0:03 This is The GPL Podcast, sponsored by Jerry Peters and First Class Mortgage. 0:08 Our expertise, your peace of mind. 0:10 Visit us at firstclassmortgage.com. 0:24 Now, here's Joop and Vego. 0:38 Good evening, and welcome to The GPL Podcast, episode number 168. 0:46 Well, Veegs, it's just you and I this week, no guests. 0:50 And that's probably a good thing. 0:51 It allows us to just kind of celebrate what was another big weekend for our Gophers. 0:57 Yeah, they are really starting to put it together right now. 1:00 You saw them do a great job against the Buckeyes, who are a very difficult team to play against. 1:05 And now they did against the Badgers, who are a little bit easier team to play against. 1:08 But sometimes that creates problems for the Gophers, all of its own. 1:11 And to see them survive it with another sweep is very encouraging. 1:16 Well, you know, I would say the Buckeyes, the Badgers are, you know, obviously they're young, just like Minnesota, but they're also very unpredictable. 1:24 You know, we've seen them play really good games this year. 1:27 And, you know, it just hasn't come together for them. 1:30 But I would say that they might be more unpredictable than Minnesota was earlier this season. 1:36 Well, they're a team where they have so much talent that if you give them opportunities, if you feed them offense, they have plenty of talent to take advantage. 1:46 I think we saw Caulfield show off some of that skill that made him a first round pick. 1:50 You know, sometimes when he gets an opportunity, there's nothing you can do about it. 1:54 It's going to be in the back of the net. 1:56 And luckily, the Gophers managed the game well enough over the weekend. 2:00 I didn't think they played particularly well on Friday. 2:03 I think they just capitalized on their chances. 2:06 That offense that Bob Motzko has been talking about is there, showed up, and that was encouraging to see. 2:13 Then they played a very solid game on Saturday, which was important, because you don't want to let a team like that back into it the next night. 2:20 How often do you see a goaltender pulled when it's two to one? 2:25 Not too often, especially. 2:28 I mean, I mean, Motzko is like, yeah, I don't think, he just looked a little off and things like that. 2:32 And he just go ahead and pull them. 2:34 Yeah, this has been a strange goaltending situation to watch all year. 2:38 I've never heard a coach talk about his goaltenders so publicly like Bob's done this year. 2:45 Early in the year, he was really critical of Moe. 2:48 And then this past weekend, really critical of LaFontaine. 2:53 And I think part of it's LaFontaine's attitude is he'll bounce back and he won't let it bother him. 2:57 But he was being a little overactive. 3:00 And it's one of those games where maybe if your goalie's cheating a little bit and overactive and gets away from his style, you could get in trouble and get behind. 3:09 And Bob knows how important this last weekend was for them to get on a roll. 3:14 And he did not hesitate. 3:15 Does this all go back to the Michigan State series? 3:20 I think that Friday night, they lose four to one, but that one goal was based off of a ton of power plays in the third period that kind of changed the balance of the attack for the Gophers in that game. 3:34 But ever since then, they've been playing very well defensively. 3:37 They've been playing much better offensively. 3:39 It seems like maybe that was the come to Jesus moment for them, or maybe before that, but it just seems like since that game, that Friday night against Michigan State, things have been going really well. 3:53 Well, I think even that game, they did figure it out in the third period a little bit. 3:56 I think since break, this team has just played better. 4:00 I asked Brandon McManus today, is it simple? 4:03 It's just having a strong back check and blocking shots and getting your offense going from your defense. 4:08 And he said, yep, that's basically it. 4:12 And they stuck to the formula. 4:14 And it's encouraging to see what Bob is trying to implement with his program, sticking week in and week out. 4:21 And this team is starting to find an identity and it does kind of look like one of those red and black teams from a couple of years ago. 4:28 Real aggressive on the forecheck, hard to play against, quick transition, plenty of offense. 4:33 I think the one missing piece right now, you don't really see that dynamic power play that can really execute those cross-seam passes. 4:41 I think you saw some of it against Wisconsin because their penalty kill can get so aggressive getting to the boards on the rink. 4:50 And they were getting the passes across, but it just wasn't crisp enough. 4:54 Well, you know, on the coaches show this week, Wally Shaver brought up one of the new kind of mantras that Matsuko has brought up around the breaks. 5:05 He wants the one goal thing, one less goal against and one more goal for, or actually either or, but it turns out that both have happened. 5:14 And maybe these guys have kind of really bought into that. 5:18 Well, I think we knew the offense was there. 5:22 A lot of these players have histories of scoring goals. 5:25 They've been productive. 5:26 That's why they got recruited to play at Minnesota. 5:29 And Bob preaches, you know, this isn't a team that's going to sit back and play defense. 