0:07
This is the GPL Podcast from goforpunchlive.com.
0:16
And Eric, on the flip side, I bet you just love those defensive games.
0:20
I mean, yeah, if I'm playing, I was the same as you, Jupe.
0:25
I fell asleep on Saturday.
0:29
Oh, boy.
0:31
Jupe making mistakes.
0:32
I love it.
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And so I had to train for this marathon.
0:37
Make sure you stay awake for the game to run.
0:43
Hair game on GPL.
0:52
Mo-tay, mo-tay.
0:55
Now, here's Jupiter and Vigo.
1:04
Good evening, and welcome to the GPL Podcast, episode number 232.
1:13
Well, Veegs, not a great road trip.
1:18
Against not a great team.
1:24
Yeah, I think Bob said it best on his radio show.
1:28
Monday, he went and got a tea before practice the other day.
1:32
And there's a gal who is starting to talk to Bob over the season.
1:36
And she hands him his tea.
1:38
She goes, not a great weekend for the Gophs, huh?
1:41
Bob's just like, wow, okay, getting it from the tea service.
1:47
So everyone's just going to tell the truth and disappointed, I think, with the results this weekend.
1:53
I think this Gopher team is just kind of wishing they could fast forward to the playoffs.
1:58
Unfortunately, you got to play out your schedule.
2:02
So first road trip into Madison in 16 years, had a fun time.
2:07
I met quite a few people listening to the show, watched the show every week, actually went to a supper club Saturday night for the first time I've ever been to a supper club.
2:17
Met some Badger fans there, great people, had a fun time.
2:21
So that part of the weekend, great.
2:25
Friday night, they were getting out shot something, was it almost close?
2:31
It was really bad.
2:32
And then 21 to 3.
2:36
And then Cooley scores what I would call a bad goal.
2:40
I mean, you just kind of turn around, throw it on the, I think it would 5-0.
2:45
And gosh, Moe gets pulled again, it was three games in a row that a Badger goal had gotten pulled.
2:54
You know, just this year, I think they probably got pulled last year too in that series of Mariucci.
3:00
Completely outplayed that first period, but the Badger offense was so bad, they, I mean, yes, close made some great saves.
3:08
But to come out of that first period down one nothing was pretty disheartening for the Badgers.
3:15
It's got to be deflating because they got a lot of pucks to the net.
3:20
Close made just a terrific push across and made a great glove save kind of midway through the period, I think, like 12 minutes, something like that.
3:28
And that was a great save by him.
3:30
I think a lot of the other ones were your traditional Justin Close saves where he's calm, he's square, he's in position, and there's just not much to shoot at.
3:39
And for all the possession that Wisconsin had and all the power play time that they had, I didn't really think they had as many dangerous shots as you'd expect.
3:49
And that kind of speaks to what we've been talking about with Wisconsin is they're having a hard time scoring goals.
3:55
Maybe they don't have the right kind of talent mix right now in their roster.
3:59
You know, Lucius looks pretty dangerous moving the puck from time to time.
4:03
I thought he looked really smooth out there handling the puck.
4:06
But still, with all that possession, you need more dangerous chances.
4:12
So the obviously after that first period, they did pick it up.
4:15
They did play much better after that first period.
4:18
When the game I play was four to one.
4:21
Got a good result after playing not great.
4:25
Saturday night, different deal weeks.
4:27
They do get on the board first.
4:29
They play better shots are way down for the BADgers and then they got one and then they got two.
4:36
Then they got three and that was that was it.
4:38
They couldn't come back.
4:39
The Gophers had a goal called back, which they never announced in the arena what was happening.
4:48
You know, I when I'm watching a game like that, I tend to not notice things at all weeks.
4:52
But I tell you, as soon as as soon as he came off the bench and grabbed that puck, I'm like, wait a minute, did he make it back to the bench?
5:00
It was weird.
5:01
I just happened to notice that that time.
5:04
And then the review came and people around me, they had no idea.
5:07
I think it's for too many men.
5:10
And certainly it was.
5:11
And that kind of killed it, really, the.
5:16
Granado made a great call by making, you know, having that reviewed.
5:19
I don't never saw the review.
5:20
I don't really know how accurate it was.
5:23
I know Moscow didn't like the call, but it was a smart play by Granado.
5:27
He's you know, he got things back under control and they ended up winning.
