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. 0:22 Visit us at firstclassmortgage.com. 0:29 Now, let's start the show with your hosts, Jupiter and Vegoe. 0:39 Good evening, and welcome to The GPL Podcast, episode number 209. 0:47 Well, good evening, Veegs. 0:48 How are you doing tonight? 0:50 I'm doing fantastic after seeing the Gophers get six points. 0:54 How about that, huh? 0:57 Gotta love it, gotta love it. 1:00 Really needed it. 1:01 This weekend's gonna be just as big, and what happens when we play Ohio State, Veegs? 1:06 We talk about dogs. 1:10 Besides that? 1:11 We talk hockey. 1:13 We do. 1:14 And with who? 1:16 Cappy. 1:17 We got Cappy on tonight. 1:19 There he is. 1:21 Dogs and hockey. 1:22 Trying to lead Veegs here. 1:24 I think he's going to leave those dogs in the middle. 1:27 You guys practice that one, I think. 1:29 Yeah. 1:31 I have zero script when I do this show. 1:33 I used to have a script. 1:34 That's why it went so well. 1:37 Script would sound so scripted. 1:42 Natural acting there. 1:44 No. 1:45 I just have. 1:46 I tried. 1:47 How are you doing, Cappy? 1:48 I'm good, man. 1:49 I'm good. 1:49 You're going to be busy the next two weekends, aren't you? 1:52 I mean, if it's okay with Gopher fans, yeah, I'm going to be busy with you guys. 1:57 I'm going to go on backwards and forwards. 2:02 Somebody was ripping. 2:03 I'm starting to, right? 2:05 Somebody was ripping a couple of weeks ago. 2:06 Was it Idol Mice? 2:07 Somebody is an inch. 2:08 Somebody is saying, who is this guy on color? 2:10 He's an idiot. 2:12 Hey, you got to. 2:15 Hey, hey, at least they're saying something. 2:17 I think I just compliment. 2:22 Yeah. 2:22 And that's just it. 2:23 You know, most hockey guys, they're just they don't care. 2:30 I don't know. 2:31 I mean, I want to do a good job and I hope people enjoy. 2:34 But I mean, you know, I'm going to do as best as I can and have fun with it because it's not we're not. 2:43 This is hockey and a game. 2:45 And yeah, you want to call it right and be serious, but it's also fun. 2:49 It's a sport, you know, like that's just my take on it. 2:54 So I tried to have a little fun incorporated in there with it. 2:58 So just like we like to have fun with you on the show. 3:01 I mean, geez, what are we doing? 3:02 Life supposed to have some fun in it. 3:04 So and, you know, hockey is a game. 3:07 So let's let's enjoy. 3:09 We got a top ten match up here. 3:12 And then, you know, let's have some fun. 3:14 Hopefully, you know, it's good games. 3:16 I think they will be. 3:17 I wish I wish the teams were full strength. 3:21 I mean, obviously Minnesota, but, you know, let's see what happens. 3:26 Well, we'll get into that later. 3:28 But as Vegoe said, when we started the show, six points for Minnesota Veegs, sweep of Michigan State, and Walker. 3:43 Walker, show me, show me your read GPL without telling me you read GPL, right? 3:48 I mean, Walker's performance this weekend, really answering the battle. 3:52 For about a minute and a half, two minutes. 3:54 Well, I know, but he was played. 3:56 When needed the most because it was trending at being one of those one-one ties and then going overtime. 4:03 We've been waiting for that, Cappy. 4:05 We've been waiting for him to do this. 4:07 And Veegs, he come tie game at one Saturday night. 4:14 He comes into the zone, he gets a penalty out of the refs. 4:21 Scores before, you know, the penalty is called. 4:23 Scores on the power play. 4:26 He's off the schneid. 4:27 He's got a point in the power play, Veegs. 4:29 I mean, that stat that you found a couple weeks ago, which was amazing to me. 4:35 He has his first point in the power play and right at the right time, Veegs. 4:39 Really at the right time. 4:41 I think the biggest two keys for Walker's game was he didn't try to play hero. 4:47 I think he stuck to the system and he made smart decisions with the puck for the majority of the weekend. 4:54 He wasn't skating the puck into defenders, turning the puck over. 4:59 He wasn't shooting the puck wide, starting the other team's breakout. 5:03 I thought he was committed to being a team player. 5:06 And the thing I liked about the first goal on the delayed penalty, as soon as he got the puck, he shot it quick. 5:12 He got the shot off really quick. 5:14 Derrida didn't have time to really set it. 5:16 He went down and he's like, hope it hit me. 5:19 It didn't. 5:21 And then the next one, the power play, he did have to dust it off. 5:27 Took his time a little bit, but he picked his spot and he hit the net, which is a promising thing to see. 5:33 I thought the power play on Saturday actually looked like the power play that Bob Motzko has been talking about. 5:40 Put lots of pucks at the net, shoot quickly, get the puck to the paint, and try to win second chances. 5:46 And that's the first time they've looked like that really all year. 5:49 And Cappy, you know, Vig's kind of touched on it there. 5:53 We've talked about this this season is like, you can't go out there and try to be the hero. 6:02 If you just play your game. 6:04 Yeah, whenever you're trying too hard. 6:06 It'll come to you. 6:07 It's not going to go work out for you. 6:11 As hard as it can be, it's how you've got to let the game come to you. 6:14 I mean, you got to take what's given to you at times. 6:17 And obviously, if it's you're down a goal or something late in the game, obviously, your your mentality changes in terms of, you know, how you go about it, I guess. 6:28 But yeah, I mean, he doesn't I'm sure he'd love to have 35 points right now. 6:33 You know, he has 20. 6:34 But, you know, the honestly the next six games and then maybe the next six after that are when Gopher fans are going to remember Sammy Walker. 6:44 And if he does elevate here in the next six weeks, it won't matter. 6:51 You know, Veegs is one of our favorite players in baseball. 6:54 Kirby Puckett once said, you know, I'm putting the team on my back. 6:59 And boy, I couldn't Minnesota use us out of Walker out of this, you know, for the month of February coming up. 7:06 Yeah, I mean, when Walker's playing well, this team is difficult to beat. 7:11 You know, we look at some of the plus minus stats about when they win and when they lose. 7:16 And that Walker-McLaughlin combo is now like plus 39 in their wins and their minus 21 in their losses. 7:24 And that's just an amazing stat to me, how important they are to this team going up or going down. 7:31 And I think the take away is against the Michigan State team that usually plays pretty stingy. 7:36 Walker stuck to the game plan. 7:38 And it's not so much about trying to be hero. 7:41 It's that there are going to be times in the game when you're going to have chances to make an impact. 7:47 Those will come to you. 7:48 So you just can't give away chances the other way, trying to create opportunities that aren't there. 7:54 So just recognizing that is so important to a college hockey player. 7:59 It didn't start that way this week and that weekend though, Veegs. 8:02 It was 2-0 after Minnesota dominated. 