0:07 This is The GPL Podcast from gopherpucklive.com. 0:16 Wait a second. 0:17 Hair game on GPL. 0:31 Oh boy. 0:33 Juke making mistakes. 0:34 I love it. 0:35 And so I had to train for this marathon. 0:39 Make sure you stay awake for the game to run. 0:42 Really surprised what I saw in Michigan State because there's so much hype about them going into that series that, oh, they're back. 0:50 Like, they're playing really well. 0:52 And then I see them play Minnesota. 0:53 I'm just like, where's the skill? 0:55 Now here's Jupiter and Vegoe. 1:04 Good evening and welcome to The GPL Podcast, episode number 236. 1:11 Well, Veegs, it's championship time. 1:16 We made it. 1:17 We did. 1:17 I feel like at the start of this season, the Gophers wish they could just fast forward to this weekend and get here healthy, get here productive, get here in good spirits. 1:28 And here we are. 1:29 And it sounds like the Gophers will get Jackson Lacombe back for this big series or the big game with Michigan here to cap the year and then get in the NCAA tournament. 1:39 Well, since we're playing Michigan again, Veegs, we added a Michigan person this year on the podcast. 1:45 So we thought we'd bring it back. 1:46 Connor Earegood from the Michigan Daily areas right there. 1:50 Connor, thanks for coming back, man. 1:52 Yeah, no worries. 1:53 Thanks for having me. 1:54 It's great to have you back. 1:56 It's an exciting time of year, isn't it? 1:58 Oh, yeah. 1:59 As a writer, as a fan, it's our time of year. 2:04 It's our time of year. 2:05 I love it. 2:06 Oh, yeah. 2:07 I hear you're coming this weekend to Mariucci. 2:11 Yeah, our whole daily crew is going to be there. 2:14 Thank you to Scott, the Minnesota SID was emailing back and forth this week. 2:18 We made something work. 2:19 So thank you if you're listening. 2:22 Well, I think he watches at times. 2:24 Does he be exciting? 2:26 He might tune in. 2:27 Sometimes. 2:28 There's always ears on the GPL Podcast from the Gopher. 2:31 Yeah, to make sure we don't say something stupid. 2:34 Wait, make sure I don't say something stupid. 2:37 You never say anything stupid, Veegs. 2:39 That's right. 2:40 That's right. 2:41 Always smart, 100 percent of the time. 2:45 The Gophers are doing good things this year with what they have going on Mariucci Arena. 2:51 I think the fans have been responsive all year to what they're trying to accomplish. 2:55 The students have been there all year. 2:58 And you could see it in the crowd last weekend. 3:01 I think looking back at semifinals and quarterfinals for the Big Ten tournament, Minnesota has always had a tough time drawing crowds to those early games. 3:11 And they got over 9,000 to buy tickets for Michigan State. 3:16 And I think like 8,200 showed up. 3:20 Which is incredible. 3:21 With the snow, with the state hockey tournament going on. 3:24 And when the players came out for warmups and saw the student section full, and when I saw them full with their phones out for the starting lineups, I was like, all right, here we go. 3:34 It's playoff time. 3:38 I was unable to make it last week. 3:40 I had, apparently I was at the end of some COVID. 3:43 So I thought it was best not to come to the arena last weekend. 3:47 On the opposite end, at Yost last weekend, I know Veegs, you kind of liked Ohio State in that game, but Connor, Michigan came out strong, and they never really let Ohio State in that game really. 4:00 No, not at all. 4:01 I mean, 23 seconds in, Gavin Brinley scores first shot of the game. 4:05 And after that, with the crowd in it, sellout crowd, like once you felt the energy shift, Ohio State wasn't getting that back. 4:12 I think they drew within two. 4:13 It was four to two at one point, and then Michigan just poured it right back on. 4:16 So probably, I would say Michigan's best win of the season. 4:20 Dobish didn't help themselves. 4:21 I thought the first couple of goals, I thought it could have been a much better game. 4:26 If Dobish could have just been there for those first couple goals, it might have been more interesting. 4:31 Don't you think, Connor? 4:32 I almost a little unlike him a bit. 4:35 Yeah, I almost think that, I mean, he's got all the talent in the world. 4:38 He's one of the best goaltenders in the conference. 4:40 I think that first one might have rattled him a little bit. 4:43 Like, the fans are breathing down your neck. 4:45 You let in that first goal, huge mistake, and then you almost like, you get yourself out of it. 4:50 Like, you let yesterday beat you today kind of thing. 4:53 I almost wonder if that's what happened. 4:56 We didn't get to do any pressers with OSU afterward. 4:59 We tried, but since they were heading out of there, we didn't get a chance to chat. 5:04 And Veegs, you know, that's kind of the key when you go to Yoast. 5:07 If you can keep Michigan quiet the first 10 minutes, you're going to do pretty good. 5:13 And I think, you know, you liked Ohio State in that game, but really, I think Dobish kind of let them down to start that game. 5:20 Well, we kind of saw that with Dobish when he came to Mariucci the last time Ohio State visited the Gophers. 5:25 And his body language just wasn't into it. 5:28 Like, he seemed goofing around. 5:30 He didn't seem engaged. 5:31 He didn't seem mentally resilient. 5:34 And you saw those first couple of goals for the Wolverines go in. 5:37 And he saw his head down and you saw him get less aggressive and play deeper in his crease. 5:42 And it just was not going to work for Ohio State to have a goaltender playing like that. 5:46 It was almost like Michigan fed off of that timid play from Ohio State. 5:51 And then the goal that got disallowed by the Buckeyes, you know, that could have maybe got them back in it when that gets disallowed and Michigan goes right down and scores again. 6:00 You know, that puts a pretty steep hill for the Buckeyes to climb. 6:05 Apparently, there was another offsides call that I never saw. 6:10 Is that the one that got overruled? 6:12 Was it the offsides call or was it? 6:14 Yeah, yep, the offsides. 6:16 I think it was Joe Dunlap was offsides and it was close. 6:21 If I was the official, I might have let that one go just for Game Flow. 6:25 But I was sending messages to Caponegri at the BTN. 6:29 I'm like, your graphic is covering up where his foot would be on the line. 6:35 We can't see it. 6:36 So we're like, I could I'm sure he was offside, but we couldn't see it. 6:40 Yeah. 6:40 Well, that and then when Michigan has that, I think it was Goaltender Interference call or whatever it was on on Michigan's third goal. 6:48 I mean, Michigan hasn't won challenges hardly at all this year. 6:52 So winning two back to back like that. 6:54 I mean, I think that was more more confidence for them than the three goals like that. 6:58 You think you can beat him at that point. 7:01 And then here at 3M Arena at Mariucci this past weekend, Veegs, they got themselves in trouble a little bit there at first and Michigan State kind of came out, got a power play and got up one nothing. 7:16 Yeah, I don't think I necessarily liked the penalty call on Logan Cooley, either for the way he delivered the blow, the way Jager Joshua maybe drew the call a little bit from the officials. 7:27 It was right in front of the Gopher bench. 7:28 It was a little high for a hit, but it really wasn't that dangerous. 7:32 I think the officials just kind of saw what they thought they saw and called it. 7:36 That play would have happened during the double A state hockey tournament here. 7:40 It obviously would have been a no penalty call. 7:43 I don't know if anyone watching our show watched the hockey tournament, but there were hardly any penalties called during the boys state hockey tournament this year. 7:51 That's the way they like it. 7:53 We don't see it that way in college hockey, obviously. 7:56 Oh, boy. 7:58 Connor, it was bad. 8:00 We get used to a way a game is called, Connor. 