0:08 This is the GPL Podcast from gopherpucklive.com. 0:17 This is a 10.8% beer, stanker, hoppier. 0:23 Lots of local bread. 0:29 Oh, boy. 0:31 Duke making mistakes. 0:33 And so I had to train for this marathon. 0:37 Make sure you stay awake for the game. 0:56 Now, here's Jupiter and Vego. 1:04 Good evening and welcome to the GPL Podcast, episode number 238. 1:10 And there he is, Veegs. 1:13 Are you ready for Frozen Four? 1:15 Back from DC, end of the Youth Hockey Association season, ready for Frozen Four season. 1:21 I'm going to Tampa this time. 1:24 So couldn't be happier to see the Gophers get it done, because that means that the weekend will be a little bit more fun as we finish off the college hockey season. 1:34 Well, speaking of fun, let's bring in some fun, don't you think? 1:38 Why not? 1:40 John King from Pulltab Sports. 1:43 Is this your third time on now? 1:45 Oh, nice glass there. 1:46 What you drinking? 1:49 You know, I have to drink gluten-free beer, so start judging me accordingly. 1:53 This is Burning Brothers Most Coast. 1:59 It's pretty good. 1:59 Tastes like beer. 2:01 Thanks for joining us, kid. 2:02 How are you doing? 2:04 I'm good. 2:04 I'm hoping for a successful technology experience this round. 2:08 Hey, you look good and it looks like we've got a good connection, so I think we're good. 2:13 Let's go with it. 2:17 Yeah, let's definitely go with it. 2:21 I noticed just yesterday that your boys over there, Pulltab, started a new podcast. 2:28 Selly Hard, what's this all about? 2:30 Yeah, I'm really excited. 2:32 Winnie Broad Brown and Tom Chorsky are basically doing a girls hockey pod that's meant to be kind of a place you can let the hair down and tell stories and create that locker room effect. 2:47 And the funny story about it is we did a celeb game in White Bear for hockey day. 2:52 And there was about six girl players that played in that celeb game. 2:57 And they had trailers afterwards and everybody was drinking beer, hanging out after the celeb game. 3:01 And all the girls just went home right away. 3:04 And Winnie said, you know, we got to change this, man. 3:07 We got to make girl hockey players just be hockey players because that's what they are. 3:12 And so she's trying to create kind of a free space for girls hockey. 3:17 I'm super excited for what they can pull off with this thing. 3:20 Well, that sounds pretty awesome, actually. 3:24 I mean, that's no fun if they're just going home, you know. 3:27 You know, Vegas and I played adult hockey for the longest time. 3:31 And sure, it's fun being behind the bench. 3:33 But the most fun seems like we always had was after the game, having a few, you know, going up to the super rink and having a hot dog and a beer there or going out to a place. 3:45 That was half of it, Vegas, wasn't it? 3:46 Well, I think that's a big part of being an athlete is the fellowship you get from your team and just being in the locker room. 3:54 You know, I was probably one of those kids who was one of the last ones out after every practice, after every game, because I just enjoyed being in there in the room with the boys. 4:04 And when you get done with that stage of your life, you miss it. 4:07 Then you find some beer league stuff to fill that void a little bit. 4:11 It's different, you know. 4:13 And I think girls need to just do the same and embrace it. 4:17 I'm all about equal opportunity. 4:19 So it definitely applies to hockey as well. 4:23 Well, sounds like a lot of fun, John. 4:25 They've already got one show out. 4:27 Was it Zumwinkle and who else was on? 4:30 Heisey was on. 4:31 Yeah, that's right. 4:32 A couple studs. 4:34 And Winnie named it Selly Hard because if you watch girls' hockey, oftentimes they don't celebrate when they score. 4:42 It hasn't quite been unleashed the way boys' hockey has. 4:47 And I think her intent is to kind of bring the cowboy out of the cowgirl side of hockey. 4:53 Nice. 4:54 The boys have no problem going Selly Hard. 5:05 Although I did want to throw his stick into the crowd after he undressed the Michigan defenseman in the Big Ten championship game. 5:11 I'm glad he didn't, but I just kind of had it in me as like, oh, man, if this was amazing, that would be worthy of throwing the stick. 5:19 But probably best he didn't, could he learn something? 5:21 He's a learning kid. 5:24 One of the highlights for me from the Gophers in the last month has been to play Rhett Pitlick, by the way, not to jump too far ahead. 5:29 But he is starting to play through the opponents on the forecheck. 5:33 And he's making some great plays all over the ice. 5:36 Fun to see that kind of growth during the year. 5:39 Well, let's go back to a little bit of last weekend, Veegs, starting with Thursday's game against Canisius. 5:46 Were you nervous at first? 5:47 I was a little nervous. 5:48 And even Bob said that's, gosh, those first games, I'm always way more nervous, he said. 5:54 Then further down. 5:56 But I was nervous until the second period started going their way. 5:59 Well, Bob had the quote this week where he basically said, if you lose that first game, it doesn't even feel like you were in the NCAA tournament. 6:09 I think the same thing applies in the World Junior. 6:11 If you lose that quarterfinal game, it hardly feels like you were there to begin with. 6:16 And so he knows that feeling with all that experience. 6:20 And as we saw this year again, a number one seed went down in Denver. 6:24 It's possible because at the end of the year, these teams are playing well. 6:27 And I know I was getting a lot of texts and DMs from nervous Gopher fans about the game. 6:33 And the thing I took away from the viewing, I was in DC., I was watching on the road, they were not one and done in the zone. 6:41 They were not turning the pucks over at the blue lines. 6:44 Those are key ingredients for winning hockey. 6:48 And this year's team has the mental resilience, even in a tight game against a good goalie, not to disappear from what's made them successful. 6:56 And they stuck to it, and eventually it started paying off. 7:00 They got the five minute major, and they took advantage. 7:03 This number one power play of the Gophers is elite. 7:06 They are really good, and they definitely came through when they needed them. 7:10 John, were you one of those guys texting Vegoe saying, what the heck's going on? 7:17 I did actually communicate with Vegoe that night. 7:20 I'm not proud of myself. 7:23 That was a stressful game. 7:25 Anyone who hosted an event at their home when we played Holy Cross many years ago, as I did, I was a horrible hockey fan that night. 7:35 I was turning on everyone. 7:38 I wasn't sure about Matsuko all of a sudden. 7:41 The poor kid who had the stick handling problem, I probably would have sent him to East Africa. 7:47 I mean, I was just a bad fan. 7:51 Until the third period when things stabilized, because that game is a horrible game, right? 7:56 That's like the double A team. 7:59 The single A team wants to play the double A team from the same town, and there's a reason you never do that. 8:06 It's a no-win situation. 