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 peace of mind. 0:21 Visit us at firstclassmortgage.com. 0:29 For Now, let's start the show with your hosts, Jupiter and Vegoe. 0:38 Good evening, and welcome to The GPL Podcast, episode number 213. 0:46 Well, Veegs, we had a week off recently. 0:49 It was a little slow, but let's get back at it, huh? 0:56 Yeah, I'm sure Bob Motzko would have preferred his team to be playing. 0:59 He wants those eight teams in the Big Ten. 1:01 I thought during the availability, you know, he said, maybe there'd be announcement today, sarcastically, unfortunately, but- 1:09 Illinois? 1:10 Isn't Illinois ready to go? 1:11 Yeah, I don't think they're quite ready right now, especially in this point of the pandemic. 1:16 They are not ready to invest in a hockey program, but they could sure use an eighth team, so we don't have situations like this. 1:22 Well, one thing that's interesting is that this time of year, Veegs, the Star Tribune kind of shifts from football over to hockey when it comes to the University of Minnesota. 1:33 And what does that mean? 1:34 That means Randy Johnson, one of the big writers at the Star Tribune gets to start covering hockey and he's joining us tonight. 1:42 Randy, nice to have you back on the show. 1:45 Thanks, it's always been fun coming on this. 1:48 I remember last year, it was a good time. 1:51 Well, like I said, January comes and all of a sudden, you get shifted from gopher football and Vikings and all of a sudden you're covering gopher hockey again. 2:02 Yeah, it's, you know, I missed out on this fall. 2:05 There were some games I wish I could have been at, but when you're on the road a bit for those Big Ten games and then that football beat the pretty big lift. 2:13 You know, it's a six, seven day a week grind. 2:16 So it's a little tough to get the hockey shoehorned in there, but always kept an eye on it at least. 2:24 Well, we've had fun with you over the years and it's nice to have you back on the show. 2:30 Veegs, it was kind of an interesting weekend for the Big Ten while the Gophers weren't playing. 2:35 We had Penn State get the first upset of a series in Big Ten history on the road. 2:40 We had Michigan take care of Michigan State. 2:43 Notre Dame went to three with Wisconsin, but it was a pretty, pretty fun weekend. 2:48 Yeah, it was kind of amazing to me. 2:50 We're nine years into this now with the Big Ten. 2:53 That's the first time a road team has pulled out a series. 2:56 Yes. 2:56 I feel like Minnesota was hoping when they were scheduled to go to Penn State that they were going to be the first team to pull off that road victory. 3:04 And it's just a difficult test, I think, to go on the road at this time of year and play a team who's been better than you for the whole year. 3:12 And so for Penn State to pull that off, hats off to them. 3:16 I don't know if Ohio State quite got the goaltending down the stretch that they did early in the year. 3:22 You know, they really tanked themselves pretty much. 3:27 They really did. 3:29 You know, they played so well early in the year and all of a sudden, you know, they lose Lorai to injury. 3:36 And so that really hurt their blue line and scoring. 3:38 And then Dobesh, you know, didn't quite match what he put up earlier in the year. 3:42 And those two are up for awards in the Big Ten, but they didn't really finish particularly strong for them. 3:49 Poor Cavie. 3:50 I'm gonna blame you or congratulate you for that because it was once Randy came on, start covering the team full time is when Ohio State just went like this. 4:00 So you're gonna take credit, right, Randy? 4:02 Well, you know, I might as well, yeah. 4:05 It's the next, they have had quite the fall though. 4:10 I mean, they got swept out the end of the season to or to the end their season. 4:17 Then they struggle against Penn State. 4:20 Now that it's looking at 15, they need have zero upsets to have any chance, Randy. 4:26 Yeah, I was looking at the pairwise probability matrix and it has them at 34% making the tournament. 4:31 So they're going to need those chalk and hockey yeast and that seems high to me. 4:40 Yeah, I just wanted to ask you that. 4:42 You know what I mean? 4:43 I mean, 34% seems high to me. 4:46 Maybe I'm crazy, but I don't think their odds are that good. 4:50 But apparently the Monte Carlo simulations put it that high. 4:55 I've pretty much written them off. 4:56 Their season's done. 4:57 All it takes is a couple of other even victories by teams to mess with the pair wise, just a little bit, Veegs. 5:06 I mean, couldn't even just, they lost to Penn State. 5:09 Just Minnesota beating them. 5:10 Couldn't that hurt Ohio State? 5:13 I don't think it's going to hurt them that much in the Big Ten. 5:16 I think the only things that can really hurt them are a weird ECACT making it or a weird WCHA team making it. 5:24 And those are actually somewhat unlikely, at least in the WCHA. 5:29 I have to think Minnesota State's a heavy favorite to get through their league. 