I don't know what the reason is, staff wise, for not letting them hit the glass, other than trying to save the glass, maybe. 29:05 I don't know. 29:06 I mean, it's always been Mariucci has been a little strict on things like that. 29:10 Veegs, are you there? 29:11 Yeah, I'm here. 29:13 Oh, we must have lost you for a second there. 29:17 Well, I was just saying, Veegs, that the staff, people want to have fun, they bang on the glass a little bit, they get threatened to get booted out, and I just think maybe the staff at Mariucci needs to kind of relax a little bit and let students or even some of the fans have a little more fun and not be so strict. 29:35 Well, I like to think it's probably the minority of some staff. 29:39 I know even the United Soccer Team had some issues with their staff getting a little overzealous in their roles as security. 29:47 I think that just happens sometimes, and you just can't make one bad experience ruin your whole fandom. 29:54 So sorry, Matt, that that happened. 29:57 Maybe find a different way to cheer. 29:59 The students, I hope we don't hear the F the Badgers stuff this weekend. 30:04 There's other things that are better. 30:07 We'll probably hear it. 30:08 We'll hear it the next two weekends. 30:09 Yeah, but I'd like the Better Dead Than Red. 30:11 You know, that's good. 30:13 Eat babies, Badger babies. 30:15 You know, there's more fun ways to cheer for your team. 30:19 You know, I still think it would be fun if the students were down on the glass. 30:24 You know, having them right there on the glass pounding. 30:26 They're not going to hurt the glass. 30:28 They're not going to break the glass. 30:29 I've always thought that it could be a little more intimidating when the students are right there, right on the backs of the defensemen of the other team. 30:38 Mm-hmm. 30:39 Yeah. 30:40 I mean, you see that at Madison. 30:42 I think about Penn State. 30:43 Yeah. 30:44 Madison, Penn State is especially because, you know, the way they built that building with it going straight up their student section on that one end, that makes it, it seems pretty intimidating. 30:59 I don't know. 31:00 I haven't actually been on the ice to hear how much of it gets through there, but it seems like that's the way to do it. 31:07 Yeah. 31:08 And the players report that they enjoy that, too. 31:11 I know all the Gophers love going up to North Dakota, Penn State. 31:16 LaFontaine maybe didn't like going to Michigan this year because they got a little too personal with some ex-girlfriend dirt that they dug up. 31:24 But it makes College Hockey fun, and I think that's something that you see in the college game. 31:29 Players have a little bit of extra time to do some research and put up some creative signs for the other players. 31:35 And I always look forward to that. 31:38 Well, you know, one of the icebox leaders has reached out to me and wanted to be on the podcast. 31:44 And I think it might be a good thing for a quick shift. 31:46 And I'd be interested to hear their thoughts and maybe what are their limitations? 31:52 Are they being told to, you know, keep it toned down and don't do bad things? 31:57 It would be kind of interesting. 32:00 I might just have her on for a quick shift. 32:01 So we'll have to see. 32:02 But, you know, Vague's Mariucci has been getting more stale and more stale over the years as they get more and more politically correct, as you know. 32:14 So maybe there's only so much they can do. 32:18 There is only so much they can do, but now they can drink beer. 32:20 I'm sure the Wisconsin fans coming to town will enjoy that. 32:23 They'll be able to grab a Northeast. 32:25 Are you saying there's a stereotype with Wisconsin fans that they might drink? 32:30 There could be. 32:31 That Miller Lite, it's a fine light beer. 32:33 That's what I hear. 32:34 I think there would be some Wisconsin fans who would probably take advantage of that. 32:39 Yes. 32:40 I think that's probably a fair assessment of the way things work. 32:44 Yeah. 32:44 Jess says the Sky You Meh sign at Penn State makes them laugh every time. 32:49 See, and that's the kind of good clean humor that I enjoy. 32:54 I kind of come up with more of those. 32:57 And that sign is right on the glass too, right behind our goalie. 33:01 Yeah, it's good clean fun, but you know what? 33:04 They're right on the glass. 