0:08 This is The GPL Podcast from gopherpucklive.com. 0:24 Oh, boy, Duke making mistakes. 0:27 I love it. 0:28 And so, I had to train for this marathon. 0:31 Make sure you stay awake for the game tomorrow. 0:37 So, right away, my confidence is, it's doing really, really, really well before that. 0:42 And then, and then Don goes, can anybody on the ice take a penalty shot? 0:49 And the referee goes, no, it has to be Ramsey. 0:51 And I'm like, okay, there's shot two to the confidence. 0:53 That's great. 1:03 Good evening and welcome to the GPL Podcast, episode number 234. 1:11 Good evening, Veegs. 1:12 How are things with you tonight after a busy weekend for you? 1:17 Yeah, busy weekend, a lot of hockey. 1:18 I know a lot of hockey families are dealing with districts and regions and state tournament. 1:24 And it's just the best part of the year right now. 1:28 Well, our guest is participating in some of that and then he's representing his high school tonight. 1:33 So let's bring him in. 1:35 Jack Ramsey representing the Skippers of Minnetonka. 1:40 How are you doing, Jack? 1:42 I'm doing great, guys. 1:43 Thanks for having me back yet again. 1:45 It's always fun to have you on. 1:48 We're just... 1:50 We needed a guest too. 1:51 You know, it's like in between week, there's no hockey for the Gophers this week. 1:56 It's perfect. 1:57 I'm just playing with you. 1:59 Oh boy. 2:00 Well, like Vig said, it's a busy time of year, Veegs. 2:04 Like you said, you barely got in Saturday because you were up since the crack of dawn on Saturday. 2:11 And then you had your youth hockey all day. 2:13 And then you came down to Mariucci and saw the Gophers sweep the Buckeyes. 2:18 It was the perfect Minnesota day. 2:20 I had an eight o'clock squirt game. 2:22 I had a mite jamboree over at West Side Arena. 2:25 Then I had another squirt game in the afternoon. 2:27 I thought, why not top it off with the Ohio State, Minnesota at Mariucci and then hang out afterwards and talk hockey with a lot of great people. 2:35 It was fun to see all the people in the building. 2:37 Kyle Dubas was there watching Kester and Knives. 2:40 Bill Guerin was there watching Brock Faber. 2:42 Scott Bell from Gopher fandom era and coaching and now scouting for the Maple Leafs was there too. 2:49 And Toronto, a lot of people in the hockey world were at Mariucci Saturday. 2:54 Well, I was talking to Jack before the show. 2:55 I'm like, has he had a chance to get down to Mariucci this year? 2:57 And he's kind of like you, you've been busy with all the youth hockey and coaching and everything, haven't you? 3:03 Yep, you gotta make choices with where you get to. 3:05 And it's been a challenge this year, but I've been at Mariucci most Saturday nights when I can get there. 3:11 So it's been fun to watch this team because this is a special, special group. 3:16 I mean, I think you hear Bob talk every week about how great his defensive corps is. 3:21 Now he's kind of come around on that first line and he says, maybe it's the best one. 3:25 He's been around in college hockey, which is 37 years. 3:29 And they produce this weekend again. 3:33 What do you think? 3:34 Are they the best line in years, Jack? 3:37 They're pretty good. 3:38 That's what the word on the street is, honestly. 3:40 It's people, you hear that coming from people who don't like Gopher Hockey too. 3:49 It's a big deal, Leagues. 3:50 And I know that you kind of wants to tamper that down. 3:57 You doesn't kind of, let's keep those guys out of the media because now everyone wants to talk to Knives. 4:01 They want to talk to Snugger. 4:03 They want to talk to Cooley. 4:05 And Coach has to kind of reel them back in a little bit, doesn't he? 4:09 Well, I think sometimes Coach worries about someone's head maybe getting too big and somebody else maybe feeling a little bruised that they're not being brought up. 4:17 You know, when you ask Bob a question, like, can you talk about Brock's game tonight? 4:21 He's going to be the first one to say, well, you know, Ryan Johnson played pretty well. 4:24 Carl Fish played pretty well. 4:27 You know, Luke Middlestad, you know, he's always playing well. 4:29 And he won't answer your question about how well Brock played. 4:32 You know, it's just kind of his thing, but he's kind of given in the last couple of weeks to be like, yep, these guys are pretty special and it's fun to watch what they do out there. 4:41 Now, Jack, I think really the big thing about this team is not just that they have a great top line. 4:47 They do have quite a bit of depth and maybe not all the time scoring, but they're all doing the other things like back checking and doing the right things. 4:56 Yeah, 100%. 4:58 It's the depth helps out because you just choke teams by the end of the game, but Bob's got them playing the right way. 5:04 And that's what everybody's been kind of waiting for for a few years is you have those skilled players, but you need those skilled players playing the right way. 5:11 And I think you're seeing the dividends hopefully pay off at the end of this year. 5:15 So four zero Friday night leagues, another shutout, the sixth shutout this season for Mr. 5:21 Close, who was the backup to the backup not too long ago. 5:26 Boy, is he shining still. 5:28 I think the thing about Closer is he's getting more and more confident between the pipes. 5:34 And I've been a little critical sometimes about his size and having to fight pucks when he has to go, you know, post to post or read a play that goes across the slots, the other side, he's gotten so much more confident about being aggressive on those and attacking the puck. 5:50 And he is making reads and saves that I don't think he would have made a year and a half ago. 5:56 And for this team to maybe pull out a game where they don't play their best in an elimination NCAA type situation, they're gonna need him to make some saves that he wouldn't have made a year and a half ago, that he's making now. 6:09 And he could be a difference maker for them in the playoffs at this point. 6:13 How big is confidence, Jack? 6:15 You've been out there a long time. 6:16 You know, when your confidence is up and down, it makes a difference in your game, doesn't it? 6:19 100% and it goes to your teammates too though. 6:24 Like they can play totally more freely, I think. 6:27 And like you said, if you're not having your game, you have that guy back there. 6:30 So if the goalie's confidence is up, everybody, what is it? 6:34 Rising tide, you know, floats all. 6:37 Builds off each other. 6:38 Whatever, you know. 6:38 Lifts all boats. 6:39 Yeah, lifts all boats. 6:40 Lifts all boats. 6:41 So if Coleser is playing good, I think everybody's gonna play confident and that's just, that's when you steamroll. 6:46 So the shutout Friday night, Veegs, great game. 6:52 Saturday night, didn't start off so well. 6:57 Double major penalties by Snuggerud and Nyes. 7:00 Nyes owned up to it after the game. 7:03 He was like, I was just stupid. 7:04 I apologize to my teammates. 7:09 They played really well except the last couple seconds of the period and the last couple seconds of the major, a five on three. 7:15 Yeah, they gave up two goals, but I still think they came out of that pretty well. 7:21 I think that was a double five on three. 7:24 Well, leading up to the majors, I felt like Ohio State was like really pressing that mess around line where they were getting physical, they were getting chippy and all of a sudden, I think they hit a find out line where the Nyes coolly snuggled, probably sat on the bench before that shift. 