5:33 We want to get up and get in the offensive game. 5:35 I think the problem was, you know, the team was forcing certain things when they didn't have to. 5:41 You know, they weren't allowing their foot track to get to work, and they were making mistakes on defense that were easily correctable. 5:49 Bob didn't really want to break it down play by play what he was talking about. 5:53 But I think in some of those Friday night games where the scores got away from them against Minnesota Duluth, against North Dakota, against Penn State, even against that Michigan State game, you were just making mistakes that, you know, D1 players shouldn't make. 6:09 And they've cut those out, and if they can continue to do that, this pairwise rise that they're... 6:18 I mean, we kind of wrote them off for the pairwise a couple weeks ago, but I don't think we expected them to go on such a streak here in the second half. 6:26 No, we didn't expect that at all. 6:28 I mean, you look at their 7-1 in their last eight games, they've jumped up in about the 34, 33-ish, up to 18 now in the pairwise. 6:42 And it just goes to show, you start winning, things will happen. 6:46 I mean, it just does. 6:48 It's just when you have that loss here and there, you just can't quite keep... 6:51 you can't move up the pack. 6:53 You kind of have to string quite a few games together to kind of get to the top or move your way up. 6:57 And we just didn't see it because at the time they just... 7:00 they hadn't figured it out. 7:01 They weren't playing consistent. 7:03 They were this Jekyll and Hyde team until it seems like they finally kind of put it together now. 7:07 Well, I think we've seen in the pairwise that you can rise up in the ratings if you have sweeps. 7:16 It's just you don't see very many sweeps in the Big Ten. 7:19 You know, we had to go back last year. 7:21 The Gophers had two. 7:23 I think they had one the year before that. 7:25 They were just on a stretch where they were so inconsistent that we couldn't even fathom them putting together a sweep, much less two or three, you know, during the second half here. 7:37 And the one thing I would caution is I don't think they can keep going up the pairwise the way they have the last couple weeks, even if they do continue to sweep a couple of times here down the stretch or if they split here or there. 7:51 Those losses to North Dakota and those losses to Minnesota Duluth I think are going to hold them from rising into that top eight unless they win out. 8:00 Yeah, I don't think they'll win out by any things there, but at least they're getting into the conversation now, Veegs. 8:12 You know, you get a couple, well, heck, if you sweep the next couple series, you're in really good shape. 8:20 You might be on the border. 8:21 You might be in that, you know, 14 to 12 range, couldn't you? 8:26 Yeah, I mean, even if they split the rest of the way out, here, they're going to be in the bubble. 8:34 And, you know, maybe they win a couple of games in the BigTen tournament and they don't need the auto bid to get in. 8:40 So it's encouraging to see that they're in the conversation because this is a team that's got enough talent to score some goals and be a threat down the stretch if they get goaltending. 8:50 You know, it's just you'd really like to see that power play get going and be dangerous for them to be that top ten type team. 8:59 Yeah, power play would really help right now because it's still really bad. 9:04 I know they did get one this weekend and I know they got one right after power play ended. 9:11 Yep. 9:12 So it doesn't count as a power play goal. 9:16 I could remember any other times if they had done that. 9:18 It's just kind of hard to put all this together. 9:30 I mean, I'm really happy, Veegs, because we're starting to see that team we've been wanting to see for quite a few years now. 9:40 We haven't seen it. 9:42 One thing that's always frustrated me about this team this last few years is effort. 9:48 And it seems like they're really going out there and putting forth that effort we need them to do to win. 9:56 And I think you're seeing the effort from the talented players as well. 10:00 Bob Motzko headed the quote after the weekend that his three freshman defensemen really stepped up their game this weekend, especially on Saturday with their captain Tyler Nanny out because of what's been rumored to be a concussion. 10:14 He does look fine for this weekend, but he was out. 10:17 So these freshmen had to step up and play some extra minutes. 10:20 And he said, what's encouraging is that they're playing the right way for this team right now. 10:26 These aren't, you know, highly drafted players that are working on their development, playing for their future in the NHL. 10:34 These are players that have bought in and want to be successful now. 10:38 And right at the top of your block shot leaders are Ryan Johnson, Jackson Lacombe, Matt Staducker. 10:44 You know, they're playing hard and trying to win and sacrificing their bodies. 10:49 And that's very encouraging because the team in red, you know, their top end draft picks are not laying down their bodies and blocking shots. 10:56 You know, they don't have players like Sammy Walker getting back on the back check and forcing turnovers to create offense. 11:02 You know, they're working on the fun end of the rink and not so much on the other ends. 11:06 Well, one thing that this has done though, Veegs, is a lot of other teams in the Big Ten are splitting. 