0:03 This is the GopherPuckLive Podcast, episode number 17, recorded Tuesday, February 21st, 2012. 0:21 Welcome to the GopherPuckLive Podcast. 0:23 Along with Hammeh, I am your host, Jupiter. 0:26 Cardinal not able to make the podcast today, so we'll just have to push forward without him. 0:32 Well, Hammeh, the Gophers get swept in Denver. 0:36 Return home and get two solid victories over Bemidji State, including, you know, Patterson's seventh shutout of the season. 0:42 It sounds like a pretty good rebound compared to what happened a few weeks ago. 0:47 Well, absolutely. 0:47 I mean, I think, you know, I predicted the Gophers to sweep last week. 0:51 And, you know, the one thing that I had said at the time is I expected the games, you know, even though if we sweep, I expected the games to be, you know, rather competitive given that Bemidji's played a pretty tough schedule. 1:01 And grand, they only have four road wins all year, but they have a winning record and they've had a tough schedule. 1:06 And you just figure that the serratory team is going to play pretty tough. 1:11 But actually it didn't really, I mean, granted the scoreboard, it wasn't like the Gophers blew them off the rink necessarily scoreboard wise, but in terms of who was taking the play to who and all that, I mean, the Gophers are pretty, thoroughly taking it to Bemidji most of the weekend. 1:26 And so from that standpoint, for me, it was a little bit of a surprise. 1:29 The outcomes weren't necessarily a surprise, but just how the Gophers went about their business. 1:34 To me, that was a big positive. 1:36 Well, I think Bacla played pretty well. 1:39 He didn't really have anything in front of him and he was making some good saves here and there. 1:44 I think without him, it would have been the blowout that could have happened. 1:48 Well, yeah, certainly. 1:49 I mean, the goaltender is obviously going to be a big part of the equation when it comes to the scoreboard. 1:54 But maybe it's just you expect those teams that are maybe kind of lower division type of teams that even if Bemidji's had a tough schedule, nonetheless, they're not going to be one of the more talented teams in the league. 2:10 And maybe you sometimes expect that the Gophers are going to play down to the competition or something along those lines. 2:18 But that really didn't happen. 2:19 And I think a lot of it, I think, of course, is a combination of probably two things. 2:22 Number one is that they're coming off of being swept out in Denver. 2:26 And of course, that's going to leave a bitter taste in your mouth. 2:29 And the other factor is, hey, you're fighting for a conference title. 2:33 And how many times do you get a chance to do that? 2:35 You can't say you're going to do that every year. 2:36 So when you get that opportunity, you better grasp it. 2:40 So I think that that's kind of the mentality that we saw this last weekend. 2:43 Well, the defense, I thought, really stepped up compared to the previous weekend. 2:47 You know, especially Friday night, I noticed they were blocking a lot of shots. 2:50 I mean, they were going out to block these shots. 2:52 A couple of guys, you know, come up limping. 2:54 What is it? 2:54 Didn't Buddhist get hit on the hand or something like that? 2:56 I mean, it seemed like it was a good team defensive effort, you know, to get the shutout for Patterson. 3:04 And then obviously, they only let one goal Saturday night. 3:07 Well, absolutely. 3:08 I mean, I think that, I mean, when you're only giving up 13 shots on a goal the first night, I mean, that's going to tell you that you've been playing some pretty tight defense. 3:16 You know, and I think that the Gophers, with, you know, a handful, you know, small exception, you know, of games here or there, they've had a pretty good team defense this year, you know, one of the better team defenses in the country. 3:29 And it's not all just Kent Patterson, you know, being a stonewall in that, you know, they've, I think, really started as the season's gone along, they've been much more tight-knit in terms of their defensive play as a group. 3:42 And you know, there's a lot to look forward to, especially playoff time, you gotta, you know, make sure you're tight on your defense. 3:48 And so, grand, you know, we had some miscues the prior weekend, but I think overall, the Gophers have played pretty tough defense as a team. 3:56 And it's tough to complain when you only give up one goal on the weekend, and it was a power play goal, it was a great shot. 4:02 So, all in all, pretty good defensive weekend. 4:05 Offense, Sylvie, were you happy? 4:07 You know, three goals one night, four goals the other night. 4:09 I thought they looked pretty good, you know, obviously Bacala stopped them in a few places, but how are you on the offense coming back to life, you know? 4:18 Well, you know, it's interesting, it was sort of a tale of two, you know, two nights in terms of two different lines. 4:23 I mean, the first night was all pretty much the Bukestad line, and the second night it was pretty much that second line with Holla and Jake Hansen, and to me that's a, you know, we've talked about it numerous times this year, that's where the Gophers are at their best, is when they're getting scoring from more than just that top line. 4:40 And, you know, granted on Friday it was pretty much just the one line, but to see that second line, you know, that's to me the key for the Gophers moving forward, is that if they have two lines that are consistent threats, like they did early in the year when they were winning, you know, pretty much every game, that's where this team is really tough to beat, and if they can maintain that and get some consistent offense and, you know, get a little bit of a chipped in goal from the third or fourth line here, you know, and what the team defense would like to be discussed, they're going to have as good a shot as anybody, you know, to do some damage. 5:13 One thing I really like is that Budis and Howla seem to have elevated their game a bit. 5:20 I mean, Budis has been kind of down ever since the injury, but I think he's slowly coming back now. 5:25 He's starting to score. 5:26 Obviously, Howla was scoring early in this season, but kind of went through a drought there for a while. 