0:06
This is The GPL Podcast from gopherpucklive.com.
0:15
This podcast is sponsored by Jerry Peters and First Class Mortgage.
0:19
Our expertise, your peace of mind.
0:21
Visit us at firstclassmortgage.com.
0:29
Now, let's start the show with your hosts, Jupiter and Vegoe.
0:39
Good evening, and welcome to The GPL Podcast, episode number 210.
0:47
There he is, Veegs.
0:49
How are you doing tonight?
0:51
It was a good weekend for the boys, wasn't it?
0:54
Yeah, a little surprising how well this team is playing right now.
0:59
I was not expecting that result the weekend, and it was very pleasing hockey to watch.
1:07
Boy, was it ever.
1:10
I predicted five points, but I was trying to keep some positivity, and they sweep Ohio State three to two.
1:19
Great game, and then that kind of blowout I was looking for, the first game happened, the second game.
1:27
It wasn't a check on high weekend, Veegs.
1:29
They played pretty really solid Friday night.
1:33
Got a decent win on the road.
1:34
Second night, they didn't let up.
1:36
They came right back to it, and they took care of Ohio State.
1:41
Yeah, I don't think we saw the Buckeyes best performance over the weekend.
1:46
Steve Rolick was not happy with his team after the weekend.
1:50
He didn't think they rose to the challenge that Minnesota presented for them.
1:55
But on the flip side, Minnesota took advantage of the chances they had, and we just saw the skill that's throughout this lineup.
2:04
You know, the freshmen are really plain confident right now.
2:07
And when that skill comes through, it's impressive.
2:11
Yeah, obviously, Pitlicks, he is arrived.
2:20
And they needed him to arrive as well.
2:23
I mean, this is a roster where when the Nyes line and Meyers line, when they left for the Olympics, you're going, where are they going to get scoring from?
2:33
You were just really worried who in this line up was going to be able to step up.
2:38
And that line has played so well the last four games that you look at this team going forward when they get the Olympic guys back.
2:46
Is this a three scoring line team that has a lot of depth?
2:51
And does he take Lucius off the freshman line and put them back?
2:54
Or is he just kind of fit those two guys back in the forward somewhere?
2:59
I mean, you probably keep Nyes and Meyers together when they come back, but this freshman line has looked really good together.
3:05
And I think sometimes when you have these young players, they'll defer to veterans, you know, and they might overpass, they not might not play very confidently.
3:15
This group looks really good together, and I think their skill sets fit together really well as well.
3:21
What did you think about the power play this past weekend?
3:26
It's still something that I think is a work in progress for them.
3:30
I think they're doing a great job getting set up in the zone.
3:34
I think they're doing a better job getting pucks to the net.
3:38
They just need to keep at that and get the second chances.
3:42
Because I think the power play unit gets really dangerous.
3:45
When they get pucks on net, they get second chances and they create a lot of chaos.
3:50
I don't think this is a real pretty power play group for whatever reason.
3:54
Like they're not going to wow you with their puck movement and seeming pucks all over the place and just being super dangerous.
4:02
But I think it's a team that could get some volume of shots and get second chances and get gritty goals that way.
4:09
Especially when you look at guys like McLaughlin.
4:11
And then when they get Nelson back, that's how they've been scoring goals is second chances putting away the trash.
4:18
If you're watching us live either on Facebook or YouTuber, just feel free to message us.
4:24
You know, have a comment.
4:26
We'll try to get to your questions during the show and allow you to participate.
4:31
I'm going to add this up here for the live viewers, Veegs.
4:37
Michigan moves up on the first place, Minnesota in second, Ohio State in third, just to point back.
4:44
It's still technically a three-way race for the top spot.
4:50
But, you know, Notre Dame, Michigan State this weekend, I can see Notre Dame doing that one.
4:55
You know, we've got Ohio State and Michigan.
5:00
We've kind of become Ohio State fans.
5:05
We don't like you last weekend, but this weekend, we need you to perform because with the two games in hand, boy, Ohio State could really help Minnesota, you know, in their attempt to get the first place.
5:17
Yeah, I think that's a huge weekend to look at.
5:20
And I think Ohio State is going to be playing better than they did against Minnesota.
5:24
You know, that team is a dangerous team and they just didn't really have it against Minnesota.
5:30
I thought they were too relaxed and they played too passive.
5:35
It was almost like, you know, some of those Notre Dame games where the team will just sit back and is not very aggressive.
5:42
And Minnesota has shown over time that they are really good if their opponents try to put that game plan into practice.
5:49
And I don't think Ohio State will stick with that when they play Michigan.
5:53
That's their big rival.
5:56
Ryan K has a question.
