0:03
This is The GPL Podcast, sponsored by Jerry Peters and First Class Mortgage.
0:08
Our expertise, your peace of mind.
0:10
Visit us at firstclassmortgage.com.
0:24
Now, here's Joop and Vego.
0:37
Good evening, and welcome to The GPL Podcast, episode number 189.
0:44
Well, due to some cancellations with some hockey this week, we thought we'd throw you guys a curve a little bit.
0:50
And since there's no games to preview, no Penn State, we thought we'd bring in a new guest.
0:55
And you might not recognize his name, but you probably recognize some of his work.
1:01
John King is now joining us.
1:04
John, tell us what you're famous for.
1:07
I chose to use my 15 minutes of fame to judge adolescent boys' hairstyles in the state tournament.
1:18
I guess that's how I played my hand.
1:20
And then you ended up having a Barry Melrose in your living room as you judged.
1:25
I did get to smoke some cigars with Barry and he is as cool as you think he would be.
1:32
He is, I've actually met him myself.
1:35
He was here for the Frozen Four in 2011.
1:38
And a few of us got to sit at a table with him down to Tom Reeds, which was a blast after the game.
1:44
And it was a fun time, even though Duluth won, not the greatest, but it was a good time.
1:51
But it's nice having you on.
1:53
I mean, you do a lot more than the hockey here.
1:56
One thing I've been doing lately is listening to your Sunday Morning Coming Down podcast.
2:01
Tell us about that.
2:03
Yeah, I guess it's kind of like, with the hockey here each year, I had the opportunity to kind of, I guess give a point of view about what was going on in the world.
2:15
And I was craving that during the pandemic.
2:18
So I just, I came up with this idea.
2:21
It's a 30 minute podcast, comes out every Sunday morning.
2:26
So if you've had a little, you're a little banged up from your Friday or Saturday night, it's just there to make you feel normal because I've usually done something worse than you have.
2:36
And so that's kind of how the show works.
2:41
Now, okay, I listened to this week.
2:44
Did you ever figure out if something happened outdoors or not?
2:49
You never came to a conclusion.
2:51
Have you come to a conclusion yet?
2:53
The story you're referring to over served at the 617 here in White Bear Lake.
2:59
And unfortunately, my wife was out of town visiting my daughter, but we have a camera system on my house.
3:07
And there's some footage that would seem to indicate that I decided to go to the bathroom in my front yard about midnight, but I do believe it's inconclusive.
3:19
I think it's like the Zap Rooter footage.
3:23
I just think I'm walking, bowl-legged because it's icy.
3:27
That's what it looked like to me.
3:28
What did you think?
3:29
I haven't seen the video.
3:31
Next Sunday morning, coming down pod on Instagram, and you have to, you can make the call.
3:36
I'd say inconclusive.
3:38
Well, you see, that was during the week though.
3:40
Did you, did you maybe, let's just go, you were celebrating a GopherSweep this weekend.
3:45
That's what you were doing.
3:46
Oh man, I couldn't, you know, I'm a season ticket holder and the irony of the fact that this absolutely special team and I can't see them play.
3:58
It's, it's just nuts.
4:00
It's been a fun ride though.
4:02
It has been a fun ride.
4:03
Veegs, it was a successful weekend and that's all we can, we can hope for right about this time of year.
4:09
Yeah, I was really intrigued to see how they're coming out play Sparty, you know, there's been a couple of series in the past where the Gophers will come out and play a nice open air game with them or get off to a good start and all of a sudden there's some senior leaders on that Spartan team who flip the switch and they come out and compete and make it really difficult for Minnesota to hang on and they don't get the full six points.
4:33
I thought what Minnesota did really well against Michigan State was they didn't give away the game.
4:38
You know, they didn't commit turnovers at the blue lines.
4:41
You know, they got out of their zone clean.
4:44
They didn't try to the long stretch passes and they stuck to the game plan that Bob wants them playing.
4:51
You know, we talk about that 45 seconds of hell.
4:53
They brought it a little bit more this past weekend and that bodes well for them getting to this point of the season that they've got that in their heads.
5:01
I think early in the season when they were playing teams like Arizona State, they said, okay, this is a point night.
5:08
Let's go out and get healthy, boost our numbers a little bit.
5:11
That didn't happen.
5:12
They stuck to their game plan and they never really let Michigan State into it.
5:16
And it's what you want to see.
5:18
Now, John, in the past, we've seen good Gopher teams get let down by games like this.
5:25
We've seen it many times, but they have nine sweeps this year.
5:33
And kind of going off of what you said, it's a disappointment we're not seeing this team, but I think it makes me feel very great and hopefully makes you feel great that we really haven't had those kind of letdowns against inferior teams this year, which we've seen for a couple of decades now.
5:49
Yeah, we had a stretch of about five years where we were haunted on one night of the series and then it was Jekyll and Hyde.
5:58
And man, it's consistency fun.
6:01
I mean, to be able to kind of settle in, you know, you're turning on the Gophers and it's like a steak dinner, you know it's gonna be a positive experience.
6:10
That's pretty cool.
6:13
It is, it's been a while, Veegs.
6:16
I mean, there was a couple of seasons in there where they didn't have any sweeps the entire year.
6:21
And now they've got nine.