8:05 We complain a lot, oh, that's a terrible call, but it is a much cleaner game, the college game. 8:11 And then when a fan like me goes and watches the high school tournament, I see all this stick work and, you know, I see, you know, in one of the, I think one of the semi-finals was any dying guy. 8:21 He came up on a check. 8:22 He pretty much hit the guy in the head. 8:24 Would have been an instant five in college, which we see all the time. 8:28 But in that game, it wasn't even a penalty, Veegs. 8:32 Yep. 8:32 That's the way they want the boys' high school tournament called. 8:35 And I think the teams going into it know that. 8:38 So it was a pretty fun weekend of hockey in Minnesota. 8:41 But back to the Gophers, I think on the penalty kill, you know, that first unit got caught out there a little bit long. 8:47 They weren't able to get any clears. 8:49 So they give up a goal, a couple of mistakes that Bob referenced. 8:53 And then Minnesota gets right back on the power play. 8:56 Nice play by Jackson Nelson around the net. 8:59 Probably the easiest goal he'll ever have in college hockey. 9:02 Everybody is worried about Matthew Nyes on one wing. 9:05 And I think it was Snuggerwood or Cooley on the other side that was kind of looking off pass and Nelson was all alone. 9:12 And then Middlestadt, hard working line against Michigan State gets rewarded for a goal and a low to high play where he gets a tip. 9:20 And away we go Gophers. 9:22 Minnesota just got Michigan State's number now, Veegs. 9:24 I mean, 14 straight wins. 9:26 They outscored them 30 to 7 this year. 9:31 I mean, they just have their number, Veegs. 9:35 Well, and I think Michigan State got the start that they wanted. 9:38 They did. 9:39 You know, we talked about it. 9:40 We talked about if they come out early and get a goal, but they needed to get more. 9:44 They just couldn't do it, right? 9:46 They needed to hold on after that goal and keep the momentum going in the period. 9:49 And then maybe you never know what happens. 9:51 It did kind of look like Logan Cooley was getting frustrated throughout the game. 9:56 We saw a couple of times where it was almost like Cooley, Knives, and Stugger came on the ice and they said, you know, we're not scoring. 10:01 Let's get some energy by hitting people. 10:03 And you could feel that sometimes with that line. 10:06 Every once in a while, all three of them will have consecutive hits, just trying to get something going if they get frustrated. 10:12 Connor, we've been saying all along that, you know, a good Big Ten is a healthy Big Ten. 10:19 Michigan State being bad for so long has been bad for the Big Ten. 10:22 Wisconsin being way down is bad for the Big Ten. 10:26 We really like what Nightingale has done there. 10:28 He's at least got started pushing it forward for Michigan State. 10:33 Oh, yeah, absolutely. 10:34 And with his national team development program connections, they're only going up from here. 10:39 I think they have two or three commits on the current U18 team. 10:43 And I think they have even more on the U17s because that's what, I guess that's the program Nightingale was going to coach if he didn't go to MSU. 10:50 But Noah just really trusts his players and really gives them a lot of room to develop and grow. 10:56 It's really good for Michigan hockey in terms of the state. 11:03 Connor, you've been writing about Mel again because Mel's been hanging around the arena and it was, what was it? 11:13 Against Wisconsin, I think a couple of weeks ago, he went on the broadcast. 11:18 I actually have the audio format. 11:19 I'm going to play it now so we can hear exactly what happened. 11:22 And then we'll kind of get into your article this week. 11:25 So let's take a listen here. 11:28 Hey, and you got to say hello to former Michigan hockey coach Mel Pearson, stopping by the Broadcap booth. 11:33 Mel, how you been? 11:35 Good. 11:36 Good to see you. 11:36 You got a good crowd on hand. 11:39 What are you thinking about the Michigan Wolverines here in this Wisconsin Badgers? 11:42 Great crowd. 11:42 You know, these people have always supported Michigan hockey. 11:45 I mean, they got the best fans in college hockey and obviously, yeah, 3-1 here. 11:49 So I think they get the next goal. 11:50 This probably series is over, but they look good. 11:53 They got, you know, a little loose to start with at the beginning of the game, but, you know, they got so many guys that can score. 11:59 They get opportunities. 11:59 They're going to finish. 12:00 So anyway, and Eric Cortillo, you know, he's played well. 12:04 He's made some critical saves at key times. 12:06 He doesn't get enough credit, you know, because of all the scoring they have. 12:09 What do you think about that trade sending the Buffalo Sabres sending him to LA.? 12:13 Yeah, it's good. 12:14 The Buffalo's got a crowded net. 12:16 LA., you know, obviously, you know, they don't have the depth. 12:19 And, you know, a guy I coach at Michigan Tech, Phoenix Copley, they're rolling now. 12:23 So I think it's a good opportunity for Eric to go in, you know, and try and find a way to get the NHL. 12:28 So because of the depth there. 12:30 But anyway, happy for him. 12:31 Very good. 12:32 Thank you, Mel, for stopping by. 12:33 And we appreciate you joining us here on the podcast. 12:38 Okay, well, there was Mel at the game. 12:42 Apparently, you've been seeing him at games quite a bit this year. 12:45 Is he there a lot? 12:47 Pretty much all season. 12:50 Okay. 12:51 Since the exhibition against Windsor. 12:54 You know, I can understand a coach coming back if they didn't leave on greatest terms, maybe as a scouting. 13:01 I mean, I know, Veegs, we saw John Hill the very first game after he was let go. 13:07 We saw him right at Marriott, because he was doing some scouting. 13:15 He was essentially fired, Connor. 13:17 What's he doing at the games in such a public role, I should say? 13:23 Yes. 13:24 Yeah. 13:24 So, I mean, every time you see him, he's still wearing his. 13:27 I would. 13:28 It's not necessarily coaching entire, right? 13:30 I mean, every everyone kind of wears that the same sort of like pull over and whatnot, but it's the same kind of stuff he was wearing behind the bench and goes and talks with scouts, goes and talks with folks that are kind of, I'll call it work in the game, ushers everyone. 13:44 And yeah, just makes his presence known to really everyone. 13:47 So his, it's called like the Champions Box. 13:50 That's how they brand the luxury seating. 13:53 It's the fourth level right underneath the press box, if you guys have ever been to the Yost Press Box. 13:58 One level below it and right next to the little TV where they have the tripods and everything set up for the broadcast. 14:07 His booth is right next to that. 14:11 Veegs, you kind of have a little grin on your face. 14:13 What are your thoughts? 14:16 Well, I just think it's interesting and it kind of speaks to how Michigan handled Mel's case the whole way through. 14:26 You know, it was not really public how they parted ways in terms of the buyout or fired for cause or whatnot. 14:36 And I think just the way the investigation was run by an independent party, so nothing is subject to FOIA. 14:44 And the way they kept it under wraps is just interesting. 14:47 And I think Michigan trying to ignore this situation speaks to the awkwardness of how they went into it. 14:56 And I get Mel still probably feels like he has a place in the hockey world and is looking for his next thing. 15:05 And I think Michigan has kind of enabled that with the way they've handled this. 15:09 And so I think legally, Michigan's in a tough spot. 15:12 I'm not sure if they want to push on this and create a bigger situation than they already have on their hands. 15:19 But it's got to be awkward for the student broadcasts to invite them on and start having a discussion with the disgraced former coach. 15:26 Because I think the commentators didn't feel that way. 15:28 They didn't feel like they did anything wrong right away. 15:32 You know, I was watching that broadcast, and I guess I was kind of zoning out because it was, you know, there was like a stoppage. 