0:03 This is the GopherPuckLive Podcast, episode number 20, recorded March 13th, 2012. 0:20 Welcome to this week's GPL Podcast. 0:23 Along with Hammy, I am your host, Jupiter. 0:26 Looks like we're down a man again tonight. 0:28 Cardinal couldn't make it, so at least he can't make it right now. 0:31 Apparently a bunch of Windows updates or something on his computer. 0:34 He can't get Skyped or something to work. 0:36 So if he comes online while we're doing the show, we'll add him to the broadcast. 0:41 Well, we've had a few special guests on the podcast this year. 0:48 We had Mazako on earlier, Jess Myers. 0:51 But for the WCHA Final Five show, I thought it was time to bring in the biggest loudmouth of the WCHA. 0:57 And of course, I'm talking about the man behind the UMD penalty box, drunk hockey guy, also known as Chris Orlett. 1:06 How's it going, Chris? 1:08 It's going good. 1:09 I'm happy to be here. 1:10 I feel honored, you know, late in the season, it's playoff crunch time and you did the right thing. 1:16 You brought in the lefty. 1:18 Sometimes you got to bring in the heavy hitters late in the season and I'm happy and I'm happy that I'm sure some of my favorite GPL posters out there are listening, my good buddy George and of course, Handyman and we all know GopherWes. 1:31 I'm happy that my boy GopherWes is probably listening. 1:34 So if you're out there, man, it's good to hear from you. 1:36 Can't wait to meet you and we'll keep it real. 1:40 Oh boy. 1:41 And it's started already. 1:47 Well, still no Cardinals, so let's move on without them. 1:50 Obviously, interesting weekend last week. 1:54 Your Bulldogs swept but struggled a bit. 1:57 Our Gophers swept and they kind of struggled a bit. 2:01 DU had to go to three games to beat Duluth. 2:05 And of course, we had St. 2:07 Cloud sweeping UNO, UND sweeping, oh, it was Bemidji, and then what was the final one? 2:16 Is that it? 2:18 St. 2:18 Cloud, Nebraska. 2:19 St. 2:19 Cloud, Nebraska. 2:19 Oh, well, that's right. 2:21 Well, tell us about your Bulldogs. 2:22 What happened to them last week? 2:23 And obviously, it looked like similar to the Gophers. 2:27 It was closer than you wanted it to be. 2:30 Yeah, I was thinking I was going to miss my men's league game Sunday night. 2:34 But, you know, Friday was one of those Friday was Friday was a good game. 2:40 The first 25 minutes, I mean, the Bulldogs had their foot on the gas. 2:43 They were for checking hard and they were completely owning play. 2:47 Then pretty classic Bulldogs. 2:49 They, you know, go into a shell and, you know, almost stop for checking. 2:53 And before you know it, Mankato's climbed back into the game. 2:56 And I don't believe from I remember they ever tied it up. 2:58 I mean, we got an empty net goal, but, you know, close enough to make you sweat. 3:03 Kenny Ryder, you know, gave up a bad goal both nights. 3:06 I was starting to wonder if we hired Frazee as our goal-tending coach. 3:11 It was looking bad for a minute there. 3:13 Some real, I mean, there's one goal from the corner that it was like he was taking a nap and he looked up and the puck was in the net. 3:19 I can't even explain to you what happened on that one. 3:21 And then, and then Saturday night, I didn't, I didn't feel like we played a bad game. 3:25 It was one of those weird bouncing games where literally, you know, you guy would have an open net and he would go to bury it and the puck would jump over a stick. 3:33 I mean, there was probably easily five goals that, that either, you know, we just got a knob on the puck or, or we just fanned on a, on a shot. 3:44 So all in all, you know, we played phenomenal, but the Bulldogs, you know, helped them make, helped them look good to say the least. 3:51 But Saturday night to me was more of a puck luck game. 3:54 When the first rebound that finally ended up on a stick, you know, we buried it in overtime. 3:59 So, I mean, if that tells you anything, that just the pucks are jumping everywhere, but doesn't make you nervous going into this weekend. 4:04 Yeah. 4:05 Yeah. 4:06 I would say when you, when you play a team like that, it'll make you nervous a little. 4:10 I mean, it's tough to beat a team, you know, six times in one year, I think we'll beat them five times in tied ones. 4:16 But, you know, at the end of the day, you know, Mankato played well and we probably played a pretty mediocre series. 4:22 Well, it sounds like, you know, from your tweets that Mankato actually almost ended it when they had the power play in that overtime. 4:29 How close was it? 4:30 Oh, there was about four close ones. 4:34 Let's see. 4:34 They shot a puck and Ryder saved it and then he went behind the net again. 4:39 I don't know why. 4:40 He likes to play the puck, but he's kind of, he's not as good as Stalock with it, so he makes you a little nervous. 4:45 But then he came back in and as he was coming back in, the guy fed the puck between his legs and it came shooting out the other side. 4:53 The Mankato guy had a wide open net and I can't remember if a defenseman blocked it or if it hit the pipe. 4:58 I mean, it was, it was nuts. 5:01 I looked over and said, okay, we're probably going to win now because they didn't score there. 5:04 But that, you know, that was, that was ridiculous. 5:07 The game should have been over right there. 5:08 I'm still surprised it wasn't. 5:10 So you guys ended up finishing them off and down here at Mariucci Hammy, it looks like, you know, the Gophers, tight game Friday, Saturday, tight game. 5:21 Anchorage took a two goal lead and then the Gophers blew them out. 5:24 What are your thoughts on the weekend? 5:26 Well, yeah, I mean, I thought that the first game was kind of what I expected the series to be. 5:30 I mean, you know, Anchorage is going to come in there and try to just clog up the ice and not give up a lot of opportunities because they're not a high scoring team. 5:37 So you sort of expect that they're going to try to play conservatively and make you earn every bit. 5:42 And that's kind of how Friday night turned out. 5:44 And certainly it was looking pretty ugly on Saturday after they went up three to one. 5:49 And I think I tweeted at the time that it reminded me of that Vermont game, that second game of the Vermont series early in the season where the Gophers took a bunch of bad penalties in the second period and ended up losing to a pretty bad team. 6:01 And that was starting to look that way in this case. 6:04 But you have to give the guys credit. 6:06 I mean, they came back with those two goals to tie it before the end of the second period. 6:09 And then, yeah, they just went on a little rampage for about four minutes where they put four goals in that. 6:15 And, you know, you could see that after that fourth goal, Anchorage, I think, was a little shell shocked that we had come back to take the lead again. 6:22 And I mean, then all of a sudden, Howell puts in his second one and Helgeson a little bit after that. 6:28 And so, yeah, I mean, I was real happy. 6:29 But it was a series, quite honestly, they have things that they need to clean up. 6:33 I mean, the penalty kill has not been good lately. 6:37 I mean, the Gophers haven't given up on a five on five goal in three and a half games. 6:42 The problem is that they've given up, I think, like seven power play goals in that same period, time period. 6:47 So, you know, that's something that you're definitely have to clean up, you know, either stay out of the box or you have to be more effective on the PK. 6:54 And so that's something that I would imagine they'll be working on this week. 6:57 One thing I did notice, though, is that from the Golden Gopher Hockey Twitter is that, you know, they played four games again, Anchorage, and they never allowed an even strength goal. 7:08 All of them were power play goals. 7:09 You know, from the two games earlier this year and the two games this past weekend. 7:13 So it was a little nerve wracking. 7:16 Obviously, they got to fix things in that area. 7:19 One thing that we've talked about over the season is Eric Howell. 7:23 Obviously he started out really good, went into a lull, but he seems to have turned it around quite a bit. 7:30 Obviously, he had two goals. 7:31 Was it each night, I believe? 7:35 He seems to be coming back to what he was earlier in the season. 7:39 How key is that for the Gophers to be successful here on out? 7:43 Well, we've talked many times during the season that when the Gophers are at their best, they have two scoring lines because that makes it difficult for the other team to really focus on any one specific unit. 7:56 For me, it's a huge thing at this time of the year, especially when obviously you're kind of looking at games and granted the Saturday night game, of course it is Anchorage, I mean it was a high scoring game, but you're not going to probably get that most playoff games. 8:10 I mean, maybe you get that on occasion, but to be able to have two lines that are threatening to the other team, especially if you have the last change opportunity, I mean that's certainly going to be important. 