8:07 It was awful. 8:08 I hated every minute of it. 8:12 I'm so happy it was over. 8:13 Once we got past that, I was like, this could still suck, but it's not going to suck a ton. 8:19 We're by the bad one. 8:21 It's completely valid. 8:22 I think it's completely valid. 8:23 Because then, you said, Veegs, they got the five-minute power play. 8:29 It was pretty much over after that. 8:31 Then they just, six goals in the third, and it was the beginning of a first-round domination by the Big Ten. 8:40 It was scary what they did in those first-round games, Veegs. 8:44 I just think of the talent across the Big Ten is really high right now. 8:48 Whatever the Big Ten coaches are doing and looking for is paying off. 8:53 I think this year's Big Ten schedule was better than most. 8:56 I mean, you look at Penn State, they finished what, sixth in the league, and they were in the tournament. 9:01 That just shows your strength of schedule in conference. 9:04 The Big Ten showed it in their non-conference. 9:07 They were the top team in the pairwise for a lot of the years because of that. 9:12 It was fun as a Big Ten fan to watch it, but in my mind, none of that means anything for the Big Ten until they get it done in the Frozen Four and get a title team. 9:21 Correct. 9:21 Things are looking very good for the Big Ten, but in those first round games, they can get away. 9:27 Those teams that have all those hopes and dreams, when they see it fading and they start pulling their goalie, it can get out of hand. 9:34 Oh boy, did it ever all over the country. 9:37 And John, Corey Vee's got a comment here. 9:40 Worst first round ever, and I've got to agree. 9:44 The only overtime game we had was the last one in Michigan and Penn State. 9:49 Otherwise, it was a pretty boring first round all around. 9:53 I agree. 9:55 I do like the Big Ten getting some respect though, having listened to people whine about the WCHA for 20 years and then the NCHC kind of, they were almost like the SEC of football, right? 10:10 Always dominating us. 10:11 So you're right, Vegoe, we have to get all the way to the top. 10:16 But I did love, it was weird to be text like heckling people about Big Ten Hockey and like having to spell it with the B and the one and the G and like, yeah, I mean, embrace it. 10:29 It's not getting any easier. 10:31 Just look forward to double digits tomorrow in both those games too. 10:35 And no, I like seeing the Big Ten flex. 10:38 It made me feel better about the Gophers too. 10:41 It made me feel pretty good as well. 10:43 And then, the CCHA didn't end up so well. 10:48 I don't think they scored a goal. 10:51 Tech was blanked. 10:52 Minnesota State was blanked by Minnesota's future opponent, St. 10:56 Cloud. 10:58 Not great for old Don Lucia's league. 11:02 No, not a good performance by them. 11:05 I felt like we kind of saw that coming into the tournament. 11:09 These teams maybe weren't as strong. 11:11 Just look offensively. 11:13 They didn't have big stars. 11:15 I think that was the difference-maker for Michigan Tech a year ago and for Minnesota State, is they had a lot of talent up front beside their strong defense. 11:26 They just didn't have that this year. 11:28 I think they get in these tournament games against other teams that are deeper. 11:32 It is kind of like that Class A, Class AA matchup, where the AA teams have three, four lines, and the A teams have one or two. 11:40 Even this year, the top lines for Michigan Tech and Minnesota State were not that great. 11:45 If I was them, I would be looking at that Monomedi team and saying, hey, can we get some of those guys on our team and maybe give them a little more flair. 11:53 But, Veegs, Mankato was playing pretty well in that game. 11:57 I mean, they, defensively, I thought they played well, and then once they got down, it is like they just did not have anyone who could finish on the offense. 12:07 They just don't have the firepower to fight back in a game where they fall behind. 12:12 If they get the first goal, you know, and they can sit behind their system and play back and wait for mistakes, you know, that plays into their game plan, but they just do not have the firepower to catch up. 12:22 John, I know you saw Ohio State blanking, or was it blanking? 12:28 It was 8 to 1. 12:28 It was 8 to 1 over Harvard. 12:31 Did you see that coming? 12:32 Because I certainly did not. 12:34 Wow. 12:35 No, I had heard that Harvard was a very high-skilled team and fast, and the Langenbruner kids on there, and they got that kid Farrell from the Chicago Steel. 12:47 I mean, they have some real talent. 12:49 That was crazy. 12:50 You know, Rowlick's a hell of a coach. 12:54 It was funny to watch Butch Gras almost do a marketing campaign for him to get the Wisconsin job for the entire tournament. 13:02 But I think Rowlick's a wonderful coach, and so that didn't surprise me, but I didn't expect the gap. 13:09 That was a shocking deficit between those two teams, because Harvard was kind of the sneaky, the sexy pick to maybe surprise some people, I thought. 13:18 I had them in the championship game. 13:25 Yeah, and that's why I'm terrible at picks. 13:28 I did like Ohio State, but... 13:30 You did like Ohio State, but, you know, it was a sneaky pick that, well, I don't know if it was a sneak. 13:34 I think actually one of the ESPN guys picked Harvard to go with, at least the Frozen Four. 13:38 I was just thinking of, you know, Revenge Tour in 1989 to beat Harvard in the championship game. 13:45 That would have been nice, but... 13:47 What else stood out from the other games, Veegs, in the regionals this past weekend? 13:53 I think the one thing that stood out to me, as much as I've harped on the atmosphere at the regionals, it actually turned out pretty nice this year. 14:02 Most of the games had good crowds, and I think they kind of lucked into it, rather than it's planning and shows that the system works. 14:11 I know some of our peers over at College Hockey News were trumpeting how great this regional atmosphere was and how nice everything was up in Fargo. 14:21 That's because Minnesota was there and they're number one in the country, and their fans show up. 14:27 That's lucky for Fargo. 14:29 If it's just St. 14:30 Cloud and Minnesota State making that regional without Minnesota, I guarantee you it's not the same. 14:37 Those North Dakota fans maybe don't even find buyers for their tickets. 14:42 I think if you point to that as a successful regional because of planning, you are wrong. 14:49 It would have been more raucous if the game had been at Mariucci Arena for the Canisius one. 14:55 I guarantee you if Minnesota State was playing at St. 14:58 Cloud State for that first round game, it would have been more raucous there at the Herbrooke Center. 15:07 Team Campus Sites. 15:08 I know, you are big on Campus Sites. 15:13 Alright, John, what surprised you in the rest of the regionals? 15:19 Well, I am kind of fascinated by Michigan. 