0:06 This is The GPL Podcast from gopherpucklive.com. 0:15 This podcast is sponsored by Jerry Peters and First Class Mortgage. 0:19 Our expertise, your peace of mind. 0:21 Visit us at firstclassmortgage.com. 0:29 Now, let's start the show with your hosts, Jupiter and Vegoe. 0:40 Good evening, and welcome to The GPL Podcast, episode number 205. 0:47 Hey, Veegs, how you doing? 0:48 Nothing going on this week. 0:50 Nothing going on, just your typical morning. 0:51 Absolutely, it's just a plain week, no reason. 0:55 We thought it was gonna be a quiet week, so we're like, hey, quiet week, let's bring on Jess Myers. 0:59 It'll be perfect, we'll just relax, and just kinda, just have a nice show. 1:04 Jess always asks about the upcoming opponent, so if you're gonna ask someone to talk about Alaska, Jess is your guy. 1:11 Well let's bring our guest on this week from The Rink Live. 1:14 There he is, Jess Myers. 1:17 How you doing, Jess? 1:18 If we're gonna talk about Alaska, I really feel like I should be speaking Latvian, and I don't know a lot of Latvian. 1:24 Have you looked at their roster? 1:26 It's a little Euro-focused. 1:28 We're gonna get a nice preview of the Olympics this weekend. 1:33 Thanks for having me on, guys. 1:34 How are you? 1:35 Well, we haven't had you on in a couple years, and I know you keep pinning me down. 1:38 When are you gonna have me on again? 1:39 When are you gonna have me on again? 1:41 I just need the money. 1:42 Hey. 1:44 Yeah, this huge paying endeavor right here. 1:49 Well, we're glad you joined us. 1:51 Obviously, I think the last time we had you on, you had just kind of started the rink live, just kind of getting back into it after a couple of years off. 1:58 Yeah. 1:59 And now you guys have, you keep expanding, keep doing more things. 2:04 You're doing a lot of video now. 2:06 You're doing podcasts. 2:07 What aren't you doing these days? 2:09 We've got a great team. 2:10 I mean, I do really feel blessed. 2:12 Randy Johnson, my friend who writes for the Star Tribune, you know, covers the Gophers from time to time. 2:17 We were out in Pittsburgh at the Frozen Four last year, and he's there trying to cover three teams. 2:21 And we have, you know, three reporters there, and we have Brad Schlossman up on Grand Forks. 2:25 I mean, we have a really good team. 2:28 And we've added, like you say, some video people. 2:30 We just added Kirsten Krull to our group. 2:33 She's covering junior hockey. 2:34 We've got people covering youth hockey now. 2:36 I mean, it's a lot of fun, what we're doing. 2:38 And the resources we've been given to do it. 2:40 I mean, I really feel blessed with what Forum Communications has invested in time and money and in what we do. 2:46 And I think it's paying off. 2:47 I mean, I think we're providing some really good content. 2:49 I mean, in the past, you were kind of covering the local scene. 2:52 You would be at Minnesota. 2:53 You go to Duluth. 2:54 You know, you kind of covered locally. 2:55 But now, hey, you're on the road almost every week, almost every series, maybe not all, but most of them, aren't you? 3:02 About 10, for 10 years, I covered the entire WCHA. 3:05 So that was, you know, 10 teams. 3:08 That was a lot, you know, getting out to places. 3:10 But yeah, I'm pretty much full time on the Gophers now. 3:14 I'm one of the rare folks. 3:15 Frank and Wally and me are pretty much the only media that travels to most of the road games. 3:21 I missed the Wisconsin series this year. 3:23 That's the only road games I've missed so far. 3:25 So yeah. 3:26 You had more important things going on that weekend. 3:28 It was your boy getting married. 3:30 No, no. 3:30 It was dear season. 3:33 I missed the home games against Mercyhurst because my son- 3:35 There you go. 3:35 I knew you missed some games because of your boy getting married. 3:39 Yeah. 3:40 My oldest son has got a wife now. 3:43 That's weird. 3:44 It's not weird. 3:45 It's usually scary. 3:47 I mean, and super happy for them. 3:49 He found a great girl in about eighth grade, by the way. 3:52 So it's not like they rushed into this. 3:54 They had dated for a long time. 3:55 Oh, wow. 3:57 All right. 3:58 Veegs, kind of joking about the news this week. 4:03 Here, I'm thinking you've got this great prediction. 4:05 I was a little on the edge about the prediction of Michigan State because they had to prove it to me in the beginning of that third period or second game. 4:15 I was a little nervous. 4:16 They came through something like, oh, we got great topics next week. 4:19 Then everything hit the fan late Sunday afternoon when Mr. 4:23 LaFontaine signed NHL Pro contract. 4:27 Yeah, I might have a little egg on my face still because people are starting to bring that up. 4:32 I was like, I think Jack's pretty committed to being a student. 4:36 I mean, look, he just started this book club with Frank. 4:40 He is one of the most intellectual hockey players I've been around since being involved with college hockey. 4:46 And you just kind of had this feeling. 4:47 It's like, no way is he going to leave this. 4:49 He talks about this, you know, being unfinished business, you know, how this is his new home. 4:55 He talks lonely of all his teammates and how Bob is his papa bear, and then you start seeing tweets that he's at Sally's having goodbye shots with the boys and tears. 5:06 And, you know, you hear that he's over at Mariucci crying and you just go, all right, I guess this is real. 5:16 Kind of a shocker, Jess, were you at the Vikings game trying to avoid the last game of the season or did you stay home with your season tickets? 5:23 So my son and his wife were at the game. 5:26 Okay. 5:27 Let me tell you about my Sunday. 5:29 Okay, first of all, Saturday night, East Lansing, you know, I'm there. 5:33 Yeah, yeah. 5:34 Gophers get a rousing win. 5:36 I write my story. 5:37 I go out with my longtime friend, Neil Koepke, who the only guy I know of has covered college hockey longer than I have. 5:44 You know, we have a Long Island ice tea. 5:47 We toast another great college hockey weekend. 5:50 I slept in the next morning at my hotel. 5:52 I have a later flight. 5:54 My old friend, Mike Idelbus from insidecollegehockey.com. 5:57 We get together and have a nice brunch, go to the airport, enjoying a nice leisurely flight home. 6:03 I'm somewhere over Wisconsin. 6:06 And true story, in flight messaging, I get a text from one of the Gopher parents that just says, Jess, what the hell? 6:18 And at first, I'm thinking, I did something wrong, you know, and then I start checking social media, and it's like, oh boy, we got to get this plane on the ground right now. 6:27 Stuff's going bad, yeah. 6:30 You know, I must say, I like, you had a tweet earlier today when you started, or it was maybe it was yesterday when you started Tuckma, you know, you're in college to prepare that next part of your life. 6:39 And people shouldn't be too upset about it. 6:42 People, you know, obviously the team, this sucks for the team, but Jess, this is his fifth year, senior year, he's already graduated. 6:54 Obviously, his stats are kind of down this year, he's not doing as well. 6:57 And all of a sudden, he gets this opportunity that he may not have. 6:59 I mean, if he finishes out this season, and he could win a national title or whatever, but he's not going to have the stats and the everything that he had from last year. 7:09 I really believe he made the right decision here. 7:11 It's you get someone puts this kind of, you know, prize out in front of you, you need to take it. 7:17 I, you know, I don't question Jack's move at all. 7:20 And Eric, it's funny you talk about, you know, him doing shots and him being at the rink with tears in his eyes. 7:28 Jack LaFontaine is one of the more emotional guys I've ever seen. 7:31 And I was at Yost last year when he got a shutout there in what at the time looked like it would have been his last game at Yost, you know, where his career started. 7:41 And man, he was an absolute puddle. 7:44 I mean, just, you know, had to be consoled by teammates. 7:48 And so I can see that being a tough decision for him, but absolutely made the right move for him. 7:56 This is an unprecedented thing. 7:57 You know, we haven't, ironically, the last time we saw a college player like this sign in the middle of the season was also a gopher. 8:04 A Kyle Oposo took off, you know, mid-season 12, 13 years ago. 8:10 So it's very rare, but I kind of wrote a column to this effect and said, let's look back at the last 22 months. 