8:08 And so they played well the whole time. 8:10 From what I, you know, I didn't see every minute, but I saw quite a bit and it sounded like the Gophers played pretty well. 8:18 Period one to period six of the weekend for the most part. 8:21 Obviously, the goal hockey sometimes, you know, the pucks don't bounce, you know, or whatever. 8:28 But it was, you know, obviously the competition, Michigan State's a tough grinding team. 8:33 There's a quick note about them. 8:35 Like their record without like Mitch Lewandowski this year is like one in 14 or something like that. 8:41 And they're like eight and one with him. 8:43 Like he's a good player. 8:44 He's not Connor McDavid. 8:46 But the stat is crazy. 8:47 He's been out for a long time and they've gone on a massive losing streak. 8:51 But and he's obviously the kind of guy who he just raises everyone else's game to her. 8:56 And he's he's actually has raised his point production this year. 8:59 But I just Minnesota seemed like they were it was one of their most more consistent six periods. 9:07 You know, not all we you know, we came back to play the second and third well or played the second game better. 9:13 Or Good Friday, Bad Saturday, it seemed like a pretty consistent weekend. 9:17 And these, you know, they did give up that to nothing lead in the first game. 9:22 It didn't bother them. 9:25 They just just plugged away, plugged away and they got what they needed. 9:30 Maybe teams of these past two years. 9:34 We played so well and we're still down to nothing. 9:37 What was me? 9:39 It definitely was the disease that was infecting this program for a while. 9:44 Or we're down to nothing and I've got to go create something to get us back into it. 9:49 You know, those two things can really just sap a team and really kill your season when when things like that happen. 9:56 I'm impressed that they stuck to it and they didn't start chasing. 10:00 And, you know, I think Closer didn't have a great, great start. 10:04 You know, that backhand play on the on the rush. 10:07 You know, that's that's something that a goalie is really going to have a hard time with next one. 10:11 Maybe not his finest moment, maybe a bigger goalie that hits him. 10:15 But I don't think it's a bad play either. 10:17 And I think it speaks a lot to his mental makeup that he bounced back and made saves when he needed to the rest of the weekend. 10:24 And I think that's a key for Minnesota going forward because you don't know how goalies are going to react. 10:29 You know, when they give up a goal, whether or not it's a good one or not, how do they bounce back? 10:35 And I think Closer is showing that he's got that mental makeup that you want and a goalie is going to play a lot of minutes for you. 10:42 Well, it was a good weekend all around. 10:44 So that's the positive thing. 10:46 This is the kind of weekend that would give up points in the past. 10:49 So like you said, six points. 10:51 That's a huge deal. 10:54 I have a tweet from Darren Bach and he always likes to tweet us some questions. 10:59 Could Michigan season be in jeopardy with all of their allegations? 11:08 We obviously have the unfortunate incident of, well, not unfortunate. 11:12 No, I don't. 11:14 You can rip them as much as you want, Cap. 11:16 No, honestly, are you asking me that? 11:20 Well, no, I was going to start with Veegs. 11:21 Okay, go Veegs, go. 11:23 Trouble has been brewing. 11:25 It started with the Michigan Tech, Western Michigan GLI problem. 11:32 And now it's sounding like the head honcho is in trouble. 11:40 Okay, so let's clarify a couple of things real quick. 11:44 Educate people on the GLI situation. 11:47 Apparently dating back to summer, Mel Pearson anticipating players playing in the World Junior was almost campaigning in the athletic department that they shouldn't participate in the GLI at all, that they should pull out of it. 12:01 I think the athletic department said, no, we want to go ahead. 12:05 And then as the days got closer, they said, okay, we'll pull out of a game, but you still have to play Michigan Tech. 12:13 Or maybe they gave Mel the opportunity to pick which game. 12:15 Who knows what happens? 12:16 Because I don't think we're going to get the truth out of this. 12:19 What happened? 12:19 They played Michigan Tech, 0-0 tie. 12:21 They have a full lineup, 12 forward, 62 goalies. 12:25 You know, it is what it is. 12:26 They don't play Western Michigan. 12:28 In response, Mel says it was up to the medical team. 12:31 That's why we had to do it. 12:32 It's their decision. 12:33 Turns out not the case. 12:35 He lied about the emails. 12:36 There's always an email. 12:38 Just remember, you know, dance like nobody's watching and write an email like it's going to be subpoenaed. 12:46 Second thing that's been going on, dating back to October, the program's been under investigation for some Title IX issues about discriminating women, I think, in the program and uncomfortable work environment. 12:59 Possibly telling players to lie about COVID symptoms and downplay possible testing that would have to happen. 13:09 We look back at the NCAA tournament last year where Michigan got told by the NCAA they couldn't play. 13:15 Sounded like Mel Pearson was not very happy about that in the media publicly as that decision was being made saying, it's out of my hands. 13:23 I don't agree with it, but we have to do it. 13:26 Sounds like he was trying to cover that up. 13:28 So all this stuff is being investigated. 13:31 And on top of it, you've got a Michigan University that's under turmoil. 13:36 Their president was having an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate and got removed by the Board of Regents. 13:45 Their provost had over 20 sexual harassment cases brought up against him. 13:50 He was fired. 13:52 Their AD is struggling right now with their football coach who was maybe going to go to the NFL and now is back and now is losing some of his staff. 14:01 So there's a lot of chaos there. 14:03 I don't think the actual team is in trouble. 14:07 Mel Pearson might be in trouble. 14:09 But if Mel Pearson is in trouble, that affects the team. 14:12 It's going to affect the team. 14:13 With their Olympians away in Beijing, if Mel Pearson is gone, do those players come back or do they sign pro contracts? 14:20 So there's a lot of chaos that could happen in Michigan right now. 14:23 Because you got to believe that some of these programs, NHL programs are going to say, that player looked pretty good in our lineup at the end of the year, maybe drawing some fans. 14:34 I'll just stick to the hockey part, I think. 14:38 I think they would all come back. 14:40 There was a reason why they came back. 14:41 It was mostly because they wanted the Michigan experience, not the melt. 14:47 I personally, any interaction I've had with Mel Pearson, he's been great, so that's just whatever. 14:54 One-on-one conversations, whatever, he's always been a good guy to talk to, always gives a ton of information, actually. 15:01 Like, you feed him one question and he'll talk for 10 minutes. 15:05 About the players, I think they'd come back. 15:06 I think Dylan McCult would be taking over, and I think he's already the heir apparent for whatever that may be, and maybe that could be in the next whatever. 