0:07 This is The GPL Podcast from gopherpucklive.com. 0:16 This podcast is sponsored by Jerry Peters and First Class Mortgage. 0:19 Our expertise, your piece of mind. 0:21 Visit us at firstclassmortgage.com. 0:29 Now, let's start the show with your hosts, Jupiter and Vegoe. 0:39 Good evening, welcome to The GPL Podcast, episode number 206. 0:46 There he is, Veegs. 0:49 I'm disappointed again, Veegs, and I'm not disappointed in you. 0:52 I'm a little angry at the team, but we'll leave, I'll try to stay calm for now. 0:58 But I'm not very happy with the result this weekend. 1:00 But how was your week? 1:02 It's going okay. 1:03 We got a full hour ahead to talk about this. 1:06 It was not the weekend we were expecting. 1:09 I think going into the weekend, we had talked on the podcast. 1:14 This is really an important weekend for the pairwise. 1:17 You cannot have bad losses if you're going to be on the bubble and expect to get favorable comparisons in the pairwise. 1:24 And you know what? 1:27 Maybe they ran into a hot goalie. 1:30 A loss drops you from 8 to 12 and it's going to be a tough stretch now for the rest of the way. 1:35 Well, we'll get more into that, but we've got another first time guest again, Vee. 1:40 Talk to him in the last couple of years. 1:41 We got to get you on the podcast. 1:43 Just hadn't had a chance, but we had Chris Long coming on. 1:46 I'm pretty excited about it. 1:47 What do you think? 1:48 I'm pumped. 1:49 Big hockey fan, Chris Long. 1:50 He is a big hockey fan. 1:52 Well, let's bring him in right now. 1:53 Here he is, Chris Long from KSTP Channel 5. 1:57 Gents, how are you doing, Chris? 2:00 I'm excited. 2:00 Episode 206, you said that's my lucky number. 2:05 Well, or my hockey actually. 2:08 We've had some post-game beverages at a couple of undisclosed locations before. 2:15 We're like, we got to get you on the podcast, get you in the podcast. 2:19 Then COVID came and I hadn't seen you at the bar in a while. 2:23 I haven't seen anybody at the bar in a while. 2:25 It's pretty well. 2:26 But I'm like, okay, Veegs, I got to ask, he'll come on in. 2:30 Just thanks for coming on. 2:32 Happy to. 2:32 No, love it. 2:33 I always love when I run into you guys. 2:35 I got to see Veegs with a little show prep at Bob Motzko's availability the other day. 2:38 So ready to roll. 2:42 You haven't been covering the Gophers as much recently. 2:44 Obviously, Vikings take precedence. 2:46 I mean, obviously, Motzko loves to say, actually Lucia used to do the same thing. 2:50 You know when the Viking season ends because all of a sudden the media is there. 2:53 Don would make a big deal out of it. 2:55 The problem was, so the problem with Don was the availabilities were on Wednesday. 2:59 That was always, that is always the big Vikings day. 3:01 That's when everybody's down there. 3:03 We get the head coach. 3:04 We get a couple of coordinators. 3:05 We usually get the quarterback. 3:07 So that's, if you're only going to be a Vikings one day, that's the day to be there. 3:09 Now we could sometimes race from then Winter Park back to campus and make time. 3:15 Well, now it's Tuesdays, which is better overall. 3:18 But my issue is I work on Sundays for Vikings games. 3:20 So I'm off Mondays and Tuesdays, which takes me out of availability. 3:23 So this is actually the second time I've been able to be in at the availability. 3:27 I watch them from home. 3:28 I mean, I catch up with them sometimes when they're posting after the fact. 3:30 So I'm there in spirit. 3:32 But yeah, this was one of the second time I've been there all year. 3:34 But so I have been watching what's it's good you're catching me now because I sort of paid more attention to the Alaska series than I have anyone prior this season. 3:42 Yeah, hockey season for me begins the moment the Vikings are eliminated. 3:46 I was at the Wild Practice this morning for the first time in a while. 3:49 I was at the Moscow yesterday for the first time in a while. 3:52 So as soon as the Vikings bow out, then my hockey season begins. 3:56 And that's kind of the way it is for a lot of media leagues. 3:59 I mean, we start to see more start reviewing people at the games. 4:03 And things just kind of perk up. 4:06 And this time, it's not a good time after kind of well, I'll just say it was a crappy result to the weekend. 4:14 Great, okay game, game one, game two. 4:17 Just not acceptable. 4:19 I'm ticked off. 4:21 Yeah, I'm not going to say that this weekend was a chance for Minnesota hockey to shine on the big stage. 4:28 As sometimes, you know, that would happen with Gopher football. 4:31 They developed this big stretch and they get in a prime time position where all the eyes are on them. 4:37 And then they stub their toe or something like that. 4:39 You know, I think this has been kind of the back bubbling story for Gopher hockey for the last couple of years where a team just doesn't have the consistency to be a top team in the country. 4:52 Like a lot of people who follow Gopher hockey expect them to be. 4:56 And when they're not at that level, a lot of people just kind of tune out. 5:01 So it's kind of a frustrating thing for people who do spend a lot of time around this program to have a weekend like this because, you know, these issues didn't come out of nowhere. 5:10 These are the issues that have been bubbling for a long time with them. 5:13 And could you say it even goes back even further, Veegs? 5:15 You know, Tim Hapke was commenting before we started here, I would just love to have a normal year for once, he says. 5:23 And really, since Holy Cross, when's the last time we had a normal year? 5:30 I mean, that was kind of the beginning of what was that type of result. 5:35 We're getting a lot more, what? 5:38 Maybe this is the new normal parity. 5:43 I was going to say, I think that's part of it. 5:45 Just in my time since I've been exposed to college hockey, when I moved to Minnesota in 1997, and the amount of parity now compared to then, I mean, I covered some pretty brutal Minnesota Duluth teams back then. 5:58 And if you had told me where they are now, I'd have called you crazy, throw in St. 6:02 Cloud, throw out the fact that, you know, Ohio State has gone from basically nothing to being very good. 6:08 Penn State's doing their thing, and that's just a big tent. 6:10 So you don't want to sign it away to parity. 6:14 You can't lose to Alaska at home, period. 6:16 Yeah, and I'm kind of with you there, Chris. 6:20 You can't. 6:20 I mean, the damage it does on the pairwise. 6:22 You look at the game and the score, and we'll talk about it. 6:24 But what it does to the pairwise is crippling. 6:27 And that's what you've been talking about for a long time. 6:31 I know you're not a fan of how a bad loss affects you a lot more than a good win. 6:38 I mean, if you look at it, Minnesota losing to Alaska Fairlanks, that's a bad loss. 6:45 But how much did Alaska gain really by beating Minnesota? 6:49 Did they go up a ton? 6:51 You know, I wasn't really focused on Alaska because I feel like they were like in the 30s. 6:57 I could go back and look at my tweet and figure it out. 6:59 Because like the previous like, if you look at the other thing, like Ohio State beats Notre Dame, that did nothing to their pairwise. 7:06 I was talking to our good friend from Ohio State, Paul Caponegri, and he said, what the heck is going on this pairwise? 7:12 Minnesota loses Alaska, they go 8 to 12. 7:15 Ohio State beats Notre Dame and they don't do anything? 7:17 They stay the same? 7:18 What the heck? 7:19 And that's definitely what pairwise is, is like if you beat a decent team, good job. 7:24 That's what you have to do. 7:25 But if you lose a bad team, good luck, you're going to drop. 7:30 It's frustrating. 