5:31 It seems like he's also coming back. 5:32 What are your thoughts on that? 5:34 Well, yeah, I mean, it's interesting. 5:37 I mean, Howla has been so kind of inconsistent. 5:39 He's shown flashes here or there, game or so, you know, during the year, and you start to say, oh, well, hopefully that's going to, you know, kind of light a fire under him now. 5:47 And, you know, he doesn't maintain it. 5:49 So I'm a little bit wary of, you know, jumping to any conclusions on him. 5:53 But in terms of Budis, you know, I think it's definitely, you know, he's the one guy I always felt, you know, he's too much of a past-first kind of a guy in the past. 6:02 You know, he, you know, even back to his dinadays, he was always setting, you know, Iverson up. 6:09 And, you know, now, and even in college, you know, granted, he's been injured some, too. 6:13 But he just, to me, passes up shots a little too often. 6:17 So to see him, you know, shooting a puck a little more, maybe putting a puck in the net, you know, I think that's only going to help that line because now they know that they have three guys that they have to play for the shot. 6:27 It's not just going to be two guys that are going to be looking for the shot. 6:30 And one thing I also liked is that he was scoring right around the net. 6:34 You know, he had his butt in front of the net and he got the goal. 6:37 Obviously, the first goal Friday night, a nice deflection, but he was there. 6:41 Second goal, he was coming in and got a garbage goal. 6:43 But he was there, right in front of that, right where he should be. 6:47 Well, exactly. 6:48 I mean, when you're a guy of his, you know, size, that's where you should be. 6:52 I mean, you should be working around the corners and the boards and around the net and playing gritty in the bloody nose alley, so to speak. 6:59 And that's where he's going to, you know, moving forward in his career, you know, if he wants to have an angel career, that's where he's going to make his money. 7:07 He's got to use that size and use his strength around the net and around the, you know, behind the net to make plays. 7:15 And if he's going to continue to do that, the Gophers are going to have a lot of success. 7:20 Well, with that success this weekend, the Gophers did get back into the race when it comes to pairwise. 7:25 Right now, they're tied for eighth with Maine, which is a good spot to be. 7:30 But, you know, again, I like to tell people this. 7:34 It's still going to be volatile. 7:35 It's going to go up. 7:36 It's going to go down. 7:38 But, you know, they're playing UNO this weekend, which is definitely a team under consideration and a team that's fighting for a playoff spot since they're at 22 or 23. 7:50 So, I don't want people to panic. 7:52 You know, if they lose the game this weekend, they're going to go down. 7:55 But they're going to be playing higher competition. 7:57 So, hopefully, people realize that and don't, you know, do a little chicken little if they lose a game this weekend or something like that. 8:04 The rankings are going to be volatile. 8:07 Well, I mean, we've been saying that for a month. 8:09 I mean, I... 8:11 It's all over the place. 8:12 I mean, it's just the way it's going to be. 8:15 Especially with their, you know, their record against, you know, non-conference opponents. 8:20 It's really hurting them right now, so they really got to play well in the WCHA to kind of make up for that. 8:26 Well, right, and I get, you know, sometimes I get a little frustrated after losses. 8:32 I tend to avoid GPL a little bit because I know that all I'm going to see is a lot of, you know, people like, ah, this team is over and this is that and what, you know, and people just going off the deep end after one game and, and, you know, I mean, they're all, they're all the same as far as importance. 8:50 They're all going to mean something in the end. 8:52 But just because you lose one or two here or there, it doesn't mean necessarily when you got games ahead of you that it's going to be the end of the world. 8:59 I mean, I'd certainly would rather be in our shoes right now than a lot of other teams. 9:04 And, you know, even if it is volatile, certainly I'd rather be in our position where you're kind of in pretty good shape and they've got a relatively good schedule ahead of them, and I think that it's going to be positive. 9:18 Well, the Gophers did get an injury, what was it, Saturday night. 9:21 Marshall, some kind of injury went out. 9:24 You know, I was there, I didn't see it happen. 9:27 And that kind of leads to a question from GopherRubavyD4 on Twitter. 9:32 Any inside knowledge of Marshall's injury? 9:35 I don't think he's going to play, but it's just not something that really gets out there, is it? 9:40 Yeah, I don't know the specifics, but I was told by a very informed individual earlier today that Marshall won't be playing this weekend. 9:50 I don't know who will be playing in his spot, but I've heard that there's a good chance Marshall would be back for the Wisconsin series. 10:00 So, you know, like I said, I don't know what the exact injury is, but it doesn't sound like it's too severe. 10:06 It's just one of those kind of, you know, you're dinged up and may not be able to play that specific next weekend. 10:14 Well, that kind of leads into another question that we got via email from Frozen4Champs. 10:19 He goes, with Marshall out week to week, which D-man do you see playing more, Thompson or Student? 10:26 I think it drops off with these two. 10:29 Do you think Lucia may just rotate five defensemen and just kind of get the sixth guy in there sparingly? 10:35 I don't. 10:36 I think that they'll have, you know, that's just never been their MO. 10:40 I mean, even earlier in the season, they haven't really, you know, just shortened the bench, you know, especially with defensemen. 10:47 I just think that they'll just plug one of those other guys in, you know, for Marshall for the series and see what happens. 10:53 My personal preference would probably be Student for this weekend, simply because UNO tends to be more of a skating game. 11:02 You know, they're not, you know, I doubt it's going to be one of those kind of real rough and tumble types of series. 