11:15 They're not breaking away like we've seen in previous years. 11:17 We saw Ohio State last year kind of break away. 11:20 The previous year we saw Notre Dame break away real early. 11:25 But because no one was able to kind of take advantage, Minnesota just kind of crept in here. 11:31 They had quite a few ties, but they got three shutout wins and right now they've got five losses, which is the least amount of actual losses in the league. 11:39 And here we are, five teams within one point of first place. 11:45 You've got Ohio State, Penn State with 29 points, Michigan State, Minnesota and Notre Dame with 28 points. 11:52 Michigan State and Minnesota have 16 games played, so they've got a couple of games in hand on the other teams. 11:59 Really, it's not out of the realm to think that Minnesota could actually challenge for first place. 12:05 And don't forget Michigan. 12:06 You know, they've got two games in hand too. 12:08 They do. 12:09 And they swept Notre Dame on the road. 12:13 They did pretty well at Penn State. 12:15 I think they won one the first night and went to OT the next. 12:18 And then they split with Ohio State. 12:20 So it looks like Michigan maybe is starting to find their game too. 12:24 So you have these programs that all have plenty of resources. 12:28 They all have plenty of talent. 12:31 It's a pretty good league. 12:33 Some people don't want to say it, but those six programs that are doing well right now all have veteran teams, all have some draft picks on their teams to put out there and score some goals. 12:45 And they're all looking pretty good. 12:47 And that last team in the conference, Wisconsin, is the one that people thought had all that high-end first-round talent that was going to work out for them. 12:55 Which it doesn't sound like it's going to, at least not right now. 12:59 I could see Wisconsin possibly upsetting somebody in the tournament, in the Big Ten tournament. 13:06 Maybe a little spoiler here and there, but I'm just not sure they're consistent enough to do that at this point. 13:14 Well, I think when you saw them play Minnesota this weekend, it's going to be really hard for them to win in a three-game series. 13:19 They're just not consistent enough. 13:21 I don't think their goaltending is good enough. 13:24 Those are things that you need to win a series like that. 13:28 Well, one thing that we saw this weekend, we were a little concerned when Reedy was out. 13:32 They had to mess up the lines. 13:33 How are we going to get them back in? 13:34 But Reedy ended up just coming right back in and picking right up where he left off. 13:41 Yeah, they put him at wing, which I think was a little bit of an adjustment for him. 13:45 He wasn't quite sharp on some of his wall play and things like that, and he just had to shake off the rust. 13:51 I think scoring a goal will grow some confidence to his game. 13:57 I'd like to see him maybe move back to center as he gets his wheels back under him and maybe put Sammy Walker back at wing. 14:05 I think Walker's had a struggling season so far, trying to figure out how to take on all the challenges that come with being a top line center in the Big Ten. 14:14 He had probably his best game, but he might be more effective moved over to the wing because it looks like those other lines are starting to find some chemistry. 14:22 You're looking at Ben Myers playing on the middle between McManus and Ranta. 14:26 That looks like Minnesota's best line right now. 14:29 And then I think you're seeing Jackson Nelson really emerge as a reliable center as well. 14:35 Big, strong player down the middle with a lot of length. 14:37 He's a hard player to play against. 14:40 And you look at this week, we've got Walker, Brodzinski and McManus sweeping the Big Ten honors. 14:48 I noticed the note from Brian Deutsch and a few other people that that's only happened eight times. 14:54 And Minnesota's done it five of them. 14:57 So you got to think the majority of those were early in the Big Ten when Minnesota was putting together those back to back to back to back to back conference titles. 15:05 That's true. 15:06 But you still got to be able to play. 15:09 Still got to play. 15:10 And they're producing. 15:12 So that's always good in the Big Ten to do. 15:14 And like I said, I like the kind of walkers kind of getting his mojo back. 15:19 We're starting to see Brodzinski make some noise as well. 15:24 A lot of people thought he might have needed another year. 15:27 Probably did. 15:28 But now he's starting to figure it out. 15:31 I would just like to see one of our defensemen get a goal, like Mr. 15:35 Johnson. 15:36 I mean, I think it could really spark him to get on the scoreboard. 15:40 Isn't he still goal-less, Johnson? 15:43 He might be. 15:44 It's kind of tricky, I think, for those defensemen to figure out how to contribute offensively at this level. 15:50 I think we saw it last year with Brinkman, and I think he's struggling this year as he's trying to stretch his game a little bit more. 15:57 But it's hard for those defensemen to get involved. 16:00 Well, hopefully they do soon because I think, you know, obviously they're playing really well in the defensive end. 16:04 They're doing much better at, you know, moving the puck out of the zone. 16:07 That's one thing you've been harping on for years, actually. 16:11 We need some puck moving defensemen to relieve that pressure and get the puck up the ice. 16:16 Because we know in a couple of weeks when we play Penn State, they're going to do the same thing they did before. 