15:16 But those guys are the ones that recruited those guys. 15:19 When you think about it, like that. 15:21 So for me, I think hockey and players would come back and they want to win. 15:27 The reason they came back is because of the hockey, like doing this, having the fan experience, playing in two weeks. 15:34 They're going to be playing. 15:34 Well, they're going to miss it, but they're going to be playing in the playoffs at home and the place will be rocking. 15:42 But, it's not good. 15:44 And you didn't even mention, the worst one of all is, and this happened at Ohio State, and it's having all these places with these doctors, and what they did for like 30 plus years. 15:52 The same thing was happening at Ohio State that happened at Michigan, where this doctor for 30 plus years was sexually molesting student athletes. 16:02 And it's just crazy. 16:04 And I heard of a couple other schools. 16:06 Those are just the only two, and the fact that they're like, always brought together, it's just insane and sad. 16:14 It's a scary situation, Veegs. 16:16 And on top of that, you have what happened in Chicago last week with the owner. 16:22 I was there. 16:24 I was there, I was five feet from the reporter. 16:26 Were you really? 16:28 Well, yeah, because I was doing the game that night, and I was there at this town hall. 16:32 It was an hour before going up to the booth. 16:34 So, oh yeah, I was there. 16:39 Wow. 16:40 I mean, it was pretty uncomfortable. 16:42 Veegs, it's really- 16:43 it's really ticking me off that somebody would do that, because this is not 1975 or 85. 16:53 I'm not the first one to come up with this take, but I don't know if any of you guys watch Succession, but it's about this kind of ultra-rich family that runs a media conglomerate, and the patriarch of the family is like 70 and kind of a little crazy, maybe on his meds, off his meds, and just out of touch with the world, and just wants to win and make money, even though he doesn't need it. 17:15 Sometimes you feel like that's who's running the Blackhawks, and he's just so out of touch that he doesn't even realize what's going on and how big a deal this is. 17:24 And it's just people in that position of power should know better. 17:30 How, I mean, you're a few feet from, how was it when everything, when the cameras were shut off? 17:36 Were you, were the reports people just talking to each other? 17:38 Like, did that just really happen? 17:41 Well, I mean, literally right after, actually it's on my TV right now, he was on the pregame show, his son, Danny, who was supposed to answer that question. 17:50 It wasn't even supposed to be Rocky. 17:52 This was Danny's show, the new CEO, his son. 17:57 And he was on the pregame show and did a 20-minute interview and got to say what he was going to say about what they're doing and the new culture and all this stuff. 18:06 So that part. 18:08 But know him and Faulkner, the two people pretty much in charge now, came over and talked to all the reporters and just talked to him and said, hey, apologize, all this stuff and, you know, blah, blah, blah. 18:24 And what he got to say tonight was what was hoped to have gone. 18:29 And sad thing was is they were prepped for this and everyone was and. 18:33 But nobody prepped the old person. 18:35 Yes, he did. 18:36 And he got mad in the prep, I guess. 18:38 But, you know, whatever. 18:39 It's just it's, you know, it's a cluster. 18:42 That thing is, he was a hero 12 years ago when his father, Bill Wirtz, was the most ancient thinking old school man. 18:53 And he didn't put home games on TV because he thought people would not come to the games. 18:57 So when he passed, Rocky took over and he became a hero because he changed everything in the hockey. 19:04 And you saw what happened, obviously. 19:06 The Blackhawks became what they became, you know, in front of everybody. 19:10 Obviously, those behind the scene things were horrible. 19:14 But he was looked at as a hero. 19:17 And in one night, he got went from that to the worst, the worst villain, then his dad, I think. 19:25 He had no power, you know. 19:27 So it's sad. 19:28 It's too bad. 19:30 I mean, it's just going to keep happening, Veegs, until some of these people just open up and say, we have a problem. 19:38 We're putting a plan together. 19:39 You know, whatever the way it was handled was just not good. 19:42 And it will be interesting to see what happens in this Michigan situation. 19:46 Is Mel in trouble? 19:47 Maybe the team will be fine this year, but maybe he doesn't survive after the season. 19:54 It's hard to know. 19:55 I mean, there's a little bit of a power vacuum at Michigan right now, as they've got so many things going on. 20:02 You know, it's hard for them, I think, to pay attention to a hockey program. 20:05 That's probably not their focus. 20:08 But I do think they'll be fine in the long run. 20:11 You know, Bill McCaul is a great coach, great recruiter, a lot of energy. 20:15 Players like him. 20:17 You know, I think players like Mel, too. 20:18 I mean, Mel's always been a great person in the hockey community to talk to about things. 20:24 He's one of those coaches that if you ask a good question, he gives you more than you ask for. 20:29 Like Cappy was saying, you know, I like coaches like that. 20:33 You know, Jim Montgomery comes to mind, George Gwazdecki comes to mind, you know, coaches of like minded ability to handle the media and give back. 20:41 So it's frustrating to see this go down. 20:44 But these are just examples of people in power not understanding that there's going to be a follow up. 20:52 People are going to catch you if you're trying to lie or be dishonest or you don't handle something right. 20:58 I just kind of wonder sometimes if these people in power think they're just unchecked and they'll just get to rule and dominate how things are going to go. 21:05 Because when you get in these public situations where you've made bad choices and you've put bad people in charge, you're going to be held accountable. 21:13 So the quicker those people realize that, the better for all of us. 21:18 Amen, Bigs. 21:20 I mean, that's all we can say. 21:21 It's just a wait and see, at least with the Michigan thing. 21:25 So, you know, first, before we move on to what's going to happen the rest of this month, we need to hear from our sponsor. 21:35 Hey, fellow GPLers, Jerry Peters here 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22:37 Thank you, Jerry, as always for sponsoring our podcast here. 22:44 Well, Vig, it was the first week without the Olympic guys. 22:49 Went pretty well for Minnesota. 22:53 But now the speed limit goes way up and the competition goes way up. 22:59 And it's a completely different ball game this weekend. 23:03 Yeah, I thought on Friday night, Minnesota was in a little bit of a hole and the game was kind of getting into a lull. 23:11 And all of a sudden, there were a couple of mistakes by Michigan State where Minnesota had opportunities to score goals and they capitalized. 23:20 And once they got momentum, Michigan State made a few more mistakes and just kind of let Minnesota have chances to get back in the game and they did it. 23:29 When you're playing Ohio State, Bob Oscoe talked about this today. 