11:08 I mean, I'm sure there'll be some of that, but, you know, I think on the whole, it'll probably be more of a skill-based kind of a series, and I think that, you know, you want some mobility out there, and certainly I think Student would provide more of that than Blake Thompson, and plus, you know, Thompson's been, you know, a little bit of a penalty prone in the games that he has been in, so you kind of want to stay out of the boxes that we saw this last weekend. 11:30 You can lead to a lot of success. 11:32 Definitely, definitely. 11:34 So who knows what's going to happen? 11:36 I'm guessing you're right. 11:36 I think they will play Student. 11:39 I mean, do you agree with that? 11:41 I think they will be. 11:42 I mean, I think Thompson just got himself in the dog house too much. 11:47 And unless necessary, they probably won't play him. 11:51 Well, I think the other factor is, even though Student, you know, I mean, he's played a little bit more college. 11:56 He's a little older in that sense and more experienced. 12:00 And I think that I would rather go with that on the road. 12:04 You know, not that Thompson couldn't be effective this weekend if he does happen to play, but I just think that my personal preference would be to add somebody that's got some mobility, kind of similar to Marshall's game. 12:17 Miles asked through email, basically, he knows that Marshall's going to be out. 12:21 He wonders if you should maybe change up the defensive pairs this weekend, or should we just plug student in? 12:30 I'm of the belief you keep things as much as you can when it comes to at least defense. 12:36 I think that it's just too important, the communication factor when you're out on the ice, and when you have that kind of comfort zone with a defensive partner out there, you don't want to mess with that too much. 12:49 So my personal belief would be that they'd be better off just kind of plugging somebody in and keeping the other two pairings as is. 12:57 So all in all, it was a pretty good weekend for the Gophers. 13:00 Instead of Duluth being one point back, they're now two points back, and Denver is now four points back in the standings. 13:09 So in theory, if things were to go well this weekend, they could win the McNaughton this weekend. 13:16 Not saying it's going to happen, but the way the points shake out, it's a possibility. 13:22 So that's something to think about. 13:24 Yeah, it'd be great. 13:26 I'd like to see them win it at home, but in theory, maybe CEC. 13:31 All CEC needs to do is get a win or two up in Duluth, and obviously you've got North Dakota playing Denver. 13:38 That may be all it takes. 13:40 Yeah, I mean, I don't suspect it's going to work out quite that way this weekend. 13:45 Come on, I'm being positive here. 13:47 Yeah, I know. 13:49 I've been saying, I said before this last series that my projection, my prediction is the Gophers go 5-1 in their last three series, and I've always kind of earmarked this upcoming series as being the one loss and a split on the road, because you have to figure that Wisconsin will probably be pesky, and I'm sure that if they have a chance to kind of ruin the Gophers' chances for the McNaughton, certainly they'll be jacked up for that series, but given their road record this year, you have to like the Gophers' chances at home against Wisconsin, so I figure that to me the key is going to be this weekend, and at a minimum getting two points out of the weekend. 14:31 I would agree with that. 14:32 Well, this past weekend, like I said, we had some interesting results. 14:36 We had Denver and Wisconsin splitting. 14:39 Thank you, Wisconsin. 14:40 That's probably the last thank you you'll get at least this year. 14:44 What do you think about that series? 14:45 Obviously, it was, you know, what happened? 14:48 I mean, Wisconsin, terrible Friday night, and they won this Saturday. 14:52 Yeah, I mean, it's kind of interesting that, you know, they didn't, I didn't really catch any of the, either of the games, but from what I could tell, you know, it just seemed like, you know, Wisconsin pretty much took it to them, that second game. 15:06 I mean, I know that, you know, it was kind of even early on, but then, you know, they kind of took over as the game went along, and, you know, you have to give them some credit there. 15:16 And I don't know, you know, what Denver's been a real kind of schizophrenic team this year, and, granted, some of it was injury-related, but, you know, it was certainly, I thought after Friday's game when they, you know, got shut out at home, I was like, wow, Wisconsin's pretty much just mailed it in for the year, and I thought that that would be a sure sweep for Denver. 15:38 And so, you know, I suppose maybe it being, I don't know if Wisconsin's on the road with their final two series, they might be. 15:44 I think they are, yeah, because they're at Bemidji this weekend. 15:47 So it was senior night for them on, you know, on Saturday, so maybe that added a little bit of the wanting to leave on a good note kind of situation, so maybe that's probably what inspired them. 15:58 Well, one interesting note or result from this past weekend was Anchorage splitting with St. 16:03 Cloud in St. 16:04 Cloud. 16:05 You know, I had talked about in previous, you know, last week that this was a chance for St. 16:10 Cloud to get up there, you know, get on the brink of getting home ice, and apparently they just weren't that excited to do that. 16:18 Yeah, I mean, I... 16:20 obviously that was a series that on paper you're like, well, you know, that's definitely a sweep for St. 16:25 Cloud, and certainly when, you know, they... 16:28 of course, they had a week off, but I mean, their last series before that was sweeping on the road in Wisconsin, which you would think would be a tougher series to sweep than, you know, than Anchorage at home, so you just kind of figured. 16:39 But, you know, judging from the... 16:41 you know, I saw a little bit of the... 16:44 I think I saw a little bit of that series, and I certainly remember it being... 16:49 you know, that first game, I should say. 16:51 You know, I didn't really think like that was going to end up being the result, and just St. 16:57 Cloud looked very sloppy, and judging from Matsuko's comments after, he wasn't too happy, and so, you know, St. 17:05 Cloud sounds like they don't... 17:06 you know, I've read a few comments that Matsuko says they don't practice real well at times, and all that, and you just kind of say to yourself, you know, why... 17:14 you know, if you're kind of on the brink of home ice, that's really where you have to dial it in, so it's a little bit of a surprising result. 