8:18 What's normal about any of it? 8:20 I mean, guys taking literally dozens of Covid tests every month last year, playing in front of cardboard cutouts, you know, referees using special whistles, so they don't expel as much air, the handshakes going away. 8:35 I mean, it's just, this is just the latest bit of weirdness that we're dealing with. 8:40 So yes, it's unprecedented, but everything about the last 22 months has been unprecedented. 8:47 What do you think, Veegs? 8:48 Yeah, we obviously have quite a few fans that are upset. 8:52 I think they're more upset about, you know, just what's happening to the team, more than upset with the, you know, he's moving on to the pros. 8:59 But what do you think? 9:03 I mean, I understand Jack's perspective, you know, getting a spot to play goalie and pro hockey can be extremely, extremely challenging and frustrating. 9:14 I think there were a couple years back, I know Jess's team on his Instagram Live talked about this, you know, when there was a run on goalies for spots in pro hockey and Duluth lost somebody way before they thought they're going to lose them. 9:27 You know, Strauss Mann thought, oh, I'm going to turn pro and I'll find a job. 9:32 He had to go to the Swedish Hockey League to find a net to play goalie in. 9:36 And now he might end up in the Olympics, which is kind of a cool deal for him. 9:40 But I think from a goalie perspective, it's very, very different than all the other positions. 9:46 If there's a spot and you're going to get probably a guaranteed NHL salary for the season and the maximum bonus, that's very tempting for a college kid to take who might not have that opportunity at the end of the year. 10:00 You know, if Carolina goes out and makes another move to make sure they don't get caught short a goalie, Jack definitely doesn't have Carolina and they're probably mad at him because he didn't sign with them. 10:10 You know, they wanted him in the summer. 10:12 Now on the flip side, the mob side, I think the first 30 minutes Bob heard this news, he was really frustrated because college hockey isn't exactly like free agency. 10:24 Yes, they can get Bartosz Skiewicz here this week and he can be part of their roster, but he's not the same thing as a Jared Moe. 10:34 He's not the same thing as going through the transfer portal and grabbing the guy from Cornell that's at Notre Dame, Gala, Gala Deha. 10:43 You know, you can't get a guy like that mid-year. 10:46 You can't just go to the wire. 10:47 You can't trade for somebody. 10:48 It's very different than the rules that, you know, NHL teams operate in AHL, ECHL. 10:54 Heck, even the USHL, if Youngstown really wants to make a move, they don't have to grab this kid from South Kent Academy, U18s. 11:03 They could make a trade with another USHL team to get a goalie in. 11:06 Bob doesn't have that choice. 11:08 So it puts him in a really tough spot and it puts his teammates in a tough spot. 11:14 And I know all the guys on Instagram are postin, can't wish you any more happiness. 11:20 You're a great kid. 11:22 You know, go rocket in the NHL. 11:24 You know, live your dream. 11:26 But at the same point, there's probably some guys on the team that aren't posting on Instagram. 11:30 They're like, okay, great. 11:34 Thanks, man. 11:35 Well, maybe everything feels a little more empty to them. 11:38 And that's how I think a lot of fans will feel, is they, you know, they pay money and it's going to be disappointing not to see him in goal. 11:46 Can I throw out an elephant in the room that I don't think has been talked about enough in this situation? 11:53 And one frustrating thing for me in defending Jack LaFontaine and his decision, which again, I think was the right decision for him at this point. 12:01 I don't necessarily like it, but I understand it. 12:04 I think he made the right decision. 12:07 A lot of people on social media, and I really hope it's the same people that have been harping all year that the Gophers need to make a change in goal, because there's been that crowd too. 12:17 Okay. 12:18 But a lot of folks have talked about, well, what about loyalty to your team? 12:23 Where's his loyalty to the Gophers? 12:26 And that's a nice concept. 12:28 It really is. 12:29 Okay. 12:30 But let's think back to the end of Jack LaFontaine's sophomore year of college. 12:37 He had played 22 games for the University of Michigan. 12:40 He was 11 and 11. 12:41 He had just gotten to a frozen four. 12:44 Didn't get to play in that frozen four, but he got there with the Wolverines. 12:49 And the coaches at his college came to him and said, we don't have a spot for you anymore. 12:53 Sorry. 12:54 Time to move on. 12:55 Now, what do you learn about? 12:56 Loyalty goes both ways. 12:57 What do you learn about team loyalty if you're Jack LaFontaine? 13:00 And that's not a comment on the way he was treated at the University of Minnesota at all. 13:04 You know, by all accounts, he was a great teammate. 13:07 The guys loved him. 13:08 He loved playing here. 13:09 You know, never had any bad things to say about him. 13:13 And he never had anything bad things to say about his teammates. 13:16 But with that history in his mind, that, you know, that's the way loyalty works at some levels, that people can just come to you after two years of school and say, no, don't have a spot for you. 13:29 Good luck. 13:31 I think, you know, he had to make this move for him at this point in his career. 13:36 You know, and I think some of it though to Vegues is that we thought we had more of an heir apparent in Boynton and, you know, medical issues and just a lot of things. 13:50 He's been number three all year. 13:54 Sometimes he's been a number three who hasn't even dressed for a game. 13:57 So there are, I think, there's a concern there. 14:00 Fair amount. 14:01 Yeah. 14:01 I think there's a concern there about what his future is at Minnesota. 14:06 You know, he's got a couple weeks here to be the absolute best college student athlete he can be. 14:13 If he wants to be here, I think this is a chance for him to make a really, really strong impression that he's going to do everything possible to be here. 14:23 If he wants to go somewhere else and use the portal to go somewhere else or, you know, whatever, he'll have that option at the off season as well. 14:34 But it's been frosty, I think, every time his name has been brought up in the media room at Mariucci. 14:41 Good job, Jess, keeping the frost and the temperature low. 14:47 Pat Royce asked the question this week, just for the record. 14:50 Oh, come on, Pat shows up once every five years. 14:53 I, you know, you guys didn't see it, and I don't know if this came out on the tape, but credit Bob Motzko. 14:58 And, you know, he and I have a fun relationship. 15:01 You know, it seems frosty at times, but we're fine, you know, all that. 15:06 But credit him for a great line. 15:07 He walks into the room and there's all this media there. 15:12 And first he makes the joke that, yep, the Vikings are done, you know, because that's that's usually when the media shows up. 15:17 Yeah. 15:17 And then he says, it's great to have all of you guys here. 15:19 It's been pretty lonely. 15:21 And me being me, I said, gee, thanks, Bob. 15:23 I've been here all year. 15:24 He said, yeah, like I said, it's been pretty lonely. 15:27 It's been pretty lonely. 15:29 Yeah, I wish if you're checking out the rink live live, you saw that part. 15:34 We did. 15:35 Yeah, we did see that part. 15:36 It was very entertaining, Jess, because I was watching here, by the way, just so you know, go for it. 15:41 Veegs will have his later. 15:43 And, you know, it has been kind of fun watching you and Bob go back and forth, you know. 15:51 It's all good. 15:51 Especially when it comes to goalies. 15:53 Last couple of years, you're like, get Mo in, get Mo in, are you gonna do this, are you gonna do that? 15:59 And, yeah, I do have one clip that I've saved just for you, Jess. 16:06 That's not from the last, it was a couple years ago, but this is one of my favorite clips that happened not too long ago for everyone to listen and see if you're watching. 16:16 I wish there was one last mistake tonight that we weren't talking about right now. 16:19 Can you give us anything on Walker injury, disciplinary, anything like that? 16:25 Just curious. 16:25 You're crazy. 16:34 The best part is the little head shake toward the end, when he's like, do you believe this guy? 16:41 He was looking at me, and then there's me. 16:43 I'm the little giggling, the hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, in the back room, because you're right next to me. 16:48 Just the look on his face. 16:50 Walker, oh, dude, you disciplinary, are you crazy? 16:54 The context was, you know, Sammy Walker's a freshman. 