6:24
There's been more Battle Hymn at 3M at Marriott Arena than ever, you know, at old Marriott Arena.
6:32
You used to hear a lot about Battle Hymn.
6:34
But the new one, it's been a little slow to hit the playlist and you just wish the band was there and the students are there sweeping the hands because that's a fun part about being into the building for these weekends.
6:48
And this team is headed places.
6:50
I think one of the things Bob has figured out is he can push this team around and he can be hard on them, which is something you don't always see with a program like this.
6:59
You saw after the game on Friday night, he says, a B plus game, we had two right wings that were flat tires and a line can't have a flat tire.
7:09
You need all three tires pumped up and going to be effective.
7:14
And it was pretty obvious who he was calling out.
7:16
You know, Jackson Nelson and Bryce Brodsinski, those are the players he was talking about.
7:20
He didn't name them specifically, but he named their line and position.
7:24
Don't see that too often in college athletics, but you know what?
7:28
They both responded the next night.
7:30
He gave him another chance in the lineup, didn't make any changes and they upped their game.
7:36
Yeah, I listened to that Friday night and him, he calling out those guys, talking about how bad some wingers were.
7:43
And whereas he didn't say their name, he pretty much just gave it to us, Veegs.
7:47
I mean, he emphasized it.
7:50
When Bob wants to emphasize something, he's not going to leave too much the imagination.
7:54
The message is going to be sent loud and clear.
7:58
And just like one media member was bringing up, is LaFontaine going to see anything because of the long stretch pass that he tried that turned into a goal?
8:08
He's like, nope, Jack is our guy.
8:10
He'll be in the net tomorrow night.
8:11
He'll be in the net the next weekend and the weekend after that.
8:15
Oh, come on.
8:16
He's pretty clear.
8:16
We named names.
8:18
Was that Jess Myers again?
8:20
It was not.
8:21
Although Jess oftentimes this season tried to start some storylines.
8:25
And he's got an agenda about the story that he wants to write.
8:29
You know, some writers in Philly sometimes do the same thing, but it was not.
8:34
So it was a learning experience for everybody about where this thing's headed.
8:38
Oh, boy.
8:39
Now, John, you've been a fan a long time.
8:43
You've been a part of this program.
8:44
I mean, you've been kind of involved in the back end and some marketing things to you.
8:48
But how have you felt about Motzko taking over for Lucia?
8:52
Were you like a lot of us other fans where it was just time for Lucia to move on?
8:55
How did you feel about that whole situation?
8:57
Yeah, I was I was ready for the change.
9:00
I mean, Don's always going to have a special spot because of the couple titles that were long long awaited for me as a fan.
9:10
So he's a great coach.
9:12
But I think Bob coming in the couple things I remember about that transition was he said he wants to bring Gopher Hockey back to the dive bars of St.
9:22
Paul.
9:23
You mentioned the 45 seconds of hell.
9:25
And I love that he hasn't won a national championship as a head coach.
9:30
So he still has that hunger.
9:33
And to me, that's what it's all about.
9:34
That's all that matters if we can get more banners, big banners.
9:39
So yeah, I think I'm very excited Bob's on board.
9:42
So another successful week in VAs.
9:44
We've got no Penn State Series this weekend.
9:46
It's been canceled.
9:46
It's looking like the Big Ten tournament is going to move up to about maybe a Sunday through Tuesday or something along those lines.
9:54
Move up quite a few day VAs.
9:56
Have you heard anything about that or it could sound like it could be announced any minute here?
10:01
Yeah, it should be within the next 24 hours.
10:04
I would think Big Ten's got a lot going on.
10:06
They've got these basketball games they're trying to figure out as they get to the end of that season.
10:10
Women's basketball, we see the volleyball team is getting some games on TV.
10:15
You know, they're starting to get soccer going, baseball going.
10:18
So the Big Ten offices are spread kind of thin.
10:21
Like, they're built to promote basketball and football and the other stuff they just kind of take on with what they have.
10:27
So there's a delay there, but the coaches are pretty vocal.
10:30
You know, look at what the NCHC is doing with their tournament.
10:34
Look at what Hockey East is doing with their tournament.
10:36
We need to change what you guys set up and publicize.
10:39
So Mel Pearson yesterday said that the tournament's going to be a Saturday through Tuesday event.
10:46
So I'm assuming that means there'll be three games on Saturday.
10:50
The two games on Sunday, a rest day, a game on Tuesday.
10:54
And then they'll have that week before selection Sunday to rest up and then prepare for their opponent, which could be that next Thursday.
11:02
So there's plenty of rest built in there for Minnesota.
11:04
That's something Bob was very concerned about coming down the stretch with no buys and potentially some makeup games here and there.
11:11
But they now have a plan.
11:13
It's going to be announced really soon.
11:15
I kind of like the sound of that.
11:17
What do you think, John, moving it up?
11:18
I mean, you know, if you think if you play three games in a row, you know, Friday, Saturday or Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and then you're coming back next Friday after you just played three games.
11:28
I kind of like the idea of at least this season of getting moving it up a bit, getting a little extra time off.
11:35
I actually like the schedule so weird this year with what was it Thursday, Fridays and every day of the week they played this year.