15:38 There was something going on. 15:40 I can't quite remember when it was. 15:41 You're like, I know that voice. 15:43 I know that voice. 15:44 What is that? 15:44 Yeah. 15:46 It wasn't until I saw it on Twitter, and then I went back and then I grabbed the audio from it. 15:49 I'm like, what in the world? 15:53 Um, it is kind of like it's like they're allowing to happen. 15:59 It's you would think Mel would feel weird too. 16:02 I don't know. 16:03 The whole thing is just so weird, Connor. 16:05 Yeah. 16:06 I mean, Michigan could solve this, right? 16:08 If they would just fully commit to finishing the investigation. 16:12 So in in Wilmer Hale's original report toward the conclusions chapter or I guess section, not really a chapter, although it reads like one reads like a book, they call for I believe it's SPG 601-90. 16:26 So that's protection from retaliation recently passed standard practice guide for the university. 16:32 They call for a new investigation to be opened. 16:34 So the reason why they couldn't say that that anyone was retaliated against and couldn't say Mel did anything wrong in the ECRT reports, that's the Equity, Civil Rights and Title IX Office, is this investigation was done under their Title IX and sexual misconduct policy. 16:53 So they couldn't include any lying on COVID forms, any retaliation against a student athlete. 16:59 None of that fell under that jurisdiction. 17:01 The only thing that could fall under that was the Dr. 17:06 Anderson complaints of his misconduct and who knew about that, as well as misconduct and mistreatment of women in the program, and gender-based discrimination. 17:17 So those were the only things they could really rule on. 17:20 And in the report, they pretty much point to the fact that Steve Shields was fired because he was a whistleblower and was telling people from compliance and people from the ECRT office that Strausman was getting retaliated against. 17:34 So they said, open up a new investigation under this, and we can kind of do more, is how they hinted at it. 17:40 And Michigan has not acted on that in 10 months, since it's been on Ward Manuel's desk. 17:45 So it's like, you have this big wound, right? 17:48 And you're not even gonna put a bandaid on it. 17:49 You're not even gonna try. 17:50 Like... 17:54 I do think that the Strausman situation is complicated and the Steve Shields situation is complicated because I don't know if those are quite whistleblower partings, in my opinion. 18:10 That stuff happens in college hockey a lot, where if there's a conflict between a head coach and a staff member or a conflict between a head coach and a player, they part ways for many different reasons. 18:25 You know, we've seen that in Minnesota. 18:27 You know, we've seen a couple goalies come and go over the last couple years. 18:31 And it's because people aren't on the same page and they part ways. 18:35 And I think especially at a place like Michigan, where the goalie position is so crucial to your success, and they've got Eric Portillo coming in, Strauss Man isn't going to be treated with kid gloves. 18:47 You know, Mel Pearson is going to do what's best for the program. 18:50 There's money involved, there's jobs involved, there's pro-development involved. 18:55 It's bigger than just what's going on with COVID. 18:59 And I don't think you could really pin it just to that if you were trying to make a case. 19:03 And I think that's probably why Michigan is trying to just move on, leave the dirty laundry in the hallway, and get their flight forward. 19:12 Yeah. 19:13 But how can you kind of move forward if you let them hang around like that as a thing? 19:17 Like, almost like they're ignoring it happened more than solving it, you know? 19:22 You know, maybe it's just something veegs, or somebody needs to just go to them and say, you know, can you please not do this? 19:29 I mean, maybe once a couple of times a year, but if you hear all the time, it's just not a good look for us. 19:37 I mean, we want this to go away, and you're not helping us let it go away. 19:43 You can see if Red Berenson had a heart to heart with Mel and said, you're hurting the program by continuing to show up, Mel might change his mind. 19:50 But if he's seen stuff from the media or seen stuff on Twitter, he's very active on Twitter. 19:59 I think that's just going to galvanize him to feel like he's done nothing wrong. 20:03 I think the best thing for Mel is maybe to go coach junior hockey or something somewhere or be a consultant or do something else, because I don't think he's getting the Michigan job back. 20:16 Not in the slightest. 20:20 Well, I just had to bring it up, because I saw you had that article this week, Connor, and I think it's pretty relevant, because, gosh, it's just so awkward. 20:29 I don't know. 20:33 What do you do? 20:34 All right, let's get towards the game this weekend. 20:36 Michigan coming back into town just like they did last year, Veegs. 20:40 Two very good teams. 20:43 What's your initial thoughts? 20:46 I think this is the matchup that everybody wanted this weekend. 20:49 These are clearly the most talented teams in the Big Ten. 20:54 You look at all the award voting. 20:56 It's a tough year for anybody other than Michigan and Minnesota, in those ballots for awards. 21:03 And that's because of the talent on the ice that these two programs have. 21:06 And I've been really impressed with Gavin Brinley this year. 21:10 He's kind of almost a straw that stirs the drink for the Wolverines. 21:14 You know, he got that first goal for them against Ohio State, and I think he's a tone setter. 21:19 I think once he moved on that line in the second half of the year, it really helped Michigan find a little bit more consistency. 21:26 And I think it's a great matchup for Minnesota, because we're going to see a lot of offense. 21:30 And I think Minnesota had a little dip to their game in the second half, but they fought their way through it. 21:35 It didn't really hurt them with wins and losses. 21:38 And they're playing well right now after that first ten minutes against Michigan State. 21:44 What do you think, Connor? 21:48 I would agree with that on Gavin Brinley. 21:50 I think the biggest thing he does is he opens up, instead of putting Dylan Duke and Mackie Samoskiewicz with Adam Fantilly, it opens up a second line to produce with them, with TJ. 22:02 Hughes. 22:04 Adam Fantilly is going to score with anyone. 22:06 He could score with me out there, but he's that good of a player. 22:10 So, when you put a guy like Gavin Brinley, who just has wheels for days, get him the puck and he's going to score, it just creates good things. 22:17 And Roger McGroarty is no slouch either, he just hasn't really had the space to really drive plays and create a whole lot with that duo. 22:26 But that being said, it just means you have two consistent lines that are kind of rolling almost every night, right? 22:31 And Michigan actually went with that Brinley-Fantilly pairing. 22:36 I think McGroarty was on their wing for that game against Minnesota last, what was it, January, right? 22:42 Early January? 22:44 Yeah. 22:44 So that was the first time they rolled that combo out. 22:47 So I think Brandon Murato is going to keep that for this weekend series, but I wouldn't know for sure, obviously. 22:54 I'm not on that coaching staff. 22:56 So I feel like we can get back to you on that, though. 22:59 Yeah, you talk about consistency, and that's kind of one of the things we've talked about Michigan this year. 23:07 Obviously, when they're on, they're on. 23:09 They can go, they can play with anybody. 23:12 But their Achilles heel has been that consistency, and maybe not playing the smart game that they know they can play. 23:22 Yeah, and I think part of it, too, being a younger team that might not have the greatest habits established yet in terms of just rebounding, not really letting the loss affect you too bad. 23:32 They went from being on a seven-game win streak, that started actually against the Gophers on away ice, that overtime win. 23:40 They went on a seven-game win streak, and then finished out the year with four straight losses, three of which I believe came in overtime or the shootout. 