0:15 This is The GPL Podcast from go4pucklive.com. 0:38 This podcast is sponsored by Jerry Peters and First Class Mortgage. 0:41 Our expertise, your peace of mind. 0:43 Visit us at firstclassmortgage.com. 0:49 Now, here's Joop and Vego. 0:51 Here we go. 0:53 Thank. 0:54 Good evening, and welcome to The GPL Podcast, episode number 100, oh wait, sorry, 221, not 121. 1:15 There he is, Veegs. 1:17 It was a fun weekend. 1:19 I think one of the funnest weekends we've had in a long time, even though it was a win and a loss, but man, that was a fun weekend. 1:26 Great crowds both nights, great atmospheres both nights, both games delivered. 1:31 I thought both teams played pretty well. 1:34 We saw a lot of great things from Minnesota over the two nights and just looking forward to the season ahead with the teams on the ice right there. 1:44 Well, before we get into this weekend series, we've got one of our favorite guests back on the air this week. 1:51 Paul Caponigri is joining us. 1:54 There he is, Cappy. 1:55 How's it going, kid? 1:57 Good, man. 1:58 How are you guys doing? 1:59 You guys look fresh. 2:01 Like you just, you know, I think you're a little brighter, maybe, maybe because you had the nice weather last weekend. 2:10 You're looking a little more fresh. 2:11 You're not like looking like winter weary right now. 2:16 Oh, I hope not. 2:16 That's too early to be winter weary. 2:18 You know, we haven't got a lot of the wind chill yet. 2:20 Snowstorms. 2:23 Oh, that's tough. 2:25 Sorry to bring that kind of, you know, I don't want to bring any negative weather. 2:28 Get back to the positive. 2:29 They can't be surveying the rink. 2:32 They're about ready to put the boards out for the outdoor ice. 2:35 They had the surveying equipment out already because they know, you know, once there's frost in the ground, that job gets a lot harder. 2:42 So it's coming, whether we like it or not. 2:45 Well, you get a long season, at least, right? 2:47 Like I've had some friends do it in some areas where they only get about a month and they put a lot of work in and they don't get the use that you guys get up there because it's not cold enough, you know, for a long enough stretch. 3:01 So, you know, it might get cold, but at least you get to use those rinks for what? 3:05 Three, four months, at least, right? 3:07 Three months these days. 3:08 Three months. 3:08 The season's gotten a little shorter. 3:10 And still, that's a good solid chunk for how much work you gotta put in. 3:14 Oh yeah, definitely. 3:17 Well, Cappy, we had a fun weekend this past weekend. 3:20 It was insane. 3:23 I mean, the crowd was crazy. 3:26 I was telling Vegoe that I was getting warnings on my watch about audio warnings. 3:32 It was too loud for a long period of time. 3:39 We missed that rivalry four times a year, Cappy. 3:42 Sure. 3:43 I mean, that's what you want in college hockey. 3:45 That's, if you think about it now, three of their last, what, six home games have been like that. 3:51 If you count the Big Ten championship game. 3:54 And that's what you want, right? 3:56 That's, you know, when they brought Bob in to kind of, you know, rejuvenate things and get those rivalries going again. 4:06 That's what you're looking for. 4:07 I mean, Mariucci is a big place for college hockey. 4:11 And it's, I think the one year when they beat me at Wisconsin to win the Big Ten championship on the last game, it was pretty full, maybe like 8,085. 4:21 And I was between the benches so I could feel all that down there. 4:26 And I was like, this place is just a monster when it's got this. 4:30 So I think the students are consistent now there, which is great. 4:35 That's always gonna bring that. 4:38 But now, yeah, everyone's not, you don't hear any complaining about ticket prices and all that stuff when you're winning and playing entertaining games. 4:47 That you're not hearing that much right now, which is great. 4:51 Well, one interesting thing, Veegs, is that two sold out games, more than 10,000 tickets sold. 4:57 I was still surprised at the number of empty seats. 5:00 I think we had like 1,200 Friday and close to 2,000 on Saturday. 5:06 So that part, I was still a little disappointed in. 5:09 I mean, you compare that to the Big Ten Championship, which had cheaper seats and five sections of students. 5:15 That was a little crazier in my mind as overall crowd. 5:19 But I was just a little disappointed that a lot of people didn't show up. 5:24 Yeah, I mean, Ian in the chat here has got MEA as an excuse for people who didn't go. 5:30 There's also people in high school football playoffs or soccer playoffs or volleyball playoffs that are going on. 5:36 You know, when you have people buying tickets months ahead of time for an event, there's always going to be a redemption rate issue. 5:43 You know, I think it's encouraging that it was only, you know, brought in a thousand or so for each game. 5:48 Usually, Minnesota has been seen 20% of tickets still get used. 5:53 And so that's why you want to try to create a standing room only ticket allotment. 5:59 That's why you want to have those students. 6:01 There were a lot of people standing and didn't go find those individual seats. 6:05 I think the students like that area, right? 6:07 I think people like that area, right? 6:08 Standing and talking with their friends and hanging on the railing. 6:13 A lot of people like doing that. 6:14 It's a good view up there. 6:16 It's definitely a good view. 6:18 Maybe some of the rink changes and the ice is changing next year. 6:21 Maybe some of the seating changes in two years' weeks might lend it more to some of that standing crowd. 6:29 Yeah, I think they're going to create some different areas for people to have bar top tables or lounge type seating around the rink, which could be fun. 6:40 But I thought it was a great crowd. 6:41 I thought the crowd was into it. 6:44 I commented to a couple of people. 6:45 It kind of felt like one of those state tourney games when you've got two giant fan bases in the building because every time your team was touching the puck, there was just a little buzz, a little atmosphere. 6:57 Like this could be the play that gets our team ahead or puts us back into it. 7:01 And then there's a turnover. 7:02 And then the other half of the building gets that feeling and that excitement and the students were just great. 7:07 And ever since COVID, students for every University of Minnesota event has been phenomenal. 7:13 Football, hockey, the students show up and they're loud and they make a big impact on the game. 7:19 Well, let's get into the actual game, Veegs, and talk about game one. 7:23 First, let's hear kind of what Bob thought of the game. 7:28 Overall, I like how we played tonight. 7:32 We got knocked around the first 10 minutes. 7:34 Our D were fabulous tonight, breaking the puck out for the last 40 minutes of the game, 45 minutes of the game. 7:42 Our forwards were better. 7:45 But still, we got some things to show to our forwards. 7:49 But overall, great atmosphere, fantastic. 7:52 You know, it's a hell of a battle with this program. 7:57 So I would say maybe that first game, the hero of the game for North Dakota was definitely Drew DeRidder Veegs. 8:05 Yeah, he's had a lot of experience playing for Minnesota, coming from Michigan State. 8:08 Knew what to expect. 8:10 I think he maybe got a little bit more pressure in this weekend than he was used to. 8:14 You know, North Dakota didn't quite have the structure that Michigan State would put out in front of him. 8:19 And he was very accomplished over the whole weekend. 8:22 He was calm. 8:23 He froze a lot of pucks. 8:24 He put pucks into corners, didn't give up a ton of rebounds throughout the weekend. 