5:33
Well, I think it was a risky call by Granado because he knows that this game could slip away from them if that goal stands.
5:40
And so he's, you know, trying to pull a magic trick out of the hat with that one.
5:45
And, you know, the the too many men on the ice is a tricky thing.
5:49
Like we've seen Michigan, Penn State, Ohio State get goals against Minnesota, where it looked a lot worse than what you could see from this one with Kurth.
6:00
You know, I have always thought that that too many men is called when, you know, you are at the circle and someone jumps right into the play.
6:09
But when you've got a stick length to the bench and somebody jumps on, usually you're OK there.
6:15
And it seems like they call that one a defender.
6:19
When the guy is coming on and off and you play the puck, that's where the referees are a lot more stringent.
6:26
We've seen those calls go against Minnesota in those situations.
6:31
And it's difficult, I think, for Bob to see that inconsistency with the calls.
6:36
Because it was a point in all sports.
6:38
It's just weird.
6:39
You can't, they're different people, they're human each time, they're going to make a judgment call.
6:46
But the Big Ten said this was a point of emphasis in their video review, is these offside calls.
6:51
And so to see it go against Minnesota the other times and then go against them here, it's got to be frustrating for everybody.
7:00
But I thought Wisconsin got really good goaltending on Saturday.
7:04
For the first time in many games.
7:08
And Minnesota is maybe not quite as on fire with their shots and picking corners and things like that.
7:15
Some of the goals against on Saturday, I attribute a little bit to shift length and getting caught out there a little bit long and not being able to be on the right side of the puck.
7:26
And one time it was the Nelson line getting caught out there.
7:29
One time it was the Cooley line.
7:31
So those are things that Minnesota really needs to pay attention to as they get into this playoff stretch here if they really want to make a title run.
7:42
The stripe out for the BADgers did not work out so well.
7:45
I did get a nice little puck out of it right here advertising the stripe out on Friday.
7:53
Crowd was much better Saturday.
7:56
It's still looking pretty ugly there in Madison, Veegs.
8:03
People around me, I was telling them, I was just so disappointed.
8:07
I haven't been here in so long.
8:09
It just didn't feel like a hostile environment to me, which I love going to.
8:13
I mean, you remember, like going to the old deck back in the day, Veegs, when we were younger.
8:18
It was so fun going to those hostile environments.
8:22
And the Cole Center just is not that right now.
8:27
Yeah, I mean, what were the crowds like?
8:29
Did Minnesota fans travel very well for the weekend?
8:32
They did, but we were spread out everywhere.
8:34
It's almost like we should all get together and say, hey, let's try to fill up a section or just something like that.
8:40
But I had the exact same seats both nights.
8:44
Different people around me both nights.
8:46
There was a GPL right behind me for the second game.
8:55
It was OK, but still it could have been a lot more.
8:58
A lot more fans could have come down there and made a lot more noise because there were plenty of seats available.
9:03
What about the student section?
9:04
I mean, that used to be one of the big things about Wisconsin hockey is they had a really organized student section that was good with their cheers, not so much with their hockey knowledge.
9:17
They were organized still.
9:18
There just wasn't many of them.
9:21
They did open up the 300 section for game two.
9:24
I have no idea why because maybe 100 people up there spread out.
9:33
Why bother?
9:34
And it's not like the tickets are all that cheap.
9:36
The tickets are fairly cheap in the first place.
9:38
Everything's under 30 bucks unless you're in a club seat or a suite or something like that.
9:43
So it's not like they're expensive.
9:48
I got to think that Saturday game is frustrating for Granado.
9:52
You know, he's probably happy to get a win against Minnesota, maybe the last time he gets to play them behind the bench of the BADgers.
9:59
But it's when that team gives themselves away and shows that they can compete, they can battle, they can make physical plays, they can control shifts when that's not something they've been able to do very consistently all year.
10:14
And probably a sign that the time is running out on Tony.
10:19
Definitely, because they've got quality wins.
10:21
There are a few wins they have are actually decent wins.
10:24
I mean, they've beaten all the top teams at least once.
10:28
They beat Michigan, they beat Minnesota, they beat Ohio State and Penn State maybe.
10:31
I don't remember the exact thing, but their wins are not terrible wins.
10:37
Yeah, I know we talk about a bad loss in the pairwise can really kill you.
10:42
Yes.
10:42
The BADgers aren't really a bad team in the pairwise.