17:21 Yeah, they're going to need help to get up, you know, back up there now. 17:23 You know, 23 points, you know, North Dakota is on that sixth spot right now with 27. 17:28 Actually, they're tied with CC, so they need to pick it up. 17:32 I mean, that was their chance, and I think they kind of blew it there. 17:36 They'll probably look back on that game and rue the answer. 17:40 I think you're right. 17:42 Well, Duluth went down to Mankato, and thanks to a second game late comeback, Mankato gets the one point on the weekend. 17:52 Scored two goals back to back, what, about 10 seconds apart, late in the third period to get the tie. 17:58 Thank you, Mankato. 18:00 What do you think of that? 18:01 I mean, we kind of thought this could be tricky for Duluth, and it turned out to be a little bit tricky. 18:07 Yeah, you know, I'm not going to lie. 18:10 I was extremely surprised on Saturday, because I was, you know, flicking it around a little bit on different games, and, you know, they were, you know, I saw Duluth up 4-2 with, I think it was like three, some minutes left, and I think Mankato was at the power, you know, on the power play at the time, and I'm like, you know, even if they might get a goal here, but, you know, they're not going to do anything. 18:31 So, I quite frankly changed the station, you know, and then a few minutes later, I think I saw something on Twitter that I was tied, I'm like, you know, holy, you know what, you know, they tied it, and I watched some of the overtime, you know, but I was very surprised, and that certainly, yeah, from a Gopher standpoint, you're like, well, even if it's just one point, it's certainly a little bit of additional breathing room that you say to yourself, well, you know, thanks a lot, Mankato, so. 18:58 Every little bit helps this time of year. 19:00 Every point matters. 19:03 Michigan Tech gets one point at UND. 19:08 Yeah, I mean, I didn't see any of that series at all. 19:13 I'm not, you know, I kind of thought that North Dakota would probably sweep that series, but I knew that Tech was going to be pesky. 19:20 I mean, at this point in the year, you just have to chalk up that whoever is going to be playing Tech is going to have to bring their lunch pail, because it's not going to be an easy game. 19:30 And I think that they showed that up in Grand Forks, certainly on that Saturday night, even if it was an ugly game from all the reports that I've read, you know, nonetheless, that's kind of how, you know, sometimes you kind of have to stay competitive on the road, especially if you're a team that's not loaded with talent. 19:44 You kind of have to do it in an uglier fashion. 19:47 So, yeah, I mean, especially considering North Dakota's played, you know, much better in the last few months, you kind of have to give, you know, tech some credit for playing a good second game. 19:59 And it's going to be tough for them to get to that sixth spot, but I think they've had a good season. 20:04 I think it's a good step in the right direction for that program. 20:09 It'll be interesting to see what happens next year, you know, see if they can continue to improve. 20:15 That's about all I have to say. 20:16 I mean, it's good to see that they're getting back. 20:20 Well, and the other thing is that, you know, they're timing it relatively well with regard to all the conference changes because, you know, if they play their cards right, they'll certainly be one of the teams that, you know, that could be, you know, at or near the top of the new WCHA at that, you know, if they keep on this kind of, you know, path. 20:42 So you're going to have to give them credit and hopefully that they'll be able to maintain it and maybe get some of the life back in their program that they once had many, you know, a few decades ago. 20:51 It would be nice if that could happen. 20:53 Finally, we've got UNO going to CC and getting a split. 20:57 Obviously, Friday night, I saw part of the ending of that game on TV. 21:00 It looks like they had a goal taken away that could have tied it, but they did come back, you know, Saturday night and beat CC. 21:07 What are your thoughts on that series? 21:09 Yeah, I saw the highlight of that disallowed goal. 21:11 And now, you know, quite frankly, it looked like they got screwed a little bit on that one. 21:15 I thought it was a little bit of a bad call. 21:17 You know, and then the next night, I believe, what? 21:20 They were down, I think, 3-1 or something along those lines. 21:23 And they kind of, yeah, they came storming back and scored four straight goals. 21:27 And, you know, that's, I mean, we'll talk about it in a bit. 21:30 But, I mean, that's kind of typically what we've seen out of UNO this year. 21:33 I mean, you just don't... 21:34 Jekyll and Hyde. 21:35 Yeah, I mean, you don't know what you're going to get. 21:37 Some games, they look real good. 21:39 Some games, they don't. 21:40 If there's a problem, one game, maybe it's guys are playing on discipline and the offense isn't good or maybe the next game is goaltending or what, you know, it just... 21:49 They're very hard to figure. 21:50 And it's kind of odd to see a Blaze team that's, you know, that inconsistent because, you know, when people think of Dean Blaze, they think of a guy that's, you know, going to have his team ready to play. 22:00 And, you know, clearly, you know, I don't know if it's strictly been the goaltending issues or what, but they haven't, you know, shown that this year. 22:07 So, it's kind of interesting. 22:11 Well, let's move on to this week. 22:12 There's not much really going on in the world. 22:16 St. 22:16 Cloud visiting Tech. 22:21 Interesting. 22:21 I mean, they're one point away from each other in the standings, I guess, you know. 22:25 They'll see who gets to play either North Dakota or CEC, I guess. 22:30 Honestly, when I look at the series, I mean, I just feel that Tech is probably going to, you know, I don't know what to think of St. 22:37 Cloud. 