0:07 This is The GPL Podcast from gopherpucklive.com. 0:16 This podcast is sponsored by Jerry Peters and First Class Mortgage. 0:20 Our expertise, your peace of mind. 0:22 Visit us at firstclassmortgage.com. 0:30 Now, let's start the show with your hosts, Jupiter and Vegoe. 0:40 Good evening, and welcome to The GPL Podcast, episode number 202. 0:46 And in the original recording here, I had forgotten to unmute myself. 0:52 So I was muted for the first few seconds of the podcast. 0:55 So now we're gonna go straight into the podcast, regular recording, when I realized, and Vegoe told me that I was on mute. 1:03 So here we go. 1:05 We are off to a thrilling start as Joop muted himself for his opening. 1:12 Really solid start, Joop. 1:13 I did. 1:14 I didn't even notice it. 1:15 I mean, that's a classic Gopher Friday night move right there. 1:19 It's like we just start things off and right away on the wrong foot. 1:23 It's okay. 1:24 It's okay. 1:26 We're building for March. 1:28 We're building for March right now. 1:30 Yeah. 1:30 Hey, that's it. 1:31 It happens. 1:32 It happens to the best of us. 1:33 Some of us are just trying to do too many things at once and I forgot to unmute myself. 1:37 I know. 1:38 Rookie era. 1:38 After 200 shows, you think I'd learn. 1:41 Well, we're new technology. 1:43 You think I'd learn. 1:44 It's a big week. 1:46 It is a big week. 1:47 And when it's a big week, we like to have big guests on. 1:51 And when it comes to North Dakota hockey, Comes to college hockey. 1:57 Well, you kind of got me there. 1:59 I don't know if anyone gets bigger than Brad Schlossman. 2:02 I can always have a struggle with his name. 2:03 It's like I've got marbles in my mouth. 2:06 Brad, there he is. 2:07 How are you doing, man? 2:08 Thanks for joining us again. 2:09 Yeah, good to chat with you guys. 2:11 It's becoming a Thanksgiving tradition, right? 2:14 The night before Thanksgiving, I joined you guys. 2:18 That is fine with me. 2:19 You know, we didn't get to do it last year because of COVID and everyone went, just entered conference and started late. 2:24 So this is a year late and it's your fourth appearance on the show. 2:29 So it's nice to have you on again. 2:31 And obviously we're doing video now. 2:33 We've upgraded a little bit since the last time, but we have fun with it. 2:38 But we appreciate you coming on. 2:41 I suppose a lot of things keeping you busy these days. 2:43 I mean, you're not only doing Grand Forks Herald, you're still doing quite a bit of the rink live, aren't you? 2:49 Yeah. 2:49 Whatever newsy things come up and whether it's college hockey or this week, the USHL or was that last week? 2:56 I'm losing track of my weeks right now with some drama in the USHL that was keeping me quite busy. 3:03 What the heck is going on in Omaha? 3:08 It is wow. 3:11 Yeah, yeah, it is. 3:12 And it's I don't think it's over yet necessarily. 3:15 You know, we'll see what happens. 3:17 But yeah, there you know, I when I was hearing that Chad Cassidy was out as coach, my phone was blowing up with people saying the USHL is going to need to step in by the time this is over. 3:28 Like this is really bad for the league. 3:30 And that's why I was like, okay, like I usually this these are very uncommon texts to be receiving. 3:37 And so the next day, I didn't expect it to fall out the next day and the interim coaches all to walk out and the players to walk out within 12 hours. 3:47 But, you know, it happened quickly. 3:51 In comparison, Vig's college hockey has been a little tame compared to what's going on in Omaha right now. 3:57 Yeah, there haven't been budget cuts like the ones we've seen in Omaha. 4:01 I mean, Brad's reported all this stuff. 4:02 You know, they took away their video. 4:04 You know, the stick budget was cut. 4:06 So players were buying their own sticks. 4:08 You know, people were responsible for their own meals. 4:11 They weren't having the right bus drivers hired. 4:14 So they were working, you know, more than I think like an eight hour shift where you're allowed to drive. 4:20 So it was kind of an unsafe situation there. 4:22 And, you know, tier one hockey is not supposed to operate like that. 4:26 It's supposed to be, you know, everything's covered, you know, and the Billet families take care of you and the team pays those Billet families some money. 4:34 And, you know, it's just a mess right now that looks bad for the league and it looks bad for USA Hockey. 4:40 Yeah. 4:40 And, you know, like despite all that in their roster, like when you talk to like guys, they're like, their roster is not great, not very good. 4:48 And they were like eight, four and two. 4:51 This coach was like Chad Cassidy had them going. 4:55 And then when they fired him, everyone's like, OK, you know, so anyways, that's we'll stay tuned on that. 5:03 I don't know where it goes from here, but they're scheduled to play this weekend. 5:07 I was just watching a different game tonight, but yeah, they're scheduled to play this weekend. 5:14 Well, what's also crazy Veegs is and what's becoming kind of an ongoing theme here. 5:19 The Gophers playing really great on Friday nights. 5:26 You know, for the most part, I think their energy has been okay, except for maybe the Duluth game. 5:32 It's just the details are not there and the finish. 5:37 I was talking to Jess Meyers about this after the game on Saturday. 5:40 It's almost like this team is trying to fast forward to March and tournament time and just be like, okay, we played pretty well last year. 5:48 Everybody's back. 5:50 We know how we can play. 5:51 Let's just get to tournament time and prove ourselves then. 5:54 And you start doing that and now you're going to have to start watching the pairwise to even get into the tournament. 6:02 Not something we anticipated this year, Veegs. 6:05 No, not at all. 6:06 I mean, there's so many veteran players back for this team that aren't playing to the level they're capable of. 6:11 And it's just because they're not finished in the detail of their game. 6:15 Like you look at the penalty kill for the Gophers. 6:18 Last year, totally a strength of this team. 6:21 You know, they sent out that Meyers Nelson unit. 6:23 They'd win the draw. 6:24 They'd probably clear the zone. 6:26 Onward come Walker and McLaughlin with their speed. 6:28 And they would put so much pressure on the other team. 6:30 They would be generating scoring chances. 6:32 And right there, you've killed, you know, a minute, minute and a half of that penalty. 6:37 This year is just not the same. 6:39 They're not rotating as quickly up top. 6:41 And so as you saw Saturday against Penn State, they kind of had to pull everything back in and play kind of a more passive kill, which is not something that you would think the talent on Minnesota would fit together. 6:52 So it's a frustrating game. 6:54 And then, you know, the back checking has not been there. 6:57 And it's not that the players aren't in position to make the plays. 7:01 They're just not focused to do it. 7:03 It's the basics. 7:05 It's the basics. 7:05 And when you play good teams like the Gophers have been playing, you know, they're going to take advantage of that stuff. 7:10 If you're there and you don't take away a stick, you know, they're going to use that stick and score goals. 7:16 And on the flip side, Brad, North Dakota headed into Duluth last weekend and split with the Dogs. 7:25 You know, I would say split with the Dogs on the road is really not too bad. 7:31 Yeah, I mean, well, it was in Grand Forks last week. 7:33 Oh, was it really? 7:34 It was. 7:35 Yeah. 7:35 And I... 7:36 Okay, then it's bad. 7:38 Well, I think the thing that makes it a good weekend especially North Dakota was missing their superstar. 7:46 You know, Jake Sanderson didn't play. 7:48 Reese Gaber was sick and he's their best forward. 7:52 You had a couple other guys out of the lineup. 