8:22 So it's a big thing for the Gophers. 8:25 So do you guys have any other thoughts on your home teams this weekend? 8:31 Anything that concerned you from this past weekend or anything that was good that you saw? 8:35 I would say that we got everybody right where we want them. 8:40 We're finishing this season just like we finished last season. 8:43 So hopefully we can tank the first game at the Final Five, you know, lose in crappy fashion and then we all jump off the bandwagon and then the Bulldogs can go on a run. 8:55 Well, let's see what happened to the rest of the WCHA. 8:57 Obviously, you know, let's start with UNO at St. 9:00 Cloud. 9:00 Obviously this UNO collapse is pretty epic for a Dean Blaze coached team. 9:07 They lost at least their last six games, lost to home ice and then just got taken out by St. 9:13 Cloud. 9:13 Hammeh, what happened? 9:15 Well, I think I looked this up and put this on Twitter, but I think they only won like two games out of the last 12. 9:22 I mean, it was an epic collapse for UNO considering that they were actually in line for home ice. 9:27 You know, you thought that they were pretty much a given for home ice at one point and they just went belly up. 9:33 And you know, it's not something you really expect with the Blaze team. 9:36 And you know, I'm not surprised that St. 9:38 Cloud won. 9:39 I mean, granted, they're not the most clutch program in the world, but you know, they're at home and you know, they've been playing pretty solid hockey given the fact that they've had some injuries and departures at midseason. 9:48 So, you know, going into that series, I sort of expected St. 9:52 Cloud was going to come out of it. 9:53 But yeah, you really don't expect to see a Dean Blaze team kind of go belly up like that. 9:57 What do you think about that UNO collapse, Chris? 10:02 You know, Dean Blaze, if I was a goaltender and that man was recruiting me, I would say no, thanks, I'll go play division three. 10:12 I mean, frankly, you know, you're watching you're watching the WCHA scoreboards, you know, and I'm at Bulldog Games, and, you know, you're just watching Twitter, and it's all of a sudden, you know, gives up two goals and oh, here comes a new goalie Faulkner's back in when everybody thought Faulkner was never going to play again. 10:26 It's just, I mean, I don't know, I don't know what kind of message he's sending to his team. 10:31 I don't know what kind of message he's sending to his players. 10:34 You know, clearly, it looks like scoring goals was the issue in this in this series. 10:39 But it was a two part thing there. 10:40 One is, you know, if you don't show trust in your goaltender, how's your team going to trust you? 10:45 And the only time he ever won titles is when what he had was a gearing. 10:49 Am I right on that? 10:49 From North Dakota, where he actually finally rode a goaltender to a title. 10:54 And then, you know, to add that, I don't know how for real St. 10:59 Cloud is with Lee. 11:00 But Lee seems to have regained the form that I guess they expected him to have when they recruited him. 11:08 You know, when they played the Bulldogs, St. 11:09 Cloud looked pretty good. 11:10 I wouldn't say offensively that good. 11:13 The Bulldogs didn't help the case because every time they play on the Olympic sheet, it's like the extra 15 feet, they forget how to play hockey. 11:19 I don't understand it. 11:20 I never will. 11:21 But Lee is playing pretty good hockey. 11:23 He made one goal on the weekend. 11:24 You know, that's usually not a fluke. 11:27 That's usually pretty good goaltending. 11:28 I would agree with that. 11:29 They seem to have found the right guy to anchor their team right now. 11:36 All right, Tech has not won a game, a regular season game against Colorado College at the New World Arena. 11:45 They were 0 for 28 is what I saw on Twitter this weekend. 11:49 Yet in WCHA playoffs, they are now 4-1 and now swept CC out of the WCHA playoffs and they are done for the season. 11:59 Chris, what are your thoughts on that? 12:01 I honestly don't even want to talk about the series. 12:04 I want to talk about the part that's the worst part and that's that crappy ban that I'm going to have to deal with Thursday night. 12:10 Hey, you would have had to deal with them anyway. 12:13 No, they finally stopped giving the charity case welfare handouts to them. 12:18 Luckily, they actually had to make the tournament. 12:20 Unfortunately, they did. 12:22 What I'm hoping for is when they get bounced Thursday night and they better get bounced or I'm never going to cheer for Denver ever again. 12:29 If they don't get bounced Thursday night, that ban better go home with them. 12:36 Yeah, exactly. 12:37 Can they play with the puck and play a little bit more? 12:40 No, but you know, I'll tell you what, Michigan Tech's scary. 12:45 I don't think they can win three games. 12:47 I don't think they're deep enough to do that. 12:49 But man, when they go into their shell and they play their game, they play it well. 12:55 And they're scoring goals now, which is obviously a little scary because tech teams don't score goals. 13:02 You lose to tech teams two to one and they're having pretty decent offense now. 13:06 So I would, you know, I don't I hope Denver doesn't sleep on them. 13:10 If you ask me, you know, obviously we get the winner that for the Bulldogs and I would take I would take Denver all the way we I mean, we stunk the last two games against tech. 13:19 So I'd rather have Denver and I know that's weird to say. 13:22 But at the end of the day, tech's playing good hockey at the right time. 13:25 Maybe it's not good hockey. 13:26 Maybe they just got a good weekend. 13:27 But there's something about them playing Colorado in the playoffs. 13:32 Well, there was a rumor that they were motivated this past weekend. 13:37 From what I heard, Owens refused to let them practice at the arena the whole week they were there. 13:46 I probably wasn't making any friends there. 13:50 What do you think about that whole weekend, Hammeh? 13:52 Well, I mean, you know, that was to me the one series that I thought, well, I mean, I kind of thought maybe Wisconsin could upset Denver, but I really thought that this series was going to be one that where the home team might actually lose. 14:04 I don't think I predicted that last week, but it was one that was real sketchy about it. 14:09 I'm not entirely shocked. 14:10 I mean, we've seen how, I mean, when they came to Mariucci, Tech was very feisty and you knew this year, they, you know, they started off pretty well and, you know, they're not going to be pushovers. 14:20 You know, they're, they kind of have a different attitude this year where they're not kind of showing up at the rink and you're just expecting that they're going to fold their tent and not, you know, give their effort. 14:28 And so I really believe that, you know, they're, they're going to play, I think, Denver pretty solid. 14:34 I'm not entirely convinced on Denver. 14:36 You know, they've been kind of all over the map, granted some of it injury related, but you know, Tech is a good team and they're going to play solid. 14:42 They kind of are like, to me, a little bit like Wisconsin, you know, they can, they're going to play, you know, their style and they're not going to deviate from it too much and you just kind of have to be patient against them and you know, you have to give them credit. 14:56 And CC has been very inconsistent this whole year. 14:59 I mean, they, even their best players are Schwartz and those guys have been kind of up and down and you didn't know what you're going to get from one game to the next and how, you know, he sort of didn't pan out this year the way you kind of expected him to. 15:12 And so, you know, I'm not real surprised and I'm actually, you know, I'm surprised from the sense that we kind of picked them up high in the beginning of the year. 15:19 I know I did, but... 15:22 A lot of people did. 15:23 Quite a few people, a lot of people, some people had them winning the league. 15:26 Yeah, so I mean, I'm surprised from that sense, but I'm not surprised in the sense that once you've gone through, you know, the entire regular season and you've seen how up and down they've been, that they lost, it doesn't shock me. 15:38 Well, moving to Denver and Wisconsin, obviously that series went to three this weekend and it didn't look exciting, but Denver finally did come through, didn't they, Hammeh? 15:49 Yeah, I mean, I just think that that series had three games written all over it. 15:55 Wisconsin, you have to give them credit. 15:57 They've, you know, in the late in the year, they've really kind of picked up their play, at least as far as handling their system and playing their roles and doing all that kind of stuff that you need to do to win. 16:06 And I mean, they only had one chance and that was to win their way into the NCAAs. 16:10 So, they kind of had to buy into the, you know, doing everything with their system. 