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Now, here's Joop and Vigo.
1:03
Good evening, and welcome to The GPL Podcast, episode number 222.
1:12
Well, Vegoe, we took a couple weeks off, or one week off, because I felt like I kept celebrating my birthday, so I did.
1:18
And we've had a lot of hockey since our last podcast.
1:23
Yeah, two weekends of action.
1:25
You know, the first big road trip to Ohio State against a very veteran squad out in a quiet arena, challenging atmosphere, and then Notre Dame at home, which I thought was a pretty good series for the Gophers.
1:38
Yes, I would agree.
1:40
Before we get to the pretty good though, Bob was not happy with the performance Friday night at Ohio State.
1:51
Yeah, I think he was concerned about it all week.
1:54
You know, sometimes when you're coaching a team, you just get a sense during the week of practice that the guys are just not up for it.
2:04
And they feel like they're just going to go into the weekend and they're going to be able to perform.
2:09
When you're competing at a high level like the Gophers are, you can't really get away with that, especially against a veteran Ohio State team that's got a real good goaltender, some veteran players and a good coach that knows how to prepare a team to play Minnesota.
2:25
And I think it was a surprise for some of the Gophers to get in that environment.
2:31
And Bob references after the weekend that just getting the one power play opportunity on Friday night was a big indicator that they just weren't working hard enough.
2:42
You know, as whereas The Wild the other night complained that they didn't, they only got one power play because the rest were giving it to them.
2:49
Minnesota didn't earn them at Ohio State and they paid the price.
2:55
So a 6-4 loss.
2:57
I saw the first period of that game and then I had to go to an event, you know, kids little play, which was fine.
3:05
Like you said, it was just so lackluster.
3:11
And that's the thing I always worry about with this team is, you know, like come off a big high and then all of a sudden, that's my that's what that's the one concern I've had this year is like, you know, they played so well.
3:23
And, you know, they had those two big, big emotional series with Minnesota State and North Dakota.
3:30
Go to Ohio State.
3:33
That's what's frustrating.
3:34
I mean, you you got to be up for the the dead games, too.
3:38
You can't just let it slide by.
3:40
And I and it looks like Bob got the message through because Saturday night, they played much better.
3:48
And the players all talked about a very stern film session from the coaching staff that morning.
3:53
You know, they even referenced it during the Notre Dame series, knowing that Jeff Jackson probably gave his team a stern lecture on the Saturday morning after the Friday game.
4:02
And it's positive that the players responded.
4:06
I always think with college athletes, you know, there's such a highs and lows to the college game.
4:11
That's why it's so entertaining that you could just kind of see it coming.
4:14
So you really are interested in how the team reacts and grows from an opportunity like that.
4:21
And to see them come out the next night, draw the eight power play chances, play much cleaner, protect their goalie, compete more in the one-on-one battles.
4:30
Because I think that's where they lost on Friday.
4:32
They just weren't engaged enough to win possession consistently.
4:36
And they kept giving Ohio State extra chances.
4:39
That didn't happen so much on Saturday.
4:41
I think one of the strengths of this Gopher team is suppressing the other team's offense.
4:47
I think most period, their opponents are getting eight shots or less.
4:51
Especially in the opening period, most teams are getting seven shots against Minnesota.
4:56
Well, in that Friday, Ohio State game, I think the Buckeyes were in the 30s for shots, and in the 40s for attempts.
5:05
They cut that back down on Saturday and paid much more attention to detail, which is what we expect out of Minnesota.
5:12
What was with the shorthanded breakaways?
5:18
Leaving poor closer hung out to dry on that.
5:21
Well, that was a Saturday game, right?
5:24
Yeah.
5:24
Both goals were shorthanded breakaways.
5:28
Yeah.
5:28
I mean, that's going to happen from time to time, something to clean up and look at in film.
5:32
But, you know, for the most part, I think Minnesota played pretty well.
5:37
OK, so good learning experience.
5:41
Then, Notre Dame comes to town.
5:43
And I know you had spoke at the beginning of this year.
5:46
Notre Dame was one of your teams.
5:47
It's going to be there at the end.
5:48
It's got to be there the whole time.