16:21 They're going to pressure those defensemen. 16:22 And hopefully they've grown and can handle that pressure and help the team because we know that that monkey is still on their back at Penn State here, Veegs. 16:33 We know it's coming. 16:35 Well, that's just a style that they have to play against where you have to check your shoulder every puck retrieval. 16:42 And you have to skate all the way back to get it and make a quick decision. 16:47 You have to have communication with your goalie and partner about where the space is on the ice. 16:53 And we just haven't seen that the last couple years. 16:56 Whether it's the skill or the effort to do it consistently, hasn't been there and it's been a struggle for them when they play that style. 17:03 I think that's really the biggest challenge for this program to kind of get over the hump is having that consistent playback there. 17:10 And you see signs of it. 17:11 And those freshman defensemen, they've got the skill to do it. 17:15 I'll be anxious to see how it goes this weekend when they play Michigan State, who's a heavy team, a physical team, a bigger team, and then down the line here with Penn State. 17:24 All right, there's quite a few of you in the Mixler chat. 17:28 If any of you have questions, send it to us right now. 17:30 We'll try to talk about it. 17:32 But before that, let's hear from our sponsor. 17:35 There has never been a better time to buy or refinance. 17:39 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18:41 We appreciate you as always for sponsoring the podcast here. 18:45 Veegs, I had one little note here that I had for the Saturday game. 18:50 Boy, did it seem, was the ice really bad there or was it just me? 18:55 It seemed like we had a lot of bouncing pucks, players kind of losing their edge. 19:00 Maybe it's because they had a basketball game early in the day, but the ice just didn't quite seem right at Cole Center. 19:07 Yep, and that's always the problem when you have a changeover like that. 19:11 It warms up the ice, it gets little bits of moisture in there, and it just gets soft, and then it's hard for it to recover so quickly. 19:19 That is kind of a basketball arena and slight lines and everything, so it's really hard to keep that ice consistent over a weekend like that when you have that changeover. 19:30 And just to note, if you ever do visit Cole Center, do whatever you can to get a lower level seat. 19:37 Because if you're in the upper third level deck, you know, if you're in the front row, you're probably good. 19:43 You'll see just fine. 19:44 Once you get past that front row, you're not going to be able to see your side of the ice. 19:48 And in times if you're on the end, that means you don't really see the goal. 19:53 So just some advice. 19:56 Do whatever you can. 19:57 Pay the extra money and get in the lower level, because you'll be happy you did. 20:02 It's a fun building, though, for the Gophers. 20:07 They've done very well there. 20:09 Yeah, and they continued it. 20:11 I mean, you know, Todd gave us the numbers last week. 20:13 They were quite a bit of a 500 and they just keep... 20:18 It's like, well, let's say, it's Mary Uchee East now. 20:20 It's better than Mary Uchee East. 20:23 Yeah, so there you go. 20:29 Be careful where you go when you go to Cole Center. 20:33 I would like to see the Badgers get a little bit better. 20:36 It's a good rivalry when both teams are good. 20:38 I think it's kind of fun to see Minnesota play against those elite players that Tony Granato has brought in, but you would like to see the program be a little bit healthier. 20:48 So we got frozen forth champs asking, has the amount of media on Wednesdays increased during the winning streak? 20:55 I guess it's not always on Wednesdays, but the weekly media availability. 20:59 How's it going there, V? 21:01 More people showing up now? 21:03 It wasn't quite a big crowd today. 21:06 It was kind of your maybe slightly above average. 21:10 You had all the TV people there. 21:12 You had all the newspaper people there. 21:14 So it was a decent crowd. 21:16 You know, sometimes when they have the big rivalry games like North Dakota, you get a lot of the personalities from TV showing up who don't always come by. 21:25 And that usually happens after the Vikings are done. 21:28 So we're not quite to peak availability yet. 21:32 We're getting closer. 21:33 And we're running out of games too. 21:37 You know, the season is ending pretty quickly. 21:40 Season went by fast. 21:42 It always does. 21:44 I think it's just we're getting older and everything's going by fast. 21:47 Could be, but we just have this Michigan State series coming up where you can get a ticket and a beverage for 25 bucks, which I think is a pretty decent deal for all those people out there waffling on trying to attend games. 22:00 They've got the early start on Saturdays. 22:02 They try to appeal to some of those youth hockey organizations that they've been doing the Skate with the Cities events with this season. 22:10 I know they're doing the same thing for the Michigan game. 22:13 They're trying to replace the fans who can't get over the Big Ten. 22:18 I think the only way to do that is to reach out to these youth hockey players who don't really know much about the old WCHA. 22:26 They are trying. 