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Now, here's Jupe and Vego.
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Good evening and welcome to The GPL Podcast, episode number 178.
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Coming to you live on a Sunday night.
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Weird schedule this year, so we're gonna have weird podcast time as well.
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But what's nice is that we can have one of our favorite guests come back and join us.
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Paul Caponigri from The Big Ten Network and formerly of Ohio State.
1:02
Nice to think, nice, nice to be able to join us.
1:04
Was that my cue to say hello?
1:05
I don't know, I was at my cue to say hello.
1:09
Yeah, it's always great guys.
1:10
And hey, we're on because there's hockey playing.
1:15
Hallelujah.
1:17
I would agree with that.
1:19
And you're getting a little more TV time this year.
1:22
Yeah, you're actually more games behind, you know, on the mic and whatnot.
1:27
You know, you see they've teamed you up with Chris Boster already this, you know, previous weekend.
1:31
And you guys are doing Penn State and Ohio State this, well, tomorrow.
1:38
Well, Penn, yeah, Penn State, Wisconsin, before you guys, both nights.
1:43
Yeah, I know it's great.
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I mean, I love doing it all.
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So, you know, that's how it put me to work.
1:48
But, you know, it's good.
1:50
I love it.
1:52
You get to, you know, you're getting a little more involved in each game, a little more detail of each team.
2:00
You know, it's a harder job, but I think it's more fun too.
2:04
So, yeah, I'm excited too.
2:07
I think I have two more after this.
2:09
I think there's a doubleheader again, I think with Minnesota, Michigan in December that will have, I think, the Michigan State Wisconsin Series.
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So yeah, no, give me as much as possible.
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And man, the hockey's been really good so far too.
2:25
It has been.
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It's been good for Minnesota, especially this past weekend, Viegues, where they, I don't know if it was revenge or not, but they finally did something significant against those Penn State Nittany Lions.
2:38
Well, I think most of the players thought it was a significant series.
2:42
All week, you had heard the players talk about how frustrated they were.
2:47
They didn't get to play that game at Penn State at the end of last season.
2:50
It just came up again and again, whether the media prompted it or not.
2:54
You could just tell that they felt not quite cheated, like Jaffa Lontine said, but they really felt like they were ready to get over that hump and take care of Penn State.
3:05
Because I think last year we saw with Bob's team, he invested in developing all of his players.
3:12
And they were a completely different team that second half of the season than they were in the first half.
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He invested in them.
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So that team that gave up all those goals in that first series at Mariucci was not the team that went out there to play at the end of the season.
3:25
And I don't think would have been the same team in the playoffs playing there in an elimination game.
3:30
And I think we saw all that investment pay off last weekend.
3:33
You saw a pretty veteran team ready to play.
3:36
And Cappy, we know that Penn State lost a lot of players from last year's team, which is very unfortunate for them, how their season ended after having such a good team.
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I thought they were a little out done, definitely on Thursday.
3:52
Friday, they did pick it up and play much better.
3:55
Yeah, I was able to watch that game a little more thoroughly.
3:58
And they did look better.
4:02
I think there was a big discrepancy, I think, on Thursday and face-offs, which is, you know, it's very, you know, that stat is brought up, but I think it's very underrated because, I mean, you win the face-offs, you have the puck, you're not chasing it.
4:16
And, you know, that's a big one, especially for a younger team.
4:19
When you don't have the puck, you're kind of like, okay, what am I doing out here really?
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You know, if you're chasing it all the time.
4:25
So, you know, yeah, I think, you know, Veegs was right.
4:30
And I mean, I was upset last year.
4:33
I was supposed to be between the benches in that Big Ten semifinal.
4:36
I'm like, you've got to be kidding me here.
4:39
But I think it was going to be interesting on both of those semifinals.
4:42
You had two teams coming in Michigan and Minnesota, you know, against teams that had the veteran guys and teams.
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But, you know, we move on to the next year, and I like the way the Gophers played.
4:55
Yeah, Penn State, you know, they're a little green, and, you know, there's not going to be a lot of time.
5:00
You don't have a lot of non-conference games to kind of get your feet wet or anything.
5:04
You're right in there for Big Ten right away.
5:06
And, you know, when you go to the Gophers and you have a lot of freshmen and they're playing on this bigger sheet ice, they probably aren't practicing on it all.
5:14
And you could definitely see on the power play that Minnesota had their way with them a lot last weekend.
5:21
And it's probably the trickiest part of when you go into that bigger rink is keeping your spots the right way because you have all that extra ice.
5:28
And I think that can, you know, that plays with tricks on your mind the most.
5:33
Well, like you guys said, the face-offs were quite a difference that Thursday night, Veegs, and then much better Friday.
5:40
But I would say that there was just a lot of those intangibles that the Gophers were doing.
5:45
It seems like they were really aggressive on their fourth check.
5:48
And it wasn't like past years when they're always kind of like that step too late.
5:53
They seemed to really clog up Penn State in their defensive zone.
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Yeah, in years past, I've had the good fortune to be able to watch them practice and prepare for playing Penn State for all the pucks they throw behind you, for all the four checks and guys they fly out of the zone, how much pressure they put on you.
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And Minnesota had been practicing for that in years past.
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It's not like they came into those series unprepared, but they knew how to execute this past weekend.
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And I think that was the big difference.
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They were in the right spots.
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They were above pucks.
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They were in the middle of the rink.
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They made Penn State have to go to the side and slow down.
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The defensemen never got split up the middle.
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You just saw all those intangibles pay off because they knew where to be.
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And so they could play faster.
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You know, it's a little bit an inexperienced Penn State team, but Minnesota executed their game plan.
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And Veegs, also, I know it's one thing you were mentioning as well, is that it wasn't just the veteran defensemen.
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It was some of the new guys who were very calm and patient with the puck.
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Yeah, I thought Brock Faber looked fantastic in his debut.
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Super confident, low panic point, held on the puck when he needed to, in the right spots, didn't skate himself out of position.
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It was fun to watch him get right into the play.
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I think Caster's got a little bit more learning to do about what he can get away with at the BigTen level, but definitely they fit right in really nicely.
7:21
All right, so we've got some questions coming in already from our chat.
7:28
Ryan Davis, he wants to know, hey, Cappy, what's your favorite arena in the BigTen and what's your kind of favorite moment while broadcasting?
7:38
Oh, that's interesting.
7:40
I think my favorite arena is mostly because of the student section is at Happy Valley in Penn State.
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Man, they packed that section in and it's really steep.
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And they're right on top of the visiting goalie in the first and third and I just, it's such a, like when, I heard they did a lot of research and how should we make this arena?