22:37 I mean, after, you know, I thought, well, maybe they're back on track and, you know, getting a little healthier and whatever. 22:43 But then, of course, they lose that game to Anchorage. 22:45 And then suddenly you're like wondering, of course, they blew Anchorage out the next night. 22:48 But it sounded like even then they were a little bit, you know, sloppy. 22:52 And if you're giving up three goals to a Tech team, you know, that's pretty offensively challenged. 22:57 I mean, you know, something doesn't seem like it's necessarily on track there. 23:01 And I would have to think that Tech's going to be, you know, coming out with three or four points in the series. 23:08 Normally, I would call it a split. 23:09 But I just think that the way Tech, you know, has their nose to the grindstone in games and the way that they play it generally at home, I just think that they're probably going to come out on top. 23:20 All right. 23:21 CC visits Duluth. 23:24 Go, CC. 23:25 Yeah, that'll be an interesting series. 23:27 I mean, CC is another team that's just really been, you know, maybe it's the story of the league this year, but it just seems like with the few exceptions, you know, that there's been a lot of up and down inconsistency and CC has been one of those teams where, quite frankly, they've underachieved, I think. 23:44 And, you know, they're sitting down in a pairwise down at, what is it, close to 2019. 23:49 And, you know, they've got to kind of get their act together. 23:52 And, you know, certainly Duluth is going to be a tough place for them to do it. 23:57 I don't know what Brown, JT Brown status is. 24:01 I think he was back in practice today, but I don't know. 24:04 Yeah, I don't know if that's a sign that he's for sure playing or not or whatever, but, you know, certainly that will help Duluth's chances, and I would... 24:13 My gut feeling is that CC will do enough to come out with a win in one of the games. 24:18 I think that, you know, certainly Duluth hasn't played as well, you know, in the last month or so, as they obviously had been for that long stretch. 24:26 And I just think that CC, you know, they've got enough goaltending and they threaten enough with some of their offense that they might be able to pull a game out here. 24:34 And maybe that's a little bit of a go for hopeful, Homerism, whatever, talking. 24:38 But I just have that kind of a feeling. 24:40 Yeah, I don't know. 24:43 Duluth, they play well at home. 24:45 CC is juggle and hide. 24:47 I'm thinking Duluth's going to get the sweep there and it's going to go down to the last weekend for the McNaughton. 24:53 Yeah, I mean, the way that I've looked at it is I just feel like Duluth's going to drop a game at one of these last four games. 25:01 I think the Gophers will probably drop one game in one of these last four. 25:07 So I've been projecting for a while. 25:09 I just think the Gophers are going to end up with 40 points. 25:12 To me, that's sort of the magic number. 25:14 If they can get that accomplished, if they can win three of their next four, I feel pretty good that they're going to end up with winning the league title. 25:22 Knock on wood. 25:25 Then we've got Wisconsin heading to Bemidji State with my dog barking in the background. 25:31 He just wants to get involved. 25:39 I know. 25:40 Yeah, I mean, what can you say? 25:42 I think that Wisconsin's road record pretty much speaks for itself. 25:45 Bemidji, we saw them this last weekend. 25:47 They're not an overly skilled team, but they're a lot different team at home than they are on the road, certainly. 25:55 Boy, it's hard not to say Bemidji's sweep of Wisconsin, which is kind of... 25:59 I would agree with that. 26:02 It's very difficult because you just say there's no way that Wisconsin should be like this, but that's the way it is. 26:09 They're terrible on the road, and Bemidji is really good at home. 26:13 I mean, yeah, I don't know. 26:15 If we're just going to go based on what we've seen this year, instead of just gut feel, you kind of have to say... 26:23 Granted, Bemidji's not that far ahead in the standings, but they've had a pretty rough schedule, and at home, they're pretty solid, and Wisconsin's been terrible on the road, so you kind of have to go Bemidji with the sweep. 26:35 I won't be shocked if I see Wisconsin getting a tie or a win, but I just would go with Bemidji's sweeping right now. 26:42 Well, right now, Wisconsin's tied with Minnesota State with 18 points, but obviously Mankato's got two games in hand, so Wisconsin still needs to win here sometime, or one of them do. 26:56 Otherwise, they're going to end up in 11th place. 27:00 Yeah, not good. 27:03 Definitely not good. 27:04 You kind of expect Mankato to be down there, but you don't really ever envision Wisconsin being that low. 27:12 I thought you picked them to finish either 9th or 10th. 27:15 Did you? 27:17 I don't know exactly where I picked them. 27:19 I think it was Jess Myers who did. 27:23 I know somebody picked them really low. 27:24 I remember Jess Myers picking them 9th or 10th or something like that from Inside College Hockey. 27:28 Yeah, because I remember some Wisconsin fans were like, go away, that's just a joke and whatever. 27:37 Unfortunately for them, it's kind of ended up being true. 27:40 I think I picked Wisconsin around 7th or 8th. 27:44 I don't recall for sure. 27:48 Now, we've got a pretty big series. 27:50 North Dakota heading to Denver. 27:53 This has become a really good rivalry. 27:57 Yeah, I mean, if you pull North Dakota fans, my guess is that they would probably say outside of the Gophers, this is the series, this is the program that they like the least because of all the things. 28:10 A lot of hate. 28:11 Yeah, a lot of things that have happened in recent years in the series. 28:16 You know, Robbie Beena and all that other kind of stuff and Malone. 28:22 There's just been a lot of stuff that's gone on between the two teams with injuries and whatever. 28:26 Certainly it's going to be a very interesting series. 28:31 I really don't know. 28:34 Normally I would probably say North Dakota is going to get swept. 28:39 I mean, I think some people would probably be like, Oh, no. 28:42 But I'm not saying that here. 28:44 I think that Denver has been too unpredictable. 28:47 They've been better certainly recently and they're healthier. 