15:23 Having gone to that Big Ten Championship game two years in a row and losing by the same score. 15:31 They are fast becoming a villain. 15:33 And I really think between Fantilly, who loves to play the heel. 15:38 I mean, this guy loves to kind of... 15:40 He should be in wrestling. 15:41 Let's go. 15:42 He is. 15:42 And he is an excellent player. 15:44 Probably go number two overall. 15:47 And then the goalie kicking the net off. 15:51 I actually wanted them to win that game. 15:53 When I was watching it on Sunday, they needed to be in Tampa. 15:59 I mean, we have some unfinished business. 16:01 And if we're going to do this, I want to go through all of the things. 16:07 And so that was a big one for me. 16:09 And I think they're the one I'm... 16:12 I don't know a lot about BU. 16:14 I'm hoping you guys do. 16:15 And you can tell me a little bit about them. 16:17 I know they have the stud defenseman, but I'd love to see a Michigan, Minnesota final 4-3 only the other way around. 16:28 Well, you know, BU is the only non-number one seed VEGs, but really they've been a top 10 team for most of the season, top five right there at the end. 16:41 They won the hockey east. 16:45 They're youthful and like a lot of the players were saying today, you know, Faber was saying today and Johnson, they're very similar to Minnesota in the way they play. 16:53 So probably going to be not quite like a game with Michigan, but maybe more similar. 16:58 They might be a little better defensively than Michigan is, but what do you think about BU coming out over there? 17:06 Because Cornell did them a nice favor taking out Denver because Denver fell apart at the end of the season. 17:11 They just did. 17:13 Yeah, I think that was the regional that might have been the most disappointing for me. 17:17 I didn't think Western Michigan played particularly well in their game. 17:22 And of course, to see Denver get knocked out against Cornell, also very surprising. 17:27 You know, Denver, I think, has had a little bit of chaos to their locker room. 17:31 Two straight games getting shut out. 17:34 Right. 17:35 So there's something going on there at DU that was disappointing for the tournament's sake. 17:40 But BU took advantage of it. 17:42 I think we'll get more into them when we do our preview show from Tampa. 17:46 Yes. 17:47 Next week, when we have Todd Moleskian, who is a hockey expert of all types there. 17:53 But I think BU is a very talented team. 17:55 I don't think they're as deep as Minnesota. 17:58 So I think that's something that, you know, will show when they play in the Frozen Four in Tampa. 18:04 But credit to BU, they've got lots of skill. 18:06 They've got good goaltending. 18:08 We'll see how they match up. 18:12 So now we get to Minnesota and St. 18:14 Cloud, Veegs. 18:16 I was a little nervous at first because, you know, they played us extremely well this year. 18:20 Shut us out. 18:21 Probably the only... 18:22 Was it the only shutout we had this year? 18:24 It might have been. 18:26 And then we beat them in overtime at Mariucci. 18:29 Coolie. 18:32 Boy, they came out really well against St. 18:34 Cloud in that first period. 18:37 I think... 18:37 Castor kept them in it. 18:38 Castor kept them in it. 18:40 Yeah, Jackson and Castor kept them in it. 18:42 I think one of the things that Minnesota didn't really do very well down the stretch coming into the end of the season was they weren't as hard on pucks in their own end. 18:52 And they weren't closing off the other team from generating second chances. 18:58 And they were getting beat to the net. 19:00 That was not going to happen on Saturday against St. 19:03 Cloud. 19:04 Rewatching that game the entire first period, the Huskies were one and done. 19:09 They were getting beat to pucks. 19:11 The Gophers are exiting the zone really cleanly. 19:14 If you watch the GopherFords, they're not getting spread out. 19:18 They're getting passes below the hash marks, below the dots with speed getting out of the zone. 19:23 And I think that was really key for Minnesota is to commit to that, you know, blow the circles in their own zone and get going north. 19:31 And then in the offensive zone, you saw the defenseman get involved a little bit. 19:35 And if not for the penalties, Minnesota could have ran away with that game. 19:40 I thought the officiating was questionable at best. 19:44 The only call against Minnesota that I thought, eh, probably deserve it was the Cooley Cup check penalty after the neutral zone phase off. 19:52 The rest of them, combination of dives. 19:55 Kind of grab him in the shoulder when he took him down. 19:57 He was skating through the player below the dots, below the red line. 20:04 That's going to happen to him. 20:05 I didn't see the big grab. 20:07 It already looked like he was going down anyway. 20:11 They were getting a little overly involved for me. 20:13 I think Bob agreed. 20:15 Well, let's talk about that because, you know, let's see how Bob thought about that Cooley reaction. 20:22 Here he is from the post game. 20:25 Did he feel kind of like where he got to be like, I'm going to redeem myself for taking that penalty a little bit? 20:30 Well, he saw me glaring at him, like over there. 20:33 Like, he's a, Cooley's just a, like, his fire in his belly. 20:40 I mean, he is a competitor and every coach is going to tell you, you'd rather put one out than start one. 20:46 And he and I have talked about that and it was, you know, it wasn't a good penalty, but I would much rather put a fire out than start one. 20:53 And boy, you, like, I love his compete level and his battle level. 20:59 And next year, he's even going to take a bigger step with us too. 21:05 Last one from Brad. 21:07 Watching, we all could notice the smirk on Bob's face when he says when he's back next year, no chance he's back next year. 21:18 But he actually, you know, Bob was mad about the penalty because it was a legit penalty, like you say, Veegs. 21:26 But he did say it did light a fire underneath Cooley. 21:29 And it's kind of not always a bad thing to take a penalty if your player is going to turn out, you know, getting the game winning goal just after that. 21:39 Well, I think we've seen that a lot this year with teams trying to get under the skin of Minnesota. 21:44 Ohio State's tried it. 21:45 Michigan's tried it. 21:46 St. 21:47 Cloud's tried it. 21:47 North Dakota tried it. 21:49 And especially the top players from Minnesota almost go, oh, really? 21:54 You want to play that game? 21:55 We can play that game too and then we'll score goals. 21:57 And it's fun to see. 21:59 You know, we've talked a couple of times this year. 22:01 There is definitely some FU to Minnesota's game. 22:04 And I think for Minnesota fans, that's fun to see because the last decade, maybe some of that's been lacking. 22:13 And when Minnesota gets poked like that, they kind of go, oh, maybe I can outskill this. 22:19 You're not seeing that with this team. 22:20 They play through checks. 22:22 They play through bodies. 