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And I, man, I don't know if you can make much more perfect for the size of our college arenas, about 6,000, you know, maybe go a little bigger, but the way they put that student section and the way they pack it, so obviously you gotta pack it to make it look that way.
8:20
But probably the most fun because they're pretty interactive.
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And then, yeah, broadcasting and I can't, oh man, I don't know, I haven't, I honestly was gonna be last semi-final being between those two benches.
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It was like, man, this is gonna be awesome.
8:37
I think it was gonna be Dan and Dave Starman were gonna be up in the booth and then I was gonna be right there between, that would have been the one.
8:44
Obviously, because it was the semi-final too, I hadn't done a playoff game yet.
8:48
So one other cool one was when Minnesota beat Wisconsin, I was between, it was Dan and Ben up in the booth and I was doing kind of like the, you know, Brian Boucher roll between the benches for that and you guys beat, the Gophers beat Wisconsin to clinch the Big Ten regular season title that day, that game on senior night against, you know, obviously your biggest rival in the Big Ten.
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So that was probably the coolest broadcasting moment that I actually got to do.
9:25
Well, you know, one thing we have this season is that there's not a lot of people at the rink.
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You know, you've got the camera guys there, but the broadcasters are at a studio somewhere.
9:36
And it's kind of leads into one of my questions from Drew Cove, our boy, Drew Cove, who's been a guest on the show several times.
9:43
He's, what's your biggest challenges in broadcasting away from the rink?
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Probably, you know, I guess probably the biggest one is not being able to see everything.
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You know, maybe something's going, you know, you can't have the whole ice cover generally on the camera.
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So you can't see maybe something that happened by the play or, you know, a hit.
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The puck gets shot down and, you know, the camera follows the puck and then there, but a guy finishes his check or the check's late, you know, so you don't get those things live, you know, right away.
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So you might have to wait to see a replay on stuff.
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So you got to maybe be a little more patient to assume something or talk about something a little bit.
10:26
And then to be honest right now, we're not even in the same room, you and the play-by-play guys.
10:33
So we have FaceTime, we have like this, like a Zoom, like on an iPad.
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So we can maybe like point to each other that, hey, I want to jump in or that kind of thing.
10:45
So those are the two right now in this environment that are difficult.
10:51
I just keep thinking about this aloud.
10:54
And it's like, I wonder if this becomes more of a norm.
10:59
I mean, if you think about it, if you start getting more broadcasting from a studio, networks aren't paying for people to travel as much.
11:08
It just, it seems like, I hope the networks don't like this a lot, but it could be the future of broadcasting.
11:16
Well, yeah, I guess it depends on what you're talking about.
11:20
Cause if you don't, you know, where are your studios or you're all your broadcasters in that city, or, you know, obviously if it was maybe, you know, FSN where, you know, your broadcasters are all in Minneapolis.
11:34
Yeah, you're not sending them on the road.
11:37
It could be, yeah, I hope not either, you know, but there's a lot of things that are happening in this environment outside of just, you know, sports and broadcasting that are realizing that, oh, maybe they don't have to come into work.
11:54
You know, there's a lot of people obviously working from home.
11:57
So there's a lot of things going on right now where companies and, you know, people way above my pay grade are making decisions that could affect sports, business, everything.
12:08
So yeah, it's something that's gonna be talked about for sure.
12:11
I think it's really hard to cover hockey remotely.
12:14
You know, one, you pick up so much knowledge just by being around the rink, you know, talking to guys in the elevator, you know, in between periods after the game, before the scrubs and things like that on your way at home.
12:28
You know, you pick up a lot of inside stuff that can help later and little tidbits.
12:33
And also I think when you're watching the game live, you see so much more.
12:37
You see the lineups on the bench being organized and how the coaches are trying to attack each other.
12:43
You see how teams are setting up in the neutral zone to slow things down.
12:46
You know, it's just hard to get that stuff on TV.
12:49
I get kind of frustrated sometimes because it's hard to keep track of the ice time for certain guys and how guys are being used because you don't see that stuff on the bench.
12:58
And that's something I'm missing because I was expecting, you know, the Gophers top 4D to play a lot on the second game, but it was hard to tell watching on TV because you kind of lose track of it.
13:11
And it might be a little harder to read those numbers too, Veegs.
13:14
Those throwback uniforms, numbers were not easy to read.
13:18
I love the unis.
13:19
I mean, I do.
13:21
But for one thing, you also had players kind of, a couple of players or one or two players change their numbers this year.
13:28
And I was like, who, wait, who is that?
13:30
And what?
13:30
I can't quite see their number.
13:32
It wasn't great for television, those new retro uniforms this weekend, Veegs.
13:37
Yeah, you have to pick up on the skating styles of a couple of guys.
13:40
You can tell that Castor kind of hunches over a little bit.
13:43
He's a little bit smaller.
13:44
It's pretty easy to pick out Stautiker and Brinkman.
13:48
And you just have to look for skating styles a little bit for guys.
13:52
It's weird.
13:53
It's definitely weird.
13:55
Oh, let me take a look again.
13:56
I know we get some Twitter questions here.
14:00
Oh, Tim Hapke, he's kind of talking about, I think even retweeted this from Instagram earlier.
14:07
Tim Hapke, with the Webbers injury, do one of the extra D-men start to practice at forward or do they start picking up someone on the transfer board?
14:15
Because, you know, whatever it looks like is going to have, what is it, back surgery or something like that, Veegs?
14:21
Yep, he posted on Instagram that he's going to have back surgery on Friday.
14:25
You know, he had all those eye injury and surgeries last year that kept him off the ice.
14:30
And this is another hiccup for him.
14:33
You know, any kind of back injury, it's going to probably be a long-term thing for him.
14:38
Last year, they did have Sam Rossini practice with the forwards at the end of the year.
14:42
You know, he's a senior, big guy, could probably fill in if they had some issues and needed to get some help.
14:49
But I don't think they're going to be doing too many major changes.
14:53
I don't think so either.
14:54
I'm not sure where he's going with this, but Ted Schmincke, he's like, can anything be done about the really bad calls?
15:04
Sounds like a really rude, you know, former governor, Arnie Carstle, he used to write nasty letters to the NCAA and whatnot.
15:12
Who's that directed at?
15:14
It could be directed at any one of us because, you know, we're all fans too.
15:19
We see terrible calls.
15:21
A lot of people might even complain about that empty net thing that happened the other night for the Gophers, but I don't think he had possession of the puck yet.
15:30
So how did you feel about that call?