10:45
They're kind of in the, you know, I think around 30, something like that.
10:48
So even though they dropped the game, Minnesota stays number one in the pairwise, which is what matters at the end of the postseason, even though they dropped in the poll.
10:58
So I don't think it's really a terrible loss for Minnesota.
11:02
It's frustrating, I think, and disappointing, but there is enough talent on Wisconsin's team where they have been able to beat good teams.
11:10
Saturday night at the game, the biggest concern I had is, and when Hugh Glynn got checked into the boards, looked like he, the play stopped, he got down, his shoulder was really low, and I'm like, oh boy, here we go.
11:24
Keep an eye out for him.
11:26
He came back five minutes later and played.
11:30
I don't even know what happened to our boys Chesley and Faber.
11:34
Somebody said Faber had a hit in the middle of the second period, came back up a couple more shifts, didn't play for the third.
11:41
No clue what happened to Chesley.
11:42
I didn't even know he was hurt until Jess Myers was tweeting about it today.
11:48
Losing two defensemen is not good, Veegs, and I thought we were losing a forward that night.
11:53
Yeah, well, Hugh Glynn did skate today, so I think the prognosis for him is pretty good.
12:00
When we asked about injury issues, Bob didn't mention anything with him, so hopefully he's going to be fine for this weekend.
12:07
Losing Faber is a big deal, and it doesn't sound like it's going to be a long-term thing.
12:13
We saw Russo tweet that he'll be back in time for the Wild to sign him.
12:18
Sounds like according to Bob, it's week to week, so he could be back sooner than later.
12:25
And he's a really important piece for Minnesota.
12:28
Even though he doesn't play a lot on the power play, he is a big reason their penalty kill is so effective, and he's a big reason why Minnesota doesn't hardly ever get trapped in the rolling end.
12:39
And he was on with Big Ten Network with Dave Rebson this morning.
12:44
Me, notice he did lift up both arms at some point.
12:49
So it can't be super bad.
12:51
I mean, if it was like completely bad shoulder, whatever it is, upper body, you know, he used one arm or something like that.
12:59
So I didn't notice he used two arms.
13:01
That encouraged me.
13:03
Yeah, or he'd have his arm immobilized or something like that if it was really serious.
13:07
So I don't think this is going to be a long term issue for him.
13:11
With Chesley, it sounds like it could be like a broken bone type situation.
13:16
You know, when you hear coaches say, you know, end of the season, four to six weeks, usually my radar goes off that it's something like a bone injury where they just have to wait for that to heal.
13:28
Luckily, that's something where they're going to be able to keep playing and skating.
13:32
Our guy KBG was posting, he said he saw him in a boot or something.
13:40
So that's, you know, I don't know, maybe something with his leg.
13:44
It's not good.
13:44
I don't know.
13:45
Do we know what happened on that?
13:47
It's an upper body injury when he went into the boards.
13:50
Upper?
13:52
KBG, I don't know what you're posting.
13:54
Yeah, it's a brace.
13:55
He's got a brace on there to protect it.
13:57
I see.
13:58
Okay, a brace.
13:59
Maybe that just wasn't paying attention, which is like...
14:01
Yeah, obviously.
14:07
Losing to the Badgers Saturday night, not good.
14:09
They could have clinched Veegs.
14:11
Michigan ended up getting two points.
14:13
Magic number now down to two.
14:16
In theory, tomorrow night, if Ohio State beats Michigan, Gophers are the champs because all of a sudden, Michigan can only get three less points.
14:27
That would put us past.
14:30
Obviously, they would like to win it Friday night and not back into it, but there's still that chance tomorrow night that the Vikings, the Gophers, kind of back into another league title.
14:44
Well, they've been the dominant team in the Big Ten all season.
14:48
Even when they don't play very well like they did on Friday, they have enough skill to get three points.
14:53
We saw that a lot, I think, early in the year or two.
14:57
Minnesota didn't always need their A game to get Ws against their opponents in the Big Ten, and that's just showing how strong they are.
15:05
I think they'll have a little bit of a test here playing shorthanded on defense.
15:10
Fish has looked good when he's been in, and I think some of the other guys will be looking forward to the extra ice time.
15:16
They just have to avoid penalties to get through this stretch.
15:20
But it's been a great season for Minnesota.
15:22
Sometimes people say those regular season titles are the hardest to win because you have to be consistent over an entire year, and so it's banner season for them.