22:23 They answer it with checks of their own. 22:26 And this is a physical team that has really impressed me this year. 22:30 And it's not just the upperclassmen, it's the younger freshmen as well. 22:34 They have got some real sass to their game. 22:37 John, I like how Vegoe described it, the FU game. 22:42 And there's one FU guy on this team who had zero points this past weekend. 22:49 Might be a little ill, a little sick or something. 22:52 Matthew Nyes, kind of quiet. 22:56 You know, I thought he was tough on the puck and he earned, he did a lot of other things than scoring. 23:02 Should other teams be concerned this Frozen Four coming up, but Mr. 23:06 Nyes waking up at the wrong time? 23:09 Absolutely. 23:10 It sounds like he was sick. 23:12 That's what I've heard the same thing you have. 23:15 But I mean, I, he's a classic power forward. 23:19 The kind they don't make anymore. 23:20 Like this is like LeClaire and Lindros and I mean, and he can just, he can protect the puck, drive it in. 23:29 So yeah, I think he's going to have an awakening in Tampa. 23:33 But you really got to give Cooley credit. 23:35 This kid is, he's on another level. 23:38 I mean, I know they have the, they have the big line with the three guys, but he's more Kaprizov like in the sense that he just makes so much stuff happen. 23:48 I think he's the one that deflected that crookshank shot, or touched it at the end. 23:55 I mean, he, he's just an animal. 23:56 He can be a prick when he needs to be, which I love personally. 24:01 Cause like you said, we haven't had a gopher that, that could be a prick and be awesome and quite some time. 24:09 So I love, maybe. 24:12 I mean, yeah, really. 24:14 Westrom, Westrom definitely had that. 24:18 But they're just, we haven't had that. 24:20 And did you see the footage when it was the very first game against Canisius? 24:25 They had a shot of Cooley during the anthem. 24:28 His hair is like, it's like crystal gale right now. 24:31 If any GPLer has, if someone can pull that off a DVR, it's as a hockey hair guy, it is. 24:40 It's like Raiders of the Lost Ark stuff. 24:42 Your face will melt. 24:43 You a hockey hair guy? 24:45 I didn't know that. 24:46 Yeah, I like to check in every now and then. 24:51 I have noticed things, you know, like, you know, even Faber today, he was, he kept going through his hair. 24:57 He's getting quite the flow going too, Veegs. 25:00 It's the season, you know, this is where it all pays off, all that hard work, you know, the haze in the barn and the haze on top of the flow. 25:12 Veegs, are you concerned about V, about V? 25:15 Are you concerned about Nye's and, you know, his zero point, you know, you know, like I said, he didn't have any points, but I still noticed him a lot out there. 25:24 He was still pushing bodies, working hard on pucks and doing a lot of those other things. 25:28 Maybe he just wasn't getting rewarded. 25:30 Well, on the Lacombe goal, he's the one providing the traffic. 25:34 You know, he's the reason why Caster doesn't see that because Nye is known as to compete off the face off, park himself in front of the eyes and create that goal. 25:44 He's the guy who draws a penalty that I think got the other power play goal from. 25:50 You know, he's generating lots of stuff. 25:53 And I think that's the part, you know, if we get into the Hobie Hat-trick stuff, why I think the national writers don't understand Nye's game and how complete he is. 26:04 When you look at Kyle Dubas coming to as many Gopher games as he's probably ever come to in his entire life, it's because he's counting on Nye's to sign with them at the end of the year and contribute to their playoff run. 26:16 You know, he's not just looking at them saying, I don't want to lose him, they could have him for another two years. 26:21 They know how good he is right now, and he is probably the most complete player in college hockey as a forward. 26:28 And for Minnesota, they probably have the most complete player on the back end, too, in Brock Faber. 26:32 And so when you have two guys like that that can stabilize your lineup, and they both play hard, and they don't cheat the game, you're in really good shape. 26:44 All right, John, they start building up the lead. 26:47 I know you're probably still nervous at home watching this. 26:50 When did you finally start feeling better about that game? 26:54 Is it the 2-1? 26:55 Is it the Cooley goal? 26:56 Or was it the Lacombe goal? 26:58 Or was it when the horn went? 27:02 You know you're a true Gopher fan if you were convinced that Crookshank would score a goal against us that night. 27:09 Before the game started, you're like, I know one thing for sure is going to happen. 27:13 Crookshank's going to score somehow. 27:15 And he almost did. 27:16 But we had a weird thing happen. 27:19 I called my daughter in Boston and I'm like, where are you watching the game? 27:23 And she goes, God, we've been running around about 10 bars because nobody has ESPNU. 27:28 And I said to my buddy, I'm at my buddy's house, he's got a 20 foot screen. 27:32 And I'm like, you got ESPNU, right? 27:36 Nope. 27:37 So we watched it on our phones for two periods before we got set up with Comcast on the big screen. 27:45 But for whatever reason, it was way less stressful. 27:49 It was like watching a horror movie, you know, with your eyes covered. 27:52 I could just kind of, I could just like process it, like put it on the side and like, I'm watching it. 27:57 I think we're okay. 27:59 But yeah, I think when Cooley scored, that was the moment to answer your question where I was like, let's go. 28:05 Because you start to do the math on this team with the decor and clothes, when you start kind of going, okay, they got to score three to beat us. 28:13 Yeah, no, no, that's not happening. 28:16 And that's a really good feeling with the back end. 28:18 How about Justin Close there, Veegs? 28:22 At the end of the game, I was literally right behind the net. 28:25 He was right on the glass there. 28:28 And there was one shot, I think right before, it was the stoppage right before Nelson hit the bank shot for the goal. 28:36 There was so much traffic, I don't know how he saw the puck to grab it. 28:41 He did. 28:42 And even the media availability today, the guys were like, I don't know why you guys talk about how he's been underrated or whatever, all the stuff the media says. 28:54 He's been so good all year, Veegs. 28:57 Well, I think coming into the year, we were nervous about what kind of goalie he was. 29:02 Because last year, there were times when he had to make those post to post plays that he was not able to make a lot of saves. 29:10 And he would get beat on those. 29:12 He has gotten more confident, I think, with his scouting other teams' power plays. 29:20 If you listen back to the post game, Moscow talked about how St. 29:24 Cloud really likes to hammer pucks from the flanks. 29:28 That's kind of their power play. 29:30 So Minnesota was more aggressive blocking shots in those situations. 29:35 And Closer was more aggressive pushing across and getting set and seeing the pucks because that's what he scouted. 