5:50
This is a big series.
5:52
And like you just alluded to, Minnesota really played well.
5:57
I mean, over, I think Friday night, they had over, I think there's 54 shots on net against Bob, what Bob called not a defensive team, but a well-structured team that just doesn't give up that many shots.
6:12
Yeah, it was strange to see the shooting gallery on display there on Friday night.
6:17
I thought Minnesota did a great job winning second chances, which is what you have to do against Notre Dame.
6:24
So often you can get one chance.
6:26
But Notre Dame is so good in their structure that they're usually able to get to that next battle and win it.
6:33
Something that was happening from my perspective on Friday was Minnesota was getting those second opportunities and continuing the pressure.
6:40
I think one of the goals, we saw the Pino line out there with Middlestadt applying a lot of pressure, Notre Dame trying to just get rid of the puck and get a line change and not everybody got off.
6:54
Then Minnesota had a shift change.
6:56
I think it was the Nice line that came on and got the first goal.
7:00
That's the kind of things that you have to do against Notre Dame.
7:04
Actually, that's one of the things that I've seen Minnesota have a hard time doing in these contests.
7:09
They don't string shifts together, but that's just a sign when you can do that.
7:14
Short pieces and they can't do it.
7:16
Right.
7:17
If you just link the chain together, you can create offense against a tired team that loses their structure.
7:24
It was an impressive performance.
7:26
I mean, this Nice line with Cooley and Snuggeroot is certainly something to watch.
7:31
I mean, they dominated on Friday night.
7:33
I think they had 24 shot attempts.
7:36
I think Snuggeroot had 11 shots himself, I believe the stats guys.
7:41
Stomps told me that he had 11 shots himself.
7:45
I mean, that's impressive.
7:46
I think Nice had eight, Cooley had six.
7:48
It looks like Cooley is being more of the distributor on that line.
7:51
Who would have thought that?
7:53
Yeah, I mean, that first wicket against Lindenwood, they all said, I'm like, who?
7:57
Let's go.
7:58
Oh, hold on there.
8:01
Yeah, I think the line has 18 goals, and then the other three lines combined have like 14, eight, three and three.
8:13
So it's pretty impressive to see that line coming together right now.
8:17
Well, you know, and they have been pretty successful at home where they do get less change and kind of can dictate that a little bit to be to be determined how it goes along for the entire year.
8:31
Obviously, the more successful they become Veegs, the more teams will specifically try to shut them down.
8:39
Well, I asked Jeff Jackson a little bit about that on Saturday, and he basically said that the best way to defend that line is to hold on to the puck yourself, because once they get going in the offensive zone, it's really difficult to even try to contain them.
8:53
So your best strategy as an opponent is when you're out against that line, don't give away the puck.
9:00
That's something that North Dakota did to Minnesota a little bit in their series.
9:06
The Fighting Hawks started to just play a puck possession game along the boards and tire out that line.
9:12
I think that's a strategy that they're going to have to figure out to negate in the future, because in the zone, those guys are flying around and they make some amazing plays where it looks like the other team has structure and then all of a sudden there's a scoring chance.
9:28
One interesting note I heard from Tim Bruhle sitting right next to me Friday night.
9:33
Tim Bruhle is the guy who created and runs uscho.com, obviously a long-running site, great place.
9:42
He's like, I just don't think close is that good.
9:45
But he just doesn't seem to have it for me.
9:48
Then close goes on to let in one goal on the weekend, and that one goal was a bad breakdown with under a minute with the game decided.
9:58
It wasn't that bad.
10:01
I'm not sure where Tim was coming from there, but it turns out close had a really good weekend.
10:09
He is a very solid, calm goalie.
10:12
I don't think he's necessarily a goalie that's going to win new games if you're getting really outplayed.
10:17
But when he can square up to shooters, play aggressive depth, and challenge the other team, he's going to be successful.
10:27
You could see sometimes on the penalty kill.
10:29
Minnesota, I think, is doing a better job at taking away the center of the ice.
10:34
One thing to watch on the Gopher penalty kill is, notice that all their penalty killers now have their sticks on the ice.