22:27 I know Mark Coyle was on with Frank and Wally on Friday night talking about some of the things they're doing with ticketing and marketing and community engagement for the program. 22:37 I know that they just got underway with their new M-Club room this month and the demolition has started on Craig Floor's office. 22:48 I can't wait to hear about that from Craig. 22:50 Yep, so there's a little bit of dumpsters around the rink as they prep that big M-Club room and weight room renovation. 22:59 The shrinking the rink is coming eventually, but they need some more money and support before they get there. 23:05 I'll be interested to see what the crowds look like this weekend. 23:08 Well, I talked about all the things that they should do and they are winning right now. 23:12 They are winning. 23:14 You know what? 23:14 But I don't think they have a ton of tickets to sell, Veegs. 23:19 When you look at the arena, it's half full, but it's not like they have 5,000 ticks to sell. 23:27 I'm guessing they have between 2,000 and 2,500 tickets to sell. 23:32 I think the big thing is this weekend, if you have tickets, get your butt down there. 23:38 Get in the building. 23:40 And just like Frozen 4 Champs says, Vanik is going to be there on Saturday, I believe. 23:45 Yep, welcome the Vanik back to Mariucci Nights. 23:49 So he'll be there signing autographs. 23:51 He'll probably tell a few stories if you ask for one. 23:54 Maybe you can ask him about what he said to Cappy back in juniors. 24:00 But just get down there, Veegs, because if they could just get the people who aren't showing up, who have tickets, to show up, it's going to be a pretty good atmosphere. 24:10 You know, it could be. 24:11 We'll see. 24:12 Michigan State is going to be a difficult team to play against, and it's a little frustrating, I think, for the players when they look up in the stands. 24:20 We talked about this with Mike Carman earlier in the season. 24:25 You know, when you see the empty seats behind you, or you see people leaving early, you know, they start to kind of question things, and certainly impacts recruiting, I think, at some point. 24:36 But I know we're preaching the choir here with this audience. 24:40 We are, but we have to get it out. 24:44 You know, did you put any money down on one of those Booger Jersey Figs? 24:49 I did not. 24:51 Neither did I. 24:54 It was getting a little pricey there, wasn't it? 24:56 Yeah, well, someone went up around $800 or something like that. 24:59 Oh, boy. 25:01 I know a big mistake, picked up one. 25:05 Pardon? 25:06 Big mistake. 25:07 Oh, he did. 25:08 He got one. 25:10 Really? 25:13 So he's maybe changing his tune a little bit. 25:15 Maybe he's on board now with Coach Bob. 25:17 It's going to have a Big Ten logo on it. 25:19 What's he going to do? 25:20 He might cover it up with tape. 25:24 He might. 25:25 Or he might use one of those UniWatch stitch removers and take it out. 25:31 But I know he got one, so congrats to him. 25:34 I made the suggestion today that they just sell those Wuger jerseys. 25:38 Get Authentics. 25:39 Yes, we're getting the Authentic talk again. 25:41 Get Authentics. 25:43 Just make them all the same. 25:44 Have the Wuger on the back. 25:45 Put the number three because that's Wuger's number. 25:48 And sell them. 25:49 You know what? 25:50 And then have portions of it go to the Wuges Endowment. 25:53 I think they'd make a killing, Veegs. 25:57 Maybe. 25:57 I think the way they're doing it here with these, probably a good start and go from there. 26:03 I think these were the alternates for them from a couple years ago. 26:07 So good use for them. 26:08 I know they have another set of alternates to use going forward. 26:13 These were kind of backup ones, just in case the other ones didn't arrive on time. 26:19 EastSiders asking, and all the stories about attendance, has the no-show issue been talked about? 26:24 Why are people with tickets not showing up, is what he meant to say. 26:29 Well, we've talked about this to death, and that's the big mystery, Veegs. 26:32 Well, I think it's a complicated issue. 26:34 You know, you have some people who have issues with parking and getting to the arena. 26:40 You have some people who share tickets and have a hard time transferring them around. 26:46 One of the things that the university did this last year was partner with Paclian and work on making it easier for people to transfer their tickets. 26:57 So before, I think it took about 10 or 11 clicks to do. 27:00 Now it's probably about three, and they partnered with StubHub to resell tickets, so maybe make that market a little bit easier for people to move them when they can't go. 27:12 But it's just, you know, I have it right now for some of these people not to go to all the games or find people to go in their place. 27:21 Well, hopefully the winning will bring them back, because, you know, they're still buying tickets. 27:26 Yeah, I mean, the football team certainly got people to show up when they were winning. 27:30 So maybe they can do that and take advantage of the feedback they get from those people who have been away, because they still do all those surveys. 27:38 And trust me, they read them. 27:40 So be colorful in your comments, and maybe you'll get some actionable results out of it. 27:46 Matt Anderson's saying, if they would sell authentic jerseys in youth sizes, I would buy three tomorrow. 27:51 Unfortunately, I think we are preaching to the choir here, Veegs, because we've been talking about this for over a decade. 