23:33 It's like playing UMD. 23:35 It is a tight hockey game. 23:37 There are not going to be mistakes for you to have to capitalize on. 23:41 You're going to have to play a patient game and not make mistakes yourself trying to force things. 23:46 There's always that joke that it's going to be a rock fight. 23:49 You get the puck, you throw it over the red line, hopefully it does some damage. 23:54 They're going to get the rock, they're going to throw it back at you. 23:57 And so it's just that kind of battle back and forth about who's going to make a mistake first or who's going to create offense out of nothing. 24:03 And so it's a huge test for them this weekend because we have not seen Minnesota play well in these situations consistently. 24:10 And Cappy, Ohio State is playing so well this year. 24:15 Taking advantage of their situation, a rookie goalie coming in, playing outstanding. 24:20 A lot of young players playing outstanding. 24:25 They're in first place. 24:27 Obviously, two games on hand, but they can kind of control their own destiny here. 24:32 And we're just going to say it. 24:35 They're hitting Minnesota and Michigan at the right time. 24:39 Right. 24:40 Yeah, I mean, they have to take advantage. 24:43 Sure. 24:43 I mean, they will have earned it. 24:46 If they do well the next two weekends, they will have earned that. 24:51 I mean, aside from the fact that you're playing a team that's shorthanded both weekends. 24:57 Yeah, I mean, obviously, I'm a little biased, but I didn't think they would be a seventh place team this year. 25:06 I just, yeah, I thought middle of the pack, more based on the fact that you didn't know what you had in the league after Michigan and Minnesota. 25:14 Like the next five, I thought Notre Dame was three. 25:18 But then after that, I thought those four could end up anywhere. 25:22 And the one thing with Ohio State is I followed them a little more. 25:27 I saw some of the recruits they had. 25:29 And I'm like, these two defensemen are legit. 25:32 And they're like, one's legit NHL prospect. 25:37 The other one could be in McWard. 25:39 And then in goal, it's always a wild card. 25:44 You have no idea what you're getting. 25:45 And now you have, arguably, statistically, the best goalie in the league. 25:49 And a top five goalie in the country. 25:52 Possibly, it's statistically. 25:53 So, I guess, and one other thing that's gone under the radar, for sure, is the transfers. 25:59 Jake Wise has got 28 points. 26:02 And Will Rydell is a captain. 26:04 He's been there for a month. 26:06 And he's a captain, you know, before the season. 26:08 So, you had a, and then Eric Cooley, a guy that's got, had 80 points coming into this year. 26:13 But he's on the fourth line at Ohio State. 26:15 He's got three goals in the last four games. 26:17 So, they've just got depth now, which they had none last year. 26:21 I mean, last year was awful. 26:24 So, it's interesting. 26:26 It's, and they keep getting better, young guys. 26:28 So, I don't know. 26:30 I see this question by Tim Hapke. 26:33 Are you going to be on site to call the games? 26:34 And it doesn't sound like you are, are you? 26:38 No, I might as well be sitting here and doing it. 26:42 I actually probably would have it better on my screen. 26:44 No, we will, for anyone that's loved, the next two weekends, it'll be me and Dan Kelly. 26:50 We have all four games and we will be in Chicago unless something changes, but I don't think that's happening. 26:56 Were you going to call the, was there going to be any Big Ten? 26:59 There was going to be Big Ten games for Notre Dame and Wisconsin this week. 27:02 Thursday, Dan was doing Thursday with Pat Micheletti. 27:07 Okay, and then I got the next one. 27:09 We saw that the games have been rescheduled. 27:11 They put their, so they could air Sunday's game at 8 o'clock. 27:17 They could. 27:18 I, you know, there's nothing after 5 on BTN, but there's a reason for that. 27:23 It could be a blowout in the Super Bowl. 27:25 You never know. 27:26 I think it's 8 o'clock. 27:27 That's the end of the game. 27:28 You could probably turn it over after the game. 27:30 If they wanted me to go in the studio Saturday night, Sunday night at 8 o'clock with Dan and do it, I would do it in my heartbeat. 27:36 The Super Bowl is fine. 27:37 It's fun, but whatever. 27:39 I mean, it's not my team playing, you know. 27:44 But yeah, they're playing 8.30, I think, on Saturday, and now at 8 p.m. 27:48 on Sunday. 27:50 So I'm glad they're playing. 27:51 And hey, you got to do what you got to do. 27:54 I just haven't heard anything in terms of TV. 27:56 Thursday was us, and then Friday, I'm assuming, would have been Valleys. 28:00 So I don't know. 28:01 And they had to rearrange all these other sports, like the men's basketball game and the women's basketball, I think. 28:07 So I'm glad they're playing them. 28:09 And then there's no discrepancies because Notre Dame officially is still in the mix. 28:14 So I think they're going to make, win the league. 28:17 But they're, you know, they have a chance still. 28:23 And Vs, it is, they're still hoping. 28:26 I don't know if, did we ever have official confirmation that Wisconsin is going to be able to have players out? 28:31 Or are they just kind of assuming that their players will be eligible? 28:34 I never heard confirmation on that. 28:36 I know Todd was kind of curious about Todd Molesky, I should say. 28:40 Yeah, I think they're hoping that the players clear their five day protocol and are going to be able to play. 28:46 So, should be a good match up. 28:51 Well, I think this is benefits in order to aim a little bit, kind of backing it up a little. 28:55 I mean, you're playing that Thursday night, that just sounds like a trap for Wisconsin to beat them. 29:02 And now it may seem to be a trap on that Sunday night, eight o'clock game, but maybe you get that first one and then a little easier on Sunday. 29:11 But so, Cappy, you know, you were mentioning the next two weekends are, excuse me, big for Ohio State. 29:18 Yeah. 29:20 They could finish first and be off for two weeks, wouldn't they? 29:24 Yeah. 29:24 Well, I'm going to ask. 29:26 I'm going to ask Veegs about this. 29:27 Could they get, say, Arizona State's come and play an exhibition game? 29:37 Have they scheduled that exhibition that they could have? 29:40 They had one. 29:42 They had one. 29:43 I just don't know. 29:43 I feel like the NCAA has kind of loosened on some of that stuff because the NCAA allowed that extra scrimmage, and that's why Minnesota was able to play St. 29:51 Thomas. 29:52 Right. 29:53 So I would have to think. 29:55 But they also played the USA team. 29:58 Yeah, because you got to play an extra exhibition this year. 30:01 Right. 30:01 Because they played two. 30:05 The Gophers did, yes. 30:06 Right. 30:07 In Ohio State, only played one. 30:08 Right. 30:09 They played Western Michigan at home, like in October or whatever. 30:14 So that's why I guess they could officially do that if they want it. 30:17 If that happens. 30:18 Yep. 30:19 They could play another exhibition against someone. 