15:34
Because a lot of people were saying, oh, that could have been an automatic goal, Veegs.
15:38
I don't think it's an automatic goal.
15:40
I heard the radio call by Mazako and Shaver.
15:43
They're a little one-sided.
15:45
So if that's where you're getting your perspective on officiating.
15:48
Hey, that's their job, right?
15:49
Exactly.
15:51
You know, Glenn Somore probably would have screamed bloody murder on that one for long time listeners.
15:56
You know, the calls are going to be the calls.
15:58
Anytime you're a hockey team or a hockey player, you have to make sure that you don't let the officials be a difference maker and you just have to rise above it.
16:07
It's going to be a challenge.
16:08
It could be like bad ice or bad bounce.
16:11
Don't put yourself in position to get bad penalties.
16:14
Like where you raise your elbow as you make contact with someone, it doesn't matter, you know, how you didn't try to do it.
16:21
But if it happens and the ref's looking at it, they're going to call you for it.
16:24
If you put your stick near somebody's skates and they step in it, they're going to call it.
16:29
So you just can't have those mistakes happen.
16:31
But, you know, Cappy, I'm kind of wondering if, though the referees this year, I mean, they're only hearing people from the bench.
16:40
They're not hearing a big crowd scream at them when they missed a call or something.
16:45
And then they might think, oh, I might want them to do a makeup call.
16:48
They're not kind of hearing that.
16:49
So it might be a little psychologically different for the refs because there's not, they're used to getting bludgeoned out there by the crowds.
16:59
I think the other thing now, though, they're hearing so well as they're hearing every player and coach very well.
17:05
Whereas, you know, the coaches could get muffled in that, you know, crowd noise.
17:12
Well, right now, I mean, even the TV's picking things up.
17:16
You know, I've heard a few, you know, coarse words that they were probably hoping they could have got out of there so far.
17:23
But, you know, there's been a couple plays that, you know, a couple hits.
17:27
I know it was our first broadcast was the Michigan Arizona State game.
17:32
And, you know, it's such a tough call, like Eric was talking about with the hitting and you're keeping your arms down.
17:38
And, man, when a guy's skating and he has the puck and he's lurched way over and his head's at like waist level, like what is the guy supposed to do?
17:48
Just let him, you know, free go by.
17:52
But if you hit him, even with your hands down, it looks really bad and it's a, you know, head contact.
17:58
And it's like, what are you supposed to do?
18:00
It's just a lot of, and I get it, safety is for sure the most important thing, but there's just a lot of tricky things out there right now.
18:07
And it's very difficult for referees, to be honest.
18:11
Well, I think Don Lucia always said the difference in the amateur and college game from the professional game is in the professional game, you can blow a guy up to send a physical message in college and amateur sports.
18:23
Your goal should be to separate them from the puck.
18:26
If you're gonna go above and beyond separating them from the puck, you're putting yourself at risk for getting called for a penalty if the other player is defenseless.
18:35
Right.
18:37
Yeah, I mean, there's just a lot, there's just a lot of gray area right now.
18:42
And, but I know, like you said, it's gonna be, it'd be interesting to see.
18:47
Refs do it, they're human beings, they do make up calls.
18:50
When someone's had two in a row, they're looking for the smallest little trip on the other team.
18:55
It's just human nature to look for that.
18:59
It's just always been, that's why I love referees all through my playing career.
19:05
I think it's also interesting too, is that the coaches are gonna have to learn to maybe button their lip a little bit.
19:10
They're used to yelling and like you mentioned, getting drowned out by the crowd, but now you're gonna hear the coaches as clear as day and they need to be careful of getting bench minors here.
19:21
Yeah, I think there were a couple of NHL coaches who commented about that in the bubble.
19:25
They had to wash themselves, not only for that, but for going too hard after their own players.
19:31
If they see a player make a mistake on the ice and they get too upset, maybe you change the confidence of your own players.
19:38
Bob even talked about that in the first game.
19:40
He's like, oh man, I'm coaching like it's mid-season, it's opening weekend.
19:44
I've gotta calm myself down a little bit because you wanna coach, you wanna make your players better, but at the same time, you gotta let them play, especially this early.
19:54
Well, I kind of wanted to get back to the Penn State Series here a little bit.
20:00
We talked about how well Minnesota did that first night Veegs and they really kind of locked down Mr.
20:05
Limoges.
20:07
He was a minus four on the night.
20:09
He was even Friday night, but Thursday night, it was a rough night for him.
20:15
And he's like one of the guys who needs to be strong for Penn State in order for them to not finish in last place like they were picked to finish.
20:24
Well, I think it was a good strategy by the Gophers to play a possession offense against him and force him to play defense.
20:31
Bob said, you know, that was one of the game plans going into the weekend is put guys out there who could be heavy, you know, kind of that Sorensen Meyers type player where they grind it away and they get the puck deep and they make them play at the, you know, the non-fun end of the ice.
20:48
And then on the flip side, Cappy, you got to see a little Arizona State and Michigan State this past weekend.
20:57
Arizona State, it's going to be tough for them to win games this year, especially all games on the road.
21:02
But how do you think they looked and how do you think, how do you like this kind of bringing in this team as an associate kind of member just to fill games this year?
21:12
You know, I, and I even heard it from a lot of people is, I think it just, it was a match that worked out really well.
21:18
It was helping everybody because Arizona State was caught in a really tough spot.
21:23
They were going to have a tough time getting any kind of schedule.
21:26
You know, there was just so many, you know, you're as uncertain about hockey, let alone getting it, you know, non-conference stuff.
21:32
So how is Arizona State as an independent going to find 28 to 30, you know, random games and travel?
21:40
You know, they're a huge travel, you know, whether they're home or away, someone's going to travel out.
21:45
So, you know, and then it gave BigTen to get four more games.
21:49
They're playing 28.
21:50
That's a, you know, hey, you're trying to get as many as possible besides a 24-game conference schedule.
21:56
So I think it was a perfect match as long as, you know, and the BigTen and the Pac-12 have kind of the same guidelines in terms of safety rules and all that kind of stuff.
22:05
They're on the same page there.
22:06
So that and in terms of that part, it worked out really well.
22:10
I think it's going to be tough for them.
22:13
Obviously, they're, they, you lose your one 20, a guy that scored 60 goals in three years in college hockey.
22:20
He's been out the last two games.
22:22
You know, that maybe would have swayed them a goal or two here and there.
22:25
Maybe they would have split with Michigan State, but it's going to be hard.
22:29
They're staying on the road the first eight games.