16:57 He's on the way to winning Big Ten Freshman of the Year. 16:59 He's a special forward, and you knew it even back then. 17:02 Well, he's just mysteriously off the line chart. 17:05 And, you know, I said, if it's a fourth line left wing who never plays and he's not on the line chart, I'm not going to ask that question. 17:12 But Sammy Walker's not there. 17:14 I mean, that's a big deal. 17:16 It turns out he had a concussion. 17:17 It was just a one day absence. 17:19 But, you know, all Bob has to say at that point is, he's a little nicked up. 17:23 That's okay. 17:24 Cool. 17:24 That's all I need to know. 17:25 Yeah, but I think he likes just kind of getting at you. 17:29 Yeah, especially when the cameras are on. 17:33 I actually found that video from like an old Periscope stream I had of it via Twitter. 17:40 I was able to pick it up and save it. 17:43 We'll get into a bunch of more stuff here about the whole goalie situation. 17:46 And Mr. 17:47 Justin Close is now your number one goalie at Minnesota, at least we think he is. 17:52 But Veegs, you know, we did have some games this past weekend, and Minnesota took the sweep just like you predicted. 18:01 Pretty solid win Friday night, got out to lead, held on to it. 18:05 Saturday down to nothing, and it was just a blowout from there. 18:12 Yeah, and what I was really impressed with on Saturday is even though they fell behind, I didn't feel like they were chasing the game at any point. 18:20 I thought they stuck to their game plan pretty well. 18:23 We even saw Sammy Walker chipping some pucks behind the D and winning races to the end wall, you know, he drew something we've talked about a long time weeks, something we've been talking about. 18:33 So it's nice to see that switch go, Hey, let's, let's just keep doing what we're doing. 18:38 We're very talented team that if we just keep the pressure on, things are going to add up. 18:42 And I think Minnesota had like 90 attempted shots on Saturday. 18:46 That's just a huge output. 18:48 I think Michigan State only had like 40. 18:50 So that that's really what you're looking for. 18:52 And eventually that the talent and the pressure really paid off. 18:56 And that was something I was happy to see. 18:58 You know, that first goal the Gophers gave away, that's basically LaFontaine misplaying the puck. 19:03 And sometimes, you know, the Gophers, when that happens, they just kind of fall apart. 19:07 And it was nice to see them not do that on Saturday. 19:11 And another thing about that Vegas is that you're always like, it's going to be low scoring. 19:14 So it was kind of out of character for Michigan State to play that way against Minnesota. 19:19 I mean, the avalanche came and they just couldn't stop it. 19:23 Yeah. 19:23 And I think not having Derrida in there, you know, it's a little bit different goaltender to go up against in Minnesota just kept putting on pressure and they were getting second chances on on Saturday. 19:32 I didn't think they were getting as many second chances on Friday. 19:35 So I think their speed paid off a little bit. 19:39 What do you think, Jess, you were there and last to like you said, it was slow in the beginning, but they just I mean, 60 shots. 19:46 Let me let me say this, the last two Saturday nights, first of all, at Yost and then at Munn. 19:52 Okay. 19:53 They go into that game at Yost and they had 1-6 to 1 on Friday night and okay, everything's good again. 20:00 I was saying to people, this is a really big game Saturday night because you can prove all those problems are behind us. 20:06 They get the first goal at Yost. 20:08 Blake McLaughlin gets a goal, it's 1-0 Gophers, like, okay, they're figuring it out. 20:12 They're on their way and then it just went to heck. 20:16 They give up the next six. 20:18 Justin Close plays the third period because it just, and so they go into the break with, you know, we can't figure this out. 20:24 We don't know what the problem is, all of that. 20:27 So flash forward a month, they win a decisive win against Michigan State, which they should. 20:32 They're a better team than Michigan State. 20:33 I don't think that's a big secret. 20:36 Saturday night comes around, you know, LaFontaine misplays a puck and it's 1-0 Michigan State. 20:42 Gophers take a penalty and like 11 seconds into the power play, it's 2-0 Michigan State. 20:47 And that was a case, too, where LaFontaine made a save, you know, rebound came right out, pop, pop, it's in the net. 20:55 And it's like, oh boy, here we go again. 20:58 Gophers get one back, so it's 2-1. 20:59 But Jess, they weren't really playing that bad. 21:01 They were putting on good pressure at the time. 21:03 They were playing well and their goalie was playing pretty well, too. 21:06 Pierce Charleston had frustrated them in that playoff game and so they planned last year. 21:11 You know, it was 1-0 Michigan State with about four minutes left. 21:13 And you're thinking, man, Gophers, for all they did in the regular season, they're going to be one and done in the tournament. 21:19 They come back, Bryce Brodzinski ties it, Sample Rantz wins it in overtime. 21:23 Pierce Charleston, I think, had 50 saves in that game. 21:26 So, second period starts, you're down 2-1. 21:30 They're out shooting them like 17-2 or something like that. 21:34 Michigan State gets a little break and bang, it's 3-1. 21:36 And it's like, wow, it's just not going to happen tonight. 21:39 You know, then Gophers get two quick goals right at the end of the second, so it's 2-2 going into the third period and then it was just all Gophers beyond that point. 21:47 And we got to work on this and maybe we can collaborate. 21:51 We got to come up with the proper nickname for the Ben Myers, Matthew Nye's, Chaz Lucious line. 21:58 The nine lives doesn't work, what everyone was saying. 22:01 I kind of like the Niners. 22:04 That's just me. 22:06 And I asked Ben Myers that question this week. 22:08 He said, well, that's up to you guys. 22:09 So I think between the three of us, we can figure this out. 22:12 But that line was just unbelievable. 22:15 The pressure they put on me. 22:17 That line alone had to have 30 shots in that game. 22:20 It was crazy. 22:22 And Veegs, you know, we're starting to see more from Broves, too. 22:24 I mean, he hasn't like I like the way he's been playing. 22:27 He hasn't been scoring yet, but I like a lot what he's doing on the ice. 22:32 I think he was making more plays. 22:34 Yeah, I think he was a little more involved. 22:36 I think a lot in the first half, he would just kind of disappear into space. 22:41 And sometimes that's not going to work when you're on a lower line. 22:44 You're going to have to win puck battles. 22:46 You're going to have to force opportunities to happen a little bit more. 22:50 But I do think that the Gophers game on Saturday was a lot different than their game last year against Michigan State, against Pierce. 22:57 I think Minnesota last year, they were putting a lot of pucks right into the chest, right into the glove, missing the net. 23:04 It's like some of those things that we have seen come out of Minnesota. 23:07 Spartan logo is a nice target. 23:09 It really is. 23:11 It's not supposed to be a bullseye, but last year it seemed like it. 23:14 And this year I think we saw more loose pucks, more rebounds, more pucks into the pads and more opportunities. 23:21 Like Lucia's power play goal. 23:23 You know, he's just coming in finding a rebound that was shot real low and putting it up top. 23:28 You know, the goal that went off McLaughlin, you know, he's squaring up to the shooter so that the goalie can't see the puck. 23:34 We're seeing more, what I think is percentage hockey and smart hockey. 23:39 Smart and basics. 23:41 Rather than just coursey hockey. 23:42 Yes. 23:43 Coercy hockey is when it's like, I want to have a 70 coercy tonight. 23:47 I want to just get pucks on that. 23:48 I don't really care how dangerous they are. 23:50 I'm supposed to look good. 23:52 And I think we're seeing more real hockey. 23:53 That's how Kirk Cousins would play hockey. 23:55 Is that what you're saying? 23:56 Yes. 23:57 I got the shot on that. 23:58 I got the shot on that. 23:59 This wouldn't work. 24:00 Yeah. 24:01 By the way, the best line I've ever heard about goalies who consistently make the saves when it hits them right in the middle of the chest. 24:08 Guy Gadowski, the coach at Penn State once said, they say that goalie has a quick sternum. 24:16 Oh boy. 24:18 Oh boy. 24:20 So, Veegs, you kind of captured the audio a little early of Matzko's radio show. 24:27 I listened to it on Monday afternoon. 24:30 I got one guy, one guy in Covid. 