7:54 But, you know, if you can beat the number four ranked team without your superstar in the lineup, that's, you know, I think that's a good sign. 8:04 So he's scheduled to be back this weekend. 8:07 They're going to be without Mateo Costantini and Jackson Koontz. 8:11 Costantini's second line winger. 8:13 Koontz has been the fourth line winger. 8:15 But, you know, you get Sanderson back. 8:17 And that's a, you know, a big deal. 8:21 And any of you have any questions for Brad or Vegoe or myself, either in the chat or if you're watching YouTube or wherever, you can even do it via Twitter, you know, with the hashtag GPL Podcast. 8:32 And like I said, a few people in the chat commenting already. 8:37 I did see some questions. 8:40 Actually, it was specifically for you. 8:43 Let me find this real quick here. 8:45 Boy, I think it was, yeah. 8:47 Someone was asking you, Brad, what is your favorite Minnesota, North Dakota game in Grand Forks? 8:57 And what is your least favorite game of those two teams in Grand Forks? 9:03 Oh, man. 9:05 There's a lot of them. 9:06 It feels like the most memorable ones weren't in Grand Forks, to be honest, like those final five games were just epic, like almost all of them. 9:17 You had their regional games were good. 9:23 I mean, if I'm trying to think, my least favorite ending was, I think I told the story before, but when Wheeler scored the goal in the WCHA Final Five, I was in the elevator. 9:38 I missed it. 9:40 My editors, I had to send a story at the end of the buzzer for our first edition, and I get back up, and he's like, I didn't get the story. 9:48 I'm like, because remember, there was no press, there was no internet up in the press box. 9:52 We had to go to that photogroom down in the basement. 9:56 So I go down. 9:56 Where I was. 9:58 Yeah, the elevator doors open up, and you know how there's that TV right up at the top, where when you open the elevators in the basement of the X, and all of a sudden I see them celebrating. 10:07 So I completely missed the ending of that game, and was rather stressed about trying to get that story in, and then all of a sudden the game's over, so I have to try to rewrite the story, and I don't know what happened, but I know the Gopher scored. 10:22 So that was my least favorite as a writer. 10:26 Definitely, that would be your least favorite, even if North Dakota scored, because you missed it, and that's your job. 10:35 That's, you know, when you go to a game as a writer, you're in like full work mode, and you're just in, what do I need to do? 10:43 What do I need to do to get this deadline done? 10:45 And when things go wrong, you're not happy. 10:50 And that night, some things went wrong at the very end of the night. 10:53 So, yeah, I missed it, and I had to re-write and do all that stuff. 10:57 So that was, you know, from behind the scenes, that was definitely one that I'll never forget. 11:05 Veegs, how about you? 11:07 What's kind of your favorite and least favorite? 11:09 I'm guessing least favorite. 11:10 Well, unfortunately, maybe not against North Dakota and maybe Holy Cross, but how about against North Dakota in Grand Forks? 11:17 What are some of your favorites and least favorites? 11:21 I mean, I got to think the handshake line controversy with Ben Blood. 11:26 I mean, I think that's just kind of a moment that embodies this rivalry, where the players are just so excited about it that a little thing like that blows up and becomes kind of a talking point for the fan bases and the players. 11:43 You can still hear, we were asking Ben Myers about some of his favorite moments, and he's just rallying them off like the Wheeler goal, and he's like, yeah, the brawl after the handshake. 11:53 He doesn't even know all the details, but he remembers, the players who are playing now, they were like peewees and squirts and stuff, I think, when this stuff was happening. 12:03 So it's just it's seared into their memory. 12:05 Thanks for making us all derby. 12:07 Well, this is what the rivalry means to them. 12:10 It is. 12:11 And I think one of my most recent favorite games is probably back the 2016 game where Ryan Lindgren went after the North Dakota captain and like his first shift. 12:21 And we saw a five five game that went to overtime. 12:23 It was just like, all right, hockey is back. 12:26 You know, he kind of had a lull there in the rivalry. 12:29 And that game was just like, yep, you know, don't forget to ride this bicycle. 12:35 You know, the thing about I would say about Ben Blood, I am guessing that Ryle was churping all night. 12:43 I didn't do anything. 12:44 I'm just little Ryle. 12:45 He was churping. 12:46 You just know he was. 12:48 You know, it's funny. 12:49 I actually talked to Ben Blood two days ago. 12:53 He is in Austria right now. 12:55 And I was talking to him about the story and I brought that up and he got very quiet and he just said, not my best moment. 13:07 His comment there, I'm looking it up right now because I wrote it down. 13:12 He said, those series are so intense. 13:15 They are so intense. 13:16 It's almost like rage. 13:18 It's so competitive and stuff boiled over and it did for me. 13:22 I'm not proud of it, but it was a lesson learned. 13:26 I thought now 10 years removed, he'd be more like, oh yeah, whatever. 13:30 But he seemed to be, he wasn't happy I brought it up. 13:37 I don't think he would have rather forgotten that and pretended it didn't happen, but I thought that was interesting. 13:44 Well, for us Gopher fans, we just remember the call from Wally Shaver calling him a bunch of cheap hoes heads. 13:50 You know how emotional he gets. 13:52 And those are the fun things I remember. 13:54 Just the funny, you know, things like Wally going off like, Oh my gosh, Wally, what are you doing? 14:01 And I think that's what goes back to like Ben saying how intense those were, that the games are so intense that people lose their cool. 14:10 Right? 14:10 Like, and that was kind of what it was. 14:12 And, you know, another guy I talked to this week was Dave Haxdahl. 14:16 And, you know, he made a comment that was, he said, if you look at that rivalry, it might not be as big in numbers as other rivalries in at the college or pro level. 14:31 But he said it is intense, as intense as any rivalry that there is in sport. 14:36 And this is a guy that coached the Flyers. 14:40 And the Maple Leafs. 14:41 He coached in Maple Leafs Canadian games. 14:43 He coached in, you know, Flyers rivalry games. 14:47 And that's what he said. 14:48 So I found that really interesting. 14:52 Well, I just think it's nothing but fun. 14:55 No matter what happens. 14:56 You know, I'm looking here at some questions from earlier today, V. 14:59 Don't put this one at you. 15:01 From Steve Larson. 15:03 What do you think is missing from this year's Gopher team? 15:06 They're clearly not the team they were last year. 15:10 And there is quite a bit of Jekyll and Hyde. 15:13 Friday nights just don't have it together. 15:15 Yell that in between games. 15:16 They come out perform well Saturday. 15:20 You come out performing like they have been these past Friday nights in Grand Forks this weekend. 15:25 It's going to be five, six nothing. 15:28 Well, it was kind of interesting. 15:29 I was talking to someone this week about Michigan State going to play Ohio State in football this last weekend. 15:36 And the comment basically was that when you have high, high end recruits and high end players, when they're playing kind of a doormat, it's not exactly an inspiring night to play hockey. 15:51 It doesn't really get your blood going. 15:52 You kind of have to work yourself up to play at your best. 15:56 But when you play a team that's ranked high and there's a history with, and you have a lot invested, you're going to play your best. 16:06 And I think so far this year, we've seen the Gophers kind of not play their best. 16:11 And it's kind of baffling when they do it against UMD or St. 16:15 Cloud State. 