27:59 If they had authentic, they could probably sell them for a nice price. 28:03 People would buy them. 28:06 And the funny thing is, I've heard from people who work with the team, for the team, completely agree with this. 28:13 But unfortunately, it's the people above them making these kind of decisions. 28:18 Well, I think it's maybe they get some continuity in their sports properties. 28:23 I know they did have some changeover in how they were doing their licensing this year, with their contracts and things like that. 28:30 It gets complicated to you. 28:31 I know they just kind of get out of their deal with Aramark for a lot of their venues, so that they have more flexibility going down the line here as they make changes. 28:41 It's a complicated place that I think Mark Coyle is trying to get his hands on everything and push things in the right direction. 28:49 It's not like The Wild or The Vikings or The Twins where they have these huge resources to put these things into place quickly. 28:56 They have to kind of do it slowly, and they've really focused a lot of their attention on football, because let's be honest, those are 50,000 seats. 29:04 And so they're trying to get that solution figured out first, and then they can move on to some of these other issues as well. 29:12 So sorry hockey fans, you take a back seat to that, but it's just kind of the reality of big time sports right now, and we can see what happened there. 29:22 I think it's just the history of their jerseys. 29:24 I mean, they've had a lot of replicas that have been very bad. 29:28 Yes. 29:29 I mean, the M is wrong, the colors are off, the stripes are off. 29:35 They just have a bad history with jerseys, Vs. 29:39 I mean, so much so that we've got guys like Forehead over at Vintage making these jerseys that people want, and he's selling a ton of them. 29:51 I have a couple. 29:52 I do as well. 29:53 You have a couple. 29:54 I do as well. 29:55 I did get lucky. 29:56 I did get an authentic a couple years ago. 29:58 Somebody in the sports marketing department thought, hey, let's buy 30 extra jerseys. 30:05 This was the last, this was 2012-13 season for the WCHA. 30:08 Let's buy 30 extra jerseys. 30:11 We're going to do five of the home or 10 of the road, 10 of the home and 10 of the alternates that year. 30:19 And I got my hands on one for cost. 30:21 I think it was $150, which is pretty darn good. 30:25 Had the WCHA logo on it. 30:27 Didn't have numbers, but obviously had the big M. 30:30 And it's a beautiful jersey. 30:31 It's got the fight strap and everything. 30:33 And all those jerseys disappeared pretty quickly, except for one. 30:36 They had one that was like the largest goalie size that goalie's locker room had a hard time selling. 30:45 Well, it's a goalie size. 30:47 I mean, come on. 30:49 But the rest of them are all gone. 30:50 So there is a market out there for it. 30:52 And I think a lot of people wouldn't even complain if the replicas were good. 31:00 They're better now, but still. 31:02 People will pay extra for Authentics. 31:05 I mean, you see it at other schools. 31:07 You see it a lot. 31:08 I mean, you look at somebody like North Dakota. 31:10 They're still selling Sioux jerseys. 31:13 Well, they got to keep the rights to it. 31:14 To keep the rights to it. 31:15 So, I mean, it's just something. 31:19 I mean, they're selling Sioux jerseys from jerseys from 10 years ago. 31:23 There's no way we could get a jersey 10 years ago without going to Vintage. 31:26 So there's just this market that they're missing out on where they're missing out on profit, too, Veegs. 31:34 Yep, it's definitely a missed opportunity for them. 31:37 I don't know when we'll see changes to that, but I know one other thing is that the people who make the jerseys are not exactly the easiest to work with. 31:45 It's not a big business for them. 31:47 And so it's tricky for them even to get their jerseys to the team on time, much less get another set or inventory for Goldie's Lock Room to sell. 31:59 Matt, that jersey was a long time ago. 32:01 It was about eight years ago. 32:02 So I'm sure somebody's got it somewhere. 32:05 But Matt did also ask, did he miss it? 32:08 But what's going on between Moe and Bob? 32:10 Is there something going on between those two? 32:12 Well, I think Motsko is a little cautious to hand over the reins to the freshman goalie because he tried to do that earlier than the year and he had that issue where he was letting the first shot in. 32:26 And he's just kind of one of those big goalies where, I'm not sure, Bob's super confident in just going to him as a number one because he hasn't shown he could be a number one. 32:37 And I think Bob feels he wants to have two goalies available down the stretch for when one of them doesn't have a great night or a great start like LaFontaine did on Friday, and he has an option to turn to. 32:51 I think both looked really good since the break. 32:55 He looks calm. 32:56 He looks like he's seeing the puck, which is a problem with him early in the year, and he's got a lot of talent. 33:02 You know, it's not every year you have two drafted goalies like that who are big and athletic. 33:08 Well, you just look at it though. 33:11 Mo is played three games since the break, and he's allowed two goals. 