10:40
That's something that I think drives coaches crazy when you're in lanes, but your stick's in the air.
10:46
Minnesota is being much more disciplined about their sticks on the ice to break up passing lanes, and they're being better at taking away cross-ice passes on the penalty kill, and that's going to help closer because he's a smaller goalie, he's not going to be just massively big.
11:03
And so they really need to protect that.
11:04
But that's how, didn't Nice get his goal similar to that?
11:08
He got in the way of a puck coming back, and he took off, didn't he?
11:13
Yeah, the shorty?
11:14
Yeah.
11:14
Yeah, they were trying to force it through the middle of the ice, and they got sticks on it, it tipped out, Nice chipped it past the D, and then he won the race the other way.
11:25
Amazing, nice move on the breakaway, which he says he's not a great breakaway player, but he came through with the move there.
11:34
And then he ended up stealing a goal from I think Nelson later on, because he get the puck right, it was on the line, and it looked like it was going to go over no matter what.
11:45
Hey, you want to leave no doubt on those.
11:47
That is true.
11:48
Did you get the goals on that?
11:50
Couldn't you have waited like a microsecond later?
11:53
I think it was Nelson.
11:55
My memory is not the greatest these days.
11:58
Concerns.
11:59
Huguen, Pitlick.
12:03
I still notice Huguen out there a ton.
12:06
He causes trouble.
12:08
He just needs to break the seal.
12:10
I mean, Pitlick did, and then he got in trouble for throwing his stick, but Huguen hasn't scored since the regional last year.
12:18
And I think those chances are going to come.
12:21
He's winning a lot of battles.
12:23
He's getting pucks to the net.
12:24
He's active.
12:25
He moves his feet.
12:26
I don't think he's throwing away chances.
12:28
He's just a little snake.
12:29
But right now, Pitlick, I got a little worried with him on Saturday.
12:33
I thought he might be pressing a little bit, trying to do it on his own.
12:38
He's got so much skill, and he's so good along the wall, and he's so explosive with his first couple steps.
12:45
He was using it the wrong way a bit on Saturday.
12:47
So maybe that's just him pressing a little bit, and he'll figure it out.
12:51
But I do think those two players play well together because they do such a good job making plays off the wall and and honestly, other teams should be concerned if those two just get their anything going, because then that makes it much harder to stop the rest of the team when you have to concentrate on more than one line.
13:14
And then, you know, you've got other guys chipping in all over the place as well.
13:17
But boy, I think all of us would just have a nice sigh of relief if Hugen could get on the board and Pitlick get on the board again, because Pitlick, you know, he said you were concerned about the way he's playing Saturday night.
13:33
He's still kind of for him, I think he kind of lost the make up for that North Dakota goal where he may have turned the game.
13:42
If he can get one, just kind of get the flow going.
13:47
That would be a really deadly line.
13:50
Yeah, I'm not going to just take one game and say it's a problem.
13:54
I think 7 and 77 will be fine together.
13:57
I did think Brody Lamb kind of took his foot off the gas this last weekend.
14:02
He didn't quite make as big of an impression as he had the last couple of weekends.
14:07
So I don't know if it's just, you know, he's getting into a stretch and having a hard time finding to make plays with his line mates.
14:14
But I feel like he kind of got lost a little bit on Friday and Saturday.
14:18
So we'll see what happens.
14:20
You know, there was an interesting moment where Matsuko was talking about, you know, the depth of his forwards as someone who was asking, you know, about middle stat and strobel kind of being interchangeable pieces in the lineup.
14:32
And Bob basically said, you know, we're doing that just because we started that way and we've been playing pretty well.
14:40
But as things move along here, there might be other guys who have been in the lineup consistently, they're going to have to watch out because there's players gunning for their ice time.
14:50
I think what he's insinuating is that there's going to be a time here pretty soon or middle stat and strobel are both in the lineup.
14:56
And one of those other forwards is going to have to come out.
15:01
Connor Kurth.
15:02
Well, yeah, he's got like three or four goals this year.
15:06
So he's been doing well.
15:09
What other bright spots are you seeing right now?
15:12
Yeah, I really like Kurth.
15:13
I like strobel.