24:34 Come to Tuesday media availability. 24:36 We got four guys and a staff member when Covid. 24:43 You and I are texting back and forth today, you know, is it gone to six? 24:46 Is it gone to seven? 24:47 I mean, are they gonna, is this gonna be one of those like tomorrow afternoon things where we're here? 24:51 Oh, we gotta cancel the weekend. 24:52 I mean, what do you kind of think here? 24:56 You know, it went from one to four real quick. 24:58 There's this thing called exponential growth. 25:00 Yes. 25:01 And that's what it looks like when it goes from one to four to ten. 25:06 I don't know if we're going to see that from what I know about Omicron and vaccinations and people getting infected, you know, transmission rates. 25:16 I don't think we'll see ten players get it. 25:19 But I do think Bob wanted to say, OK, where are we at? 25:24 Because this is a very important stretch of games here before guys go to the Olympics. 25:29 So let's see, let's take our temperature, find out how many guys have this and try to lock it down now while we have some depth to our roster. 25:37 Because when they get to February and they lose, Myers, Nyes, Faber, maybe another one, your roster is getting smaller then. 25:48 Oh, yes. 25:49 So they got to figure out where they are now. 25:51 And if it costs them a series, it costs them a series. 25:54 I was at the rink today, things looked pretty okay. 25:56 Alaska looked like they're ready to go. 25:59 So keep our fingers crossed and see what happens. 26:01 But I don't think Covid is going away. 26:04 It is the one never not going away. 26:06 Yeah. 26:08 I just had this one strange feelings, Jess, that it's going to be, we could get those like Thursday afternoon. 26:15 We're canceling the weekend. 26:16 I hope not. 26:17 I've just had this weird feeling about it all kind of day. 26:20 Alaska has been here all week. 26:22 I mean, they're here. 26:23 I'm talking Minnesota. 26:25 Yeah. 26:26 No, I don't know. 26:27 I mean, I certainly hope not, obviously. 26:30 It was funny. 26:32 A few times I've traveled on the team plane to and from series because they've got extra seats and they've been nice enough to say, hey, come on along. 26:40 I mean, we pay for those seats. 26:41 It's not like we're hitchhiking. 26:43 I'm out there on the tower mack with a bag going, hey, East Lansing? 26:46 Anybody go to East Lansing? 26:47 No. 26:47 But I didn't this past weekend, and somebody joked to me, yeah, maybe a good flight of you to skip that flight home, because it sounds like a lot of guys in close proximity and all of a sudden, Omicron is making its way through at least a few guys. 27:04 But as a few of the players have said, we're young, we're in shape, this isn't going to knock anybody down for too long. 27:12 Exactly. 27:13 Folks who have had this variant have said, you're sick for a day, you're sick for two days, you get a little bit of a fever, you get some body aches, and then it goes away. 27:22 So somebody who was out of practice with those symptoms on Tuesday might be ready to play on Friday. 27:30 And then comes along today, two weeks, Minneapolis City Paul put in a mandate that you need a vaccine or you need a proof of a negative test if you want to go to restaurants or any places that serves food indoors. 27:45 It's going to affect the Timberwolves, it's going to affect the wild, but later today we kind of heard this is maybe not going to affect Minnesota, at least right now. 27:54 They may change their minds, but right now it looks like they're just kind of keep going as they're going to keep going, right? 28:00 For some reason, the University of Minnesota gets to be kind of sovereign in how they apply these principles. 28:06 So as that land-grant institution that they are with all that history, they can kind of follow whatever mandates they want to, according to President Gabel. 28:16 So we'll see what happens. 28:17 I know that they'll look at it. 28:19 They'll definitely look at it. 28:21 They have Mike Osterholm, public health expert advising them on what to do. 28:26 And, you know, he's, as much as he's been saying, everybody get vaccinated, everybody wear high-quality masks. 28:32 He's also kind of like, you know, what's the science say in terms of benefit, in terms of changing this stuff? 28:39 So is it really going to help to put one of these mandates out? 28:43 You know, he wrote an op-ed in the Star Tribune with another one of his colleagues, where he basically said, doing a mandate isn't going to reach the audience that you want to reach. 28:54 Forcing people to have to have vaccinations to attend things is not going to be a motivator for these people. 29:01 It's almost going to be, you know, poking them with a, you know, a hot poker in the eye and saying, yeah, get vaccinated or you can't do all the fun stuff. 29:10 That's not going to work. 29:11 And Jess, is there a coincidence here that they waited until after the Viking season was over that they announced this? 29:19 Maybe it was you that floated that conspiracy theory. 29:22 I don't know. 29:23 I mean, my son and his wife went to the game last weekend. 29:27 She's a respiratory therapist. 29:28 So she's been on the front lines of Covid since day one and has seen some real bad stuff. 29:33 And I will say they wore masks on their own and did their best to distance from people. 29:38 And, you know, so at some point you have to live your life, even if it means putting a mask on, getting, you know, showing proof of vaccination, all that. 29:46 I would say this, and granted, I'm wearing a press pass. 29:50 So I'm not just a Joe fan, but Michigan State made a big deal last week. 29:54 Same deal. 29:54 You have to wear masks at the game, have to show proof of vaccination, or you have to show a negative COVID test within 72 hours if you're not vaccinated and boosted. 30:03 I got the message out to everybody. 30:04 The parents all knew it. 30:05 You know, everybody was there, knew that. 30:08 Nobody asked me for it. 30:09 You know, nobody once said, hey, can I see your vaccination card? 30:13 I wore a mask the whole time, obviously, and everybody in the building did. 30:17 So, it's one thing, you know, putting these rules down. 30:20 It's another thing actually enforcing them. 30:22 You know, some of that might just be to say to people, if you're not boosted or vaccinated, maybe just don't come to the game. 30:28 You know, maybe just watch this one on TV. 30:30 Ben Holden does a nice job on Big Ten Network. 30:32 You know, just listen to him. 30:33 He'll be fine. 30:35 Well, we still got a ton more things to cover here. 30:38 I want to get more into the goalie situation, you know, bringing a kid in and Mr. 30:42 Close. 30:43 And obviously, we got some games this weekend. 30:46 But first, we need to hear from our sponsor. 30:48 Hey, fellow GPLers, Jerry Peters here from First Class Mortgage. 30:52 Have you refinanced your home in the last 12 months? 30:54 If you haven't, chances are you should. 30:57 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. 31:05 You can also use the equity in your home to finance those home improvement projects. 31:09 Or you can consolidate high interest rate credit cards into one new low monthly payment. 31:14 To hear more, call or text me today at 612-940-3291. 31:20 You can email me at jerry at firstclasscorp.com. 31:24 Or you could go to firstclassmortgage.com to fill out a free online application. 31:29 Mention the GPL Podcast and receive a $300 closing cost credit. 31:33 Some restrictions do apply. 31:35 First Class Mortgage's NMLS number is 322842-480200. 31:41 This is not an agreement to lock into an interest rate under Minnesota law. 31:45 First Class Mortgage is an Equal Housing Lender. 31:50 And of course, we always thank Jerry for sponsoring The GPL Podcast. 31:55 I think we didn't get a chance to get into it too much here. 31:57 But obviously with Mr. 31:59 LaFontaine moving on, it looks like it was a good thing that Matzko had played Mr. 32:08 Close in those two exhibition games. 32:10 And he played him the entire game. 32:12 Probably a good choice. 32:14 His thoughts were different. 32:15 Kind of have some kind of guy who's had some time, made a solid backup. 32:19 Never in his life, never did he ever think he's going to be losing a tender to the pros. 32:22 But what do we have here in Mr. 32:25 Close? 32:26 I mean, he's been talking up the Closer for the last two years. 32:30 Even last year, despite Mo getting some time in the net, it seemed like Bob always was like, Closer is an option. 32:38 He's really a battler out there. 32:40 He didn't like Mo. 32:42 That was kind of a weird thing. 