30:20 I'm sure the development team would like it or... 30:25 Long Island or... 30:26 Long Island will play another one. 30:29 Well, Arizona probably would want to jump on it the most. 30:32 Yep. 30:33 You know, at the General House, they would want to play at home or somewhere in Columbus, because who knows where the ice is available? 30:37 Because that's what's crazy is if they do win, because this happened, what, three years ago? 30:44 When they won the league, they had the same situation. 30:46 They had two weeks off. 30:48 Yeah. 30:48 They were the team that didn't have it. 30:50 And then they had two weeks off, played Penn State at home on a Sunday because they didn't have the rink Saturday. 30:56 And then they were one and done. 30:57 And then they went to NCAA Tournament as a two seed or something and they were out again. 31:01 So they had a month where they just played two games and lost the last two. 31:06 So if they were to finish off first, their last game would be the weekend of the 18th, the 19th. 31:14 Right. 31:14 Wouldn't play the last weekend of the year. 31:17 The 13th, that's Sunday the 13th. 31:19 Yeah. 31:21 So yeah, now this is an official. 31:24 But if it's not Ohio State at home and they're in the semifinal, both games would be Saturday, I believe. 31:30 But if it's Ohio State is home on one of those semifinals, it would be Saturday at Minnesota or at Michigan or whomever. 31:38 And then Sunday would be at Ohio State time. 31:41 I don't know. 31:42 That's just because I know they still have the same rankings as they had three. 31:47 Yeah. 31:47 So semifinal would be on the 13th. 31:49 So that's right. 31:51 So you know, we're talking about the 19th and then there would be the 13th. 31:55 Right. 31:56 So, wow. 31:58 And it happened in Minnesota not too long ago. 32:01 They finished the season with a bye, finished first. 32:06 Didn't they play? 32:07 I thought they played. 32:09 They didn't play that week because most teams found games or, you know, I think one of those years didn't they, Veegs? 32:14 But the players want to stay. 32:16 I feel like they played Arizona State that year. 32:18 Michigan did that. 32:19 One year they did, but I want to say early in the Big Ten, one of those first four years that they won the league, they had that new format or something like that. 32:31 It's only been four years or five years or something, right? 32:34 Because Notre Dame has been in the league for five years. 32:37 Either way. 32:38 I think we'll have to get in touch with Todd Molesky for the official verdict on this. 32:45 We are not the experts, clearly. 32:46 Right. 32:47 Either way, though, I find what's possible. 32:50 I think it's something you'd look into. 32:51 You'd want to do it the next weekend and then have a week off. 32:54 If you were that team, I think you'd want to have the week. 32:58 You'd want to play the next week and then have a week off before because just in case of an injury or some sort, you know, obviously you don't hope for any of that. 33:08 But I would prefer if I was a coach of that team, I would want to play a game. 33:12 Because I do remember talking to Don LeChi about this and he said, you know, they brought out the jerseys and they tried to make it as big of a game thing as they could. 33:22 Scrimmage? 33:23 Yeah, scrimmage and it lasted for three shifts. 33:26 And then they're just like, OK, there's no fans here. 33:29 There's no officials. 33:30 We better just kind of scrap it and be done, not get hurt. 33:34 Right. 33:36 It's not though. 33:37 I mean, the thing I'll do with that is if it does happen, they've gone through it before. 33:41 It's the same staff. 33:43 So they might have a different perspective than they did last time. 33:49 So yeah, get an eighth team in the conference. 33:53 I what's that? 33:54 Get an eighth team in the conference. 33:56 Solves it all. 33:58 There honestly would be right now we're talking. 34:00 It could be would be would have been happening this year or next year if, you know, what he called didn't happen. 34:08 Let's say, you know, that was it was supposed to be announced I thought in April of 2020, you know, and that was a month after, you know, everything happened. 34:21 So who knows? 34:22 Well, I guess we'll never know. 34:23 And hopefully it but I've heard it's still in the book, in the works. 34:27 It's just a matter of time again. 34:32 So I'll be waiting. 34:33 I'll be waiting. 34:34 Yeah, I don't know what's so what I mean. 34:36 I think we talked about this last time I was on. 34:38 What's going to happen when Arizona State next year with a brand new arena? 34:41 And what's going to, you know, what's going to move around? 34:45 Won't they have a partner in that arena, Veegs? 34:48 Yep, possibly the Coyotes are going to get in there. 34:51 Much to the chagrin of every other owner in the NHL having to share revenue with the players. 34:58 That's wild. 35:00 Well, I mean, one thing that was interesting that I read was that estimates of Arizona's actual tickets sold suggest that this wouldn't be the worst thing ever for them because they may be giving away six, yeah, they may be giving away five or six thousand seats a night to boost their attendance numbers. 35:19 And actual NHL owners have access to real data on tickets sold. 35:25 They can kind of do like I do when I do the Freedom of Information Act request with you and I get, you know, ticket scanned and stuff like that and season ticket holders. 35:33 The owners share that information. 35:35 So maybe it's not as outlandish as we all think. 35:39 And they might actually be able to actually sell tickets to their building. 35:42 I think the biggest thing will affect the out of town people. 35:45 I know, you know, people there in March and April and February, March for spring training, they want to go see the, you know, Pittsburgh, say the Blackhawks, Chicago teams are out there. 35:58 You know, whoever else is out in Arizona for spring. 36:00 You know, a lot of people, they, you know, live there in the spring and they go see their road teams. 36:05 That's when they get crowds, if any, out of their games. 36:08 So that would affect them trying to, you know, the secondary market on StubHub, there's only 5,000 seats available total might actually, you know, and that doesn't help the owners. 36:22 All right, Veegs, what does Minnesota need to do this weekend to be successful in your eyes? 36:29 In my eyes, they have to play a patient game. 36:32 There's going to be this desire, I think, out of these players to prove it and force action out there. 36:39 They need to go against that feeling and just continue to grind it. 36:44 One of the things that was really interesting that I was focusing on Saturday was watching Hughlin and Pitlick play hockey. 36:53 Rhett Pitlick can escape along the wall just as good as about any player on the Gopher roster. 37:00 He reminds me of Sammy Walker as a freshman with his ability to hound pucks, back check, create chances out of nothing and start transition plays. 37:12 I mean, that's something to watch because if he continues to develop on that trajectory, he's going to be a heck of a hockey player. 