28:52 But at some point, you have to wonder, will the altitude come into effect? 28:57 North Dakota has got a short bench. 28:58 They've got a full lineup, but certainly if they get dinged up at all, they're going to have to shorten the bench. 29:06 And you start to wonder if that's going to play a role. 29:09 You know, in Denver, certainly I think a little bit more potent offensively. 29:14 And so you kind of have to think that that's going to be in their favor in the series. 29:17 I think it will probably be a little bit of an open, you know, skating type of series, physical certainly, but it will be open. 29:24 And I think guys like Zucker will probably be the difference. 29:26 You know, I think I just have a lot more faith in Denver's top line than I do with North Dakota's. 29:33 I think it's going to be a split. 29:37 I mean, it's good for us if Denver can at least lose another game or two because I think Denver is the biggest threat to prevent Minnesota from winning to McNaughton. 29:47 I mean, Minnesota at least has the tiebreaker over Duluth. 29:51 They don't have that with Denver. 29:53 And right now, they've got that four-point difference. 29:55 If we could at least get through the weekend, it would be minimum four, I would feel better about it. 30:01 Yeah, I'm not saying that I think Denver is going to sweep, but I just tend to think that when it comes to this series, I sort of expect them to be coming out at the better end of it. 30:13 But, you know, North Dakota certainly has been pesky, and certainly with all the adversity they've faced this year, you can't rule anything out with them. 30:20 But I think split is probably the most likely result, but we'll have to see how it goes. 30:28 And finally, we move on to the Gophers taking on Nebraska Omaha. 30:33 Both games on FSN this weekend. 30:35 The Friday game will be on FSN Plus, so good luck finding it. 30:40 Omaha leads the overall series 2-1. 30:42 I mean, obviously they swept Minnesota last year, and the only other meeting before that was back in 2003. 30:49 Let's get your thoughts, Hammeh. 30:52 Jekyll and Hyde team, another one. 30:54 Yeah, I mean, for me, you know, the series is really going to come down to, I think, the goaltending aspect and who's playing. 31:03 The team defense, I think where the Gophers have a distinct advantage is the team defense and the goaltending play. 31:10 You know, UNO has been all over the map when it comes to goalies. 31:14 I've seen games this year, I mean, it's like guys getting pulled. 31:17 I mean, even in recent, in the last month, they've had this guy get pulled for this guy after like two shots. 31:23 That's kind of Blaze's deal though. 31:26 Yeah, I know, but I mean, it's like that can't exactly, and I always felt this about Blaze back in the days when he was at North Dakota. 31:32 You know, to me, goaltenders are a different breed when it comes to their mentality. 31:38 And you can't, you know, I think, do too much of that stuff because I think it inevitably ends up backfiring on you. 31:45 And I think like, you know, you kind of have to at some point just say, all right, I'm going to take my shot with this guy. 31:52 And I think that they are starting to do that, it looks like, but, you know, I think that that's going to be the big key. 31:58 And, you know, when Patterson's on, you know, hopefully this last weekend against Bemidji, granted he didn't face a lot of shots, but, you know, hopefully it's a good sign that he's going to be kind of back on track because he certainly didn't, he kind of had an off weekend against Denver. 32:10 And if he plays well and if the Gophers play the kind of team defense that they did this past weekend, I certainly think that we'll see at least a Gopher, you know, getting a split out of the series. 32:21 And, you know, I think it'll be, you know, a good, I think it'll be a good series. 32:26 I'm expecting, you know, a pretty quality play. 32:29 But I think the Gophers will come out of there with a couple of points. 32:33 North Dakota fan and blogger Goon says, Gopher fans, prepare for the neutral zone trap against UNO. 32:43 Apparently they did it all weekend when they were in Grand Forks. 32:46 So prepare for it. 32:48 Yeah, well, I mean, I kind of think that. 32:50 But I mean, I think it's one thing when you're, you know, when you're a road team, maybe you try to play it a little bit more conservatively at times because of, you know, maybe the game style or whatever it might be. 33:01 I have a feeling that it's going to be a little bit more open skating than that with this weekend. 33:07 I mean, I'm not saying that they won't ever do any of that kind of stuff that he's mentioning, but I just have this feeling that it's going to be a little bit more of an open game than maybe, you know, he's thinking. 33:18 So we'll see how it goes. 33:19 I mean, they certainly have a relatively good offense. 33:22 They have some good players, you know, White, Broadhurst, you know, those kinds of guys, or, you know, got a lot of skill. 33:27 So they're certainly got some guys that can put the puck in the net. 33:30 And obviously, we know that we have some very good skilled guys. 33:33 And, you know, it'll be interesting to see how the matchups go, you know, them having the last change and, you know, how they're going to try to match up against our big line and whether or not our, you know, what we talked about, our second line, if they can rise to the occasion and maybe do some damage just because of the matchups that the other team tries to do with our top line. 33:52 So we'll see how it goes. 33:54 One thing I think is going to be interesting to see is how many Gopher fans show up for this series. 33:59 From what I've heard, there are a lot of Gopher fans heading down there for this weekend. 34:04 So I expect them to be very vocal. 34:10 Yeah, if I remember correctly, when we were down there in 2003, I remember that there was a pretty solid Gopher contingent in the house, so to speak, at that game and that series down there. 34:25 I think that certainly they have a pretty, I don't know what's the capacity, it's pretty big there. 34:30 It's pretty large and they don't fill it. 34:32 So getting tickets is pretty easy. 34:34 Nice little six-hour road trip. 34:36 Yeah, I suspect it's going to have a pretty decent Gopher contingent there. 