16:14 And, you know, that kind of, that kind of a situation against an open skating team, like, you know, Denver tends to be, you know, or the Gophers or UMD or whatever, you know, sometimes teams struggle with that stuff because they just like to play their, you know, up and down the rink kind of style. 16:28 And when somebody comes in there and kind of, you know, makes them earn every inch of the ice and whatever, that can sometimes get frustrating. 16:35 And I'm not surprised Wisconsin, you know, took them to three games. 16:38 I actually, you know, from a bias standpoint, kind of was hoping Wisconsin was going to win because I thought that they'd give, you know, I thought they'd give North Dakota a little bit more of a run than I expect St. 16:49 Cloud to, even though I think St. 16:51 Cloud's playing relatively solid. 16:52 But, you know, either way, it was a good series and you have to tip your hat to Wisconsin for how they improved at the end. 16:59 I bet you, Chris, you're just glad the Buckees gone, aren't you? 17:03 You know, actually, I'm sad for the taxpayers of Minnesota. 17:09 The, you know, the boost sales at the Final Five are going to hurt substantially. 17:13 Oh, they don't really show up that much anyway. 17:15 Yeah, they kind of do, though, and they do, they just, they just bench. 17:18 I mean, they make me look like, like I'm a recovering... 17:21 Sober hockey guy? 17:22 Yeah, exactly. 17:23 So, you know, Wisconsin, you're right, I mean, they're a team that's going to make year and every inch. 17:30 They're not going to score a lot of goals. 17:32 We always joke around that Eves is killing college hockey because that trap just needs to go away. 17:38 But, you know, I think the Final Five would have been, you know, it's a tight ticket to get right now. 17:43 I think it would have been an even more difficult ticket. 17:45 I think it would have made for some, you know, we only got two more years of this thing. 17:50 So, so you really want the right teams there. 17:52 And I'm not saying that any team's not the right team there, but, you know, Wisconsin's going to bring a better fan base than Denver's going to bring. 17:59 But at the end of the day, you know, Wisconsin, you know, they just, they ran, they just didn't have the depth to take Denver out three games. 18:06 And that's my opinion on that, that, you know, they, they, they could have made the run, but they didn't. 18:11 They were close. 18:12 But, you know, you need some scorers in Wisconsin, you know, when they were winning a national title, that's what they're doing. 18:16 They were scoring goals and playing good defense. 18:19 Well, now we move on to the Final Five and obviously Minnesota is finally back at the Final Five after being gone for a few years. 18:25 I know you missed this, didn't you, Chris? 18:27 Hey, Joep, did you, did you want to talk about North Dakota or were you going to avoid them? 18:32 It's fine. 18:33 I mean, I'm okay. 18:34 I'm great with that. 18:35 He skipped a series last week. 18:36 You know, I accidentally did that and I think it was the UW series. 18:40 I think this guy's asleep at the wheel, man. 18:42 I got grief from our buddy Chuck Schwartz. 18:47 Okay. 18:47 What about the UMD sweep? 18:48 Does anybody care that they swept Bemidji? 18:52 Well, I'm excited. 18:53 I've got some extra blankets at home we'll be bringing to the game. 18:56 Oh, here we go. 18:57 Hey, hey, just in case it gets cold, I'm wearing, if you don't, a few pair of socks. 19:02 So, you know, in case something happens in 77 degree weather that could harm anything that may be out there. 19:09 Well, I wasn't going there. 19:10 I have no idea what you're talking about there. 19:12 Yeah, that's crazy. 19:13 Yeah, that's craziness. 19:14 But yeah, the sewer there again, I guess it's good for profitability, right? 19:20 We know we're going to get sellout crowds for almost every game now. 19:23 So, yay, we're happy for you and your racist mascot and all that good stuff. 19:28 Happy to have you. 19:29 I hope you're on your bus Thursday on your way back home. 19:32 Tammy? 19:34 I'm just looking forward to all the signs that Chris is going to bring to the rink. 19:40 You know, if it's going to be blanket related or, you know, nine toes related or what it's going to be, you know, I don't, you know, I'll look forward to that. 19:48 But no, I mean, you know, you kind of expect the North Dakota. 19:51 They've been playing, I think they have, I think I saw what the second best record in college hockey since Thanksgiving or whatever it's been. 19:59 So you kind of have to give them credit, you know, tip your hat and they're looking like they're a pretty solid bet now to be in NCAAs. 20:05 And, you know, we didn't really, I know, I didn't really expect them to be to that level, you know, two months ago or whatever. 20:11 I kind of thought that they would, you know, do all right, but not enough to get in. 20:15 And so you have to give them credit for that. 20:17 And you know, we'll see how it goes. 20:20 I think that, like I said earlier, I kind of wanted Wisconsin to face them on Thursday, but that's going to end up being St. 20:27 Cloud. 20:28 So we'll see how that game goes. 20:30 Yeah, North Dakota. 20:31 I mean, like you said, playing good at the end of the season and it's, you know, you hate, you hate Axel. 20:37 I mean, I don't know how people can like the guy just from watching him from a fan standpoint. 20:41 Maybe he's a great coach. 20:42 I don't know. 20:43 But boy, he sure knows how to do it in the second half of the year. 20:46 I mean, it's, it seems like year after year we're sitting here talking about a 500 suit team. 20:51 I'm not worried about them. 20:53 I don't think, I don't think they're going to go far. 20:55 You're right. 20:56 I don't see a frozen for birth in their future. 20:59 No, no, nor do I. 21:00 But, you know, they're going to give anybody fits that plays them in and unfortunately, you know, for, for my squad, you know, the Bulldogs, if they end up facing them, for whatever reason, you know, Sandy gets all tight uptight every time he coached North Dakota. 21:13 So the teams, you know, uptight and it just seems like, you know, you play every team good, but they can never bring their A game against North Dakota. 21:21 Now one thing I thought I wanted to bring up before we go to the Final Five is what happened to your Bulldogs the second half of the year? 21:27 I mean, come on, they had the easiest schedule of all 12 teams and Hammy, me and Cardinal, we all thought you guys were going to run away with it and win the league by at least probably four to six points. 21:40 What happened, kid? 21:41 Well, well, there's a couple of things. 21:44 For starters, you know, you have your hiccup against, you know, the collapse against Techie. 21:48 You blew a couple, you know, you don't blow a four goal lead against Tech and a two goal lead against Mankato and we're right there going into the final weekend. 21:57 You know, I think the first half of the year, they played above their heads a little bit. 22:01 The freshmen played a lot better than we expected. 22:04 Second half of the year, they had a couple disappointing losses out there. 22:09 But, you know, I honestly, I put it more towards the way Minnesota was playing us not catching you guys than how the dogs are playing. 22:18 I can't, you know, you know me, I'm not a Minnesota apologist, but I honestly thought eventually the freshmen and the young team was going to catch up and they were going to fold. 22:28 And right now they seem to be playing good hockey. 22:30 And it's like every time we needed you guys to lose to get that two points back, you know, you just kept pointing with your girl, okay, you know, is going to steal one from you. 22:39 You know, didn't happen. 22:40 And then, you know, Bemidji was what, six game winning streak coming in, we're still at least a point. 22:46 You know, they couldn't even steal a point, you know, the only person that helped us was Wisconsin. 22:50 And we didn't help ourselves playing, playing St. 22:53 Cloud. 22:53 And I kind of had that feeling coming to the weekend the way we played St. 22:56 Cloud that, you know, there was just no way we were going to make up two points when we had to go into St. 23:00 Cloud's backyard. 23:02 Um, you know, so, so Bulldogs, you know, just, I think they came back to Earth a little bit. 23:07 And I think the Gophers, you know, surprised a lot of people by, by really keeping their foot on the gas. 23:12 And I would say that if any Minnesota fans not surprised by the second half of the Gophers year or the year in general, then they're lying to you or they really are the dunk, you know, drinking the Ducky and Bunny Kool-Aid. 23:24 Well, I would say we were definitely surprised, you know. 23:28 Earlier in the season when we did our picks, what did we have them, four to six, Tammy? 23:33 I think I had them four. 23:35 Bulldogs right around them, you know, just ahead of them or just behind them. 23:38 Yeah, I think I had the Bulldogs fifth, I think, something like that. 23:41 And no one thought they were going to win the league this year. 23:45 No one saw it coming at all. 23:47 Everyone thought it was going to be Denver, CC and North Dakota fighting out for the title. 