8:29 But I was just really impressed how Minnesota, again, had a 10 minute game from their opponent on a Friday night of a big series, and they answered the bell. 8:38 The same thing against Minnesota State. 8:40 I thought the Mavericks really pressured them hard for the first 10 minutes, and the Gophers were able to withstand that pressure and come out of it pretty healthy. 8:50 And I think a big part of that is the veteran decor. 8:53 They're able to get puck retrievals and break them out, and they don't get caught in their own end for long stretches of time. 9:00 And I think that's been evident in two big tests so far. 9:04 Cappy, one thing that I think, you know, even Vig's noticed and quite a few of us noticed, in that first period, Minnesota was kind of flying against North Dakota, but boy, they still have a tendency of wanting to get that extra pass and getting a little too fancy. 9:20 Yeah, well, yeah, I think you bring in a guy like Snuggerud, right, because he's like just a shoot first type of guy. 9:28 I think it's always something that happens at home a little bit more. 9:34 Everybody says it, you know, teams get a little, you know, let's keep it simple on the road, right? 9:39 At home, I don't think it's like, oh, I really want to make the play in front of my girlfriend or something, you know, not like that, but it's just, I think you get it in your, it's a kind of natural thing that happens to you, oh, I'm going to make that sauce pass over that stick. 9:54 Instead of getting this boring shot on net, you just kind of accidentally get caught up in that sometimes playing hockey. 10:00 It's just a weird thing. 10:01 And it's really unexplainable. 10:03 But, you know, I got to see, you know, I saw the stick toss. 10:08 That was perfect timing, you know. 10:12 But I just, I just liked the way Minnesota's playing, you know, and you guys said it, and they're veteran decor. 10:17 You just don't get that anymore of having these juniors and seniors that are first and second round draft picks in the NHL that easily could be playing in the NHL right now back and you're seeing that's just where their core of their team is going to be all year. 10:34 It's kind of like, okay, we might struggle with scoring, but our, I think our D is going to be that consistent base and Justin and that. 10:42 So they're always going to have, I think they're going to have that all year long to rely on. 10:47 And Friday night, Veegs, Nyes kind of got off the Schneid, you know, it kind of became his game when it got to overtime and Faber fed him the puck and he turned on a dime, put on the jets, made a great play to the net and won the game for him. 11:06 Yeah, it's funny. 11:07 You know, I heard some reports out of Toronto during the summer that they didn't think Nyes' skating was a strength. 11:16 And for me, for a guy that size, to be able to put that move on another big player and drive to the net and beat him in a situation like that shows me a lot about his skating ability. 11:28 Maybe it doesn't look good in, you know, the NHL, you know, open ice is they're working on edges and stuff. 11:34 But when you see him make that kind of power move in a game situation where it matters, it looked pretty darn good to me. 11:41 He's got to find ways to create offense, bringing the puck to the net night in night out. 11:46 I think sometimes he gets caught up in the cycle and making plays on the wall. 11:50 And I just don't think he's had a ton of chemistry with his linemates so far. 11:54 But you see a little glimpse like that, and you're just like, there is a lot there still to be tapped. 12:02 One thing that was interesting also about this game, Veegs, is that Minnesota needed to come back and score late to tie the game and just to get to overtime. 12:14 I don't remember seeing a lot of that against North Dakota in the past. 12:17 Well, it's funny, Brad Schlossman was talking about it, that North Dakota's had a hard time closing out games at Mariucci, and he was able to pull out of his memory banks like four or five games where Minnesota has been able to come back at the end and take care of the fighting Hawks. 12:34 And Mason Nevers came in off the bench, extra attacker, beaver tail flapping away on the ice. 12:42 And North Dakota was just a split second late trying to adjust to him. 12:46 And maybe they got a stick on it at the end, but he came through with a big goal. 12:50 And Nevers is getting a lot of praise from the coaching staff. 12:54 I don't think it's necessarily something that the fans see or even we've seen, you know, as much. 13:00 He gets a lot of praise in practice, but it hasn't seemed to translate to the games quite as well. 13:06 But he is one of the guys that's picking up the penalty kill the best. 13:09 And you know, he's chipped in some offense too now, which is something they're going to need. 13:13 They're going to need depth throughout their lineup. 13:16 All right. 13:17 Well, three to two overtime victory, game one, game two, a little different. 13:23 And let's hear how Bob thought about it. 13:26 Well, that was an unfortunate four or five minute segment where we we we gave it. 13:34 I mean, we absolutely dominated for 55 minutes. 13:37 And then we took penalties after whistles, after whistles. 13:45 And we let them back in the game and then I'll give our guys credit because outside of that little that little window, our guys battled the night and we played some good hockey. 13:54 It's unfortunate, unfortunate that turned out the way it did. 13:59 But now Veegs, he was definitely frustrated with the penalties. 14:05 I mean, his voice was like, you know, after whistles, he was a little more animated than this weekend about things like that. 14:13 Well, I think it's frustrating for Bob. 14:16 He is generally coach teams that are the lowest in penalty minutes and giving up power play opportunities across the country. 14:24 That's kind of one of his, you know, DNA blueprint things is don't take bad penalties and he addresses them throughout the year so that the guys learn and there's penalties for taking penalties. 14:37 And I think with a young team, we saw, you know, Pitlick throwing the stick, which was just a misconduct. 14:43 It wasn't a minor penalty, although I think it definitely got North Dakota going. 14:48 But then you had Cal Thomas making a bad play against the boards where, you know, you just put yourself in a position where the referee is going to make that kind of call. 14:56 You got Chesley getting a little stick penalty. 14:59 Then you have Cooley, you know, grabbing the face mask. 15:02 You know, those are big momentum turning kinds of plays that that Bob just does not like. 15:08 He hates offensive zone penalties. 15:10 He hates stick penalties. 15:11 He hates after the whistle penalties. 15:13 And so the one bright spot out of this is that they were able to come back and send the game to overtime. 15:19 And that's what you like to see as a coach. 15:21 Even when they have like this little lapse in discipline, they were able to rally back and recover, which is encouraging. 15:30 One thing that was surprising to a lot of fans, Cappy, was Moscow decided to start Martiskevich for game number two. 15:38 I know Vegoe's got some feelings on this, but a lot of us were quite surprised by that. 15:45 I mean, I was, but I, you know, I, you know, I think about it and I, you know, everyone's going to have their opinion. 15:53 But this team isn't, it's October. 15:58 They're not, I don't think they're at any point, they're going to be fighting for a pairwise position of like 12, 13, 14. 16:05 Don't be saying that. 16:07 Whatever. 16:08 Hey, this team is too good. 16:10 I, I'm, hey, I can say it. 16:12 It's, you know, it's not, I'm just calling it the way I've seen this team play so far. 16:17 That they're not, that's not what he's thinking. 