11:44
But it was, I know we got a big group text of guys that watch the Gophers and we got really into that rhythm of having it, you know, whatever, what it was, four days and four games in seven days.
11:57
It sounds like the Big Ten tournament will be kind of like that.
12:00
It's very 2020-21, I guess.
12:04
I definitely like it.
12:05
Move it up.
12:06
You know, the fans aren't going, you don't have to do any traveling.
12:09
Let's just, you know, the teams will travel.
12:12
I really like this idea of what they want to do here.
12:16
Another thing, Veegs, that we saw today that kind of got you going a little bit is USCHO putting together their thoughts on the NCAA tournament.
12:31
And when you saw Wisconsin listed there twice, like something is up here.
12:37
Well, it's just been frustrating because I read an article earlier this week talking about the Big Ten race as if the number of points a team accumulated was going to impact the conference title.
12:48
That's not the case.
12:50
That hasn't been the case since November.
12:52
It's going to be winning percentage.
12:54
They are doing it differently than some of the other leagues.
12:56
It's not a point percentage.
12:58
They've still been doing the shootouts and things this year.
13:00
That kind of primed the pump a little bit on my fuse.
13:05
Then I see this bracketology that comes out from the people who have been...
13:10
The smartest people in these years.
13:14
They get it right every year.
13:16
Jason Moy is the bracketologist expert.
13:19
He gets the seeds right.
13:20
He gets the regions right.
13:22
He's done everything.
13:23
Now we get this uncertainty, this mist of smoky room of what's going to happen.
13:29
They just start making up some stuff that just has no basis in what college hockey is right now.
13:35
These projections that are getting some people going.
13:38
It's just like, come on guys, you can do better.
13:42
Atlantic Hockey, sure, I have a lot of respect for those guys.
13:46
Those 24 and 25 year old kids who are playing college hockey and have put in the time, but they are not deserving of three teams in the tournament.
13:55
They're just not.
13:56
None of those guys are NHL undrafted free agent prospects.
14:01
If they were, I think that's a legit case that this is a team that could compete with the Blue Bloods of college hockey, but they're just not.
14:10
So why would you reward them with three teams, especially when we have the Ivies sitting out this year in all their developed talent?
14:19
NCHC, BigTen, WCHA, Hockey East, that's the core of this year's tournament.
14:23
Those are the best teams, those are the best programs.
14:27
You can look back at historical metrics.
14:30
That's who should be in the tournament.
14:32
Maybe one Atlantic team.
14:34
Sorry.
14:35
Maybe one ECAC team because there are only four of them.
14:38
The Autobids.
14:39
The Autobids.
14:41
And I'm sorry, AIC, if you don't get in by winning your conference tournament, we will not get more Yellow Jacket action on the ice.
14:52
Tell us how you really feel, Veegs.
14:55
It's just a mess.
14:56
You give some people some uncertainty, they run away a little too much with it.
15:02
I like the idea just of Smokey Room.
15:05
Do it like they did back in the 90s when no one had any idea what was going on.
15:10
That's fine.
15:11
That's fine.
15:12
Whatever they tell us during the selection show with Butcher Gras, it doesn't matter.
15:16
They're picking the teams.
15:18
These people are very knowledgeable about College Hockey.
15:21
There's enough people involved where it's not going to be too crazy.
15:24
They're going to pick the best teams that they think are the best 16 teams.
15:28
It's going to happen.
15:30
Well, I feel better.
15:31
Do you guys feel better?
15:33
I feel better.
15:34
Of course I feel better.
15:35
I'm still shaking off the two Wisconsin's in the tournament.
15:38
It's like the shining, like my worst nightmare, seeing two Wisconsin's in the same tournament.
15:46
I mean, for the BigTen to be successful, we want Wisconsin to be good, but not so good they get two teams in there.
15:52
Come on, Jim.
15:54
Be better.
15:54
Be better.
15:57
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17:01
Helps if I unmute it.
17:03
We always thank Jerry for sponsoring us.
17:06
Well, we know there's no games this weekend, so we thought we'd have some fun.
17:10
That's why we have you on this week, John.
17:13
How in the hell did this hair thing start?
17:16
Was it just kind of a fun little project for you and then it just kind of blew up out of control?
17:21
You know, a buddy of mine had an hour of TV time on Care 11 locally after Saturday Night Live.
17:30
So this would be from 11.30 to 12.30 in the morning.
17:35
So it was basically really drunk people that were watching this.
17:39
I don't know who they were, but this was a long time ago.
17:41
This was 2005.
17:45
And I came up with the concept and made the original video, which had a gopher in it.
17:51
What's the guy from Centennial, RJ?
17:54
RJ Anderson.
17:55
RJ Anderson is in the 2005 video.
18:00
And then, you know, it just was kind of in the universe in the middle of the night.
18:05
And 2011, YouTube was kind of a thing.
18:08
And I think I was just down at the tournament looking around at 100,000 people, everybody on 7th Street.
18:15
Kids were all playing on two hockey teams and just thought, maybe I should crank that thing up again now that we're all digital.
18:23
I tried to sell it to Great Clips at the time for $2,500.
18:28
I said, if I get 5,000 views, pay me.
18:31
If I don't, you don't have to pay me anything.