23:49 So not exactly the greatest end of the season, and then they almost lost to Wisconsin the way they played them. 23:55 Not a good series at all if you're Michigan. 23:57 Ugly, ugly hockey. 24:01 Hey, it happened to Minnesota too. 24:04 I mean, to be fair, if you look at Wisconsin's non-conference record and how they played, good team, not good for the Big Ten in terms of skill level. 24:14 They match up pretty well against some other opponents, but there's a reason they're the last team in the Big Ten, Michigan should not have been that close against them. 24:22 But they survived that, and credit to them for doing that and not dropping one of those games. 24:26 It would have been real easy to do with their backs against the wall, go into that overtime game. 24:32 Stephen Holtz playing hero, after all he's gone through was real cool to see. 24:37 And then after that, they played probably, like I said, their best game of the season against Ohio State. 24:41 I mean, whatever they're doing right now is working. 24:45 I think the key, I feel almost like if they lose this game, it's going to be real hard for them to rebound in the regional. 24:52 So I feel like this game is going to be more for them to prime for the NCAA postseason. 24:58 Because like I said, once they lose, it kind of gets to them a little bit. 25:02 I don't know if it's just how they process the loss or if they let it hang with them a little bit too much. 25:07 But they got to learn to write the ship a little bit quicker, and we haven't really seen that this season from them. 25:12 Well, one interesting thing about this weekend, Veegs, is that a lot of hockey is going to be played Friday night. 25:20 A lot of little math formulas could be figured out Friday night too, that both Minnesota and Michigan are at one and four, and they're going nowhere, no matter what happens. 25:32 So there's a lot that's still going to happen before they even put the puck on the ice on Saturday. 25:38 Yeah, I think there's some interesting things that can happen in the pairwise, especially if North Dakota wins a game in the NHG. 25:46 That gives Minnesota maybe a little bit more incentive to win their game, because if the Fighting Hawks win, you know, the Gophers have to win to get that one overall seed, because there's a lot of scenarios that open up for Quinnipiac to leapfrog them. 25:59 So that's an interesting thing to watch. 26:03 But I do think that Michigan this year has surprised me with the number of mistakes they make with the puck in critical situations, whether it's the last player back coming up carrying the puck on the breakout and all four of his teammates are in front of them. 26:20 I've seen a lot of bad plays by Michigan players in that situation. 26:25 We've seen bad penalties by Michigan, offensive zone, neutral zone things that just kill them, five-minute majors. 26:32 And I don't think they've totally cleaned that up this year. 26:35 And I think that's probably the difference between Minnesota and Michigan, is Minnesota doesn't make those mistakes. 26:41 I was having a little conversation with Wally Shaver after the game on Saturday, and I kind of flippantly said, man, Minnesota didn't really make many turnovers tonight. 26:49 And he's like, turnovers? 26:51 Well, there are a bunch of them. 26:52 I was like, what I mean is they didn't make bad turnovers. 26:55 They're not making turnovers at their blue lines. 26:58 They're not making turnovers on the rush. 27:00 They're making good decisions with the puck in the key areas of the ice to play winning hockey and play percentage hockey. 27:07 I don't see the same thing being done by Michigan in the games I watch. 27:13 Yeah, I would agree with that. 27:16 I feel like Michigan's biggest problem, I think, with like, not to call it youth, right, with all the younger players, but I think their biggest problem throughout the season when they were dropping every other game was just finding, like you said, the consistency, but also the consistency of like in the being in the lineup who they're going to play with every night. 27:33 I mean, it was almost like lines were in a blender. 27:37 One of my colleagues, Charlie Pappalardo, wrote a decent piece yesterday about how they're kind of used to mix and match the lines and now it's kind of settled and they've been even getting some production from the third line, which like if you look at Michigan last season, that's what kind of carried them, right? 27:53 And made them one of the best teams in college hockey was they just had so much depth. 27:57 Like you're not going to replace what, five first round NHL draft picks, six NHL draft picks. 28:03 Like you're not going to replace those guys leaving, but if you can find that consistency early, get guys rolling, that's how you build a successful program and kind of turn the corner faster. 28:15 So they're starting to do that. 28:17 They just got to maintain it. 28:20 I'm looking at penalty minutes per game in Minnesota's third, with 7.57 minutes per game, Veegs. 28:27 The last time I looked, I haven't seen, Michigan was like about 10 minutes more. 28:33 I don't know if it's still there, but. 28:35 And it's all the minor penalties that they're taking too. 28:37 If you look at the special team stats, their penalty kill attempts is significantly higher than the rest of the conference. 28:45 I don't have them handy on me, but I know last time I looked about a couple of weeks ago, that was a big difference maker there. 28:51 And you just don't see Minnesota having that too often. 28:54 Like I think Minnesota, you look at the two majors they took on the one shift the other weekend, that was not maybe the best play in the world, but it also kind of let Ohio State know that the Gophers weren't going to be messed around that night. 29:09 They didn't have a lot to play for, and they were going to answer the bell, and it could have been a really interesting game if Ohio State kept poking the bear. 29:18 I don't think I'd ever actually seen that before, Veegs. 29:21 I've never seen two majors call the one point like that. 29:23 I've seen five majors at once. 29:26 I mean, that was very odd. 29:29 Like we saw, Nyes came out after the game, and he talked about it. 29:36 He says, I apologize to my fellow teammates, things like that. 29:39 So it's good to see somebody learn when that happens. 29:45 I think I'm just more excited about it. 29:46 Because I thought last year was a great game. 29:49 Minnesota came out right away. 29:51 Michigan quieted the crowd, which is exactly what they needed to do. 29:55 Minnesota started creeping back. 29:57 They ran out of time and whatnot. 30:00 Veegs. 30:02 Not as many students this time. 30:04 They didn't go five sections. 30:05 They're going to the same three, but I'm feeling a lot of those students are going to bleed over to other areas. 30:11 But really, we're anticipating a similar atmosphere to last year. 30:17 I would think so. 30:17 It sold out real quick this week. 30:20 It sold out, I think, yesterday. 30:22 It was actually sold out Sunday night. 30:26 Essentially, right? 30:27 Yeah. 30:28 So I think this is a crowd. 30:29 When Minnesota sells the tickets late in the process like this, it means you're going to have that high redemption rate. 30:36 That scan count for the Michigan game last year is probably the highest I've ever seen since doing the ticket scan data. 30:42 Yep. 30:43 And I'm expecting the same kind of crowd this weekend. 30:45 I am really bummed. 30:46 I am flying out to DC for my spring break trip. 30:50 This year with my family, I got the White House Trio visits because I'm going to the White House, the West Wing and bowling. 30:57 Can't pass that up. 30:59 When are you leaving? 