5:57
Thankfully, the Lecomas look better.
5:59
But should we be concerned with Johnson on the blue line?
6:02
We did have an instance at the end of the game on Saturday.
6:06
Johnson took out a player with a bit of slew foot within his tackle.
6:15
Well, it was Brinkman who's out.
6:17
Oh, I'm sorry.
6:18
And so I am still sorry.
6:21
I was thinking Brinkman the whole time, but yes.
6:23
Yeah, I think Brian Johnson maybe hasn't had his best year from the eye test.
6:29
It's interesting that there were some analytics that are being put out by InStat.
6:34
They do a lot of tracking of defensemen and what kinds of things, zone exits, clean exits, carries, possession, takeaways, giveaways, things like that.
6:47
And they actually have Ryan Johnson is one of the best defensemen for the Gophers, better than Faber by a lot according to these stats.
6:55
Now, I think my eye test says Brock Faber is a very, very elite college defenseman who proved that in the Olympics.
7:01
He's a good player at that level as well.
7:04
But I'm not super concerned with Brian Johnson.
7:08
His ability to skate and move are elite.
7:11
He's a really good skater.
7:12
I think the offense maybe isn't there for him.
7:15
But it'll be important for them, I think, to really rely on Lacombe Johnson and Kester this weekend with Brinkman out on Friday.
7:24
Faber probably not being back yet.
7:27
It'll be interesting to see what they do with the D because I think Rossini has gotten a couple of shifts, but I don't think you want to be playing him a lot against Penn State, a team that's super physical.
7:36
Yeah.
7:37
Completely my mistake, confusing Jonathan Brinkman there on the slew foot.
7:40
Let's talk about Brinkman and the slew foot.
7:44
I'm guessing if it happens earlier in the game, like first or second period, he might not get that extra game.
7:54
Just because, you know, hey, it's at the end of a game, you give a guy a five-minute major and game is kind of, it's not really too much punishment for a kid, especially when you're winning the game.
8:04
So maybe there's some of that to it, but you know what?
8:07
I had no problem with the suspension.
8:10
I think it's a dangerous play.
8:13
I thought it was a little severe to suspend him.
8:17
I could understand the penalty and things like that, but I don't think it was a malicious play with intent.
8:24
It was Brinkman go, oh, this guy's going to run me.
8:27
Okay, come on, give me your best shot.
8:29
And he just kind of taunted him a little bit with a little look at the end.
8:34
Not a great look.
8:36
You know, it's obviously a penalty and something that college hockey tries to take out of the game and didn't want to escalate.
8:41
But but I thought it was kind of a weird suspension for me.
8:46
Well, maybe it does come back to that.
8:47
Hey, it's late in the game.
8:48
He really didn't get punished for it.
8:50
This is the way to punish.
8:52
But I don't think it was that dangerous of a play.
8:56
You know, it's not like one of those boarding calls where you're putting someone headfirst into the boards or checking somebody from behind.
9:03
You know, I didn't think that there was a lot of risk of injury there.
9:06
You know, sometimes on these slew foots, you know, people go down headfirst.
9:10
And I think that's why slew footing is, you know, the severe penalty where it is, where it's a violent crash to the ice with a player who's down expecting it.
9:19
You know, this is a player who is trying to initiate contact with Brinkman.
9:23
I don't think that it was a violent slew foot, you know, for trying to put levels on it.
9:30
Our boy, Tim Hapke, do they mostly play five defensemen in one game with Rossini getting limited minutes?
9:36
I mean, that kind of brings up the topic.
9:38
Are we more likely to see Denman or Rossini?
9:42
I mean, Bob has shown he's trying to get Rossini some playing time.
9:47
I mean, he's got no, he probably has no legs, but.
9:50
Yeah.
9:50
So I don't know if that's just getting him acclimated in case they do need him at some point.
9:56
I would think they will play mostly five defensemen as long as the game is tight.
10:01
You know, Carl Fish's emergence has been really important for this blue line.
10:05
I really want to just play.
10:07
And they will really count on this weekend because I think this is a good matchup for him against Penn State.
10:12
You know, a team that likes to be physical on the forecheck.
10:15
I think it will be a nice coming out weekend for Fish.
10:19
So a great weekend, six points against Ohio State.
10:22
We leapfrog them in the standings.
10:24
Michigan's only two points behind our big Ohio State fans.
10:29
Things are going well.
10:31
We did great without the players gone.
10:33
But the bad news is, those players over in Beijing had the rug pulled out from under them late last night, Vig's early this morning, lost in the shootout.
10:48
I feel that, you know, I noticed you did remark on Twitter last night that all the guys on the ice when they tied the goal were Minnesotans.