16:15 You'd think there'd be something there invested, but it didn't really feel that way coming in the lead up. 16:22 It was more like, yeah, these games are important, but it's early in the year. 16:25 We have a lot of talent back. 16:27 You know, we'll figure it out. 16:28 And they're figuring out that college hockey is really hard. 16:33 You know, you have to be detailed. 16:35 You have to be structured and you can't freelance. 16:38 Because when you're playing against good teams, you know, they're going to make you pay. 16:42 And I think they have a little bit of this thing where they're just trying to skip to the end and you can't do that. 16:47 And I think, you know, they learn their lesson on Friday and they just come more, you know, focused on Saturday. 16:53 I don't think it's they're going to Blarney's on Thursday night for $2 beers or anything like that. 16:57 Like someone suggested to my Twitter feed, but they're just kind of like, okay, Friday night, game time. 17:03 Let's get into it. 17:03 Let's score some goals. 17:04 Well, the funny thing, you say that because that's kind of what was happening back in the, you know, 2001, 2002 season when they won a national title. 17:13 They were going out and partying Thursday nights until it was at Grant Petoneley and maybe even Coach Gensel says, okay, yeah, this has got to stop. 17:20 Yeah. 17:21 I don't think that's happened. 17:22 I think college hockey has changed a little bit in the last 20 years. 17:26 With social media, it's tough. 17:27 A little bit. 17:28 A little bit. 17:30 Yeah. 17:31 But Brad, it is kind of like it's not the same as it was even just playing hockey. 17:36 Back in the 80s and 90s and early 2000s, when you played a cream puff, it was never a hard game. 17:44 There are never any easy games anymore. 17:47 I mean, rarely you have an easy coasting game where you could coast and still win by three or four goals. 17:53 It's just not like that in college hockey anymore. 17:56 Yeah, it's completely changed and kind of to Vegoe's point. 18:00 Like even leading up to this year, like it hasn't been that way for several years now. 18:09 This year may be more than any other year because of the fifth year senior rule now. 18:14 Every team got older. 18:16 All these teams were able to bring back some seniors. 18:19 Some of these teams who maybe weren't powerhouses, their seniors weren't lining up to sign NHL deals. 18:27 They all want to come back. 18:28 So now all of a sudden, you have it. 18:30 College hockey is older than it's ever been. 18:33 You have the transfer portal. 18:35 If your seniors are gone, you can go grab a 24-year-old kid and bring them in. 18:40 So I think this year more than any other, you can understand why there's more parity and why you can't take a night off because a lot of these teams have experience. 18:54 And that's actually a question in our chat from Tim H. 18:57 Brad, how do you see UND using the portal in the coming years? 19:01 I mean, maybe it is. 19:03 Is it a fill in here and there? 19:05 Oh, jeez, we don't have a great goal. 19:06 Hey, maybe we could pick up a senior from another team. 19:09 Yeah, I think this year is an anomaly. 19:13 UND has five guys that they got in the transfer portal this off season. 19:18 That's never going to happen again. 19:19 The reason they had five is because they lost 14 guys off last year's team. 19:23 They had eight guys signed NHL deals. 19:26 They had a lot of guys to replace. 19:28 If you bring in 14 freshmen in one year, it's not going to go well. 19:34 I don't care how good they are. 19:35 That's really, really tough. 19:39 They needed to go out and get some guys and they did. 19:43 One of the reasons they're ranked top ten in the country right now is those guys have panned out. 19:48 They've been pretty good for them. 19:51 I don't think you'll see that, but I do think you'll see teams purposely leave a slot or two open. 19:59 I think the temptation is too great to pass up potentially getting a 23, 24-year-old guy who has had a ton of experience in college hockey and can be effective right away. 20:16 I just think it's going to be tough for teams to say no to that. 20:21 We've talked a little bit, too, about Minnesota's Friday nights, the past few weeks and stuff, but they have a guy in the portal who hasn't played in the last month. 20:37 That can impact things when he's back here. 20:41 Even obviously, we've got the portal causing a bunch of weird issues, Veegs, but we also have COVID, which also gave an extra year of eligibility for everybody. 20:51 We're going to have those three or four years now, where it's just going to be crazy, isn't it, Veegs? 20:57 Yeah, and I think so. 20:59 You look at the decisions Bob Motzko had to make. 21:02 There are guys like Brandon McManus who are looking for that extra year, but Bob at the same time is trying to balance a recruiting class they've worked really hard to get and guys he really likes. 21:13 And you want to make room for guys like that. 21:15 Like Matthew Dyes and Aaron Huglen are huge pieces of this team. 21:20 And if you start trying to have too many transfer guys, portal guys, fifth year guys, you know, you block that pipeline from coming into your program. 21:30 And really that's what you want to have is players, you know, come in and develop and be really high end players for you as they mature. 21:38 And these, the Gophers freshman class are guys who are like all ready to, they were ready to come and if you don't bring them, you're going to lose them. 21:47 I think one area where it may play a role is let's say you have a guy who you really like, a recruit, but he might not be ready yet. 21:58 You know, you say, look, this guy, we really like him, but he's, it's not going to go real well for him this year. 22:06 Maybe he can play one year a junior, we can grab a senior to come in for one year, fill that spot, he'll come in much more ready than he was, you know? 22:16 So, you know, I could see teams doing that if they want the guy to go back. 22:21 Yeah, I was listening to Brett Larson this week. 22:23 I think he was on with Mick Hatton. 22:24 He said one of the things with his program is they've said no to guys. 22:29 You know, they haven't committed to guys who weren't ready to play college hockey, even though they may really like them and they think eventually they're going to be there and great college players, but they're just not ready now. 22:42 And saying no to those guys is a huge thing for balancing your program because you can't win consistently with a really young program. 22:49 You have to get a little bit older and you have to bring in the guys at the right time that you've seen go through tough times. 22:55 Like I think Matthew Nyes going through a scoring slump in the USHL for Tri City. 23:01 Huge booster to his game. 23:04 Next time he goes into a little bit of a funk, he's been through it before at a high level, and he's going to be able to find a way to snap out of it. 23:11 Some of these times, Gophers, they get in a scoring slump, and it kills their entire season because they've never gone through it before. 23:21 It's crazy, it's crazy. 23:26 Well, remember, if you're watching live, you have any questions for any of us, just send us a message, we'll try to get to it. 23:33 But first, before we preview this whole big weekend come out, we need to hear from our sponsor. 23:39 Hey fellow GPLers, Jerry Peters here from First Class Mortgage. 23:43 Have you refinanced your home in the last 12 months? 23:45 If you haven't, chances are you should. 23:48 Record low interest rates and skyrocketing home values make this the perfect time to remove monthly PMI while improving your interest rate at the same time. 23:56 You can also use the equity in your home to finance those home improvement projects. 24:00 Or you can consolidate high interest rate credit cards into one new low monthly payment. 