34:40 And I know, you know, I went down there to see U2 in concert back in, what was it, 2005 or whatever it was. 34:47 And, you know, it's a nice arena and certainly it's a, you know, it's a decent town and everything. 34:54 So I think that people would have a good time down there. 34:56 And I think that, you know, it'll be, certainly we won't have as many Gopher fans as UNO fans there. 35:02 But I think that there'll be enough there that, you know, we've seen in other road series where you can kind of hear the Gopher fans pretty loudly, especially, you know, like in a mancada or whatever. 35:12 St. 35:13 Cloud this year was pretty loud, definitely. 35:15 Yeah, St. 35:15 Cloud too, yeah. 35:16 So, I mean, I think that, you know, there'll probably be some, you know, I'm sure that the guys will be a little bit inspired by, see the fans on the road with them. 35:23 So hopefully that'll bring some good things. 35:26 I may make the trip next year. 35:28 Not going this year, but I'm pretty sure, you know, on this rotating schedule, it'll be a home with UNO next year. 35:35 So I think I might try to make that trip, at least before they leave the conference. 35:40 Yeah, the one thing I will say is that the drive down there is fricking brutal. 35:47 I mean, I had the unfortunate experience of driving back north when there was a snowstorm going through Iowa. 35:56 And of course, Iowa is just plain flat, so it's basically a blizzard anytime it fricking snows there. 36:01 That may be the case this weekend, too. 36:03 Yeah, I mean, there was cars and the ditches and whatever. 36:06 I'm like, Jesus, I would never want to live down here ever. 36:09 I don't care if it's a little warmer at times. 36:11 I would rather not live here. 36:13 And so the drive is definitely kind of brutal. 36:17 But I'm sure people, once they get down there, will have a good time. 36:20 Definitely, definitely. 36:23 Hammy, what's going on in Recruiting News? 36:24 Anything going on? 36:25 Obviously, we've got the tournaments coming up, so a lot of players will be watched. 36:29 But what's going on? 36:32 You know, there hasn't been a heck of a lot. 36:34 I haven't heard too much lately. 36:37 You know, some of the things going on. 36:38 The USA team will be having their tryouts next month for the under-17 team for next year. 36:48 And I know that, you know, there's going to be, of course, there's always Minnesota kids involved. 36:53 And I've already heard a few names, you know, names that I've already been probably tossed around. 36:58 So it's not like it's anything earth-shattering. 37:00 But so there's that. 37:01 And, you know, I saw that Grand Rapids got knocked out of high school tonight, you know, in state. 37:07 So I'm assuming that Jake Bischoff will be playing in the USHL for Omaha here, maybe even this weekend. 37:13 I don't know what their plans are. 37:14 But, you know, now that they're out of it, he has nothing to stick around, you know, Rapids for. 37:19 So I'm sure he'll be playing, you know, USHL games pretty soon. 37:22 Now, how does that mess up their schooling? 37:26 You know, I mean, that's got to be tough. 37:27 I mean, you know, he's way up in Grand Rapids and going down to Omaha and, you know, how do they work that out with schooling? 37:35 You know, I don't know. 37:36 I mean, I suppose it's just no different than, you know, when you're going off for, you know, college teams, you know, whether it's like a college basketball or whatever. 37:44 I mean, you just kind of make arrangements ahead of time to, you know, what you're going to miss and all those kinds of... 37:49 Well, you know, we're kind of in the middle part of the school year, so that's got to mess things up somewhere. 37:55 Well, you know, when you're talking about star athletes, I'm sure that, you know, the high school teachers are certainly willing to, you know, make it a little easier on them. 38:05 But yeah, I mean, I'm sure it's not easy as far as the travel goes. 38:09 And, you know, I know some guys, it depends on where you play. 38:13 There might be an opportunity to, you know, catch a plane. 38:16 You know, it just really depends on where you're going to and stuff like that. 38:19 I've always kind of wondered how that worked out. 38:22 Yeah, a lot of times they just hop in the, you know, car with one of their parents and, you know, drive down there like on, you know, maybe the Thursday after school or, you know, maybe even Friday morning, you know, to catch the weekend games or whatever. 38:35 And then, of course, they're back by, you know, usually by Sunday night unless there's a Sunday night game. 38:41 So, yeah, I mean, they're just trying to get their 10 games and so that team owns their rights for the next year. 38:48 We've got an email from Matt in St. 38:50 Paul. 38:51 He's actually got two questions. 38:53 Number one, are the incoming D recruits considered to be the next Leopold, Martin, Ballard, Galagosky, et cetera? 39:01 This team is lacking that go-to All-American defenseman and I think they need one to win another national championship. 39:14 Any All-Americans out there are potential? 39:16 I don't think it's fair to compare them to guys. 39:21 There's always that potential. 39:23 If you look at Brady Shea, he's projected to be a first-round draft pick this year. 39:29 His stock has been rising and he's been playing well. 39:34 He's not overly offensively gifted. 39:38 He's pretty solid, but he's a very good size, 6'3. 39:42 I don't know if he's like 200 or what he is exactly. 39:45 He's got good size. 39:45 He can really skate well. 39:48 There's certainly that potential there with him to be a really good player in college level. 39:54 How long he'll stick around college, of course, is always a big key question as well. 39:58 Is it going to be two, three years? 40:00 Who knows? 40:00 It depends on the team that has his rights. 40:03 That's, of course, a big question to be answered. 40:06 Certainly, if you look at Mike Riley, he's already been drafted. 40:10 He's having a great year up in Penticton. 40:13 I like that they're all having a great year up there. 40:16 Well, right. 