10:58
I don't know if I have a problem with that.
11:01
It's tough to defend.
11:02
I noticed they had a hard time defending in their zone when any team got a puck control in there, I mean, for the whole tournament.
11:08
But, boy, it was just a shame to see it end that way.
11:14
They just couldn't take advantage of their opportunities in that entire game.
11:18
Yeah.
11:18
And they had chances to score.
11:20
I thought the goalie for the Slovaks played really well.
11:24
And it was just they couldn't solve them.
11:27
And that power play, you know, when you're rushing to put a group together for the Olympics, your power play isn't going to be polished.
11:34
It always surprises me, though, that when you have opportunities like that, you have these elite, elite talents, and they just can't quite figure it out.
11:41
And they kind of step all over themselves in situations like that.
11:45
I'm sure having Sanderson out, he's a player that they probably want to project into those power play minutes.
11:52
And without him there, it's a little bit of a yard sale on how to organize that group.
11:58
You know, Brock Faber doesn't even get a lot of power play time at Minnesota, you know.
12:02
He was getting quite a bit of power play time last night.
12:06
Right, which is interesting.
12:08
Because I definitely thought Faber was going to be more power play happy this year with the Gophers.
12:15
But it hasn't really been the case.
12:17
Bob's kind of leaned on Lacombe a lot and Kester and Johnson here and there.
12:23
So we'll see.
12:26
It was too bad for a dent in a shootout.
12:30
I'll get to that in a second.
12:33
One of my frustrations, I'm going to complain about the refs.
12:36
Quite a few high sticks.
12:38
Dangerous, I would say, high sticks, not called.
12:41
We had Knies in the last two or three minutes take a shot up high.
12:46
You know, I mean, when I watched that replay from the reverse angle, the pucks up high, you could see Knies look, oh, I should swing it.
12:52
No, if I swing at it, it's going to be a high stick.
12:54
You can see him kind of that thought in his head.
12:56
Don't swing at it.
12:57
And just as he finishes his, you know, thought on it, whack his stick comes across, hits him, and then it gets up into under his eye shield.
13:06
The refs right behind sees it, you would think.
13:11
We saw a point in the first period, was it veneers?
13:14
Somebody took a shot up high, may have been bleeding a little bit up here.
13:18
I think those veneers.
13:19
Yeah, and then I saw in the second period, I saw a player's head snap back from a stick up.
13:25
So at least three of them weren't called.
13:27
That was frustrating because the nice part at the end of the day, they could have sealed the game and not be, you know, six on five.
13:35
It's if they pull it, it's five on five, you know, it's a way to kill the game.
13:41
I don't know what the refs are thinking, you know, maybe they seemed obvious to us, but with that many eyes on the ice, how do they miss that?
13:50
And usually international tournaments are called tighter.
13:54
Yeah, that's in my mind.
13:55
I mean, that's been my experiences.
13:57
It's a tightly called game.
13:59
Anything close gets called.
14:00
It's not like the Stanley Cup playoffs where anything goes.
14:03
You know, I was surprised on Nice's kind of rush.
14:06
You know, there's a stick in his hands on that rush that took away that scoring chance a little bit.
14:11
At the end of the game or the overtime?
14:14
Yeah, I'm just surprised.
14:15
We usually see tighter officiating in the Olympics.
14:18
Who knows if the power play would have been able to take advantage of it?
14:21
That is based on the way we were playing.
14:23
My point was more at the end of the game.
14:25
You have a chance to really milk away the game because I can't remember the exact time.
14:29
It was three or two or three, whatever, when that Nice incident happened.
14:35
Obviously, you can't change that.
14:37
But I was surprised.
14:40
I didn't know the overtime rules.
14:41
All of a sudden, they start out three on three.
14:43
And I know it's quite a few people on the media didn't know it either.
14:45
They're like, what?
14:48
And even more shocking, nobody scored in ten minutes of three on three hockey.
14:54
It was a little crazy.
14:56
And there wasn't really super huge great chances.
15:00
There's a couple and you know, a favor broke up a great opportunity.
15:04
It wasn't like it can be like we've seen in the NHL.
15:08
Yeah, I thought the overtime was entertaining.
15:11
I was surprised it was three on three for this too.
15:13
But I understand it.
15:14
You know, they want to try to get the games over and not have them drag on forever.
15:18
You know, three on three is kind of gimmick hockey.
15:20
But I thought both teams did a nice job of playing that possession hockey like you have to do in overtime and the chances were limited.
15:28
And it wasn't so racehorse hockey like we've seen some of the times in the Gophers three on threes this year.
15:35
And there were chances both ways.
15:36
Good goaltending.