7:43 Hey, let's send a message that's not okay to screw around with us. 7:47 We're serious. 7:48 We're trying to keep you from getting home ice. 7:51 We don't really have a lot to play for. 7:53 We're gonna go after you. 7:54 And you saw all three of them that shift go after Buckeyes and tattoo them. 8:00 We saw coolly early in the shift, then we saw snuggled and then we saw Nyes. 8:05 And I know after the fact, Bob said, I liked the intensity, I didn't like the stupid penalties, but I think there's probably a little bit of hockey player in the Nyes, snuggled coolly going, well, they messed with the bull and they got the horns. 8:20 And after that situation, you did not see the Buckeyes as chippy. 8:26 Like it was more of a straightforward hockey game after that point, because I think they realized, okay, well, if we keep this up, it's going to be an interesting game. 8:33 So I don't think you want that. 8:35 And I think Nyes came out really pissed though, Veegs. 8:37 When he was done with that penalty, he was pissed off. 8:40 For sure. 8:41 And he channeled it just the way he needed to. 8:43 Well, you know, you got to figure out where the line is and where to deliver it. 8:47 And they obviously went over on those plays. 8:49 But if you notice, they weren't kicked out of the game because the way the major penalties work, if there's contact ahead, if there's check from behind and the player getting hit turns at that last minute in the judgment of the referee, it's only the major. 9:05 It's not the automatic like it used to be. 9:07 So in the ref's mind, the Buckeyes players kind of put themselves in vulnerable positions. 9:11 Yes, in the college game, you have to ease up on those hits. 9:14 But I think sometimes maybe in the NHL, maybe those aren't even penalties because the NHL players know that they have to protect themselves. 9:21 So they're not going to turn. 9:23 And so instead those would have been just big blow up hits. 9:25 But in the college game, it's different. 9:28 And I thought it was a real intense moment of the weekend. 9:31 And you know, I've always said you'd rather have to tame the tiger than paint the stripes on a cat. 9:38 And Jack, you know, after that, they did respond really well. 9:41 They get stronger, it got stronger. 9:44 And once they broke the seal, you know, you get that Huling goal, and then 13 seconds later, Nice ties it up, the roof comes off the place because it was just nuts. 9:54 And all of a sudden, it's a completely different game. 9:57 Yeah, you're, I mean, you give up two quick ones like that. 10:00 And like you said, the roof blows off. 10:02 I guarantee if you go back and look at the film, the Buckeyes bench was probably just, all right, we're out of it. 10:09 You know, we had our five on three. 10:11 We had our majors, it's done. 10:12 Well, you could see the goalie, Veegs. 10:14 His response to that second goal is like, cause that's not on him really. 10:18 I mean, he can maybe point the rebound, but it was such a boom boom play off the rebound. 10:23 I'm not sure you had much of a chance on that. 10:26 And I thought Dobrish played a lot better on Saturday than he played on Friday. 10:30 Friday, it looked like he wasn't taking the game super seriously. 10:33 He was kind of goofing around. 10:34 Kicking the net off. 10:36 Kicking the net off. 10:37 And then he took the interference when he stepped out of his crease and kind of challenged Brudzinski and then nothing play. 10:43 And just kind of the way he was joking around, it didn't seem like he was very intense. 10:47 He was back at it Saturday. 10:49 And through that first period, I thought he made some big saves, keeping his team in it. 10:54 You know, when they get up to nothing and then everything kind of fell apart from there. 10:59 And then Nysa finishes it up with a no look pass to Mr. 11:03 Cooley Veegs. 11:04 It was ridiculous. 11:07 And then it was kind of over after that. 11:09 It really was. 11:10 Yeah, it just kind of felt like that. 11:12 You know, that's one of those plays where you just go, no, no, no, what are you doing? 11:15 And then it's like, oh, you know, and looking back, I don't know if Nysa had anything to shoot out there. 11:22 So he went into a crowd. 11:23 Yeah, I mean, all of a sudden he lost his angle. 11:27 So that was pretty impressive to see. 11:28 That's, you know, the Cooley, Nysa, Snuggerud stuff doing what they do out there. 11:33 Oh boy. 11:34 It was a fun weekend, Jack. 11:37 We need to get you John and Mariucci. 11:39 Have you have you have some fun with us? 11:41 Yeah, I'm looking at the schedule. 11:42 I think, I think let's knock on wood, but Big Ten Championship Ceremony will pop drop. 11:48 Let's get it set up. 11:53 The one surprise this weekend, Veegs, that we didn't know going into it, you know, Friday night, the lineups come out. 12:01 Where's Lacombe? 12:04 And all that was, and then obviously Faber was back, but at the time we didn't know a thing. 12:13 Yeah, I think a little surprising, Lacombe has never really been injured in his career. 12:18 And it was something that wasn't during a drill. 12:20 It was just kind of on the ice at practice where he had a lower body injury and he's walk around in a boot on Saturday. 12:29 You know, everybody saw that when he went out there for the senior night ceremony that he was doing that. 12:34 He's seeming like he's moving around pretty well and probably just precautionary with him and make sure he's ready to go. 12:41 Because as well as this defense played without him in it, he adds another level. 12:45 I thought one more thing from the weekend, Mike Kester filling in on that power play unit did a fantastic job. 12:52 I've always thought he's had a really high hockey IQ, really good vision. 12:57 And he's one of those defensemen where he's got his head up when he has the puck on his stick and he finds seems that not everybody can find. 13:04 Just saw this in the chat. 13:06 You're talking about ceremonial puck drop. 13:07 How about a ceremonial penalty shot? 13:16 We're just having fun with you. 13:17 Hey, that's what it's all about. 13:19 We always having fun with each other here. 13:22 So, Lacombe was down, Chesley's still out, Matzko's talking, maybe next weekend. 13:30 I'm thinking he wants to hold them out as long as possible. 13:32 Boy, Jack, it's just tough. 13:35 They've been pretty injury-free all the year, and then all of a sudden, not the best time for this. 13:41 No, no, but it kind of goes back to the depth, right? 13:45 And maybe I think they are deep enough. 13:49 It's just like the caliber of players that we have. 13:53 Losing him is big, but it's just that depth and getting favor back, it kind of replaces one piece after another. 14:00 But I think they can afford to lose it, but you need full health rolling into the playoffs and going deep. 14:07 So this bye week, that's really big, so that pays dividends. 14:11 Get everybody an extra week off, and hopefully they take it easy this week. 14:13 And he's fully recovered going in next week and then next weekend. 14:17 But boy, I really like Fish's game though, Veegs. 14:20 He has done so well. 14:24 Yeah, I think people were a little curious about how Carl Fish would fit on this roster this year, you know, especially with Matt Stoddicker being held out to get that extra red shirt year, so he'd have two years to play after this one. 14:37 So if anything happened, Carl Fish would have to step in. 14:40 And he did it times last year. 14:42 You saw, you know, he can move pretty well for a big guy, and he can handle a puck, and he can be physical. 