22:31
So there's, you know, they're not, they're going to be on like a 23 game road, 23 day road trip.
22:37
That's not easy, you know?
22:39
So, you know, it's going to be interesting this year because there's no pair wise, you know, it's, everything is, it's an eye test thing for NCAA tournament.
22:48
And that's really all they're playing for.
22:49
So, you know, can they build and get better?
22:53
I think they will, but it's going to be tough because all their games are hard and on the road.
22:58
So it's going to be a tough task for them to go 500.
23:02
I think.
23:03
You talk about the NCAA tournament.
23:06
Right now, I'm just, I want to get to January.
23:09
Well, I guess I was speaking in, you know, the broad terms.
23:13
Yeah, you know, if we can get to January and...
23:15
Hopeful living for North.
23:18
It's going to be, it's going to be tricky.
23:19
You know, obviously COVID cases are really skyrocketing right now.
23:23
You know, Veegs, you know, we heard even Coach even say on his post game, like, he was concerned that Thursday about, you know, something going on at 1030.
23:33
You should have seen me at 1030 morning.
23:35
He didn't refer to anything.
23:36
It was kind of interesting when he said that in the post game conference.
23:38
I'm like, and you're like, I wonder if they had somebody who may have passed tested, who knows, but it's going to be like this.
23:45
All of a sudden it's going to be very unknown until last second.
23:49
I mean, how many games have been canceled in the last minute this past weekend?
23:53
I mean, we've seen it all around college hockey, college football.
23:56
It's difficult.
23:57
You know, part of the things that make me wonder about a 1030 meeting, does somebody have symptoms and they're not sure yet?
24:04
Is somebody coming back from a COVID positive test and they need a negative test that day to play?
24:11
You know, there's a lot of things that could be the topic of a meeting at that time of day, but he did say everybody from Penn State, Minnesota tested negative and they were good to play.
24:23
And he was looking forward to it.
24:24
And I think that's one of the reasons why they're trying to get these games in, in such a short window, like we're seeing Minnesota play Penn State, now play Ohio State, they'll take a little break and then they'll go on their other four-game trip here coming up.
24:38
And one thing we just not gonna know, Cap, is that a lot of these players all around college hockey may have already been sick and we're never gonna know this.
24:47
We heard just recently that Coach Motzko had it sometime this year.
24:54
You can talk about anybody in the country like that.
24:57
I mean, if you're asymptomatic, you might have had it, you never know.
25:03
You never knew you had it.
25:04
So, and especially these young athletes, if they're healthy guys, there's a good chance that they're gonna be asymptomatic or barely have a sniffle or anything.
25:13
So-
25:14
And that's been the whole scary thing about this COVID thing.
25:17
I mean, that's what it's been so scary.
25:18
I mean, I knock on wood tonight that we're playing tomorrow.
25:22
That's all you can do.
25:24
And like I'll knock on wood again is, it's been really good so far.
25:29
And I think these kids, they're realizing how bad it was, I think, where they're just sitting around and not playing and not knowing, where they're like, the coach has to say, hey, we gotta be grownups here.
25:40
If you wanna play hockey, you've gotta live a quarantined life right now.
25:47
Because if you don't, all it takes is one person and then it can run rampant, it's crazy, it's sad to say that.
25:54
But so I think these kids are doing a good job of being disciplined right now.
25:58
They wanna play hockey, they're going to the rink, they're going home.
26:03
Classes, I think, it's mostly online for most schools.
26:06
So hey, you do that stuff.
26:09
Most of their food is taken care of for them at the rink.
26:13
I mean, it's just amazing, the setup.
26:15
I'm jealous of it, 20 years ago.
26:16
I'd love to have all that, but I think they're making it as easy as they can to try to keep it safe.
26:24
And they wanna play, the coaches and the staff wanna play, the game's going on too.
26:28
So they're trying to keep it as easy for these guys to stay separated from people as they can.
26:35
It's gonna be interesting.
26:36
It's gonna be interesting, but you know, the one strange thing about all this COVID stuff is that we just played Thursday and Friday, and now we're gonna be playing Monday and Tuesday.
26:45
And then we kind of get a little break there, and then they're playing Thursday, Friday, and a Tuesday, Wednesday.
26:50
So it's gonna be these weird odd schedules, but it's just adjustments that the league is trying to do here, Veegs, just to get through this, at least the first part of the schedule.
27:01
Yeah, and I think we're gonna see that second part of the schedule come out pretty soon.
27:05
You've heard Bob talk about it.
27:07
They had to figure out the basketball schedule, which just came out in the last week.
27:11
So now that they have that piece, they'll be able to move forward.
27:14
I think one of the biggest things for these players is the uncertainty of when the season was gonna start.
27:19
It's hard to be disciplined when you don't have a goal.
27:23
Just think of everything you've done in your life.
27:25
Unless you have a goal in front of you that you're working for, it's really hard just to be on the hamster wheel.
27:31
And so giving these players a wedding date with the ring, as Bob would like to say, is really important to keep them focused.
27:41
And I think with a veteran team like Minnesota, it's helpful for them.
27:45
Ohio State, it's going to be a little bit of a different team this year, isn't it, Cappy?
27:52
Yeah, I think.
27:54
Obviously we don't know yet.
27:57
They're the only team I was texting with Leanne.
28:01
There's SID today.
28:02
And yeah, they're the only, she doesn't really know.
28:06
I mean, obviously she isn't in tune with the team per like a coach, but yeah, they haven't played.
28:12
They're the only team that hasn't played yet.
28:14
So I think that's going to be an advantage for the Gophers, obviously, especially early on.
28:19
I think the biggest thing they got for them is in between the pipes.
28:23
They got, aside from Strauss Mann, or maybe equal to him, probably the two best goalies, or at least returning goalies, at least on paper right now.
28:35
So I think that's, they can start in goal and go from there.
28:38
And I think they have three transfers coming into play as well.
28:41
So, you never know with those guys.
28:44
I mean, transfers, you look at Bedun right now is doing well for Wisconsin, but they did the same thing a couple of years ago and it was a disaster in that.
28:52
So, yeah, I think it's gonna be interesting.
28:56
I think they're gonna play the same style.
28:57
They're gonna be the same type of team.
28:59
Goalie defense, keep it low scoring if they can, not beat themselves.
29:05
So those are the things, the Gophers are for sure gonna be the higher skill, higher speed team, but that's, who knows with the first game when they haven't played yet.
29:17
So it's gonna be interesting.
29:19
I'm looking forward to it.
29:20
Yeah, it's weird looking at their roster and not seeing Joshua and Lysinski and Mason.