15:14
I like middle stat.
15:15
I think those guys are all making a case that they should be players that are in the lineup consistently.
15:21
I think one of the things I've noticed about this freshman class is that they handle contact very, very well.
15:28
They're able to take a check and still make a play.
15:32
They're able to take a check and not panic, you know, whether it's in the offensive zone trying to advance the puck or it's on the breakout.
15:40
You know, it helps definitely for this gopher team that they have one of the best blue line cores in the entire country and maybe college hockey history because they get the puck quick and they get out on the breakout.
15:50
But I think they're doing a good job of supporting that.
15:53
Corey in the chat, Cooley doesn't have a five on five point since October 7th.
16:00
I'm not too worried.
16:03
That line is dangerous, probably half their shifts out there.
16:07
I think a lot of it's because the vision and skill that Cooley pulls off.
16:12
Cooley is one of those players that handles contact too.
16:15
He's shown a little bit more grit than I definitely expected.
16:19
We maybe compare him somewhat to Casey Middlestad in terms of skill, one-on-one and be able to make plays.
16:27
Cooley is a much more complete player.
16:28
He's able to take hits and show off that Cooley stuff.
16:32
I sit in the press box next to Jess Meyers and every once in a while, Cooley will do something.
16:36
We just kind of look at it.
16:38
Cooley is doing that Cooley stuff again.
16:40
And it's every night.
16:42
It's true.
16:43
Mason Nevers, I've really liked how he stepped up.
16:47
He's been, I wouldn't say a superstar, but boy, he's been so solid as an upperclassman and literally showing leadership.
16:58
Yeah, I mean, he's stepped into that penalty killing role along with Jackson Nelson.
17:02
You know, they're the first forwards over the boards to kill off penalties.
17:06
And I think he's doing a really good job there.
17:08
And he's contributing some offense.
17:11
I think the last couple of years, everybody was very concerned about Mason Nevers being on this roster because he kind of came in as a guy people thought could score goals, but he just disappeared.
17:22
And when I went to practice, I would see that production.
17:26
You know, he would score lots of goals in practice.
17:29
Bob would always comment, he's like, we see it.
17:31
It's just going to translate to games.
17:32
We don't know when, but we know what's coming.
17:35
Well, this is the year that it's happening for Mason.
17:37
And he spoke with the media today a little bit.
17:40
And he said one of the biggest reasons for his conference this year is he worked on his skating a ton in the off season and how to keep speed with crossovers.
17:49
He noticed that at times he would set his skates and he would kind of lose position.
17:55
And now he's focused on keeping his feet moving with crossovers that allows him to get to that extra space.
18:01
And so now he can just react instead of thinking and trying to catch up.
18:06
I look for Nevers to have a least an A next year, maybe even a C.
18:15
I think he will be the perfect senior type of leadership on this team.
18:21
That could go pretty far because he leads by example.
18:23
And a solid kid too obviously.
18:30
All right, well, that's pretty successful.
18:32
A couple of weeks, Veegs, a split at Ohio State.
18:35
Don Lucia always said, sweep at home, split on the road, you'll be in pretty good shape.
18:41
Expectations are a little higher this year.
18:44
I wasn't too keen on that Ohio State loss.
18:49
And you weren't either, because they just had nothing that night.
18:53
But three straight wins.
18:57
And the speed limit keeps going up, Veegs, coming up this weekend, which we'll get to in a little bit.
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19:07
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20:21
Okay, Veegs, their schedule so far this year has been, you know, besides Lennard Wood, pretty darn tough.
20:30
I mean, you go from, I mean, what's it been like top 12 or 13 constant?
20:38
Since we started playing, since we played Minnesota State, it's been tough going.
20:43
A lot of ranked teams.
20:44
Yeah, and this week is going to be no different.
20:47
You know, Penn State comes in ranked number eight.
20:51
They're nine and one.
20:52
Their only loss was that overtime lost last weekend to Michigan at home after they came back being down three, nothing in the third.
21:02
I know a lot of people love to say, another schedule, other schedule, a lot of home.
21:09
Here's the thing.
21:10
They're still winning, though, Veegs.