29:42 That's what he was reading and that's what he was executing. 29:46 And I think that's the difference this year for him versus last year. 29:50 You look at some of the smaller goalies in hockey, for them to be successful, they have to be aggressive and they have to be confident and that's what Closer brings to the Gophers. 30:01 I don't think we saw that as much last year, but now that he's the everyday starter, you do see it. 30:07 He was great Saturday night. 30:08 Absolutely fantastic. 30:10 He was. 30:10 I mean, we've been pretty much on his bandwagon pretty much all season. 30:18 I know everyone comes to UV, so you're not so nice to them. 30:22 I'm like, we're just going off of what we saw the previous year. 30:28 It was nerve wracking, I think, coming into the year, having all this talent and having him be the goalie, just because you're not sure. 30:34 Like, I don't watch a lot of Canadian junior A hockey. 30:37 I didn't know what kind of gold tender they were getting from Kindersley, Saskatchewan. 30:42 That's not on my hockey TV to-do list every day. 30:45 I didn't see the hundred games he played there. 30:48 I don't know what kind of hockey is up there. 30:50 I'm sorry, I don't have much time. 30:52 But he's definitely delivered for them this year. 30:55 Well, one thing I wanted to bring up too is just because another funny moment at the postgame, talking about the Lacombe stretch pass to Cooley, and how, you know, it just came out of nowhere. 31:08 Jackson, talk about that, the second goal of the stretch pass down to Cooley. 31:12 I mean, did you guys talk, did you guys see anything that he could jump that a little bit or? 31:18 No, I think, like I said, the play just kind of opened up there, and obviously Cooley has some blazing speed, so he was just taking off, and then, yeah, he just kind of threw up there, and then he made a great play to finish it off. 31:29 Let him get off for a second. 31:30 You got to love student athletes. 31:32 So we had a half hour practice yesterday. 31:35 All we worked on was a stretch pass up the middle. 31:40 And you ask Cooley, no, it just came out of nowhere, so what the hell good is coaching anymore? 31:47 We did three drills and they were all in the neutral zone, flying our center. 31:51 So I don't think they even listen to us. 31:57 Obviously another, you know, there's times when Moscow could be so fun and just kind of go with the flow, veegs. 32:08 I noticed one comment you had on Twitter after I posted that. 32:12 I was like, well, these times these players aren't even thinking about it. 32:15 They've already kind of got it ingrained in them about these type of situations, but Moscow still had fun with it anyway. 32:24 He sure did. 32:25 And I was just looking back. 32:27 There's a moment where Brudzinski got a breakaway and it was a pass from Faber. 32:34 And, you know, it was just one of those things where that's what they had practiced going into the Michigan State Series. 32:39 They had practiced these things just so they're patterns. 32:42 And I think that's so much of what coaching is these days, is getting these patterns ingrained in the players that are going to be effective in the game. 32:50 And then the game happens and they just see it and they go. 32:52 And I think that just speaks a little bit to what Steve Miller has brought to the coaching staff and the scouting and what Bob brings in his everyday practice with the Gophers. 33:03 What do you think, John? 33:04 You think the players are listening to him still? 33:07 I think Matzko's postgame is must-see TV. 33:12 By the way, I don't know that we... 33:14 So think of how big a game that was for Bob, right? 33:18 He was at St. 33:19 Cloud forever. 33:20 You know, I know my St. 33:22 Cloud buddies mockingly referred to him as Big Game Bob because he had some stumbles when he was on St. 33:28 Cloud. 33:29 And everything he's gone through personally. 33:32 I mean, how do you not root for this guy? 33:34 I mean, he's painted our collars blue. 33:37 He's built the team that we wanted and he wanted. 33:42 And, you know, he's never won a championship himself as a head coach, right? 33:47 Besides the World Juniors and such. 33:49 But I mean, I just am so rooting for this guy. 33:53 And he's just so real. 33:56 He's just salt of the earth. 33:57 And yeah, I just thought it was... 34:01 I mean, that has to be a big deal when he's like, Oh, God, St. 34:03 Cloud. 34:04 Perfect. 34:05 Perfect. 34:06 You know, and to get it done like that. 34:09 And I've heard that Steve Miller, all I've heard about this guy is he's like Yoda. 34:14 Like this is like a legit coaching tactician genius. 34:19 So I don't know how we pickpocketed him from Ohio State, but sounds like he's pretty special. 34:25 How did we pickpocket him, Veegs? 34:28 Well, Miller and Monsko basically went back to their college coaching career started together. 34:34 They're about the same age. 34:36 They got in and coached at the same time. 34:38 You know, Miami, Ohio, Denver, they just have gone separate ways. 34:42 And I think, you know, coaching together at the World Juniors a lot the last couple of years kind of brought them back together. 34:49 And Bob felt, you know, if you ever want to come to the Twin Cities and coach, this would be a really good fit for you. 34:57 And Miller almost came to be on Lucia's staff instead of Scott Bell. 35:01 And at the time, it was a bit of an uproar among Gopher alumni that they would bring in this outsider into the program that needed some stabilizing. 35:13 And it probably worked out for the best that he didn't come at that time. 35:16 And now is the time when he comes, because he brings those fresh eyes to the Gopher program that I think they really needed. 35:22 You know, Bob's a really good hockey coach, really good recruiter. 35:26 I don't know if he's as good an X as an O guy as Steve Miller. 35:31 And some of the things that he brings to the penalty kill and some of the things he brings to the scouting report, I think really contribute a lot to Minnesota and their consistency this year. 35:40 Yeah, Steve Miller is looking at that math problem on the wall at Harvard, like goodwill hunting, right? 35:46 Just solving. 35:47 Right now he's just staring at... 35:49 I picture this guy watching like 60 hours of tape on BU, just alone eating Chinese food and being like, Bob, Bob, three things. 36:01 I just love that he's on our team. 36:08 That's pretty... 36:08 Well, I believe Bob even said in his post-game news coverage that they even changed up the penalty kill for that game. 36:16 And that is usually... 36:17 He made the adjustments. 36:19 Yeah, usually the Gophers, when there's a penalty killer situation where the point player is moving across, the other forward kind of trades with him. 36:29 Well, with St. 36:30 Cloud, what they try to do is they try to do that and then they hit the one-timer away from where the forwards are going. 36:37 So instead of doing that, Minnesota started having one of their D get in the shot blocking lane and block shots. 