7:31 You know, Chris, you mentioned Duluth there, up in Duluth. 7:35 You're a Washington DC kid growing up, weren't you? 7:39 The Metro. 7:40 Yeah. 7:40 The Metro. 7:41 It's not the only one. 7:42 It's not the only one. 7:43 I love the Metro. 7:43 It's the one I always set up in Duluth. 7:46 I grew up outside of DC. 7:47 How were you exposed to hockey? 7:48 Was it the Capitals for you? 7:49 Yes. 7:50 They finally started to get good for the first time in their existence when I was about 10 years old, and I just was hooked. 7:56 I loved it. 7:57 It was amazing as there were only probably maybe 10 to 12 games on TV each year. 8:04 Right. 8:04 So combination of things. 8:05 Whenever it was on, I would be watching and I would be into it and I'd be waiting for it all day when I got home from school. 8:11 But we went to a lot of games. 8:12 Tickets in 81, 82, 83 were not that hard to get, and then they got good and the town. 8:17 They went to the next level and obviously they're in a completely different stratosphere now where youth hockey has taken off as a result of what they've done. 8:26 Yeah, I just, the first, well, I'll spare you the long story. 8:30 The moment I fell in love with hockey was a miracle on ice. 8:33 I'm 48 years old. 8:34 Anybody my age that's a hockey fan will probably point to that. 8:38 So that sort of led me to the capitals and then I went from there. 8:42 Well, that makes sense. 8:43 And then through your TV career, like you mentioned, you get to Duluth and all of a sudden, is that where you kind of learned, what's this college hockey thing? 8:50 What's this high school hockey thing? 8:52 Yeah, well, yeah, because growing up in DC., I played club. 8:56 There were no high school teams. 8:57 We traveled up and down the East Coast, my entire high school playing games. 9:01 All of DC., there were probably only, at the level I played, probably only four teams and three or four ranks. 9:09 And then I played club and college. 9:11 But yeah, it wasn't until I, I knew college hockey was out there. 9:15 Like I remember my one buddy that had cable when I was 15, went and watched the Minnesota Harvard game. 9:23 Because it was like his neighborhood for some reason, the only one that had cable. 9:26 So we would go to his house and watch that one. 9:29 And I'd go over to his house to watch Stanley Cup playoffs, pretty much anything. 9:34 But yeah, I knew of college hockey. 9:36 I knew who the best ten players were any given year. 9:41 But no, I couldn't have found St. 9:43 Cloud, or Duluth, or, you know, anybody, anything west of Pittsburgh, you know, you name a college hockey team, I wouldn't have known where it was. 9:54 Then you get to Minnesota, you're exposed to it. 9:56 It drags you in a little bit. 9:57 It is quite a different. 9:59 I would say the college hockey fan, we're a little bit different. 10:07 There's a lot of animosity out there. 10:09 But there's also that collection of, we're all college hockey fans together as well. 10:15 I said, that's the only difference there is. 10:18 Obviously, there's a lot of animosity, but I know Vegoe and I can count many, many fans of other schools that we're good friends with, that we just love the sport of college hockey. 10:30 Everybody just finds a way, other than North Dakotans who just want to be on their own, but everybody else gets along. 10:36 You see guys, Chris gets it, doesn't he? 10:40 The thing is, being in Duluth was a good indoctrination, because first of all, Duluth is an amazing sports town. 10:47 They love their high school sports. 10:49 They like that summer league baseball team used to have in the Northern League, they used to love that. 10:54 But UMD hockey was king. 10:55 It was the number one sport in town, and I always wondered when a lot of the guys from up north would commit and come down to the Gophers, and I always just, in my head, the only thing I could, of course, the prestige and the history, but they were on TV every weekend, even in Duluth, and the Duluth games weren't. 11:14 That tide has turned a lot, and Scott Sandlin's done a pretty good job of closing the borders, so to speak, up there. 11:21 But that, it is the number one, you are the biggest fish in a medium-sized pond up there, and it's an unbelievable atmosphere at the game. 11:29 I mean, every college hockey game is usually a pretty good atmosphere, but the deck, when I was up there in the 90s, the teams weren't that good, but just the atmosphere was incredible. 11:38 And there's something to be said for being at a small town and knowing that you are the biggest show in town by miles. 11:45 Well, it's definitely fun. 11:47 And Veegs and I have partaken in quite a few road trips here and there, Duluth, St. 11:52 Cloud, Mankato, Wisconsin, basically the old WCHA Veegs. 11:59 But obviously, the Minnesota fans get a little frustrated. 12:03 We kind of think things are starting to come together with Michigan State. 12:07 Game one looks decent against the Fairbanks. 12:11 Game two. 12:15 Well, just you tell me, how was Matsuko feeling about it? 12:18 I mean, was he kind of the hot goalie, blah, blah, blah? 12:21 I mean, is he sensing the frustration? 12:25 I think there's a strong feeling from the coach that he has a problem with his upperclassmen. 12:32 And specifically the Walker McLaughlin Brzezinski line. 12:37 He didn't call them out by specific names during... 12:41 He just says upperclassmen. 12:44 But he says upperclassmen. 12:45 He said one line was out there for three goals against on Saturday. 12:49 And, you know, we ran into a hot goalie and we still got two, but we had three glaring mistakes that we cannot have. 12:58 The issues are backjacking, they're puck possession, they are gaining energy and working hard and making the game difficult for the opponent. 13:08 And when you watch your captain, Sammy Walker, continually make these mistakes where he is extending his shift, chasing offense, and when it's time to play defense, he does not do it. 13:24 He does not. 13:25 And he's also gassed. 13:27 And he's gassed because he's at the end of the shift. 13:29 But here's the flip thing, when he's at the end of a shift and there's an offensive chance, you see the legs churn. 13:37 And that's what I think the coach has a really hard time seeing in film because he he sees it. 13:43 He sees it when they have a chance late in a shift. 13:45 They've got the legs. 13:46 But if there's a turnover, they don't have any legs to go back and play defense. 13:50 And they don't have the legs to stop in front of the goal and play defense and get the puck the other way. 13:56 And he sees those guys looping through the defensive zone on the break out. 14:00 And then it stretches out the team so much that then you have a team that just feasts on that and counterattacks the other way. 14:08 And it's got to be really frustrating for him to have that happen. 14:11 Because he's given Walker and McLaughlin a lot of rope this year. 14:16 And they are not rewarding him for it. 14:19 Now, Chris, you know, Veegs and I have been talking about this all season. 14:21 And even Monsko has talked about it. 14:24 A lot of times this team is just not playing the basics of hockey. 14:29 And even Veegs kind of touched on it. 14:31 They're just doing the simple things. 14:34 You know, end of your shift. 14:35 Don't get yourself into trouble. 14:36 Get off the ice. 14:39 And he's, like you say, he's been calling out these older players. 14:42 I mean, you've played hockey. 