5:34 The NCHC results not really going to matter to them. 5:37 I have a hard time seeing Penn State come out of the Big Ten, having to beat Minnesota and then either Michigan or Notre Dame. 5:45 So maybe the margins are bigger than we initially think on the surface. 5:50 And now that we talk about it, there's a chance, one and three, chipping a chair. 5:56 Well, and then tonight, Boston College wins in overtime against New Hampshire. 6:00 So they might not be totally out of the pit. 6:03 They'd have to win their tournament to get in. 6:04 But that's a team with talent. 6:07 But that's all it takes, Veegs. 6:10 It's just one team. 6:12 That's just one in this case. 6:14 Not like eight that Minnesota Duluth needed to have their bid get awarded Minnesota to be out. 6:21 So, you know, they've got more odds than that. 6:23 So and then Randy over in the state of Michigan. 6:27 Michigan just ended Michigan State season. 6:32 Michigan State is now over playoffs in the Big Ten in its ninth season. 6:40 And I guess we didn't have part of an eighth season playoff, but they are over. 6:45 That's interesting. 6:47 That's tough to accomplish, I would say. 6:50 It is. 6:52 You would think they would get at least a win here somewhere. 6:54 Yeah. 6:55 But it's just, well, we've talked about it, Veegs. 7:02 Will they do anything? 7:03 You know, Cole should be in trouble, but is anything going to happen? 7:09 It's challenging because it doesn't seem like Michigan State has invested much into their hockey program. 7:16 So maybe eyes aren't there. 7:17 They're redoing the arena. 7:18 They're updating the arena. 7:19 They are. 7:20 And Danton Cole is a big reason they're able to do that, because he's been a big fundraiser for that project. 7:26 So maybe that outweighs the performance on the ice. 7:29 And maybe Danton is trying to tell his bosses, he's like, look, I raised the money to get this in place. 7:36 Give me a chance to recruit to my new facilities, because the facilities in the Big Ten are all pretty good. 7:42 And Michigan State's been at the bottom. 7:44 Maybe this gives them a little bit more weight in recruiting battles, and maybe they'll find an identity. 7:50 I feel like we've been talking about this with a couple of our last guests. 7:54 You know, what is the identity of Michigan State? 7:56 And, you know, Danton Cole's got to figure that out pretty quickly. 8:00 And on the flip side, Randy, Michigan kind of got it back rolling after getting swept by Notre Dame the week before. 8:06 Yeah, you know, the talent's going to come through with that program sooner or later. 8:10 So yeah, I thought the Notre Dame series was kind of one that just got away from them. 8:16 But they're going to have a say in this. 8:19 Yes, they will. 8:21 It's crazy how that series has gone this year with Michigan and Notre Dame. 8:25 Because Notre Dame is kind of kryptonite for talented teams. 8:30 Yeah, the two overtime victories in Yost and then they swept them at the end of the season. 8:35 And now they head to Yost again, Veegs. 8:39 It'll be interesting. 8:40 We're going to get into that and they'll play it. 8:41 But to get there, Notre Dame needed a third game against Wisconsin, Veegs. 8:45 And Wisconsin actually showed up against Notre Dame. 8:50 They did. 8:50 I thought they played the right game plan that they needed to. 8:55 Jared Mow played well in nets for them and basically stole them a game on Friday and just not enough to pull off the upset and the series. 9:04 But that is the team that we kind of thought Wisconsin could be. 9:09 So that was probably the best series of the three. 9:12 So we're giggling, for those of you listening to the show later on. 9:16 Randy had a pet just pop up behind him. 9:19 That would be Rusty. 9:22 Rusty's cat. 9:23 There's Tabby, who decided to video bomb me here. 9:29 That's what I love about this, you know, this new era of media, people zooming, people doing this. 9:37 We all get to see a little bit of people's lives that we never saw before. 9:40 And they're... 9:44 That is great television right there. 9:46 I love that. 9:48 My dog used to lay behind us while we do the podcast, the entire show. 9:52 She's unfortunately no longer with us, but she did that for many years. 9:56 So yes, Wisconsin did just make it look a little better, Veegs, but is Granado still in trouble? 10:05 I know that we heard he's not, but they got to look at something here. 10:11 Yeah, I don't think he's really recruited very well for a program long-term at Wisconsin. 10:18 And I kind of echo some of the messages we hear. 10:22 You want to be a successful college program. 10:24 You're not just developing talent. 10:26 You can do both. 10:28 You do want to have talent come to your program. 