29:26
I feel like those guys played with you.
29:30
It's funny, we were talking about that with Lewandowski with Michigan State and when you have success as a freshman and then you end up staying for four years, you seem like you're there a long time because generally the progression is you slowly build up and then you become kind of a name, sophomore, junior, senior year.
29:49
But if you're a name, you're a freshman year and you end up staying four years, you do seem like you're there for a millennium.
29:57
Yeah, they lost some defense.
29:59
That's a big, you know, they lost Miller and Eggy and was it a couple of, at least three or four defensemen.
30:08
So that's where I think Minnesota with their speed and their veteran forwards.
30:14
I love the way, you know, I mean, Ben Myers is a sophomore, but you know, even as a freshman, he seemed like he was playing like a grown man.
30:22
So you know, with McManus and Reedy have just, you know, they've gotten better every year.
30:27
And then, you know, you got Sammy and McLaughlin, I think McLaughlin is a guy that I think could be really good.
30:35
And I think if he gets a little more consistent, could elevate to maybe the top forward on that team at time, you know, so there's a lot of wealth of forward riches there.
30:44
And it's going to be interesting to see how they can exploit the young Ohio State D.
30:50
Hold that thought on McLaughlin, because I've kind of got some things on him.
30:53
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32:01
And I like how you mentioned Blake McLaughlin there because, you know, Veegs, I know you're kind of like, you kind of felt he really needs to get his mojo back and get playing well.
32:12
And maybe he just needs to get that first goal or something like that.
32:15
But he's been struggling even since, you know, times last season, this is like his turn to step up, isn't it?
32:22
Yeah, Blake is a real streaky player.
32:24
When he's on and engaged and being that kind of fiery instigator type player, he raises his game to another level.
32:32
So when he's feeling it and engaged, he can be a really good player.
32:36
But the problem is if he gets frustrated, if he gets disengaged, you know, he can be behind the play a lot.
32:42
He can be taking a little bit of battles with guys over the ice that really don't affect the play.
32:47
And so he's got a big roller coaster game to him right now.
32:51
And if he can get headed on an uphill track and keep building on that, he can be a really effective player.
32:57
Because, you know, as Cappy says, when he's on, he's really good.
33:03
And that's going to be the key.
33:05
You know, we've been talking about this on the previous podcast, Cappy, is, you know, Minnesota and, you know, the coaches said this, they need those players like that to step up their game.
33:15
A group of guys step up from last season and just kind of take the reins and show us what they got, basically.
33:23
Well, I mean, I think that's part of growing up, right?
33:27
As a player, you know, and I think now you look at how deep they are at forward is you might not play as much.
33:36
You might, there might be a little pressure on you to perform more instead of knowing that, hey, I'm one of your top five guys.
33:43
I know I'm going to be out there no matter what, you know.
33:46
I could see Bob, you know, having no problem saying, hey, you're, you know, you're not going to be out there for the last shift when we need a goal or something.
33:53
If, you know, you've got X, Y, Z, yeah, six, seven other guys that could be out there.
33:58
So I think maybe that's something, you know, maybe he needs a little push every, you know, oh man, I got, I got to perform or I'm not going to play.
34:06
Maybe he's had where, hey, I've always been the best player or the second best.
34:09
I'm going to be playing whether I'm, you know, having a crappy game or not.
34:13
Maybe it'll kind of, you know, sap him up.
34:16
And if he's playing on a line with that, he's doing with Sammy Walker, I, you know, that's going to help too.
34:21
Cause you know, when you're playing with good players, I feel like there's pressure on you to, hey, I got to bring my share when I'm playing with really good players.
34:30
And I think that's something that maybe could help his game.
34:32
And then like I said, just getting older and, you know, much more mature and you know, more, the more mature you are, the more consistent you can fight through maybe when you're not feeling great the first period.
34:43
I can still turn this around in the second, that type of thing.
34:46
And I wouldn't overlook putting Brandon McManus on that line is something that is almost like a bit of a soothsayer thing by Bob to Sammy and Blake.
34:56
You know, Brandon's a pretty loose guy.
34:58
You see him on TV, you see him around in interviews.
35:01
He's got a great attitude to the game.
35:03
And he also has a great attitude for that line.
35:06
And I asked him about that after the second game, you know, what do you think about when you're joining that line?
35:12
He's like, you know, I'm a helper.
35:14
I just got to try to keep up with them up and down the ice and help them be successful and chip in points when I can.
35:20
And they looked pretty good as a line together.
35:22
I thought they played much better in the second game than they did the first.
35:26
And so if you can get them going and that trio sticks together, they're going to be dangerous.
35:31
You know, one thing that the fans are always worried about and the players have talked about a little bit, Cappy, is the fact that they are playing in front of zero fans or a couple of cardboard cutouts, a little bit of family here and there.
35:42
Looks like that's getting shut down even more.
35:46
Have you ever had to play with no fans or anything interesting?
35:50
Like how, as a player, I'm just kind of thinking, how would you really adjust?
35:54
Because it is an adjustment.
35:57
I mean, not since, you know, minor hockey really, you know, once, you know, I left for juniors, there was at least hundreds of people.
36:05
You know, or whatever.
36:07
Twin Cities, I think Vulcans were probably the lowest attended USHL games, I can recall playing in.
36:14
But I think, I think it might come into effect or maybe if, knock on wood, we're playing in, you know, mid January, late, you know, the dog days, quote unquote, of the season, where, you know, sometimes that crowd can boost you and give you a little adrenaline rush.
36:31
Quite honestly, I enjoyed the visiting fans more.
36:35
I liked being, we played at Cornell, one of the most fun places to play because their fans interacted with the visiting players and chanted things.
36:44
And I remember they played the Michigan fight song when we played that one time, because Michigan had just beaten us in football that Saturday.
36:55
We played them at noon and lost to them in football.
36:57
We came out for warmups and the Cornell band played the Michigan fight song.
37:01
So those are just those little things.
37:03
That's another side note.
37:04
And I don't know why the band can't be at the games, but that's, you know, hey, I'll take hockey.
37:08
But that's some great age trolling right there.
37:10
That's pretty good.
37:11
Exactly.
37:12
But those were the types of things.
37:13
I couldn't wait to play them now.
37:17
And we ended up beating them.
37:18
And you know, so, hey, I got the last lap.
37:20
But I think, yeah, the visiting fans can be fun.
37:24
That always got my juices flowing, maybe even more than the home crowd, to be honest.
37:28
Well, we were speaking with LaFontaine earlier this week, Veegs, and he loves going to opponent arenas.