14:44 You know a lot of these basics too. 14:45 And you've probably been caught out many times. 14:48 Oh, well, let me ask you this in the form of a question. 14:52 And this was certainly never a problem the way I played. 14:55 When you have six guys, like those front two lines that are so explosive offensively. 15:01 I mean, that second line, I mean, McLaughlin's goal was fantastic that he scored. 15:05 We've seen Sammy Walker and Brad Zanski. 15:08 Those guys are so quick twitch in the offensive end. 15:12 You guys have seen way more of this team than I have this year. 15:15 Is the fact that they are so dangerous up front, does that then cause these deficiencies you're talking about when they're not back checking, they're not getting back where they mortgage that front end push because they know they can cash in there and it just doesn't balance out. 15:30 But Veegs, I would say that we've seen McLaughlin and Walker play the type of hockey that Matzko wants them to play. 15:40 The second half of last year, they were on board with Bob Matzko's style. 15:46 That run that they made last year, I thought the light switch is turned on. 15:52 And then all of a sudden, it gets Minnesota State in the playoffs, the light turned off again. 15:57 And I think the problem gets to be that they think they have to do it all by themselves every shift. 16:03 And they just chase and chase and chase. 16:05 And a lot of times, the mistakes you see them making are not in the first 20, 30 seconds of their shift. 16:11 It's happening 50 seconds, 60 seconds, 70 seconds, as they chase one more play. 16:18 And it puts them in a bad spot. 16:19 Or they're on a rush where they think they have to make something happen on the rush. 16:24 Sometimes you're just better off by extending the game and letting your skills shine through when there's an opportunity rather than forcing it. 16:33 But it's simple though, like at the intership you're trying to get that last bit of offense. 16:39 Dump it in. 16:41 Get off the ice. 16:44 I kind of like put it like if you're a Texas Hold'em player and you're a really good player. 16:49 Oh, I'm in on this one. 16:50 And you get dealt like ace ten. 16:54 Ace ten is a pretty good hand. 16:56 But if the flop comes and you don't hit your ace and there's maybe a straight jaw for somebody else or a flush draw for somebody else, you don't just start pushing your chips in and take that chance. 17:06 Even though you've got a relatively decent hand. 17:10 But when you keep doing that, you're going to get busted. 17:13 You need to wait for when opportunities present yourself. 17:17 If you see ace ten and all of a sudden, you know, King Jack Queen hits and you've got your straight, you push in and you make the most of your chance. 17:26 But when you just go in blindly like they do and just believe, I'm a pretty good player, this is going to work out well. 17:33 It's not. 17:35 Well, jeez, well, we've got Corey here thinking, should have benched that line for a period of time or two this year. 17:41 Too late to do that now? 17:42 They're too good. 17:43 They're too good. 17:44 Yeah, you're right. 17:45 And that's just it. 17:46 That's why, you know, Moscow is probably just in a kind of a pickle in that spot. 17:50 Here's the thing, though, you look at the wild right now, you watch how Dean Evison is handing Kevin Fiala, he will bench him. 17:58 The other night, he benched him for the entire period until Fiala figured it out. 18:02 He's like, you know, I understand what's going on. 18:05 You know, I'm going to cheer for my teammates. 18:07 And he went out there, you know, at a TV timeout and said, come on guys, we can do this. 18:11 And the coach saw that and gave him a chance and he produced. 18:15 Sometimes you have to have the stick with these players and it's not going to come with a stern talking to, it's not going to come from kicking the trash can, it's going to be coming from taking away their power play time, it's going to be public benching during a period of a key game, or it's going to be not letting them practice. 18:34 Those are the ways you get their attention. 18:35 But to be honest, we don't see that. 18:38 And we didn't see it with Lucia either. 18:40 He just kind of refused to publicly shame or do that type of discipline, afraiding he would lose their superstars. 18:51 So I think that's why Moxco might be kind of in a pickle, because he knows this is Minnesota. 18:56 He can't really be the same kind of coach maybe he could do at St. 19:01 Cloud. 19:02 It's such a drop off though, guys. 19:04 Right now those top two line, I mean, who do you bring? 19:07 Well, Jackson Nelson. 19:08 Here's the thing, Chris. 19:09 Here's the thing, Chris. 19:11 Right now, this team is a one line team that's consistent. 19:15 The nine line, you could throw them out there. 19:18 And if the other lines that you throw out there, don't give up a goal, you're going to win games. 19:24 Yeah. 19:25 Especially against a team like Alaska. 19:27 And two thirds of that line is gone soon. 19:30 Well, you say if, then you win games. 19:32 I remind you there's been a goaltending shift. 19:36 That might not be as automatic. 19:38 They didn't lose that Alaska game on goaltending. 19:40 I mean, I wouldn't say close was great. 19:45 But like Vegs said, the same line gave up all three goals. 19:48 Yeah. 19:49 It's a lot of people, you know, yes, goaltending could bail you out, but it's team defense that wins you games. 19:56 Don't you think, Vegs? 19:58 I think it does. 19:59 I think you need to allow your talent to shine. 20:01 Like I was going through looking at clips. 20:03 I was going to do it for GPL last week. 20:05 It's going to come out tomorrow. 20:06 I've got all the clips picked out now. 20:08 But there are plays that Walker makes that are fantastic. 20:12 There are plays that McLaughlin makes that are fantastic. 20:16 It's these late in the shift decisions that they make that if they stop doing that, now you've got a top six that is super dangerous to play against. 20:25 But if they keep doing that, they basically nullify all the positive things they bring to the game. 20:31 Ryan K. 20:32 Brzezinski deserves a lot more blame here. 20:35 If you can't get a puck coming to him for a shot, the dots does nothing. 20:39 I mean, it's kind of a liability pretty much we think. 20:41 What do you think? 20:43 I mean, for me, I don't think he's the problem with the line. 20:45 I don't see him making the mistakes late in the shift. 20:48 I mean, what the problem should be is like, if he should just come off at 40 seconds and let somebody else play with that line for the next 40, and just send a message to your line mates, be like, hey, we're supposed to be off in 40, 50 seconds. 21:03 Let's get off. 21:04 I kind of like that. 21:09 Well, I mean, that sends a message too. 21:12 A familiar face is back with the team, Mr. 21:14 Long. 21:15 Sam Rossini played four years and all of a sudden, he's back out of nowhere. 21:20 Was any of that mentioned today at Moscow's availability? 21:24 Did he say anything? 21:25 He was yesterday and that popped today. 21:28 But when I saw the email, Veegs, I saw the email pop up in my head. 21:32 I clicked it and went, what? 21:36 Fine player, just very. 21:39 I don't know the details of how it happened. 21:40 A little bit on Instagram a couple of days ago. 21:43 McLaughlin said nice to see you back. 21:46 And so I thought when you see Sam Rossini back in the locker room, especially in the era of COVID, you know, he's probably back on the team. 21:53 And they just needed some depth. 21:54 You know, Bob didn't talk about it. 21:56 I asked him, is there more disruption coming? 