15:31
I think they'll get it at some point.
15:33
Oh, but I have no doubt about that at all.
15:36
They'll actually be having that extra week off, you know, with some guys banged up like Faber and Chesley.
15:42
And maybe even, like you said, Hughlin could help them.
15:46
Moscow did mention today that Stoddicker is taking a red shirt, so they're definitely not going to dress him.
15:50
Fish will be in this weekend.
15:51
They'll play 6D in all likelihood.
15:56
Yeah, I would think so.
15:57
And we also saw Charlie Strobel in practice, taking reps at D just a little bit for practice.
16:02
I don't know if he's their emergency option if something were to happen, and they needed a defenseman, but he took some reps there during practice.
16:10
So I think they'll be just fine.
16:12
Jackson Lacombe will probably be looking forward to the extra ice time the next couple days, because they've been pretty good at keeping the ice time low for a lot of their guys.
16:22
So this is a weekend where he could probably get a little bit more and be just fine.
16:27
So obviously they lost Saturday night.
16:29
Didn't take as big a hit in the pairwise as I thought you said, just because like you mentioned, Veegs, we all said the BADgers stink this year, but their pairwise is not as bad as it could be.
16:40
I mean, you see teams that have a lot more wins that are a lot lower than the BADgers.
16:45
So that's a good thing.
16:47
They're still number one in the pairwise.
16:49
I think what's the percentage they're going to be?
16:51
Like 75% chance of getting that number one overall seed right now.
16:55
So things are still looking good.
16:57
The number one, a number one seed is close to a lock right now.
17:02
So that's good as well.
17:06
They just need to start getting it together, Veegs.
17:09
Well, it's hard to just push to the end of the season.
17:12
I think right now this team is pretty targeted on making a Frozen 4 run, but you have to get there and get in position to make that happen.
17:23
So I think the loss maybe gives Moscow a little bit of ammunition in film to say, hey, these are the reasons why we need to have shift discipline.
17:33
These are the reasons you need to be on the proper side of your check so you can keep them away from our net.
17:39
These are the reasons why we got to be disciplined with our sticks and not take penalties.
17:44
I thought the Lacombe hits the head early in Friday night was one of those senseless penalties.
17:51
There's no need for that to happen with this team.
17:54
It just gets everything out of sync for the weekend when you have to kill that many penalties.
17:59
Minnesota has been short penalty killers.
18:02
They haven't really developed a ton of depth there this season, so it's a concern, I think.
18:09
So a lot going on this week with Rinks announcements from Mariucci changes, OSU Rink possibly coming, Bally Sports is going belly up.
18:22
So many things going on.
18:24
We'll start with Bally's.
18:25
I think they announced today or yesterday that they're taking their 30 days to negotiate with creditors.
18:33
It's not looking good for the Bally networks.
18:39
It's not going to affect anything this season.
18:40
I actually think the Gophers' Bally stuff is done this year.
18:46
But it's going to be interesting in the coming months.
18:51
The Wild will be fine.
18:53
Maybe the Twins will be fine.
18:55
But boy, it's a great talker because, gosh, anytime you mess with Gopher Hockey on TV VEGS, it is a talker.
19:05
The people love to talk about it.
19:08
All the Twitters and Facebook posts out there.
19:11
I think Bally's screwed up by obviously paying too much for the regional networks to begin with.
19:19
It took on $8 billion in debt with it.
19:23
Right, and not being able to capitalize on the streaming part of it.
19:27
I think if they would have taken it to that quicker, they would have been able to survive even with overpaying for the networks.
19:35
But it was just so difficult to find streaming options for Bally's that I think they lost their potential there.
19:43
And people got stubborn after that.
19:45
And once you lose a major distribution, it's usually not coming back.
19:50
They lost Dish.
19:51
They lost Hulu.
19:53
They lost YouTube.
19:55
Yes, those two are streaming options.
19:57
But those are still big options, especially with the way people are moving these days with disconnecting from those larger things like a Dish, DirecTV, that type of thing.
20:06
And then it just kept spiraling down for them.
20:09
Well, I think once you lose a customer, it's really hard to get them back.
20:14
As Gophers have found.
20:16
Yes.
20:17
We're seeing that a little bit with Gopher basketball right now is that barn is looking pretty empty.
20:22
Everybody's found other things to do.
20:25
So challenging times, I think, for Battle Sports North.