24:05 To hear more, call or text me today at 612-940-3291. 24:11 You can email me at jerry at firstclasscorp.com or you could go to firstclassmortgage.com to fill out a free online application. 24:20 Mention The GPL Podcast and receive a $300 closing cost credit. 24:24 Some restrictions do apply. 24:26 First Class Mortgage's NMLS number is 322842-480200. 24:32 This is not an agreement to lock in to an interest rate under Minnesota law. 24:36 First Class Mortgage is an equal housing lender. 24:41 All right. 24:43 Thank you, Jerry, as always, for sponsoring The GPL Podcast. 24:47 Well, guys, here we are back on Thanksgiving weekend, two years later than the last one. 24:55 I'm not sure if I like this whole Thanksgiving thing. 25:00 Well, especially when it was at Mariucci because nobody was there, as we know a couple of years ago. 25:07 I don't know, we seem to have a little more popularity, maybe Veegs back when there was the old college hockey showcase. 25:14 But now it seems like once it gets to holiday time, it's tougher for people at least down in the Twin Cities to show up. 25:19 It won't be the case this weekend up in Grand Forks, Veegs, but it's a little iffy for me. 25:26 I personally like it, but I would wish there was more people in Minnesota. 25:29 But luckily, we're in Grand Forks this week yet. 25:33 Yeah, I think Minnesota is just in a weird place for fans and tickets and the arena and all the atmosphere. 25:40 I think this is temporary. 25:42 I think this is a good time for this matchup. 25:44 I like that it's a little bit into the season so that the teams kind of have an idea of who they are by this point. 25:51 I think sometimes when you play these games, you know, the second, third, fourth week of the year, especially teams like Minnesota and North Dakota, you know, you're usually integrating some talented players in your line up and they're trying to get adjusted to college hockey. 26:05 You know, we're into this thing now, a good two months. 26:09 These teams kind of have a good idea of who they are. 26:11 And so I think that's going to present some really good hockey. 26:16 Brad, I'm hearing there's no students this weekend. 26:19 Obviously, there'll be students there, but the student package, it wasn't part of it. 26:22 Not sure why. 26:23 Obviously, they think a lot of kids go home, but it should be a pretty full arena this weekend, shouldn't it? 26:28 I would imagine it's going to be people packing in every seat here. 26:36 I just looked at it, and since 2012, Minnesota has been here one time. 26:42 That's just crazy to me that in the last eight years, they've been here one time in eight years. 26:48 Well, the first part of it was the name thing at first. 26:54 Once they did different leagues, it was like, okay, Minnesota won't play them because of your name, whatever. 26:58 Yeah. 26:59 Then they played, then they had the one in Vegas, and then there's pandemic, and then there was all sorts of circumstances that led to it. 27:08 But I think just the fact that it is North Dakota's biggest rival, and fans haven't had a chance to see this all that often. 27:19 I think they're pretty excited to have this game come here. 27:22 And on top of that, I think you got two really good teams. 27:26 I think fans are always excited no matter what. 27:28 I mean, these teams don't have to be good for them to come out for it. 27:33 But this year, you've got two of the best teams in the country. 27:37 And honestly, Veegs, if Minnesota shows up like they know they can, these will be great games this weekend. 27:44 I mean, they should be really great games. 27:46 I think the Gophers have a lot of offensive talent that's been clear. 27:51 I think it's just the engagement in the defensive details that have been missing. 27:56 And I think a weekend like this, if you can't get up for a game like this as a player, you know, maybe hockey is not your thing. 28:03 So I think it's a real prove it weekend for the Gophers. 28:06 And I'm looking forward to seeing the test. 28:08 And I think the atmosphere will only help. 28:11 You know, I think if this was at Mariucci, maybe, you know, that could be a downer on the play in the atmosphere and the energy. 28:19 But that's not going to be the case in Grand Forks. 28:23 I need to make that road trip again, guys. 28:25 It's been way too long since I've been up at the Ralph for a game. 28:32 That's, well, I mean, you haven't had many opportunities in the last... 28:35 Well, true, but... 28:37 You know, how many years, so... 28:39 I didn't realize it's been that long, that they've only been there once in the last decade. 28:44 And I'm trying to remember offhand that this is just a guess, but I don't think Minnesota came here the last year. 28:53 Oh, because the way the schedule was, yeah. 28:56 Yeah, if I recall correctly, the last year UND went to Mariucci, but Minnesota did not come here that year. 29:04 When was that Ben Blood thing? 29:05 Was that the last time they played, maybe? 29:09 Was that Ben Blood game the last time? 29:11 Actually, that might have been. 29:13 That would have been the last season, though, so... 29:16 All right. 29:19 Look at that. 29:19 You know, we can always rely on you and Todd Maleski, our great Wisconsin Badger Guide, to have all these great numbers for us, because you guys cover it better than anyone else. 29:32 And Todd's a mate. 29:33 You should see how many times I text Todd, you're not going to have this stat, and he does. 29:38 He has it. 29:39 Unbelievable. 29:41 We corrected one of his stats from Minnesota and Wisconsin during our overtime bit a couple weeks ago. 29:47 He's like, yep, I'm updating my records. 29:49 He was looking up, what was he looking up stuff from like 1926? 29:53 Well, we were trying to figure out there was a missing game. 29:56 Yep, there was. 29:57 In the series history and it showed up in one, I go to this Gopher Hockey history site that's got all the games by opponent over the last hundreds of years and it was listed in that site, but it wasn't in the Wisconsin book. 30:13 So then we're looking at like old newspaper, microfish type things that we can get our hands on and we're like, yeah, the game actually happened and we got to read the old style newsprint, phrasing and everything was crazy. 30:27 So was it the Ben Blood game? 30:29 That was the last game in the Ralph as WCHA opponents. 30:34 Yeah. 30:34 So that was it. 30:35 And then they played one series as non-conference in 2017 and they split. 30:43 And it was October 17, Minnesota 1-2-1, the first night, North Dakota 4-0 second night. 30:49 And I was looking at the box score and it came back to me, the 4-0 game. 30:54 One of the Gopher players got a major penalty at the end of the first, and UND scored three times on the major. 31:00 And it was like, I remember they scored the three goals, and it was like the most boring game ever after that. 31:05 Like North Dakota was like, we're just going to hold our lead here. 31:08 We're not going to do anything stupid. 31:09 And it was just... 31:10 That's no fun. 31:11 No, it was very... 31:13 I remember it being... 31:14 It was over early and it was bland for 40 minutes. 31:17 But, yeah. 31:19 And I know everyone's... 31:21 You know, you don't have to send questions. 31:23 As usual, everyone complains about the TV. 31:28 And, you know, well, the funny thing is, the funny thing is, Brad, you know, our guy, Brian Deutsch at the University of Minnesota, their SID, he gets to hear all of these complaints. 31:40 And he says it till he's right in the face. 31:41 I'm sorry, we do not control TV in an opponent's arena. 31:46 And, you know, there's people like me, Veegs, there's other people out in the internet who go to the Gopher sites and say, people, quit yelling at the Gophers, it's not their control. 31:56 Yes, it's going to be picked up by MediaCom and some Xfinity stuff this weekend. 