16:21 He's thinking, I got to check. 16:22 Now, personally, I would have had him play against Wendon Wood probably in the second game, maybe. 16:28 And he did. 16:29 And he did get that one. 16:31 But he, he, okay. 16:33 Well, then, I didn't know he played that game. 16:37 I thought Close played that game. 16:38 So, yeah, maybe a little more puzzling. 16:42 But you know what? 16:43 Hey, you lost your goalie last year in January. 16:46 Everyone thought the season was over. 16:48 And, you know, Justin hadn't had any time, really, before that. 16:53 And then he comes in there and now he's, now he's, you know, you'd be lost without him. 16:59 It's just crazy how that happens. 17:01 And hey, it was a weird, that was weird five minutes that happened. 17:06 Those pucks. 17:07 It was a weird, it wasn't like he was whiffing on pucks. 17:11 Maybe, you know, with Justin in there. 17:13 He was up high and over him. 17:15 It was really weird. 17:16 Yeah, that first goal, even that Blake goal was a weird one. 17:19 Like, I don't know, like he kind of, it got deflected. 17:21 I'm pretty sure it was going far side and went short side. 17:24 So, I mean, I think that's going in on most goalies, to be honest with you. 17:28 So, for me, hey, this, and what they did, they ended up getting a, whatever, the 33%, whatever the hell, it ended up even out like a split, essentially, for the weekend. 17:40 Frustrating for fans, I'm sure, but in the long run, in the long run, it's not as bad. 17:47 You're not going to remember that come February. 17:50 Or you will, if he's pressed to come in, and he's had a little experience, thankfully, and he's prepared him a little bit. 17:57 And I think it was the recruiting thing I heard about, like maybe, I don't know, one of you guys that talked about it, like we got to know what we have in this guy. 18:05 We need to bring in another goalie type of thing next year. 18:09 These coaches, man, they're thinking not, they're thinking the next minute, the next hour, then the next day, and then six months from now, all that stuff. 18:17 So, there's a lot going into it. 18:19 I know you've got some thoughts on this, Veegs. 18:21 A lot of people were hitting you up on Twitter this weekend. 18:23 Well, let's just hear about what Bob actually thought about it after the game. 18:28 Can you walk me through your decision to start Bartow over close? 18:32 We want to give them a shot. 18:34 We want to get them in there. 18:35 That's all I can tell you. 18:36 I think you said something about after the Minnesota State Series that you need to get these young guys experiencing games like this and on conference to develop your program. 18:44 Is that part of what goes into things like that? 18:47 Absolutely. 18:48 It's still a long season. 18:52 It hit six shots until we put it. 18:56 We kind of hung a bunch of dry there, you know, and I feel bad for him. 19:01 It was kind of a good game for him to feel it, you know, and cruise through the game. 19:05 But then we did some things in front of him that you shouldn't do. 19:12 Veegs, I noticed he had kind of a little smirk for you when you asked that question because he's like, yeah, you're right. 19:21 He's trying not to say anything. 19:25 He's trying not to, but he's got a little smirk I could see there. 19:29 That Wiley Pro Vigo got it out of him. 19:31 Yeah, yeah, exactly. 19:36 So, Lars Gavage, he's a goalie that kind of bailed out the Gophers last year. 19:44 They had a goaltending situation with Lafontaine leaving and Close being the guy. 19:51 Brennan Boynton was not going to be an option for Minnesota. 19:56 Much like Bob Motzko and Jared Moe did not see the eye-eye-eye. 20:01 Same thing with Boynton. 20:02 He just was not going to be an option for the Gophers last year. 20:05 You can see where the guys have started in front of him at AIC. 20:09 Right, he hasn't played at AIC either. 20:11 So there's something there, whatever it is. 20:14 So Bob brings in Bardo, who is a pro-style goalie. 20:19 He's a big body guy. 20:21 He's all the things you look for in physical attributes, with the size, the position, the athleticism. 20:27 You know, there's a project there for him. 20:29 But he's a young goalie. 20:31 He needs to play games to improve. 20:33 As much as people think that you can practice and get better, the goaltending position is very different. 20:40 You have to see live pucks. 20:42 You have to see adversity. 20:44 You have to give up bad goals. 20:45 You have to be in front of a crowd. 20:47 These are things that are important for goaltender development. 20:50 Justin Close, he played like 60, 70 games a year in Kindersley. 20:55 He's an older player, mature player. 20:57 He's played a lot of games. 20:59 Bartosz Kiewicz hasn't. 21:01 He's not from a big hockey background. 21:03 He played in Texas. 21:05 He played a little bit in the USHL. 21:07 He wasn't the number one, number one guy. 21:10 So he's got to get some opportunities in the net. 21:13 And, you know, they took that away from him. 21:14 I pulled him out of Youngstown last year. 21:16 And so he needs some games here and there. 21:19 And it's October and recruiting is underway. 21:24 And if you need to find a goalie to fill in, you know, they've got Weiss, who's the kind of old tonic kid, who's a late bloomer for hockey. 21:32 He's a football player, mainly, I think, in high school, then decide goalie's his thing. 21:37 That's their third goalie right now. 21:40 So if you're a program like Minnesota, you can't have a bad situation in goal. 21:45 If you think whatever you have in goal is unclear in the future, you're going to put more eggs in the basket of either recruiting a goalie or looking at guys who are going to be in the portal. 21:56 And they have to know that. 21:57 And you're not going to tell that in games against Lyndon Wood, you know, every time. 22:05 They need to play some big games. 22:07 And Bob didn't want to do that, putting him in the net at Minnesota State, but at home against North Dakota after they won an overtime game the night before, playing well the last six games, that's a pretty safe situation. 22:19 And it looked that way up until the penalty. 22:22 Yeah, up until, well, or even up until, you know, Pitlick scored and threw his stick up over the glass. 22:31 Can't we just have some fun? 22:33 No, I get it. 22:34 They probably were like, they're probably like, did he do that on purpose? 22:38 Like they were probably shocked. 22:39 Like, did he do that on purpose? 22:41 We got to do something about that, right? 22:43 But then the guy threw it back on the ice. 22:45 I'm like, okay, let's just play on. 22:47 The Sioux fan, you know, the Hawk fan got his revenge by throwing it back on the ice like a wriggly field throwing a ball back from a home run for the visiting team. 22:57 But yeah, that was unfortunate. 23:01 I was up in the radio booth because it's a slightly different place where I could shoot and up and down in the ice. 23:05 So I was right next to Frank and Wally and Pat McAleady. 23:10 And I didn't see Pat's reaction, but Frank and Wally, they were like, oh my God, they were, they were sitting back and they're just like, did that just happen? 23:22 And then Veegs, you were even asking, is this something that's going on in the NHL? 23:25 Am I missing something? 23:26 Well, I'm asking if it's something in the video game because Zegras and Hughes have done this after overtime goals as part of their celebration. 23:35 They go up and throw in, it's overtime, so the game's over. 23:37 Overtime game over, right. 23:38 So I was trying to think, you know, NHL 23 just came out for the PS5 or whatever version we're on right now. 23:44 I'm 43, I'm not as hip to that as I was 20 years ago when I was playing the games. 