18:33
They didn't write back, so I put my local hairstylist in it, Hair Matters, and went to see that movie Cedar Rapids, if you remember that.
18:42
I was in the theater and I sent it to like 100 hockey parents and then woke up the next morning and this thing was a thing.
18:53
Then it's just been a blast for years now and giving a lot of money to the Hendrickson Foundation as well.
18:59
Well, that's kind of the important thing right there.
19:02
You were anonymous for many years.
19:04
I remember I had people asking me, who does that?
19:06
I'm like, I don't know.
19:09
It wasn't until Barry Melrose and ESPN went looking for you, they found you.
19:16
You guys did a little special story on it.
19:19
I actually put that link out there earlier this week.
19:25
That you finally outed yourself.
19:28
Yep.
19:28
ESPN reached out and said they were going to come to town for the tournament, which I thought was so great because I'm just a big fan.
19:36
I was not a hockey player growing up.
19:39
You're an Edina guy.
19:40
That's right.
19:42
I'm from the small town on the west side with the Dream.
19:45
Well, you see, I'm a Jefferson guy.
19:47
I didn't play hockey until I was an adult either.
19:50
I'm a weak-ankled wannabe.
19:53
But they were coming to town and I thought, what a cool deal.
19:57
And they said, but the trade-off is we want to unmask you.
20:02
And I said, well, who's it going to be?
20:05
And they said Barry Melrose.
20:06
I said, well, if it's going to go down, if somebody is going to pull off the mask, it might as well be Big Barry.
20:12
So yeah, he was so great.
20:16
Stayed late, told stories.
20:19
He's just cool.
20:20
You know, there's a handful of people.
20:22
You think David Faraday, Barclay, Melrose.
20:26
It's like every sport has one legit cool person you'd want to drink a beer with.
20:31
And to get to do that with him was pretty special.
20:34
You know, I've found over the years talking with different hockey personalities that, for me at least, they seem to be the most down-to-earth people.
20:43
Oh, yeah.
20:44
I don't know what it is.
20:45
Maybe I'm just meeting the right people.
20:48
But let me tell you, sitting around talking with the Wugger or Glenn, these people are just hockey people.
20:58
And you know, we'll go out at, Veegs and I will go out after the games.
21:01
We'll see the referees from the games at the place we're at.
21:05
And they're just, they're the same people.
21:07
They're hockey guys.
21:08
They'll come up, explain things to you.
21:11
This hockey community is quite amazing.
21:13
And I don't think a lot of people really, you know, as a college hockey fan, you're, we're a little different.
21:19
People kind of like, college hockey?
21:21
What about the pros?
21:22
I'm like, yeah, we'll watch the pros, but it's just not the same.
21:24
So it's just a different community.
21:27
And just like you said, you had Barry Melrose just come into your living room.
21:31
How does that happen?
21:32
It's like, it's kind of a hockey thing.
21:35
It was great.
21:36
I said to the producer, I said, the only thing I want is I want to smoke a cigar with Barry after we're all done.
21:43
And he goes, all right, I'll ask him.
21:46
And then he comes back and Barry says, as long as they're good cigars.
21:51
And then he didn't even smoke one of mine.
21:53
He had a suit that was probably four sizes too big.
21:56
And he had his own cigar.
22:00
But he probably sat with us on my porch for two hours drinking and smoking with my brothers and a couple buddies.
22:10
Well, that's pretty nice.
22:13
That's pretty nice.
22:13
Well, so you started, you know, you did the Sunday Morning Coming Down Podcast.
22:17
You started that almost a year ago, kind of when the pandemic started.
22:20
But also this fall, you started another podcast.
22:23
Tell us about that.
22:24
Yep.
22:25
I'm doing one called Can You Keep a Secret?
22:27
And it's with my partner, Tom Garrity.
22:30
As I understand it, my Zoom might say Gina Garrity on it tonight.
22:34
I can say whatever I want and Gina will get in trouble.
22:38
But Tom's the commissioner of the United States Hockey League, lifelong friend.
22:42
And he came up with this idea.
22:44
He said, let's interview famous people but not ask them normal questions.
22:50
So if we interview Ryan Suter, we're not going to talk to him about hockey.
22:53
If we interview Tommy Kramer, we're not going to do the five questions everybody thinks to ask.
22:59
And we're just getting going with that one.
23:01
But we did Martin Zeller, which was just a treat because he's such a, he's like Minnesota sweetheart Martin Zeller.
23:08
He's just an icon for people of a certain age.
23:11
Did Ryan Carter, Souter, Frank Bacilaro.
23:15
And it's just been, it's been fun.
23:16
I think you'll like it if you listen to it.
23:18
It's just, it's an easy listen, lots of weird questions.
23:21
Nothing wrong with that.
23:24
And then, you know, as you know, you're kind of, you'd say your day job, you do a lot of marketing, a lot of advertising stuff.
23:31
You actually were part of the pizza campaign last year with Mr.
23:35
Fleck, weren't you?
23:36
Oh man, what a treat.
23:39
We had this idea called Pizza Elite.
23:42
And it was basically, it's basically making fun of PJ Fleck, but we had PJ Fleck make fun of PJ Fleck.
23:52
And so it was middle of the pandemic.
23:55
We sent him scripts, heard he was interested.
23:59
He really likes Red Savoy's pizza.