37:34
He loves going back to Michigan.
37:36
It's one of his favorite places.
37:38
He felt bad admitting it.
37:39
He loves to be the villain.
37:41
He apologized to his mother right then and there that, sorry, mom, but I like it when they scream bad things at me.
37:47
And when he went back to Yoast, they were relentless.
37:52
They went to ex-girlfriend dirt and just went after him.
37:56
But he liked it and he played pretty well.
37:58
So he's a level-headed guy.
38:01
And he played well this past weekend.
38:04
He played great.
38:05
I think playing four games in six days is a lot to ask for Jack, even a physical specimen like himself.
38:13
But he played really well.
38:15
And I think Bob really wanted to make sure he took care of business with Penn State to start the season just because it's been such a sore spot for his program against them that when Jack came out and played well the first night, he's like, I'm going back to him.
38:28
Said he's probably going to go to Moe here in one of these next two games.
38:32
But we'll see.
38:35
And it's interesting because these are more like NHL type of schedules there, Cappy, you know, you know, in college, you get used to those two games a week, two games a week, and then maybe you get turn of time, you get, you know, you might play three days or, but this is two days, couple days off, two more games.
38:53
It's an adjustment, but these kids are young.
38:55
So I don't think it'll be a huge deal.
38:57
If anything, that might actually help Ohio State a little bit.
39:02
You know, they haven't played a game, but except Minnesota just played a game a couple of days ago, so they might be a little gassed.
39:08
Yeah, I think that it's so early in the season that it's going to be, and plus, I mean, you know, it's mid-November before they played a game.
39:16
So these guys have been chomping at the bit to play games.
39:18
And at this point, you practice enough, you're ready to play.
39:21
So, you know, the thing that will concern you down the road is injuries, obviously.
39:27
You know, if you're playing, you know, Friday, Saturdays, a lot of times you might be bumped and bruised, and you couldn't play two days later.
39:34
But if you're playing five days later, you're okay.
39:37
So I think now we'll be okay.
39:40
And I think with Ohio State, that game, you know, I think Minnesota's opportunity for sure is the first night where Ohio State's might be the second night when they're generally fresh, and Minnesota's in their fourth and sixth nights.
39:54
But yeah, you know, I don't think it's going to affect teams too much now.
39:58
Let's see when that second half schedule, again, knock on wood that it's happening.
40:03
So let's see what that schedule looks like, because then if you're doing that more for two and a half months is different than if you're doing it for, you know, those 30ish days they're doing it right now.
40:15
So I think everyone's going to survive pretty well now.
40:18
Granite barring injury type stuff.
40:21
But in terms of just the gas, I think guys will be okay for this first stretch run.
40:26
And it is a little bit different VEGS because, you know, we played Thursday, Friday, they're playing Monday, Tuesday, then they really have a week and a few days off.
40:35
So it's not like it keeps a grueling schedule.
40:38
And I'm thinking, are you thinking that maybe January and those, it'll keep scheduling and those kind of closer to the games together, maybe a little bigger break in between?
40:45
I mean, I think one of the reasons they're doing it this way is to keep the testing and travel as tight as they can.
40:54
You know, when the team travels, that's a chance for more infections to pop in.
40:59
And so I think that's why you'd like to see teams go play four on the road, four at home, four on the road, four at home so that's, you know, less interaction.
41:07
I do think one thing that benefited Minnesota by playing the first two games here that Ohio State doesn't have is Minnesota's power play looked a lot better the second night than the first night.
41:17
The first night, everyone's a little anxious.
41:19
They want to put pucks on net, you know, let's get the puck and shoot.
41:23
On the second game, they held the puck a little bit more.
41:26
They traded places with each other.
41:28
They had a little bit more possession before they put pucks on net and I think that was really to their benefit.
41:33
And that's something that I think is hard to practice.
41:35
You know, these guys, they've had two months of practice already.
41:38
So they have a conceptual idea of what they want to do, but the speed for those kind of situations is so different in a game than it is in practice.
41:49
Definitely is.
41:51
You have any thoughts on that, Cappy?
41:52
I mean, like you said, these guys have been practicing for so long, but you still need real games to kind of put this all together.
42:02
Yeah, I mean, I've seen, you know, three or four, you know, I saw Minnesota more of their second game and I thought their power play looked really good, like zipping it around and finding those seams, those seams that you find at Mariucci, like you don't find many other places because guys get out of position on that power play.
42:20
But wow, you know, Arizona State had played a weekend.
42:25
They played Michigan State in that first period.
42:27
Michigan State looked a little behind.
42:29
They're just trying to feel it out a little.
42:31
They looked better in terms of team play because of the practice, but you see, I don't care who we are, freshmen and senior, little bit of jitters that first game.
42:41
You don't know, you're nervous about the season.
42:43
Am I going to be successful?
42:45
And you haven't hit anybody other than your own teammates.
42:48
And you don't really hit those guys 100%.
42:50
So it's definitely going to play a factor, especially, you know, Monday night for the Gophers against a team that the only team that hasn't played.
42:58
So that's something they can jump on.
43:01
But yeah, it's a weird year.
43:04
I asked all the coaches when we've had talks about how they've had so much practice time.
43:08
And they said for some things it was great and some things it wasn't.
43:11
You know, too much practice time, guys, it's really hard to keep them concentrated in on that, not knowing, especially when they didn't know if they were going to have games or not.
43:20
Well, one thing that did happen this weekend, Veegs, that's what we first, you know, we heard about but didn't really see it in action yet, was the new point system in the Big Ten.
43:29
You know, we had Michigan and Wisconsin go to overtime.
43:34
And that kind of enacted the tweak in the point system, which I think we're all pretty much fans of here.
43:39
We kind of wish it would be like this way in the NHL.
43:42
I mean, they did change it in that, you know, you don't get your full three points for an overtime win, but you seem like a really big fan of this when that happened Friday night, Veegs.
43:53
Yeah, I hate loser points.
43:55
I hate people playing for ties to secure points.
43:58
I think if you're still playing hockey for something, you should have something to lose as well.
44:03
So I think it's good for the standings.
44:06
I understand in the NHL, they want everybody in it for as long as possible.
44:10
College hockey, I want to separate the cream from the milk.
44:14
You know, I want to see who's the best team.
44:16
And if they're the best team, I don't want them playing for ties at the end and then give the other team something.
44:21
Same thing in the standings.
44:23
You know, if I'm looking for someone to come out of a series, I don't want extra free points going to those teams.
44:28
I want everybody to earn it.
44:30
So I think it puts a little bit more clarity in the standings.