23:50 But I remember back then there was an update made to the series where after you scored a goal, you could do cellies. 23:58 So you could do like the archer, you could do the kayak, you could do the magician. 24:03 Like there are all these celebrations you could unlock. 24:06 The swordsman and so... 24:08 The team who shotgun thing or... 24:09 Yes, you could throw your glove up in the air and shoot it. 24:12 You know, there's all kinds of cellies that you could unlock in the game. 24:15 So I'm just wondering, did NHL 23 just come out and the kids have been playing it and there's a throw the stick in the stand celly and Pat looks like, I'm doing that against North Dakota. 24:25 I'm doing it, not thinking of the consequences. 24:28 I think it had more about him thinking, I should have scored long before this. 24:33 It was his first goal of the season. 24:38 Maybe he just felt like something was off his back. 24:42 But he obviously got the 10-minute misconda, got out roughly two to three minutes, something like that left in the second, didn't play. 24:52 Then he didn't play through 15 minutes, roughly. 24:57 Yeah, he was stapled to the back bench. 24:59 He was. 24:59 Next to Ben Gordon. 25:01 And he was sitting back. 25:01 Just taking it and he was sitting back. 25:03 But you've talked about presence and attitude. 25:07 And like kind of coach kind of waits a lot of times. 25:09 And he's thinking, you know, he's sitting back. 25:11 He's not thinking he's going to play. 25:12 If he's being forwarded into the game standing, maybe I should put him in there. 25:16 It turns out Pidlick was just sitting back. 25:19 But Mats Gobe, after he lost Cooley, he was running short on lines and short on energy. 25:26 So he had to throw him back out there. 25:29 And boy, he came this close from scoring about seven seconds after he jumped on the ice, which would have just been nuts. 25:40 But just thinking that I don't think he would have played unless they were not short on players. 25:47 Yeah, I think once Cooley was out of the game, the bench was short and they were getting a little fatigued. 25:51 You could see during the third period, North Dakota started going to their cycle and they weren't even really looking to put pucks on that. 25:59 And it was a situation where the Gophers just didn't have the legs to go end plays and get the puck back. 26:04 So that was a tough spot. 26:06 But yeah, I was thinking back to Kevin Fiala and how the Wild treated him and how he got benched sometimes at the end of games. 26:13 And their coach basically said, well, I wanted to see how he was going to react personally. 26:17 You know, is he going to sit there and pout? 26:19 Or is he just going to say, well, I might not be playing, but I can support my teammates. 26:23 And once he saw that, he put him in the game. 26:26 Now, I don't think that's what Bob was doing. 26:28 I think Bob was going, we're looking tired. 26:30 We could really use a guy like Brett out there. 26:34 And it almost paid off. 26:35 If he would have done maybe a little bit louder beaver tap, like Nevers, maybe we would have seen goals like that and back to back nights. 26:42 Cappy, have you ever done anything stupid like that in a game? 26:47 Or what is something stupid you've done? 26:49 You're thinking, what the hell was I thinking? 26:54 I mean, I only have a long enough show for that. 26:59 I mean, I've never done a celebration really that I can remember. 27:03 Maybe anything just like kind of like to the crowd or something. 27:07 If you're on the road, the student section like Cornell has a really fun student section. 27:13 Yeah, I mean, I wrote one story when I was playing. 27:17 We're playing Cornell. 27:18 It was the day of Ohio State, Michigan football game. 27:21 And we're playing them that night on Saturday. 27:23 And Michigan beat us at noon, noon game, whatever. 27:26 We come out for warmups and the Cornell band is playing the Michigan fight song as we enter the ice for warmups. 27:33 That's pretty damn good. 27:37 Yeah, it was funny. 27:40 I mean, I laughed. 27:41 I love that kind of stuff. 27:43 But you want to be able to give back to them. 27:45 And we ended up beating them. 27:47 And you could taunt the fans a little bit. 27:49 So it's give and take with that. 27:51 That's a whole different story. 27:53 This dig toss, I was like, you know, I have seen it. 27:57 Like you talked about, I've seen those guys toss them. 27:59 Yes, and over time, a game is over. 28:03 Mistakes are done. 28:05 But we're in that world where we see everything and we copy what we like, you know, and he, you know, the emotion of scoring a big goal, he lost it. 28:15 I'm sure he won't do that again, you know, based on the punishment. 28:19 And I'm sure the coaches spoke to him. 28:22 And I think it's something where, like, it'll be, it's a good lesson to get in October, right? 28:28 Vig's not in February or March. 28:30 So to go back to the game and not go on a huge tangent, I just, I liked how the game ended, because you're watching that, and you watch them score the fourth goal, and you look at the bench, because it goes right to Bob, right? 28:43 And then you see the players, and a lot of players have deer in the headlight eyes, like, holy shit, what just happened, right? 28:50 But they came back, they battled back, they were the better team most of the series, which that hasn't always been the case with when they're playing North Dakota. 28:59 So I can see Bob's, he's like, I want to punch them, but then I also want to hug them. 29:04 It's like both emotions, like he's pissed at them, but then he's also happy with them because they did some things where you've seen the Gophers get some trouble like that and then it just goes downhill and they lose 6-2, right? 29:18 And that did not happen, they came back, they got the percentage points, whatever you want to call it. 29:25 And so I, you know, lessons learned hopefully, but I love the way they came back in that game. 29:31 Vig's, Matzka used the word battled. 29:35 And they really did, you know, after they were down, after they were stupid, they really recovered. 29:42 Couldn't quite win the game, but he liked what he saw. 29:47 Well, I think that's the biggest thing we can take out of the last two series for Minnesota against the Mavericks and Fighting Hawks. 29:53 Those are typically two series where Minnesota has had a tendency to get caught up showing off their skill in transition. 30:00 I thought these last two series, they showed their compete. 30:04 They showed their battle in front of the net, winning second chances with their forecheck. 30:10 I just was really impressed with that. 30:12 That's something we haven't seen in Minnesota for quite a while. 30:17 Definitely, definitely. 30:18 Well, we're wrapping up that part of the season, and now we're kicking off the non-conference part of the season. 30:25 But before we get into that, we need to hear from our sponsor. 30:29 Hey Gopher Hockey fans, Jerry Peters here with First Class Mortgage. 30:33 Mortgage rates have gone up in 2022. 30:36 We've seen it on the news all year long, and many first-time home buyers are asking themselves, can I still afford to buy a home? 30:43 My question is, can you still afford to rent? 30:46 The Department of Housing and Urban Development recently came out with their American Home Ownership Survey. 30:51 It shows that the median renter now pays almost the identical monthly payment as the median homeowner. 30:58 In fact, over the past two years, the national median monthly payment for homeowners has gone up 5.5%, while at the same time it's gone up 10.6% for renters. 