40:17 Of course, they are. 40:19 I think I saw online, I think it was on Twitter this week, I don't know if it was the Penticton's radio guy or what it was on his feed. 40:27 They were talking about who the fans are voting as the most exciting player in the BCHL. 40:34 And Mike Riley was the top guy. 40:37 So obviously they really appreciate his talents up there. 40:41 And if he hadn't been dinged up for a little bit, he would have beaten the kid whose name is still in my mind. 40:48 At DU, he had a really great year at Penticton last year, I think it was. 40:52 He would have beat his scoring. 40:54 So he's on pace for like 80 some points. 40:57 He's a really talented kid. 40:59 He could be the guy that you look to. 41:03 He's been a little undersized. 41:05 So he might be sticking around a little longer simply because of that reason. 41:09 He has to mature physically. 41:11 He could be that All-American type. 41:13 I guess we'll have to see how it pans out. 41:16 The way he's playing offensively, he's certainly not afraid to jump into the play. 41:21 He can make an impact at both ends of the ice. 41:24 That's the kind of guy that you look to be that All-American type. 41:27 So I guess we'll have to see how it works. 41:30 I'm liking the future of the Gopher defense. 41:32 As long as we can keep everybody here this year, it's looking really good next year. 41:39 Well, exactly. 41:40 That's the thing that I've been saying for most of the season. 41:44 Some of these guys that are starting now might not be starting next year. 41:46 Well, I was ripping on one of them last week that I wouldn't be totally upsetting for me. 41:54 You're such a Hall hater, aren't you? 41:57 No, I'm not, but I just get frustrated by that. 42:00 For me, there's a distinct chance that a couple of guys that are in the lineup consistently right now might not be there next year. 42:11 I don't know if we'll lose anybody to the pros or not. 42:13 That's pretty questionable. 42:16 There's a distinct opportunity. 42:17 When you've got a guy who's coming in who's a potential first round pick and you've got another guy who's lighting the world on fire up in a junior league and who's already been drafted, you can't count your chickens. 42:29 I'm sure there's going to be some guys working real hard in the offseason to try to maintain their spot. 42:34 Obviously, that's not going to hurt matters for the Gopher defense next year. 42:38 Competition is always a good thing. 42:40 The other question from Matt in St. 42:41 Paul, how good can the 2013 class be? 42:46 It looks like the Gophers hit home runs on a lot of guys. 42:52 I think Taylor Camerata can be the next Nathan Gerby. 42:55 It reminds me a lot of him. 42:58 Well, absolutely. 43:00 To me, when we were looking last summer at what the potential recruiting could be, for me, he was the number one guy that I felt like we had to have. 43:10 Because he's one of those guys that because of his size, he's more than likely going to be at least a three-year player. 43:19 Because he's only probably around five, six, and I don't think he's going to really be growing that much more. 43:25 So he's not going to be that prototypical NHL size type of guy. 43:29 So that's going to obviously probably hold down his draft stock a bit as well. 43:34 And teams are going to be less willing to sign him real early because of that factor. 43:41 And he's been great for being only a 16-year-old kid. 43:44 I mean, he hasn't even turned 17 yet. 43:46 He doesn't turn 17 until May. 43:49 I think he's in the top 10 in scoring in the USHL. 43:53 And that's pretty amazing for a kid at that age to be doing that well. 43:57 And he's been a scorer wherever he's gone. 43:59 He's just got that kind of the skills as well as that kind of just great mind for the game and just knows what to do with the puck. 44:09 And he's certainly one of those guys that could be a dramatic impact type of a player for the Gophers. 44:14 And for me, one of the more exciting recruits the Gophers have had in a while. 44:20 The future is looking bright. 44:23 Definitely. 44:24 That class is looking very good. 44:26 And there's a lot to be happy about moving forward. 44:30 And I think that there's some good up and coming players too that they'll have their eyes on. 44:36 And I'd like to see them kind of add a little bit of size and maturity. 44:40 Hopefully, I know that they looked at a few older USHL guys. 44:44 I know they backed off of one because of some off the ice stuff. 44:48 But I think that they're kind of looking to kind of even things out with some size and some physicality moving forward as well. 44:57 Anything else? 44:58 Any other thoughts on this week or recruiting or anything? 45:00 Not too much. 45:04 I'm just looking. 45:04 It will be nice to see that hopefully by the end of the weekend, we'll have a real clear picture of pretty much everything. 45:10 I think at a minimum, my hope for the weekend is the Gophers will come out of the weekend with the same point lead that they have coming into it. 45:22 I don't think that Duluth is going to lose two games, certainly. 45:25 I don't expect that we're going to be gaining any ground. 45:29 But at a minimum, I would like to see that we maintain what we've got right now. 45:33 Definitely not the time to fall on their face like they did at Denver a few weeks ago. 45:37 They need to keep the pedal to the floor. 45:40 Absolutely. 45:41 I think that it's nice to know that in a way, this is one of those series where you're kind of glad that you know that the opposing coach is a very good one. 45:51 He's going to have his team ready to play because that's going to motivate your team because you know that you can't take it lightly because those guys are not going to be taking it lightly on the other side. 46:03 All right. 46:04 Well, I think that's going to do it for this week's podcast. 46:07 Remember, you can always follow Hammy's work on Twitter, at Hammy Hockey. 46:12 Hopefully, Ryan Cardinal will be back next week. 46:14 I'm not really sure yet, but I'm also not sure if he's on the radio this week. 46:18 Obviously, PA is at the combine, so we'll have to see what happens there. 46:22 But I'll tweet out if he's going to be on the radio. 46:25 We'll be back next week to review the Nebraska Omaha series and preview the final regular season series against the Badgers. 46:35 Thanks for listening in, and we'll see you next week.