23:55 I don't disagree. 23:58 And we're definitely happy about it. 23:59 It's been a while and it's been a good season. 24:03 Obviously, you know, we'd like for it to continue. 24:07 But it's, we've at least turned it around from these years of fifth and seventh place finishes that have just plagued them the last three or four years now. 24:17 So we're definitely moving in the right direction. 24:21 You know, the Gunsle factor, you know, as the first thing I said is, is my friends, you know, some of my friends are asking me, I said that their blue line is going to change immediately. 24:32 You know, and that has been the biggest change this year. 24:34 Well, they've been scoring too, but their team defense has been very good. 24:39 And then they had Patterson to back them up when they did make a mistake. 24:43 It's easier to play to score goals when your forwards don't have to, you know, go 200 feet to score a goal. 24:48 You know, you've got defensemen now that know can defend their own end and then break the puck out. 24:52 And that's, you know, that's all Gunzel. 24:54 I mean, it really is. 24:56 Well, we've been saying that all year, so we are definitely glad he's back for good. 25:00 All right, guys, let's move to the Final Five. 25:05 I think that any team except for Tech has a chance to win the Final Five. 25:13 I think, you know, St. 25:14 Cloud with Lee, they can, they have a chance to win Denver. 25:18 I think any of the top five seeds have a legitimate chance of getting to the championship game and winning. 25:25 What do you think, Chris? 25:27 I would, I would agree with that. 25:29 I mean, it wouldn't, it wouldn't surprise me at all. 25:32 So let me just double check. 25:33 I got my plans right. 25:34 You got Denver, you should have Denver, North Dakota, St. 25:38 Cloud and Tech. 25:39 Yeah, Tech is taking on Denver Thursday afternoon. 25:41 If you're going to ask me who the best chance to come out of, you know, to go to run three games, I would have to go sadly with St. 25:48 Cloud just because of the way the goalie is playing. 25:50 Because as we found out with Stalock in the Bulldogs in 2009, I just don't think you can win three games in three nights in the Final Five unless your goaltender is just playing shut down goaltending. 26:01 And really he's the only goalie that's playing that way right now. 26:04 But one thing you got to think about is they're taking on North Dakota and Lee has really struggled against North Dakota. 26:10 And you're right. 26:10 So I guess I should preface that. 26:12 If he gets past North, if they find a way to get past North Dakota, I'd be a little nervous. 26:16 I mean he's kind of a head case against North Dakota. 26:18 What's the old five or he hasn't won a game, I don't believe, against North Dakota. 26:22 Yeah, he hasn't won a game. 26:22 That was going to be the one thing I was going to point out about that game is that St. 26:28 Cloud is certainly playing better and everything like that. 26:31 But it's almost one of those cases where the coach has to weigh, okay, this guy's been playing really well on net at the same time, you know, how sometimes certain goalies or whatever just have this kind of kryptonite team that just, you know, seems to be unbeatable to them for one reason or another. 26:48 And this kind of looks that way to me with Lee, that this is the one team that is kind of his kryptonite. 26:54 And I don't know what to think, you know, I kind of think North Dakota is going to win that game. 26:58 But, you know, and I think the other factor you have to look at is St. 27:02 Cloud doesn't play many games on the NHL size rank. 27:04 I mean, I think they had six games all year on that size rank and sometimes that can be a little overrated, but, you know, they have a losing record away from the concrete center and they don't play great, you know, on NHL ranks. 27:18 So you know, I think that the fact that UND does play on that size rank and I think that they match up pretty well with St. 27:25 Cloud, I'd probably go with North Dakota in that game. 27:28 Probably right on that. 27:30 I guess, yeah, when you talk about that, you're definitely right. 27:34 He has been a head case. 27:35 I saw that all over Twitter. 27:37 I think Goon made the joke about if Nebraska Omaha wants to beat Lee, make sure they throw a suit jerseys on. 27:44 Then they'd be hostile and abusive though. 27:49 You're right. 27:50 We don't need more than one team, you know, hanging up the rack for hostile and abusive. 27:57 Well what about your potential opponent? 27:58 What's going to happen with Michigan Tech and Denver, Chris? 28:04 Boy, I tell you, you would expect Denver to, you know, say welcome to the Final Five Tech, now it's time for you to go home. 28:13 But it appears Mel Pearson knows what he's doing. 28:16 So probably, you know, a very good liar. 28:17 Oh, don't tell the Sioux fans that. 28:19 He should not have been Coach of the Year according to them. 28:21 Well, yeah, apparently when your team's picked to finish third to fourth and they finish third to fourth, that it's good enough to be Coach of the Year. 28:30 Apparently, that's how the system works. 28:32 Well, if that's the case, the Bulldogs have picked to finish sixth. 28:34 So I want to state a case for Sandowin. 28:37 You know, I think I'm guessing Denver is going to win the game. 28:43 I think it'll be a tight game. 28:44 I think it'll be a 4-2, empty netter type game. 28:47 But boy, boy, Tekkis, I mean, you just never know what you're going to get with them. 28:51 I mean, if their goalie plays well and they're able to stay in their system, you know, that's a good thing for them. 28:57 And they were able to play shut down defense on an Olympic sheet, you know, last weekend. 29:02 And all this week does for them is now shrinks the rink and makes it easier for them. 29:06 But I do think Denver will come out of that game. 29:09 Now we've been talking throughout the year. 29:11 What do you think? 29:12 Do you think Michigan Tech is going to have a resurgence with this new coach? 29:17 Do you think, you know, maybe next year, they're another mid pack team? 29:21 Or do you think it's going to be good that they're going to be in the WCHA when what's left? 29:25 I mean, is this Michigan Tech starting to come back or is this just an aberration and they're going to be back at the bottom? 29:33 I think it's Tech starting to come back. 29:35 I think I do think, I mean, it's been 35 years. 29:38 Who was their coach last year? 29:39 I'm trying to turn a blank. 29:42 Jimmy Russell. 29:44 So, you know, Russell leaves, but obviously he brought some decent recruits in. 29:49 You know, Pearson's able to put the system together with those players and, and seriously, look what's going to be left of the WCHA. 29:56 You got, you got two Alaska teams, so good luck recruiting there. 29:59 So now you've already got two teams that you should finish out of. 30:03 You know, Bowling Green, I mean, yeah, yikes. 30:06 I mean, it's going to turn into the CHA. 30:08 But no, I really think Tech, Tech really will be, you know, in that league of top 14. 30:15 But I don't think you're going to see them making NCAA runs. 30:17 They'll make some NCAA tournaments on auto bids and, and here and there and, you know, maybe win a game. 30:22 But, you know, Tech's not going to get a frozen 14 back out there. 30:26 Unless they get just a stud goaltender. 30:28 I just don't see how they'll do it. 30:30 Well, they've made Final Fives once in a while. 30:33 And obviously there was that one year. 30:35 Oh boy, was it early mid 90s where they actually made the Final Five championship game. 30:41 I think that was the year they took CC out, wasn't it, Hammeh? 30:45 You're asking the wrong guy. 30:46 I think they, they ran, I think they played Minnesota for the final and Minnesota put like ten up on them because they just ran out of gas. 30:52 Wasn't that the year CC was the league champ? 30:57 Yes it was. 31:01 I don't think they were too happy about that. 31:03 All right, well, okay, we'll go with your guys' winners. 31:06 We've got Denver facing UMD Friday afternoon. 31:10 Give us your best. 31:12 You want my honest opinion? 31:14 I think we're both going to be crying on Saturday. 31:17 I just have this ugly feeling that both our teams are going to get bounced. 31:23 Do I want it to happen? 31:24 No. 31:24 Should it happen? 31:25 No. 31:25 But crazier things have happened. 31:32 I like the fact that Denver is coming off. 31:34 Do they have the day game? 31:35 Do they have the day game or the night game? 31:37 Yes, they do. 31:39 You know, fresh legs for us, so that's a good thing. 31:43 If the Bulldogs win, it's going to be because they jump all over. 31:46 They got Britain back, right? 31:47 So Britain early. 31:49 I mean, it's going to be if the dogs can put three goals in the first period, I think they'll walk away with the game. 31:55 If the game's tight heading into the third period, I would have told you the first half of the year. 32:01 If you're not beating the Bulldogs by three goals going into the third, good luck. 32:04 You don't have a chance. 