31:00 I'm leaving Friday night. 31:01 So I'll be able to watch the game on TV Saturday, hopefully. 31:05 There's some White House tours that day. 31:07 So I'll be sad to miss it, but I'm expecting just an absolute electric atmosphere, students in the seat for warm ups. 31:15 You know, this is the kind of game you dream of if you're a Gopher hockey fan. 31:19 And if you're a Michigan fan that somehow got a ticket to this one, enjoy it. 31:23 Just keep your beers in hand. 31:25 Do not put them on the ice, regardless of what happens. 31:29 I just got a text. 31:31 Looks like general fan tickets are sold out on Sunday. 31:34 They still have worse. 31:35 They were still selling student tickets as of yesterday, but we they kind of oversell the students, don't they be? 31:42 A little bit. 31:43 They haven't been doing that this year, though, because the students have been showing up that have the tickets already. 31:49 So they don't want to create a fire marshal hazard issue for these games, because I think if they oversold the game, the students would show up still. 31:59 There you go. 32:02 I'm just looking forward to a fun atmosphere. 32:07 Our guy, Randy Johnson, The Star Tribune did that article a couple of weeks ago, which showed my photo from the beginning of the Michigan and Gopher game back in 2019, when it was under, well, at the puck drop, there was probably a couple hundred people in there, Connor, and it was bad. 32:30 And then, you know, people were always like, oh, Big Ten, Big Ten sucks, blah, blah, blah. 32:36 Bring back the WCHA, you know, that whole stuff that, something, somebody as young as you is like, I don't know what you're talking about, but. 32:45 A little bit. 32:45 It, you know, we don't have that old barn, like you guys do anymore, but I think it should be pretty loud in there, which just, I think it's the opponent just as jacked up for these games. 32:57 Oh, yeah. 32:58 No, and I think that's the biggest issue looking at like NCAA tournament games that aren't on campus sites, where it's, you know, what's the arena? 33:05 It's like PBG Paints. 33:06 No, that's that's in Pittsburgh. 33:08 What's the name of the one in Allentown? 33:10 I don't even remember. 33:10 I want to delete it from my memory. 33:12 It was empty. 33:13 I mean, there were like 200 fans in the stands. 33:16 And I think the Michigan like pet band that came along, I think was the biggest like like concentration of fans. 33:24 It was the biggest section that like had people that weren't just like one-offs. 33:27 I mean, seats on the glass could have been like five bucks. 33:30 Someone at least gets in. 33:32 But I feel like you have that energy and it just allows both teams to play so well. 33:37 Because it brings some energy, right? 33:39 It's not like it's a practice. 33:42 I don't know. 33:43 It's a cool environment, too, just to take in a game when you're covering it. 33:47 You can kind of feel how the game is going based on the crowd and people get into it. 33:51 It just makes it a way better experience for everybody. 33:54 And the thing is, as we know, being out west, even though we're midwest, there's not many arenas out in this area. 34:04 And there's not many people willing to put up the money to do it. 34:08 I mean, you've got North Dakota has been doing it every year, Veegs. 34:11 I mean, or they try to. 34:12 I mean, I think they're going back out to Loveland again next year or something like that. 34:15 But North Dakota is going to do it every year because they're usually in it every year. 34:20 They still have a chance to get in this year. 34:22 But and the tickets at Shields Arena at Fargo, they're they're pretty much gone. 34:27 So that won't be an issue. 34:30 Yeah, we've beaten this like a dead horse, haven't we? 34:34 Yeah, there just aren't real good junior or minor hockey rinks in Minnesota, Duluth, St. 34:42 Cloud, Minnesota State. 34:43 You know, like those areas don't have those kind of rinks. 34:47 And I think Excel's made it clear. 34:50 They don't want to sacrifice their building for a regional that's not going to sell well. 34:54 You know, I think the ticket prices when they play in the NHL buildings are are too high for the fans to make it worth it for anyone. 35:01 So they got to find these rinks that are good fits. 35:03 And out west, they're just are not rinks like that. 35:06 And it just kills me that we can't do some sort of campus site situation, or High Seed gets to host the first round. 35:14 There's just so many other options out there to create a better student-athlete experience, a better fan experience, and make the tournament lively. 35:25 You know, you have these teams out there who vote for this current situation, because if they're the underdog and they get to play in an empty rink, maybe they have a better chance. 35:34 But I don't think that's what's best for college hockey. 35:40 What do you think, Connor? 35:41 You're probably fairly new to this. 35:44 Yeah. 35:45 No, I never really watched college hockey when it was regional sites, if that ages me a little. 35:53 I'm old, so it's okay. 35:55 Youngs me? 35:56 I don't think that's a verb. 35:58 Anyway, no, it's odd to me why you would want student athletes that work so hard to play in front of empty crowds. 36:08 When college hockey is growing at the rate it is supposedly, I feel like you want to cash in on that. 36:13 You want these campus sites to be lively and people to tailgate, especially when it gets warmer out, people to really get invested in it. 36:21 I mean, Michigan against Ohio State, being a host site, because of the conference tournament, last weekend it was packed. 36:28 I mean, I show up about an hour and a half, hour 45 minutes early, just because I like to set my laptop up. 36:33 I know it's real particular about that. 36:35 And people, I'd say probably half the arena beat me there. 36:38 I was speechless. 36:41 It was insane, just people outside the doors, waiting, cracking jokes, having a good time. 36:46 It's like that's college hockey to me, you know? 36:49 Standing outside of the arena where the Lehigh Valley Phantoms play, it's not college hockey, where there's like, the press box was more full than the seats. 36:58 Like, there's just something wrong about that, you know? 37:02 But, you know, Veegs, it doesn't prevent a school like Mankato or Augustana to maybe do the Sioux Falls Regional if they wanted to. 37:12 But honestly, it is easier for the bigger schools to take that financial burden. 37:21 It's a financial risk, you know? 37:22 You're having to meet the NCAA guarantee for your regional. 37:26 You're having to staff it with your people. 37:29 You're having to get volunteers. 37:31 You're going to have to do advertising and the budget. 37:33 And after all the expenses get covered, there might not be much left if you don't have a good bracket of teams that draw fans. 37:44 And it's a big risk. 37:45 And I think the other bad thing about the regionals is you can reward either the team that doesn't take the risk to host with a local close game like Quinnipiac this year might get to go play in a regional pretty close to home and they didn't even have to foot the bill for it. 38:02 Or you have North Dakota who could be a 15 seed basically getting a home game against the two overall seed. 38:10 Or you're going to have somebody else who has to play them that's going to get an unkindly match up in the first round, which is just not ideal. 38:20 And I think it's just broke out west for the regionals. 38:23 And I was listening to the USCHO Podcast this week and they had Derek Schooley who's a long time coach at Robert Morris and he was getting some kind of pushback. 38:33 He's like, you know, no one trusts this committee to do the right thing. 38:36 And he's just like, well, when we seed the teams, you know, it's pretty easy. 38:39 We just go bracket integrity. 38:41 That's not what we're talking about when we're talking about an unfair situation. 38:45 It's pretty obvious when they do the seedings and pairings that you could do kind of whatever. 