32:00 That's great. 32:00 But, I mean, all of North Dakota, you're just protecting, I mean, Medco is protecting their own TV package. 32:06 That's all they're doing. 32:08 It's the same thing Minnesota do. 32:09 It's just Minnesota just happens to have a little more of a footprint with their TV. 32:14 So, I would just love if people would just shut up. 32:17 Yeah. 32:17 In times of change, if you think back to the 90s and stuff when FSN or was it... 32:25 MSC. 32:25 MSC before then, nobody was televising games. 32:31 So, an opponent would be, come on in, come, this is great. 32:36 We have our games, they're doing whatever. 32:38 Now, you have more schools doing TV, but if they're not, they're all broadcasting, webcasting their games. 32:47 So, they all have cameras there. 32:49 They all have people doing play-by-play and they want people to purchase their webcasts for the games. 32:56 And of course, that was not happening back then. 33:00 Like you said, MIGCO is protecting their rights. 33:02 You maybe go to Colorado College and they want you to buy in CHC-TV for the games to watch them because the revenue comes back to them. 33:14 So, the times are just different. 33:17 You've said it a million times. 33:18 I've heard you say it a million times. 33:20 The times have changed. 33:21 It's not the same. 33:22 It is. 33:22 I mean, who would have thought that Alaska Anchorage, who was streaming on the Internet long before anyone, would be the pioneers in this? 33:31 They really were. 33:32 They were. 33:33 They were. 33:33 I mean, they're terrible advertising. 33:35 But you know what? 33:36 They were doing it a long time ago. 33:38 They were. 33:39 Yeah, that's right. 33:40 And we're like, that's how we watch. 33:42 We watch in Alaska. 33:43 I mean, you don't have to just listen late on the radio. 33:45 You could watch TV with the goofy commercials. 33:49 It was just fun, fun stuff. 33:51 So, I can't come. 33:55 Well, we sit till we're blue in the face. 33:56 It's just the way TV is now. 33:58 So, Veegs, I noticed you captured some audio today from... 34:02 Who'd you capture some audio from? 34:04 Who was it? 34:05 This is from Matthew Nyes. 34:06 And so, as Brent Hoeven talks about, is the rivalry as important now, given the conference switches, or as Wisconsin taking over UND for number one rivalry? 34:17 Let's go to Matthew Nyes on our clip here. 34:20 All right. 34:21 Did you know much about that rivalry growing up? 34:23 What do you do? 34:25 A little bit here and there. 34:26 I know I always looked at it as the biggest rivalry against the way hockey, but now that I'm here, now that I hear about it, especially from the coaches and older players here, I know how much it means to them. 34:35 And especially when they came back here, I think in the previous years, and they swept them, I think, it kind of leaves a bad taste in their mouth. 34:44 So we're gonna try to change that. 34:46 And I think we're gonna really take it to them this weekend. 34:50 When you were being recruited, did it kind of come down to North Dakota and Minnesota? 34:54 Were there other schools in there? 34:56 And what kind of swayed you? 34:57 Yeah, I was honestly between those two schools, happy with what the decision came out to, but mostly for the coaches. 35:05 I believe in the coaches here. 35:07 I thought I felt really comfortable, and it was just a place where I loved to be, and I think the culture we built here was definitely better. 35:15 And I think that was the main reason as to why I chose here, and put my trust and faith into these guys. 35:21 Did you take any visits there along the process? 35:24 I did actually take a visit there, and I was contemplating it for a while, but again, like I said, I think I made the right decision in choosing this place, and I've had success, and I've played with some wonderful players, and had coaches behind me, and it's been a really good decision so far. 35:43 Interesting, Veegs, very interesting. 35:46 I mean, there you have a kid from Phoenix, Arizona, families from Slovakia. 35:52 He's a kid who for Thanksgiving, he's not going to have turkey. 35:55 He would normally have swordfish, because that's what you do, I guess, if you're from Slovakia, you don't have turkey, you have swordfish for the holiday. 36:03 But he calls it the biggest rivalry in college hockey, and that's what I think even a player of his age, he recognizes the importance between the two schools. 36:14 Yeah, you know who one of his coaches was growing up in Arizona? 36:18 It was Nick Nomenko, the old North Dakota defenseman from the early 90s. 36:26 So Nomenko probably told him some stories about the old rivalry, and he probably has a pretty good idea of what to expect. 36:35 I can hear Mazako saying that name right now. 36:39 And I think even just coming back to the TV thing, that's where I think some of this TV stuff does kind of stink, because like I said, a lot of these people, like Nice could have watched as a kid on kind of one of the Fox Sports regional networks, games between these two teams, and saw these incredible rivalries when he's like 10, 8 years old. 37:02 And I think that's where some of the people are frustrated that this is not on a national level. 37:06 But things change, got to deal with it. 37:10 Yes, it may not be as good for the older fans these days, but us younger people, well, younger than most of us have adapted. 37:19 They'll stream. 37:19 They have no problem doing that, Veegs. 37:22 Yeah, it's what we're used to. 37:23 NCHC does a great job with their streaming product. 37:26 You know, I tend to get it every year for the first two months just because there's so many good games, you know, for the non-conference that NCHC owns the rights to. 37:35 And it's fun to catch up and see where they're at early in the season. 37:38 And, you know, I enjoy it. 37:39 You know, Big Ten, same thing. 37:41 I stream Big Ten Network and I can see all the Big Ten games at home. 37:45 So, you know, the both conferences have nice options for their fans. 37:49 And if you're a college hockey fan, you just have to adjust. 37:52 It's not it's not like the old days, but more games are at least streamed and broadcast in a high quality. 38:00 Yes. 38:01 I want to think they've settled, you know, well, they've talked about recently and since it was just finally settled was, you know, this year, Brad, we are going to a day off in between regional games. 38:13 I'm guessing North Dakota would have liked to have seen that last year. 38:19 Hey, North Dakota and Minnesota were allies. 38:23 That's kind of funny. 38:24 That is true. 38:26 It was weird because both those teams played the late game when the other early teams and well, obviously Duluth didn't even play a game. 38:36 I would say that I'd say you guys took quite a bit more of raw of a deal, but you did get to see a special game as a college hockey fan. 38:49 That was a fun game to go that long. 38:52 And you're just like, your mind is blown that someone's not scoring or almost scored. 38:57 And it's why all of us here, whether what fan base you follow, love college hockey. 39:05 Yeah, there was an unbelievable game. 39:07 It just felt like it was never going to end. 39:11 The first 10 minutes of overtime, North Dakota was all over Duluth. 39:16 It was chance after chance and they didn't score. 39:19 And I want to say it's settled down a little bit after 10 minutes. 39:22 And then maybe about five to 10 minutes into the second overtime, like you could tell the guys were tired. 39:29 There was a third forward high. 39:31 Every puck was getting chipped out. 39:33 Every puck was deep. 39:34 And like the amount of scoring chances they had, like from the second overtime on, wasn't that many. 39:41 It was kind of like, I mean, the chant there, nobody's even really getting great A's. 39:45 It wasn't like, it was kind of like, is anyone going to score tonight? 