32:06 But our third periods haven't had the closing strength that they've had the first half of the year when they're on that run. 32:12 But my gut tells me that we're both going to get bounced. 32:17 But really looking at the matchup, looking at the fresh legs, I do think the dogs are going to close one. 32:23 And they're either going to blow one out five to one or they're going to win it tight at three to two. 32:29 What do you think of that matchup, Hammeh? 32:32 Or that potential matchup? 32:33 Yeah, well, that's the thing. 32:35 I'm not entirely convinced Tech's going to lose against Denver. 32:39 I'm not saying, you know, but it's just one of those things where I'm just not sure that that style, you know, that Denver is going to be able to handle that kind of style. 32:47 And you have to remember Denver played Tech earlier in the year in Houghton and they got beat, you know, one game seven to two and they tied the second game. 32:55 So I mean, granted it was, you know, a number of months ago, but nonetheless, it goes to show that, you know, if Tech's playing their style of game, they can definitely take it to Denver. 33:04 But, we'll go with, you know, the Denver being the winner and I, you know, it's a tough one because I think, you know, we've talked about Duluth being a little bit inconsistent in the second half and there's been some struggles against some teams that you kind of would expect them to just run over and granted it is the WCHA and so you have to kind of realize that you're not going to typically run over any team. 33:28 But I think that the Bulldogs will win that game. 33:32 I think that it comes down to, you know, the firepower of both teams on the top line is going to be very good and, you know, it's going to be one of those things where I think it's going to be which goalie comes up big, you know, in the clutch moments towards the ends of the game and I'm sure it will be, you know, a tight one. 33:48 I would suspect that it's going to be one of those kind of like four to three types of games or something like that where there will be some goals but it won't be outrageous. 33:55 So I'll go with Duluth on that one. 33:58 Okay, okay, well then we've got Minnesota going to take on the winner of St. 34:02 Cloud and North Dakota. 34:06 Um, either way, it's going to be a big game. 34:09 Minnesota's back in the Friday night game. 34:11 They haven't had a bye in years and of course they really haven't participated in years. 34:15 So this is a big game for them and it's been a while since they've had a huge game. 34:21 Typically they haven't been playing well Friday night, Tammy, do you think they can get rid of that stigma and get to Saturday? 34:30 Well I mean, you know, I know that North Dakota is going to play it tough and I mean, it's going to be one of those, especially, you know, these teams of course absolutely do not like each other, you know, at all and so you know it's going to be one of those grudge match types of games and they've had some incredible games against each other in the Final Five. 34:48 I mean some of the most memorable games in that, you know, in the Final Five have been between those two teams so I'm expecting it will be a, you know, a great game. 34:57 I think the reason why I'll pick the Gophers is because of what we talked about earlier with Howell's line, you know, being much more dangerous, kind of like they were early in the year when the Gophers were, you know, beating good teams like UMD, you know, on the road and whatever. 35:13 But I just think that, you know, this is one of those situations where North Dakota's depth, you know, is going to be a certain weakness given all the injury stuff and it will be their second game of the weekend. 35:26 Like Chris talked about earlier, you know, with the Gophers and UMD having the day off, I think that that's going to be a major advantage. 35:34 You get the last change so you get your matchups the way you want it to and so I expect the Gophers to win but I do expect to be a very highly contested game. 35:42 Well, if things go the way they think they will and we'll just humor you here, Chris. 35:49 That'll improve the PK though. 35:51 Oh yeah. 35:53 Gophers and Dogs in the Championship. 35:58 Well, haven't faced each other since October and ever since then, obviously, you guys went on this huge run, I mean, you had an unbelievable run. 36:08 Gophers were great after that for a while, kind of went down for a bit a little bit. 36:12 Back up, Dogs put 50 shots a night on us that weekend though, I think that's been a little bit overplayed because I thought a lot of shots came from the outside that Patterson could see really well. 36:26 But obviously, we've been waiting the whole year for these two teams to meet again. 36:30 What's going to happen, guys? 36:32 Well, here's what I can't understand with the deck shot counter, to be quite frank with you, and that is you're supposed to make your own goalie look good. 36:41 So you're supposed to be popping those extra little saves for your goalie, and it seems like he's got a happy trigger finger for our skaters. 36:50 I mean, it really does. 36:51 It's pretty ridiculous. 36:53 You just watch shots and I go, that's going to count as a shot. 36:55 Goalie gloves a puck out of the air that's two feet over the night. 36:59 He's going to count it as a shot. 37:00 Sure enough, he ticks one up there. 37:01 Once and only gives a bonus shot in there. 37:04 So, I can't figure out who the guy they have doing it, but it's nuts. 37:08 We did hear that all year long. 37:11 Oh, Duluth put up 50 shots, over 100 shots that week. 37:14 I didn't think there were, it didn't seem like there were that many shots, but there were a lot of shots that were to the outside. 37:20 Yeah, they put up 100 shots. 37:22 I'll tell you the quality shots they got, they put them past Patterson. 37:26 I'll say that much about it. 37:28 But you know, it's a weird situation. 37:32 Kenny Ryder is a weird goalie. 37:34 Whenever you've needed Kenny Ryder to play good, and this is why last year when they lost to the Final Five and everybody was so nervous, and even I was nervous, I said, you know, every time I've seen Kenny Ryder play in a big game that they needed, you know, the year before that against North Dakota, they had to win the Final Five to get in. 37:50 I think he stopped 55 shots and we lost two to one. 37:53 You can't ask him to do much better than that. 37:55 And then, you know, you can argue all you want how good the Michigan goalie played, but Ryder was lights out, the whole four game tournament. 38:04 I mean, the goals that were scored on him were legit goals. 38:07 So, you know, it comes down to hockey people always say experience, experience, experience. 38:13 And I know if you ask me flat out, NHL, you know, pro hockey, who's going to be the better goalie? 38:20 I'm going to probably tell you Patterson. 38:22 But there's something about Ryder in big games. 38:26 Patterson has never won a big game. 38:28 You know, I mean, you can call this series a nice win, but you beat the number 12 team. 38:32 Hey, none of those guys have had a big win in my book, really. 38:35 Yeah, the seniors have never done anything. 38:39 So I mean, so you've got that on your side. 38:42 And I would have you would have asked me three months ago, I'd tell you the next time the Bulldogs and Gophers meet, the Bulldogs are going to blow the doors off the Gophers. 38:50 But the Gophers are playing good hockey. 38:52 And whether or not you talk tired legs, we're going to talk about if the Gophers score first, in that building, in its Bulldogs go for Saturday night, which I just I hope it is, I can't be too confident. 39:04 But I hope it is. 39:05 The Gophers score first, I'm extremely nervous for my squad. 39:11 We had the benefit of scoring first in the regionals last year. 39:14 And then we got to the X, the fans were on our side. 39:17 So you know, even when the other team scored first, it didn't really affect them. 39:20 If Minnesota scores first in that building erupts with what should be 14 to 15,000 Gopher fans, I'm very nervous for my squad. 39:28 But you know, the Bulldogs find a way to pop a couple early goals, then I'm confident we'll win the game. 39:33 I really think it comes down to who scores first. 39:38 I believe that it's going to be a tight game. 39:41 I think it'll have certainly plenty of offensive opportunities. 39:47 I think that if I were going to if you're going to put a gun to my head on that one, I would probably say UMD is going to win, mainly because I believe that when you have a player like Connelly on your team, there's a certain level of confidence that runs throughout the lineup. 40:04 And granted, the Gophers have great players like Bukestad, but nonetheless, Connelly has been around. 40:10 He's been leading the team for a long time, and he's a senior, and he's very likely could be the hobby winner. 