15:38
That Strauss man guy, he played pretty well.
15:41
That's his last name, right?
15:42
Yeah, Strauss man.
15:43
Yeah.
15:46
Announcers, they can't help themselves.
15:48
It's funny.
15:48
Right after that, Albert started using man a little more often.
15:52
I'm giving Vosters the credit because he was probably there in the studio.
15:56
I'm guessing Vosters just went right into the same man a little more often, not just Strauss.
16:03
Who knows?
16:05
Obviously, huge disappointment.
16:08
Not what we wanted.
16:09
But, you know, I was thinking back to the reffing.
16:11
I was really surprised overall with the reffing.
16:14
International play, like you've said, we've seen a lot of times the Americans come in and the Canadians come in.
16:18
They get a lot of penalties because style of play they play.
16:22
High sticking, stick checking, interference.
16:25
One thing that really bothered me about the US game versus Canada is that Canadians were getting away with a ton of interference.
16:34
A lot of clutching around me because they couldn't keep what put the Americans.
16:38
Nothing was called.
16:40
Yeah, definitely.
16:42
That is not international hockey.
16:44
From what I've seen in all the years I've been watching, they call everything.
16:48
Yeah, very atypical.
16:50
I didn't watch a whole lot of the games other than the US Canada game and then the quarterfinal last night.
16:55
But I imagine we'll see the women's game tonight, a tightly officiated game, I would expect.
17:03
And the women's team is always a physical affair.
17:08
You know, it's going to be intense tonight to watch.
17:12
So everyone's back in.
17:14
Can the players get back?
17:15
The players are not coming back this quickly.
17:17
And we shouldn't even I don't even know why it was a discussion on Twitter today and a few other places.
17:23
These kids need a rest.
17:25
And you shouldn't travel literally half a world away.
17:30
And your internal clock is going to be so messed up for a while.
17:35
You know, even if they, you know, when they come back from Wisconsin, they're still going to be messed up.
17:40
It might take them a couple weeks to get really back in to some kind of normal time.
17:47
Yeah, we've seen this before with guys coming back from World Junior.
17:51
You know, the coaches try to ease them back into the routine of practices and things like that.
17:56
I'm sure Bob will give them a couple days off.
17:58
He's been giving the team off Tuesdays the last couple of weeks here trying to rest them up.
18:03
I'm sure they've got some catapult data that Cal Dietz is putting the hands of whoever is taking over for him while he's been in China and just kind of figure out ways to get this team recovered because they are playing well in the games.
18:18
So they just got to do whatever they can do to keep that going.
18:21
I do, Corey Vee's got the comment.
18:24
Mel, get in there, guys.
18:26
I'm pretty sure that Michigan would like to have their players back as soon as possible for this weekend.
18:32
So maybe Michigan will have a private jet, get those guys back for their series with the Buckeyes.
18:38
Oh, boy, that's that would be stupid.
18:41
I mean, they could be a liability.
18:45
I mean, for Michigan, I think they're pretty good.
18:49
I think they'll be OK.
18:52
They've been doing OK with their players gone.
18:53
They've been kicking some pretty much butt.
18:58
But they haven't played the elite teams.
19:02
Yeah, but, you know, Minnesota wasn't beating up Michigan State at home, like Michigan just did, you know, at home and that at the new jet, whatever the new Joe's Little Caesars or so Caesars.
19:13
Yeah, they they kicked their ass.
19:16
I mean, they they dominated that entire weekend.
19:19
There was nothing in doubt there.
19:23
So, who knows?
19:26
Who knows?
19:27
I'm trying to watch the time here.
19:28
We're going to try to keep this podcast a little shorter and get to overtime so we can all kind of pay attention to the women's game coming up here.
19:36
And you know, kind of what that means.
19:38
We need to get to our sponsor.
19:41
Hey, fellow GPLers, Jerry Peters here from First Class Mortgage.
19:44
Have you refinanced your home in the last 12 months?
19:47
If you haven't, chances are you should.
19:49
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.
19:58
You can also use the equity in your home to finance those home improvement projects.
20:02
Or you can consolidate high interest rate credit cards into one new low monthly payment.
20:07
To hear more, call or text me today at 612-940-3291.
20:13
You can email me at jerry at firstclasscorp.com.
20:17
Or you could go to firstclassmortgage.com to fill out a free online application.
20:22
Mention the GPL Podcast and receive a $300 closing cost credit.
20:26
Some restrictions do apply.
20:28
First Class Mortgage's NMLS number is 322842-480200.
20:34
This is not an agreement to lock into an interest rate under Minnesota law.
20:37
First Class Mortgage is an equal housing lender.
20:44
Kind of a little hesitation there.