24:01
So he actually kind of started the relationship with Savoy because that's what he feeds his players.
24:08
And had a couple scripts and he showed up.
24:11
We had to shoot at my house because it was the pandemic.
24:14
Drove himself, changed in my basement right where I'm recording.
24:19
And he was, I mean, anybody who doesn't like PJ Fleck, I just got to say PJ Fleck is 1000% PJ Fleck.
24:29
He just is that person.
24:31
So I know we like to roll our eyes in Minnesota and be passive aggressive, but I think that hurts him a little bit.
24:38
It hurts his heart when you do that because he's just, he's just a jack in the box.
24:42
I like him a lot.
24:44
So is PJ giving everybody notes and getting everybody on set, energized for the performance that's about to ensue?
24:51
There is a blooper reel of him that the U won't let me do anything with.
24:57
That is one of the funniest things.
24:59
So he never even, I don't think he even saw the script before he got to my house, either of them, which is a huge risk because we only had two hours with him.
25:08
And if he was a dud, it's a total disaster, waste a bunch of money.
25:12
But he was just, I mean, he was awesome.
25:15
He jumped off the screen.
25:16
But yeah, I had cue cards and so he would just go off there.
25:21
And then he's just getting a stance.
25:23
Yeah, PJ, he's something else, man.
25:29
Wow, that's...
25:30
Are you guys PJ guys?
25:31
Do you like him or are you kind of scarred from Brewster and everything?
25:35
Brewster is a big scar because he was kind of that excited guy too and had results early and then it just went...
25:44
Guy who can have success at Western Michigan and then recruit like he does and just has that energy.
25:51
Kids love it.
25:52
I love it.
25:53
I'm a football season ticket holder.
25:54
I'm there every game.
25:57
Very excited to see what they're going to do going forward.
25:59
Yeah, I think he's great.
26:01
I hope he sticks around.
26:02
That will be the biggest thing.
26:04
And that's the toughest thing right there.
26:06
Whenever somebody gets successful, they leave.
26:10
And well, the biggest example would be Lou Holtz.
26:13
He was just kind of getting that team on the brink and then he up and leaves.
26:18
And then it's another 25, 30 years or whatever it was again.
26:25
I'm ready to be heard again.
26:26
I'm okay with that.
26:27
If they have some success and he moves on to his dream job, I will just be appreciative for what he gave.
26:33
Don't say that.
26:35
Come on, Veegs.
26:36
It's part of being a Minnesotan.
26:39
Exactly.
26:40
That's how we've grown up.
26:41
It's just like, you know, I'm ready.
26:43
I'll take it when it happens.
26:45
I remember my son was out on our porch when Barb was about to go to the Super Bowl.
26:51
And I looked at him and I said, Bennett, you're about to see something I haven't seen in my lifetime.
26:55
The Vikings are going to the Super Bowl.
26:58
Then we had, what, 12 men in the Huddly Crew across the body.
27:01
And then it was like, never mind.
27:07
I think I'm a couple of years older than you.
27:08
I don't recall any Super Bowls when I was a young kid.
27:13
98 killed me.
27:14
After 98 happened, I kind of sat there and went far through the interception.
27:20
I was just like, yep, that's what it's like to be a Minnesota fan right there.
27:24
That's exactly what it's like.
27:26
That's why for me, you know, the biggest thing is the 2002 National Championship.
27:31
That was the ultimate for me as a Minnesota sports fan.
27:36
Twins was great, but hockey, that was a big deal for me.
27:42
Can I ask you guys a couple Gopher hockey questions since you're the experts?
27:47
Well, wait, Vegoe is the expert on hockey.
27:50
I'm just the host, but I'll try to answer anything you want.
27:54
What do you got?
27:55
I'll give you a layup to start.
27:57
This is just a stock ball.
27:59
How great is it to have puck moving defensemen again?
28:04
This Faber kid with his tortoiseshell glasses and, you know, honeycomb.
28:10
And I mean, oh my God, it is just the greatest, right?
28:14
I mean, it's a game changer to have those D.
28:16
Is that the whole difference between us being good again?
28:20
Am I overestimating that?
28:21
No, I think you're right on.
28:24
I mean, I think you're exactly right on.
28:27
There are three keys to this team being as good as they are right now.
28:31
One of them, the defense.
28:34
They move the puck quickly.
28:36
But if you don't have centers who help the transition get going, the defense can't really do that much.
28:43
They're going to take a lot more risks.
28:45
They're going to get into trouble.
28:46
You're going to trade the scoring.
28:47
But they've got centers right now who are all experienced, can win draws.
28:51
They start with the puck.
28:52
And the third piece of that is goaltending.
28:54
We haven't seen a goaltender as consistent as LaFontaine for a long, long time.
29:00
And he makes the saves when they need him to make saves.
29:03
And a big reason their penalty kill is so good.
29:06
But yes, it is fun to see the defensemen they have.
29:10
I think for Bob's style, you have to have that year in and year out.
29:14
And that's going to be the big challenge.
29:15
Well, look at their championship teams.
29:17
But let's see.
29:18
Look at their championship teams, Veegs.
29:20
I mean, you've got a Ballard.
29:22
You've got a Leopold.
29:23
I mean, you look at all their really good teams that made frozen fours.