40:16 I mean, when you have that kind of a guy leading you, and they've coming off a national title, so that's going to breed some confidence. 40:25 And so I just think that, yes, it's going to be obviously a major pro-Gopher crowd, but I think that that's not something that's going to necessarily be intimidating to UMD. 40:36 So I won't be surprised, obviously, if either team wins because they're both very good teams, but if you're going to ask me now, I'd probably say, given the Gophers' recent struggles on the PK, that's going to be a major key. 40:51 And if they're going to continue to struggle, I mean, they might not even get to the championship game if they continue to struggle with that. 40:56 But if they do get to that game against Duluth and they have a lot of offensive talent, I'd probably give the nod to Duluth on that one. 41:04 All right. 41:05 What if both of our teams don't make it? 41:10 Well, yeah, you think if Denver gets past you and maybe a St. 41:13 Cloud or North Dakota, who's going to win among those teams if our teams lay an egg Friday? 41:18 The league office will be crying. 41:20 I know. 41:22 I don't know, Craig, that that is important. 41:25 If that were the case, I'd be a little more worried about, you know, a certain Gopher fan needing a new hat again in his seat. 41:34 Because I can imagine the tailgate is going to get a little crazy. 41:37 Um, for leave the four loco at home when you listen Cardinal, when you tune in, you should just leave that behind. 41:43 You mean so he doesn't end up in a trunk somewhere? 41:46 I don't think it matters if neither one of our teams are in it. 41:50 I don't think it's going to be all about Saturday. 41:54 But yeah, it's not going to be a fun game to watch. 41:56 I mean, obviously, that means North Dakota is probably going to be in that game. 42:00 Right. 42:01 So they'll at least be a decent fan base there. 42:04 Denver will have plenty of fans on their side, so that's a good thing. 42:08 They definitely will. 42:12 I don't even want to pretend. 42:13 Can we not think about that? 42:16 The local buyers will be happy because there will probably be lots of Gopher and UMD fans drinking it up rather than being at the game. 42:24 That's the problem. 42:24 They're all going to be out in the tailgate lot, passed out in their trunks. 42:27 Never mind. 42:29 That's Cardinal passed out in the trunk. 42:30 Never mind. 42:31 Well, Fire Helmet, where is Helmet this weekend or will he keep that retired? 42:38 I think it's just kind of something he doesn't want to lug around. 42:40 It's kind of like I was happy we won the national title so I never had to wear the flashing light again because that thing just sucked to lug around. 42:46 Yeah, but come on. 42:47 He threw that thing in Lake Superior and somebody rescued it. 42:50 Come on. 42:51 You are right. 42:52 He may need to bring it. 42:54 Meant to be worn. 42:55 Well, you know what? 42:56 But wait, wait, wait, wait, I gotta ask, is there going to be any outfits worn this year, like costumes stuff? 43:05 33 years old and two kids. 43:09 I'm going to probably go- 43:09 You can wear it with the kids. 43:11 Bring the kids to the game. 43:12 You can have a matching outfit or something. 43:14 They don't- 43:15 No, you can't bring the kids to the game. 43:17 They're coming Thursday. 43:18 They're coming Thursday, but- 43:19 That's too much of a distraction. 43:20 Won't they want to kick you out? 43:23 I know, right? 43:24 My kids are going to be in the hotel. 43:25 They're coming Thursday, but- 43:26 Won't they want to kick you out? 43:27 I know, right? 43:27 My kids are, you know, exactly right, my kids are very distracting and they might hit you with a hockey stick, apparently, because a two-foot tall kid with a 12-inch hockey stick can hit a six-foot person in the head with a stick. 43:34 I wasn't aware of that, but apparently, it's possible. 43:37 You sounded pretty bitter this year with some of the fans around you up at AMSOIL. 43:42 Well, I should have known better. 43:43 We got really good seats in the upper deck, right on the red line, and because of the priority seating, the lower bowl filled up pretty quickly. 43:50 So a lot of the old blue hairs that liked the red line seats ended up in the upper deck. 43:57 Just the seats I ended up picking were kind of the seats where you're going to have issues. 44:02 The sad part is, is most of the people around me like me, but they're not the ones sitting in the emails. 44:06 It's the three or four people who stare at you every time you yell something or the lady in front of me that's really busy on her Sudoku book, because apparently, coming to a hockey game is not any fun. 44:16 I mean, she's got to do Sudoku. 44:20 Oh, boy. 44:21 Oh, boy. 44:22 Well, Chris, we actually have a question that was sent to us that is directed towards you. 44:27 Oh, goody. 44:28 No, it's actually a serious question here. 44:32 What do we got? 44:33 Tony from Litchfield, I think you know who that is. 44:38 What are your thoughts on incoming Bulldog recruiting class, specifically Andy Walensky and Cal Dikowsky? 44:47 What the heck does that mean? 44:50 Is the Cal Dikowsky all in capital letters? 44:54 Beer Song is playing with you, man. 44:56 Yeah, yeah, I bet. 44:58 You know, when you talk about Cal Dikowsky, you got to get really loud. 45:02 I mean, he's a hell of a player. 45:06 You know, the next Jack Conley from everything I've heard, or he's a lot like Jack Conley, not the next. 45:11 There's never going to be another Jack Conley, but he plays a similar game, so I'm excited about that. 45:15 You know, I'm excited about Walensky. 45:17 As bad as the joke was with the elite, the elite argument and losing friends over a silly argument like that. 45:24 Walensky's going to be a good player, but you know, he's 20 years old. 45:28 He's coming in. 45:29 He's got a couple years of juniors under his belt. 45:31 He's leading juniors in points for defensemen. 45:35 So he's going to be a hell of a player. 45:37 But at the same time, I would expect a 20 year old defenseman to be leading juniors in points. 45:44 He's 20 years old. 45:44 He's got two years experience under his belt. 45:46 You should be. 45:47 So that's nice for the Bulldogs. 45:49 We have a 20 year old coming in to captain their power play. 45:53 The power play is killing us this year because we don't have Justin Falk back there. 45:57 And the passing is a little bit slower than it was last year. 46:00 And that's because you don't have a quarterback. 46:01 And clearly they had the right quarterback because you don't see very many 19 year old kids quarterbacking a power play for an NHL team like Falk is. 46:10 So, pretty excited about both, about Wilensky. 46:14 Dachowski, let me see him play first. 46:18 We'll leave it at that. 46:21 It looks like, or most likely, you're going to lose Brown. 46:24 Is that the case, you think? 46:26 Oh yeah. 46:27 I mean, when you've got a guy like, what's his name for the Flyers? 46:33 There's, um, Hartnell, Hartnell's tweeting at JT all the time. 46:37 I mean, I was hoping he would end up with, with the Wild. 46:41 I know he was in the Wild Frostkite Camp two years ago, but, but I do think he'll end up on the Flyers. 46:48 You know, the one thing with Brown is, you know, he's going to have to leave this year because you look who he's losing on his power play where, you know, he's losing Jack and he's losing Tio. 46:58 And I just don't know that he can repeat that offensive output without those guys. 47:02 I mean, Brown's a hell of a player, but Brown's a hell of a player because he's got a great shot and he's the best athlete in the WCHA, bar none. 47:11 I mean, when the guy picks up a puck, I don't care who's even with him at the blue line, he gets around him. 47:17 If the guy had a breakaway move, he'd have 40 goals this year. 47:20 There's a big 16 on the breakaway, I've never seen anything like it. 47:25 I'm just wondering why he just doesn't start firing slappers because that's what he scores on, you know, slap shots from just inside the circles. 47:32 I'm hoping that's eventually the approach he starts to take. 47:35 But, you know, he's a hell of a player. 47:38 He's gone and he has to go. 47:40 You're going to get a max contract. 47:42 And if he comes back next year and has a mediocre year, he may not get that contract. 47:45 You know, it's the ticker, it's get those three years done so you can move on to a bigger contract someday. 47:51 And if you don't, you don't want to throw any of that money away. 47:54 So he's fully a guy. 47:55 I think the team is expecting to lose and I don't think there's a Bulldog fan that thinks he's coming back. 48:00 Now, what about some other players that you think may bolt? 48:03 Any thoughts on that? 48:05 The only flight risk, and it's a very small flight risk, the only flight risk would be Casco. 48:12 Because he has been playing defensive defenseman like a senior. 