10:30 Like Logan Cooley picked Minnesota over Notre Dame and Penn State because he thought that Minnesota was the best place to develop his talent. 10:40 He goes to a place like Notre Dame. 10:41 He's going to learn how to play defense. 10:43 He's probably going to sit behind players who play the Jeff Jackson system. 10:47 He goes to Penn State. 10:48 He's going to be playing a system that no one in the NHL would be playing. 10:53 It probably would set him back. 10:55 I mean, you look at Penn State players who have gone on to pro hockey. 10:58 They've had a couple of guys lately, like Smirnoff and Barrett, who have flashed some ability, but they have not made it at the pro level. 11:06 And maybe it's because their development got stunted by playing this unique system of funneling pucks to the net all over the place and sending guys in transition. 11:15 Whereas Minnesota plays this ground game possession and fast transition. 11:21 Now that's NHL hockey right now, is getting transition and then possess the puck in the offensive zone. 11:26 So, you know, styley, you gotta have that pro development, but to win, you have to have the right roster and Wisconsin has not. 11:35 So I would not be surprised if they make a move. 11:39 Interesting, interesting. 11:40 Cause you know, we kind of saw Alvarez keep things the way they were for a little too long in the previous coach there in Wisconsin, Randy. 11:49 But Alvarez is not there anymore. 11:50 So maybe they're making decisions a little differently. 11:53 Yeah, Chris McIntosh, the AD now, that's interesting to see how he handles things. 11:59 I'm sure the Barry Alvarez influence is still there. 12:04 So it might take him a while to, you know, maybe put his stamp on the program. 12:12 I'm guessing they keep them for this year at least. 12:15 I don't have any insight, I didn't tell her anything, but I wouldn't think last year bought them a little bit of time. 12:24 And Vegas, maybe it's a thing where they fire some assistant coaches like they did previously. 12:30 Yeah, it could work that way. 12:34 But I just think the message has to be said to the coach that, hey, we're not okay with just being good once every five years. 12:41 There needs to be consistency there. 12:43 You know, we've seen ticket sales drop off at Wisconsin a little bit, and they have a big building to fill, and there's a lot of fans there, and, you know, eyes are going to be paid. 12:58 It's going to be interesting. 13:00 It's going to be interesting to see. 13:01 So if you're watching us live or listening, if you have any questions for us, just go onto YouTube and jump in the chat and ask questions. 13:10 We're more than happy to answer them. 13:12 I know, V, you try to keep an eye on Twitter for me in case we have some good Twitter questions. 13:18 We're not getting those as much because a lot of people are watching us live on YouTube now. 13:21 So it's a little different these days. 13:24 A little different. 13:25 But first, before we get to the next part, we need to hear from our sponsor. 13:30 Hey, fellow GPLers, Jerry Peters here from First Class Mortgage. 13:34 Have you refinanced your home in the last 12 months? 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14:56 I tend to think that the way Minnesota stays a number one seed is for a team like Western Michigan or North Dakota to jump them. 15:08 I think if Minnesota wins out, they keep a number one seed, but if they are kind of this bubble, it's more about what happens to those NCHC teams than I think what happens to Minnesota. 15:20 One win they should be in, but there's a chance those teams could jump them if Denver and Western and North Dakota, you know, finish to the top of their league. 15:28 I think that's the biggest factor. 15:30 All right, there you go. 15:34 It's gonna be fun no matter what. 15:35 I'm looking forward to it. 15:37 I mean, Randy, you've been covering the team for quite a few years now, but I guess you haven't really been around the team where they've had this much expectations, have you? 15:49 Well, last year there were some pretty good expectations on them, you know, maybe not as much as this year because they had such a good regular season last year. 15:56 But yeah, it's Minnesota hockey. 15:59 There should be some high expectations every year. 16:02 And this is a year where they came back with a ton of talent. 16:07 They lost some, but they returned a lot and some really good newcomers in the program. 16:14 I see Steve in the chat. 16:16 It says that the Gophers went out. 16:17 There's no way they're not a number one seed, so. 16:20 I mean, if they get Michigan and they beat them, or if they get Notre Dame and beat them, that's gonna help their pairwise position. 16:27 If they drop a game and things happen in other leagues, that's the way that they could drop down. 16:33 Ooh, David's got a nice question for us here. 16:36 Why have the Gophers played so much better since LaFontaine left? 16:40 And how can close not be the Big Ten goalie of the year? 16:44 I'm gonna throw that at you, Randy. 