20:46
Not sure what happened there, Veegs, but I think we're okay.
20:51
Veegs, I noticed you posted some messages in the chat here.
20:56
Are these questions you saw from people messaging you?
21:00
Yeah, we've got some followers out there who don't know how to use the GPL Podcast hashtag.
21:05
So they're just replying to my post, which is fine.
21:08
We will take those as well.
21:10
Like, Pat McAuletty.
21:12
Even Pat McAuletty.
21:13
He's been a busy guy.
21:14
He was talking about Danton Cole keeping his job at Michigan State this week.
21:19
Which we talked about last week.
21:21
Yeah, he's probably an expert on St.
21:23
Cloud at UMD and why they keep falling in the pairwise.
21:28
Is the Big Ten maybe the best conference in college hockey this year?
21:34
For me, Veegs, let's wait till the end of the season because we've seen it before.
21:40
We've seen it before.
21:41
Big Ten has gotten the big ego.
21:42
They get the two number one seeds and a couple teams in and then NCHC takes it to them.
21:47
So they got to prove it in the playoffs, obviously, before they can take that ground.
21:53
Like you said, you know, Pat McLeod asking who comes out of the lineup when the Olympians come back?
22:00
You know, we've I've seen some, you know, mentions on on GPL people even talking about, you know, Nelson's coming back as well.
22:06
But not Nelson's not a big point guy.
22:09
Does he even automatically get back in the lineup?
22:12
It will might be a little tricky situation for Coach Motzkovich's.
22:17
Yeah, I think it's a situation where they're going to play 13 forwards.
22:21
You know, Bob has liked to do the 70 instead at times.
22:26
But I think he'll go with 13 forwards here when they get the guys back.
22:29
You know, Collins Schmidt's probably going to be the guy who's going to come out.
22:32
He has been an interesting player to watch with his physicality.
22:36
I do like that.
22:37
I have liked Penn State.
22:38
That would be kind of interesting to see.
22:41
You know, that Sorenson Purvix Schmidt line has kind of been a Bash Brothers kind of group, which is fun to watch sometimes.
22:49
But I think that line also is the one that might be getting replaced, because I think you're going to want to keep the freshman line together with Lucius, Hughlin and Pitlick.
23:02
I think you're probably going to see Walker and McLaughlin stick together.
23:07
Who knows if Brodsinski gets to stay on that line?
23:11
He's kind of a streaky player.
23:13
Put him with Knies and Myers.
23:15
I think that might be a good fit for him.
23:18
You know, a line where, you know, they can do a lot of work and he can sit back and pick the corners.
23:23
He can shoot.
23:25
Yeah, I think he kind of gets into trouble sometimes with the Walker and McLaughlin line because they get so stretched out and they're not really connected.
23:33
You know, he was kind of talking about this week during availability.
23:35
It's like when he's out there with them, he's just trying to keep up.
23:39
And that's never a great thing as being that third forward.
23:43
You know, we're always just trying to get into the play rather than finding the right spot to be and having line mates who get the puck back to you.
23:51
I have noticed Walker moving the puck a little bit more lately, which is nice to see in early.
23:58
Brudzinski talked about that in Availability Today, too.
24:00
He's like, you know, that early pass has been really good for their line.
24:05
Darren Westfall is asking, Did Nizer Faber do anything at the Olympics to boost the possibility of them leaving college after the season?
24:17
I think that's an excellent question, you know, but it was strange that we actually heard this week that some people are saying Nizer should stay another year.
24:27
Well, I think it would certainly benefit him to stay another year, you know.
24:31
It would be good for Minnesota.
24:34
Mel Pearson has been saying that Nizer is a one and done type talent, and you watch on the Olympic stage, Nizer drives the game five on five, which is pretty rare for a young player.
24:45
You know, that's the thing that I've noticed, how well he grinds and gets the ground game going.
24:51
I think a lot of times with the Gopher teams in the past, the young freshmen who are talented do really well in the rush, and they contribute some on the power play, but five on five, they kind of disappear.
25:02
I think we're seeing that a little bit with Lucius at times.
25:05
You know, he kind of disappears in the five on five play because he's not able to make an impact, you know, winning board battles and things like that.
25:12
But Nizer, that's where he shines, you know, making plays, playing physical, using his legs to separate.
25:19
So I would not be surprised either way with him.
25:24
Okay.
25:25
Leaving.
25:26
I do think how this season turns out will be a big factor with these players.
25:32
If they have a great playoff run and maybe this is the year, then maybe it's easier for those guys to sign some pro contracts and go on the NHL.
25:41
And I think the fans would be happy with that if they had a very successful year and could do that.