48:19 I mean, he was playing like Lam was playing last year. 48:22 Just, you know, just shut down, put him against the top. 48:24 I mean, he started the last four games, and they start him against every team's top line. 48:27 I mean, he's just that good, he's smart, he doesn't panic with the puck. 48:31 But I do think we'll get a second year out of him. 48:33 But if you look at kind of how the Bulldogs are recruiting right now, I think they're kind of banking on losing him next year. 48:39 I think NHL Scouts want to see what he can do one more year. 48:43 But really, that's it. 48:45 I'm trying to go through our roster and think of who else I can think of us losing. 48:49 And, you know, Herbert's not going anywhere. 48:51 Obviously, TO and Jack are seniors. 48:54 They're both going to get NHL deals and, you know, honestly, if you ask me between Jack and TO., I think, I think Alexa is going to have a heck of a pro career. 49:01 I think he's going to be a pretty solid third line guy with the option to, you know, move up to a second line because the guy is just a face off master. 49:09 Well, Hammeh, we've got the Twitter question here. 49:11 Adam, Adam Dirk's wondering, you think Gensel is going to play for his dad? 49:18 I mean, Gensel talked about it on the radio the other day and he just kind of skirts it a bit. 49:22 But, yeah, it's the million dollar question. 49:25 I mean, I, you know, the more it's interesting, I'd be, I'd love to be a fly on the wall in a discussion between Lucia and Gensel about, you know, what to do on that because, you know, I've heard Lucia talk on the radio, you know, when he was explaining what Mario's decision was all about, he was like, you know, he even mentioned, you know, that, hey, if I was the assistant coach and my son was going to be on the team, it'd be a little different because somebody else is calling the final shot on where he plays and what line and all that kind of good stuff. 49:53 So, it kind of takes the pressure off. 49:55 And I kind of thought to myself, well, that's exactly the situation that Gensel's in, you know, he's not the one calling the final shot on what his son would or wouldn't do within, you know, on the Gophers. 50:06 And so, I'm like, well, you know, maybe that's sort of Lucia's veiled way of kind of keeping that door open. 50:12 And at the same time, you know, all I've really ever heard is that, you know, they kind of want to shy away from that and, you know, of course, they had the Tony Lucia experience and, you know, I'm sure that, you know, Gensel coached his son out in CC for a year, so he knows what that's all about. 50:26 And so, maybe, you know, I don't know, I'd kind of like to see the Gophers, you know, put their offer in and just let the kid make the decision, but I really don't know how that's going to work. 50:38 Everything I've heard is it's going to be probably, you know, UNO, CC, DU or UMD, you know, and I kind of have the feeling if he's going to go to a non-Gopher team, it's probably going to be out of state like his brothers, but I don't know that factually. 50:53 So I don't know. 50:53 That's my roundabout way of answering that one. 50:56 So let me ask you this, Hammeh. 50:58 Do you want him on your team? 51:00 Well, yeah, I mean, for me, you know, the thing that I'm very impressed about him is he's such a smart all around player. 51:07 He's not, he's not one of those guys that, you know, are just offense, offense, offense. 51:12 Like, you know, you always see high school stars, you know, that have great numbers. 51:16 But when you watch Gensel, I mean, he's a two way player and he's good, you know, in all facets of the game. 51:21 He's not the biggest kid in the world, of course. 51:23 So he's not going to be overly physical, but he doesn't shy away from that stuff. 51:27 And of course, being a coach's son, he's very intelligent about the game. 51:30 So, you know, I would like to see it, you know, I would like to see it after maybe a year or two of junior hockey. 51:36 I wouldn't want to see him like, well, he wouldn't probably be able to come in anyways in 2013, because I don't know if they have the room for that, but, you know, 2014 or, you know, somewhere along those lines. 51:46 Yeah, I wouldn't mind seeing that. 51:48 I see him down at Mariucci all the time. 51:50 I mean, at least seven or eight times a season, I saw him down there with his dad post game after a Gopher game. 51:57 So maybe there's some influence there just from the players. 52:00 Who knows? 52:01 Well, I know you guys talked about the secondary, the, you know, being the assistant coach, but at the same time, Gunzel was the assistant coach in CC and he wasn't the head coach. 52:11 And from everything I've heard, that situation didn't play out the way that, you know, Gunzel saw it playing out. 52:17 So I don't know if he wants nothing to do with it. 52:20 Or if like you said, if he's going to just leave it completely into Lachia's hands and say, I'm not going to give you a piece of advice one way or another. 52:26 If you want it, my son, you can recruit him. 52:29 Yeah, it could be. 52:30 I mean, you know, like I said, I think that everything that I've heard is that they kind of are a little bit, you know, shying away from that. 52:37 But you know, like I've said, he's played very well, especially down the stretch. 52:40 And I thought he had a real good game in a championship game, even though that, you know, BSM pretty much throttled Hill Murray. 52:47 But nonetheless, I thought he played real well. 52:49 And the more I've seen him, the more I'm like, well, you know, I think it's worth the effort. 52:53 And so I would give it a shot, even if he decides to go elsewhere. 52:57 Joe Likes Hockey wants to know, what are the chances that Bukestead stays one more year? 53:03 I know we've talked about this a little bit. 53:07 Well, you know, I know what Coach Lucia says, that he's optimistic. 53:11 And I know that, you know, his parents and his uncle, you know, want him to stay. 53:17 And there's going to be huge pressure for him to leave. 53:20 Yeah. 53:21 Well, you know, for me, I just, we've seen so many guys leave. 53:25 And so my natural tendency is I would rather err on the side of, they're going to go. 53:30 You know, maybe it's because it's less painful when it actually happens, you know. 53:34 And it's kind of a pleasant surprise if they don't. 53:37 So I guess I tend to kind of think negatively about whether guys are going to stay or go. 53:42 And you know, certainly he has the physical tools to play, you know, I think in NHL next year. 53:48 But, you know, you get that parental influence. 53:51 His uncle did play in the NHL and the Gophers. 53:53 So he's very well aware of what it takes to get there. 53:56 And so I don't know. 53:58 I honestly don't know. 53:59 I could, I'd probably say, you know, 30% chance he's coming back, you know, but that's just throwing that out of my ass on that one. 54:06 Buick said if you're listening and you need help packing your bags, I would gladly help you. 54:12 In fact, if you need bus fare, let me know. 54:15 Maybe even airfare. 54:16 You can rent him a car at least. 54:18 I'll drive him down there personally. 54:22 Oh boy, here we go. 54:23 Somebody is trying to get us going here. 54:25 JohnSQ316. 54:30 How dangerous a scorer would Danny Cristo be with ten toes? 54:35 You'd have better balance, probably. 54:41 I watch closely and it just seems like he's a little wobbly in that left skate. 54:46 I can't be able to put my finger on what causes it. 54:48 Well, especially when you get booted from the Gopher game. 54:50 Who are we talking about here? 54:51 When he got booted from the Gopher game and swung his stick against the wall, he kind of stumbled a bit when he did it. 54:56 So what's this ten-toe thing everybody keeps talking about? 55:02 Does anybody find my socks? 55:03 I can't find my socks. 55:07 Or shoes, apparently. 55:08 A lot of people like to pass out in snow banks at 2 a.m. 55:11 I heard it's a good time. 55:13 Now one thing about North Dakota, though, is they well, we've seen it all year long. 55:18 When they take a bad penalty, boy, do they whine. 55:21 Obviously, Crystal, when he got kicked out for that, he should have had a suspension for that hit on Marshall, but he just cried like a little baby. 55:31 Wasn't there one against the Bulldogs, too, that one of their guys went off on a little tirade? 55:38 I can't remember what happened. 55:40 Who was that? 55:41 I can't remember. 55:42 Was it McWilliam or whoever got the major against the Bulldogs? 55:46 It wasn't against the Bulldogs. 55:47 I believe it was against Denver out there. 55:51 He flipped out going off the rink again? 55:53 Yeah, I think I remember that now. 55:55 Reflection of the coach, they should give him another A, but they should hand him an alternate captain. 55:59 That's exactly what you're looking for. 56:00 No, no, no. 56:01 Blood's already got that back, so they're good to go. 56:03 Well, hand them all out. 56:04 I mean, anybody that has a fit like that should get one. 56:06 That's Sioux Hockey. 56:08 Hey, if you'd end up meeting the Sioux maybe in the final, watch out. 56:13 I would love to. 56:14 I mean, don't get in this handshake line with them. 56:16 They might hurt Brown. 