29:26
They might not have won them all.
29:27
But even a few years ago when they lost in Union, look at the defense they had there.
29:33
You go back to the 90s with my boy Crowley and some of those other players they had back then.
29:38
They had studs back there.
29:40
And that's something they just haven't had.
29:43
Bob almost made a reference to that last year during one of the availabilities.
29:47
He stopped himself because he didn't want to put that kind of pressure.
29:50
So he couldn't quite quote him on it as saying it was like that crew.
29:55
But he saw it.
29:56
He saw it coming together.
29:58
And now he's reaping it this year.
30:00
But like you did, you also do say there's also been a team thing.
30:04
It's like it's not just the centers, it's just getting back.
30:08
You see a center.
30:10
I see Walker lose a puck.
30:12
He is right on that guy trying to get the puck back.
30:15
They've been getting a lot of...
30:16
Well, they've been getting a lot of steals this year just from pressure.
30:21
We never saw that the last five, six years.
30:23
No steals at all.
30:26
We saw that from Walker and McLaughlin when they were freshmen.
30:29
It kind of went away, but it's back right now.
30:32
It's fun to watch.
30:33
What else you got for us, John?
30:34
Come on, let's go.
30:35
Hey, Cullen Munson.
30:37
I believe...
30:39
I forget what McConaughey's character was in Dazed and Confused, but this guy should come back as a fifth-year senior.
30:45
He is just...
30:47
I swear he's going to be the guy that scores the goal to win the National Championship.
30:51
I just...
30:52
I know he shaved his mustache.
30:54
He's just...
30:55
I don't know what it is.
30:56
He's like the mascot of this team.
30:58
You feel the Cullen Munson or is that just a personal deal?
31:03
Go ahead, Veegs.
31:04
I don't know if I feel it that he's the personality of the team, but I think he's got the respect of the team.
31:11
And he is very comfortable with who he is.
31:14
And he's very appreciative of the opportunity that he has this year.
31:17
You know, it wasn't a sure thing that it was going to work out.
31:21
You know, he was kind of a late ad under the previous coaching staff and someone who needed a place to play.
31:27
And they're like, you know what?
31:28
Everyone says you're a good guy.
31:30
We'll give you a chance.
31:31
We can't guarantee anything.
31:33
And he's worked for it.
31:34
And he's worked really hard and he's stuck it out.
31:37
And Bob said this week, you know, if I was doing lines last summer for this season, not sure Cullen would be in my top 12, but he sure is there now.
31:46
And he does everything you need that makes teams successful.
31:50
He blocks shots.
31:51
He hustles.
31:52
He's on the forecheck.
31:53
He doesn't make turnovers.
31:55
And it's fun to see him get some success like last weekend.
31:58
That's my favorite part of his game, Veegs, is his hustle.
32:01
He might not always make the best player or the right play, but he's up there busting his ass.
32:05
And that's what I love the most about Cullen Munson.
32:08
He's always out there busting his ass.
32:11
He's firmly Diana, but he's working class.
32:13
He's tough, man.
32:17
I don't know.
32:18
He just, yeah, he's Wooderson.
32:21
He's a good dude.
32:22
What about, I also, the other guy I think's underestimated is Castor because they got these big D that are kind of heralded, Faber and Johnson and Lacombe.
32:33
But I mean, the depth we have on the blue line is shocking.
32:36
Even a guy like Brinkman, Stoddacher is just a man, you know, a man that can take care of things.
32:42
The depth.
32:43
And I think Castor is going to end up being a really, really nice blue liner as well.
32:49
What do you think?
32:49
And I think with him, the fact that he swallowed his pride and went back to junior for another year, you're seeing what that can do for a player.
32:58
If he would have came right in and with very little junior experience, it would have been a hard year for him.
33:04
But you've seen him come in, be successful.
33:07
When all those guys went to the world junior, you saw Castor raise his game and you're starting to see him be able to play with a little bit more sturdiness.
33:16
Like you could see against Michigan State, people are leaning on him pretty heavy and he's able to hold his ground, hold his center of gravity and learn to make a play.
33:23
You have kids who are coming from high school, they just can't handle that.
33:27
They have to go through the process and know what that feels like.
33:31
Because the competition in big time college hockey is way different.
33:35
I don't care what you say, you better be one of the elite, elite skaters of your draft class to be able to make that leap quickly.
33:42
What I'm wondering is, when is Johnson going to get that first goal?
33:47
He has been close.
33:49
I've noticed he's been shooting a lot more.
33:51
Actually, he's been just holding that puck that extra half second to wait for a lane to open up.
33:56
He's just been kind of snake bit.
33:58
I'm waiting for Verbrugge to say his first goal in maroon and gold.
34:02
It's got to come here soon, isn't it Veegs?
34:05
It'll come.
34:06
He's got too much talent.
34:07
They have the puck enough where he'll get one.
34:11
How about postseason?
34:12
Okay, so I am so bullish on this team, but that Wisconsin weekend, it scared the hell out of me.
34:20
I don't even know.
34:21
I was so arrogant leading in, popping my collar, eat some cheese curds, pour a Malbec out, watch another couple easy go for victories, and we just got smoked.
34:35
Are we going to be okay?