14:48 But I think there was just a little bit of concern what you had there, and he solidified himself as a fine option for the Gophers going forward. 14:56 I think he's cemented himself a role next year as well. 15:00 You know, the three guys who came back, you never anticipate three guys like that coming back with Johnson, Faber, and Lacombe. 15:06 And so you figured, you know, you're going to have to figure it out. 15:09 But next year, those guys are going to be gone. 15:11 So Fish is going to have a big role with this program going forward. 15:15 And I think he's delivering more than a lot of people thought he had in the tank. 15:20 All right, Jack, this time of year, do the players pay attention to pairwise? 15:26 Honestly? 15:28 Yes and no. 15:30 It kind of depends, right? 15:31 Like we can always think back to.001. 15:35 I'll never forget about that, right? 15:38 But I was looking at them the other day and the Gophers have a pretty good lead. 15:42 They do. 15:43 So I don't think they're necessarily looking at it for themselves, but they want to kind of figure out, play the bracketology game, right? 15:50 And kind of know who they might maybe be playing, but you know everybody through what, 10 through 18 is just checking it every other day. 15:59 But still, yeah, it's a bracketology game and the Gophers want to know who they're playing. 16:03 I've been seeing ones come out so far and I like where the Gophers are, but who the hell knows what it's going to end up being. 16:10 What was the most recent one today? 16:11 They put St. 16:12 Cloud with Minnesota Veegs. 16:14 I just don't see that just for attendance. 16:17 Well, right now there's a problem with 8-9 because you've got Penn State and Ohio State in those spots, I think is what it is. 16:25 And so you don't want to have that conference matchup in the first rounds or how do you avoid that? 16:30 And the USCHO guys, I don't know if they're trolling me or just looking for quick weight, but they moved St. 16:36 Cloud into the Gopher Regional, which is putting the five overall in a region with the one overall. 16:42 And usually the NCAA protects that number one team, putting them up against 16 and then, you know, two against 15 and so forth. 16:53 And you'd assume they would have the eight seat overall. 16:57 You have the number two seat in the region, the eight seat overall be in the Gophers region. 17:01 But, you know, your CHO having some fun and I think they've caught us all with that, with that trolling moment. 17:07 But I don't think that's what I would do. 17:11 There's still a lot to happen though, too. 17:13 Still a lot to happen. 17:14 But I don't think if I was the five seat either, if I'm Brett Larson, I don't like being put in a region with the number one overall seat either. 17:21 True. 17:21 You know, so I think both coaches would be unhappy with that situation. 17:27 It's interesting, Jack. 17:28 You know, you got a team like Penn State going on the road. 17:32 They're number eight in the pairwise. 17:35 They could easily lose this weekend. 17:38 Stay eight, nine, ten. 17:39 They'll probably stay in the top ten. 17:41 And they're not playing for three weeks. 17:47 That's tough because you're not playing the semifinal, and you're not playing the final, and then you got another week until the regional. 17:54 That's a long rest to not play. 17:58 And it could happen opposite. 17:59 It could happen to Ohio State, too, because they're going to be in that area, too. 18:04 So how does a team adjust to that? 18:08 Because that's a long time. 18:10 Yeah, I don't like how the playoffs are set up. 18:14 To be stretched that far apart doesn't really make sense. 18:18 You should end up just scheduling more regular season games. 18:22 Or maybe they can play the Minnesota State High School winter or something like that. 18:27 But it doesn't make sense. 18:30 It is tough because they can come in, they can make the tournament, and they're locked where they are, and they're probably going to play a select number of teams. 18:37 But even if the Gophers hypothetically drop next weekend and then you go in and you're playing a 15 or 16 seed that won their conference tournament, that played their way in and is in a groove, that's pretty tough to come up against in the first period. 18:53 So it's kind of a walkie system, but usually coaches kind of figure out a way, you know, like, hey, we're going to do internal scrimmages. 18:59 Maybe we'll bring some people in or something like that and try to keep it competitive. 19:03 But it is definitely a downfall of the schedule. 19:06 But it is a strength of the conference this year, Veegs, that number eight overall pairwise is on the road for the playoffs. 19:15 Yeah, the Big Ten definitely took care of business in their non-conference games this year. 19:19 And they were having the best strength of schedules by a wide margin over everybody else in college hockey because of that performance early in the year. 19:30 And it's a tough situation right now. 19:32 The Gophers are going to go down to Rochester this weekend for a little scrimmage action to try to keep as much a game weekend as possible. 19:41 When asked about what to do with the bye, Bob said not what we did before Wisconsin, because that obviously did not work. 19:49 And they came out pretty flat in both of those games. 19:53 So they've got to try to keep things as competitive as possible, which is tough, I think, for Minnesota. 19:58 I think once you get an opponent on the schedule, maybe things perk up. 20:03 I'm not sure what the best solution is for the Big Ten. 20:07 I think Bob is hoping that they can get a neutral site somewhere for a final five type situation. 20:17 That would be nice. 20:18 I really think that they need to have a campus site for this, where they can just save it. 20:23 I think that the teams in the Big Ten should bid on it and figure out who's going to host ahead of time. 20:28 I figure Minnesota, Michigan would be two teams that would be bidding heavily on this kind of event. 20:35 And I think both ranks have facilities to be able to handle this kind of action. 20:43 They had regionals there before, back when they had campus site regionals. 20:47 They were able to figure it out. 20:49 The locker situation is not the greatest, though, is it? 20:52 No, it's an old building. 20:53 You have to do some stairs, right, Jack? 20:56 But they could figure it out. 21:00 Yeah. 21:02 We'll see. 21:02 I don't know. 21:04 I think it's right. 21:05 Like Cappy said last week, it's just stretched out too long. 21:07 They should be playing another weekend. 21:10 And then whatever the semifinal will be would be your quarterfinals. 21:14 And then, like you said, a neutral site or on-campus site for a tournament, then you're playing more. 21:20 You're not playing. 21:21 You don't have potential because you get either Ohio State or Penn State is going to be sitting home for three weeks and they're in the tournament. 21:28 That is not good for the league. 21:31 You were talking about it last week. 21:34 These coaches need to start thinking about not just their own team, but the league as a whole. 21:42 Things like that end up punishing one or two teams almost every year. 21:47 What's good for the Big Ten is having a team go out there and finally win an NCAA championship instead of always letting the NCHC have that on their mantle. 21:56 When they go to the resume and say, what's the best conference? 21:58 It's like, well, NCHC, they win all these national titles. 22:01 Obviously, they're doing something right. 