33:05 I wish they were like that. 33:07 Let them put their signs on the glass. 33:10 They don't have any problem with them putting signs on the glass there. 33:13 Like they do at some other rinks. 33:14 Well, they wouldn't even let the students... 33:17 Well, the students can't touch the glass because there's a walkway there. 33:21 That's right. 33:21 But I don't know. 33:25 It's just frustrating. 33:26 I feel bad for the students. 33:27 And even for a time there, they had the first few rows of the student section are reserved for the good kids. 33:34 Oh, don't feel too bad. 33:35 They can get a season ticket now for a hundred bucks and go to all the games. 33:40 Oh, I know. 33:40 That's what they've had to do because they're trying to get more students in there because the students aren't showing up anymore. 33:46 Oh, that's actually even less than the student tickets are at Wisconsin now. 33:50 Yeah, you can get single game student seats for five bucks a game. 33:54 Oh, they've made it very easy for students to come. 33:58 And that's where winning comes back into the play right there. 34:02 You start winning, the students will start showing up because they want to be there to see a winning team, Veegs. 34:07 Yeah, that's usually what happens. 34:09 And then you got to find ways to keep them engaged for the building and for the future. 34:14 So it's just that first step, I think, to start getting people back. 34:19 Well, let's talk about this weekend, guys. 34:22 Badgers coming into town, Veegs, they've got a lot of young talent and a lot of high end young talent. 34:29 What can Minnesota do to stop them? 34:32 Well, I think a big key for Minnesota is to clean up their defensive end. 34:37 Tyler and Annie talked about that today during his availability that that's where it all starts for Minnesota. 34:43 They need to be better in their own defensive end. 34:47 They need to shut down plays faster. 34:49 They need to get going out of the zone quicker. 34:52 And offense should just come with that. 34:54 I think we saw some line juggling underway last weekend. 34:59 I think it's going to continue. 35:01 I think we're going to see Sammy Walker move to the wing. 35:04 He is just a player that's wearing too much on his shoulders right now. 35:08 It's affecting his play. 35:10 Last year, he lost the puck. 35:12 He was on the opposing player the next second. 35:16 This year, you just see this body language of disappointment when the puck leaves his stick and it's not that immediate response. 35:24 Hopefully, shifting him to wing, a little bit less responsibility, sees a more engaged player on the ice. 35:30 We've talked about this with past captains for the Gophers. 35:33 That letter seems really heavy on them, and it's wearing on his game. 35:39 Well, hopefully, that turns around real quick, because that's definitely something we don't want to see, Veegs, because that's one of the reasons why he's become a fan favorite. 35:48 He might not always get all the goals, but he was always busting his ass out there. 35:53 Like you said, when he was losing the puck, he was getting back in there and trying to get it back and causing all kinds of problems. 35:59 So that's a concern if that's the direction he's gone, Veegs. 36:03 Well, I think there's more there for him to give, and this will be a big weekend to see if it can happen. 36:08 He'll be playing with Johnny Sorensen, who's got a lot of energy, Jackson Nelson, who's had a real good start. 36:15 I think that will be a key line for them, and I think what Bob Motzko is trying to do is maybe put them in lighter matchups this weekend. 36:23 I know that's one thing that Wisconsin maybe has struggled a little bit with, is matching up with other teams. 36:30 So if the Gophers can spread out their lineup a little bit, maybe that's an opportunity for them to find some offense. 36:38 All right, Todd, tell us about your young superstars, because they are good. 36:43 They are good. 36:45 And they, you know, Turcott and Caulfield have been together all season on a line, and it started off with Linus Weisbach on the left wing with them. 36:57 But last week, they put Roman Assan on That Group Wishes. 37:03 Probably not what any of us expected coming into the season, but Assan has been just a... 37:09 We've talked about this in the press box. 37:11 He's becoming a top candidate for being one of the most hated players in the Big Ten. 37:22 Because he will get under your skin, he'll drop penalties, and he's been scoring. 