16:46 I mean, since you've come on, I mean, LaFontaine left. 16:50 We had all these injuries and close has been the goalie. 16:53 What's the secret there, Randy? 16:54 I would say it's a combination of things. 16:57 I think the team matured after Christmas. 17:00 Basically, these freshmen became a lot better players. 17:04 They took their lumps a bit in the first half of the year. 17:07 I think close is getting, from what I can tell, I didn't see a lot of the first half, but he's getting better play in front of him than maybe LaFontaine. 17:19 And I think he's playing better, just playing a lot better than Jack did. 17:26 The biggest thing is close has been very good on the first shot. 17:31 The issue that was kind of hopping with LaFontaine was he was letting in a soft goal about once a weekend, and it was in the first period. 17:41 And it would have the team on their heels a little bit. 17:44 And then you had a blue line core that was trying to force offense. 17:48 And it was just kind of a whirlpool effect to them, where they would just kind of lose their game, and then they'd be chasing, and it wasn't a good situation. 17:55 They were able to bounce back and play better on Saturday nights when that happened. 17:59 But I think that first shot confidence that closes displaying, he's a really aggressive goalie. 18:05 He reads the play really well, and he's been solid. 18:07 He hasn't had any holes, especially the last Penn State series. 18:11 He was really good on those first shots. 18:14 And I kind of like what Randy was saying, Veegs, there is that the team has played better in front of them. 18:20 They kind of did buckle down and say, okay, guys, we need to buckle down. 18:25 It's essentially what they did. 18:26 That's why I was going to ask you that. 18:29 Did they realize that, hey, you know, okay, before Jack probably had, he could count on, they thought they could count on him pretty well, and then maybe we got to work a little harder with Justin there. 18:41 We got to help him out a little bit more. 18:43 Well, you definitely did that blue line. 18:44 They were taking more chances. 18:46 They weren't protecting things as much. 18:48 This team has been much better at playing the percentages in the second half, not jumping pucks at the offensive blue line, not getting into the rush too quickly, making sure that the rush was actually happening before jumping into it, so they weren't caught in transition. 19:04 I think both sides of that coin have played a factor here. 19:10 Okay, Steve Larson, any word on Lucius? 19:12 I think we have heard some word there, Randy. 19:15 It's not looking good. 19:16 He's out this weekend, Bob said. 19:18 He's out for this game, so we'll see what happens next week if they're playing. 19:24 Veegs, you kind of have a little grin on your face. 19:27 Well, I think Lucius is playing this very safe, and that's the situation we're dealing with with him right now. 19:37 It's nothing severe that people have been asking about. 19:40 It's something that's somewhat minor. 19:43 He's just being extra cautious with it. 19:45 He's had some injury issues like this in the past, and they're just trying to make sure it's not going to be a long-term thing. 19:54 And Veegs, the one thing though is that I do concern if it's not a big deal, he's still not playing. 20:01 And to be just all of a sudden thrown in, like I say, against the Michigan or in an NCAA tournament, I'm sorry, he's going to have some rust. 20:10 And if they keep winning, can you really put him in a lineup? 20:15 Oh, yeah. 20:16 I mean, I had this discussion with some people after a game a couple weeks ago. 20:20 You know, he is a very talented player. 20:22 He's scored at every level he's scored at. 20:25 But if you have a team that's winning and doesn't need this kind of a talent injection into it, would you mess with it? 20:34 So I know he's being cautious. 20:36 I know that's the plan. 20:37 But I think as a staff, you can't just do that because he's talented. 20:44 We talked about the Wisconsin thing. 20:46 You're developing talent, but you also need to win. 20:50 And the players who have sacrificed by coming back from the Olympics, who passed up pro opportunities, you're doing them a disservice. 20:58 If you put someone in who's going to have to come up to speed and take somebody's spot who is pulling on the rope, so that's a decision they're going to have to make. 21:06 I think this was a weekend where if he was ready to play or wanted to be ready to play, he had to be in the lineup because it's too late after this. 21:13 You're not going to put him in against Michigan. 21:15 Maybe if they play Notre Dame in the final, there's more room for that, but not if it's Michigan than the first round. 