56:17 Hey, speaking of broken sticks, you guys would appreciate this because he played for you as well. 56:24 Let's talk about Michael Doar real quick. 56:26 Oh boy, I saw your tweets this weekend. 56:29 So, Michael Doar is coming off the ice and the student section is giving him hell. 56:35 Good for them. 56:35 You know, all, all 100 of the kids that weren't on spring break. 56:39 And right as he gets to the door, he tomahawks his stick onto the ice and snaps it too. 56:44 And I'm screaming, somebody throw me the blade. 56:46 Like I wanted that blade to that stick like you wouldn't believe. 56:49 I just thought it looked really good on my mantle. 56:51 But and all I could think was there's four years of frustration and you got everything you deserved, you little baby. 57:00 Well, you can't, you can't argue that he didn't exactly make the brightest moves in the world. 57:05 I mean, national title, he would have a ring, he would have been a senior on the Bulldog team last year. 57:10 Yeah. 57:11 Now who knows? 57:11 Maybe they wouldn't have won a title with him, but he can pretend that that doesn't bug him at all. 57:16 But you got to wonder if he's thinking about that and he's the exact type of player the Bulldogs like. 57:22 All right, guys, any other thoughts on the Final Five this weekend? 57:25 I'm excited for the tailgate party. 57:28 You know me. 57:29 Are you there the whole weekend? 57:30 Are you even going to bother going to the games that are not involved Duluth? 57:34 Oh, oh yeah, we show up for a little bit. 57:36 The thing is, we're kind of screwed this year. 57:38 The Bulldogs play the day game Thursday, or Friday. 57:41 Thursday, we bring the kids every year, so that will obviously be tame. 57:45 I'm not one to consume any sort of alcohol when I'm with my children, so that's good. 57:50 And then Friday, obviously the day game with the dogs, so we'll grab lunch beforehand. 57:55 But I don't really, I just do most of my tailgate on Saturday. 57:58 And without a third place game anymore. 58:00 Are you going to be there bright and early then? 58:03 I'm hoping to be there with Fire Helmet Guy and Cardinal at about 9 a.m. 58:09 with the wife. 58:11 We're checking into a hotel and dropping some stuff and coming down. 58:15 Wow. 58:16 Hammy, are you going this weekend? 58:18 I am debating it with the girlfriend at the moment, so it's a possibility. 58:24 The question is, is he going to the games or going to the tailgate? 58:27 Oh, well. 58:30 Go to the tailgate, Hammy. 58:31 Come on. 58:32 That would be epic. 58:34 I will make a beer bong for you if you come. 58:37 Just for you. 58:38 That's Hammy's name written all over it. 58:40 Man, you're probably spitting it. 58:44 Only if it's leftover beer that I just got done with. 58:46 Exactly. 58:47 It's probably all backwash, man. 58:51 Well, too bad Cardinal, he never could get those computer problems fixed. 58:54 I think he just bailed on us. 58:56 I think he was scared. 58:57 You know, when we turn the player on the radio together, he gets nervous. 59:01 I can feel it. 59:02 It's like he's grabbing the stick a little tighter. 59:04 He lets in a few five-hole goals. 59:06 He's just, he's not his normal self. 59:08 And I personally, if you ask me, he chickened out and I'll call him on it this weekend. 59:15 You know, I mean, I hope, maybe he's finally hit puberty. 59:18 I don't know. 59:19 A lot of people were worried about his voice on the air here and were wondering when that step was going to happen in his life. 59:24 But he's got a kid now. 59:26 I'm sure he's up watching a little GGW. 59:28 It is Tuesday night. 59:31 So I'm sure he's enjoying that. 59:32 What the hell is GGW? 59:35 Girl's Gone Wild, HDD. 59:38 I thought it was going to be some kids show or something. 59:41 Superstar, you better watch you go to the tailgate hammock, so you better show up. 59:46 No comment. 59:51 Well, is that it for this week, guys? 59:55 I think so. 59:55 Are we done here? 59:57 Let's hope. 59:57 The NCAAs. 59:59 Just a potential question. 1:00:01 Okay. 1:00:02 How many friends are going to be lost if somehow, and I think we're going to be in the same region all the way the seedings are looking, but hypothetically, Bulldogs-Gophers National Title Game. 1:00:19 It won't happen. 1:00:21 They won't see this that way. 1:00:22 Or if they do see you, they'll make sure that they meet in the semi. 1:00:27 They would do that. 1:00:35 I could, but the atmosphere would still suck compared to the Final Five, though. 1:00:40 It's just not going to be the same. 1:00:42 A thousand miles away with a bunch of random people. 1:00:44 And obviously, we've got two more years of this great thing and then it's going to be diseased. 1:00:50 I mean, I don't think nobody likes it. 1:00:53 Nobody wants it, but we're screwed and going to be stuck with it. 1:00:57 You know, it's nice for you guys, money making wise, you can't fault the average Gopher fan for wanting to play the teams that they're used to seeing in other sports, but a Gopher fan, that's a Gopher hockey fan. 1:01:15 When I say that, you know, it's the type of fan that, you know, it's Gopher hockey first and then everything second. 1:01:20 Like for me, it's Bulldog hockey first and then everything else comes second. 1:01:23 And any Gopher fan, that's a Gopher fan first and not a fan of, I'm a Gopher fan because I want to go party and you know who you are out there. 1:01:33 But a real hockey Gopher fan, you can't, I don't think you can find one that's excited about, you know, this whole thing coming to an end and the conference realignment, the lack of road trips. 1:01:43 I mean, think about how many road trips you could drive to a year and just sit down, you know, decide to leave your house at four o'clock and watch a hockey game. 1:01:50 Well, you do it all the time. 1:01:52 And that's the Duluth, I had when they played on here, it's easier for me. 1:01:55 St. 1:01:56 Cato's closer. 1:01:57 St. 1:01:57 Cloud's closer. 1:01:58 Well, what are your thoughts on the national? 1:02:00 Are you excited about it? 1:02:02 Uh, I'm, I'm excited the Bulldogs hooked themselves to somebody. 1:02:06 I suppose. 1:02:07 I was excited about the WCHA the way it was going to be when you two, when your two teams left. 1:02:12 Um, obviously not excited the teams left, but I was okay with that conference. 1:02:16 It would have worked. 1:02:17 When, when they started talking about the grumblings, you know, cause I think we'd have been a top three team on a regular basis in that conference. 1:02:25 And then the grumbling started happening and it started looking like we were going to be left behind. 1:02:29 Then I got a little nervous. 1:02:30 I was thinking, Oh boy, this, we're never going to win another national title again if all these teams leave us behind. 1:02:35 So at the end of the day, I'm not happy about it, you know, about any of the changes, but I'm glad that we ended up in the conference. 1:02:41 We did. 1:02:42 Well, let's just savor it for the next two years. 1:02:45 Hopefully, you know, both our teams make it the next two years, you know, obviously next year I should say, and we'll just have to say goodbye. 1:02:52 That's about it. 1:02:53 Don't forget my Coney's armadillo if you're listening. 1:03:01 All right. 1:03:01 Well, you could always follow Chris on Twitter at UMDPenaltyBox or just go to him with his website umdpenaltybox.com and maybe he'll actually write another article sometime in the next six months. 1:03:16 Kids are keeping me busy. 1:03:17 Nobody likes my grammar. 1:03:18 It's brutal. 1:03:19 It's like watching a sixth grader write. 1:03:21 That's why you got to get somebody to write for you. 1:03:24 Where does that comma go? 1:03:26 I have zero writing skills, so I have other people do it for me who have quality because mine would not be. 1:03:35 And of course, you can always follow Hammy at Hammy Hockey on Twitter. 1:03:39 And obviously, he's always all over GPL with recruiting news and other little things behind the scenes. 1:03:46 Well, thanks guys for joining us. 1:03:48 Thanks Chris. 1:03:49 Thanks for having me on it. 1:03:50 It was a blast. 1:03:51 And you actually behaved fairly well. 1:03:53 So Cardinal, maybe Cardinal won't be so afraid next time. 1:03:57 No, I hope not. 1:03:58 I hope not. 1:03:59 And Cardinal, if you're listening, leave the Four Loco at home. 1:04:02 It's a long day. 1:04:03 It's a long day. 1:04:04 Yeah, don't want to end up in a trunk again. 1:04:06 What trunk? 1:04:07 There's no pictures of that. 1:04:09 I'm sure you've got them. 1:04:11 Well, you know, if our teams happen to meet up again, or if it's looking like it, we'll get you back on the podcast again to talk some trash to Cardinal. 1:04:19 Maybe get back at him. 1:04:20 Yeah, maybe he'll actually show up this time. 1:04:22 We'll see. 1:04:24 Well, that's it for this week's GopherPuckLive Podcast. 1:04:27 We'll return next week and recap the Final Five. 1:04:30 Hopefully it's good news for either your Bulldogs or our Gophers. 1:04:34 And we'll also preview the NCAA Tournament. 1:04:38 Until then, thanks for tuning in.