21:59 And he says, no, everything's good going into this next series in terms of everybody being healthy and testing negative for COVID. 22:06 I do think Bob maybe learned his lesson with testing all the players that Monday. 22:12 You know, if people aren't symptomatic, maybe not test because they don't have to. 22:16 So what does Rossini bring? 22:20 He brings somebody who's comfortable in the locker room. 22:22 Does he bring that factor of putting Denman back on the bench? 22:30 I think it's just depth. 22:33 You just need to be able to practice. 22:35 You know, when you lose guys to the Olympics and you lose guys to COVID and you lose guys to injury, you know, Kester has had some shoulder injuries. 22:44 You know, so you just got to be safe there. 22:46 And there's somebody there who's familiar with your programs, familiar with your systems, knows how to practice. 22:52 He's a guy. 22:53 What has he been doing? 22:54 Do we know? 22:56 He's been working for like an investment company, desk job. 23:02 So he went in the real world. 23:05 I know that, but it's not like you're in game shape. 23:07 And that's kind of the Chris Long. 23:10 You got any eligibility left? 23:12 Maybe we can get you on the team. 23:13 I do. 23:14 Yeah. 23:15 I'm not going to help anything. 23:17 You just need a guy. 23:18 I'm classic, just a guy. 23:19 And I always have been, even when I was in the top form. 23:23 Veegs, do we know anything about Boynton? 23:26 I mean, wasn't even dressed last week. 23:28 The whole controversy of bringing in... 23:32 I can't even think of his name right now. 23:34 Bartoszkiewicz. 23:35 Bartoszkiewicz. 23:35 There. 23:36 She's ended up dressing, was cleared, what, a couple hours before the game Friday, I guess, because the game would have been canceled if they couldn't dress two goalies. 23:46 It was just a whole debacle. 23:48 They were lucky he got cleared, I guess, right on time for lineups to be announced. 23:53 He was on campus Wednesday, ready to go, and just compliance a little extra time to get him clear so he couldn't practice, even though he's here Wednesday and Thursday and Friday. 24:05 But I don't know. 24:07 I asked Bob what he wants to tell his goalie room about being prepared and ready and giving preparation to the team, and he kind of danced around a little bit saying, that's his goalie coach's responsibility, and they should have their light bulb on and be ready to go because there's minutes there. 24:25 And he said, there could be another goalie getting a chance. 24:29 I don't know if it's going to be Boynton if he can't practice. 24:32 Yeah, Chris, this whole Boynton thing has been really strange. 24:35 He's had some surgery and some... 24:39 He had the deviated septum. 24:41 Deviated septum. 24:42 He collapsed at a game last season, Leagues, at his juniors. 24:48 This season, he's slowly getting back after some surgery. 24:51 Now, Leagues, was he sick with the flu? 24:56 Not COVID, apparently. 24:59 It's been really strange with Boynton because he was supposed to be the next guy. 25:05 Yeah. 25:06 Everything's strange, though, now. 25:07 I mean, everything's just... 25:08 Yeah, yeah. 25:10 Look at last week. 25:10 I mean, last week, from Monday to the final Horn Saturday, is just sort of where we are, and definitely college sports. 25:21 Pro sports, it's at least a little more transparent. 25:23 Just because of the nature of it. 25:24 It's weird, but you know why it's weird. 25:25 College sports across the board is weird, because sometimes you have no idea what's going on behind the scenes. 25:32 That's definitely the case. 25:34 And the only reason Rossini could come back is the extra year of eligibility leagues. 25:40 That's the only way they can get him back on the team. 25:44 I don't know what year anybody is anymore. 25:46 I had to ask. 25:46 I was doing a story at Bethel, actually, during the football team. 25:50 I asked one of the players, he said, what year are you? 25:53 He goes, well, you're asking me the question. 25:56 Eligibility wise, I'm a junior. 25:57 He said, I'm not a junior, but to answer your question, I'm a junior. 26:01 Look at them on the volleyball team. 26:03 Taylor Landfair was the Big Ten freshman of the year last year. 26:07 Barely played this year. 26:09 Will be a freshman again next year, eligibility-wise. 26:13 So she was the Big Ten freshman of the year two years ago and will be a freshman. 26:17 You know, it was easy to have Rossini back on, but I actually added him. 26:22 It just says Senior 2X on the roster on the Gopher Puck Live. 26:27 I don't know what else. 26:27 I think he's listed as grad student, I think, on the bio officially if I saw it. 26:31 I think that's what it was. 26:34 Or financial advisor. 26:38 He's going to be working with LaFontaine on how to invest that $750,000. 26:43 Well, for those of you listening live, if you got any more questions, I want you to throw them our way. 26:48 But first, we need to head on over to our sponsor. 26:53 Hey, fellow GPLers, Jerry Peters here from First Class Mortgage. 26:57 Have you refinanced your home in the last 12 months? 27:00 If you haven't, chances are you should. 27:02 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. 27:10 You can also use the equity in your home to finance those home improvement projects. 27:15 Or you can consolidate high interest rate credit cards into one new low monthly payment. 27:19 To hear more, call or text me today at 612-940-3291. 27:25 You can email me at jerry at firstclasscorp.com or you could go to firstclassmortgage.com to fill out a free online application. 27:34 Mention The GPL Podcast and receive a $300 closing cost credit. 27:38 Some restrictions do apply. 27:40 First Class Mortgage's NMLS number is 322842-480200. 27:46 This is not an agreement to lock into an interest rate under Minnesota law. 27:50 First Class Mortgage is an Equal Housing Lender. 27:56 And of course, we thank Jerry for sponsoring us again. 27:59 Here we go. 28:00 There we go. 28:01 Jared, former Rube himself. 28:03 Do any of the former Rube's have eligibility left? 28:06 Beegs, do you get eligibility left? 28:08 I don't think so. 28:08 I think I used them all up at St. 28:10 Olaf. 28:11 This is an original Rube's jersey right there. 28:15 I'll bring that out later. 28:18 Yeah, we're too fat and slow. 28:21 You know what? 28:21 I did hear Nate Prosser this week when he was talking about when he broke in the NHL. 28:26 He said when he was trying to get his role figured out, a lot of teams had meat lines in the NHL. 28:34 And Chris, I don't know if you know this, but you know, I'm kind of a big guy. 28:39 We called ourselves the meat line because we had three of us across on opening faceoff a lot of nights for the Roobs. 28:45 So three guys, my size, all taking the draw. 28:48 The other team would be like, what are we getting into? 28:51 See, now the hard part for me is the last time I played competitive. 28:53 I graduated high school at 160 pounds. 28:56 I was a little tiny 5'11, 160 twig. 29:01 I wish I had this body with that speed and stamina and ability. 29:05 I would have had a better shot at playing the next level. 29:07 But yeah, I think my game would be very different now than it was 60, 70 pounds ago. 29:13 Yeah, well, we were a D-League team. 29:15 And I was actually a D-League player because I didn't start playing hockey till I was an adult. 29:20 Never played on teams, did anything. 29:22 I had a blast with it just because, you know, it was a beer league team. 29:27 We just had fun. 29:30 We hung four second place banners. 29:32 I mean, I think that was quite the accomplishment. 29:35 We were so Minnesota. 