37:27 So that's a combination that has really been working for him. 37:32 So a guy that started last year on the fourth line, played most of that last year in kind of that grinding role, he's really kind of taken to this opportunity to be a scorer. 37:44 So he compliments a little bit that the Turcotton-Cawfield net, he can be a little bit more feisty, and he takes some of the attention away from the more skilled guys, even though they're all kind of the same size in a lot of ways, a little on the shorter side. 38:02 But yeah, it goes beyond that first line. 38:06 They've got Dylan Holloway starting to, I think, develop a little bit more of a mature look at things. 38:14 You know, a kid that played in the Alberta League last year, and it's a big step to make to college, and especially when, you know, all eyes are on him, from what everyone's saying, being a surefire first round pick next season. 38:30 So he's got a lot of people following him and watching his every move. 38:34 But one of the things that stood out, what you said earlier about, I forget, I think it was Veegs, but I'm not sure, playing Penn State last weekend for Minnesota, the way that Penn State plays in front of their net, well, in front of the other teams, and just creating the space, bodying people out of the way, the Badgers really wanted to learn something from that a couple weeks ago. 38:59 So I'm interested to see if the Badgers did apply that a little bit. 39:04 They've been playing better that way, and a little bit more physical in front of the net, and trying to get screens and tips and those kind of things. 39:10 I'm interested to see if Minnesota also kind of takes a little bit of that out of playing Penn State and applies it this weekend, too. 39:19 Well, I think one thing we've seen from Minnesota is their bigger forwards have gotten off to good starts. 39:25 Sample Ranta, I actually tweeted this on Friday night, silver lining was he had a great game, even though the team got destroyed. 39:32 And Bob Otsuko today said, you know, it was a bad weekend for our record, but a good weekend for Sampo because he was their most consistent player. 39:42 He was finally getting pucks to the net and creating scoring chances. 39:46 He's got a little scoring streak coming into this weekend against Wisconsin, a team that he says he probably shouldn't have a little extra motivation for, but he does. 39:55 And he knows, he knows a couple of players on the current roster that he's got a text thread with, and they'll probably heat up this week. 40:06 And then the other big players, Purbix, Nelson, Reedy, they've been pretty effective lately as well, using their size. 40:15 And I think that's something that Minnesota is going to have to lean on this season because they've had a hard time generating offense. 40:20 And I think they're going to need their bigger players forcing pucks to the net. 40:24 Bryce Barudzinski, he's a player who I think looks pretty good on the power play. 40:29 He struggles a little bit in transition and the rush. 40:32 But I think for the end zone game, if he can work with some linemates and get some consistency there, I think we'll start to see some scoring from him, even though it hasn't shown up yet in the score sheet, because he's going to get some looks on the power play. 40:47 And I know if my Minnesota Wisconsin history is correct, penalties do seem to happen. 40:57 You think? 41:00 Which is interesting for the Badgers coming off of playing Notre Dame last weekend, where penalties don't happen, because even though for some reason Notre Dame does not get called, and consequentially the other team doesn't get called for penalties, even though... 41:14 Well, that depends on where the situation is. 41:17 Definitely depends on the situation. 41:19 I know Mr. 41:20 Sheehy would disagree. 41:21 Sorry to open up old wounds there. 41:25 Sheehy would definitely disagree. 41:27 Well, Veegs, what's Minnesota going to concentrate on this weekend? 41:34 They've got such young, good talent. 41:36 Is it going to be more of a defensive scheme to slow these guys down? 41:41 What's the plan to handle these young superstars? 41:44 Because if you're not ready, it's going to be 3-0 in the first period. 