21:12
And that's the big thing.
21:13
You know, a lot of people, you know, in the past, they'd say, you know, Minnesota, you played this, this and this.
21:17
And you lost a couple of games.
21:20
Penn State might play the cream puffs a little more, but they do win those games.
21:24
And that's really all that matters when it comes down to pair wise and everything at the end of the season.
21:29
As long as you win those games, you're going to be in OK shape.
21:33
I give Guy Godowski a little bit of credit because he went on USCHO the other week and he was their team of the week.
21:41
And he was asked a little bit about his schedule.
21:45
And he said, you know, it's tough.
21:47
You know, some teams don't want to play us and we want to play home games.
21:51
You know, we sell out Pagula Ice Arena for our home games.
21:55
It's revenue for us.
21:56
We want to play the teams around us and reward them and give them a short road trip to play a game.
22:03
And that's kind of his philosophy.
22:05
I think college hockey coaches around the country don't like that Penn State can do this.
22:10
And then they get off to a nice non-conference start because they take advantage of these easier games.
22:16
And then when they get in the conference schedule, they're in good pairwise shape as long as they do well.
22:20
So Penn State, good job for them.
22:23
Minnesota, on the other hand, they play just a brutal schedule because that's what the fans want.
22:29
You know, they're never going to have a cream puff schedule.
22:32
And so they're always going to be tested.
22:33
And I think it's always going to be harder for them to shine early, especially when they have these young teams.
22:39
So it'll be interesting to see what happens this weekend.
22:41
Penn State obviously answered the bell against Michigan.
22:45
They certainly did.
22:46
Yes.
22:46
You know, they've got over 100 goals coming back in their roster.
22:50
They didn't hardly lose anyone.
22:52
They've got some graduate school players.
22:54
They added a couple transfers.
22:56
You know, the big concern was the goalie.
22:58
He's played well for them.
23:01
So it's going to be an interesting weekend.
23:05
It will indeed.
23:06
And I've seen all of the people already in the chat saying, you know, how many shots will they have this weekend?
23:11
Now that they have a real stats crew.
23:15
You know, it's funny when they come to Minnesota, they still do put up a lot of shots.
23:19
It's over 30.
23:20
Usually it wasn't until, you know, that Big Ten game last year.
23:24
I want to say they had around 20.
23:28
They did not shoot what they didn't do their typical Penn State thing when they came here in the Big Ten playoffs.
23:36
Yeah, I think Penn State was a little checked out at the end of last year for whatever reason.
23:40
I don't think they played their best game.
23:43
You know, they had some guys going in the transfer portal at that point.
23:46
I just got the sense that guy was frustrated with his team at the end of the year.
23:51
You know, he's very short with the media after that series.
23:54
So, not your typical Penn State team.
23:57
But I think the big challenge for Minnesota this weekend is to deal with the chaos.
24:01
You know, on the bigger sheet, Penn State style, they're going to take a lot of shots from the boards, which can create challenges, but they are a long ways away.
24:12
So as long as Justin Close is able to handle those confidently and calmly, and the defensive court gets back and plays the puck and breaks it out, they'll be just fine.
24:23
The problem is when Penn State, if you kind of get your head cut off and you're running around your own zone, they'll make you pay.
24:31
Well, let's make sure that doesn't happen, Bigs.
24:34
I will do my best.
24:35
Oh, wait.
24:36
I'm not on the bench or on the ice.
24:38
So Mike Kester talked about it today, and he's just like, you know, we know what we're getting into this weekend, and we are very good at retrieving pucks and breaking it out, and we're ready for the challenge.
24:50
We know it's going to come, and we know we're going to get pressure.
24:53
I love that right there, Biggs.
24:55
Yeah.
24:56
And I think playing the 7D like they do, you're going to see Lacombe and Faber play those 17, 18 minutes a night, and the rest of the guys are going to play 13 minutes.
25:05
So they're going to have the energy to retrieve pucks.
25:08
I think you get in trouble against Penn State when you have defensemen who are a little tired, and as they get to the puck, they're getting forechecked.
25:15
I think Minnesota's big key to breaking the puck out is they get there with enough time where they can confidently shoulder check and make a good first play.