29:37 I mean, we were just embodying everything about Minnesota right there. 29:42 Well, we had a good time. 29:43 We had a good time. 29:46 Veegs, there was a lot of frustration this week on Twitter. 29:50 You could just look at the Gopher Hockey Facebook responses, which is always ugly. 29:57 Um, the fans aren't happy. 30:01 You know, and, and there's quite a few negative people with that. 30:05 We know that there are just loving it this week because that's kind of what they do. 30:09 Veegs. 30:10 But, uh, I, I'm actually genuinely concerned about this team. 30:14 You know, this is supposed to be a team building for the end. 30:18 And right now they haven't showed me anything that relieves that right now. 30:26 I'm, I'm a little worried about the state of the program for this year. 30:30 You know, there's a lot of chaos surrounding everybody there. 30:35 You know, Bob and his family, what they've gone through the last year. 30:38 That's, you know, COVID has been complicated for everyone to navigate through, you know, the, the world juniors being canceled, the Olympics now grabbing college players, LaFontaine going to the Canes. 30:51 It's just a lot for kids that age to deal with. 30:56 And I just, I worry about what's going to happen the second half of the year, just because there is so much pressure from social and the media on this team. 31:08 I'm just not confident that they're going to survive it well. 31:12 I'm kind of interested in Chris on his perspective. 31:14 Like, you're not as around this as some of us are. 31:18 And it's a different perspective. 31:20 You see all kinds of angles on this. 31:23 What do they have left? 31:23 They've got six series left, right? 31:25 One trip around the league left. 31:27 Yep. 31:28 Pretty much, yeah. 31:29 They're going to get in to the turning, right? 31:33 I mean, I know we don't assume anything, but they're going to get into the turning. 31:36 If they go 500 the rest of the way, I think they're on the bubble and they're going to have to win the Big Ten tournament. 31:44 Yeah, yeah. 31:45 Like, if you're dropping games to Penn State and Wisconsin, that's going to put you down on the pairwise. 31:52 Here's the hook. 31:53 I mean, Michigan's losing what, five guys, four guys to the Olympics? 31:56 Yep. 31:58 And the Gophers are losing three. 32:02 That's going to hurt. 32:03 I'm not breaking any news by saying that. 32:05 It's going to make the Big Ten race very interesting. 32:08 That's what I mean. 32:09 So, yeah, you got Michigan kind of Michigan. 32:12 I've said, I got yelled at by somebody, probably somebody that's in the chat here, after the draft saying, how good this Michigan team is going to be. 32:20 I think they've underachieved, too. 32:21 I don't think they've been as good as they probably should be this year. 32:25 I think the Gophers should should even with what they're missing. 32:29 You know, you're not going to miss anybody. 32:31 When do those guys leave? 32:31 Those guys leave at the end of the month, right? 32:33 End of the month. 32:34 So they'll play the next four games in Michigan, Notre Dame, and then they'll miss Michigan State, Ohio State, and Penn State. 32:40 They'll miss those six games. 32:42 They might be back for Wisconsin if they escape COVID. 32:46 I assume Brock Faber will now that he's already recovered from it. 32:50 So Ohio State is going to be huge. 32:51 I mean, granted, we're projecting here, Ohio State is going to be pretty big because that could be one of these. 32:57 But go on the assumption that I think that they're even if they can weather the storm with the three guys out, I think they're a turning team. 33:06 And how many times have we seen? 33:07 I hate being the guy whose life depends on sports, saying, just get into the tournament and see what happens. 33:12 But how many times have we seen it both ways? 33:16 You know, you'll be by... 33:18 0.001. 33:19 And then again, I hate doing it this way, but then the Gophers as a top team. 33:25 Just get in. 33:26 Just get in. 33:27 Don't project forward. 33:28 Just worry about these next 12 games. 33:30 See how they go. 33:30 If they go in the tank. 33:31 If we're at the Ohio State Series and we're talking about they have five must-win games left, then things have gone seriously wrong. 33:36 But I still think that they're in CAA Tournament team. 33:40 Now, I'm also the guy that after week 11, said the Vikings were a playoff team. 33:44 So maybe I should just shut up. 33:49 Maybe you haven't been here long enough. 33:51 I don't know. 33:52 Oh, I have. 33:53 Oh, I've seen it. 33:55 I was at the 99 NFC Championship game. 33:58 No, I've seen it. 34:01 Okay, I'll just say that game was kind of the end of my ultra fandom for the Vikings. 34:08 It'll take it out of you. 34:09 A loss like that will take it out of you. 34:10 I was so disappointed. 34:12 Then literally that got amplified two years later when they got 41 doughnut. 34:19 So when it came to losing that NFC Championship and far through the interception, I wasn't upset. 34:25 Yes, you were. 34:26 No, I really wasn't. 34:28 I find myself not watching the games as much. 34:31 Sometimes if I do, I kind of, boy, you just get a couple of tweets. 34:37 I'm like, stick to football. 34:39 I'm like, it's just so easy to get them going. 34:42 So I'll just say that it's been a lot tougher to be a Vikings fan when you've lived here all your life. 34:48 Veegs, is it tougher for you? 34:51 I mean, I was at that game against the Falcons too. 34:54 And I just remember Robert Smith needs to stay in bounds. 34:57 Robert Smith needs to stay in bounds. 34:59 And I remember seeing all the defensive players for the Vikings going down in that game. 35:03 And on the sidelines getting treatment. 35:05 I'm like, they need to win this game as soon as they can. 35:08 They need to like finish this. 35:10 And when they missed that longer field goal, it was just crushing. 35:16 And I still follow them, but I don't know. 35:19 I think covering sports, you get a little less invested in the outcomes and more invested in the stories of the players and things like that. 35:28 But it's still hard to watch. 35:29 I would agree, because I would say, Chris, you're out of the Washington market. 35:35 But boy, it's probably a lot easier for you that you are not because you can really kind of get behind your capitals like you did a couple years back when they won the cup. 35:44 Well, I was going to say, remember, before that, and the Nationals and the Mystics, we hadn't won anything since the early 90s either. 35:52 So I have a wonderful dual hometown that had gone to combine 60-something years without winning anything. 35:59 You're right, though. 35:59 The class wanted here, didn't they? 36:01 Yep, yep. 36:03 I don't know what it would be like to do. 36:06 But most of the people in the local media are from here. 36:10 It would be weird covering teams I grew up rooting for. 36:14 I've never really thought about that. 36:15 I guess that's because you can't shake, you know, everybody said, well, you're not a fan and you're not. 36:21 When you're doing your job, you're not a fan. 36:23 Exactly. 36:24 I tell people say, though, do you want the local teams to win? 36:26 Of course we do. 36:27 More people will be watching what we're doing if the teams are winning and relevant than if they're not. 36:32 So of course we want them to win. 36:33 It's just a different motivation. 36:37 But I've never thought about that. 36:39 It would be very different if I say right at a college, hardly removed from being a childhood sports lunatic for these teams. 