25:46
But this is a group where if they came back, they're going to be dangerous again.
25:52
I got this message on GPL from Magic.
25:56
Could Walker, McLaughlin and Crookshank return next season if they wanted to?
26:03
I think a lot of that has to do with what Matsuko wants and less of what the player wants.
26:10
And whatever fits in to his plan.
26:12
Does that sound about right?
26:14
Yeah, they would have an extra year of eligibility because they played during the COVID year.
26:19
So they could play another year of college hockey.
26:21
Now, this year teams could have extra players if their athletic director would pay the extra scholarship money.
26:30
Next year, that goes away.
26:32
Teams have to abide by the cap of 18 full scholarships to divide up.
26:37
So there's no extra money next year.
26:39
So they would have to push back players who are committed and expecting to come in next year.
26:45
And it's looking like a pretty full class for the Gophers.
26:51
I, as much as they've done for the university and as many points that they've put up, I just don't see it happening where they would come back.
27:02
But that's just me.
27:03
I'll be honest, I've been a little disappointed in Kirk Schenck.
27:07
He was more of a goal scorer at Colorado College.
27:10
We just haven't, he's been a little snake bit.
27:12
I will say that, but we just haven't quite seen what we thought we could get out of him.
27:17
Yeah.
27:17
I mean, we thought he'd be a plug and play guy, you know, 10, 15 goals.
27:22
And it's been a struggle for him.
27:24
You know, he still is a great skater and he's been good on the penalty kill.
27:27
And so he's contributing in other ways.
27:29
But I have to agree with you.
27:31
It's been a little bit of a disappointment.
27:34
Darren Bach and Sent you a message, Veegs.
27:37
Is Ben Myers top three in Hobie Baker in your opinion?
27:43
I think he's probably one of the top forwards in college hockey, but I don't think he's a Hobie type candidate.
27:50
Top 10.
27:51
Yeah.
27:52
I just don't see him as a Hobie candidate just because the point scoring has not been there for him over career.
27:57
Sometimes the Hobie is a little bit of a lifetime achievement award.
28:01
Yes.
28:01
Somebody who's been a darling of college hockey for a couple years and then gets the award and the humanitarian aspect of the award comes out for some of these players.
28:12
Like maybe a Dryden McKay.
28:15
If he doesn't get the Richter.
28:16
If he doesn't get the Richter again.
28:18
Yeah.
28:20
I think it would be hard for Meyers to win the Hobie right now.
28:24
Okay.
28:25
Jackie Gabrielson.
28:26
What kind of rotation slash pairings do you think we'll see at D on Friday with Brinkman out due to his suspension?
28:35
Yeah.
28:35
A lot of times colleges will try to put their top two D and just rotate those two and then rotate the other three.
28:44
And we might see something like that where we see Lacombe and Johnson playing for each other.
28:50
And so one of them is always on the ice.
28:52
And then that third D rotates through Stoddicker, Fish and Kester.
28:58
So we might see some of that with spot duty for Rossini.
29:01
Sometimes after a power play, that's a good opportunity to get that third pair out there.
29:07
So we might see some of that.
29:10
Okay.
29:10
And then finally, Don Hanson wants to know favorite whiskey in your collection or that you have tried.
29:18
So this comes down to two whiskeys for me.
29:22
Okay.
29:23
One is a Van Winkle Lot B.
29:25
It's a highly allocated, sought after bourbon.
29:28
And it's just got all the right richness and smoothness and long finish.
29:33
It's very hard to acquire, but I was lucky to get one a couple of years back.
29:37
I still have a couple sips left in the bottle that I've been saving for some special occasions, but it is a fantastic bourbon if you ever can find it.
29:47
The other one on my list is a whiskey that you can find.
29:52
It's called McCallan Rare Cask.
29:55
And McCallan sets aside these great casts of whiskey, and they just have these great candied sugar notes and just rich sherry notes.
30:05
And it's just an outstanding whiskey.
30:08
It's probably more like a $300 type bottle.
30:11
And you can find them because it's priced high, but it is outstanding, great special occasion.
30:18
You know, 40th birthday, 50th birthday, retirements, birth of children is a great bottle to celebrate.
30:25
I had some McCallan 12, I believe, over Thanksgiving.
30:31
I enjoyed it thoroughly.
30:32
I have not had as much whiskey as all of you.
30:36
I tend to just get my brand and stick with it.
30:39
I am drinking a lot more larceny, which you introduced me to up in Duluth many years ago.
30:44
It's not expensive, but I enjoy it.
30:47
That McCallan was pretty good though.
30:49
We finished off the bottle at night.
30:52
It was a little dangerous, quite a bit dangerous.