38:50 And the 16 teams who get in are the 16 teams get in. 38:53 But where they go and the atmosphere they get and the home ice advantages they get, like Providence has gotten home ice advantage as a four seed more than anybody. 39:02 You know, I'm sure if BU has to go play North Dakota and they're one seed and they're playing North Dakota four, that happened to them a couple of years ago already. 39:10 And they lost in overtime in that one game where they had the offside call that got reviewed forever. 39:15 You know, those situations are going to keep happening until they come up with a better solution. 39:22 Unfortunately, the big schools are, there's not enough of them, Veegs, that have the voting power to make a change. 39:28 Is that kind of where we're at? 39:30 Well, I think what's going to have to happen is if the big schools want real change, they'll go through the NCAA instead of working through the D1 Men's Ice Hockey Committee, because that committee is dominated by small Eastern schools that don't really have much of an interest in doing what's best. 39:46 I think the big schools and the big ten could go to the NCAA and handle it that way. 39:51 We almost saw that happen when Don Lucia and the big ten were spearheading that effort to limit eligibility for overage players. 40:00 If you play juniors until you're 21 or 22, you're going to lose a year eligibility. 40:06 You only can play three years of college hockey. 40:08 That was something that the big schools were just going to push through. 40:11 Maybe we see something like that happen in college hockey if there's no changes. 40:15 I know that Tom McGinnis for the year was the chair of the D1 Men's Ice Hockey Committee for a long time. 40:21 He never got anywhere with this issue. 40:24 There's just so many hardliners out East who don't understand Western hockey, amazingly. 40:29 They have all these bus rides to game with like 30, 40 minutes to get to a game. 40:34 It's like playing high school hockey around here. 40:38 Western teams have a different reality. 40:43 Well, we can keep hoping. 40:44 Just, you know, Connor, honestly, more empty arenas is the key. 40:52 Yeah. 40:53 I'm sorry. 40:53 Unfortunately. 40:54 Oh, yeah. 40:55 Send the message to them. 40:56 Yeah. 40:57 Unfortunately, that's the only way they're going to fix it if they have a bunch of empty arenas. 41:00 Yeah. 41:02 Yeah. 41:03 We'll do our best by not buying a ticket this year. 41:06 All right, Connor. 41:07 Or the committee starts taking it to the Eastern teams and puts them in bad situations. 41:13 It says, you know what, Quinnipiac, you may be the number one or two overall seed, but we're not putting you in Bridgeport. 41:20 We're sending you to Faro to play North Dakota. 41:23 I don't think that would ever happen, but why not? 41:26 Providence, oh, you're the host of this, but you're the fourth seed. 41:30 You don't get to play there. 41:31 You have to go somewhere else. 41:33 There would be some interesting things that could happen. 41:38 That would take guts, Veegs, for them to do stuff like that. 41:42 I thought hockey players have guts. 41:43 I thought we were tough guys. 41:44 Oh, yeah, but it's not the hockey players making the decisions. 41:50 That's right. 41:51 Right, Connor, what you got this weekend? 41:54 Michigan's coming to town. 41:57 Do they bring their consistency? 42:01 Will it even matter? 42:03 We don't know, because Friday night could change everybody. 42:05 It's like, yeah, nothing's going to change. 42:08 Let's just go out and have fun, and maybe they play even looser, guys. 42:12 Yeah. 42:12 No, I think it's a good tune up for both teams, especially when both look like they could be making pretty deep runs here, potentially playing in College Hockey Heartland of Tampa, when we're talking about empty arenas. 42:24 That one will be packed. 42:24 At least it's the frozen floor. 42:26 It will be. 42:26 No, I had to throw that in there. 42:29 But my gut's telling me Minnesota, for some reason, I just think with the way they've been clicking all year, and if Jackson LeCombe is going to be back, they're healthy. 42:40 I feel like Minnesota's got a good chance. 42:42 That being said, the key for Michigan, I think is if they can get their top two lines rolling, if they can get that third line cooking with Frank Nazar, Eric Ciccolini and Jackson Hallam, who many people in Minnesota probably know, have a feature coming out on him tomorrow. 42:59 Keep a lookout. 42:59 Actually, it will be Friday. 43:01 But anyway, I think if they can get that third line rolling, Michigan has a pretty good shot. 43:07 It's just a matter of you're not going to beat Minnesota with two lines. 43:10 You're going to have to have consistent lines rolling, and you're going to have people producing. 43:14 And like you mentioned, the consistency, like just stay consistent, don't make mistakes, don't turn it over when you're the last guy, or when you're trying to keep the puck in at the blue line and the power play, which Michigan consistently has done all season. 43:30 They just got to play simple, and they'll be all right. 43:32 I know I sound like Coach Speaks there, but, you know, just playing simple is their friend. 43:42 Michigan's got to stay out of the box, Veegs. 43:45 That, if they play smart, that's one of the big keys for them. 43:52 Well, you have to find that line between playing intense and physical and playing smart. 43:57 You know, we've seen so many players from Minnesota over the years never really learn that line about how to be engaged physically without taking penalties. 44:06 I'm not going to name names on this podcast because we're at a fun part of the year. 44:10 But that has happened in the past and it frustrates fans. 44:14 I think the Gophers have kind of figured out some of the right balance about when to do that, when not to do that. 44:20 And so that's the sign of a mature team. 44:24 Minnesota's got great leadership. 44:25 And even when they have made mistakes, they don't wallow in it. 44:29 They figure out, they battle through it. 44:31 That first penalty kill unit has been really good for Minnesota for the most of the year. 44:37 And then that decor has just been so steady that even when they do get into maybe a little bit of a bad situation, they never really get hemmed in and they're able to battle back. 44:49 So I really like Minnesota this weekend. 44:52 I just think they're the way more consistent team. 44:55 I feel like even if Michigan gets out to a quick lead, like they did against Ohio State or they did against Minnesota last year, the maturity is enough to bring Minnesota back into it. 45:05 And I think Justin Close is playing his best hockey. 45:08 He's really challenging shooters. 45:10 I've tried to bait some of the players and coaches into explaining what's happened. 45:15 They don't buy it. 45:16 They say the same goalie that he's always been. 45:18 He's calm. 45:19 He's whatever. 45:20 No, Close is playing more aggressive. 45:23 He's trusting his reads. 45:25 I think he's getting really good scouting reports on the players he's going up against. 45:29 And he knows that. 45:31 I don't think he's going to show his little book about what he's got on Fantilly and Brinley and Samus Kavich about what they tend to do. 45:39 But he knows he scouts these players and he knows what their tendencies are. 45:43 And he plays aggressively to shut them down. 45:47 So I think we're going to see an entertaining game. 45:49 Lots of goals and I know Bob is probably not thinking about this. 45:54 But if he wins the conference tournament, he gets an extra 15,000. 45:59 If I was Bob, I would say, hey, if I get this bonus for tournament champs, we're going to Murray's Steakhouse on me. 46:09 He already got 30K for winning the regular season. 46:12 So the extra 15 is just gravy on top. 46:16 Oh, Connor, you missed it. 46:18 Didn't you ask Bob a couple of years ago when he missed it by that, when they did the percentage thing that he missed the $30,000 bonus? 