36:49 If I had to jump in and cover them, that would have been a very different experience for me. 36:51 I never really thought about that. 36:53 I mean, Veegs, for me, I used to be able to sit down on a Friday or Saturday and watch it on TV, and I would yell and cheer and score. 37:02 I find myself not doing that as much anymore because, you know, we've been covering the team for 15 years. 37:08 At the arena, meeting the players, meeting the coaches, it is kind of a different deal when you're meeting the team that you love the most and that you've, that's your deal. 37:21 Yeah, and you know, interest in the Gophers goes up and down a little bit, so it is more fun when they're doing really well. 37:27 And you know, spending the time at the availability that I can and at the games I can, asking questions that I think fans want to get answers to. 37:37 I think fans want to hear what the coach is going to do about the Walker line. 37:41 I think fans want to know what's going to happen with the goalie position moving forward and you know, you just try to learn what are the ways to ask those questions that are going to get a real response from a coach rather than, so are you thinking about making a goalie change? 37:56 You think about benching your starting quarterback? 37:59 How mad are you with Walker? 38:01 You know, those questions are not... 38:03 Are you referring to a particular person? 38:04 Come on. 38:05 No, Jess doesn't find... 38:07 He's a little pointed with his questions. 38:10 Chris, we have a long thing going on with Jess and Bob and some of the questions he asks. 38:14 Sometimes Jess gets a little quick on the trigger. 38:18 One of my favorite things in the Vail is when Jess went to the question and you just see the Bob reaction, he just waits and I'm always standing over on Jess' side and I'm kind of like... 38:31 Well, hold on, it's like that iPhone commercial where it focuses in on Jess and you go into the blur. 38:37 What if I am? 38:38 Maybe last week, but I still have this cued up from last week, a Moscow reaction to a Jess question. 38:45 I wish there was one last mistake tonight that we weren't talking about right now. 38:48 Can you give us anything on Walker injury, disciplinary, anything like that? 38:53 Just curious. 38:54 You're crazy. 39:01 That's the look. 39:02 I just did that. 39:02 I just went... 39:06 We can't forget Jess. 39:07 That's a hard time. 39:08 He's a great sport about it. 39:10 Jess is an amazing, not just college hockey reporter, he's an amazing reporter who did it as a side gig for a billion years. 39:17 He and Bob go way back. 39:20 So they have a relationship that a lot of us don't. 39:22 He has a relationship with Bob that a lot of us don't. 39:26 Yeah, we just, we have fun with it because, you know, sometimes Jess gets a little blunt there. 39:32 And then he looks at Vegoe and says, are you crazy? 39:38 Every beat has usually one that will be- 39:44 Well, then what happened in Edmonton? 39:46 Just, was it yesterday? 39:47 The dry saddle? 39:48 Oh, that was in Edmonton. 39:49 Well, that guy, from what I understand, is a jerk. 39:53 Like that wasn't just, you know, a blunt line of questioning. 39:57 What do you mean? 39:57 He's a horror-fame guy. 40:00 Like there's one thing to be a blunt line of questioning, where you just, you ask a question that has to be asked. 40:04 There's another one where you're doing it just so people hear you doing it. 40:09 There was a Vikings reporter in town that gets a lot of heat for the way he asks some questions. 40:13 I don't think that the necessarily unfair blunt is just how he phrases his questions. 40:18 That dude, Bob, is that a Bob in Edmonton? 40:21 Is that the guy's name? 40:22 Yeah, I don't recall. 40:23 The guy interviewing Dry Cytl was clearly wanted to let his readers, viewers- 40:29 Why are you so busy? 40:30 Why are you so- 40:30 Right, right. 40:32 Wow. 40:33 Right. 40:34 See, that's why we like our Veegs here. 40:36 Veegs, you're always pretty delicate and kind of get around. 40:40 But Veegs said there is a way to ask. 40:43 Yeah, there is. 40:44 Any question? 40:47 Well, let's talk about this week, guys. 40:51 Veegs, we can have total redemption. 40:53 Minnesota sweeps this weekend and everything's fixed. 40:56 Everything's great. 40:59 Not sure that'll happen, but boy, this series has been anticipated for a long time. 41:06 Hopefully, we get to see what we want to see. 41:12 Well, I think without Jack, the series does change a little bit. 41:18 Yeah. 41:19 I think Jack LaFontaine playing his old team in his last, you know, regular season game against them, there was a lot going into that. 41:29 I think it's still going to be a very, very good game. 41:31 But now we just have that big question mark and goal. 41:34 And that kind of changes the perspective on how I expect the weekend to be played. 41:39 I think if Minnesota comes in playing a high-flying game, like we're all, we're gonna expect in this series, you got something else coming. 41:49 I think the coaches are going to be on this team about playing responsible all week. 41:56 Now, the big question on my mind, do they actually do that? 42:00 As I said in the first half of the show, there's clearly a group of players who are not listening to the coaching. 42:07 And for all the fans out there who think that this is all Bob's fault, that he's not taking control of this team right, maybe, but he's coaching them to do the right thing. 42:17 I just don't see the players executing on the ice. 42:20 And so that's the problem for me. 42:23 What do you guys set, if you're setting the line, what's the over under for total goals, both teams, both games through the weekend? 42:30 Because I think it's going to be like 20. 42:35 Really? 42:37 If it is, Minnesota will not be on top because I think it all comes back to, like you said, Veegs, we get close in goal. 42:45 It's not quite the same as Jack LaFontaine. 42:48 Yeah, good point. 42:50 Maybe. 42:51 It's going to come back to that team defense. 42:54 How well does the team defend against Michigan is the key to the weekend for me. 43:02 Yeah, I mean, three weeks ago, if you asked me what the over-under for this series would have been, I would have said 15, maybe 15 and a half. 43:09 Like I think you'd get some high scoring games. 43:12 I don't think you're going to see that this weekend unless it's like 6-1. 43:17 And that's like 6-1 Michigan winning. 43:20 You know, I think that's the only way you get a high goal scoring weekend. 43:23 I don't think Minnesota is going to be able to do that with what they're being tasked with this weekend. 43:29 But man, you watch Michigan play and you see the highlights. 43:32 Holy smokes, are they skilled? 43:36 So, we've seen Minnesota at times play defensive layers. 43:40 I think that's the only way they can win this weekend. 43:42 So, I'll throw this one at you, Chris. 43:45 How does Bob fix the power play? 43:51 It's so straight, because it's both teams in town, too. 43:56 The Wild have been asking that same question all season as well. 44:01 The power play at any level, whether it was when you guys played as Rubes or what anyway, it comes and it goes. 44:09 It's not always as broken as it may look as long as you're getting pucks on it. 44:14 I'm not a big advance that guy. 44:16 It's not that I don't believe in. 44:17 I just don't understand exactly what Corsi and Fenwick are telling me, but I understand what they mean. 44:26 I'm not making any sense. 44:27 I think you just with a power play, it's just cycle and generate shots. 44:32 That's it, right? 44:33 That's all you got to do. 44:34 It's easy. 44:34 Cycle and generate shots. 44:35 But for leagues. 