33:15 Yeah, his goals against in the second half here is pretty darn good. 33:19 He had that nice little streak, a shot at hockey, too. 33:21 He did. 33:22 It wasn't until Saturday night that he finally gave up a goal, because he came in when they had already scored two, and he shut them out the rest of that game, and Saturday he gave up a couple, but two goals in three games is pretty darn good, Veegs. 33:38 Yeah, and he's a big keeper. 33:40 Well, they're both big. 33:42 Yeah, I think Mo is a little bit bigger, and he's just got a real calmness to him in the second half. 33:49 I will be interested to see what happens with the goaltending situation this weekend, because, you know, Moscow said when they were playing in Michigan, he probably would play Mo, but they're not playing in Michigan this weekend. 34:04 They're playing in Minnesota, so we'll see what he does. 34:06 I think Bob wants to give LaFontaine a chance to redeem himself, but I got to think if he has a shaky start, it's going to be quick again. 34:14 Well, let's talk about this weekend. 34:16 We're going to get Penn State coming to Penn State, sorry, Michigan State coming into town. 34:20 You know, they split at Penn State, or gosh, I said it again, Michigan State just a couple weeks ago, it wasn't that long ago. 34:28 It kind of kicked off this good play for Minnesota. 34:32 And the thing is, yes, Michigan State's resurgent this year. 34:38 I think Minnesota could play well against them, but they do have that kind of equalizer in their goalie. 34:43 Lefman, I believe his name is, boy, that kid can, he could steal a series easily. 34:50 Well, I think his numbers look really good. 34:52 I don't know how talented he is because this kind of came out of nowhere. 34:58 He wasn't exactly this outstanding goalie coming into the season. 35:02 I think this is really surprising a lot of people, his numbers, which are outstanding. 35:07 He's having a great year, but I think it's a little bit that the team in front of him is playing pretty well and keeping quality shots away. 35:16 You don't get those advanced metrics in college hockey like you do in the NHL, but I would imagine his quality of shot that he's facing is not very high because Michigan State's bought in. 35:28 They're a veteran team that they've really molded for this year, and they survive a little bit on Lewandowski and Kornarenko, who are older players in the Big Ten and can help them get through on special teams. 35:45 So I do think if Minnesota can get some pressure and play smart, that they maybe can expose Leathman a little bit. 35:52 I think his numbers might not be as good as he is showing. 35:58 And then Frozen Four champs just kind of alluded to what you were talking about, need to shut down their number one line. 36:04 Well, I think you just need to be aware that they're on the ice. 36:07 I think one of the mature signs from the Gophers this last weekend is they paid a lot of attention to Caulfield. 36:14 They knew when he was on the ice, and I think the defensemen and the forwards are both aware that you don't want to get into trading chances or make bad turnovers when he's on the ice. 36:24 I think that's happened in Minnesota a couple times against this top group from Michigan State, and it's just something they have to be aware of. 36:31 And I think Minnesota is playing like a veteran team, even though they are so young, and that's going to be a focus for them. 36:39 So what are you looking for from the Gophers this weekend? 36:43 Obviously, we want to see them continue, but I really think, like you kind of mentioned before, they really got to get that power play going, because if they do get that thing going, they could cause a lot of damage. 36:57 Yeah, I mean, the things I'm looking for this weekend, obviously the power play is a big thing to see if there's any growth there. 37:03 You know, Bob's very patient with his power play group this year. 37:07 I think last year he was changing things around a lot, but once he found kind of that Novak on the point with Sheehee, he just went to that. 37:17 And those guys would play almost two minutes of every power play. 37:21 He would just say, stay out there. 37:23 You guys are hot. 37:24 Figure it out. 37:25 This year, I don't think the numbers are quite that impressive. 37:28 You know, they don't have a lot of problems gaining the zone and getting established, but they just aren't very dynamic in the offensive zone. 37:36 And it's almost like they score their goals off of mistakes from the killers more than creating it by themselves, or they get lucky with a rush here or there. 37:45 So I think that is something to look for. 37:47 I think the other thing is the start on Friday night. 37:50 You know, that's been kind of the issue with this year's team that has come up a couple times, you know, and it usually has happened after a successful weekend. 38:00 Whatever it is, you know, we talk about Bob using the feather, the stick, or the 2x4. 38:07 I might be using the 2x4 Friday morning and almost revisiting that speech he gave to them coming out of the break. 38:15 You know, these are correctable things that we can do to prevent goals. 38:19 That needs to be the focus tonight because I don't expect it to be a high-scoring series. 38:25 Oh, I do. 38:29 I think Minnesota is going to put up like five or six each night. 38:36 I think it's going to happen. 38:38 I'm going Mr. 38:39 Positive. 38:41 I've seen the Jekyll and Hyde. 38:43 I'm declaring Jekyll and Hyde is done, Veegs. 