21:23 Well, let's talk about that. 21:25 Notre Dame and Michigan. 21:27 Randy, Notre Dame has had Michigan's number this year, but obviously it is a one-game deal. 21:35 I do not know what to expect with those two teams. 21:40 I think Michigan is going to find a way. 21:43 The old saying is, it's tough to beat teams three times in a season. 21:46 It's going to be really tough to beat teams five times in a season. 21:52 I just think Michigan is going to figure out a way. 21:55 Of course, Notre Dame, they get a lead, they go into that below-constructor mode and just suck the life out of an opponent's offense. 22:04 But I think Michigan is going to find a way. 22:07 But, you know, Veegs, it could be in Michigan's head a little bit, couldn't it? 22:12 It could be, and it could be a style where it's a one-game shot. 22:16 And if they fall behind, Notre Dame is pretty good at clamping things down. 22:21 You know, Jeff Jackson is a pretty good coach. 22:23 He's done this for a long time. 22:25 It's not like he doesn't know their identity. 22:27 And if they get good goaltending, who knows what's going to happen? 22:31 I love Michigan's talent. 22:33 I love watching them play. 22:34 But it's going to have to be decided on the ice. 22:37 It's not going to be a cakewalk for them. 22:40 Who do you think wins the series, Veegs? 22:42 Who's going to come out of there? 22:43 I think Michigan wins the one game shot. 22:46 I just think their talent on the blue line has surprised me a little bit this year. 22:52 I thought Luke Hughes was going to maybe struggle a little bit with his adjustment to college hockey. 22:57 He has not struggled at all. 22:59 17 goals, 17 goals, that's amazing in this era of college hockey. 23:04 I mean, he might be the best Hughes brother, which I don't think anyone expected really coming into this year. 23:12 We thought he was going to be good, but maybe not the best. 23:16 So it'll be interesting to see there how they play. 23:19 I know if they're going to get some power play chances, that's a spot for them to shine. 23:25 I'll be watching Maddie Bennears very closely as he is, I think, maybe the likely Big Ten player of the year, but I think Ben Myers might be. 23:37 Those are the two players, I think, when you look at it. 23:40 Some people are saying Owen Power. 23:41 I just don't think he's scored enough to deserve that kind of award. 23:46 But Michigan's fun to watch. 23:48 I'm hoping for a Michigan Minnesota series. 23:52 One little quick thing is Mel back the next year. 23:55 We've been hearing a lot of little things in the background that Mel might not be safe, Veegs. 24:02 Yeah, and it's not. 24:06 It's one of those things. 24:08 Yeah, when you're not honest and there's a trail of information that shows you're not honest, that's what gets you in trouble. 24:16 I think big time. 24:18 And Mel might have dug a hole that he's not going to get out of. 24:22 But we'll see. 24:24 Michigan's got a lot of drama, as is going on with their program that we've talked about in the past on this show. 24:31 So we'll see. 24:32 I don't hear good things about him coming back. 24:36 So we'll see in the offseason. 24:39 So I'm assuming you're going with Michigan too there, Randy? 24:43 Yeah, to win that game, yeah, I'm guessing the Wolverines pull that one off. 24:47 You know, don't be wrong. 24:49 I'm not betting any money on it. 24:53 Well, Randy, tell us about what you've been writing this week. 24:56 I know a little Gopher hockey stuff, was it just came out earlier today or yesterday? 25:00 Yeah, I just finished off a blog. 25:02 I usually do it earlier in the week. 25:05 I just got busy with other stuff. 25:07 I finished off a blog, wrote about the Gophers and went down to Austin and had that inner squad scrimmage. 25:15 It was kind of a neat deal for Bob and his team in Old Tech, who was hometown. 25:19 Then I did a little bit leftover stuff from the women's WCHA final faceoff that I covered this past weekend, which was an incredibly good tournament. 25:32 That championship game was something. 25:35 It was. 25:36 I mean, the women gave up a 2-0 lead. 25:42 There must have been quite a bit of disappointment there. 25:44 Yeah, there was, but I think they're pretty happy with the way they played. 25:53 They didn't lose the lead, but that was two very high-end teams going at it. 26:00 1-1A in the country, I'd say. 26:02 I would not be surprised whatsoever if those two are meeting in the final in State College in a week and a half there. 26:10 And you'll be covering the women's game this weekend on Saturday. 26:13 Yeah, I'd love to cover the regional game. 26:14 They have the winner of Harvard and Minnesota Duluth, which that is played Thursday night at Ritter. 26:22 So yeah, it's kind of a neat little doubleheader. 26:27 If a hockey fan would want to do it on Saturday, go to the women's game at 2, you can get in for 15 bucks. 