22:03 Big Ten, that's got to be their perspective. 22:05 How can we prepare our teams for the NCAA tournament? 22:08 And playing games is the way to do that. 22:10 And hopefully, playing games in a good atmosphere, not at an empty Joe Louis, Little Caesars Arena or whatever, an empty Excel. 22:18 Put it on campus where there has potential to be some atmosphere. 22:22 Compton Family Ice Arena in Notre Dame would be a good site for Final Five, Big Ten as well. 22:29 I think they just want fans. 22:32 And it wasn't that bad in Minnesota. 22:35 Was it big the last time? 22:38 I mean, it wasn't great. 22:39 But Jack, did you play one of those last Big Ten tournaments at one of the big arenas? 22:45 Or is that over already? 22:49 No, we played at the Joe Louis, I believe, right in Detroit. 22:53 Is that the Kyle Rauh one? 22:56 Maybe it is. 22:56 No, I think that was the year Penn State won it for the first time, maybe. 23:01 It's pop. 23:02 Yeah, I have the memory of a goldfish. 23:04 And then we lost to Kyle Cotner. 23:07 Then we lost to Michigan. 23:08 Was this? 23:09 I'm trying to think. 23:11 Yeah, Kyle Cotner. 23:12 Yeah, that was at the X. 23:14 Ask your Shearhorn about that one. 23:16 That was a tough one. 23:20 Well, Shearhorn, we played a lot in junior, too, and he gave up a lot of goals to him at that point of his career. 23:26 And obviously Kyle Cotner has turned out to be a pretty good NHL player. 23:29 If you're going to get scored on by somebody, you know, Cotner, Conor, Comfor, and Mott. 23:38 That was a pretty good team. 23:41 So right now, Veegs, Minnesota is pretty close to being locked in the number one seed. 23:47 I think the really the playoff scenarios right now, the only doubt is really Wisconsin right now, isn't it? 23:53 If Wisconsin kind of loses this weekend, that kind of puts that very lower pairwise team kind of out of the mathematics of it all, doesn't it? 24:02 Yeah, I think someone was trying to figure it out. 24:04 It gets really complicated. 24:05 But if somehow Wisconsin were able to win and play Minnesota and beat Minnesota, that contributes to that 22% chance of being the two seed. 24:15 You know, when you pair that with Quinnipiac winning out, you know, that's a potential for that big drop. 24:20 And once Wisconsin's out, I think we'll see that Monte Carlo go closer to 100% for the number one overall. 24:27 Well, let's talk about that. 24:28 We've got Wisconsin heading to Michigan this weekend. 24:33 Wisconsin got their first win on the road in well over a year, Jack. 24:38 I believe it was sometime in 2021, was the last time they won a road game in the Big Ten. 24:45 And they did it at Penn State last weekend, which is not an easy place to play at all. 24:51 No, I don't. 24:53 Who knows what's going on with the Penn or the Wisconsin program in general, like college hockey is college hockey is better when they're a good team. 25:01 You know, ravelries are there and whatnot. 25:03 But yeah, Penn State is a very tough place to play. 25:05 I think I know that better than anybody else. 25:08 I think as we dropped four straight there, five straight there or whatever it was. 25:12 So yeah, that was that was fantastic. 25:15 And now but now we haven't lost there. 25:17 And it seems like a couple of couple of years. 25:20 I believe you are right. 25:21 They have kind of switched that around, which is awesome. 25:25 So but I remember I was talking, you know, we had that little party after the game Saturday. 25:30 I was talking to Frank Mazzocco about that. 25:32 He had no idea it had been that long. 25:34 I want to say it was like it was like November of 21 or sometime in 21 before they went on break was their last road win. 25:41 And I think it was at Michigan, in fact, Beegs. 25:43 But they have to do that. 25:45 They'd have to do it again to keep Granados coaching job, don't they? 25:49 Because he might be gone Monday morning afterwards. 25:54 I feel like the ship has to have sailed on Granados, sticking around Wisconsin for another year. 25:59 I mean, this has just not been encouraging for them. 26:03 They still have some talented recruits in the pipeline. 26:06 I was just wondering if Jack talks to these high school kids about getting recruited and their perspective on different programs. 26:13 And I know Wisconsin has attributes that attract people and keeps them interested in playing Big Ten Hockey on that stage. 26:21 But I just got to think among players that they see that and they either go, well, he won't be there when I'm playing there and it'll be better or, you know, I just put up with it still to go to that kind of program. 26:36 Yeah, it's kind of it. 26:38 Well, and you'll see too, if there is a coaching change, what happens with recruits, guys will lose their scholarships and whatnot. 26:43 And then obviously you'll bring more guys in. 26:46 But I don't I think like one on one meetings with a coach during recruiting visits, like they're very persuasive and that's who who can get you to commit. 26:55 But at the end of the day, it's the it's the facilities, it's the culture, it's the history, et cetera. 27:00 So I still think Wisconsin has, you know, they're a top dog on what they have to offer. 27:05 So if they if they change coaches and you see another two, three years of this, obviously that guy needs to get his recruits in and whatnot. 27:12 But then that they're down the toilet, who knows where they're going to go. 27:15 But I don't see that happening. 27:16 I see them picking it up. 27:17 I hope not, because it's just it's not good for the league. 27:20 It's good for rivalries. 27:21 Yeah, boo, you suck. 27:22 But still, it's just not good for the league overall. 27:25 Can Wisconsin do anything this weekend against Michigan? 27:28 Because, you know, Cappy was saying last week, Michigan is kind of an enigma. 27:33 They can be the top team in the country and then they can all of a sudden just play so stupid. 27:39 I think in a three game series, Michigan has way too much talent to get two losses. 27:47 I could see maybe them losing a game. 27:50 You know, maybe they win big on Friday and don't come out Saturday and give up something and all of a sudden the Wisconsin goalie stands on his head and they play one of those games like we've seen them play the last month. 28:04 But Michigan's got so much talent. 28:06 I mean, you look at Fantilly, he is a heck of a player. 28:09 He's a little immature and he's showed that over the last couple months. 28:14 But they've got plenty of talent. 28:17 Luke Hughes, I think, had a very disappointing first half and maybe a little bit of a disappointing world junior, but he's heated up in the second half and he's really shown the player he is and has put himself in the running for a lot of the postseason awards and has really done a lot for Michigan. 28:37 What do you think, Jack? 28:38 I mean, do they just go down quietly and that's it for Wisconsin this year? 28:44 I mean, maybe that's the best for them. 28:47 Just kind of slink out of this season and hope for the best next year? 28:51 I'm looking at their schedule and their games. 28:56 They were in Ann Arbor not too long ago, and it did not go well for them whatsoever, 6-2 and 4-7. 29:04 And they've just been splitting everything after. 29:06 And like I said, they got their first win in two seasons last week. 29:11 Yeah, I don't think it matters. 