39:50 The one guy who was generating chances was Jake Sanderson. 39:54 He was like the one guy who looked like he was fresh. 39:56 But outside of that, like it was, once it got into that second overtime. 40:03 And even Duluth was really tired too, because, you know, they're probably playing a little harder during the game knowing, hey, we've got three less periods, guys. 40:12 Let's go at them more. 40:14 So it gets to a third, a fourth, into the fifth. 40:17 It's like, wow. 40:20 Yeah. 40:21 And then, you know, North Dakota lost Grant Mismash in the second period, and kind of shortened their bench a little bit. 40:29 And they had their extra forward, Carson Albrecht, who didn't play a whole lot. 40:33 And Mark Sende didn't play in that game, so he got bumped up to the extra forward. 40:39 And I don't know how many shifts he played in the first three, four periods. 40:43 And then all of a sudden in the third overtime, you start seeing Carson Albrecht play all these minutes, and you're like, oh boy, they must be really tired. 40:52 He starts rolling, and he's playing a lot. 40:55 And the guy who scored the game winner for Duluth, I don't know if he played, you know, in the first five periods of the game. 41:05 Again, that was another guy who was the extra forward. 41:06 That's right, yeah. 41:08 And it was, here's a fresh guy, let's go. 41:10 And he ended up scoring. 41:12 And so, yeah, it was just kind of interesting. 41:15 You're seeing like guys who are fourth liners, just you're like, man, I cannot believe how many minutes that guy's playing right now. 41:24 This is wild. 41:26 But so we're stretching it out to three days for, you know, for both East and West and what have you. 41:34 I've never been shy to say that is my favorite college hockey weekend of the year. 41:39 And just for a fan, if you want, you could sit home on your couch, maybe have a computer next to you in case you need to stream something else. 41:46 But it's solid hockey Friday night until Sunday afternoon. 41:50 It's the best weekend. 41:51 Now it's going to be from Thursday night or something like that, or Thursday afternoon all the way through Sunday. 41:57 Not as many games going on at once, but at least those teams will get a rest, Brad. 42:02 Yeah. 42:02 And I'm curious to see how the times slots go to. 42:07 It might be kind of fun. 42:08 You know, there were some times you would miss a game because there were two games that were basically overlapping. 42:13 Like there might have been like an hour in between, you know, that you would miss a game. 42:17 Now, I think all eyeballs will be on every game here. 42:21 We'll see how it goes. 42:23 So, you know, and I think the big thing, obviously the Duluth, North Dakota game, I think was the tipping point because I think a lot of people said, what happens when that's the first game? 42:34 And you have to have guys come back the next day. 42:36 Is that safe? 42:39 And so, I think that was what did it. 42:41 But if you look at the records of the teams that the team that wins the first semifinal has an incredible record against the team that wins the second semifinal. 42:53 Interesting. 42:54 I went back and looked at all the numbers, and it is the first semifinal winner has a better winner percentage than the number one does over the number four. 43:06 Like, if you look at all the seeds and everything, the biggest advantage of anything in the regionals is the regional final and the team that plays in the first semifinal. 43:15 So, there is, and I think the coaches had an idea, and that's why you saw Brad Berry and Bob Motskos. 43:23 They earned the number one seed, and they felt as earning that. 43:27 And it was all because of TV, too. 43:30 Correct. 43:30 Which North Dakota wasn't even on TV their first game. 43:33 And I'm like, what are you doing? 43:37 And I think that's what really irked Brad Berry, is that they did it for TV and they're not on TV. 43:41 It's like, it's one thing if we're actually on. 43:44 We got put on a streaming service and we're still, and you know, they were the latest game of all the games. 43:50 And they were the number one overall seed. 43:53 And I think, you know, I think. 43:55 No. 43:55 He wasn't as vocal as Bob Matsuko, but I think they both were feeling the same things. 44:00 Like it's a really long season in college hockey. 44:04 If you come out the other end as the number one seed, you should have the advantage, you know, the regionals, you take away all the advantages and you should at least have the advantage of playing in the early game. 44:17 And so now you have these coaches that are politicking, they want to get in the early game because they think they deserved it. 44:22 And I think that now the committee just said, hey, we're done with that. 44:26 We don't have to deal with that. 44:27 We can no more politicking. 44:29 And you don't have to have that risk of what happens if North Dakota Duluth happens in the first game and they have to come back the next day. 44:38 And is there player safety issue involved? 44:42 What do you think about the whole day off thing, Veegs? 44:45 I'm guessing you're for it because even though we might be Gopher guys, to not have the overall number one seat on TV and haven't played the latest of the latest games is pretty stupid. 44:56 I'm sorry. 44:57 It's just dumb. 44:59 There's not a lot of things about the NCAA result that make sense. 45:03 This makes some sense to me. 45:06 I see, you know, it's what they do for basketball. 45:08 They get that day off. 45:10 Why not do it for hockey? 45:11 The only thing I wish they would do is I wish they would use campus sites and best of three the first round, but I don't think the Eastern coaches would like that one too much, but I think it would make for the best scenario ever, because if you're a top eight seed, you know, you would get home ice for that first weekend and you'd play a best of three against someone coming to your barn. 45:32 You would actually have fans in the building who could make it. 45:35 And then everybody could make their plans for that next weekend for a regional final game somewhere. 45:40 And then you could still have your frozen for, which is always well attended. 45:44 Yeah, I agree. 45:45 I've kind of written a little bit about that before. 45:48 And I think sometimes the coaches look at things differently and they look at it from their own perspective. 45:57 We don't want to go into an atmosphere like that, teams that don't think they're going to be top eight. 46:04 I think of it, you know, from an entertainment aspect, I think it's still entertainment. 46:11 And these are your biggest games of the year. 46:13 And you watch the NHL playoffs, and those buildings are just electric. 46:17 They're phenomenal. 46:19 You've seen the regionals in Fargo, and they're electric, which, I mean, so are we really pretending like that's neutral site? 46:28 Like, what are we going to do if we're going to put it there? 46:31 And so I just think you have these unbelievable buildings in the NHL and just fun games. 46:38 And that could be college hockey. 46:39 I mean, could you imagine like some of these three game series? 46:46 It's the way they used to do it. 46:47 Or they used to have, sometimes they did what they did, total goal series, some wacky things, but it was a lot more interesting back in the 80s. 46:55 But I mean, like for some of these ECAC teams, how great would it be for them to have like a North Dakota or a Minnesota or a BU coming into their barn for an elimination weekend? 47:08 Instead of Bridgeport? 47:08 It would be great for those towns. 47:09 Right. 47:10 Yeah. 47:11 And the problem is a lot of those coaches, they look at it as, they don't think of themselves as a top eight seed, that that's going to happen. 47:21 They think we're going to go play this powerhouse type team or traditional powerhouse, I should say. 47:29 And we don't want to go on the road and have to win a series. 