38:47 Well, when you've got a power play that's clicking at about 17%, it's going to be hard to score five or six goals. 38:53 Hey, do it five on five. 38:55 Show them what's done. 38:58 Could be. 38:58 I just don't see it happen. 39:00 I don't think Michigan State is a team that takes a lot of penalties either. 39:03 So I think we're in for some tight hockey games. 39:06 Maybe they can stretch it open, but I just don't see it. 39:10 Tight hockey games, but I'm still thinking you're thinking what, four, five or six points. 39:16 Yeah, I think the way Minnesota is playing at home, I think it's hard for Michigan State to play their style on the big ice. 39:22 I think their coach has joked about it a couple of times when he's come to Marriott. 39:26 She is like, well, they played a really good game for an 85-foot rink. 39:31 It's just not something that they're used to. 39:34 So I think it's a spot for Minnesota to take advantage and stretch the ice a little bit. 39:41 The key is just to continue playing with speed and making smart decisions at the blue line, especially when you're out there against their top players. 39:49 So if Minnesota sweeps this weekend, we could easily see them in first place. 39:52 You got Penn State and Ohio State playing each other in Ohio State. 39:57 We could easily see a split there. 40:00 We could be seeing Minnesota in first place at the end of the weekend. 40:04 You could, and you could see them bump up in the pairwise a little bit where they're actually on the bubble rather than just outside the bubble. 40:12 It'll be an interesting weekend for the Big Ten. 40:16 I think my eyes are also on that Penn State, Ohio State series to see how that goes. 40:21 I think there could be some separation there if one of those teams could get a sweep. 40:26 I think Michigan probably will continue against Wisconsin and pull away there since Michigan's played pretty well here the second half. 40:33 And so I think we'll see a couple teams rise to the top of the Big Ten. 40:38 All right. 40:39 I like the sound of that. 40:42 Anything you're working on with the athletic right now, Veegs? 40:45 We'll see. 40:46 We're still fighting for space. 40:47 Apparently all these teams want to trade everybody this week. 40:50 Boy, it's been a crazy few days. 40:52 It's been a crazy few days. 40:53 I'm waiting for the Vikings to pull off their big moves and maybe the Wild to pull off their moves. 40:58 And that's just it. 40:59 The Wild thing is going to be coming up soon because the trade deadline is fairly soon, isn't it? 41:04 Yeah, it is coming up. 41:05 But we'll see. 41:06 We'll probably be having some stuff coming up here in the second half. 41:10 Be patient. 41:10 We've got some weeks left here with the Michigan State and then a couple of series where maybe Minnesota won't end their season at Marriott G against Michigan. 41:18 Maybe they'll get some home games for the Big Ten. 41:21 I think they will. 41:23 I think they're going to be home team. 41:25 At least that. 41:27 I think they have a really good chance. 41:29 If they can excise something, get rid of some of these demons. 41:33 I'm thinking if a couple of weeks, if they can go and split at Penn State, that would be a really good sign. 41:39 Well, I think it would be really good for them to get the buy this year. 41:42 I think that's really valuable on the Big Ten this year to get the buy. 41:46 And then you just have to sell one home game at a time for tickets, which could be nice for the U-2. 41:53 Jess, if the Athletic doesn't publish Vegoe soon, I'm canceling. 41:58 Don't cancel, Jess. 41:59 There's lots of good content on there. 42:03 There's this prospect ranking that's going on right now by Scott Wheeler of all the organizations. 42:08 That's great writing. 42:09 It's fun to follow the wild and Michael Russo. 42:12 We'll get some Gopher coverage. 42:13 I think, be patient. 42:15 If the Gopher program does start to turn things around and there are eyes on the program, I hope to contribute some things there that might be right on a more frequent basis. 42:25 I think you will be. 42:27 There just has to be some success. 42:29 You saw the Athletic, when the Gopher football team started to take off, they invested a little more coverage. 42:36 I think that's the thing that's missing here with Gopher hockey as well. 42:40 Well, hopefully, it's keep moving in the right direction, Veegs. 42:44 Hopefully, another sweep this weekend, be in first place, come the podcast next week. 42:50 I do think they'll just get four points though, not to put too big of a damper. 42:54 I picked sweep last weekend. 42:55 I think we get four this weekend. 42:57 You're bringing me down, Veegs. 42:59 I just wanted to get that on there because I do think they might have issues performing at a high level, and I don't think you can get away with that against Michigan State. 43:10 They will make you pay for it, and it will be tough to get back in the game against them. 43:14 I'm a little more positive. 43:15 It's sweep all the way. 43:16 Damn it. 43:17 There you go. 43:20 Remember, you can follow Veegs at eVego on Twitter, and of course, you can follow his writings at The Athletic as well. 43:28 That's going to do it for this episode of the GPL Podcast. 43:31 We'll be back next week to recap the Spartan Series and preview the series at Notre Dame. 43:39 For those of you listening live, stay tuned for a little bit of overtime. 43:43 For the rest of you, we'll be back next week.