36:44 And that's something that you saw throughout the game. 36:46 Actually, the one goal against, I think, Chesley was a little late coming out on that because it was a new adjustment for them. 36:53 It wasn't something as quick. 36:54 But when you had Faber and Lacoma out there, they were out there eating pucks. 37:00 And that's that blue collar you're talking about, John. 37:03 Blocking pucks, doing whatever it takes, get dirty goals if you need to. 37:10 Yeah, depth scoring. 37:11 I kind of, it's fun to watch the Gophers and think about, like he has to love Jackson Nelson, you know, the guy behind the guys, right? 37:20 He has to love Hugh Glenn, a Rose O'Boy playing for the Gophers. 37:25 And getting, I was, when I was texting Vego in my, not in my best fan moments, I swore, I swear against Canisius, like he never played Nice, Cooley, and Snuggerwood, like the whole game. 37:40 I don't know if you ever looked at the time on ice, but I'm like, God, you know, I'm getting texts from my buddies. 37:45 We're going to lose because of our arrogance. 37:48 And like, and then sure enough, third period if Canisius was rolling two and we were rolling four, all of a sudden it's nine to two. 37:56 But did he play them less in that game or was that enough? 38:00 Nice played 22 minutes, five seconds. 38:03 It was the third highest ice time of the year for Nice. 38:08 Cooley played 20 minutes, four seconds. 38:10 Snuggerud 19-27. 38:12 Bob short in the bench. 38:13 Extra timeouts. 38:15 Extra timeouts. 38:17 Longer period breaks. 38:19 You can play these guys more often. 38:20 I mean, these guys train all year long in a Big Ten schedule. 38:25 Well, Andis wasn't feeling good either. 38:27 He was sick and he still was able to put out 22 minutes. 38:31 I think that Big Ten schedule is great for them. 38:34 The way the Big Ten runs the game, I think is an advantage when you get to the NCAA. 38:39 Hey, how about, you know, LeColeman, that clip you showed, you know, just, Coolie's just called Cools. 38:47 How about being as good as you are and your nickname is just Cools? 38:52 I mean, come on. 38:53 That's like Snoopy stuff, right? 38:56 I mean, that's not even real, right? 38:58 Like, well, there's our best player. 39:01 We just call him Cools and he can do everything. 39:04 Well, he'll be in the NHL in five minutes. 39:07 Yeah, that's pretty sweet. 39:09 Yeah, the thing is, it's like, does Coolie have a little power there, Vicks? 39:15 I mean, I can come play for you the last game or two, or does he kind of hold out to the end of the summer? 39:24 I mean, if you're Coolie, you probably want them to burn a year that deal if you sign. 39:30 Yes, but that gives him some power, doesn't it? 39:33 It does. 39:34 But also by him signing at this young age, he gets to unrestricted free agency sooner. 39:40 He gets that first RFA deal sooner. 39:43 So there's advantages there, too. 39:45 You know, I've heard all kinds of things on what's going to happen at the end of the year for some of these guys, and they're all not 100% going pro. 39:53 I think Lacoma said he's going to sign at the end of the year. 39:56 Faber has been pretty transparent that he wants to sign at the end of the year. 40:01 They're very focused on what they're doing right now. 40:03 But I think you have a lot of guys who are unsure of what they're going to do next year. 40:07 It's not a 100% chance Dice has signed. 40:10 It's not 100% chance that Cools is signing. 40:13 You know, I think Snuggerud for sure is coming back according to what people say. 40:17 So we'll see. 40:18 But I was just looking at that shop locking data against St. 40:22 Cloud, and they blocked 25 shots. 40:25 You know, they only had 29 shots on goal. 40:29 That's pretty good performance. 40:32 Jackson LeCombe, six block shots, an offensive defenseman. 40:36 And apparently Corey thinks Jackson LeCombe looks like Napoleon Dynamite. 40:40 So he's got that going for him too. 40:44 Going through some of the questions here. 40:46 Was it Close brought in as a practice goalie? 40:48 He kind of was, wasn't he, Veegs, behind Mo and LaFontaine? 40:52 That was the thinking behind two drafted goalies. 40:54 Let's bring in a hard worker who's experienced. 40:57 And I think now you're seeing that with Nathan Airy as the next goalie that Bob's bringing in. 41:02 Somebody who's going to have 100 games under his belt before he even comes to Minnesota, a junior. 41:09 And then Steve kind of reminds us about, you know, three timeouts, two plus minutes each. 41:14 Actually, there were 18 minute intermissions, Steve, between periods for this, for the regionals. 41:20 It probably will be for the Frozen Four as well. 41:24 I mean, compare that to 12 minute intermissions and one TV timeout that's maybe a minute and a half, maybe somewhere. 41:32 It's not a 30 second, but it's not overly long. 41:39 And then Corey wants to know, where are you getting this time on ice? 41:41 You getting that from Schlossman? 41:43 A little bit. 41:44 Instat tracks it. 41:46 It's hard to get access to that. 41:48 It's professional scouting software. 41:50 RinkLive and Schlossman have access to some of it. 41:54 So when I see something like that, I reach out. 41:58 And I've looked at some of that for Jackson Nelson because they track D-Zone draws and things like that. 42:04 Power Play special teams draws ice time there. 42:08 Just because I'm interested in how Bob's deploying his players this year because traditionally Bob is pretty much, I'm going to roll four lines, I'm going to roll six D and just let it go. 42:17 This year we've seen some differences. 42:20 You know, he has tried to play the seven defensemen for most of the season where he's getting the young guys acclimated to the college game. 42:28 He doesn't want to put too much stress on Nyes and Nelson. 42:33 But at times we've seen this year when they get down to brass knuckles, he puts his best players out there and he really wants them to compete and he trusts them to handle the additional ice time because he doesn't do it every single week. 42:47 John, are you headed to Tampa next week? 42:52 Yeah, man, did I do a 180 between crying on Vego's shoulder and that Canisius game to... 43:00 These are all things I did after I beat St. 43:02 Cloud. 43:03 I emailed Terrence Fogarty and told him if we win, I want one of the new prints. 43:10 I swear to God, send him a note. 43:13 I asked a buddy to turn a Minnesota t-shirt into a WinneSoda t-shirt. 43:18 Haven't followed up on that. 43:19 Then I booked my flight, my hotel, and bought the tickets on StubHub. 43:25 I am super excited to be down there. 43:29 I went to Boston last year, and I heard Tampa is just an amazing site for the Frozen Four. 43:35 Have you been there in Tampa? 43:37 I did go to the 2012 one, when they lost to Boston College with Johnny Hockey and that team and a couple other good guys. 43:51 They do probably the best job I have ever seen. 43:55 You get off the plane in the airport, and there's banners everywhere. 