44:34
Do you wish the NCAA would do something similar?
44:39
Yeah, I think so.
44:40
Because technically, that was a win for Michigan and a loss for Wisconsin since they won in the first five minutes of overtime, correct?
44:49
Well, I think they were planning on doing some sort of-
44:52
Paralyzed thing for overtime wins and losses.
44:55
Oh boy.
44:55
It's so, you know, it wasn't much, but it was something.
44:59
You know, I think you should be giving the winning team a little something extra than the losing team.
45:04
I don't think it should just be a straight tie.
45:06
You're still playing hockey.
45:08
Yeah.
45:08
What are your thoughts, Cappy?
45:10
Yeah, I'm glad that they're all on the same board in terms of the rule.
45:13
You know, everyone's going straight to three on three now in the NCAA and overtime.
45:18
You know, I think that's important to be on the same page.
45:21
And it was just too much, quite frankly, too, with having, I know the network.
45:26
For me, it doesn't matter, but the network didn't like how games were almost three hours for some of them.
45:32
When you go to five on five, then three on three, and then a shootout.
45:36
And then the quality wasn't very good because the ice was so poor.
45:39
After playing a five minute overtime, after a 20 minute period, and then you're going to play a three on three, the three on threes weren't very good a lot of the time.
45:47
And I think teams too now are so adept at playing this three on three game.
45:54
The Arizona State was Michigan State game that we did was a very boring three on three overtime.
45:59
To be quite honest, because these guys have watched so many NHL games with it.
46:04
They know to, hey, we're going to pull it out of the zone.
46:07
We don't, we didn't like that.
46:08
Let's restart instead of taking a chance and then, you know, sending the other team on a two on one or a two on oh, that's not happening a whole lot now.
46:17
But I'm glad everyone's on the same page.
46:20
And I'm glad the Big Ten is the way it is with just the one over time three on three, right to it.
46:26
And the standings, the points, yep.
46:28
And the only people who haven't learned how to play three on three are like Zach Prese, Nico Koibu, Ryan Suter, all you wild fans out there.
46:35
They are staying out there as long as possible.
46:38
Here we go.
46:42
I just had to take that shot.
46:43
You had to go there, right?
46:44
There's so many wild fans, I love that.
46:46
But the players know how to do it.
46:49
It's a slower game, but it's still fun to watch.
46:51
And I thought it was a great ending to that game because it was late in the overtime and the Michigan player made a great move.
46:57
It was a great move and it was great patience by him.
47:01
He ended up having an open net, basically.
47:04
I thought it was fun, so.
47:06
Yeah, no, I mean, that's what's kind of scary about Michigan this year is they're very young, but these young guys aren't playing very young and they're poised with the puck and they probably benefited the most of all the practice time, if I were to guess, of any team is because those guys got a little extra time to get some chemistry with guys they hadn't played with before.
47:30
But yeah, they're gonna be dangerous all year and what's different between that team and the years past is they have a goalie now.
47:38
And that's gonna be the biggest thing for teams to get over is not just the skill, but they got a great goalie back in the back end.
47:46
And I think another thing that'll be interesting to see is how college coaches adjust to those young players because you always see it in baseball is you see how a player likes to hit and then they don't see that anymore.
47:58
So players, they'll see certain four checks or they'll see some sort of neutral zone configuration that they're very comfortable with and there's others they're not.
48:06
And I know when Minnesota prepared for Quinn Hughes, there were very specific game plans for how to keep him out of the center of the ice and how to keep the puck off his stick.
48:17
And so when you start seeing these young players have some habits on the ice, these BigTen coaches are pretty smart and they'll start to come up with some game plans to slow them down.
48:26
And that'll be fun to watch over the season.
48:28
I think we saw that happen to Sammy Walker, his freshman year, coaches started to play him a little differently and now he has to adjust.
48:35
And those elite players, you can't stop them one way.
48:38
They'll find another way to be successful and it takes time for that to happen, I think.
48:43
And we even talked about that in those previous years with Quinton Hughes, they did an excellent job of shutting him down.
48:49
He wasn't as dominant as he was against other teams that he played against.
48:54
He was great.
48:55
Minnesota had some veteran players on their PK and they were able to kind of slow them down a little bit.
49:01
Yeah, that's the question with them is, they've got like eight of those guys now.
49:07
You know, last year you could see it so many times with Quinton Hughes, I mean, he did not belong in college hockey two years ago, I'm sorry.
49:14
I mean, look what he did in the NHL as a rookie here.
49:16
I mean, he almost was trying to do way too much and guys would just sit and watch him as he tried to rush it up and he was great at doing it.
49:24
But even in college, you got three guys on you, you're not gonna work at yourself out.
49:29
I don't care how good you are, but yeah, this team, it'll be, you're right.
49:33
You know, players will get figured out, but man, they got a lot more guys to get figured out now than just a couple of guys.
49:41
So that's where it's gonna be difficult for everybody.
49:44
And a good Michigan team is good for the Big Ten.
49:46
Well, and I think it's good for those players that they have to figure out how to work with other players, too.
49:51
You know, sometimes these guys get to this level, they've been able to do it on their own a lot.
49:58
And so they have to have that vision and that confidence in their teammates.
50:01
And that's something I think's developed a little bit.
50:04
Yeah, and I think that's why I said a little bit about how they've had extra practice time.
50:09
Like, wow, these guys on my line are good.
50:11
Yeah, I thought I was good, but no, they're good, too.
50:14
So I got to step up my game.
50:17
And I think that's Minnesota's older version of that.
50:21
You know, most of their guys have been there.
50:22
But depth-wise, man, those three lines, I'm a little jealous that I didn't get that assignment come December 8th and 9th.
50:31
You know, I'll have the other two games, but man, that series is going to be fun.
50:37
I believe that's at Yost, or is that at Marywood?
50:42
Either way, the ice at both arenas is fast, and that's going to be awesome.
50:49
That's going to be some must-see TV.
50:51
And actually, a note on the Michigan State Series coming up, it's rumored that FSN is going to be picking up those games, folks, so.
50:59
Yeah, Anthony Lopanta is going to be calling those games from what I believe he released on his Russo podcast.
51:08
That December 3rd and 4th?
51:10
Perhaps.
51:13
They need a color guide to tell them, give them my number.
51:17
I can do the game from my house, right, or something.
51:22
Well, let's get some predictions for these games.
51:24
We're already at 50 minutes in this podcast.
51:25
So, Monday, Tuesday series, I don't recall the Gophers ever playing on a Monday and Tuesday leagues.