32:44 And I think we might have the same thing going on with the current. 32:48 Boynton? 32:48 Presumed number two. 32:50 I know Boynton had a great year last year in the USHL. 32:54 Made a lot of pride for himself, and it hasn't translated. 33:00 And for whatever reason, not being ready to practice, being in shape, having some medical stuff pop up, getting sick, you know, Bob has not liked that. 33:11 And like I said earlier, it's been frosty when his name has been brought up. 33:14 But Closer, always a reliable guy. 33:17 I think he's a baddler, a guy who attacks pucks, you know, aggressive goalie. 33:21 He has to be. 33:22 He's the two-time Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League Goalie of the Year. 33:27 So he had a lot of good experience there. 33:30 But he's going to have to be active, I think, in goal to protect the net. 33:35 You know, he doesn't have the big size like some of the past goalies, like LaFontaine, like Robson, or like Moe. 33:42 So he's a different kind of goalie. 33:44 So, you know, this will be a good test for him to get a long stretch as teams get a look at him. 33:49 And it's probably a good thing that he's getting thrown in against Alaska. 33:52 Not to disparage Alaska at all, Jess, but a week later, Michigan comes to town, and that's a little bit different. 33:59 It's good to get thrown in in real competition against somebody who's not in top three pair wise. 34:06 And I was thinking about just kind of the twists of fate that we've seen in the last few months. 34:11 You know, this Alaska series was supposed to be played the opening weekend of October. 34:14 This was supposed to be the opener. 34:16 And, you know, like you kind of alluded to, yeah, Thursday morning, we got a press release. 34:20 Oh, by the way, we're not going to play tomorrow. 34:23 One of those kind of deals. 34:24 So this was supposed to be a bye week. 34:26 They were supposed to be play Michigan State and then be off for a weekend and then play Michigan. 34:31 At first, I thought, well, that's kind of lousy that you have to have a series in there when you could rest up for a showdown with Michigan. 34:37 But it's pretty rare. 34:38 They've always had some kind of week off. 34:40 Now it's just straight all the way through. 34:43 It's actually worked out pretty well because think about Justin Close being put into this role where he's all of a sudden the starter. 34:49 And you know, he didn't talk officially to the media yesterday, but waiting outside to talk to another player, he came by and we kind of exchanged pleasantries. 34:56 This is a guy that just seems absolutely even keeled at all times. 35:00 Oh, you know, the player is saying, always a smile on his face, you know, knows what he's there for, knows his role. 35:06 You know, he has fun on the ice. 35:08 Ben Meyer said, he's one of those guys, you know, you don't skate through his crease in practice because you're going to get tripped or you're going to get hacked. 35:14 I mean, he's just one of those guys, you know, that's having fun out there. 35:18 So it's nice for him that he can get in and play a couple of games this weekend against Alaska and, you know, take nothing away from Alaska. 35:26 But, you know, those are two games the Gophers fully intend to win. 35:30 Get a couple of games, a couple, you know, some live ammo, as I like to call it, under under his belt before he has to play against Michigan. 35:38 And, you know, the Wolverines are still the Wolverines. 35:41 And now keep in mind, Justin Coase is the last Gopher goalie to play against Michigan because he got the third period in that Saturday night loss. 35:47 So, you know, they'll be looking at him going, oh, you again, you know. 35:51 So, Veegs, how does this mess up the entire goalie situation? 35:54 You know, it wasn't looking great in the first place. 35:57 Yeah, you know, it's looking like, oh, Boynton, what's going on there? 36:00 Is this another Moe situation? 36:01 He's not good with the coach. 36:04 LaFontaine leaves. 36:06 It's sounding like Jess, you were talking earlier before we went on the air, like we're hoping they don't announce it, you know, tonight, that they're going to sign this Bartoszkiewicz guy. 36:16 But Veegs, this kind of does mess things up. 36:19 I mean, in the whole recruiting line, or does it just kind of force him to say, hey, this is what we're going to do? 36:26 I don't think it's ideal. 36:28 If you were building a college hockey pipeline of goaltending, you would not want to have Jared Moe leave at the point that he leaves, because he's of the age where he's having a pretty good season for Wisconsin. 36:42 And then the next guy you bring in, Brennan Boyton, maybe is a bit of a miss in terms of what you were expecting him to add to your program. 36:50 So maybe that's a miss. 36:52 And now you're bringing in a goalie who struggled a little bit the first half of his USHL year. 36:57 Maybe he's finding his game a bit right now. 37:00 But you would like him to get the experience of having a second half with a team where he's playing well and gets into a playoff situation and gets that experience. 37:09 Him coming to the Gophers now, I'm not expecting him to start games. 37:15 I mean, I think this is the second half. 37:18 And maybe relief if a game gets out of hand or something. 37:22 You're going to turn to somebody else. 37:24 Can I bring up something? 37:24 One thing that could throw this all off is you get close with Covid, all of a sudden Martis Gavich is dressing and just one injury away from playing. 37:39 And then there goes a whole year of eligibility. 37:42 In an ideal situation, we were talking before we went on the air, we'd like to, if this kid's going to come in, yes, he could dress, you know, whatever, not play and be ideal to redshirt him. 37:51 Isn't that kind of what you were thinking? 37:53 I mean, that would be nice if you can get away with it to protect the kid's eligibility. 37:59 I mean, he's only 18 and a half. 38:01 You know, you would like him to be coming in as a 19 year old at least, if not a 20 year old. 38:07 But that's not going to happen right now. 38:10 So we'll see what happens. 38:13 Jess, I just want to know how long we'll be till you ask, when are we putting Boynton in? 38:19 Oh, come on. 38:20 You really think I'm going to ask that question with the experience I've had? 38:24 Wow. 38:25 Yeah. 38:26 It's getting so bad. 38:28 We have these people chatting here. 38:29 They will chat, but putting bets on when you're going to ask about the goalie situation. 38:35 Because they use the same software, what's Jess going to do this time? 38:39 Nice. 38:41 No. 38:43 But the thing is, it's a little different now because there isn't that number one guy. 38:47 I mean, let's say Friday night in Michigan, maybe they win, but it's a 6-5 game, and the game didn't look great. 38:56 Or they lose, and there's a little more reason to throw that at Bob, which I'm sure he'll give you just a smart-ass response. 39:03 But we have ways to ask this question that's controversial. 39:09 We will workshop it a little bit. 39:12 Well, I was going to say, OK, number one, and I'm not saying you said this, Eric, but I'm not ready to give up on Brennan Boynton, just because he's had a rocky... 39:22 We haven't seen him play? 39:23 Yeah. 39:25 I have no idea if he's ever stopped to puck. 39:27 I haven't. 39:28 I've watched him in practice. 39:30 For people who don't know, OK, interesting story. 39:33 I'm at the Frozen Four last year. 39:34 I'm in Pittsburgh. 39:35 I'm up in the press box. 39:37 I have a son who goes to Iowa State. 39:40 So my son texts me, this is, I think it was Thursday night or maybe Saturday night at the Frozen Four. 39:46 I can't remember which. 39:47 My son texts me and says, I'm in Des Moines. 39:50 We went to the Buccaneers game with a bunch of his guys from his frat. 39:53 Oh, cool, fun. 39:54 He says, the Fargo goalie is heading to the Gophers. 39:57 I said, oh yeah, Brennan Boynton. 39:59 Yeah, he's supposed to be a good goalie. 40:00 Let me know how he looks. 40:02 Literally, five minutes later, my son texts me and says, your goalie just collapsed on the ice. 40:10 Scary situation, but at the end of the first period of a game in Des Moines, Brennan Boynton was having some breathing issues and not getting enough air, and he collapsed, had to be helped by medical professionals. 40:21 He went to the hospital that night. 40:23 Turned out he was fine, but just one of those real scary moments. 