29:13 Like I said, they might pick one up, but there's about a 2% chance that they find themselves out. 29:22 All right, well then how about Michigan State heading to Notre Dame? 29:26 I think that's an interesting matchup because they're both really around 500 right now. 29:31 Notre Dame is in a better position because they're at 13 right now, so a couple of wins could really help them. 29:37 Michigan State's in the certain area where they still haven't won a Big Ten playoff game yet. 29:45 Do they match up well against Notre Dame? 29:47 They probably do. 29:48 Well, I think this is probably the most interesting of the series coming up for the Big Ten because you're not sure totally what's going to happen. 29:58 And I haven't seen Michigan State show a lot of skill. 30:02 And so that's been the big question for me. 30:04 They've got some freshmen who are older who have surprised and put up some points for them. 30:09 Nightingale seem to turn a little switch in that program where they're playing a little bit harder. 30:16 The thing about playing Notre Dame is Notre Dame seems to give teams space and almost tries to give them enough rope to hang themselves with. 30:26 So if you can deal with that space and make plays and not feed the Irish, you can make some plays and you have a little bit more time and space. 30:36 And I think that could benefit Michigan State. 30:39 And I would not be surprised to see the Spartans come out this weekend advancing. 30:44 I think it's a good, comfortable series for them where they can maybe find their legs a little bit. 30:50 And so that's what I'm thinking is going to happen this weekend. 30:54 And Jack, that's another team that will really benefit the Big Ten if they really got it going because they've been bad the entire Big Ten. 31:03 They have never been good at all. 31:07 So going into Notre Dame and getting knocking them out would be a big deal for that program. 31:14 You said they haven't won a Big Ten playoff game? 31:16 According to them, they hadn't won a game in the playoffs. 31:21 They got shut out. 31:22 Well, they got swept every, was it nine years now or is it ten or whatever? 31:28 Ten years, yeah. 31:33 I was looking at it and thinking maybe Michigan State might edge them this series, but now that you bring up that fact, it's probably similar. 31:42 It could be in their heads. 31:43 Yeah, it's 100%. 31:45 When I was at the U and we had the Penn State bug in our head, you knew you were their better team, but it's in your head and you can't get over the hump. 31:54 Maybe that's where the coaching comes in, Veegs. 31:57 Well, I think having a fresh coaching staff helps. 31:59 It's a different perspective. 32:01 You're trying something different. 32:02 You have different little systems. 32:03 You have different little messages. 32:05 The coach hasn't been through all that past, all that history. 32:10 Bob brings that up about Penn State all the time. 32:12 He's like, I don't have a lot of history going to Penn State and getting beat. 32:16 I like going to Pagula. 32:17 It's fun. 32:17 It's good atmosphere, good crowd. 32:19 I'm sure Nightingale feels the same way. 32:21 I look at the odds and it's Michigan State plus 135, Notre Dame minus 165. 32:28 I think it's probably closer to a 50-50 type weekend. 32:31 I really think Notre Dame and Jeff Jackson's team is not as disciplined as they've been. 32:38 I don't know if they're as hard to play against. 32:40 They almost have a couple players who are almost undisciplined enough to give power plays to the other team, make mistakes, get out of position. 32:50 You just see them like it's almost like a false swagger with a couple of the Notre Dame players where you just go, you're just putting your team in trouble. 32:58 I just think that's going to cost them this weekend against Michigan State, who I'm sure knows the history and is hungry to change that narrative. 33:05 Uh oh, we lost Jack for a second there. 33:09 Well, then we've got Penn State going to Ohio State, Veegs. 33:14 I mean, who would ever thought a first round would be between two top 10 teams in the country? 33:22 Should be a great matchup. 33:24 I think Ohio State's a strong veteran team. 33:27 I felt like they maybe lost a little bit of their edge against Minnesota trying to push the edge. 33:32 And so we didn't see their best hockey. 33:35 But the previous couple of weekends, we had seen good play from Ohio State. 33:39 You know, they played well against Michigan. 33:42 And I just like the Buckeyes in this series. 33:45 Penn State has struggled for offense down the stretch. 33:49 And that's really the hallmark of their team is getting lots of pucks on net, lots of scoring opportunities. 33:55 And it just feels like they have lost their pressure and their cohesiveness. 34:00 And when they get into their game plan, where they're trying to choke off teams high in the zone and create turnovers, and when they're not doing that, that program kind of falls apart a little bit. 34:11 Because I don't think they can traditionally generate offense the way like a Minnesota or Michigan or Ohio State can. 34:17 And so I think they're kind of in trouble right now. 34:21 When they came to Mary Ritchie, I thought Penn State was on top of their game. 34:24 When I've seen them the last couple of weeks, I feel like they've fallen off. 34:27 This is a bad time of year to fall off. 34:29 Definitely. 34:31 Jack, what was it like to go in and play at Ohio State? 34:34 I'm guessing you didn't have very big crowds at all. 34:38 No, honestly, we had, I think we had more Minnesota fans at those games. 34:44 It's quiet. 34:45 It's very quiet. 34:45 They don't get a very good suit. 34:47 It's actually, it's such a big rink too that even if you do, it doesn't really matter. 34:51 So it's not intimidating whatsoever. 34:55 It's probably the Notre Dame, them, like the least intimidating arenas to play in. 35:03 There's no crowd sway at all. 35:05 So I'm confident if I'm Penn State going in for sure. 35:09 It's crazy that they're the sixth seed. 35:13 Don't know how they manage that throughout the regular season and they're ranked as high as they are, but I like Penn State going in. 35:21 Well, I think the big thing with Penn State is they took care of business and non-conference. 35:26 Sometimes when you play a softer schedule, if you lose a game, it really hurts you, but if you can get through and not drop any of them, you're going to be fine. 35:34 And then when you pair that with how strong the Big Ten is this year, no loss in the Big Ten hurts anyone in the pairwise. 35:42 So even though they haven't been very good down the stretch, they've won enough to protect themselves. 35:48 And that's why you're seeing the tide has raised all the ships in the Big Ten. 35:52 Like even in Wisconsin, as bad as they are, they're still like in the 30s. 35:56 It's not like they're in the 50s or 60s. 35:58 Yes, they're 33 right now. 36:00 That's not, it's halfway. 36:03 How many teams in the CCHA are in the top 30? 36:07 Or the ECAC. 36:08 I was looking at some of those teams that Quinnipiac was playing. 36:10 48, 56. 36:12 I'm like, wow. 36:14 And I feel bad for Quinnipiac because I'm sure they've got a great team, but their competition most of the time is just terrible. 36:21 Brown 48, Yale 55. 36:24 I mean, that's not good to be going into a tournament. 36:28 I mean, there's a couple of good teams there, but that's tough on Quinnipiac, too. 36:34 But then Ohio State has filled up the arena a little bit better at the end of the season, Vigz. 36:40 I know they had a beautiful house when Michigan was there. 