37:19 And Aaron Hughlin, he's a tough center. 37:21 He's a future number one center for this team. 37:23 So that's something to watch. 37:25 I was just jumping real quick, sorry. 37:28 I was shocked at seeing Hughlin's numbers when I saw them because when I've watched him, he stood out as a, not as a star player, but I'm like, how does he only have six points? 37:40 Like he looks way more dangerous out there just from watching him all season when I've watched the Gophers. 37:47 I feel the same way. 37:48 I know you've liked it Vegs, you like the way he's played. 37:51 Yeah, I think if like Pitlick and Hughlin and Bros got some power play time together, that could be something to build on because they make smart plays and they're good at retrieving pucks for second chances and they're creative. 38:05 So I think that's going to be something for fans to watch for years to come here. 38:10 I think the offense will come for Hughlin. 38:11 I think he's just a disciplined player. 38:14 He doesn't chase the game very often and he wants to be that, you know, third high guy. 38:19 So you don't see him selling out to try to create chances. 38:22 And I think just some of the roles that he's playing in right now. 38:26 Okay, Cappy, what does Ohio State need to do to be successful this weekend? 38:32 Do what they've been doing. 38:37 Honestly, you talked about how like they make you earn most, you know, you got to be patient. 38:44 You know, the one guy that is, that, you know, that will cop the puck up, but he's way, you know, he's high risk, high reward, but he's way more reward as Mason Lora. 38:54 He will turn the puck over, but he's also dynamic and he'll, you know, he's kind of like Quinn Hughes. 39:00 I actually think he's like Owen Power because of his size. 39:03 He's just obviously not as good as Owen Power, not that far below him, but he's the one guy that if you put pressure on him and he'll maybe turn the puck over more than, you know, everyone else, everyone else plays that smart game. 39:18 I think the big thing is the special teams both ways because they're both pretty average at, you know, they're... 39:27 At best for mass. 39:29 What's funny is the fact that you guys brought up shooting the puck, and I've asked, you know, Steve Rollock about this, and he's like, we just don't have any shooters. 39:38 Nobody wants to shoot first. 39:40 Nobody has a shoot first mentality on their power play. 39:42 And that's where, you know, they try to make that one more pass, right? 39:46 And when teams do that in any league, in any level, that's when they get in trouble. 39:52 You know, and they've got guys that can shoot. 39:54 I mean, you know, Perkulov's got the highest shooting percentage, I think, in the country. 39:58 It's real close. 39:59 And his goal, if you guys saw it on Saturday against Wisconsin, where he was one on five, and he just ripped one over Rose Glove, and you're like, OK, this guy needs to shoot the puck more. 40:10 He's still got 18 goals. 40:13 So shooting the puck on the power play, the special team is going to be huge in that. 40:16 I can't wait to see third periods when both these teams are monsters in the third period. 40:22 You know, I don't know Minnesota's exact numbers, but Ohio State has scored 50 and given up 17 in the third period this year, which is just an insane number. 40:32 So, I hope both games are like 1-1 or tied going to third, and let's see these two teams bash it out at the end. 40:41 Veegs, we've talked about it quite a bit this year about the Minnesota power play and the frustration that you've had and I've had. 40:48 I will text you in the middle of the game. 40:50 It's just too slow. 40:52 Puck move is too slow. 40:53 Like you said, they might not have any guys who are shooters. 40:56 If they do get that chance to shoot, they're stopping the puck, they're taking too much time to get the shot off. 41:02 Maybe because it's them themselves or the pass came to them was just not where it needs to be. 41:07 So it's just a combination of a lot of things here, Veegs. 41:11 You know, there's an old saying in hockey, you can't give a good a good player a bad pass. 41:16 And so I think is guys set up on the flanks. 41:19 They have to be ready to adjust their bodies to get the puck on net. 41:24 I mean, you watch a guy like Ovechkin, you know, NHL pretty skilled, but those passes are not in the perfect spot every time. 41:31 He's finding a way to contort his body to get the blade on the puck and get it to the net. 41:38 It doesn't have to be perfect, but it's got to be quick. 41:41 And I think we kind of saw that on Saturday that that finally was starting to click on on the players minds as they were getting pucks to them. 41:49 And pucks are getting to the net. 41:50 They weren't getting blocked. 41:51 They weren't dusting it off. 41:53 You know, they they're putting pucks in the paint. 41:55 And I think that's what they have to do to be successful, because one of the things that the Minnesota Power Play is really good at is when there's chaos and second chances, that's when that skill can really shine, especially for a guy like Blake McLaughlin. 42:09 He seems to make plays in tight spaces out of chaos better than any Gopher forward. 42:14 So as they get more comfortable with that and create more of those chances, I think they're going to get more goals. 42:19 But that's the problem. 42:20 They haven't been able to get the puck moved around fast enough and accurate enough to cause the chaos. 42:26 Correct. 42:27 It's easy to say it's for the goalie. 42:29 Yeah. 42:29 The goalie sees it coming. 42:30 They're not good enough shooters to typically pick their spots. 42:33 The Walker goal, Derrida went down. 42:36 He picked it. 42:37 He did pick it. 42:38 He picked it. 42:39 He held on to it a little bit too long than you would have liked. 42:42 Yeah. 42:42 I mean, on the first goal, he scored on the delayed penalty. 42:45 As soon as the puck on a stick, it was gone and he scored. 42:49 Derrida was still coming down and he found a hole somewhere. 42:52 That's the key. 42:54 Get them off quick. 42:55 We'll see if they can do that. 42:56 I know Ohio State typically has a really good penalty kill, but it hasn't been very sharp this year either, right? 43:03 No, it's not awful, but just not good. 43:06 It's like 73, 74 percent, somewhere higher. 43:09 Yeah. 43:09 It's like 81 in the Big Ten. 43:11 They're like fifth or sixth, fifth, I think. 43:17 Wisconsin scored on it last weekend a couple of times, I think. 43:23 But yeah, I want to see Minnesota. 43:26 I think it's the mentality too when they're on their different size rinks. 43:31 It's so easy to pass it around the perimeter and look for that cross-ice one-timer. 43:37 And then you think, oh, we're so far away from the net, right, to get to those second chances. 43:42 When they're at Ohio State, it's going to be tighter at any NHL size arena. 43:48 The key more will be, can they work it around quick and then get a shot and attack, as opposed to, oh, it's easy to move it around on this. 43:55 I think the more challenge will be to start the power play, to get puck control in the zone as much as once they do have it, then I think they'll be in better shape. 