41:49 Yeah, it's really curious to see what Minnesota is going to come out with. 41:53 It's hard to tell what their focus is. 41:55 I get a good feel some weeks what the coaching staff is really looking for. 42:00 But I think they're just trying to regroup right now and find their defensive structure, find their battle level and their compete. 42:07 And I think they imagine the offense is going to just come from there. 42:12 I don't think that skill is necessarily a problem with this team. 42:16 It's that attention to detail for battles that's just got to be there. 42:20 And they look a lot at their structure, about how they should be in the D-zone, how they should come off of faceoffs. 42:27 And that's really the focus, I think, for them is just starting the game well, playing a good first five, ten minutes, not turning the puck over will be key for them. 42:36 Because once you start doing that to guys like Caulfield and Turcott, you're going to be in trouble. 42:41 Minnesota struggled, I think, with stick penalties, offensive zone behind the play. 42:46 That's definitely something you don't want to get into with Wisconsin. 42:49 I think both those guys have four goals early this season. 42:54 They're dangerous on the power play. 42:57 They can come in and snipe you if you give them space. 43:04 So I'm guessing you guys are probably thinking split this weekend? 43:09 Todd? 43:11 I mean, that's kind of what we do. 43:13 We pick splits when there's rivalries. 43:17 Well, if it hadn't happened the last four series or whatever it is up in Mariucci, and also that the Badgers kind of have this trend of splitting a lot of their series so far. 43:33 Yeah, why mess with a good thing? 43:35 Yeah, go for a split here. 43:38 Todd's kind of out right on there. 43:40 It seems like Minnesota's had a little bit better success in Madison. 43:45 Yeah. 43:45 Well, I think there is a little bit of energy when they go on the road that's maybe not there at home, and it's something to get the juice going that's helped Minnesota lately as a team that's been struggling the last couple of years. 43:58 I'm not as optimistic as you. 44:01 I think it's going to be a challenge for Minnesota to get points out of this weekend. 44:05 I think just kind of the mindset that they're in right now, you know, they took an off day yesterday to try to rest and recover. 44:13 I think, you know, the team doesn't want to admit it, but I think there's a lot of stress right now with the way things are going. 44:18 I think they're really trying to force a positive attitude. 44:22 We'll see. 44:23 You know, they've got to produce it on the ice and it's going to have to be a night where they're going to have to create their own juice. 44:28 I don't know if there's going to be a big crowd this weekend. 44:31 Well, what are you working on this week for the stories, Todd? 44:37 Well, I was talking earlier this week with Mike Vorlichy, a Dyna product. 44:43 He won the state title last year with them. 44:46 He's one of these players that has jumped right from high school to the college level and just what that transition is like. 44:57 He's following kind of getting the footsteps and he has actually been deep partners with Josh S who did the same thing basically two years ago from Lakeville South and that's South Lakeville North. 45:09 I can't remember now. 45:09 Sorry. 45:10 If I get that wrong, Josh, I apologize. 45:13 Lakeville. 45:13 That gets you covered. 45:19 He's a player that is maybe a little bit raw now but is definitely showing the signs that in a few years he can be a heavy minutes kind of guy for them on defense. 45:31 And so I think there's a lot of excitement for what he can be in a couple of years. 45:36 That's saying is he's not effective now, but it's still he's not getting the minutes that would have him necessarily be in a big time role yet. 45:47 And we could look for that on Thursday or Friday? 45:51 That will be posted sometime tomorrow, Thursday. 45:53 Yes, on madison.com. 45:55 Veegs, I know you've been a little quiet on the athletic front. 46:00 Anything you want to throw at us right now? 46:03 I'll have a little story coming up on the athletic on the nanny family coming out next week ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. 46:11 But the nanny family in their tradition in Minnesota, I got to sit down with the three nannies who played for the Gophers and talk about what that's like. 46:20 So look forward to reading that on the athletic. 