25:28
Speaking of defense, I don't look as closely, maybe a lot of fans don't look as closely.
25:34
Has Matsko paired up any guys often, or is he still sort of kind of rotating guys in fairly balanced?
25:43
He's rotating them in pretty balanced from what I can tell.
25:47
I know when Faber got shaken up, against Notre Dame on Saturday, I think the second period when he got hit pretty good, looked a little dazed.
25:59
Matsko said they double checked him, not only before the end of the period, but between periods to make sure that he wasn't fibbing on his concussion protocol stuff.
26:08
Correct.
26:10
They still were kind of balanced with everybody.
26:12
So I think we see Lacombe get first power play time.
26:18
We'll see Kester get power play time.
26:20
We're seeing Johnson get power play time.
26:22
Middlestead get power play time.
26:24
Faber is the top penalty killer.
26:27
He's usually getting shifts out against the other team's top players.
26:31
But I don't think there's a whole lot more manipulation than that.
26:33
I think they're maybe a little cautious with how they put out Cal Thomas.
26:38
But they play pretty regular.
26:40
There's our guy, Tim Hapke.
26:42
PSU shots last year at Mariucci, 26, 37, more typical than them, and 30.
26:47
So, Tim, always coming through with some stats for us there.
26:53
But I think earlier in the chat, we had a comment.
26:55
You know, Motsko said that when he first played Penn State, it kind of threw him off a little bit.
27:01
And I think it's just it gets you out of your routine with Penn State being so eager to throw pucks at the net and not play rushes as typical.
27:10
Typically, when you're a defenseman and you're playing a rush, you're thinking about, you know, taking the player, playing along the dots, keeping them wide, getting them into the corner.
27:21
Well, Penn State kind of throws it on you.
27:23
They aren't really concerned with getting a pass or, you know, challenging that rush.
27:28
They're looking at how do we create chaos going to the net?
27:32
So it's almost like they send guys on picks and throw pucks at weird spots and they shift to come across and scissor just to create confusion.
27:42
And the other thing that Penn State does is they fly guys out of the zone.
27:46
So as a defenseman on the offensive blue line, you've got to be cautious that if there's a guy behind you, you see it and recognize it.
27:54
And you just don't see that in modern college hockey, where teams are cheating like that and challenging you.
28:00
So you know, you see it sometimes in high school hockey and junior hockey and stuff where teams are doing that, men's league, but you don't usually see it in big time D1 hockey like Penn State does.
28:10
So it's just a lot different for you to keep an eye on and your third forward has to play more disciplined.
28:15
Your defenders have to have a head on a swivel.
28:19
Well, you've got that chaos and that's what they want.
28:22
And then that causes mistakes.
28:25
And that's where they make you pay.
28:27
I mean, I watched that third period against Michigan last for Saturday and just tiny little mistakes and boom, it was tied three to three.
28:39
They scored three goals in four minutes or 390, 359 or something like that, and they can make you pay these.
28:48
Yeah, and I think what we've seen is Penn State's got more skill as they've grown as a program.
28:53
I think they've done a nice job identifying talent and scores and size and guys who like to play physical, and it creates a challenge for other teams.
29:05
They've got a different blueprint than Michigan and Minnesota.
29:10
They've got a different blueprint than Ohio State and Notre Dame.
29:14
They are very different and they know what they're looking for, and I think they can recruit those players a little bit differently than the big schools can.
29:23
Guy's a pretty good coach.
29:24
He's done a nice job at Penn State.
29:26
I kind of scoffed at it a little bit with him early on, but I've seen it on the ice and it's a challenge for everybody.
29:36
Kind of deviating a little bit here, Vegs.
29:39
Today was NLI Day today, wasn't it?
29:43
And like you said on Twitter, like I was reading earlier, typically it's a little quieter with college hockey because a lot of these guys are not with their families, they're away playing USA, USC, CHL.
29:58
But one guy did sign today.
30:01
Yeah, Max Rudd put his pen to paper and the Stampede tweeted it out or Instagrammed it out.
30:08
So that's the first one for this class that we can confirm.