51:34
But, Ohio State coming into town.
51:36
They haven't played yet.
51:37
What are you seeing here?
51:40
I mean, I think Minnesota is going to have the jump on Monday.
51:44
They'll have the couple days of recovery to regain their legs.
51:48
One of the things we talked about is the games are being condensed.
51:51
There's a shorter intermission.
51:53
There's only one TV timeout per period.
51:56
I think that started to gas Minnesota a little bit on Friday as the game went on.
52:01
They looked a little slower.
52:03
Penn State almost came back into the game.
52:06
Minnesota took a couple of penalties.
52:07
There may be fatigue penalties.
52:09
And I think that could trickle into a Tuesday.
52:12
But I think on Monday, Minnesota is going to have enough of an advantage to win that game.
52:17
I think Ohio State, maybe their goalie pulls one out on Tuesday.
52:22
Ooh, see them in a split.
52:23
All right, Cappy, your alma mater.
52:25
How are you feeling?
52:26
Trying to think.
52:26
Last year, we had a pretty close call.
52:28
I think it went, we were almost exactly straddle, spot on with like, there was some over times and a tie.
52:35
I'm not sure.
52:35
Not an over tie, but close.
52:38
I'm the same in the first game.
52:40
I think, you know, Minnesota, I'll give you a score, 4-2.
52:44
I'll go there.
52:46
I think Minnesota will come out and take advantage of a team that hasn't played.
52:50
I think they're going to be able to play.
52:52
And then I'm thinking more, I could see maybe a 2-1 overtime for Ohio State maybe in the second game.
52:59
I think maybe a three on three, maybe a shootout.
53:02
So I think Ohio State may be getting an extra point in overtime.
53:08
Overtime or shootout on Tuesday.
53:11
I'm going full homer mode, guys.
53:13
Gophers sweep.
53:14
Come on.
53:14
I got to ride this positivity for a little while because right now I'm just hoping we come back in January.
53:22
So I'm just going to try to ride the positivity as much as I can.
53:25
And it's going to be building up for that big series at Yost and a few weeks down the road where it's going to be some titans clashing.
53:34
It'll be a big series.
53:36
So sweet for me.
53:37
I think we're going to see a higher scoring game Monday and a lower scoring game Tuesday.
53:42
That guy behind the bench for the Buckeyes, he can choke down that neutral zone pretty effectively.
53:49
And Rolex has done a great job with that program.
53:52
I just don't see a lot of goals once his players get their feet under them.
53:58
Yeah.
53:59
And then, you know, Tommy Napier, and that's the X Factor.
54:02
You know, he could pull off a 45 save performance, you know, in one of the games, even the first night.
54:10
But I love Minnesota's lineup.
54:13
Their three lines are pretty powerful.
54:16
Pretty, you know, DeSampo skates so well.
54:19
I, you know, he hasn't lit it up yet.
54:21
I think he's right there to do it.
54:24
You can read he left off right where he was last year.
54:27
So, man, I like their up front.
54:30
And then Lecombe looks really good, you know, especially Friday.
54:35
I didn't see as much of Thursday, but, you know, he looked like he's gained.
54:40
He looked good last year, but he looked like he gained a step and he's really confident out there.
54:46
Well, thanks for joining us again, Cap.
54:48
We're doing this, you know, video thing this year and trying to...
54:52
This is practice for me for games.
54:54
Well, there you go.
54:55
From one that you got you point to me when it's my turn.
54:59
Well, I just really appreciate you joining us.
55:01
You know, you've been helping us out these last couple of years.
55:03
And it's always fun to have you on when we play Ohio State because we play them all the time now.
55:08
So we get to bring you out.
55:09
I told you I'll come on and talk about anybody.
55:12
You know, I like to talk.
55:13
And you're actually going to Madison tomorrow, but you're not going to be at the rink tomorrow?
55:18
Yeah, we're going to be at the Rush Studios.
55:21
I think too much is going on at the Big Ten studio.
55:24
So I think they're doing five basketball games on Wednesday, something wild.
55:30
So they're going to be doing that too.
55:32
I think they're loading up with basketball coming for Thanksgiving.
55:35
So yeah, we'll be in Madison, but not at LeBron.
55:40
We'll be down the road somewhere.
55:42
I don't know exactly where.
55:45
Wherever the driver brings you, as well as your bees.
55:47
Wherever the address in my GPS or my iPhone says for me to go.
55:53
But hey, like you guys, I'm watching and I'm working, calling games.
55:57
I'll take it.
55:58
You want to send me to Fargo, I'll do it.
56:01
And College Hockey is back.
56:04
I was watching all the games.
56:06
I was watching all the games.
56:07
The previous games, the previous weekend, Arizona State, Michigan, it was fun watching them.
56:10
It was fun watching that Michigan State and Arizona State games that you guys were doing.
56:16
Double header these next two days for Big Ten Network.
56:20
I love that.
56:22
This is a holiday week, right?
56:24
I love that.
56:26
It's a bummer that maybe people aren't going to visit family as much.
56:29
So, hey, hunker down and you got hockey all week.
56:33
It's going to be nice.
56:34
Remember, you can follow Cappy on Twitter, at Cappy27 and Veegs.
56:41
You're doing a little more writing for the GPL this year because our boy Russo is kind of cutting you in, isn't he?
56:47
Well, he's a little bored with the NHL, still trying to figure out when they're going to play.
56:52
They might not be playing for a while.
56:54
They're having a hard time figuring out how to split a dollar.
56:57
So we'll see.
56:58
I'm writing a little something on Sammy Walker for tomorrow.
57:01
Everybody can check it out on GPL.
57:03
He's taking more draws this year.
57:05
I think he's a more complete player, which is a dangerous thing for the rest of college hockey.
57:11
He's already pretty fast and electric, but if he gets some more detail to his game, he's going to be a complete player, and you're going to see those minuses disappear.
57:21
That will be nice.
57:22
And you can follow Vegoe's writings on GPL.
57:26
And there's still quite a bit of great stuff he's got on the Athletic.
57:29
From this past season, a lot of great in-depth articles.
57:32
Make sure you check that out.
57:33
And follow him at evegoe on Twitter.
57:36
But that's going to do it for this episode of the GPL Podcast.
57:39
I want to thank our guest, Paul Caponigri.
57:41
We're going to be back, it looks like Wednesday, December 2nd, since the teams are off for a little bit here.
57:48
And we'll recap the OSU series preview in the Michigan State Series.
57:52
And it will be a good time.
57:54
But for those of you listening or watching live on YouTube, well, just a short bit of overtime for the rest of you.
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