46:22 I was hoping I would be able to get some signing day coverage out of the Gophers this year, but they took a little bit different perspective on signing day than Wisconsin. 46:31 I saw Todd's story this week about the guys signing with the Badgers. 46:35 Minnesota is very mysterious about their recruiting. 46:40 It's an interesting take by the coach. 46:42 And they've also instructed them to not go out on Twitter as well, haven't they? 46:45 It's a little different. 46:47 They want them to keep it quiet, which is interesting. 46:50 And I don't know exactly what that's all about. 46:53 I think it's difficult to project exactly who's going to be coming in next year. 46:57 I know Bob Motzko wants the team to get older if that's what's happening. 47:02 But I know that there are a lot of players who are eligible to sign their NLIs this last week who have not signed them so far. 47:10 So I think we're seeing an interesting change in college hockey recruiting where teams are asking their players to play next year, or juniors, that maybe hasn't happened in the past for some of the bigger programs. 47:22 I wonder what kind of impact that will have on college hockey. 47:24 Because we just saw a player, I think, that turned down their verbal commit somewhere else and being pushed off, then they signed with Quinnipiac, which is not something you see all the time. 47:36 Similac from the development team, interesting move there. 47:40 So I wonder if we'll be seeing more of that in college hockey. 47:43 Well, that actually happened with Quinnipiac to the Badgers last year, that a kid was committed, Ethan Lay, I forgot how you pronounce it, but the Badgers wanted him to play another, at least go into, through the first part of the season thinking he was going to wait for another year and then see what they need in the offseason and maybe bring him in then. 48:05 But no, Clarkson jumped in and said, or not Clarkson, Quinnipiac jumped in and said, well, we can give you the spot this season and he jumped. 48:15 So that is definitely one of the things that I, there are teams that are kind of waiting to see around, see what happens with a lot of those kids that may be being asked to wait another year. 48:29 And so there's a different part of the market right now with that collection of players. 48:36 And that's going to make it hard for Monsko to get older, Veegs. 48:40 It is, but you know, I think you've got to make some of those hard decisions. 48:43 You know, you've got guys like Jack Jensen and Mason Evers who are committed. 48:48 It's probably best for both sides for them to come into Minnesota as a 20-year-old freshman. 48:55 They could probably go somewhere else and play if they want to. 48:57 But if they want to play for Bob, they're probably going to have to wait. 49:02 We'll see what happens. 49:03 Yeah, we'll just have to wait and see. 49:05 Well, Todd, thanks for joining us again. 49:06 You're becoming a regular on here now. 49:09 Well, if there's any show I want to be a regular on, it's this one. 49:13 I'll tell you that right now. 49:15 Well, we appreciate you coming on. 49:16 And we will see you at Mariucci this weekend, won't we? 49:20 I'll be there. 49:21 There you go. 49:23 One of my favorite road trips of the year. 49:25 I have to be honest with you. 49:27 I have always loved Mariucci, and it's always fun to be there. 49:32 Well, we're glad to have you. 49:33 And you can follow Todd at Todd Milewski on Twitter. 49:38 And of course, go find all his stories at the Wisconsin State Journal. 49:41 I know it's tough to go over to those other sites sometimes. 49:45 But sometimes you got to read the other side to understand it. 49:49 We really do appreciate it. 49:50 You're right. 49:51 Yes. 49:52 And remember, you can always follow Vegoe, at eVegoe on Twitter, and follow all of his writings on the athletic. 49:58 And obviously, keep an eye out for that nanny story, right Veegs? 50:01 That's right. 50:02 Next week. 50:02 Keep an eye on it. 50:04 Well, that's going to do it for this episode of The GPL Podcast. 50:07 I want to once again thank Todd for coming on the show and giving us the Wisconsin perspective. 50:13 For those of you listening live, stay tuned for a little bit of overtime. 50:16 For the rest of you, we'll be back next week to recap the Badger series and review North Dakota.