26:33 And then go to the men's game at 8, you can get in for 20 bucks. 26:37 I mean, that's not bad. 26:40 Then I also wrote about, I did the weekly bracketology directing the NCAA men's field, that type of stuff. 26:47 I've never gotten into the bracketology stuff, Veegs. 26:50 I've always been like, let's just wait. 26:54 Well, I think sometimes with the bracketology, it's so numbers focused that it's really going to be cut and dry, especially the way they've done it the last couple of years, where they kind of stick to the numbers, unless there's a conference matchup in the first round, or if there's a host involved, they haven't been shy about shipping teams out and not really focusing on attendance issues, which I probably agree with, because attendance isn't great at any venue, unless the host team is there. 27:28 So why mess with the integrity of the bracket, unless you have to? 27:34 Yeah, you can't really disagree with that, and everyone's going east this year. 27:38 I mean, everyone gets used to it. 27:41 Well, yeah, but you know, I see Denver hanging on to a number one seed. 27:47 I think they might already have hung on to a number one seed. 27:50 So they're going to be in Loveland. 27:52 That means Minnesota, Mankato. 27:54 Everyone's going out east. 27:57 Unless you're a two, you know. 28:00 I get, boy, could you see MVAs putting North Dakota in the Denver Regional? 28:08 They get fans showing up. 28:11 I think the North Dakota fans will probably travel wherever they put them. 28:15 I am just still pulling for North Dakota and Western Michigan to be in the same regional, just at the hope that we get a regional final between those two, because that would be true justice in college hockey. 28:30 We'll see. 28:30 We'll have to see. 28:31 But we've got this weekend, guys, and of course, the other matchup is Penn State coming in to play Minnesota. 28:38 You know, Randy Penn State was just swept by Minnesota late in the season. 28:44 Not great for them. 28:46 But they have gotten one of their few road victories this year at Mary Uchee. 28:52 You know, that was very early. 28:56 I think that the Gophers team at that point of the year was a little different than what we have now. 29:03 I think Penn State, you know, I think we'll make a game of it. 29:07 But I think the Gophers have the drive. 29:13 And, you know, I think they're set up pretty well. 29:17 The week off might be a little bit of a hiccup, you know. 29:20 Maybe there's a little rust to knock off in that first period. 29:23 But I think, you know, the way they've been playing, I think they should take care of business at home. 29:28 You know, it's interesting, Veegs, I saw this just the other day. 29:32 Oscar Audio is in the transfer portal, but he's still on the team? 29:37 Yeah, that's a weird situation. 29:40 You know, I don't think that's got to be sitting well with Guy Gadowski, based on seeing him interact with people in the past and having a player get in the portal at this time of year. 29:51 Maybe he was expecting it would all be over last weekend and he just couldn't wait to hit submit on that thing. 29:57 But a little extra drama for the Nets this weekend. 30:01 You know, Audio has played a number of games for them this year and has looked OK, but I don't see him getting the net against Minnesota. 30:10 So I will be interested to see if he's on the bench against Minnesota to be honest. 30:15 But again, goaltending depth is not something you can really mess with in college hockey as we saw at Minnesota when LaFontaine left. 30:22 There was a scramble to find a third goalie there. 30:24 So got to be uncomfortable. 30:28 It could be a long plane ride. 30:30 They might send him commercial. 30:35 Oh, that's not very nice. 30:38 It reminds me of the time, I guess, Glenn Mason, they had a player misbehave at a bowl trip and sent him back on a bus from El Paso. 30:48 Wow. 30:50 That is a great story. 30:51 We're going to threaten people. 30:53 He's like, behave on the trip. 30:54 We've got plane tickets out there, so we're going to take the plane back. 31:04 Veegs, Penn State, playing for their lives, what do they need to do to beat Minnesota? 31:11 I think they've got to keep the pressure up. 31:13 I think that's kind of their game, is getting pucks to net and flying guys out of the zone and keeping pressure. 31:19 I think a key for them, don't miss the net wide. 31:23 They like to shoot from everywhere. 31:25 I think one of the keys for them is get those pucks on net or get them going off the end wall. 31:30 Do not send it the other way and have to chase back and play defense after they've gotten their offensive possession. 31:37 So we'll see if they're able to do that. 31:39 I think they should probably focus on staying on the box, even though Minnesota's power play hasn't been maybe the most effective. 31:48 It can be a real momentum changer for Minnesota to have those power play chances. 