20:29
Luckily for the Gophers, they play in the Big Ten.
20:32
And they have their own network.
20:35
And they have their own streaming.
20:36
So it might not all be on the big network, but I think more people might be using the BTN Plus package next year.
20:43
What do you think, Vakes?
20:43
Yeah, I think so, too.
20:45
It's a great way to watch Gopher hockey.
20:47
You know, they do have the one game coming up here on ESPNU, as ESPN kind of preps their teams for doing the NCAA playoffs.
20:55
But it'll be nice to see them on BigTen here down the stretch.
20:59
Clay Matvek will be calling those games, that game for ESPNU.
21:06
Boy, we had some back and forth with Nate a little bit tonight.
21:10
OSU is going to build a brand new rink.
21:12
Yes!
21:15
Women's only facility, men's practice facility.
21:17
How dumb can they be, Viggo?
21:21
Come on.
21:22
I mean, you saw Jess Post about it too.
21:24
This is just, it doesn't get any dumber.
21:30
They've got such a bad situation at the shot with atmosphere for their hockey team.
21:36
And you see how big of an advantage it is for someone like Penn State, to have Pegula and have a smaller venue that's packed and has atmosphere.
21:44
I think it totally changes the talking points for your program.
21:49
And for Ohio State to spend as much money as I think they're going to be spending on this project and not make it a four or five thousand seat arena is a huge mistake, I think.
22:00
Now, there is still time for them to figure this out.
22:04
The Regents meeting tomorrow is just approving, I think, like $2.7 million to do the design and the architectural plans and figure out what they want to do.
22:15
So I don't think it's final, final that they're only going to do it this way with a small seating for the women's team and just practice for the men.
22:24
But I think if they don't change their minds and make it a bigger building, it's going to be a huge mistake for them.
22:31
And we'll have Paul Cappenegri on next week, and he is a huge proponent of a new arena, especially for the women.
22:40
But the way they're going about this is just stupid, and hopefully we get some good sound bites out of him next week, because I'm guessing he'll be just as frustrated as we are, because it's not the school we follow, not anything, but it's good for college hockey, Veegs.
22:55
It would be great for the Big Ten to have another good building for people to see hockey in and support their program.
23:02
And I do think with Tony Granato probably being at the end of his rope in Wisconsin, if they don't do this right, Steve Roelich is instantly a top candidate to go somewhere else.
23:13
To Madison.
23:16
To be as patient as he's been so long, I would hire him in a second for a job.
23:24
On the flip side, the university announced the seeding changes and the rink size changes this week.
23:32
They didn't get in to do details, but we've been hearing a lot about this stuff for a while.
23:38
If you're a season ticket holder, they're starting to do the selection process.
23:43
The rows are going to be changing numbers because since they're adding two rows on the sides, going down, like your first row maybe on the end where quite a few of the guys in the chat sit, instead of being in row one and row two, they'll be in row three and row four instead because they want to keep the rows lined up.
24:01
So row numbers are going to change, more seats are going to come in.
24:08
So this is kind of the start, Veegs, they're starting, we know from Craig Floor, they're starting right after the Big Ten Championship potential game.
24:18
Well, I still love this, unless you're on the Facebook site for the University of Minnesota, because I've been reading that and there's just a lot of stupid people there.
24:29
I'm sorry, I'm just going to say it because they're shrinking the rink.
24:33
What are they doing this for?
24:33
I'm like, come on, I just...
24:38
Please talk because I'll just get frustrated with those people.
24:41
Well, I mean, it's an opportune time to do it because they have to change it out because of the refrigeration changes that have been made and they have to get away from the R22 because it's such a limited commodity now.
24:54
Correct.
24:54
And so I think this has been told to player after player for like the last 15 years that eventually they're going to do this at Mariucci.
25:03
We famously had Jack Ramsey say when he was a recruit, they said they were going to shrink the rink.
25:07
Well, they're finally going to get it done.
25:09
And I think it's going to be helpful for Minnesota.
25:11
Now, the next step for Minnesota have the excuses get ticked off for the tournament is they have to find eight teams for the Big Ten.
25:20
And then they can go in and they don't have bi-weeks.
25:22
They play in the NHL size rink.
25:25
You know, and they'll be ready for the NCAAs again.
25:27
Because I hear some people say that because they play on the big ice when they transition to the postseason, it can be a challenge.