46:26 Yeah. 46:28 He's like, I would have maybe argued for the conference standings a little bit differently, maybe win percentage of possible points was the way to go. 46:37 $30,000. 46:42 That's, well, what do you do? 46:44 He's already got the $15,000 locked up for the NCAA tournament. 46:47 So bonus season for Bob. 46:52 There you go. 46:52 Bonus season. 46:54 Well, I'm going to go with Minnesota, but you know what? 46:57 Either way, I'm just going to try to enjoy it because I think it's going to be great hockey either way. 47:03 I don't see any blowouts anyway. 47:06 I don't see any team just caving and getting blown out. 47:10 Something you could see in the regular season, I just don't see that happening. 47:13 I would love to see an overtime game. 47:16 I think that would just be, I would just love that. 47:22 Just close out Mariucci the way it is right now, the old Lake Mariucci with a fun overtime win in front of 10,000 people. 47:33 Enjoy those giant corners for one more night, because they're going away. 47:38 We'll talk more about that in overtime. 47:41 Oh, yeah. 47:42 Are we going to talk awards on the podcast to close thing out? 47:45 Do you want to, because Connor's got some feelings on this. 47:49 Yeah, a little bit. 47:51 All right, let's, okay, just because it's news for the week. 47:55 Yeah, I know. 47:56 I'm just going to start off by saying that I think a lot of players got split votes because there's so many good players. 48:05 And I think some players got votes because maybe they're not taking as many five-minute majors and getting kicked out of games. 48:13 And then you never know, Veegs, people could be just voting just to be bitter. 48:18 Or just voting on points. 48:21 They just go to the stat page and they go, who's the leading scorer here gets my vote? 48:25 Who's the second leading scorer that gets my vote? 48:27 I think we have a lot of voters like that, not just in college, but in the NHL. 48:31 Yeah. 48:32 Oh, I mean, who wins the Norse trophy in the NHL? 48:36 Yeah, exactly. 48:37 It's usually like the top point producing defenseman. 48:39 It's not the best defenseman. 48:41 Despite what happened, let's hear your thoughts, Connor. 48:49 I can live with whoever wins player of the year, right? 48:52 But fantially, not even being in the top three just doesn't sit right with me. 48:56 I mean, you put 60 points up as a freshman, and I know it's not all about point totals. 49:01 But when you consistently are the one creating Michigan's offense for one of the top teams in the conference for the better part of the year, and even missing games with suspensions, like I think you alluded to, and Team Canada duties, if you're still producing at that level, you're still one of the top players in the conference. 49:20 Whether you like to throw elbows or play your best WWE impression, that all aside, but at the same time, he's still one of the top players, and I'd argue the best player on Michigan. 49:31 I know obviously positional differences with Luke Hughes being on the blue line, and being a year older, taking a little bit of a bigger leadership role might play into that. 49:40 But still, for what he's meant to Michigan's lineup, I mean, look at the games where he didn't play. 49:45 That duel in the D game, they barely scraped by Michigan State and ended up having to score an overtime, which Luke Hughes, funny enough, was the OT winner in that with, what, 0.3, 0.2 seconds left. 49:56 But the other two games he missed against the same team, Michigan State, Michigan couldn't pull away. 50:01 I mean, it was a 2-1 loss and a 2-1 win, split on a home and home series. 50:07 I mean, if you look at the team they are without him, they lose so much depth, they lose so much of their scoring. 50:13 I mean, I'd argue that's what makes him arguably their best player and one of the best players in the conference. 50:22 Okay, Veegs, how about another thought? 50:24 Was close robbed of anything? 50:30 It's tough, I think, with the goalies because if you look at the stats, Bischel sees more shots than anyone. 50:38 And I know Notre Dame didn't play the defensive structure that we're used to the Irish playing. 50:44 And maybe that's just something that people have in the back of their minds. 50:48 I do think, though, Close has played at a very, very high level this year. 50:53 And games when Minnesota is not playing well, he has risen to the challenge. 50:57 It's not like he's a bad goalie back there. 50:59 There's a big reason why Minnesota won the Big Ten by 19 points. 51:04 That's six games better than anybody in the league. 51:08 That's a pretty huge gap. 51:10 And if you just look at performance, I think that would explain why Minnesota's players are winning these awards. 51:17 And you could argue where Close got robbed in that. 51:19 You know, Norah Dame didn't have a great year. 51:22 It's interesting that he was in it. 51:23 But we thought they would. 51:25 We thought they would, but they just, they were not. 51:27 And I think when you start to look at the gap between the top team and everybody else, I think that's why you see all the awards going Minnesota's ways. 51:36 Because those players are so consistent. 51:40 You know, Matthew Nyes gets two freshmen. 51:43 Somehow they're the co-leading scores in the league. 51:46 I think because of the structure and support and leadership he puts forward. 51:50 You know, Brock Favre comes back for another year. 51:53 He's the core of the D that allows them to play such great team defense and vocal leadership. 52:00 So, I think it's pretty clear that from terms of what the players are right now, Minnesota's players that are at a different level than everybody else. 52:09 You can argue potential for a lot of the Michigan guys. 52:12 Like potentially, you know, projections to be NHL players. 52:17 Yes, Fantilly is going to be a great player, potentially. 52:20 Luke Hugh is a great player, potentially. 52:21 They do a lot right now, but they make a lot of mistakes too. 52:25 So, I think that's kind of the point for me is that right now, Minnesota has got better players. 52:30 I think you go back even in the past, you know, Ben Myers, very complete college player. 52:36 I think that's why he won the award that year, because he's a complete player. 52:40 So, it's complicated when it comes to award season, but Minnesota did very well. 52:46 Yeah. 52:47 Well, both teams did really well because, well, like I said, I think Minnesota did get like player of the year and defense player of the year because of that, like, you know, you see, 19 points spread. 52:58 I mean, that's probably where a lot of it came from, Veegs. 53:05 I, how about Hobie? 53:09 Was Cooley even on the list before Veegs? 53:12 Well, Hobie is interesting. 53:13 Technically, all of them are, but. 53:15 Hobie is interesting. 53:16 That fan ballot thing where the coaches nominate three players from their team and three players from their league. 53:22 That's all basically publicity for the Hobie. 53:25 It doesn't really count for anything. 53:27 So I know at the start, we are all just like, oh my gosh, how could you not have Cooley and Snuggerud and Closer on this list? 53:33 How do you just pick Favre and Lacombe as your two nominees? 53:37 And they're not even in the top ten at the end of the year. 53:39 Nice wasn't originally either. 53:41 Yeah, Nice wasn't originally either because Bob didn't want to upset the chemistry of the line by just picking one of them and leaving the other two off. 53:49 So he was just going to say, well, I'm not going to nominate any of them. 53:52 Then I think people are like, Matthew Nines is pretty good. 53:55 You should nominate him. 53:55 He's like, okay, we'll nominate him. 53:57 I mean, Minnesota could have like five or six nominees for Hobie right now. 54:02 Yeah. 54:02 And I don't think anyone would be shocked with any of them making the top ten. 54:06 So it's pretty impressive. 54:07 It just shows the depth Minnesota has. 54:10 Who's your final three? 