30:11
I was wondering if we'd see something from Waterloo today for Sam Renzell.
30:16
He's another player that high picked by the Blackhawks out of Chaska.
30:22
Originally, I didn't think he was one of those guys who would be coming right to college, but when he's drafted as highly as he was by the Blackhawks, I think he's going to be on campus next year.
30:32
We're just waiting for that to happen.
30:35
The problem was, since he hadn't signed any letter of intent, last year Minnesota had to be completely quiet and almost ignore Sam when he was drafted.
30:45
Yeah, it's weird how they do that.
30:47
Most of those guys when they get drafted, they've at least signed that NLI by that point, but not so much so for Sam.
30:55
He's developed a ton the last couple of years.
30:57
He's playing pretty well right now.
30:59
Then the other guys, there's a lot of development program kids who are committed to Minnesota and they're at the Five Nations Tournament right now.
31:09
Tearing it up?
31:10
Tearing it up.
31:11
They look pretty darn good.
31:12
If you have the hockey TV or the flow TV and you want to see some highlights, watch Cole Iserman.
31:18
He's just very impressive to watch right now.
31:22
Very Logan Cooley-like with some of his skill and scoring ability.
31:27
Can we keep NIs one more year?
31:29
Notre Dame, Cooley.
31:32
I think it all comes down to how they do this year.
31:35
If they win a national title, you can't really fault any of these guys for moving on to pro deals.
31:43
But I think Gopher fans would be happy with that.
31:46
Yes.
31:49
But you know, back to 2002 and 2003, we also had Thomas Vannick coming in next year.
31:56
So maybe Iserman could be the Thomas Vannick coming in.
31:59
Well, Iserman is two years away.
32:01
So Oliver Moore.
32:03
Oh, okay.
32:04
Oliver Moore is probably the development kid who's coming in next year.
32:07
He's pretty good.
32:08
He'll be a first-round pick.
32:11
I don't think the kids coming in next year are necessarily as highly touted as like the coolly, snuggeroot type players, but it's a long ways away yet.
32:21
It is a long ways away.
32:23
All right.
32:23
Let's get back to it, Veegs.
32:25
What is going to happen this weekend?
32:30
Minnesota is playing pretty well.
32:32
If they play like they did against Notre Dame, it doesn't matter because it's a completely different style of game that's going to happen this weekend.
32:41
I think Minnesota has started to play pretty well against Penn State.
32:44
I think a big difference between Minnesota and Michigan is how good the Gophers blue line is.
32:51
They've got a lot of skill coming back at that position.
32:55
Michigan has Luke Hughes who, let's be honest, outstanding player would fit right in next to everybody else on the Gopher blue line.
33:03
But they don't have five of him like the Gophers do.
33:07
Well, that was it.
33:08
Fentile, is that his name?
33:09
Fentile is good too.
33:11
He's good up front.
33:12
He is really good.
33:14
But I think Minnesota has just positioned themselves to handle the forecheck and the pressure from Penn State.
33:20
The way Mike Kester talked about it, he's like, bring it on.
33:23
We are ready.
33:24
This is not the team.
33:25
I love that attitude.
33:27
This is not the team six, seven years ago that would go into Pugula, and you'd have Ryan Collins and Jack Glover going back trying to play Pucks with players right on their hip.
33:37
That's not what we're going to see this weekend.
33:39
We're going to see guys get there with plenty of time, able to turn and make smart plays and get the puck out cleanly.
33:45
That's been the key to what's made Minnesota so good this year.
33:48
They hardly spend any time in their own end until the end of the game when another team start taking chances and committing more and more guys to support the puck in the offensive zone and take chances.
33:59
Got you.
34:02
I think we're going to see a sweep.
34:03
I think we're going to see Minnesota probably get four or five goals each night.
34:09
I could see Penn State getting two or three, but I think this is a series where Minnesota is going to get healthy in the score book.
34:17
Is Hugh Glenn going to get on the board?
34:20
Oh, of course.
34:22
This is a weekend for him.
34:23
He'll get some points.
34:24
I think he'll get a goal.
34:26
He can't play as well as he's playing.
34:29
Okay.
34:30
Okay.