30:56
Hey, any questions in the regular chat here?
31:00
Let me see here.
31:04
Corey V.
31:05
Missed the start of the pod.
31:07
Was a Sunday game at UW, the lowest ever attended conference game by either of our schools.
31:12
Has to be close.
31:14
I know it was low.
31:17
But did Todd say, was he say 1400?
31:21
Somebody did a count or something?
31:23
I'm not really sure.
31:24
Something like that?
31:25
Yeah, I don't know.
31:26
The Big Ten tourney game at Marriott, you might give that game a run for its money.
31:31
Well, that was a big higher.
31:33
Those games were 1800 and 2300 scanned.
31:37
Okay.
31:38
I went back and looked at the start of the game.
31:42
Oh my God.
31:43
Obviously, that's why Pat McAuliffe got mad at me.
31:46
So yeah, but I'm sure Todd will get scan numbers at the end of the year and we'll be able to have a comparison and find out if it indeed was.
31:56
I'm just glad they got the game in.
31:59
I am too.
31:59
Let's keep it all balanced.
32:00
We don't have to go to any sort of point percentage, but the point percentage is pretty close to the actual.
32:07
I mean, it's bright lined up right now, so it's looking pretty good.
32:13
Okay, Veegs, let's start talking about this weekend.
32:16
House of Horrors.
32:19
I know the players, a lot of them haven't played there since it was canceled last year.
32:24
The last time the team was there, they played better.
32:29
But it's still not the greatest place to play for Minnesota, but I've got some numbers here.
32:36
They haven't won a regulation game since the 2016-17 season.
32:42
That was a weekend when they went in there, won in regulation and then won in overtime.
32:46
That was the big one where Cluus scored in late, six, five seconds left off a face off and then Pitlick scored in overtime.
32:56
And then we heard Dan Kelly, Nighty Night, Nittany Lions as Gophers.
33:01
Now I got five out of six points.
33:03
Following then, a loss, loss, loss, loss, loss, loss, overtime loss, loss, canceled.
33:18
So, yeah, Minnesota is a good team this year.
33:22
Penn State's not as good of a team.
33:24
But man, a lot of times it's just in your head and we know how many pucks they like to get on that.
33:30
I don't think it's going to be any kind of easy weekend at all.
33:33
No, it's not.
33:34
You know, Bob said on his radio show that you have to play conservative when you play Penn State.
33:40
And then I asked him, what does he mean by that?
33:42
And he's like, you got to stop, you know, focusing on what I say, or what I do or something like that.
33:48
He was a little mad about that.
33:51
But it's true.
33:52
They have to play a conservative game against Penn State too often.
33:56
They try to force action and that's been the Achilles heel for Minnesota the last couple of years in these tight games.
34:03
They almost give away a goal or two to the other team and then they have to chase it.
34:08
And if that other team seizes that momentum, it can get really tough for Minnesota.
34:13
So I think that is the key this weekend is to play a little more conservative.
34:17
And maybe if they play just 5D for a lot of the game, maybe they play more conservative because when you just play 5D, you're not jumping in the rush, you're staying back a little bit more.
34:30
Maybe that's something that they can capitalize on.
34:33
But I think this team, for them to do well, they can't give away pucks.
34:37
They got to hit the net.
34:38
They got to get second chances.
34:40
And they got to keep an eye for Penn State who likes to fly forwards out of the zone when there's chaos.
34:46
And that's what killed them a couple years ago when Nanny's group of defensemen were getting split down the middle time and time again with stretch passes by Penn State.
35:01
Where I'm thinking Close is going to get 35 to 45 shots.
35:07
He just, you know, I know, you know, a guy Cappy is saying that he didn't have any over 30 save games until Friday night.
35:13
Then he did was 34 saves or 34 shots, something like that.
35:18
I do get a little concerned.
35:20
A lot of his rebounds are juicy on the weak side.
35:24
It seems like if there's a player there, he's going to bury it in an open net.
35:28
The team has done well to cover that.
35:31
They'll need to really do that this weekend because there's going to be a lot of shots and there's going to be a lot of unexpected rebounds just with the way Penn State plays.
35:39
Yeah, I think Minnesota did a pretty good job of keeping the Buckeyes to the perimeter for the most part, and there weren't second chances.
35:48
I think that's going to have to be the recipe again for Penn State.
35:51
They will shoot from anywhere.
35:52
It's going to be key for Closer to be aggressive on those shots, but also to be careful with his rebound control, with where he's putting him.
36:02
He's played much better than I expected.
36:06
If this was the goalie that was backing up LaFontaine all year, maybe they should have been giving them a few games here and there sooner.