40:28 But that was the first sign that there was some trouble, he wound up having a minor surgery to correct some breathing issues because he was not getting enough oxygen or something like that. 40:38 So that kept him out part of the year. 40:41 He hasn't been a full participant in a lot of practices. 40:46 That wears on coaches, just for the simple fact that, let's face it, coaches generally don't like to think about goal-tending. 40:52 They want to put one guy in there, they want Jack LaFontaine to start 58 out of your last 60 games. 40:59 They don't like being asked about it. 41:00 I know this for a fact. 41:04 That's just the way the coaches are with goalies generally. 41:08 So, that's where we are with Brennan Boynton. 41:12 I don't think this is necessarily a miss. 41:15 I just think we don't know yet. 41:16 It's an incomplete. 41:19 I just base a little of my mindset based on how we saw Bob handle Jared Moe and the frosty relationship there. 41:28 Maybe Moe was expecting a different college experience when he committed and Bob said, you know what? 41:33 I give everybody a chance. 41:36 Jared took that to heart and said, okay, you're going to give me a chance and then he didn't feel like that was maintained. 41:44 It's tough when you have Jack LaFontaine playing the way he did last year, but if you want to keep your players, there's the PJ Fleck mindset of you're always recruiting your team. 41:55 You are always recruiting your team, especially now in the transfer portal era when guys can just leave whenever they want. 42:03 Maybe it's not the best decision for them. 42:04 Maybe they don't have a landing spot, whatever, but you're always recruiting your team. 42:10 I think that's a new mindset for a lot of people in college athletics. 42:17 Mike Eaves said that maybe eight years ago when he was at Wisconsin. 42:19 He said, you recruit a kid to get him here, and then you recruit him to stay. 42:24 Even more so now in the era of the transfer portal and all that. 42:27 But it's funny talking about goalies because I think back maybe 15 years ago, I think it was Kellen Briggs who was the goalie for the Gophers at that time. 42:35 We get to about February 10th or so, and Kellen Briggs hits a wall and had a couple of uncharacteristic games in a row where there were a few soft goals and we just, hey, we haven't seen that before. 42:49 So we start asking Don Lucia, are you going to make a change in goal? 42:53 Are you thinking about maybe giving Kellen a rest? 42:56 Kellen was one of those guys like LaFontaine, who was just like an every night goalie. 43:00 You never had a question about who was going to start, it was always going to be Kellen Briggs. 43:04 I'll never forget this, Don Lucia says, no, Kellen's our guy, we're going to ride him. 43:11 He said, Michigan has had the same goalie for 16 years. 43:15 Thinking of Steve Shields who comes in and plays every game for four years, and then he's replaced by Marty Turco who comes in and plays every game for four years. 43:23 It's just that was the way Michigan did things. 43:25 You found one goalie, you played him four years, and that was it. 43:29 I think every coach in their mind wants to do that. 43:33 Yes. 43:35 Well, in college hockey, the biggest thing with goaltending is the mental stress of being a goalie. 43:41 I think that was one of LaFontaine's biggest strengths, is even if there's a bad goal, you know he's going to compose himself and be ready for the next shot. 43:50 I think there's a lot of other goalies in hockey that we've seen where, okay, floodgates are open, start putting pucks on that. 43:58 You're looking for a goalie that's got that mental capacity to have the mind of a goldfish and just forget it. 44:04 Anybody remember the 2000 National Championship Game? 44:11 Adam Hauser gives up a bad goal at the start of the third period. 44:14 And all of a sudden, anytime Maine was over the red line, they were putting it on net. 44:18 I mean, teams smell blood in the water. 44:21 And to Adam Hauser's credit, he had been great in the semis against Michigan and he kept the Gophers in the game long enough for Matt Kowalska to tie it with the goal he pulled and Grant Petone to win it on a power play. 44:33 But that was just the prime example of, hey, this guy's struggling, get pucks in his face. 44:38 Because that go-ahead goal by Maine was brutal. 44:41 Yep. 44:42 It was. 44:44 It was. 44:45 Well, okay, Veegs, another ugly thing came up this weekend and I'm going to put it up here on the screen. 44:51 Injuries. 44:53 Nelson, looks like he's going to be out maybe five, six weeks. 44:57 Pitlick, two to three weeks. 45:02 And that's just not good considering we've got Covid issues and then, you know, we've got players leaving in February. 45:10 That's the one thing they've been fairly lucky about, at least serious injuries. 45:15 Well, up to this point, a lot of the players have been able to play through their injuries. 45:18 Yes. 45:19 Mike Ben Myers was not obviously healthy in the first half. 45:22 He's healthy now. 45:23 Wow, what a difference. 45:25 When he's feeling good, watch out, everybody. 45:29 So this is just something they're going to have to deal with. 45:31 It's unfortunate. 45:32 You know, it looks like Pitlicks had a couple issues now where he's gotten some upper body injuries. 45:38 Time will tell if he can, you know, get past that. 45:42 But this is definitely a chance for guys in the bottom lineup to make an impression because they're going to need to be there and be part of the lineup in February as well. 45:51 You know, we're going to see guys like Fish and probably Schmitt here coming up, get opportunities to play and it'll be interesting to see if they can take advantage of it. 46:00 I know Bob's looking at maybe adding a skater. 46:05 Who knows what it's going to be. 46:06 I don't think he'll be looking quite like he did with the goalie and just grab a guy, a junior. 46:11 They might be looking for guys on campus, you know, a place like Minnesota. 46:15 There's a lot of former hockey players around on campus to pick from. 46:18 And maybe that's good enough. 46:19 It's a lot easier to pick a skater and insert them in, you know, spot duty here. 46:24 You can play a top nine pretty hard in college hockey, especially with TV timeouts and whatnot. 46:30 So I think that's probably a better solution there. 46:32 You know, find a guy like Colin Schmidt who, you know, transferred into the business school for that and try to get him to get in shape by practicing. 46:40 And if it's a guy that's, you know, not at the school already, Jess, he's, you know, he's got till the 17th, kind of with, you know, Barterskiewicz, time is ticking. 46:49 They do need to get people on campus soon if they want to add anybody. 46:53 I kind of wondered if they'd bring in a defenseman. 46:56 When you're looking at potentially losing favor for three key series in February, your defensive core is not that deep to start with. 47:05 You know, he played Matt Denman in the exhibition games, but frankly didn't play him much. 47:09 So I'm just wondering how much confidence they have in a guy like Denman to be, you know, take a spot in the top six if things get thin. 47:18 Yeah, you have Carl Fish and Carl Fish has played played great. 47:21 You know, I kind of I kind of joke that I think Sam Rossini is still in the transfer portal. 47:26 Maybe maybe call him up, get him, get him back in here. 47:31 I believe Rossini still has his Twitter avatar is the University of Minnesota Jersey. 47:37 So, yeah, Sam Rossini, by the way, trivia. 47:40 Oh, only Gopher ever score a goal against Jack LaFontaine. 47:45 Oh, when he played for Michigan, when he played for Michigan. 47:47 Yeah, I guess fans who probably want to be big Rossini fans now. 47:53 Yeah, I did. 47:53 I did a whole story about it a year or two ago that, you know, I went back and looked at LaFontaine's record. 47:59 I think he played two career games against the Gophers and the one goal he gave up was to Sam Rossini. 48:04 And it was this shot from the blue line that had to hit about three Michigan skates and a shin pad and goes in. 48:11 And Rossini joked, yeah, we replicate that all the time in practice. 48:14 I just have to have guys lined up in the right order. 48:19 But it's going to be interesting, you know, Veegs. 48:21 You know, Bob was saying, hey, these next kind of three weekends are huge. 48:26 I mean, obviously non-conference, but it's kind of a see where close is that this weekend should win. 48:31 And then you go right back into Big Ten play against Michigan. 48:35 And you and really right now, the top four teams are within a few points. 48:41 So these games are so crucial to do as best as you can before you start losing those three guys, maybe four or whatever we in, you know, in February. 