43:59 The city has banners alongside of buildings. 44:05 When I was there in 2012, it wasn't as developed right there. 44:09 There was still a big dirt parking lot and stuff that was still developing it. 44:13 I've heard it's filled in even more there. 44:14 There's so much more stuff close to it. 44:19 The city really gets behind it. 44:21 You can go downtown St. 44:24 Paul. 44:25 Do you see many banners talking about the Frozen Four when it's down there? 44:29 Or even at the airports? 44:32 No. 44:33 It's different in Tampa. 44:35 The only time I had ever been was when we won it in 02 in St. 44:38 Paul on a press pass. 44:40 And then I went last year and it was just so cool. 44:43 It was such a great event as a college hockey fan. 44:46 Going into that, I forget the name of the bar, Greatest Bar, I think it's called, around the corner. 44:52 You walk in, the first floor is all Mankato fans. 44:56 The next floor is all Gopher fans. 45:00 The next floor is people in North Dakota jerseys. 45:03 They didn't even make the tournament. 45:04 I mean, it's a really cool event. 45:07 If you're a college hockey fan and you haven't been to the Frozen Four, I would encourage you to check it out. 45:14 And especially in Tampa, you will still see jerseys from almost every school. 45:18 And plenty of North Dakota jerseys. 45:20 Yes, you'll see them, folks. 45:23 Are you guys going? 45:24 Either of you? 45:25 I am leaving on Tuesday. 45:27 I am leaving Thursday morning, 6 a.m. 45:30 Hey, you want to golf? 45:32 I wish I could. 45:34 Maybe if we can figure it out Friday, I'd be interested. 45:37 There are some vulnerabilities and things, but that would be nice to get some sun. 45:42 But yeah, I'm looking forward to it. 45:45 Todd Molesky and I will be live from the arena next Wednesday night. 45:50 Or actually, we're starting early next week, folks, because we can only be in the arena until a certain time, like 7 p.m. 45:56 Eastern. 45:57 So we're starting with about 430 Central, I believe. 46:01 So Veegs is going to do the podcast before he has to do dinner and put the kids to bed and then get to bed himself because you're up super early next week, aren't you, Veegs? 46:10 Yep. 46:11 I've got 6 a.m. 46:12 flights going there and 6 a.m. 46:13 flight coming home because I want to try to be home for Easter. 46:16 So it's what I've got to do to make it happen. 46:19 And it's going to be a great weekend. 46:23 I can't wait. 46:24 And we'll try to do some kind of live broadcast after the game on Thursday, probably while the other game is going on. 46:32 We'll keep it just a short little thing. 46:34 We'll get together, talk to them about the results. 46:36 Probably from the media room and the bowels of... 46:38 Was it Amalie Arena? 46:42 It's going to be a blast. 46:45 I wish Veegs could get down earlier. 46:46 He just couldn't with everything. 46:49 But we're going to have you on. 46:52 Todd and I will be live. 46:54 Maybe Cappy might be around. 46:57 Come join us for a little bit. 46:59 Wherever we end up shooting from at the arena. 47:01 But it's going to be fun. 47:04 It's going to be a lot of fun. 47:06 Just to let you folks know, certain lady with OnlyFans who is a big Gopher fan, look for her behind the bench of Boston University distracting them on Thursday. 47:20 I don't know about this. 47:21 Allie Rae. 47:22 Allie Rae is that kind of OnlyFans porn star, would you call her, Veegs? 47:30 Oh, this is great. 47:32 She's an entrepreneur. 47:34 She's a self-employed entrepreneur. 47:36 And yeah, she's a nurse who found her. 47:41 Former military. 47:45 A real nurse? 47:45 Yeah, a real nurse. 47:46 And she has some ties to go for hockey. 47:49 She's a big fan. 47:49 She was at South Bend this year. 47:51 I know there's some people interested in that. 47:54 So you will probably recognize her. 47:59 She'll be on camera like the whole day. 48:02 She might be behind the Boston College or the opponent bench with a distraction. 48:09 Distraction factor. 48:10 Well, you see it on TV a lot in the initial games. 48:13 I've even seen TV announcers get distracted by the women behind the coaches at these games. 48:20 Now, how do you get this hot tip? 48:22 Are you a subscriber? 48:23 She follows us. 48:24 She tweets at us. 48:27 She follows us on the socials. 48:29 Now, you guys have a great pod. 48:34 She was even like, oh, I want to be on the podcast. 48:37 When you guys come down to Tampa, I'm like... 48:40 I'm even more excited for Tampa now. 48:42 That's great. 48:43 I'm going to golf with her. 48:46 There you go. 48:48 I'm out. 48:49 I'm out of the foursome. 48:52 You've got to cook your ham for me. 48:54 Veegs, I did want to ask you about something. 48:58 You've been kind of talking about for years how the portals, it's good for fixing holes, but maybe not something that should be relied on a lot. 49:10 And we look at the news today at Schloss and Pullout. 49:13 North Dakota currently has no returning defensemen next season. 49:19 The guy I don't read left jumped into the portal. 49:22 They've had a couple other guys jump in the portal. 49:24 They've had other guys who they've gotten from the portal who just timed out. 49:31 And it just seems like the portal is catching up with North Dakota. 49:36 It's really hard to build a culture if you don't have consistency in your program. 49:42 We're obviously seeing that with Minnesota right now. 49:45 There's so much leadership at the top and there's so much talent coming in, learning lessons from those leaders. 49:52 You're going to have none of that at North Dakota. 49:54 And it got them into the tournament last year and might have saved Brad Berry's job a little bit longer. 50:01 But I think the fans up there are bringing out the pitchforks because it's going to be really hard for North Dakota next year to have their culture because they're not going to have guys who know how to practice. 50:12 They're not going to know their routine. 50:14 They're not going to know how to handle criticism and who to talk to. 50:18 It's going to be really tough for them. 50:20 And I think that's just a sign that it's not sustainable if you keep dipping into it. 50:25 It's good for one or two players there. 50:28 But I think even Bob goes, you know, it doesn't work. 50:32 Because if you bring in the wrong person and they're on your program, it's not like free agency. 50:36 You can't just cut them and bring somebody else in or call somebody else up. 50:39 You know, you've got them for the year. 50:41 And not a great situation in Grand Forks. 50:46 Not that I'm crying anything, John, but... 50:48 That sounds horrible. 50:53 I really feel bad for them. 50:56 They do have offense coming back. 50:58 They do have offense coming back, but offense only does you so... 51:01 Jackson Blake's good and this Perron kid coming from Chicago. 51:05 Fantastic. 51:06 This forward that they're going to get next year. 51:09 But you can only do so much with offense, guys. 51:12 I mean, you can... 51:13 Sir. 51:14 I mean, even if you were to bring in a young Faber, a young Lacombe, studs coming in, they're still young studs, Veegs. 