36:43 An outdoor game obviously was a little different, but even in the last indoor game, I should say, was pretty full. 36:51 But then maybe the fans, it's Penn State, we don't really care. 36:55 It could be kind of a ghost town, and maybe Penn State could take advantage like Jack's talking about. 37:02 Well, the shot is just too big of a building for them. 37:05 There's just not enough hockey fans in Ohio to fill that size arena. 37:10 You know, they would be so much better off with this new rink that they're going to be building on campus, mainly for the women. 37:16 If someone just stepped up and said, OK, here's an extra 30 million. 37:20 Let's get 5000 seats in here. 37:21 Let's make it a rink for both. 37:23 That would be crucial, I think, for Ohio State's long term health as a hockey school. 37:29 Instead, if they keep going down this road, you know, it's tough. 37:32 You know, they have that bad, bad atmosphere all the time and not an intimidating place to play, like Jack just said. 37:40 All right. 37:42 Another game that's happening tomorrow night. 37:44 Your skippers, who are they playing? 37:46 Give us a scenario of the games here, or the game here on Thursday, dear Jack. 37:50 Sure. 37:51 Yeah, 7 o'clock puck drop at Braemar versus Chan. 37:55 You can't get a ticket. 37:56 It's been sold out since yesterday at about 3. 38:00 I think tickets went on sale for the public at like 3 o'clock, and by 3.07 all the tickets were gone. 38:06 So it's going to be a good game. 38:09 We dropped the game to them as one of like a fourth or fifth game of the season, four to one with two empty netters. 38:16 So, you know, tightly contested game then. 38:19 It's kind of a revenge game. 38:22 So it's exciting. 38:25 You know, you have all these section championships are basically state tournament contenders where you're seeing a lot of them get knocked off that deserve to be there. 38:36 Why Zeta gets knocked off tonight? 38:38 Definitely a team that's deserving to be in the state tournament. 38:40 So there's definitely going to be a team going home tomorrow that deserves to be there and won't be. 38:44 So super excited. 38:46 It's going to be a great atmosphere. 38:47 You know, it must be weird because, you know, back in the day for the longest time, they were always playing Met Center, Mariucci, some of the bigger arenas. 38:56 Maybe, you know, when St. 38:58 Thomas gets the arena, this is where some of these games could go, Veegs, because, you know, you know, Indiana playing, you know, why is that a big, you know, 2500 seats, but it's not. 39:10 It's just not quite the same as, you know, I mean, we've seen games at Mariucci full for those games. 39:18 Well, the Coliseum too. 39:20 Getting those tickets. 39:21 Yeah, yeah, the Coliseum, getting tickets for like Jack said, sells out in, you know, five minutes. 39:27 That's just a packed place. 39:29 I mean, sure, the atmosphere is fun, but it's boy, it's a little different than it used to be. 39:33 Yeah, Aldrich could be a tough place to get a ticket. 39:37 I think it's tough. 39:39 Hopefully when Minnesota gets their rank down to a smaller width, it becomes a site again for the high school league to figure out how to do section finals there. 39:50 I think that was one thing that maybe coaches didn't like having the biggest game of their year played on a big Olympic ice sheet. 39:57 Yeah, because, you know, if you have a team with a couple good defensemen, especially on the big sheet, you know, they can just hold the puck and hold the puck and choose when to make their plays. 40:07 So I think Mary G could be a site down the line. 40:10 I know Ritter's been in play for some games at times, you know, probably not because they're having the final five there for the women coming up. 40:19 But it would be nice to have bigger crowds for these games because they're so much fun. 40:24 I think St. 40:24 Thomas could be a good honeypot for that type of game. 40:30 I'd love to see it back in Mary G. 40:32 And I don't know what the rights are like that, you know, if it's contracts or whatnot. 40:37 But we'll see it. 40:38 Hopefully see it going back to Mary G next year. 40:40 It is expensive, though, too. 40:42 Mary G is the most expensive ice in the state, unless you're talking about the X or something like that. 40:47 Excuse me. 40:49 Yeah, but for some of these section finals, I feel like it'd be worth it for the sections to figure it out if the dates work. 40:57 Yeah, well, hopefully, hopefully well, because, like you said, Mary, just going down to 89 feet last next year. 41:02 That should make a difference, you know. 41:05 Jack was told when he was recruited that they were going to do that, and they never did for you. 41:09 So crazy. 41:11 No, I was I was a victim of the the Olympic ice to my my sophomore year high school. 41:20 We got absolutely buzzed by Vanild when we were the number one team in state. 41:24 Really? 41:25 So just you're saying they had they had some really good defensemen, Collins, Glover were sophomores, but they had good players and they just whacked us. 41:33 And we whacked them earlier there on normalized. 41:35 So it's definitely something that coaches shy away from. 41:39 And I a little a little weird insight, but I've talked to a few buddies about this, like playing at Ritter and stuff. 41:45 You can't play men's hockey at Ritter because the glass has absolutely zero give. 41:51 Oh, really? 41:52 It doesn't have those, it's not spring loaded? 41:55 No, it's just it's like concrete. 41:57 So when we practice there, if you got hit to the board, it's like you're running to a brick wall. 42:01 So it's, you know, you're asking for people to get hurt. 42:04 It sucks playing. 42:05 I think it'd be, I think it'd be super, super fun. 42:07 Oh, yeah. 42:08 The glass, glass hurts. 42:10 I didn't know that because yeah, when I'm shooting on the boards at Mariucci, I mean, they give, I mean, they're spring loaded. 42:17 You can't be on the glass because it's going to move and it's going to hit you if you're up against it. 42:21 I remember Breck had an old ice rink on 62 and one of the boards was right up against a concrete wall. 42:30 So like the entire boards were just like concrete. 42:35 And I remember if you went into there, absolutely no give. 42:38 And it was just crazy. 42:39 It's just like you probably didn't even need glass there because you just put it off the masonry blocks. 42:46 Well, it'll be interesting if they change because the ice for Ritter is going to happen the next summer, right, Vague? 42:50 So it'll be interesting if they change the boards there. 42:54 Yeah, maybe. 42:54 I think it would be great so that they could prep it for both. 42:57 Jack hated practicing there. 42:59 I mean, if you, I mean, like you said, you hit and cock. 43:02 If it's that hard, that's not fun. 43:09 So, so Jack, how's your role on the coaching staff evolved over the year? 43:13 What's it been like? 43:14 And I know a lot of Gopher fans want to hear about more and how his season's gone. 43:18 Yeah, for sure. 43:21 Well, I initially got the opportunity to take the assistant coaching job for the Fords, but I just couldn't fully commit. 43:30 New wife, work, didn't want to kind of go half foot in and say I'm going to be a full coach. 43:35 So I gave myself the title of, what was it? 43:40 It was player in culture development. 43:42 That was my made up name. 43:45 But no, I'm labeled as an assistant coach. 43:47 I help the Fords and the D. 43:49 I try to get to practice a few times a week. 43:51 I've been on the bench three times this year. 43:55 It was our coaches, when the snow storm hit last week, our Ford and D coach couldn't get there. 