44:37 That is true. 44:39 But this is where maybe, I know you've been a little frustrated this year. 44:44 Maybe his first power play unit should actually be the second power play unit. 44:49 You've mentioned that quite a few times this year. 44:51 And I think we saw that more as the year has gone on. 44:55 I think that Myers group gets the first shot. 44:58 As long as they weren't the line out there previously that's gassed, they are getting the first shot most times. 45:04 And I think a big reason for that is how much better Myers is on the faceoff dot than anybody else right now. 45:10 I think Jackson Nelson was maybe their number two center for draws. 45:15 And after that, it gets nerdy for this team. 45:19 Like is Jack Purbeck going to have to be one of the guys that takes key draws for this team going forward? 45:26 It could be. 45:28 I mean, The Wild did that with Miko Koivu at the end of his career because they needed a guy who could win the draw because that's such an important part of special teams is finding guys who can do that. 45:38 And it's killed them this year, Veegs. 45:40 It literally has. 45:41 How many times in the offensive, the first offensive face off on a penalty? 45:46 I want to say they lose 75 percent of those damn things. 45:49 If it's not Myers, that's about right. 45:51 Well, then you need to borrow a move from my second sport, lacrosse. 45:54 There is a position in lacrosse that is referred to as FOGO. 45:57 Face off, get off. 45:59 There are guys who will be on scholarship and Division 1 teams who go out there, they'll win a face off and run off the field and step out for a midfielder. 46:07 Try it. 46:08 Why not? 46:08 Do it in power plays. 46:09 A FOGO, a hockey FOGO. 46:12 You know, it would work in the second period probably fairly well. 46:17 Yeah, win it clean, get that golf. 46:19 I mean, we've kind of seen that sometimes with Notre Dame. 46:21 Notre Dame will sometimes have a center who is so good that Jeff Jackson basically has him take 80% of the draws in the game and he is a FOGO. 46:31 He gets on, he wins the draw, gets off. 46:33 Yeah, there you go. 46:34 I do think that's something they need to figure out and just like tell Myers, hey, figure it out, you're going to be taking a lot of draws. 46:41 Other teams have done that. 46:42 Well, obviously, go ahead. 46:43 No, you go ahead. 46:45 Obviously, conversely, I mean, I think you might, that might be more likely for a PK situation where, you know, if you're winning draws consistently on a penalty kill, it's probably going to help you more than, I don't know, I guess it's 50-50. 46:57 Yeah? 46:58 Go ahead. 46:58 Never mind. 46:59 Save me for myself. 47:00 I just logic to myself right now. 47:01 Well, you're not wrong, though. 47:05 You know, earlier this year, we had some kind of, a little more stats on face-offs. 47:10 I don't know if we're still getting those every game, but you saw some interesting stats that we're going to get. 47:17 The new stat system for NCAA hockey has a lot more interesting information that you can pull out of it. 47:24 It's just how it's distributed is not as easy as it used to be. 47:30 All the things that rely on the stat program from the College Hockey stats.net guy, that's all gone away. 47:37 This new system has some different things to it, but it's just not clean enough to get information out of. 47:43 We're looking at the stat sheets after the game, and it does divide draws up by power play, penalty kill, even strength, etc. 47:51 You should be able to get that out of there. 47:52 I bet the teams know. 47:54 Yeah. 47:55 Because we would say that for years. 47:57 Sure, they might be 50-50 on face-offs, but what are they on face-offs in the offensive zone, on the power play, in the defensive zone, on the penalty kill? 48:06 Where are they on the important? 48:08 I remember the Wugger used to talk a lot about, yeah, you're running face-offs, but there are key times of the game where you need to win a face-off, and you're not. 48:16 I remember Wugger always used to harp on that on TV. 48:19 It's like a different category. 48:21 There should be a coursey close for face-offs. 48:24 You should be able to just draw up some analytics for when is a key face-off and just track those. 48:29 Yeah, like up a goal or two in the final four minutes defensive end face-off. 48:35 Yeah. 48:35 I mean, that's really when you need to win one. 48:37 You don't need to win one after an offsides all the time. 48:40 Who cares? 48:41 Right. 48:42 What are your thoughts on this weekend, Veegs? 48:43 I mean, it's so hard to predict anything because you know they're going to play good one night. 48:50 You just know what they're going to blow them out. 48:53 One night, I think they're going to play pretty well. 48:56 I'm not as concerned with the Meyers Power Play group as everybody is. 49:00 I think they got 15 shots on their chances on the man advantage on Saturday. 49:05 They were getting pucks to the net. 49:07 We saw Nice and Lucius doing jam plays around the goal. 49:12 I think if they do that against Michigan, they're going to be okay. 49:16 I think what Alaska is really trying to do is trying to take away those shots around the dots. 49:21 Which is I think a spot where Minnesota has been really dangerous this year on the power play. 49:25 You know, Motzko talks about, you know, these kills, they get a lot of film on you and they start to figure out what you like to do. 49:32 You got to do something different. 49:34 And so I think Minnesota just has to figure out how can they generate offense from below the goal line a little bit more, and how can they maybe get some offense from their point player? 49:44 So Jackson and Cohn, Mike Kester, they got to figure out ways to get pucks on that through traffic. 49:49 I think if they can do those two things, the power play will be okay. 49:52 This weekend though, I hate to say it, but I feel like Michigan could come in here and get six points. 50:01 It just feels like that to me. 50:05 It just does. 50:05 I don't know if I've got that energy. 50:07 Like we've talked in the past, we've talked with Jack Ramsey about this, where you have locker rooms, where it just gets kind of clicky and separate. 50:17 And I don't know if that's how it is, because we're not in there, but it doesn't have that good, good feel that you saw, especially like with the Duluth teams that did well in the Frozen Four. 50:27 You could just tell in the press conferences how guys talked about each other and how they talked about dealing with adversity, that they were legit ready to battle it. 50:38 Here, it's a lot of the same verbiage, like Jack Purvick's talking the other day, he's like, yeah, we know what we're supposed to do. 50:44 We know. 50:45 Oh, that's frustrating. 50:47 That's frustrating. 50:48 Chris, why don't you just have Channel 5 come down for a live shot Saturday night? 50:54 Oh, they may hear, like, no. 50:57 Come down for a live shot Saturday night. 50:59 I promise you, someday I do hope to have the Sunday to Thursday job. 51:05 If that happens, I might buy season tickets. 51:07 It kills me that I'm always seven blocks away. 51:10 I know some guys. 51:11 Chained to the anchor desk. 51:12 We know some guys, maybe Joe Schmitt. 51:14 Oh, we never know. 51:15 We got guys. 51:17 Everyone rumored that that was a suggestion. 51:23 We need a hockey guy as a lead sports guy in town. 51:26 We just don't have that. 51:28 What's the deal? 51:31 I'm trying to think over the time I've been around. 51:35 We've had Dave Schwartz on this podcast. 