31:10 What does all this mean? 31:11 It means it's still a really good time to buy a house, and if you're in the market, let me help. 31:16 My telephone number is 612-940-3291. 31:20 My email address is jerry at firstclasscorp.com, or go to firstclassmortgage.com and fill out a free online application. 31:29 Mention you heard about me on the GPL Podcast and receive a $500 closing cost credit. 31:34 Some restrictions do apply. 31:36 My NMLS number is 480200. 31:39 First Class Mortgages is 322842. 31:42 This is not an agreement to lock into an interest rate under Minnesota law. 31:46 First Class Mortgage is an equal housing lender. 31:51 Alright, thank you to Jerry for sponsoring the GPL Podcast. 31:57 Well, it's time to play Ohio State. 32:00 That's why we always have Cappy on. 32:01 He's obviously a former player, former superstar with the Ohio State Buckeyes. 32:09 Cappy, Ohio State, they're leading the lead. 32:12 Six points. 32:12 They swept Wisconsin already. 32:14 When we thought Wisconsin really wasn't much, I'm not sure they still are, but at least they're out in the lead so far. 32:22 Yeah, who knows, right? 32:24 With Wisconsin, I feel like the Buckeyes won four games last week. 32:29 They got credit for, you know, they swept, and then they got another sweep because Wisconsin goes out and sweeps Duluth, which is that's going to be great for pairwise probably down the road, you would think. 32:42 I assume Duluth is going to turn it around or who knows, but the guys that you expected to be their top guys are being their top guys, and then they have a couple of, well, one transfer, I think, and defense that's helped, and then a couple of freshmen. 33:02 The two names that obviously stick out are Stephen Holliday. 33:05 Holliday's got nine points leading the team, and then Tyler Duke on the back end, whose brother obviously is Dylan. 33:12 Michigan's a sophomore. 33:14 He's a US national team. 33:15 They don't get a lot of US national team guys at Ohio State. 33:18 They got him to go into that decor with Lorai and McWard to really solidify things, and it all starts in that. 33:27 Dobish is, you call me biased or not, Portillo's right there. 33:31 I love Justin Close, too, but I think Dobish might be the most talented, and it's showing right now. 33:38 I mean, his numbers are great, and he also had a kind of a stinker at UConn, too, and his numbers are still really dynamite. 33:44 So it starts in the net, and, you know, it's Steve Rolick's system, as Veegs loves to, you know, they're very smart. 33:51 They don't make a ton of mistakes, and their power play has been pretty good so far this year. 33:56 They got eight power play goals and eight games, so, you know, we'll see. 34:01 They're still that team. 34:02 They don't have stars up front. 34:04 They're going to come at you with three, four lines, but they can all chip in some goals. 34:09 They're going to get some sick of guys like Sedlocha, the senior. 34:12 He's kind of coming alive at five goals. 34:14 You didn't expect that. 34:15 So, you know, I think I heard Rolik once say earlier, he's like, hey, I just want everybody to get a little more. 34:22 So if a guy had had five goals last year, maybe he gets eight this year. 34:25 A guy that had 10, maybe he gets 12 or 13. 34:28 And, you know, just improve a little bit, and that'll help balance because, you know, losing Georgie from last year is really the one big link that they lost. 34:39 Well, like Kavi said, Veegs, it starts with Dobish. 34:43 It really does. 34:44 He can shut anybody down. 34:47 Yeah, I think that's always the big concern when you play a team like Ohio State because they can really frustrate you with their structure if you let them. 34:55 So they're going to have to find ways to get him moving. 34:58 You know, I thought Dobish got tired at the end of last year and just wasn't the same goalie down the stretch maybe for Ohio State that he was early in the year. 35:08 So maybe that's something for Minnesota to really focus on is have long zone time possessions and try to wear him down a little bit. 35:16 Maybe being early in the year, that's an opportunity for them to attack the Buckeyes. 35:21 But I do think Ohio State is my third team or maybe fourth team in the Big Ten, depending on how Michigan does. 35:30 I think Notre Dame is the clear challenger with Minnesota for the top of the league. 35:35 But I think Ohio State, they've just got so much veteran depth. 35:41 And I think they're going to be a deep team. 35:42 And Rolick always seems to find a way to figure out what he has on his roster and how to make it work. 35:49 When he's got skill and talent that can get in transition, he finds ways to use those guys and use their strengths. 35:58 When he's got a team that's got a good goalie and good defenseman, he puts in a tight structure and a neutral zone setup that really limits other teams. 36:07 And he's a great coach. 36:09 And I think he knows what he has here and it'll be a big test for Minnesota. 36:14 Corey asking, the day the Gophers finally get an NHL-bound Dobish slash Portillo is the day they become unstoppable. 36:21 We thought we had that LaFontaine, Veegs. 36:24 He was the goaltender of the year. 36:29 And he was a drafted goalie and he was your prototypical guy. 36:33 You know, big butterfly, positionally sound, very athletic. 36:38 That was a big surprise when he left. 36:41 But I think one thing with Minnesota and goaltending, the state as a whole does not produce a ton of great goaltenders. 36:48 For whatever reason, the community model of Minnesota, you put your best athletes at defense. 36:55 And Minnesota does a tremendous job developing defensemen. 36:59 But our goaltending development in the state has always kind of fallen a little bit behind. 37:04 There's been a couple, like Audinger, was a high pick type guy. 37:09 I think there's one other that I'm missing. 37:11 But there's a lot of other guys, like Hunter Shepard was not viewed as a dominant goaltender at Grand Rapids. 37:17 He played in the NHL for a couple years. 37:19 And then he gets back to back to titles at UMD. 37:23 Who saw that coming? 37:25 So I think it's tricky to project goalies. 37:28 And Minnesota definitely hasn't had the elite, elite, talented goalies. 37:32 They've found some good ones, like Shearhorn and Wilcox have been good, but they just haven't had the great, great ones. 37:39 Lindgren was the other one. 37:40 Charlie Lindgren was good, but I don't think he was deemed like a top, top player. 37:45 You know, when he was a goaltending prospect, he was very good at St. 37:50 Cloud, but he wasn't that kind of prospect when he was coming up. 37:54 So what do you expect? 37:55 Will you be the only one? 37:56 Hauser? 37:59 I mean, there's Hauser, there's Frazee. 38:00 A little back 20 years. 38:03 Even Hauser was thrown under the bus a lot. 38:06 I mean, it's even famous, the old, you know, KFAN guy, you know, Jeff Dubay on here. 38:11 He was on the podcast many years ago. 38:13 You know, when he wins the National Championship, Hauser does, first thing he does when he walks by Dubay, what do you think of me now? 38:20 Because Dubay would just love to throw him under the bus. 38:25 A lot of people like Aubur, but it's not like he had, I mean, he was in the NHL for a while, Veegs, but it wasn't... 38:34 Yeah, I mean, even if you look at college goalies, I looked at like the last 10 teams to win National Championships. 38:41 It's pretty rare for those goalies to go on and be like NHL stars. 38:46 Like, they have a hard time even finding a spot in the NHL sometimes. 38:51 So it's a little strange, college goal-tending. 38:54 Like, who would have thought that guy at Minnesota State? 38:58 Man, how did he do it? 39:02 Who knows? 39:03 Hey, man, Justin Close. 