47:32 Let's go play in a neutral site, or maybe there's not many fans, and let's just get that one game shot. 47:37 That's, that's the thinking is, how do we get to the National Championship, the easiest? 47:43 And I don't think the, the discussion is what's great for the game? 47:48 What would be awesome for the sport? 47:51 And so that, that's where I would love to see what you described Vegoe. 47:57 You know, and, you know, sometimes these powerhouses would be on the road. 48:01 And sometimes they'd be at home. 48:03 But even if you're going on the road, I just went to like Quinnipiac a few weeks ago and just an awesome crowd out there. 48:10 And, you know, I just think of, if that was an NCAA game, how fun would that be? 48:14 And yeah, I, I would love to see it. 48:17 I think it'd be interesting. 48:18 We need guys like you writing about it more. 48:22 Promoting it. 48:25 I tried a lot about 10 years ago. 48:28 So maybe it's time to do it again. 48:31 I got absolutely nowhere 10 years ago with it. 48:35 You and Todd, maybe you and Todd got to get together and maybe do some competing little things going on or? 48:41 Some, some things are changing though. 48:43 I mean, just think of like the three on three over times, like coaches rejected those types of things, like 10 years ago, like that would never have happened. 48:51 And so maybe the, you know, the, they're open to trying different things or, you know, and from an entertainment aspect, they just didn't. 49:03 You know, the, the three on three over time thing, I love it, Veegs. 49:07 I still kind of like the old rules of winning in over time and you get all the points. 49:13 I mean, you look at Michigan last weekend, they lost an over time both games. 49:18 If this was old league rules, you know, they would have had, you know, lost two points each night, you know, it would have been a four point weekend for Notre Dame. 49:27 Well, instead, it was a four point weekend for Notre Dame, but it was a two point weekend for Michigan. 49:33 So yes, I love that three on three. 49:35 I love that action. 49:36 I just kind of like the old rules a little more, Veegs. 49:40 And for the pair wise, it's 55-45, which is even more confusing. 49:45 You know, it basically means when the game ends, it's basically a tie. 49:51 So I don't really care one way or the other. 49:56 I don't like a game where it's tied and you lose in overtime, you get nothing either because then you just get some boring hockey. 50:02 So I don't know if I love that either. 50:05 It's kind of a, you know, lifeboat situation where I'm not super invested. 50:10 And I don't understand why people are so invested in going to this in the first place. 50:14 It's what the NHL does. 50:16 You know, it's what the Olympics do. 50:17 It's what the World Juniors do. 50:18 Yeah, but the Olympics do it on purpose. 50:20 The limp, or I should say the NHL does it on purpose. 50:23 They want parity. 50:24 They want everyone to be close in points. 50:27 Well, they want parity and they also want the game to end. 50:29 You know, if you have these 20 minute OTs and stuff, you know, your player is getting hurt and things like that, because they get fatigued. 50:36 So just end the game. 50:38 I just like the old rules. 50:39 I'm not gonna die on the hill either way. 50:41 Yeah, I just kind of like the old rules, Brad, when you don't, hey, you win in overtime, you're still getting the full points for the win. 50:48 Yeah, that was... 50:50 That's what I really love, the differentiation between college and the NHL. 50:53 I love that. 50:54 You didn't just earn a point. 50:55 You still got to keep earning it in the next five minutes. 50:59 I think there's still going to be more to fall out. 51:02 It's not going to be huge, but I think what happened is there were a lot of coaches that wanted to do the three-on-three. 51:08 There were a lot of coaches who are really nervous and didn't want the three-on-three to do. 51:13 So they made it the value of overtime as small as possible. 51:17 And what they're going to be able to do after this year, though, is they'll finally have data and they can go back to the coaches' meetings and say, here's what the pairwise was at 55-45. 51:28 Here's what the pairwise would have been if we called it a tie. 51:31 Here's what it would be 65-35. 51:34 Here's what it would be 70-30. 51:36 And they can kind of expand it and they can see how much teams fluctuate. 51:41 And I'm guessing the fluctuation is not going to be as great as all the coaches think it's going to be. 51:48 Maybe we'll eventually see some more value added to overtime in the national picture. 51:53 But I think for this first year, they said, let's do it as small as possible. 51:57 Then we'll have data to work with the next time we go. 52:01 All right, Veegs. 52:03 Gophers heading up the Grand Forks. 52:05 They heading up tomorrow. 52:06 They already there. 52:06 They're going to do their turkey up there. 52:07 I saw a question on that earlier today. 52:09 They are already there. 52:11 I think they got in about an hour ago. 52:13 Okay. 52:14 So turkey is going to be up there. 52:16 What's going to happen with the games this weekend, Veegs? 52:19 We've been struggling this year at predicting anything. 52:22 But give me just a quick scenario. 52:24 I've been pretty good. 52:25 I think I've been pretty good, Juve. 52:26 I think we have to go back. 52:28 I've been on. 52:28 I've been calling a lot of splits lately. 52:30 I called a sweep. 52:31 That was a sweep. 52:32 You know, I think this weekend is going to be a real show me for the Gophers. 52:37 Because if they don't come to play on Friday, they could very easily get swept. 52:42 Because I think North Dakota is a strong veteran team where even if North Dakota gets that win on Friday night, I don't think they're going to let up in their game on Saturday. 52:52 I think they're really going to want to sweep the Gophers, you know, and they'll have that crowd behind them. 52:57 But I do think Minnesota is going to play two solid games this weekend and somehow get a split out of it. 53:03 I actually think they might win on Friday night and lose on Saturday. 53:09 They need to show me they can win on Friday night first weeks because they haven't really... 53:13 I think they've got the message. 53:15 I hope so. 53:17 I hope so. 53:18 I don't think the problem on Fridays has been energy. 53:21 It's been detail and focus. 53:24 And I think we're going to see Sammy Walker stay at right wing for this weekend. 53:28 You know, that's a move that I think really balances out the lineup because he was kind of a defensive liability, whether it's coming back on the back check or getting out on the breakout too soon. 53:40 You know, I think he was one of those things that was really hurting them. 53:43 And so I think by moving him to wing and just focusing him on offense, now you have three lines that are really tough to match up against, I think, for the Gophers. 53:52 And I think it's going to provide some more consistency to their game. 53:56 And honestly, Brad, I think the Gophers are going to love that atmosphere. 54:02 Yeah, you know, by the way, I did listen last week in Vegoe. 54:06 I think you nailed it. 54:08 But I also thought you said you weren't going to pick the Gophers on Friday till they won one. 54:11 And here you are. 54:14 Well, you know, you talk to enough players and you feel like maybe you got a feeling about things. 54:19 That's also what I picked. 54:20 But one interesting thing when I was looking through rosters, and I think we all try to guess what, you know, any little edge or mental thing. 54:29 And I don't know if maybe we overplay that. 54:32 But I think I counted Minnesota has 12 players on their roster who were part of that series in Mariucci a couple years ago. 54:43 And that that has to be a very bitter memory for those guys. 54:46 You know, they want to come back and do to North Dakota what North Dakota did to them at Mariucci. 