25:35
And Sportsnut198 saying, I believe Ritter is getting done as well.
25:39
Yes, they have the same type of refrigerator.
25:41
I think they actually share systems.
25:44
They will be sharing it.
25:47
When they put this new system in, they'll kind of pre-set it up.
25:50
They're going to keep ice and Ritter over this summer.
25:53
Correct, yeah.
25:54
While they do all the stuff with Mariucci.
25:56
And then the next year, they'll finish the work on Ritter.
26:00
But they both have to be done because of the type of system that they currently are.
26:05
So like I said, a lot of people are negative.
26:08
They're like, oh, I love uniqueness, blah, blah, blah.
26:10
I hate, you know, I love having an individual.
26:12
And I keep thinking, you know, I hear those people complaining, oh, it's a money grab.
26:17
They just want more seeds and more of those.
26:19
That's the side thing, Leagues.
26:21
The coaches, the players, the recruits have wanted this, like you said, 15, 20 years.
26:27
Because they know, because a lot of these high-end players, their goal is the National Hockey League, and playing on a huge-ass pond doesn't help them.
26:38
It's just one more hurdle for them to have to overcome, and it's one recruiting disadvantage that they have to account for when they get out there and battle for guys.
26:48
Who knows if this is playing a role in Iserman and all the guys they have coming in, and this is actually happening, but it certainly doesn't hurt.
26:57
Going down to 89 feet, so that's better than the original 92, I think they wanted Veegs.
27:02
The surface is only dropping one foot four inches, so it's not going down that much further, folks.
27:10
People are concerned about the sight lines.
27:11
The sight lines are staying the same.
27:13
The angle is not changing.
27:14
It just keeps going down.
27:16
And the corners, I think, will be a little wonky.
27:22
They're changing the radius from 20 to 22, which is better.
27:27
It won't quite be NHL.
27:31
Correct.
27:33
So the NHL is 28?
27:36
I think so.
27:39
So they can't get to that, but it would have just been bigger kind of weird gaps in the corners anyway.
27:44
So the corners will be weird.
27:46
The sides and ends will be just fine.
27:49
Everybody relax.
27:51
Though I do think, you know, we've got our guy, Eric Brever, who sits right behind in row one, which is now row three.
27:57
It gets lower.
28:00
So they're up higher.
28:01
The boards will be much lower for them right on the glass.
28:06
And because their seats aren't changing, just the surface is getting lower.
28:10
So it's going to be fun, Veegs.
28:15
And they still are planning for a phase two at the rink where they change some seating arrangements so that they can do some fancier things like on the lounge areas and the pie, like we saw at Arizona State.
28:28
And you see a lot of NHL buildings now and you might see some high tops and things around the arena.
28:33
You know, they want to fix the concourse a little bit more to modernize it.
28:37
You know, there's some other options they're pursuing and that's longer term.
28:41
And I think with Ohio State potentially getting updates, St.
28:46
Thomas getting their new rink, Augustana coming into the mix.
28:50
I think Minnesota is going to want to keep making changes and upgrades to Mariucci because, you know, it's an old building now all of a sudden.
28:59
30 years old this fall.
29:01
30 years.
29:02
30 years old.
29:03
So it was the popular thing to do back in the late 80s and early 90s when they were planning it.
29:15
Probably not the best idea.
29:16
I don't think I heard people complain, oh, the Olympic ice is so unique.
29:20
I'm like, but for all the years before Mariucci, they weren't playing on Olympic ice.
29:28
Well, and I think the big argument for putting in the Olympic ice to produce Olympians has totally changed.
29:34
You're even seeing the Olympic games being played on the NHL sheet because that's more exciting in the end.
29:41
You know, you see this three on three where it's a possession game.
29:45
You watch big games on Olympic ice, it turns into more of a possession game instead of the exciting, forechecking physical game that we see on the NHL size sheet.
29:56
But changes are coming, folks.
29:58
You might not like it.
29:59
Embrace it.
30:00
That's all I can say.
30:03
Have fun with it.
30:04
All right, Veegs, let's get into this weekend.
30:06
Heading to Happy Valley, AKA Hockey Valley, Pagula Arena, Penn State, blah, blah, blah.
30:12
It's been a house of horrors early for Mr.
30:16
Matsuko's teams.
30:18
It's been getting better.
30:20
Got better last year.
30:24
This year, I was watching Captain Angry on BTN Today this morning.