44:07 Sometimes I think Gopher coaches have put players on their strong side instead of their offside, because when you're on your offside, you tend to drift farther and farther away to create a lane for a one-timer. 44:19 You just kind of back and away. 44:21 Back and away, back and away, and all of a sudden, you're taking a one-timer from the hash marks on the wall on a one-pick size rink. 44:28 Honestly, you don't mean to. 44:29 It's just like a natural motion. 44:31 All of a sudden, you're just backing up. 44:33 You don't even realize you're doing it. 44:34 I've yelled at the guys. 44:34 I'm like, look where you are. 44:36 Stop. 44:37 And you're at the outside hash instead of on the face-off dot where you're in prime position. 44:42 And you look around, you're like, oh, shoot. 44:46 Yeah, I didn't mean to. 44:47 I just didn't even think. 44:49 And then also, they're doing that thing where guys come high up. 44:52 And on their own, you try to time it so the puck goes from the weak side up to the top. 44:57 And then getting that guy that's on his strong side, kind of, you know, then he's attacking the net with the puck. 45:03 And he can shoot it. 45:04 Then you go across or you can go down. 45:06 So you're right on that. 45:08 I think that helps, you know, stop that from happening. 45:12 Because then you look at the plays in front of you the whole time. 45:16 Right. 45:17 So it's definitely a focus this weekend, because there are goals there for Minnesota to score against Michigan State. 45:22 It was tough to move the puck through the seam, because they're a big team, a lot of long sticks, big bodies. 45:28 Tough to get those scene plays going. 45:30 So I know Minnesota has been trying to figure out how to use the bumper. 45:34 They've tried Nevers there. 45:36 They've tried McLaughlin there. 45:37 They've tried Krugtchenk there. 45:39 They've tried Brzezinski there. 45:40 It hasn't been great for them using a bumper. 45:44 So we'll see what happens this weekend, because I think the net front is going to be key with Ohio State's goal tending. 45:52 All right, Veegs, it's that time. 45:54 Let's get your prediction. 45:58 We're early. 45:59 No. 46:02 I've got a bad feeling about this weekend. 46:05 Oh. 46:07 I thought Minnesota got a little lucky on Friday to get that momentum and get the win on Friday. 46:13 They did look better on Saturday, but we just have kind of seen this kind of jekyll and hide out of the team, and I don't think they're going to get mistakes. 46:23 I think Ohio State is going to play a very clean game. 46:25 They're going to get really good goal tending. 46:27 I am a little worried about close in a game where you can see the most action he's seen and high talent action. 46:37 The goal that kind of came over the net where he went down and the guy picked a corner, that's not on him. 46:43 That's not a bad goal on him. 46:45 But if he was bigger, the odds of that puck hitting him are better. 46:49 I think against a team like Ohio State, they might just be patient and put volume pucks at net and try to pick at holes in his technique. 46:59 And he hasn't really seen that yet. 47:01 He hasn't been under that kind of pressure. 47:03 So I think Minnesota would be lucky to get three points. 47:07 I think they're going to get two. 47:11 I'll give you one stat as I've been doing my study this weekend. 47:14 Creston Close has not seen 30 shots in a game yet. 47:18 29 at, was it at Notre Dame? 47:20 At Notre Dame. 47:21 And those weren't high quality shots. 47:23 Right. 47:23 Those were the most he's seen in a game. 47:26 Michigan was interesting because they didn't get a ton of shots, but when they did, they got quality stuff. 47:31 That was the weird thing about that series at, you know, at Mariucci, but he has not seen 30 shots. 47:36 And I think at least at least one of the games, he'll see 30 this weekend. 47:42 So is it my turn now? 47:43 Yeah, yeah, let's hear it. 47:44 Let's hear it. 47:45 Am I allowed to do that? 47:47 Am I allowed to get predictions? 47:48 You can do whatever you want. 47:50 Some announcers choose not to, and they hide behind that announcer, you know, persona. 47:56 But, Cabby, we know you. 47:58 You've been on this before, and you usually give a prediction. 48:01 I mean, I've been thinking, honestly, around the same thing as you. 48:06 I think Minnesota gets, I think one game goes to overtime, and then it's kind of, you know, that's, we can gripe about this, maybe in the overtime, about the whole overtime, and what's considered a win and a loss, because it's total BS that you could consider a loss once you go to overtime, and it should not be a win or a loss either way, but that's just, I think it's, I think it would go to tie one night in regulation, and then toss up for after, and I think the Buckeyes will win the other game. 48:37 That's just, but I could see it completely flipped easily. 48:41 I just, with those three guys out in Ohio State's depth, and how good Dobish has been, I just, they, that's the one thing is you're waiting for these freshmen to like have, you know, and maybe this is their first, maybe they have their first rough weekend, but these freshmen usually at some point, you hit a wall or something when you've been relied on, and they haven't. 49:02 Those three guys alone, and then I think McWard and Thiesing are really good freshmen too. 49:07 But those big three, call them the big three, whatever you want to say with Murkuloff, Lora and Dobish, it's just not, they've just not stopped, they've kept going. 49:16 So I'm just banking on that nothing changes. 49:21 Minnesota's gonna take five points this weekend. 49:23 Ooh. 49:24 Friday night, they're gonna come out, they're gonna beat them up. 49:29 If the Olympic boys are there, it'd be a five-one game. 49:31 It's gonna be more like a three-one game. 49:33 They're just not, the team's gonna have it. 49:36 Saturday night, they're gonna come together and win one in overtime. 49:40 I'm going five points this weekend. 49:45 It'll be fun. 49:46 I think it's gonna be good. 49:47 It's gonna be great. 49:48 I'm excited. 49:49 I mean, it's gonna play like they did against some of those games against Michigan and Ohio. 49:53 And you know- 49:54 Well, that's the problem, right? 49:56 Friday night, they look like they could have beat the Wilds. 49:59 But then, they got smoked 6-1 the next night. 50:02 And that's with everyone, both teams, Michigan and Wisconsin, or Michigan and Minnesota. 50:06 That series at Yost was so weird, how there was like a 10-goal swing. 50:10 Well, I mean, that's kind of the Big Ten, right, guys? 50:13 I mean, this league, there's a lot of high talent on every roster. 50:18 Every roster is talented. 50:20 And consistency is the hardest thing for 18 to 25-year-olds to figure out. 50:25 And we see it on a nightly basis in the Big Ten. 50:29 This has been the one year, though, where this league is completely split in half. 50:34 Now, there's talent on every team, but clearly there is some... 50:38 Oh, Mike's is already deciding. 50:39 It's not even close. 