44:00 So the first game that I had to actually coach was a section game. 44:04 I'm like, you're kidding me. 44:06 So this is the way it's going to happen. 44:08 Hey, throw into the fire. 44:09 That's how you learn. 44:10 Absolutely. 44:11 And the other two games I helped coach were both against Eden Prairie and their Nailbiter. 44:16 So I don't know if I have the heart for it to be on the bench. 44:20 It's so stressful. 44:21 But I've been helping out the Fords and D. 44:24 It's been a ton of fun getting in the locker room in between periods during the games. 44:28 And I really try to pick out a couple of players in between periods and focus on individual things. 44:34 You know, we have our coaches to talk about the team stuff, the system stuff, but I want to get in one or two guys' ears, talk to them about something I'm seeing just to improve their game for the rest of the night. 44:44 So it's been really fun. 44:46 Is it hard to filter it just to like one or two things when you're coaching? 44:52 It is, yep. 44:54 You kind of figure out as you go, right, at the beginning of the season, your brain's on overload and you want to just spew stuff to kids, but you kind of have to figure out what their intake capacity is and who receives stuff, how, and how you can talk to certain guys and how hard you can lean on certain guys and whatnot. 45:11 But I've kind of figured it out and learning every single day, so I'm excited for the future, excited to keep doing it. 45:18 So what's Morbin like as a player to be around? 45:22 He's electric. 45:23 It's funny, off the ice, he's quiet, but then you'll catch him laughing, smiling, being loud, being energetic, so he's kind of going to scale, depends on who he's around, but he's a super, super nice kid. 45:37 The sky's the limit for this guy. 45:41 He kind of came out of nowhere last year and the past few years, and his trajectory scale is just shooting straight upwards, but he's just so much talent, trying to just mold it and work on it. 45:56 He's still very, very young, and who knows how long he has, high school, juniors, et cetera, before he gets to the Gophers, but they're going to have a very, very talented kid that likely will not stick around for four years because of how talented he is. 46:12 If you want to catch a glimpse of him tomorrow, absolutely, one of the best skaters in the state, and the guy can hunt on the fork check like nobody else, so it's really fun. 46:21 Ah, that's the only thing I haven't enjoyed about the high school hockey since I've been covering Gopher hockey because you get the tournament time. 46:32 I mean, it's a little better now. 46:33 I can watch more of the games. 46:35 The finals always in playoffs for Gophers. 46:38 I mean, it's always, you know, championship game. 46:40 We're always at Mariucci. 46:43 And so you miss it, but it was the same with even the WCHA. 46:49 It was like you played against Lasker Anchorage that weekend. 46:52 And you're half the place is gone because they're probably over at the X. 46:58 Which is not so terrible because it's such a cool thing. 47:04 Remember the Michigan series? 47:07 What was that? 47:08 My junior year, I think. 47:11 With your friends? 47:13 Yeah, yeah, that's half the crowd. 47:15 We've talked about this before, but yeah, it was tough. 47:19 That image I took that I got a lot of grief on was in the paper last week. 47:24 Really? 47:25 Yeah. 47:26 How did it get brought up now? 47:30 Well, Randy Johnson did a story for the Star Tribune about the return of fans to Marriott Shear Arena. 47:37 And that's a pretty obvious low point in fan engagement with the Pride eyes. 47:45 And so to go from that level to where they're at right now is a complete 180. 47:51 You know, I was just looking at the ticket scan data and we'll be putting that on GPL here pretty soon. 47:57 But the crowds, the last six home games have all been really, really good. 48:03 And I think that's important for Gopher Hockey. 48:06 It's important for the University of Minnesota. 48:08 I was talking with some people in the administration, and they are very happy with the way the fans have come back and have responded to a program that's back to where they want to be. 48:19 And they've had a great year of fundraising. 48:22 I think last year was their best year ever in terms of donations and contributions. 48:27 And that allows them to do things like shrink the rank and eventually make improvements to the concourse and the seating bowl. 48:34 And if the fans keep showing up, those things are going to happen faster. 48:38 It's exciting because, you know, like you said, we went, he had a picture of that Michigan game that I took, the big panorama. 48:46 And then he had a picture he took of the student section during the Big Ten Championship last year, which took up not just three sections, it went five sections packed. 48:57 And we had never seen that in any of Gopher Hockey history leagues ever. 49:02 No, that was quite the crowd. 49:03 I remember hearing the rouser during warm ups and you're just going, what happened here? 49:09 This is amazing. 49:11 And the game just, you know, turned out pretty hot. 49:13 But oh, well, yeah, the game obviously didn't turn out the way we wanted it to. 49:18 But I bought tickets that game. 49:20 I was in one section over from the students and they were all bleeding over into our section. 49:25 They all got kicked out and it was just it was amazing. 49:28 They're not doing the five sections this year. 49:30 Because they're only doing three. 49:33 Unfortunately, I would love to see them do that again, but. 49:37 Yeah, maybe they'll sell some extra standing room, but you know, yeah, that for the Michigan game because they were having so many issues with their regular ticket holders showing up. 49:46 Yeah. 49:47 And the redemption rates were looking like 60, 65 percent for most of the arena. 49:52 And so they said, well, let's open it up to more students. 49:55 So the building is actually full. 49:57 Well, then they kind of hit that tipping point of like, well, actually, people were showing up for the game and wanting to use their tickets. 50:02 So it got a little crowded. 50:04 And, you know, you sure want to have the fans that pay, you know, the twenty five, thirty dollars or whatever it is for tickets getting their seats. 50:11 So, you know, it's a it's a balance. 50:14 Yeah. 50:15 Well, I'm looking forward to the to the playoffs, you know, semifinals. 50:19 Who are we going to see coming to Mariucci next weekend, Veegs? 50:24 Who gets out? 50:25 You think it's a Michigan state? 50:27 I think it's going to be a Michigan state because I think Ohio State's going to get through. 50:30 I think Michigan's going to get through. 50:31 I think Sparty's going to get their first playoff win and get two of them. 50:37 Wow. 50:38 All right, Jack, who comes to Mariucci next weekend? 50:41 I'm going to go with my gut and agree it's going to be Michigan State. 50:44 They'll get over the hump. 50:45 Really? 50:46 Get over the hump. 50:48 Veegs, you like it because the Michigan state does not match up well against Minnesota at all. 50:54 Yeah, I mean, the only teams you worry about, I think, would be Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State. 51:01 And the rest of the teams of the Big Ten, you're not too worried about as a Gopher fan. 51:06 But this year, this Gopher team is something special. 