34:36
Are we going to do some damage in the NCAAs?
34:40
Tell me it's going to be okay.
34:45
I kind of wonder, you've got Minnesota, you've got Minnesota State, and you've got North Dakota.
34:52
Two, three, and four, one, two, three, whatever it is.
34:56
Two of those are going to have to go together in a regional.
34:59
North Dakota is obviously going to be in Grand Forks.
35:03
Fargo, sorry, they're in Fargo.
35:06
Would they put Minnesota there?
35:09
Would they put Mankato there?
35:10
Would they put Minnesota and Mankato in Loveland?
35:15
Wow.
35:16
That's, I mean, none of these teams has had really any other.
35:21
Mankato's had a great season, but the competition's been a little lower.
35:24
Minnesota's been stuck with the Big Ten teams.
35:29
It's very unpredictable what's going to happen here, Veegs.
35:32
If Minnesota can take care of business here and get a number one seed, they're going to Loveland.
35:39
Yeah.
35:42
And that's what we want, right?
35:43
So we avoid some of the big boys if we do that?
35:46
Yeah.
35:47
Well, somebody's going to have to go east.
35:48
We want to avoid going to Fargo.
35:49
Somebody's going to have to go east.
35:51
I don't think that's going to happen.
35:52
I think the NCAA is going to try to do this bus thing, but they wouldn't do that for a number one seed and say, okay, we want to bus everybody, the regionals, and put three number one seeds in Fargo.
36:03
They're not going to do that.
36:05
One of these teams is going to have to go out to Loveland.
36:07
And then at that point, it's a plane trip for anybody.
36:11
So that bracket, that region is going to be kind of true to seed.
36:14
So the better Minnesota does, the more of a chance that they might be playing the 15th seed, someone like Lake Superior State or Bemidji State in Loveland.
36:26
True, but if all three, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Minnesota State are in the top four, they're all going to be number one seeds.
36:36
One school is going to have to go east.
36:40
Yeah, one might go east, but I think they're going to have one of the Boston schools be an eastern team, and we'll see what happens.
36:47
But I do think Minnesota, that Wisconsin series, that's the bottom of their range of what they can do as a team.
36:55
I don't even think during that series, Wisconsin got very good goaltending.
37:00
And even talking to the players after the game, you could just tell some of them just wanted to beat Wisconsin so badly that they got away from their game plan.
37:08
They're like, when I have a shot, I want to take my shot.
37:10
You know, that's just like a poker player sitting down, and when they see someone push in, they go, well, I've got a high pocket pair.
37:18
I want to go in too.
37:19
And then they see Ace King, and they've got 10-10, and they're dominated.
37:23
You know, I think that's kind of the thing that was happening.
37:26
And when you play against players like Caulfield and Holloway, you know, you've got to be cautious.
37:32
You've got to say, ah, he's got a big bet there.
37:35
I think my team is better overall.
37:36
I'm just going to fold this one, wait for my shot, because I have a better shot coming when I have Rockets, and I'll take your stack, you know?
37:44
And that could happen if they play each other in the tournament, because that's the hand you want to win.
37:50
Go Ohio State, get one win this weekend.
37:52
That would be great in Wisconsin.
37:55
Oh, it could happen.
37:58
It's College Hockey, you never know.
38:00
I keep thinking I want Minnesota to still win the league on points, not win percentage.
38:06
It's going to be tough, real tough, but you know, if Wisconsin gets a split this weekend, they're still behind Minnesota, and Minnesota can win the point race.
38:17
Two last games, we still beat you.
38:19
That's what I'm thinking.
38:20
I like it.
38:24
Well, go ahead.
38:26
So you want to say something?
38:27
One more.
38:27
What?
38:29
Motzko's yellow mask.
38:32
Now, we've had the jerseys are just spectacular.
38:35
Maybe the best jerseys in college hockey with the yellow, the gold breezers.
38:40
But the fact that he rolls in the yellow snow colored mask, man, in a world of black, tidy, you know, Armani masks, that is, you got to love Motzko.
38:52
I mean, you know, it's just because they had some early season success.
38:55
He switched it up one time, didn't he?
38:57
I know, once, once.
38:59
I kind of think of Bob as the guy, you know, he already had COVID this summer that Russo wrote about in The Athletic.
39:07
And maybe he's just the guy, he's like, I just need this one mask.
39:11
You guys, you know, wash your mask, keep them fresh.
39:13
I'm just going to use this one.
39:14
I don't need a new one every day.
39:17
This is the one I like.
39:18
It's comfy.
39:19
It's starting to form fit to my facial features.
39:24
It's just rolling with it.
39:26
I think you're right.
39:27
I think that's been the same mask the whole way.
39:29
I emailed him at one point.
39:32
I said, I want that thing when the season's over.
39:35
Can you imagine that?
39:36
That would be a, that's a hell of a souvenir.
39:39
If they got all the way through to the NCAAs and you got the yellow snow mask in your man cave there, not bad.
39:48
Well, it's a good 2020 memento.
39:49
Let me put it right next to the print up there.
39:53
Hang it on the print.
39:54
Get the new print with him and his mask on.
39:57
It will be part of the print.
39:59
For people watching this, if you haven't seen Kinger's video where he's got every breath you take with Bob, it's, it's must watch.