51:22 It's going to take them a year to learn. 51:24 And I heard they had like four or five guys coming in as recruits. 51:32 But are you going to fill it with more portal guys and just keep exacerbating the problem? 51:38 They're kind of... 51:39 Hard to say. 51:40 They're a tricky situation. 51:42 If Matt Stoddaker doesn't have a spot at Minnesota, Brad Berry should be contacting him immediately. 51:47 Oh, he would be so good up there. 51:50 He'd be great for them up there. 51:51 I mean, that's the kind of guy that they need to look for. 51:55 If I were Brad Berry, I'd be looking at Wisconsin and trying to pluck some guys out of there. 51:59 I'd be looking at Atlantic Hockey. 52:01 I'd be looking at CCHA. 52:03 Here at Moe? 52:05 Exactly. 52:05 Because they need a goalie. 52:07 Because they're going to need to fill some holes. 52:10 And it was interesting. 52:11 I was listening to the USCHO podcast, and they had the Robert Morris coach on, Derek Schooley, a lot this year. 52:17 And he said, you know, one of the things as a coach in Atlantic Hockey, is sometimes you need to sell your guys on going to Atlantic Hockey and putting in two or three years to develop yourself. 52:27 Hey, you didn't get your offer from Minnesota or North Dakota. 52:31 Come to Atlantic Hockey, establish your game, show that you can play at the college level, and then maybe in two or three years, you can portal there. 52:39 And that's just something that they're going to have to deal with. 52:41 You know, they're going to be kind of a little bit like a junior college sometimes with players who come there. 52:49 Junior college, really? 52:52 They cost $30,000 to go to. 52:55 So, no, I just thought it was an interesting topic because I know you're like, yeah, this is great for filling spots. 53:02 But what we had, we had, we've had a ton of guys go to the portal and it's, they're just not going to find as many spots unless it's North Dakota right now. 53:10 It's going to become more and more difficult because teams are figuring out. 53:15 It's just for filling, except for a couple. 53:23 Well, we're not going to preview the fours of throw here for this week, folks. 53:28 We'll get into that next week with Molesky. 53:31 And let me tell you, Veegs, I was so glad to see a USCHO article from Tom Molesky I think it was late Thursday night, or maybe it was Friday night, talking to all those stats and all about the Big Ten, because, you know, obviously Todd's the best at all the stats and keeping records, all that stuff. 53:51 And it was nice to see him back on men's college hockey. 53:55 For sure. 53:55 I'm even more excited he's going to be in Tampa. 54:00 So we'll have that to look forward to. 54:04 I don't have anything else for us tonight, guys. 54:07 John, did you have any more thoughts you want on the podcast or anything you want to save for overtime? 54:12 Well, I'm excited for overtime. 54:13 I'm going to go get a surprise drink. 54:15 But I just want to close out by saying, Brock Faber's glasses is just, it just makes me so happy seeing these collage posters of all like the four players from each team. 54:28 And he's just like sitting there with his glasses. 54:32 I don't know if there's a Twitter handle for Brock Faber's glasses yet, but it just, it's just so gangster. 54:38 It's like so, it's like, it's hilarious. 54:41 Like he should play in them. 54:43 He really should. 54:45 It's really great when you see Faber and Nelson at the podium and they both have their black rim glasses on. 54:52 I ran into Justin Close and those guys at Costco one day, they've all got the glasses on and they're just like flowing it. 55:00 It's so deliberate. 55:02 They know what they're doing, right? 55:04 They probably got a deal on them from Warby Parker or something like that. 55:07 Yeah, we want the black rim glasses. 55:09 It's just outstanding. 55:11 My wife was so confused. 55:13 She's like, is our star, does he, he wears glasses? 55:16 This is weird. 55:16 I'm like, no, honey, this is cool. 55:21 And I had to explain to her, I'm like, he doesn't wear them when he plays. 55:23 It's like poster. 55:24 Oh, it seems strange. 55:26 I don't know how I feel about this. 55:32 He does kind of have a, don't mess with me look on that photo as part of that collage photo. 55:37 Yeah. 55:37 I mean, it's kind of like, you know, got the glasses. 55:42 Yeah. 55:42 We're not going to mess with you type of thing. 55:44 It's like, it's great. 55:47 I don't know. 55:47 And of course our guy, Drew Cove looks like him with the glasses vegs. 55:52 Yeah. 55:53 He looks like Brock Faber when he's coming out of the flu. 55:55 You know, he's lost 20, 30 pounds. 55:58 You know, Brock's pretty put together, pretty put together dude. 56:02 So he's ready to step in the wild line up at some point. 56:06 Well, thanks for joining us for the podcast, John. 56:08 Hey, no damage. 56:10 Wi-Fi work, man. 56:12 Knock on wood. 56:13 See how long it lasts and over time. 56:16 You guys got a good product here. 56:18 I'm going to be all about behind the bench on BU. 56:21 I'm dialed in for the Frozen Four. 56:25 This is exciting. 56:26 John just added binoculars to his packing list. 56:31 If you look over there, it would be great. 56:36 Hey, if it's a distraction, it's a distraction for the team. 56:39 That's all I care about. 56:40 Yeah, I hope we just get all the way, man. 56:43 That's the main goal. 56:44 Let's go, man. 56:46 Let's go. 56:46 Chapter number six. 56:47 We do not have enough national championships. 56:50 I'm with you. 56:51 It's a bit sad. 56:52 I'm with you. 56:54 Veegs, you ready? 56:55 You ready for Tampa, man? 56:57 I'm ready. 56:57 This is one of the most confident teams I've seen in Minnesota. 57:01 Just even today, both players, Ryan Johnson, Brock Faber, talked for almost 10 minutes each. 57:07 Very comfortable. 57:08 We had a huge media contingent today. 57:10 All the cameras were there, and I've never seen two Gophers more comfortable talking in front of that many people about winning a national championship. 57:19 Brock today said, you know, it's not only about playing for a national championship, but it was a big part. 57:25 And they all kind of acknowledge it, and they all kind of acknowledge it takes a lot of work to get there, and they're not there yet, but they're on the way. 57:36 All right. 57:37 Let's get her done. 57:38 Exactly. 57:39 Let's get her done. 57:41 I'm thirsty. 57:42 Let's get to OT. 57:44 Let's get around. 57:45 I'm going to show you something good, Vego. 57:46 You're going to like what I have. 57:47 I had to run upstairs and grab it. 57:49 Well, you go do that because that's going to wrap it up for this week's GPL Podcast. 57:55 I want to thank John again for joining the podcast. 57:58 And we'll be back next Wednesday with, hopefully, it was going to be a fun live show from Tampa. 58:05 For those of you currently watching live, stay tuned for overtime for the rest of you. 58:09 We'll see you next week in Tampa.