30:28
He was saying that Penn State has only like two regulation wins in the calendar year so far.
30:35
So Penn State is not doing all of that great as they were earlier this season.
30:41
So it's going to be an interesting weekend.
30:45
Yeah, it should be.
30:45
You know, Penn State wants to play a real aggressive style.
30:49
They want to fly guys out of the zone and they want to score goals.
30:52
And I think the last couple weeks, you know, they've played Ohio State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Michigan State, and they haven't been able to get away from those teams and not able to have some of those high scoring games.
31:04
They've been giving up plenty of goals.
31:06
So it'll be interesting hockey to watch.
31:09
Minnesota has played well in Pegula the last, I think, two years.
31:13
You know, that COVID year, Bob was really looking forward to getting his team out there.
31:18
To play them in the Big Ten tournament.
31:21
And they were robbed of that chance.
31:24
I think the biggest difference for Minnesota has been the defensemen.
31:28
You look at when the Gophers are really struggling at Pegula.
31:32
You had a lot of defensemen that weren't very confident on the back end under pressure.
31:37
And you look at the defensemen that Minnesota will be bringing out there this weekend.
31:40
It's a much better group, even without Chesley and Faber.
31:44
I think they're still having plenty of confident puck movers back there.
31:49
You know, I think Fish will be under a lot of pressure this weekend to perform after not being in the lineup very much.
31:54
But I think there's more than enough talent back there to be just fine.
31:59
I'm thinking one of those keys this weekend is not just the defensemen.
32:02
It's the team defense leagues.
32:07
We've seen maybe when they've done, like, I think about the game, some games against Notre Dame, where they just kind of played smart, played locked down defense on the defense side and on the forward side, playing smart.
32:23
And they just, then it opened them up for those offensive opportunities by playing smarter defensively.
32:31
I think that's going to be a real key this weekend, especially with how many pucks they like to get on net with Penn State.
32:37
Well, I think the biggest thing I'll be watching is the Gopher Fords in the offensive zone, how they handle a puck above the hash marks.
32:45
It seems to me that Penn State puts a lot of pressure on Fords who get high in the zone and start turning towards the ice, and they'll see two players really pressure in there and then trying to get north in transition.
32:59
And I've seen a couple times, there's a couple players Minnesota has that like to handle the puck high in the offensive zone, and I think they just have to be really careful about that when they play Penn State.
33:09
A lot of these, Mr.
33:11
Cooley, Mr.
33:12
Pitlick, Mr.
33:15
Brudzinski, Mr.
33:17
Lam, a lot of these players like to play high possession games, top of the circles, hash marks, and you have to be really careful doing that against Penn State because they will pressure you there, whereas a lot of teams put their pressure more in the corners and in front of the net, Penn State raises that pressure up a little bit higher in the zone because they want to get those pucks in transition.
33:40
And they really pressure you on the penalty kill as well.
33:45
I've seen that Minnesota has struggled when they are pressured in your face when on a power play, and Penn State loves to do that.
33:54
Well, I think you just have to spread out your players a little bit more and be okay coming from down low, instead of playing from up high.
34:03
So they have to transition pucks, I think, down to Nelson and Nyes and Huling, you know, around the net, in the corners, and work from the net out rather from the blue line in.
34:16
All right, well, what do you think?
34:19
I'm thinking a lot of people will be happy with a split.
34:25
I think it's going to be tough.
34:28
I think it's definitely going to be a tough matchup.
34:30
I think Minnesota wishes they were already in the postseason at this point, and we'll see how they come out and play.
34:37
I thought, you know, the Saturday game against Wisconsin, they didn't, you know, back check all the way and do the dirty things that they had to do to keep the BADgers from scoring those goals that they did, and they put a lot of pressure on Closer to keep them in the game on Friday night.
34:55
And so I don't know if the Gophers are playing their peak game right now, and that's okay.
35:00
We want them playing their peak game come NCAA Tournament time.
35:04
But I think it's hard to see this team getting a sweep, and I think a split is what's going to happen.
35:11
I definitely think we'll see a Friday night win and Saturday night loss.
35:16
Well, I don't have a problem with that, you know, wrap up that league title Friday night.
35:22
And, you know, actually, if they wrap it up Friday night with a win, it might loosen them up for Saturday night.
35:31
It might.
35:32
I'm interested to see how the next four games go for Minnesota.