39:04 Hey, talk about what would be a story. 39:09 That is the story of all stories right there. 39:12 I know you're talking about homegrown guys, and that was behind it. 39:16 But man, that'd be incredible stuff. 39:21 Close is a steady goalie. 39:23 He doesn't give up a lot of big rebounds. 39:24 He's very calm in the net. 39:26 I think he moves pretty well. 39:28 The one problem I think with him is when there's a lot of traffic or there's battles in front of the net, and he has to just try to get big, he can only get so big. 39:39 We saw North Dakota's power play. 39:41 They got the goal where one time he was kind of, well, that was Bartle. 39:48 That's the situation that a guy like Close can get in, where they have to think about cheating across. 39:54 Right now, with the way the go for penalty kill is, that's something he'll have to think about when they're playing Ohio State. 40:01 Right. 40:02 Happy, when is Ohio State going to get just a normal arena for hockey? 40:07 You know, why do you have to bring that up? 40:12 I mean, you have to. 40:15 Honestly, you more have to do it, and you guys will respect this because you have it, but you have a national championship, number one ranked women's hockey team playing in a garage. 40:27 And I'm not afraid to say it anymore because, and I love my school. 40:31 I went there and all that, but every other program has gotten a brand new building. 40:35 Like the volleyball team in wrestling has this beautiful new arena. 40:40 There's all kinds of new stuff all over the place at Ohio State. 40:44 You have a number one Ohio State women's hockey team just won the national championship. 40:49 You have a perennial top 10 to 15 men's team in the last 10 years under Steve Rollock. 40:56 And there's just, it's not coming. 41:01 I'm not afraid to say it. 41:02 I'm not trying to make anyone mad. 41:04 It's a lot of money. 41:05 I get that. 41:06 But it is a travesty. 41:10 That, especially the women's team. 41:11 I don't know, you guys have probably never come near that ring. 41:14 They're playing in a little practice ring that could maybe get about a thousand people in it. 41:20 And they are a national championship winning team. 41:23 And they're the number one team in the country now. 41:25 So I'm trying to get on that. 41:27 But you fired me up. 41:31 Nadine is not like a quiet coach. 41:34 She's a loud personality. 41:36 She is outgoing. 41:37 I can't believe it hasn't happened with her behind the bench. 41:41 You know, yeah. 41:43 A 5,000 seat arena. 41:44 I mean, that's kind of the standard. 41:46 I would take a 3,000 seat arena. 41:50 Well, let's put it this way. 41:52 Let's make something for both teams. 41:55 Right, but what I heard... 41:56 Because, sorry, you're not going to fill a 15,000 seat arena with the men's team either, at least not now. 42:02 No, no. 42:04 The last rumor I've heard, and I'm so secure in this stuff, is that they were going to maybe build a 2,000 to 3,000 seat arena attached to the shot and scene center that the women would play in and then it would be the practice facility for both so that the men's team would be there the whole time. 42:21 And then maybe you'd still play most of your games in the shop and they would play maybe like their non-conference games early in the year, say, against whoever they get. 42:30 The men would play, you know, Bentley, who they just played. 42:34 If they came next year, they would play in that small arena when they know they're not going to get crowds. 42:40 But I don't, it's been all rumored, you know, it's just... 42:45 You got 90 million? 42:47 I mean, they do have the money, but they just don't feel, of course they do. 42:52 They just, hey, you know, I've fought it for so long. 42:57 I mean, hey, everything about the Shoddenton Center is great, aside from you're in too big of a place, like the locker room is great, the workout facility, everything is great, except for you don't get the, you know, the good vibes, you know, college style vibes. 43:14 You know, I bring it up because how great would it be? 43:17 You've got number one men's team coming in this weekend. 43:20 You've got number two women's team coming in this weekend. 43:24 Those games could have great atmospheres for both games. 43:28 Well, instead, they're going to play them about at the same time. 43:31 The men are going to play in this gargantuan place, and the women are going to play in the dump at the same time. 43:36 So, you know, people can't even go watch both games. 43:41 Right. 43:42 And I was just thinking how great would the atmosphere be this weekend for both if you had like a doubleheader in the afternoon and evening game and the men's team? 43:50 Because you get a 4,000, 5,000 seat arena, that place is going to be hopping, Cappy, but you've got 4,000 or 5,000 in that cavern. 43:59 It's just not going to work. 44:01 Yeah, and you know what's funny is they've gotten great, like the Gophers, their student section is, I'm almost jealous because we did not even have one back then. 44:10 And we actually got good crowds. 44:11 Like, we were post Christmas, that bottom bowl was full, you know, because we had a good team. 44:17 And it was different than we had NHL guys on our, you know, we had some names on our team back then. 44:21 But the student sections is really great back there now. 44:26 So I think it's going to be a lot like that this weekend, where you're going to get a bunch of students in there. 44:31 I think they're trying to do some promotions. 44:34 But then, yeah, it's late October, man. 44:36 People are thinking about Buckeye football. 44:39 Even on a Friday night, you know, it's like people have their, okay, it's this season now, then it's hockey season this time of year. 44:49 I mean, I think, hey, I don't think they're going to have terrible crowds, but it won't be like eight or nine thousand that you might see in February, like last year when they were there playing the Gophers. 45:03 Bob did say at availability today that his team had no problem getting up for the Mavericks. 45:10 They had no problem getting up for the Fighting Hawks. 45:14 And then he didn't quite go forward, but he said energy is going to be important this week for our team. 45:19 We're going to have to figure out a way to bring our own energy. 45:22 You could feel it in practice on Monday that everything was a little down. 45:26 Maybe it's because they had to watch Rhett Pitlick skate Herbie's or something, because he did say he was going to address that on Monday, and they felt bad for their teammate. 45:35 But you could just tell that their energy level is not quite up to where it could be. 45:41 So that's going to be an issue for them on Friday and Saturday at Ohio State. 45:46 I kind of wonder sometimes with a place like that, I'm not as familiar with the campus as I am in the University of Minnesota, but at the University of Minnesota, it is hard to find a place to do a construction project. 45:58 They kind of have to go find plots of real estate to do projects like that. 46:04 I know St. 46:04 Thomas, as they're looking for a site for their rink, they've been shot down all over. 46:09 And it sounds like they're going to have to tear down some dorms and build a rink on campus and just deal with their own neighborhood for that. 46:16 It's going to be a parking and transportation mess. 46:19 But that looks to be the place where they're going to have to build their rink. 46:23 But is there a situation like that at Ohio State with how things are going? 46:28 You know, I don't... 46:29 It's exhausting. 46:31 There's land out there just past where the hockey... 46:34 Hockey's kind of lined up along with baseball right there. 