34:30
Remember, it's Thursday, Friday, so football this weekend.
34:33
So Thursday, Friday, tomorrow night, gang.
34:38
I'm thinking sweep two weeks and you can't believe that.
34:40
I mean, this is where we need this team to just keep building, keep building, keep getting confident.
34:50
Show us the team they can be and just keep riding the train up the hill.
34:58
Yeah, it's never going to be a straight line up.
35:00
You had the little dip in Ohio State and now they can keep going up again.
35:04
So I think it's a good opportunity.
35:06
I saw in the comments, somebody wondering if Closer is going to play both games.
35:10
You know, if I'm Bob, Penn State's a good team to put in a goalie against because they're going to be active.
35:19
There's going to be a lot of pucks being thrown at the net.
35:22
Baris Skavich is a big goalie.
35:26
I think you got to give him a chance at some point again, put him back in the net.
35:30
Arizona State.
35:33
Maybe.
35:34
Maybe.
35:35
I just think you got to know what you have there.
35:39
And you know, if it doesn't work out, you can always go back to Closer, but I just think you can't have him be on the bench the entire half of the year.
35:49
If you need another goalie, you need to know going into the holiday break that you got to send your recruiters out hard looking for goalies or hard looking for the transfer portal.
36:00
I just think you can't continue to let it marinate.
36:04
You got to put them out there.
36:05
Goalies got to play.
36:08
You know, it's worked at Michigan all those years.
36:11
Play one guy, play one guy.
36:15
You can play one guy down the stretch.
36:17
Like once you get to the end of the year where you're trying to drive for the championship.
36:23
Yes, play one guy.
36:24
But the first half of the year, it's OK to play other goalies.
36:29
It's OK.
36:29
You don't have to play the same guy every week.
36:33
And then when he gives up goals and the fans go nuts, too bad.
36:36
It's part of hockey.
36:38
He'll figure it out.
36:38
Part of hockey.
36:40
You working on anything this week, Veegs?
36:43
We are.
36:44
We'll keep it on the download though.
36:45
Oh, I like that.
36:49
It's always the best kind right there.
36:55
Doing some server things coming down the line.
36:58
Did a little message board upgrade yesterday.
36:59
It's a place we're on a little slow.
37:00
It'll pick up.
37:02
And then, you know, did some domain changes.
37:04
We're going to be moving servers sometime in December.
37:07
You know, after, after they kind of, this team shuts it down.
37:11
It's a good time to do mid December when, when no one's, when it's not too busy.
37:16
So we'll do that then.
37:18
Other than that, you know, just to get, I just pushing towards this, this holiday break.
37:23
You know, we've got, you know, we've got the games this weekend and the three weekends in a row on the road Veegs.
37:28
So it's, it's, it's, it's going to be a challenging time, especially around the holidays coming up.
37:35
Yeah.
37:35
Gophers didn't get the best schedule in the world for building something, you know, going on the road for these next three weeks.
37:42
I don't think it's helpful for the fan base, but we'll see.
37:46
I mean, when the Vikings are doing as well as they are, maybe it's okay to, to send the team on the road for a little bit, but I'm looking forward to having Jess Meyers on next week before the Gophers go to Michigan.
37:56
I have that in my notes and Jess said we can have Cotner, you're good on as well.
38:01
We won't do that.
38:02
It would turn into a complete cluster.
38:05
A thing of notes, I am going to Madison for the first time in 16 years this year, Regs.
38:11
Booked it today.
38:13
Awesome.
38:14
Got myself some tickets.
38:16
Got a hotel room.
38:17
You might see double Culver's.
38:22
Culver's was on the Wisconsin ticket, I noticed, too.
38:25
A little digital ticket.
38:28
We might see, because well, let's talk about the Badgers and overtime here.
38:32
OK, that's that.
38:35
Wow, that's all I can say.
38:37
So that will do it for this episode of the GPL podcast.
38:41
You know, we will be back next week and we'll have Jess Myers from the Rink Live joining us as a guest.
38:47
For those of you currently watching live, we'll have some overtime coming up for you.
38:51
For the rest of you, we'll see you next week on the GPL Podcast.
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