36:15
Because he's showing what a good goalie can do when they read the game well, and that's really the most important skill of a goalie, is reading the play.
36:25
All right, Veegs, here we go.
36:27
We need some predictions.
36:30
I think I want to say I did okay last week with the five because I got six.
36:33
You were picking split, but I know you had the feeling that the team really needed to prove that they could do what they did against a top quality team.
36:46
Because honestly, it wasn't a bad thing if someone said, if anyone's going to sweep last weekend, it was going to be Ohio State.
36:54
But the boys turned it on.
36:56
Maybe they showed you something.
36:58
Tell me about this weekend.
37:01
I think with the horse stories of Happy Valley, this is a tough weekend for Minnesota to come and split.
37:12
I'm worried about this one as well.
37:15
It's been a tough matchup for them.
37:18
You're going to see guys in spots where they're going to have to play a physical game and that's going to be a challenge for them.
37:26
I don't think aggressive play has been good for Minnesota lately.
37:31
So it's going to be a real test for them.
37:33
I think a split this weekend would be very good for Minnesota and that's what I'm expecting.
37:42
I'm going to stick with my five points again.
37:46
I'm trying to stay positive, but I'm just not...
37:48
I'm kind of with you.
37:49
I'm not quite there yet.
37:53
You know, I'm going to pick five, but in all honesty, I think a split would be good because like I said, they haven't won there in five seasons and they need to do that.
38:08
They need to get...
38:08
I mean, even if it's teams past, it's been a house of horrors, you know, especially those, you know, basically, you know, when we got eight losses in a row, one was an overtime, but eight losses in a row, it's got to change weeks.
38:26
So I'm going to pick five.
38:28
I would be happy with a split.
38:30
I'll be really interested to see how guys like Pitlick and Lucius and Kester handle this weekend, because I think Penn State's going to target those guys a little bit with with physical contact.
38:42
You know, Pitlicks had that shoulder issue early in the year.
38:45
He had the collarbone break.
38:48
You know, Lucius has had some issues with bones breaking.
38:50
So this is going to be a challenging series for this group.
38:56
Tim Hackney, as long as Walker doesn't pass the puck in front of the net, Close will be okay that that was a bad play.
39:03
Just kind of wonder sometimes the hockey sense there to pass the fish right in front of the net.
39:09
Maybe not your most skilled defenseman in an awkward place to put the puck.
39:15
Hopefully they learned from that.
39:23
Oh, boy, I just thought I actually thought it was, you know, John said it first, because I wasn't paying attention or something like that.
39:30
But then when I went back on the Southern Reap, I'm like, Walker, what are you doing?
39:36
Well, you know, he's been told to pass the puck a little bit more.
39:38
So you are certainly came through there with that one.
39:42
He did.
39:43
You know what?
39:44
I think he's playing better.
39:45
So, yes, let's just hope that he keeps going.
39:48
You know, Cappy said it right when he's on our show.
39:51
If Minnesota does well down the stretch and Sammy plays well down the stretch, all is forgiven from my standpoint.
39:59
If it comes together 1000 percent correct.
40:04
1000 percent correct.
40:08
100 percent.
40:09
Okay, whatever.
40:13
You got anything else for us?
40:14
Or can we get to overtime and maybe pay attention to this women's game here?
40:18
Yeah.
40:18
Next week, there's going to be a story on GPL.
40:23
So sometimes I'm going to look forward next week.
40:27
I've seen the play of Pitlick this year, and I think there's a little bit of a reason why he's playing so well, and why that freshman line is playing so well.
40:38
If this is a sign of the way things are going, and Bob can figure out a way to keep doing things like this, Minnesota Hockey could be coming back to prominence.
40:50
Okay.
40:51
I like the way you're thinking there.
40:52
So be looking out for that next week, folks.
40:56
I think that's how we got busy.
40:57
You don't have anything else.
40:58
Go Gophers.
41:01
Enjoy the weekend.
41:02
This is a Prove It series for Minnesota.
41:05
It's going to be physical.
41:06
That's not a game that Minnesota typically plays.
41:08
I don't care if Penn State hasn't been very good this year.
41:11
It's going to be a challenge for them.
41:14
And I don't think these two programs like each other very much.
41:18
And we're going to see that on the ice.
41:23
I definitely agree.
41:24
I definitely agree.
41:25
Well, that's going to do it for this episode of The GPL Podcast.
41:28
We'll be back next week.
41:31
Or we have Todd Molesky lined up to be our guest as the Gophers close out the season with the Badgers.
41:38
Well, those of you currently watching live, stay tuned for some overtime.
41:42
For the rest of you, we'll catch you next week on The GPL Podcast.
Search Transcript
No matching lines.