46:38 And then behind it, now you'd be a little farther away, but there's plenty of parking there and the students can find their way to get there. 46:46 Nowadays, with transportation and whatnot, they make it pretty accessible. 46:53 I don't know. 46:54 I know what's back there. 46:55 I'm not trying to make excuses for them. 46:57 No, no. 46:58 I don't know what the politics is of it. 47:00 Because what I know from what I've been told, where all that... 47:07 The old ice rink where the women play, then they have these very old facilities, the former basketball slash volleyball slash wrestling. 47:18 They still do the skull session there for the football pregame. 47:22 Those places are ancient. 47:23 And you'd love for them to demolish them and do something else. 47:26 But from what I've heard, if they bust those down, they don't belong to the athletic department anymore. 47:33 So it would not be there to build sports facilities, is what I've been told. 47:40 And I don't know what they would do at St. 47:41 John's. 47:41 St. 47:41 John's is an old classic building. 47:43 I don't think they want to knock that down. 47:44 That tradition of football and the skull session there as they walk through, the players walk in there and they play on the way to the game is like the biggest tradition at Ohio State, aside from dotting the I's. 47:54 So I don't know what's going to happen. 47:56 I honestly, and I appreciate you asking me because you got me all fired up late at night, which is fine. 48:03 But I don't know. 48:05 I go in and I have friendships. 48:08 Jamie Binder was a teammate of mine. 48:09 So and I, you know, I see Steve Rolick and I'll go in and have a chat. 48:13 And they'll they'll say, well, we saw this. 48:16 And, you know, and but they get mad too because, you know, it's just frustrating because it's not all about just, hey, build it. 48:24 You know, the politics of the money and everything. 48:28 It's just not easy. 48:30 Every team is going to do it. 48:32 Every coach is going to say our facilities stink. 48:34 We need better facilities. 48:36 It's kind of the thing to do. 48:44 But you really need that corporate, you need that fan, that you need a famous player that goes on the NHL Network, so talk about it and says, just some other type of pressures because bigs, coaches are always going to say that, no matter what. 48:59 Well, every school wants to make upgrades. 49:02 You know, Mary Jean's getting upgrades for a long time. 49:04 It was the locker room and then it was the training facilities and now it's going to be the ice size. 49:09 And I think you just have to try to keep up. 49:11 And I think the contracts that the BigTen is signing for their TV deals eventually will trickle down and handle some of these issues. 49:19 Because with Minnesota, they're not getting donors for this next round of upgrades at Mary Jean. 49:25 It's coming from that TV money. 49:27 So I imagine eventually, Ohio State is going to be in the same situation. 49:32 And the tricky thing about it is the facilities aren't bad. 49:36 It's like, well, at least for the men, everything at that arena is first class. 49:41 It's just the game atmosphere is what's the missing part. 49:45 And that can't be quantified. 49:47 You know, it's not the same as, if you're a top recruit, and this is my school, I don't want to knock this down with the women's team, but you walk into that building, or you walk in, if I'm Nadine, I'm not showing, I'm showing these people everything but the rink. 50:06 Like, who I'm going to bring you in, I'm taking you to a football game, I'm showing you all the beautiful stuff there, I am not showing you, I'm showing you two minutes of practice and have the players take you, whatever, show you all the great stuff around. 50:19 And that's just bottom line what it is. 50:21 There's no way to short-code that. 50:24 Alright, Veegs, let's talk about the games. 50:30 Friday night, 5.30 game, Big Ten Network, Cappy was saying before, it sounds like Fred Pletch will be on the call there. 50:38 Saturday is not on regular TV, it's a 4pm start, it will be on BTN Plus streaming only, so probably a student crew, but hey, get to see it. 50:48 But thoughts on the actual games themselves here? 50:52 I think for Minnesota, they're going to be making some changes to their forward groups. 50:58 I'm interested to see what that looks like. 51:00 Minnesota is dealing with a couple of illnesses that have come in, a couple of bumps and bruises after the start of the season, so I don't expect to see any big surprises with things, but it's going to be interesting to see what Bob does. 51:13 I think he wants to get Cooley a little more comfortable on the ice. 51:18 I think he wants to get Hughlin contributing a little bit more offense. 51:21 I think he's playing okay, but it's just not leading to productivity, so I think that's something they're looking to do. 51:28 I think Brody Lamb has been a surprise for Minnesota this season. 51:32 You know, they weren't even planning to bring him in this year until bros left, you know, and that opened up a spot, and Bob said, you know what, we're not going to have you spend another year in Green Bay. 51:44 We've got a little spot for you if you want to take it. 51:46 And so he's been a nice surprise. 51:48 I think Charlie Strobel has been a surprise. 51:50 So trying to figure out how to fit those guys on lines where they can be productive is going to be important. 51:56 And the other thing is the penalty kill. 51:58 It has not looked good the last couple of times out. 52:02 It's not good. 52:02 Yeah, you know, North Dakota really took advantage of Minnesota. 52:07 One, getting them out of their rotations at the top of the zone, and two, beating them at the net. 52:12 You know, there are guys attacking the net, and then they were just getting outnumbered. 52:16 And Minnesota was not clearing the puck on the chances where they had to make clears. 52:20 So I think those are some big points of emphasis. 52:23 You know, Bob doesn't want to work on the penalty killing games, obviously, but it's going to happen from time to time. 52:32 What does Ohio State need to do to win this weekend, Cappy? 52:37 Play better at home against Minnesota. 52:40 I think maybe they're happy that, I think they're happy that they're getting the home series in the first half of the year, because the last, I don't know, I can't remember, three, four years, it's always been the reverse where they played at Minnesota early, and they'd have that February series at Ohio State, and Minnesota would come in and take at least four points, it seemed like. 52:59 You know, last year they swept them. 53:01 They just got on that roll. 53:02 That was when that Pitlick, Huglin, and I think it was Lucius line just lit them up. 53:08 If I recall, at least in the one game, Pitlick had a couple of goals in one of the games. 53:13 You know, if Minnesota is struggling, the Buckeyes are going to have to score on the power play. 53:18 And they've been as consistent as I can remember in the last three or four years on the power play, you know, early in the season, eight games in. 53:26 You know, Mason Loura is a captain, you know, he captains that power play. 53:31 He's a first round talent. 53:33 He's a stud with the puck back there. 53:36 And Wise, Wise can score a power play goal and this freshman, Stephen Halliday, who I mentioned, he's a sniper. 53:43 You know, he's only got two, but they're both power play goals so far. 53:46 He's got seven assists. 53:48 He's got some hands on him. 53:50 He's a guy that he wants to puck, you know, on that side wall or that hop top of the circle. 53:56 He's a left-handed shot, so on that right circle. 53:58 And then, you know, Dobish has got to be good, obviously. 