31:54 And I think they need to test close. 31:58 He's been pretty steady for them, but he hasn't been in a playoff game. 32:04 So they need to rack up the pressure there and keep it on. 32:08 And Randy, they did have some success against close as well. 32:12 You know what? 32:13 That Saturday night game at Penn State, they were up three to nothing and were looking pretty good at that time. 32:19 Yeah, it looked like your typical Gophers game out there. 32:23 You know, at least one of the games, they were going to take several punches early and see if they could hang on or at least get back in it. 32:33 But then, you know, Ben Myers leading the way and they flipped that game. 32:38 And yeah, you can't count on it all the time, but I like this team's resilience to do stuff like that. 32:46 And that's the big difference this year, Veegs. 32:48 That's something we haven't seen in the past 10 years, resilience coming back. 32:53 They just haven't had that. 32:55 Definitely not consistently. 32:57 And if I was Penn State, I would probably develop some sort of checking line to go up against the Myers line, because Randy was right. 33:06 I mean, that was the difference in that Saturday game is that Ben Myers basically put the team on his back and got them back in the game, which is pretty amazing considering how long it took him to get from China back to that Happy Valley Pagula Ice Arena. 33:21 But does checking really work against the players like Nice and Myers? 33:26 I think you can't let them get, I think you can't let them have long possessions in the offensive zone, because that's why they're so dangerous. 33:34 You need to have players who can close in on them and keep them from getting pucks to the net and just clear the zone. 33:42 You know, don't let them have a long sustained shift and make someone like Sammy Walker beat you is probably my message if I was putting in together a game plan for Penn State. 33:55 Well, the interesting game about that, or the interesting part about that Saturday game at Penn State, Randy, was, yes, they gave up 3-0 league. 34:04 They did come back and they actually outshot Penn State that game by quite a few, which is a rarity. 34:12 So maybe it's to the point where Minnesota knows how to play this kind of team a lot better. 34:21 I think so, I think they've learned over the years, it seems like. 34:25 And under Bob, they've had better success against Penn State. 34:30 So I think they're getting used to playing that style when they have to. 34:37 Well, I think the biggest thing has been the defense. 34:40 They've been better about getting back and handling pressure, because that's the thing that Penn State does is you can't hide as a defenseman against them. 34:48 They're gonna put pressure on you. 34:50 And this is probably the best Bull line Minnesota's had in maybe 10, 15 years from top to bottom. 34:59 And it's really a matchup that allows that to shine. 35:03 Well, let's do it then. 35:08 Big weekend. 35:09 Let's blow them out, Veegs. 35:10 That's what I'm predicting. 35:11 I'm predicting this is gonna be a five, one, five, two type of game, Minnesota. 35:19 That's my prediction. 35:21 What's yours, Veegs? 35:23 I think we see like a four, two game. 35:26 I think it's gonna be kind of tight early. 35:29 Minnesota probably will have some rust that they'll have to fight through. 35:34 And as much as they tried to do what they did in Austin with having that scrimmage and keeping things going, you know, that week off at this time of year, especially when coaches don't wanna push their players during the week, it's gonna take some time to get rid of that. 35:49 I have been worried with the special teams play for Minnesota, at least on the power play. 35:54 Penalty kill has been great. 35:56 So I think a nice key for Minnesota would be aggressive this weekend and just take it to them and don't back down. 36:04 So I think we'll see a 4-2 win for Minnesota, maybe a little tighter than we want. 36:08 I'm hoping that they have 8,000 fans in the building. 36:12 I know ticket sales have been kind of going up a little bit. 36:15 So we'll see what they can do. 36:17 Yost already sold out in about 15 minutes. 36:20 So we'll see what's going to happen at Mary G. 36:22 I hope those students come back from spring break and want to watch some hockey. 36:29 Okay, Randy, what is Rusty's pick for the game this weekend? 36:35 Rusty's pick for the game is 3-1, maybe 4-1 with an empty netter at the end. 36:40 Yeah. 36:42 All right, all right. 36:43 I like that. 36:44 I'm just, you know, it's taken a while for me to get off that negativity bandwagon, I would say, Veegs. 36:56 And really, they've had to kind of show me this year. 36:59 And they've really kind of obviously, they won eight straight. 37:03 They're gonna make it nine this weekend. 