54:12 Connor, I think Fantilly is going to be there. 54:14 I think Nines is going to be there. 54:16 I think we would all kind of agree on that. 54:19 Who's the third guy though? 54:23 Trying to remember the top ten. 54:25 Honestly, I think Levi from Northeastern has been real good. 54:29 But I just don't know if he'll be in the top three. 54:32 That's hard to call. 54:34 Western Michigan kid? 54:36 Yeah, he's got what, 29 goals? 54:39 I think that's where you get caught up in points. 54:43 It's like, who is really the best player? 54:47 Well, some people are saying it's just going all youth. 54:52 Maybe they put them in there. 54:54 I don't even know how to determine. 54:55 Is it a vote thing, Veegs? 54:57 This is a vote thing. 54:59 The actual winner comes down to the committee, making the decision. 55:03 But this top ten is based on coaches making their ballots known. 55:09 That's how this list gets put together. 55:11 So it's not, you know, the fan ballots, 1% of this. 55:15 And then the committee is going to figure out who the final three are. 55:17 And then who's the winner? 55:19 Maybe Sean Farrell from Harvard. 55:21 He impressed me in terms of a complete game when he was at Yost, especially in that 4-4 tie, his line with Matthew Coronado was real good. 55:30 So maybe he gets the third. 55:34 Honestly, I think whoever wins it is whoever does better this weekend between Fantilly and Nice. 55:42 You know how it just seems, if someone has a big weekend, scores the overtime win or gets two goals or just something like that. 55:51 Sure. 55:51 Because that vote goes in before the regionals, isn't it? 55:55 This is the last chance to get an impression made. 55:58 There you go. 55:58 Because once they go to the regionals, that's when they've decided the Hobie stuff. 56:02 Little recency bias. 56:06 I mean, it wouldn't shock me to see Fantilly, Coolie, Nice, Beer Trio. 56:10 It wouldn't shock me. 56:13 Oh boy, those Eastern folks would be so pissed. 56:16 But the Big Ten is a bad conference. 56:20 That's a joke. 56:21 If this gets clipped, that's a joke. 56:23 Oh no, no, no. 56:25 Definitely clipping that one now. 56:27 Yeah. 56:30 I don't know. 56:30 I just, why two guys from one team? 56:36 Has that happened before? 56:37 I think it's happened before. 56:38 I think St. 56:38 Cloud might have had two once. 56:42 Why not? 56:43 Minnesota is pretty darn good this year. 56:47 I really think when there's so many people saying that Nye's line is the best line they've ever seen in college hockey. 56:54 I still think this defensive corps is the best corps I've ever seen in college hockey. 56:58 They just don't make very many mistakes. 57:00 When one guy gets hurt, they're able to figure it out. 57:03 I was going to add that with Justin Close. 57:06 He doesn't pick the defense in front of him for goaltender of the year. 57:10 When their unit is that strong in front of him, that's the problem. 57:17 Team with no weaknesses, Jupe, team with no weaknesses. 57:23 If there's any weaknesses, it's always up here, it seems like. 57:27 This team seems pretty mentally resilient. 57:30 Correct. 57:32 I think a lot of people have talked about, are Nice and Cooley distracted by their NHL future. 57:39 Toronto has been around all the time and you never see a dip in Nice game. 57:43 Cooley maybe gets a little frustrated but I haven't seen a dip in his game. 57:49 How about that Nice Instagram post last week? 57:52 Doing, what was it? 57:55 Oh, with the movie. 57:59 Now I'm blanking on the movie. 58:00 When they all get drunk and they blackout and I can't find the guy, he's on the roof. 58:06 What's the movie? 58:06 Hangover. 58:07 Hangover. 58:08 He did a spoof on the hangover with guys names, Cooley, Cools, Aston, you guys ready? 58:16 Ready to let the dogs out type of thing? 58:19 It was pretty good. 58:20 So these guys are into it. 58:23 They know there's a future but this is it. 58:26 Yeah. 58:27 They're not checking their stats after the game. 58:29 They're enjoying being college students, which is something I think is different about this team than other ones I've been around. 58:36 All right. 58:36 Connor, you mentioned what you got coming out Friday. 58:39 And there's an article that we could check out. 58:41 Yeah. 58:43 Just to feature on Jackson Hallam, how he got got so fast and a little bit of his work ethic and family in there as well. 58:50 So not sure how it's all going to come together. 58:53 Still working on it. 58:54 But I actually have an interview with with Sammy Walker tomorrow at noon central time. 59:00 So that's the last last interview for it. 59:03 They play it in a three on three bandy league over the summer and they ended up winning. 59:07 So with another speedy player. 59:09 Yeah. 59:12 Yeah, we love Sammy Walker around here. 59:14 He's fast. 59:18 We do. 59:18 I do love him. 59:19 I think he's awesome. 59:20 But Helen Walker would be awesome on a bandy rink. 59:25 Yeah, I cracked the joke that, you know, he kind of outgrew the regular rink. 59:31 He needed the extra challenge, the way he skates out there. 59:33 Like he needs the space to stop, space to just do anything really, because he's so fast, he runs out. 59:40 Oh, wow. 59:41 Ask Sammy if he knows Vegoe. 59:46 He's making trouble over here. 59:49 You'll have to give me the back story. 59:52 That's for overtime. 59:53 We'll save it for that. 59:56 Well, Connor, thanks for coming on with us once again. 59:59 You're going to be a student next year. 1:00:00 Can we rely on you coming back next season? 1:00:03 I'll be a student, but I'm going to be covering football in the fall, so I won't be on the hockey beat next year. 1:00:10 I'm trying to find if anyone's listening and anyone needs a hockey writer next year, DM me, find my number, call me, send a letter to my house. 1:00:18 I'm interested, but not going to be for the Daily. 1:00:21 We're going to let some younger folks get involved and keep up the quality coverage. 1:00:27 That's how it goes. 1:00:29 You keep teaching, keep sending kids through and that's what this is about. 1:00:34 Veegs, I know you're putting together attendance thing again. 1:00:38 I know that. 1:00:39 Life always gets in the way. 1:00:40 I'm just going to keep teasing the audience. 1:00:41 I'm not worried about it because I look forward to it every year. 1:00:44 I've got the data. 1:00:45 Yeah, I just have to take the time, so it's coming, people. 1:00:49 It's coming. 1:00:49 I love it. 1:00:50 I love it. 1:00:50 I've got all the non-conference data. 1:00:52 It's like who actually shows up when the Gophers play somebody? 1:00:55 Is it North Dakota? 1:00:57 Is it Minnesota State? 1:00:57 Is it St. 1:00:58 Cloud or is it Michigan? 1:01:03 It's Michigan. 1:01:06 Spoiler alert. 1:01:07 Spoiler alert. 1:01:08 Michigan is a big draw. 1:01:11 All those WCHA people, they don't show up when they play St. 1:01:15 Cloud or Bemidji or Minnesota State or Duluth. 1:01:20 They just don't. 1:01:21 Something's happening at Marriott Arena and it's Big Ten Hockey. 1:01:25 They're forgetting about the WCHA. 1:01:29 Yay. 1:01:32 All right. 1:01:32 Well, we'll thank Connor for coming on the show this week and hopefully we'll have him back again sometime. 1:01:39 Hey, if there's the Frozen 4 matchup. 1:01:45 Will that be the- 1:01:46 I'll be in Tampa. 1:01:47 I might have to have you on. 1:01:50 We'll be down there as well. 1:01:51 So we'll have our crew. 1:01:54 Nice. 1:01:54 That'll be fun. 1:01:55 Live broadcast? 1:01:56 No. 1:01:57 Oh, yeah. 1:01:59 I'm going to do it live somehow. 1:02:00 If I'm at my sister's house or whatever, I'm going to do it live from the warm big location. 1:02:05 That's good. 1:02:07 So again, once again, thank Connor for coming on the podcast this week. 1:02:10 You know, and we'll be back next week to recap the Big Ten Championship and preview the NCAA Tournament. 1:02:17 For those of you watching live, stay tuned for a bit of overtime. 1:02:20 For the rest of you, thanks for watching The GPL Podcast.