48:51 I think it'll be three, by the way. 48:52 I don't think it's going to be four. 48:54 Yeah. 48:56 I don't think if it's a pick another D, I don't think it would be Johnson. 48:59 I wasn't doing so great. 49:02 Well, I will say this. 49:03 I talked to Ryan Johnson yesterday. 49:05 He said he has not been invited to the Olympic team. 49:07 So and that could change tomorrow. 49:10 You know, somebody could get Covid. 49:11 Somebody could roll an ankle, whatever, you know, and I think they're pretty high on Ryan Johnson. 49:16 I love his game, just because he's so... 49:17 Who's going to be the other goalie for the USA? 49:21 Will they go after McKay? 49:23 Why would it not be Dryden McKay? 49:25 I mean, seriously, I mean, is there is there a better American goalie of that age out there? 49:30 Not right now. 49:30 I don't think there is. 49:31 No. 49:31 And the other, I mean, they've already announced Strauss Mann, right, Veegs? 49:34 Yep. 49:36 You know, just ask a Minnesota state fan who the best college hockey goalie is, and then they're going to tell you it's a little easier now that Jackson, the NHL. 49:45 But I will say that I think Minnesota has to look at this weekend as we've often talked about how a bad loss hurts you more than a good win. 49:56 Yes. 49:57 So I think this weekend is one of those critical weekends where you can't lose. 50:03 You can tie and lose an overtime or something like that, but you cannot lose one of these gains because Minnesota has put themselves in that kind of pairwise situation where bad losses are really bad for them. 50:17 In Plain Alaska, they did OK against Maine and Denver here the last couple of weekends. 50:24 Can I answer a question on the chat by the way? 50:26 Go for it. 50:27 Someone named Eric Brever, I believe it is, Eric. 50:30 Eric Brever, yeah. 50:31 Says, Jess, Warroad or Hermantown this year? 50:34 If you want to go to Sam's Club, go to Hermantown because they have one. 50:38 If you're looking for hockey, the answer is always Warroad. 50:42 No, but all joking aside, you talk about a huge high school hockey game. 50:47 Saturday, 5 p.m. 50:49 in Hermantown, Warroad and Hermantown play each other and man, that'll be a fun one. 50:53 Two great programs and really good teams this year. 50:57 I don't remember what it's like to have a high school program that's good. 51:02 By the way, Warroad beat Rozo last week, five-nothing. 51:06 And the next day, I was at practice. 51:09 Sadly, Eric Hugen, or excuse me, Aaron Hugen wasn't available. 51:13 But I said to Brian Deutsch, my friend, I'm like, will you just make sure you tell Aaron I said hi? 51:17 That's it. 51:21 Deutsch, are you watching? 51:24 We want to get... 51:25 He's got his hands full. 51:26 He's got a little child to deal with. 51:29 He's got hair closures. 51:30 Bartiscavich coming in. 51:32 Bartiscavich coming in. 51:33 How about this Friday? 51:35 Irony, what if the US. 51:36 Olympic team names their second goalie and they pick Owen Bartiscavich? 51:45 I'm not saying it won't. 51:47 Yeah, yeah. 51:48 We don't know. 51:49 No one's saying anything yet. 51:50 No one's confirming or denying. 51:52 Jess, I kind of want to get your thoughts real quick on Michigan being cowards and not playing Western Michigan. 52:02 What were your thoughts on that? 52:05 Because our friend Brad Schlossman, I've never seen him that kind of, I should say, vocal on Twitter and on his feelings about that. 52:17 Veegs both and I thought it was a bunch of BS. 52:19 I mean, come on, you got to play, you got a full roster. 52:22 What were your thoughts on that? 52:24 I'll preface it by saying this. 52:27 I have always liked Michigan's coach. 52:29 Good guy going back to his business as an assistant. 52:33 He did great things at Michigan Tech. 52:34 He's been a proven winner everywhere he goes. 52:37 Always gotten along with Mel Pearson. 52:39 He's one of us, Bladed Edina. 52:41 Edina. 52:43 Yeah, exactly. 52:45 So I have a great relationship with Mel Pearson. 52:48 We had talked a little bit about him actually coming on the podcast that I host with McHatton and kind of telling his side of the story. 52:54 He initially said yes, and then I think he may have gotten some advice from the PR folks at Michigan, and then they said, you know what, it's time to move on. 53:01 We don't want to rehash this. 53:04 With all of that said, it doesn't look good. 53:08 I mean, it just doesn't. 53:10 As I said to some friends in East Lansing who have very strong opinions about the University of Michigan, as you might understand, I said, you can hold this up 40 different ways, and there's no lighting where you can hold it up and go, oh, yeah, now it makes sense. 53:27 I get the official word that the medical staff came to them and said, you can't play two games, you can only play one. 53:34 And with Mel Pearson's background, if you're going to pick one of the two games to play, you're going to play Michigan Tech, not only because it's a game that you should be able to win, but because he's a Michigan Tech guy, he coached there, he's got friends there, they've come from eight hours away or whatever the drive is to Houghton, whereas you can go to Kalamazoo in an hour and a half or whatever from Ann Arbor, all of that. 53:57 Here's my solution. 54:00 Mel, if you're listening, he's not, but that's okay. 54:03 Or whoever makes the decisions at Michigan, call up Western, call up Pat Frischweiler and say, hey, pick a Tuesday night, we'll come to your building, let's play this game. 54:11 I would think that would be the way to rectify it, that would be the genuinely thing to do. 54:18 Otherwise, the NCAA is going to do it for you in a regional. 54:22 Wouldn't that be great? 54:23 I mean, I think I came up with that almost immediately. 54:26 Oh, you did, you did. 54:28 I'm not trying to steal it from you, but that is just good. 54:30 Please put those two together, the first. 54:32 I don't care if they're the three and five seed, put them in together. 54:36 And with that said too, I got to make just one more little soapbox pitch here. 54:40 During the exhibition games, the U18 game and the St. 54:43 Thomas game, you know, I'm on social media and I'm following along and all these people are saying, why would you play this game? 54:50 It's pointless. 54:51 Somebody's going to get hurt. 54:52 You've got nothing to gain. 54:54 Why would you even play this game? 54:56 The St. 54:56 Thomas game, for example. 54:58 And it's like, you know what? 54:59 I like watching hockey. 55:01 I like going to games. 55:02 I like writing about games. 55:05 This notion that you shouldn't actually play because something bad might happen. 55:09 It's like, what do you go to practice for? 55:13 You go because you're going to play a game at the end of the week. 55:15 That's the whole point of this. 55:17 So let's get away from this notion that it's dangerous if we play or we don't have enough. 55:24 Just play. 55:26 Get out there and play. 55:27 And we're hoping we get to play this weekend. 55:30 Yes. 55:30 Viges, Alaska is coming to town. 55:33 They're already in town. 55:34 They've been here all week, Viges. 55:35 But they played on Olympic ice too. 55:38 So this is nothing different for them. 55:42 We need Minnesota just to keep their foot on the pedal. 55:45 And like you said, you lose one of these games, that hurts you big time. 55:50 So they have to be mindful of that. 55:53 Yep. 55:53 And this isn't your typical Alaska team. 55:56 If you were to say, what's your stereotype Alaska team? 55:59 A bunch of old kids, you know, BCHL, Albert Junior Hockey guys. 56:05 There's a lot of Europeans on here. 56:06 They've got good goaltending. 56:08 They can skate. 56:09 It's going to be a good test for Minnesota. 56:12 You just hope that they don't turn the puck over and feed transition game for Alaska. 56:16 So that's my big key. 56:18 I'd like to see the power play look a little bit better. 56:20 You know, they had seven chances on Saturday. 56:23 And the one goal was a rebound that popped to Lucius that he put in. 56:27 I'd like to see more of that kind of pressure, pass off pads and winning second chances. 56:33 You know, you go back to that Michigan game where they lost on Saturday, no second chances, no rush opportunities, because Michigan really tightened everything up. 56:43 So, Minnesota can't let teams do that to them. 56:45 They're going to have to find ways to get in transition. 56:47 They're going to have to find ways to get second chances. 56:50 And this is the big debut of Mr. 56:52 Close, Jess. 56:53 It's his chance to get in there. 