37:06 So just keep rocking, like you said, hopefully the fans show up end of spring break, state high school tournament. 37:12 Let's get a decent crowd at least, and then let's really build it up for the championship. 37:19 Vegas odds do have Minnesota at minus 300, Penn State plus 220, the over under is six, minus 125 for the over, minus 105 for the under. 37:31 So I feel even better about my four two call now after seeing that Vegas sometimes knows what they're doing with this stuff. 37:39 Do they really though? 37:40 Come on. 37:42 Do they really have people looking at college hockey? 37:46 They've got the lines up. 37:47 They don't want to lose money. 37:48 They didn't have lines up the last couple of weeks for some of the Minnesota games, because obviously they knew Minnesota was going to be on a roll and just start knocking off everybody. 37:57 So to even have a line is certainly something. 38:01 They've got Michigan at minus 235, Notre Dame plus 180 in that game. 38:06 So we'll see what happens there. 38:08 I think that series might be a little closer than that. 38:13 Could be. 38:16 I found it interesting just doing some research with them. 38:18 This is the first time the Gophers will have hosted a Big Ten semifinal with this format since they went away from the first four years at the big arenas. 38:33 Yeah, that's what you should get when you win the season. 38:36 The regular season leagues, you finally get control of your own destiny, I should say. 38:42 Yeah, I mean, typically you'd like to buy, you would think. 38:46 I talked about that at the end of the season. 38:48 I thought it was good for them. 38:50 And getting Penn State is even better because you're playing a team that's probably not playing for a whole lot in terms of NCAA Tournament hopes. 39:00 So maybe you can end it real quick, like you were saying, and run up the score. 39:05 And for me, it's just, I know Bob doesn't like it. 39:08 He would have rather played, but they have been playing straight since the beginning of January, every weekend. 39:15 They didn't get their break because, you know, Fairbanks came into town to make up those extra games. 39:20 So, he didn't like it. 39:24 Hopefully it doesn't mess with the momentum. 39:26 They're in the tournament no matter what. 39:27 So, embrace it, get healthy, and let's rock and roll. 39:34 Yeah. 39:35 I think they do need to win this one though, because you don't want to have a buy, lose a game, have a buy, go into the tournament. 39:42 So, yeah, just saying, that is a concern. 39:51 If they come out of this weekend not playing well, is that extra buy weekend, going to the tournament, not something any coach wants. 39:59 Randy, are you working on anything this weekend? 40:01 I'm guessing you're probably working more for the women's tournament this weekend. 40:06 Yeah, I actually have a men's story and preview coming up, and a women's story and preview coming up, obviously. 40:13 I've been doing some wild stuff, too. 40:15 I'm helping out on that beat, kind of the backup role on that beat behind Sarah McClellan, who does a really nice job with it. 40:23 Yeah, and then I got some Gophers wrestling I'm working on. 40:28 Their NCAAs are next week, so I'll be doing a preview for that coming up on Gable Steveson. 40:35 Yeah, it's kind of nice. 40:37 They hand me some sports that are right up my alley, so it works out pretty good. 40:41 Football, hockey, wrestling. 40:43 I can't complain about that whatsoever. 40:45 Hey, you're keeping busy, and that's all that matters. 40:49 Yeah, it is. 40:50 It's fun. 40:51 Fun time of year. 40:55 It's the line from Roadhouse, I'll sleep when I'm dead, right? 41:03 And Veegs, I know you were thinking about putting some things together, weren't you too? 41:07 It's been a little bit tricky to get some availability out of this Gopher squad lately, so this is going to be what you're going to be getting, is our podcast. 41:16 And maybe something as we get closer, we'll see. 41:20 It's been a tight ship over there lately. 41:22 Hey, that's just how things go. 41:26 They're focused. 41:27 We just roll with it. 41:28 We just roll with it. 41:29 Well, Randy, thanks for coming on the podcast. 41:31 Again, it was fun having you on. 41:33 Thanks for having me on. 41:35 It's a blast. 41:35 It's always fun talking to my kids, you guys. 41:39 Well, we're going to talk a little bit more hockey and overtime in just a bit. 41:42 But for now, that's going to do it for this episode of the GPL Podcast. 41:47 I want to thank Randy for coming on and joining us again. 41:49 We'll be back next week to discuss what's next for the Gophers. 41:54 Will it be the Big Ten championship game like we're hoping? 41:58 Or is our next game where we'll be talking about the NCAA tournament? 42:01 We'll just have to wait and see. 42:03 For those of you watching, stay tuned for a little bit of overtime. 42:07 For the rest of you, we'll catch you next week on The GPL Podcast.