54:56 North Dakota has four guys on the roster who have ever played against Minnesota. 55:02 The rivalry is going to be very new for most of this team. 55:07 Do I think it's going to be a huge issue for them? 55:09 It shouldn't be. 55:10 This team has been pretty consistent all year long. 55:13 Like, I feel like they've played a similar game, whether it's Duluth or, you know, no matter who they're playing. 55:21 So I tend to think they'll bring a fairly level play that they have. 55:26 But I do think it's interesting that you have one team that is going to have distinct memories of this and another team that really has no memory. 55:35 And I think the Gophers have been talking about that this week. 55:38 Yeah. 55:38 You know, when you heard some of the freshmen talking about this rivalry, they've been hearing it from the coaches and the older players that that is not something they're going to let happen again. 55:49 You know, they got to prove it. 55:50 Of course, on Friday night, but they're thinking about it. 55:55 Minnesota is getting a couple of guys back. 55:57 You know, you look at their body of work this year. 56:00 And, you know, Lucius, you know, I know he was hurt before he went out. 56:06 He was playing injured. 56:09 And, you know, now he's finally healthy. 56:11 And that's a fairly prominent player that they've been missing out of their line up. 56:17 Grant Crookshank is the only Gopher player who's played UND in the Ralph. 56:21 And, you know, he's a guy who's brings experience. 56:24 And so so their roster is different than it has been the last month as well. 56:28 You know, those are two fairly prominent pieces. 56:32 And I think we might see Crookshank play with Hughlyn and Walker on a line. 56:36 And I think that'll be an interesting one to watch because I think Grant will bring some kind of gravitas to that line and seriousness on the bench. 56:45 I think sometimes Walker can get a little flighty with his emotions and his play and get a little floaty. 56:51 And I think playing with those two could ground him a little bit and we might see his best weekend. 56:57 You definitely don't want to get him angry, Veegs. 57:00 Last weekend, he kind of took a shot in the toast, as the old Wuger would say. 57:06 And he was not very happy and his coach actually took a penalty yelling at the refs. 57:11 But you know, he got the revenge. 57:13 He came back and scored a goal and then got an empty net goal. 57:15 So maybe he plays a little better angry. 57:20 I mean, he looked good. 57:20 He looked fast. 57:21 He looked free. 57:22 And he looked energized. 57:23 Yeah, I'm. 57:33 I'll pick a split as well. 57:35 I just, yeah, I know, I just, prove it to me on Friday. 57:41 They got to prove it to me on Friday. 57:42 I mean, it's just the way I am. 57:47 They just got to prove it to me first. 57:49 Sorry, I'm just not going to be a bandwagon jumper. 57:52 See, I don't always pick sweeps, Veegs. 57:58 I went with a split too in our, that's in our paper here. 58:03 Oh boy. 58:04 Basically, yeah, everyone- 58:05 Fire Schlossman, he's terrible. 58:08 They just get mad because I pick splits too often. 58:11 They think I'm boring and I probably am, but I think both these teams are really good. 58:19 You look at their roster make up, North Dakota has been better than I thought they would be this year. 58:24 I think they've been solid and they're tough to play against, and I think Minnesota, I think they have a really good roster. 58:32 I picked them number two pre-season in the country, and I think they're going to work their way back up, and I think these are just two really good teams, and that's what it comes down to. 58:41 It's hard to see really good teams get swept. 58:45 It can happen, of course, but I think we'll see close games, too. 58:49 Veegs, interesting. 58:51 Will they be in the box this weekend? 58:53 Who was it? 58:54 You're showing us some stats. 58:55 Oh, you're looking at the line, aren't you? 58:57 You love the gambling part, don't you, Veegs? 58:59 I wanted to see what... 59:00 Can you zoom in a bit? 59:02 The Sportsbooks in Iowa were thinking for this game, and they've got North Dakota as a minus 200 favorite. 59:08 The Gophers as 165, Underdogs over-under at six. 59:14 Pretty tasty lie there for North Dakota, Minnesota, plus one and a half, minus one and a half, but, you know? 59:20 And that's because Minnesota doesn't show up, that's because Minnesota doesn't show up half a series. 59:25 Hit the under. 59:28 I like the under. 59:30 I think both teams are going to play pretty tight defensively. 59:35 I think we, the series, we've seen so many high scoring games, like this weekend, I wouldn't be surprised if it's a little... 59:42 There's a lot of talent on the ice, so it sounds ridiculous to say that, but I think... 59:46 Oh, come on. 59:47 We need a good, you know, six, five game, Veegs, you know, with a moment during the game where each team's got four guys in the box. 59:56 There might be guys in the box, but I think they'll be coincidentals. 59:59 I think Minnesota's taken enough bad penalties so far, and Moscow's expecting a tight game. 1:00:04 You know, I kind of brought up that, you know, it's Penn State kind of a good warm up series because of how aggressive the Nittany Lions play. 1:00:11 And Bob was like, wait, wait, North Dakota is a grinding team. 1:00:15 I was like, no, no, like they're aggressive. 1:00:17 They for-check, they hit you every chance they get. 1:00:19 It's going to be physical. 1:00:20 He's like, oh yeah, yeah. 1:00:21 It's going to be like that. 1:00:22 Yeah. 1:00:22 They're going to grind it out. 1:00:25 Yeah. 1:00:25 I was kind of weird. 1:00:26 He had a weird kind of answer at first, but I was, I was listening to that big. 1:00:29 So I didn't think he knew what I was getting at right away. 1:00:31 Then he's like, oh yeah, we're ready for this. 1:00:34 It's going to be a lot of fun. 1:00:35 Well, Brad, thanks for joining us on again, again on the podcast. 1:00:39 It's always fun to have you. 1:00:40 It's always fun to chat with you guys. 1:00:43 It's always great to have you on. 1:00:45 We'll definitely have you on again when, I'm guessing it's going to be Thanksgiving next year? 1:00:50 I'm not even sure, to be honest. 1:00:53 Minnesota is so tight-lipped on everything. 1:00:55 It's just like, come on. 1:00:56 I know there's a lot of like, there've been a lot of issues rebuilding schedules after COVID. 1:01:05 Yeah. 1:01:06 Because everyone had everything slotted out like two, three years in advance, and now everything is, they're trying to fit series back in. 1:01:14 I think they figured this one out now. 1:01:15 I can't remember when it is, but I don't think it was easy to figure some of these series back out in non-conference. 1:01:23 Well, Thanksgiving would work again next year because Minnesota is at Wisconsin that weekend for football, so at least, you know. 1:01:31 I'm always down for Thanksgiving weekend. 1:01:33 You can come down and see your sister. 1:01:35 Exactly. 1:01:35 I can say, hey, you guys have to cook Thanksgiving dinner. 1:01:40 It works so great for me. 1:01:42 Hopefully, we'll have you on again at this time next year. 1:01:45 You'll be in your sister's place. 1:01:48 We'll get her on the podcast too. 1:01:49 She can give us all the dirt on you. 1:01:52 Over time. 1:01:54 Yes. 1:01:54 Thanks for coming on, Brad. 1:01:55 We really appreciate it. 1:01:57 That's going to do it for this week's GPL Podcast. 1:02:01 Obviously, thank Brad for being on the show this week. 1:02:05 Next week, we've got former Gopher Jack Ramsey on to close out the first half of the season. 1:02:11 For those of you listening live, we're going to stay tuned for some overtime with a couple of beverages that we're going to have. 1:02:17 For the rest of you, we'll see you next week.