51:37 He's a hockey guy by the way. 51:38 Big time. 51:38 Yeah. 51:40 He actually played a decent level of juniors too. 51:42 So he's got me covered there too. 51:45 Media game. 51:47 I keep saying, the wild threatened to have one last year and COVID blew it up. 51:52 But I keep saying it'd be fun. 51:55 I don't think we have any goalies though. 51:57 Deutsch is a goalie. 51:58 Deutsch is a goalie. 51:59 Like I said, I don't think we have any goalies. 52:03 Wally Shaver is a goalie. 52:05 He still plays. 52:06 Well, that would be fun. 52:08 Gorg? 52:09 We get Kevin Gorg? 52:10 Oh, Gorg? 52:11 Shaver and Gorg with Deutsch there just in case of emergencies. 52:14 He do the towel in the jersey and just sit on the bench. 52:18 Yeah. 52:18 He eats a bison pastrami from Northern Waters. 52:22 I mean, it would be great. 52:23 Work the door. 52:23 Yeah. 52:25 Yeah. 52:25 We need more hockey guys in town, but that's why we like having you on because you're a hockey guy. 52:29 And I'm not from here. 52:30 I'm not even one of you. 52:31 It doesn't matter. 52:31 It doesn't matter if you're a hockey guy. 52:34 You're a smart ass just like the rest of us. 52:37 Yeah, that I am. 52:38 That I definitely am. 52:39 Yes. 52:42 Oh boy. 52:43 Well, Veegs, I cannot pick six points for Michigan. 52:47 I just, that would be bad, but I'm thinking at least a split. 52:55 Three points for each team. 52:56 We're going, you know, and they'll have to catch them when Michigan, you know, loses a lot of their guys in February. 53:05 And Minnesota, maybe you'll play a little better than Michigan will with their guys out. 53:12 I'm just trying to stay optimistic, Veegs. 53:14 It's tough. 53:15 I'm sorry to bring you down like I've done this week. 53:18 It's not my intention. 53:19 I just, it'll feel so much better if they do have success this weekend. 53:23 Cause I'm, I was expecting six, you know, a sweep of Alaska in a big series this weekend and seeing kind of how that stuff is creeping back in the game and how they're responding to it. 53:34 I just worry it's not something you can just push aside and move on from. 53:38 Like this is something you have to address because it's something that pops up all the time. 53:43 You know, if this was the first time something like this had happened, I wouldn't be as worried. 53:49 But when it comes around like this and you have this February coming where you're going to be short, it's hard. 53:58 It's like sometimes you might have to tell your artist that, yes, I know I need you to paint the frescoes, but I need you to do it faster. 54:08 It makes less mistakes. 54:09 And Chris, really the big thing is kind of what Vegoe's talked about. 54:12 If that senior leadership steps up, this could be a really good team. 54:18 But if they don't, it's going to be a crash and burn. 54:23 I think, the fear you have with Michigan is, you got to play defense, but I don't think you want to try and win a street fight against Michigan the way they can play. 54:33 I think if you try to turn it into a muck and grind chippy affair, I don't think that's a great idea. 54:38 I mean, we kind of saw that happen Saturday to a degree. 54:43 So I think they've got to play, if there's a way to play defense without making the game overly physical, I know that's a complete octi-moron, but find a way to play defense with your feet, not with your body, because I think if you start trying to make it a physical game, I think you're in for a long weekend. 55:00 And really, you know, one thing Minnesota did do last time against Michigan is they played well on the penalty kill. 55:07 I believe Michigan went 0 for the weekend. 55:10 They're going to need to do that again. 55:13 I just want to go on record. 55:15 I'm not saying that they need to muck and grind it. 55:18 What I'm saying is they need to be smart with the puck. 55:22 When this team doesn't have the puck, for the most part, they're usually pretty good. 55:27 They don't spend a lot of time in their defensive zone defending. 55:31 They're usually pretty quick. 55:33 Their defensemen are so talented, they can erase plays pretty quickly. 55:38 They get caught in transition. 55:41 They get caught taking bad penalties. 55:43 Those are the things that give away the game, and that's where their focus needs to be. 55:47 And just don't give those mistakes away, and it's going to be a fine weekend. 55:52 I think they are totally fine with their structure in their defensive zone, and maybe a team like Michigan engages their brain enough where they don't play poorly. 56:02 Because they have seemed to play some of their best games against Michigan. 56:05 I just don't think they do. 56:06 Oh, but sure. 56:07 That's true. 56:08 And the thing is, Chris, they could come away with and sweep Michigan, and we're just, we just don't know. 56:18 They clearly have the talent to sweep Michigan. 56:20 They do. 56:21 If they do, and then I see the quote here, I forgot, I'm just looking at the standings. 56:25 I hadn't even done the math, that they do have two games at hand. 56:27 If they do sweep, yeah. 56:30 Yeah, they do have two games at hand. 56:32 Minnesota sweeps there in really good shape in the Big Ten. 56:36 In everything. 56:38 Although, going to the Vig's Theory, the good wins don't help you. 56:42 Well, When it gets to Michigan would help a little. 56:46 But it's not gonna... 56:47 Two good wins. 56:48 I don't think it puts them over eight though. 56:50 I think it just kinda... 56:51 I think you're right. 56:52 You know, maybe get some back to eight. 56:54 Sweeping Michigan would offset the loss to Alaska. 56:56 Yes. 56:57 Yeah. 56:58 Which doesn't give them two good wins. 57:00 And that's just it. 57:01 Veegs, you picked Michigan to get six points. 57:04 But would you be shocked if Minnesota came out with six points? 57:07 I don't think you would be shocked. 57:10 If you're asking me to bet one or the other. 57:12 Oh, maybe Veegs is... 57:14 They gotta prove it to you, it looks like. 57:16 Veegs, you got that look on your face, like they need to prove it to you, don't they? 57:20 If I had to bet one team to sweep, it would be Michigan. 57:23 Yeah. 57:27 There you go. 57:28 The more likely outcome is a draw, bud. 57:31 There you go Gophers, write that on your board. 57:34 Veegs point, yeah. 57:36 Get mad. 57:37 Veegs calls sweep, just big letters. 57:42 Wonder if... 57:42 You know what? 57:42 I would be more than happy to come in there next Wednesday or whenever they do availability and have it. 57:47 Yep. 57:48 Pick me. 57:49 Pick me as the... 57:50 That would be great. 57:52 It's fine. 57:53 Well, Chris, thanks for coming on. 57:55 We're going to have to have you on again sometime. 57:56 We appreciate it. 57:58 Anytime. 57:58 Happy to. 57:59 And like I said, remember once the sun sets on the Vikings, I become a hockey guy again. 58:03 Well, you're always a hockey guy. 58:05 At heart, yes. 58:06 Yeah, you are. 58:08 Well, we really appreciate you coming on. 58:10 He's going to stay for a little bit over time here folks. 58:12 So that's all good. 58:13 Veegs, you mentioned the stuff you were working on. 58:16 You want to talk about that just a little bit again? 58:18 Yep, I did do the homework on the clips for Walker and McLaughlin. 58:22 You'll see them on GPL tomorrow. 58:25 Very, very interesting. 58:28 Well, that's going to do it for this episode of The GPL Podcast. 58:31 We'll be back next week with our guests, making a second appearance, Mr. 58:35 John King. 58:37 He was fun last time. 58:38 And we'll recap this Michigan series, hopefully it goes well. 58:42 And then we'll preview the series at Notre Dame. 58:46 For the rest of you, we'll see you next week. 58:49 And hopefully it's a good week.