51:09 So if they're engaged, they're going to be tough to beat down the stretch here. 51:12 You know, I ran into Mike Carman down in the locker room after the 4-0 game. 51:19 And he's like, this is the year. 51:21 This is the year. 51:22 This team is good. 51:23 They this is the he was he was pretty giddy about it. 51:28 And that's what to be giddy about. 51:31 I mean, the power play is clicking. 51:32 The penalty kill has been good. 51:33 They're getting good goaltending. 51:35 They're showing their depth on the blue line right now, dealing with injuries. 51:40 Sounds like the players are bouncing back from their injuries and getting back in the lineup and want to be back. 51:44 They have depth players that play positive shifts and allow you to connect things together. 51:50 There's a lot of things to like right now with Gopher Hockey. 51:54 And I just hope that we see Jack at Excel next week. 51:57 I'm going to the Thursday bowl sessions for the high school tournament. 52:01 So I'm hoping to see the skippers there. 52:03 I've got a group of people that invited me along for one of the best days of the year. 52:07 That's right up there with the NCAA regional weekend for me. 52:11 And to see all the high school games that Thursday when everyone's dreams are still live is a great day. 52:18 A lot of work is not done on those days, Jack. 52:21 I'll be on my computer. 52:22 I'll have those games up. 52:25 Starting next Wednesday with the A games. 52:27 Just I'm streaming it. 52:28 I got the big screen here. 52:32 It's fun. 52:33 Absolutely. 52:34 I did that last week with the girls tournament. 52:37 As soon as it kind of hits, I start streaming everything, like watching anything. 52:40 Granted, I was following Taka along in that, too. 52:44 But it's so much fun. 52:46 I enjoy watching high school hockey and college hockey more than NHL hockey. 52:50 I think it's just more exciting. 52:52 You don't know what to expect and stuff pops off at any time. 52:56 You know, I obviously I do like the high school, but yeah, like you were saying, the regional weekend is always, I've loved it. 53:05 I must say, you know, it's great for the teams that they've gone to four days now. 53:08 We love that day off. 53:09 That's great. 53:11 Boy, that Saturday when they just had three days. 53:14 I mean, you had six games and it was just. 53:20 I sometimes I just stay in my PJs all day and just watch them. 53:24 And because it is just intense. 53:26 Oh, it's just my favorite weekend of the year. 53:29 Six games a day is a little too much for the region. 53:31 Yeah, because you're trying to watch everything. 53:32 I like the way they've they've gone now. 53:35 But it's still still a great time. 53:38 It's as Bob said, it's banner season. 53:40 So good luck to all the teams out there. 53:44 You guys got anything else for us? 53:45 It's pretty decent show on a non playing week. 53:49 Biggs, you got anything? 53:52 Like I said, I've got the scan ticket data for GPL again. 53:55 So look for that probably the next week. 53:58 And I am going to be putting together a little feature story that I've been working on all year. 54:01 It's finally going to come out next week. 54:05 Look on GPL for it. 54:06 All right. 54:07 Well, thanks for joining us, Jack. 54:09 I'm going to put a question on you guys real quick before we get to any games this weekend. 54:14 Because I got all the conferences list out. 54:17 Before there's any games played, you know, and you can skip the first round, who are you guys' conference projected winners for playoffs? 54:28 Well, I think Minnesota, Big Ten. 54:30 Denver, NCHS, pretty easy. 54:32 St. 54:33 Cloud could sneak in there just because it will be here. 54:36 I think Quinnipiac could subset, maybe. 54:38 Harvard takes them out. 54:41 And boy, couldn't it really mess up. 54:43 I mean, RIT is about 22 right now, Veegs. 54:46 They're in the early 20s. 54:47 They're expected to win their conference. 54:52 Hockey East is where I think it could get interesting because you've got Boston University, that's really the only team there. 55:00 All it takes is one team, like Northeastern, who was on the bubble, kind of dropped away. 55:07 They could take it to Northeastern. 55:08 All of a sudden, they're going to be knocking out Minnesota State Mankato. 55:11 Because Minnesota State Mankato, right on the border right now, which forces them to win their conference. 55:17 So it's all over the place. 55:22 But I think Mankato will pull out that one too. 55:24 Okay, Vig, what do you think? 55:26 I definitely like Minnesota Denver. 55:29 I like the thoughts on Harvard and Northeastern. 55:31 I'm right with you on both of those. 55:33 Harvard is probably the most talented team in ECAC, in my opinion. 55:38 They are growing over the year. 55:41 And I think they're going to do well in a conference tournament situation. 55:44 I feel like Quinnipiac just is not going to do well in a tournament. 55:48 They didn't do well in the NCAAs last year. 55:51 I just kind of think that's maybe a trend with them. 55:55 Not to drag this too far, Ram Pecknold in the World Junior. 56:00 I did not like how Team USA handled the adversity with him behind the bench. 56:05 So I've got some issues there with that team. 56:09 Don't know a ton about Atlantic Hockey. 56:11 RIT is the team. 56:13 I kind of like Niagara a little bit, but I have no idea what's going to go on there. 56:20 And then Mankato, I don't know if they can do it. 56:23 Tech is looking good. 56:26 Mankato didn't exactly have a great first part of the year. 56:30 They're finding their identity. 56:32 And now they get in the stretch where I think CCHA is not the strongest league this year. 56:37 So we'll see. 56:40 And they could just squeak in and end up facing somebody like Quinnipiac. 56:46 Who are your final four picks? 56:47 I saw that. 56:47 Yeah. 56:48 Steve Larsen. 56:51 I'm not even supposed to predict that at this point. 56:54 I want to see that. 56:55 Give me a bracket first. 56:57 I can't even tell you four teams in a regional. 57:01 Well, I don't see Quinnipiac getting in. 57:04 I don't mean I don't think Quinnipiac gets to a Frozen Four and they're probably a number one seed. 57:10 So I think Minnesota and Denver are the two teams that are strong number one seeds. 57:15 And then you're starting to look at that next band of teams. 57:17 You know, those two, three seeds, you know, maybe even a four seed. 57:21 Yeah. 57:22 I mean, you could really see Denver, Minnesota, Michigan, maybe like a Northeastern Harvard, BU is the fourth team, even Ohio State. 57:33 You know, Dobrish could get his head straight after that really bad Friday night against Minnesota and play like he did in the first period Saturday over an entire regional. 57:42 And he could get Ohio State through. 57:45 It's going to be fun. 57:46 I'm excited. 57:49 Thanks for coming on, Jack. 57:51 I appreciate it. 57:52 I look forward to it. 57:52 Hey, all my Wednesdays are cleared. 57:54 All my Wednesdays are cleared for the rest of the year. 57:57 I still want to get you and Sheerhorn on at the same time. 58:01 He couldn't. 58:02 I tried. 58:03 Sheer couldn't make it this week. 58:05 Probably a big pickleball match, the Chipotle Cup. 58:11 Probably got in the way. 58:12 Probably got in the way. 58:15 All right. 58:15 Well, that's going to do it for this week's GPL Podcast. 58:19 Obviously, we want to thank Jack for coming on with us once again. 58:22 We'll be back next week and hopefully preview that Big Ten semi-final against who? 58:30 We're not really sure who. 58:31 We'll just have to wait and see. 58:33 For those of you watching live, stay tuned for some overtime. 58:35 For the rest of you, we'll catch you next week on the GPL Podcast.