56:56 Exhibitions are one thing, but this is the real thing now. 56:59 He's played parts of six games over three years, but yeah, this will be the first time he's the guy that they call before the national anthem. 57:05 I mean, I'm excited for him. 57:06 I really am. 57:07 Yeah. 57:08 You know, I did a story last July. 57:09 I went to the opening night of the Dubuete League over in Edina, as you say. 57:15 Yes, with the clenched teeth. 57:17 You know, I talked to you and, you know, I show up. 57:20 Just let's see what's happening. 57:21 Let's see what's interesting. 57:22 Well, Justin Close is playing the first game. 57:24 I hadn't seen him start a game before. 57:26 So I said, watch, you know, he had fun. 57:28 I said he gave up six goals that night, which in Dubuete League is essentially a shutout because there's no defense. 57:36 There's no back checking. 57:37 You know, it's breakaway practice basically. 57:41 And I did a fun story with him afterwards. 57:43 And what was interesting then, and this is going back to July, I said, you know, Jared Moe transfered because he wanted more playing time. 57:50 I said, as long as Jack LaFontaine is here, the writing is on the wall as to whose net it is. 57:56 Is there any thought that you would answer the transfer portal? 57:58 He said, absolutely not. 57:59 You know, I know what my role is. 58:01 I'm here to do what I'm doing. 58:03 And, you know, I'm ready to be there if Jack can't go. 58:07 Any time. 58:07 But, you know, he just was one of those guys that's just kind of accepted, this is what I'm going to do. 58:13 So how cool for him to get this chance? 58:15 And I'm really excited for him. 58:19 All right, Vegas, let's get your predictions on the weekend. 58:21 I'm hoping you say sweep. 58:25 I think based on the way Ben Myers is playing, yes, he himself will motivate this team to six points. 58:32 He is just, he is winning so many puck battles. 58:35 He is making so many plays. 58:37 And I think he's really asserting himself as a leader. 58:40 You could just tell around the rink, on the bench. 58:44 Myers is coming into his own and feeling really comfortable. 58:47 Six points this weekend. 58:49 And Jess, Ben, he is becoming a monster now. 58:53 He will be key, you know, you know, for this month. 58:56 And then when he gets back from the Olympics. 58:59 The key to this weekend is the Niners. 59:01 See, there. 59:03 I'm doing it. 59:06 No, absolutely. 59:07 And, you know, that was that was kind of fun at those games in Ann Arbor. 59:11 John Marosi, who does a lot for various media outlets, is, you know, a really plugged in guy, does stuff with NHL Network and a bunch of others and Big Ten Network. 59:23 He watched Matthew Nye's play and it was like, whoa, you know, like, are you supposed to be able to do that with a body that size? 59:29 You know, the hands this kid has from Arizona, you know, all of that. 59:34 So it's just a ton of fun. 59:38 I really am enjoying watching this team. 59:40 You know, you, I'm reminded a little of the old Yankees lineup where, oh, we got this guy out. 59:47 Well, there's five more guys just like him coming up right after him. 59:50 I mean, you find a way to slow down the Niners for a shift. 59:54 Well, then here comes Walker Brodzinski and McLaughlin. 59:58 And that's the next wave. 1:00:00 Oh, you find a way to slow down them. 1:00:01 Well, here come, you know, what Bob calls the young guns of bros and Hughlin and, you know, this really talented freshmen they've got who are puck moving guys. 1:00:11 I really, I really hate the loss of Jackson Nelson because he, you know, is such an important big body in the middle there. 1:00:18 And, you know, they're going to be without him for a while now. 1:00:21 It was a tough looking injury and tough to see him leave the arena on crutches. 1:00:26 But, you know, but they'll get him back at some point. 1:00:29 But hey, I love the fact that Bob said, you know, he likes the challenge. 1:00:34 He's kind of digging it a little bit, you know. 1:00:36 Yeah. 1:00:37 Veegs, could you think the delay in Nelson's surgery have something to do with Covid? 1:00:43 I mean, you never know, you know, the hospitals are having issues with staffing. 1:00:48 Staffing and, you know, non-emergency surgeries. 1:00:52 I mean, elective surgeries, obviously gone, but non-emergency surgeries. 1:00:57 And probably Nelson also being a close contact, having teammates test positive, you know, that could always factor in how they want to do things. 1:01:04 So, you know, I don't want to speculate too much on that. 1:01:08 But I do think that that Myers line though, the thing that makes them so fun to watch is how many pucks they can win back. 1:01:15 You know, Nysa Myers can win pucks back every time they go in the corner. 1:01:19 And that's got to make Lucius' nights super fun. 1:01:24 You know, I'm saying sweep too. 1:01:25 I'm finally back on the bandwagon, Veegs. 1:01:27 It took me last week. 1:01:28 I was unsure last week just because they needed to prove it to me, Veegs. 1:01:33 They had split all of their important series the whole way into the break. 1:01:39 And I just needed them to prove it. 1:01:41 And 60 shots later on Saturday evening, they proved it to me. 1:01:46 Hopefully, they can continue it. 1:01:47 So I'm going to say sweep as well. 1:01:50 Jess, we didn't get anything. 1:01:51 Were you saying sweep, you think? 1:01:52 Yeah. 1:01:53 Yeah, I think this is a sweep. 1:01:54 And it's not going to be easy, you know. 1:01:56 Alaska is a very good defensive team. 1:01:58 They took Duluth to overtime, you know, 0-0, not too long ago. 1:02:02 I think it was about a month ago. 1:02:04 Now, this Duluth team can't score, I mean, and not can't score. 1:02:08 They don't score often. 1:02:11 They don't have a ton of offensive firepower on that bowl box team. 1:02:16 Granted, they don't necessarily need it all the time because they find ways. 1:02:21 There's a system there that just seems to work. 1:02:25 So, no, anybody going to these games expecting, you know, 6-1 and 7-1, I don't think it's going to be that. 1:02:30 But you got a nice 3-1 win with an empty net goal here and there, and you know, what's wrong with that? 1:02:36 What you got coming up for the rank live here, Jess? 1:02:39 Any big stories you're working on? 1:02:40 I'll give you a little teaser. 1:02:42 How's this for an interesting one? 1:02:44 The assistant coach for the Alaska Nanooks, this guy named Chris Brown, who for the previous about 15 years was the head coach at Augsburg. 1:02:52 He left over the summer to go up to Alaska, who left the Augsburg job open. 1:02:57 Boon May, the former hockey operations director for the Gophers, took that job. 1:03:00 He's doing a great job with Augsburg this year. 1:03:02 But I sat down with Chris Brown a couple days ago over at the rink, and my opening line was, so Minnesota just wasn't cold enough, clearly. 1:03:12 After being in the Twin Cities all your life, you decided, you know what, I should go live where there's no sunlight also. 1:03:20 So yeah, I talked to Chris Brown, had a fun conversation with him, and that story will be forthcoming. 1:03:25 I may also be writing about Gophers' name to the Olympic team and a new goalie added, but we're waiting official. 1:03:32 4 p.m. 1:03:33 tomorrow, ESPN 2, the US team will be announced, so probably their pluses too. 1:03:39 Well, thanks for joining us, Jess. 1:03:41 We appreciate you getting back on the show with us. 1:03:43 Kind of a light week with news, but we appreciate it. 1:03:46 Nothing going on. 1:03:47 I'm afraid to get on a plane now. 1:03:48 It's like, what's going to happen next? 1:03:53 Veegs, you got anything in the hopper? 1:03:54 What's going on with you? 1:03:56 We're going to have some clips breaking down some of the things I've seen in the Gophers' game for Friday. 1:04:01 Yeah, because I know you're the one who found the pitlick injury. 1:04:05 People kind of appreciate when you can go out there and find when these things happen, because people are like, when did that happen? 1:04:10 I didn't see anything. 1:04:11 Yeah. 1:04:12 So some of the things we've been talking about, you can look on Friday and you'll see some clips of them. 1:04:17 All right. 1:04:17 Well, that's going to do it for this episode of The GPL Podcast. 1:04:21 We'll be back next week to recap this series with Alaska and then preview the big series of Michigan. 1:04:31 We're going to have Chris Long on with us next week. 1:04:34 So that'll be fun to get him on the show for the first time. 1:04:37 For those of you watching live, we're going to have some overtime coming up next. 1:04:40 For the rest of you, we'll catch you next week on The GPL Podcast.