35:38
You know, do they play closer all four games, or do they give Bartoszkiewicz a night in that just to give closer that mental break?
35:47
I don't think it's a physical issue with them playing games, but it's just a mental break.
35:52
Like, if they win the title on Friday, would you play Bartoszkiewicz Saturday?
35:57
Because it's a good experience for him.
35:59
And what do they do with the defense?
36:02
You know, as they try to figure out, do they want to push Faber back in the lineup, or do they want to just give a lot of ice time to Thomas and Fish and Kester?
36:12
Or do they really want to push and have Lacombe play a lot of minutes?
36:16
So there's a lot of interesting storylines, I think, this weekend.
36:21
Both games, 5:30 p.m., Big Ten Network.
36:24
I know Cappy was telling us that he's going to be doing some color this weekend, and one of the younger announcers, I can't remember his name, will be calling the games.
36:34
So initially, I believe one of these games was not going to be on Big Ten Network, because the only thing would be on BTN+.
36:41
So since the initial TV release, they have added this game.
36:45
I just think a lot of people just didn't notice it, because I didn't even notice it until last week.
36:50
So that's good.
36:50
I'm looking forward to it.
36:53
I kind of like these early weekend games.
36:56
It allows you to watch a lot of hockey this weekend.
36:59
It should be great.
37:00
And as much as we want to see Minnesota press for that number one overall seed in the pairwise, I think splits the rest of the way would still allow them to be in that conversation, because you look at the Big Ten and their strength of schedule for all the teams.
37:17
Very, very strong.
37:18
So none of these losses are bad losses that hurt them a ton.
37:22
You know, CHN has that pairwise player.
37:25
You can mess around with some of the results and see what happens.
37:29
You know, one thing I'd probably do this weekend is see what happens if Minnesota splits out and where they land.
37:36
It's going to be fun.
37:38
It's going to be fun.
37:40
I love those games at Pagula.
37:42
They're up and down.
37:43
Fun games.
37:43
Watch.
37:44
It'll be like one nothing.
37:45
That may very could well be the situation to Minnesota plays real disciplined.
37:52
You know, I don't know if Penn State's going to get a lot of dominating shifts against Minnesota.
37:57
They're trying to get that transition game.
37:59
Minnesota keeps that high for that F3 and their real discipline at the blue line.
38:04
We talked about this with Mike Kester and Jackson LeCom today.
38:07
You know, it's really important for them to keep their head on a swivel and make sure no one gets behind them.
38:12
So they are very aware of the mission this weekend.
38:16
So you're saying split.
38:17
I'm saying four points, you know, something like that.
38:20
Obviously, if they do better or worse, we'll be surprised.
38:26
You got anything else, Veegs?
38:27
Anything else going on?
38:29
That's about it.
38:31
I'll be watching that OSU Regents meeting tomorrow and see what kind of details come out.
38:36
And the OSU Michigan game tomorrow night on Big Ten Network.
38:39
Yeah, that would be great.
38:41
I think it's like an outdoor game, isn't it?
38:43
An outdoor game, yeah.
38:47
I'm hoping that novelty runs out.
38:51
You know, Bob would hate that.
38:54
End of the season, conference on the line.
38:58
Those two teams are battling right now.
39:01
Michigan's moved all the way up to second.
39:04
They're low looking back.
39:05
They could lose tomorrow night.
39:07
You'd be thinking, why are we playing this important game outdoors as a gimmick?
39:14
I don't know.
39:17
Just a couple thoughts there.
39:18
The other cool news this week is Scott Wheeler did his top 50 prospects for the NHL.
39:23
Logan Cooley, number one.
39:26
Jackson Lacombe, honorable mention.
39:28
He's a little low on Jackson Lacombe's potential.
39:32
He was like the seventh-rate duck prospect.
39:35
And I think with Faber out right now, Lacombe is going to be putting some Hobie credentials together here down the stretch.
39:44
Let's do it, Lacombe.
39:47
Let's become that superstar we know you can be.
39:50
No contact to the head pound, please.
39:55
Well, if you don't have anything else, that's going to do it for this week on the GPL Podcast.
39:59
We'll be back next week with Cap and Agri coming on the show, of course, to recap Penn State and preview Ohio State.
40:09
For those of you watching live, make sure you stay tuned for a little bit of overtime.
40:12
For the rest of you, we'll catch you next week on The GPL Podcast.
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