50:43 And I think Ohio State's last loss in regulation was to Michigan on December 10th, ninth, whatever that was. 50:53 So, I keep waiting for things to change and happen, and we'll see. 50:58 I... 50:58 You know what? 50:59 Ohio State's gonna... 51:01 Even if Ohio State takes the title, they're in trouble when Michigan and Minnesota get their players back. 51:06 I want them to play both. 51:08 I wish... 51:08 I'd love to see them. 51:09 I just want to say it now. 51:11 Michigan or Minnesota is gonna go into Ohio State and kill them in the Big Ten playoffs. 51:17 I could... 51:18 If they're in the Big Ten playoffs, Ohio State might be on the road. 51:22 I mean, who knows? 51:23 Well, I don't think they could. 51:24 Minnesota takes five points this weekend, buddy. 51:27 They're not gonna be able to win anymore. 51:28 That's right. 51:29 You know, obviously, I just... 51:31 Right. 51:31 No, I know. 51:33 I don't think anybody's gonna want to play Michigan in the NCAA tournament. 51:37 You know, especially, you get the lot of those players coming back from Olympic games, where Canada is gonna go far, US is gonna do pretty decent. 51:43 Who do you think? 51:44 Who knows? 51:46 It's just gonna make for an exciting time. 51:48 It's just gonna be an exciting time. 51:50 Yeah. 51:50 One thing to know going in this weekend, if Minnesota were to get the sweep, they would be in a very healthy position at eight in the pairwise. 51:59 Yeah, I think either team gets a sweep there in the tournament. 52:03 If the Buckeyes sweep, the Gophers drop to 13. 52:08 They drop that far? 52:09 They go to 13. 52:11 And that puts them... 52:12 In a rude road against a top ten pairwise team? 52:15 Wow. 52:16 I guess it depends on what happens other places, right? 52:19 It does, but agnostic of all that other activity, this is a huge swing series for Minnesota. 52:26 Yeah, I just don't see either team winning both games in regulation. 52:31 That's what I'll say. 52:34 I just... 52:35 I don't... 52:35 Let's go! 52:36 I don't. 52:37 Let's go! 52:38 It's only Wednesday. 52:40 And there should be a great crowd. 52:42 They've been in good student sections. 52:44 They had over 4,000 students a couple of games against Notre Dame, I think it was. 52:48 They set a record. 52:50 And it's great because we never had that. 52:53 And it's obviously the dogs, you know, the dogs bring in the students. 52:58 Let's go. 52:59 Let's go. 53:00 Yeah, I think that bottom bowl at Ohio State, they've done a good job of they closed off the top and they just fill up the bottom and it's about 8,000 or 9,000. 53:09 And it's a good atmosphere if you fill that up. 53:11 Get a new arena. 53:12 It would be great. 53:15 Don't bring that up to me. 53:16 I'm having a good time. 53:18 Bring that up and oh my god. 53:20 You know, Cappy, I was looking at some numbers in terms of Big Ten spending. 53:26 Yeah, six Big Ten teams are in the top ten for spending among all college hockey programs. 53:32 Who's number seven? 53:34 I'm assuming it's us. 53:36 It's Ohio State, but they're still 13th nationally in state. 53:40 I mean, 10 were the bullies with the money. 53:45 Yeah, I don't know, man. 53:45 They've built all kinds of new facilities for almost every damn sporting. 53:52 Like, volleyball has got a beautiful new thing. 53:54 And, you know, not that we're a revenue generator, but I don't know who gets more attendance than hockey does than aside from, you know, basketball and football. 54:05 And, you know, wrestling does well, I guess, but they have so few events. 54:08 They probably have, like, four or five home meets, I think, all year. 54:11 So, you know, if I had an answer, I don't... 54:17 I'd rather talk about Minnesota sweeping than talking about... 54:21 Oh, there we go. 54:23 But that's going to be it for this podcast, Cappy. 54:26 We're going to overtime in a bit here, so we're looking serious. 54:28 We're going to talk about the overtime rules and all that crap. 54:31 Yeah. 54:31 Veegs, what do you got? 54:33 Article this week on GPL for the big series. 54:37 Bob Osco. 54:39 We have what we need, and we need to have what we have. 54:44 He has to read it. 54:45 He has to read it. 54:45 I know. 54:46 It's confusing. 54:48 It's confusing. 54:49 But Gariboyne wrote on the board a couple weeks ago, we have what we need. 54:55 And Bob saw that, and he's like, you know, there's more to it than that. 54:58 Was that the day after the boys left for China? 55:01 For China. 55:02 He said, we need what we have as well. 55:05 And part of that means he needs players stepping up. 55:08 Like Carl Fish, third star of the week, we got to meet him at availability this week for some great stuff. 55:15 And he's a character and he adds a lot to the team. 55:19 We talked to him today. 55:22 He's a nice guy. 55:23 Big guy. 55:24 Big guy, yeah. 55:25 It's what this team needs. 55:26 You look at the defenseman right now, you've got big guys. 55:29 That's where the depth is lacking. 55:31 But if Fish is stepping up, that's good. 55:33 But that's where the depth is lacking. 55:35 I think the forwards are so many guys up front. 55:38 Well, we've paired the skilled defenseman now with the big steady defenseman. 55:42 So Brinkman, Stoddicker and Fish are paired with Lacombe, Johnson and Kester. 55:48 So you've got a guy who's got the clear role to support another player. 55:53 It's been looking good. 55:55 That and you know you're playing. 55:58 You're not looking over your shoulder. 56:00 Those guys are gone for you know, whatever. 56:02 You know, it's only you know, favor right now on defense. 56:06 But he you could hear it in his voice. 56:08 So Fish felt like relaxed and he knew his role and he had kind of like he's right in there and he's doing it. 56:15 He knows when he's coming to the rink for practice and the game what he's got to do. 56:20 And that is a big thing for an athlete is when you know what you have to do. 56:25 Now, consistency over a long time. 56:27 We'll see if that happens. 56:28 But I think that's the biggest thing is when you get a role and you know what you're coming to the rink every day to do. 56:34 It usually helps a lot. 56:41 I wish I was there. 56:42 Are you kidding me? 56:43 Oh, it would be fun. 56:44 It would be fun. 56:46 We'll be making fun of you on TV. 56:48 That's fine. 56:49 Well, thanks for coming on again with us, Cappy. 56:51 Yeah, man, always. 56:52 You're always one of our favorite guests. 56:54 We'll go play off preview down the road. 56:56 Oh. 56:56 I think we did that last year. 56:58 I can't remember. 56:58 We may have to do that. 56:59 That was the longest overtime, too, ever, with Molesky. 57:03 Yeah, I'm usually in Florida doing those long ones, but... 57:06 Yeah. 57:07 So, it was an hour later. 57:08 Tonight, it's only 1030. 57:14 Well, that is going to do it for the GPL Podcast this week. 57:18 Of course, we thank Cappy for coming on with us again. 57:21 Next week, we'll be back to recap this huge series. 57:24 It's just going to be Veegs and I next week, so we'll have plenty to talk about after this huge series. 57:29 For those of you currently watching live, make sure you stay tuned for some overtime. 57:32 For the rest of you, we'll catch you next week on The GPL Podcast.