54:03 I mean, that's, you know, but Minnesota's got so much coming out. 54:08 You say that you're trying to find their lines. 54:09 I'm like, they remind me of Ohio State. 54:12 That is where I think anybody can score, and they have depth that way. 54:15 But then they have these ultra ridiculous talent guys, too, that hasn't come every game. 54:21 And it will be interesting Friday, and that's why I have a certain prediction for the series. 54:25 But it is tough. 54:28 It's going to be tough for the Gophers, I think, coming down from such an emotional, especially Saturday night's game, and the highs and lows, and the roller coasters there. 54:38 But Buckeyes, the power play is going to be big, especially, like you said, if Minnesota is struggling on the PK, and then, you know, Dovish and Nets. 54:44 I mean, that's just kind of, that's going to be every game. 54:47 If someone asks me a game, Ohio State needs to be successful, Dovish plays well. 54:53 Well, then let's hear that prediction. 54:54 What do you think? 54:55 What are the point distributions this weekend? 54:59 I think, I think the game will go to overtime on Friday. 55:02 Or yeah, first game one, the game will go to overtime. 55:05 And then what? 55:07 We're playing three on three. 55:08 So who knows? 55:08 I'll say Ohio State wins in overtime. 55:10 And then I think the Gophers take game two. 55:14 They're just, just from what I've seen, it's very early. 55:18 They played six games. 55:19 I just think that that D-Core is just elite and they have enough scoring up front that it's going to happen. 55:24 And Justin Close is a really solid goalie. 55:27 He's exactly what this type of team needs. 55:31 I just think right now it's going to be great hockey, I think, again. 55:35 And the only way I see the Buckeyes maybe splitting is if Minnesota comes out. 55:41 And like you said, they're just drained a little bit on Friday night after that series. 55:48 What about you, Biggs? 55:51 Boy, I am nervous about Friday's game. 55:55 Just the kind of the energy around the team and the program and some illness creeping in. 56:00 I think it's definitely like that trap game kind of feel where they are probably going to be making some uncharacteristic mistakes. 56:10 They're going to be on the kill. 56:11 There could be some bad goals around the net, things like that for Minnesota when they're going up against a very veteran Ohio State team that I think is going to play pretty steady. 56:19 I could see Minnesota out shooting them like 40 to 20 or something like that and kind of controlling play, but I don't think they're going to come out with the win on Friday. 56:29 I think Ohio State steals the first one. 56:31 And then I think Minnesota is going to get a little bit of a tough film session Saturday morning and play much stronger on Saturday, much more disciplined. 56:40 That's just what I think and I think we'll see a split. 56:43 I'm kind of thinking along the lines of you, Cappy, but with Minnesota winning in overtime Friday night, and I'm just trying to get back to Mr. 56:49 Positivity and saying five points for the Gophers, which still puts them behind Ohio State in the standings, but you're going to talk games in hand in October. 57:06 So obviously what's going to happen is Minnesota is going to win six to two on Friday and the Buckeyes are going to win three to two on Saturday. 57:13 Just like we thought last week, we had a wide open game Friday night, but they'll hunker down Saturday. 57:22 Yep. 57:23 Kind of the opposite happened. 57:24 I think they played real structure and then they just couldn't help themselves on Saturday. 57:28 But I think that's what we'll see. 57:30 You know, I'm not going to say. 57:32 Yeah, I mean, I guess I'm sorry. 57:36 I guess the one thing I'll say is that, you know, like I just said, Minnesota has got some good vibes of playing in that building and with a lot of those same players back, especially the D, like Jackson LeCombe has played really well there. 57:48 Johnson has played well there. 57:50 And then, like I said, Huguen and Pitlick last year as young freshmen, they were kind of like their coming out party a little bit. 57:56 You saw Pitlick score a couple of really nice goals. 57:59 You know, you walk into certain buildings. 58:01 You know, I had a couple of those when I played. 58:03 Notre Dame was a dump, but it was a, I had a great games there. 58:06 So I loved going into that place. 58:08 Miami, Ohio was that. 58:09 Guys go into buildings that they, you know, maybe feel a little extra juice because they remember, oh, I had some good games here before. 58:16 So that could be a factor, I think, for the Gophers. 58:19 And I think we'll see Hugeland and Pitlick together this weekend. 58:22 I think that's a pairing that works going forward. 58:25 They're both players who do very well controlling the puck along the wall and then coming off the wall to make offense. 58:31 I think you pair those two guys together, you got something going there. 58:37 Agreed, 100 percent. 58:38 Thanks for coming on with us again, Cappy. 58:42 You got it. 58:42 I'll see you guys in December. 58:45 Well, you'll see me in December. 58:50 No, mostly studio stuff for me this year is what it looks like. 58:54 But one thing I guess I'll say it now is we're still on the podcast. 58:58 If you want to, I'll be on Big Ten today, tomorrow via Zoom. 59:04 And we'll do like a 10 or 12 minute preview of the Big Ten season. 59:08 And then at the end, we'll get a little preview of the game Friday night. 59:12 Beat that out. 59:13 I'll pop it on there an hour before the show or so tomorrow morning. 59:20 Perfect. 59:21 Look for that. 59:22 You get the palm trees in the background tomorrow as well. 59:24 Well, when the sun's out, I'll try to get the window. 59:28 Don't you have a remote set up at the golf course before your tea time or you can just do it? 59:33 I should, shouldn't I? 59:34 I mean, just I should put it. 59:37 I should put my phone up on the cart on the inside and just drive the cart and talk, pull out, hit a shot, keep talking. 59:44 Really obnoxious golf outfit, really bright colors. 59:49 I'm not that guy. 59:51 I can't do that. 59:52 I'd make fun of that guy. 59:54 I'd be a hypocrite if I hadn't met that guy too. 59:57 Well, anyway, thanks for coming on, man. 59:59 It's always great. 1:00:03 Still working on my stuff. 1:00:04 It's been a busy week for me, so I'm deep into might and squirt practices right now. 1:00:09 So we'll get there. 1:00:11 Tensity ramping up. 1:00:13 Yeah, season's coming up. 1:00:14 We're getting our schedule next week. 1:00:15 What do you mean season's coming up? 1:00:17 They're just starting? 1:00:18 Oh, yeah, youth hockey. 1:00:20 We're just getting underway. 1:00:22 Minnesota's weird like that. 1:00:24 They have the best players. 1:00:24 High school doesn't start till late. 1:00:26 I know. 1:00:29 I talk to my friends in the Chicagoland area. 1:00:31 They've played 10 games in the middle. 1:00:34 That's not high school, is it? 1:00:36 No, I know. 1:00:37 I'm just saying youth hockey. 1:00:38 Community model. 1:00:40 It's wild. 1:00:43 It's so much anyway. 1:00:45 Oh, that's all good. 1:00:46 Well, that's going to do it for this episode of the GPL Podcast. 1:00:51 I want to thank again Paul for joining us this week. 1:00:55 It's always great to have him on. 1:00:56 We're taking next week off mostly because it's my birthday and I want the week off and I'm turning 50. 1:01:05 So we'll be back in two weeks. 1:01:06 We'll recap this and then we'll talk a little bit about that Notre Dame series that will also happen in between. 1:01:11 For those of you currently watching live, stay tuned for some overtime. 1:01:16 For the rest, you will see next time on The GPL Podcast.