40:08
And we didn't even talk about that, the Bevvys with Bob too you did last year.
40:12
Yeah, I reached out, I love Coil at the Athletic Department.
40:17
I had, I had kind of written an article about some changes I was hoping to see, namely selling some beer at the, and I guess we now call it 3M Arena at Mariucci.
40:31
And, and the premise was beers with Bob, interview Motzko as long as it takes us both to drink a beer.
40:38
We had to change the name to Bevvy with Bob just so that you couldn't tell for sure if it was beer.
40:44
But the U was just absolutely wonderful from coil on down.
40:49
First episode, we got to sit at Center Ice in Mariucci, and we both drank, I think really the first two beers in the building before they started selling it on the main concourse.
41:01
And then Bob's a goofball man.
41:03
He was like, I want to get off campus.
41:05
I want to go to a bar, stubbing herbs.
41:07
And then he wanted to go ice fishing.
41:09
So we went out on Bald Eagle.
41:11
He had his own logger.
41:12
He brought his own logger.
41:14
Nice.
41:16
We didn't catch anything.
41:17
It was a little bit messy.
41:19
It was snowing, but he's a good time.
41:22
He's a blue collar dude.
41:24
And it takes him a minute to loosen up because he was always nervous.
41:28
I was going to try to mess with him.
41:31
I'm like, Bob, I'm the biggest gopher rub in the world.
41:34
I think we're good when we're bad.
41:36
I mean, I'm not coming after you.
41:40
Oh boy.
41:40
Yeah, that's a fun series.
41:43
I really enjoyed that.
41:45
Yeah, he's a good one.
41:47
What's on the horizon now for you, John?
41:50
What's up next?
41:51
I think the stuff I'm most excited about, I'm doing a thing now called the Hockey Parent Hall of Fame.
41:57
If you haven't watched the first episode, it's pretty ridiculous.
42:01
It's kind of like Dateline meets Drunk History.
42:06
And I got the second nominee, so we're going to film him on Monday.
42:11
He's an Eden Prairie guy, so we'll be taking care of them.
42:15
And then I'm interested to see what happens with the state tournament.
42:19
The girls and the boys are meant to be together at the end of March.
42:23
I don't know if there's going to be player introductions or if they're going to be wearing masks or they won't do it at all.
42:30
So I'm kind of intrigued to see, in a year with no fans, I'm imagining TV ratings will be through the roof.
42:38
So I'm interested.
42:41
The last time we were normal, I don't know if you remember, was literally the state tournament.
42:45
It was, yep.
42:47
Charlie Strobel, Leaden Hill Murray, Mata Midai.
42:50
I got on a plane to New York that Monday and everything was normal.
42:54
And then by Wednesday, I think the NBA was shutting down.
42:59
And so I'm really excited to get the world spinning again.
43:03
And I'm hoping that the state tournament feels good, even though it's going to be different.
43:08
And we get kind of going out there.
43:10
I think this is the year for the return of the music video.
43:13
Do you guys remember the old music videos for the state tournament?
43:17
Channel 4 did them.
43:19
Channel 4.
43:20
Love it.
43:21
I remember having, we had a camera.
43:25
My Jefferson team won in 89.
43:28
CCO was still doing it.
43:29
We had a camera in my class.
43:31
Of course, I didn't get on TV, but I was still bitter.
43:33
But that was the thing.
43:36
I'm curious about the mechanics of that deal, because I think, as I recall, every team made a music video.
43:43
And so I don't know if somebody called the school and said, your song is Def Leppard.
43:50
Pour some sugar on me, and then the AV teacher got everyone together and made a music video.
43:56
Because they all did their own thing.
43:59
They did do their own thing, but it was CCO people, or at least production people, coming into the school with their regular video cameras.
44:06
They would get some scenes, and they'd do this or do that, and that was it.
44:09
I only saw just that portion of it.
44:19
What can you do?
44:20
What can you do?
44:21
Well, what I'm looking forward to is a little overtime here.
44:24
So we're going to wrap up the show here.
44:26
John, I want to thank you for coming on.
44:29
We're about to have some fun in overtime.
44:31
For those of you listening on the podcast, check us out sometime live on YouTube.
44:38
We have fun in overtime.
44:39
We've gone over an hour with Frank Mazzocco.
44:41
We went over an hour with Todd Maleski and our boy Cappy for Ohio State.
44:48
We have a little fun in overtime.
44:49
So check us out live sometimes.
44:51
And you know, in this video that I post, the live video, you can also catch us that.
44:55
I usually keep it up for about a week and then I take it down.
44:57
But Veegs always introduces his beverage of the week.
45:02
So check us out live.
45:04
It's a fun time.
45:05
But John, thanks for coming on the show.
45:07
Hey, love what you guys do.
45:09
Go Gophers.
45:11
I like the thought of that.
45:12
Go Gophers.
45:14
Well, that is going to do it for this edition of the GPL Podcast.
45:19
Well, once again, thank John for coming on and joining us.
45:22
We'll be back next week with a preview of the final regular season series against Michigan.
45:28
For those of you currently watching live, we're ready for overtime.
45:31
We're primed for it.
45:33
For the rest of you, we'll be back next week to preview that series with Michigan.
45:37
Thanks for listening.
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