0:07
This is the GPL Podcast, part of the Poltav Sports Family.
0:16
You're younger than my dad.
0:21
My dad's 56.
0:29
Wow.
0:30
We just got finished.
0:34
That sounds kind of weird.
0:37
It sounds like 1999 New Lions.
0:42
And Eric, on the flip side, I bet you just love those defensive games.
0:47
I mean, yeah, if I'm playing, I was the same as you, Drew.
0:51
If I fell asleep on Saturday, I'm the...
1:05
Good evening, and welcome to The GPL Podcast, episode number 249.
1:13
We're almost to 250, Vakes.
1:15
I was just looking at that.
1:16
The next week's show with Pat is our 200th.
1:20
Yeah, we've been doing this for a while.
1:22
Appreciate everybody following along with us.
1:25
Excited to add the Pulltab family to the crew this year, and I think the Gophers are starting to find their stride maybe just a little bit.
1:33
I think so.
1:35
I think so because, well, for one thing, okay, so four out of six points this past weekend, I call that a success whenever you can go to Yoast and get that many points.
1:48
But beyond that, their success since the Moscow era started has been very good at Yoast.
1:57
Last year, yes, we caught them with some illness, and we've caught, you know, there's just been weird things, but they've done extremely well at Yoast.
2:09
I think the Minnesota-Michigan series has been so interesting with Bob behind the bench for Minnesota because the Gophers are almost always the more disciplined, structured team that is able to capitalize on more of the mistakes than Michigan is able to capitalize on Gopher mistakes.
2:30
Once again, that was true this past weekend.
2:34
So, two comebacks in a row, Veegs.
2:39
I love seeing that on the road.
2:41
You know, that's something we complained about in the past.
2:43
You know, you never come back.
2:45
But these last couple seasons, they really seem to find a way to not get down when they get down, you know, in the game.
2:54
And they went down pretty early Friday night.
2:57
But quickly, I think it was Brodzinski came back and scored the first shot of the game for Minnesota to kind of make up for that first early goal, which was pretty big.
3:09
And then Jimmy Clark gets one at the end of the second period.
3:12
After mission had dominated that period, too.
3:15
Yeah, that second period was worrisome for Minnesota.
3:19
They'd given up two power play goals against, you know, after a penalty kill that started the year pretty strong for Minnesota.
3:25
They've been showing some holes the last couple of weeks.
3:28
Yeah, but was it Michigan at like over 40%?
3:30
No.
3:31
I mean, it's real.
3:32
They were, but you can't let them score power play goals like they did where they're seeming pucks through your penalty kill to the other side forcing your goal-
3:41
Sniping, too...
3:41
.
3:41
poster post and sniping.
3:43
You know, they've got talent.
3:44
If you get spread out like that and you allow those passing lanes to become available, Michigan's going to take advantage.
3:53
And Michigan, yeah, they're known for having a great power play, and boy, did they show it this weekend.
4:00
By the way, they were like two for three the first night, two for four, something ridiculous like that.
4:05
But like you said, Clark got that late goal in the second.
4:11
1.5 seconds left, something along those lines.
4:15
To cut the lead to three to two, which was a huge thing.
4:19
I mean, that's got to be kind of a letdown for Michigan.
4:22
They come back, they get that tying goal.
4:25
They get the winning goal, which just was a two or three minutes left.
4:28
And then they hang on for a nice Friday night win in Yost, which is pretty normal now, apparently.
4:37
Apparently Bob likes to win against Michigan on the road.
4:42
And Minnesota has done pretty well there.
4:44
You know, I think the difference between the two teams at least on Friday night was Minnesota got some hard goals around the net and they really kept pressing and pressing and pressing.
4:57
And you almost felt like Michigan, five on five, were not able to capitalize on their possession because I thought they controlled the puck a lot during the second period.
5:07
You know, when you hold Michigan to just the one five on five goal, you're going to feel pretty good about yourself.
5:13
And that was a game that I felt Minnesota need to win to get going this season because we've seen a couple of times this year where they've fallen behind and they start to feel sorry for themselves.
5:25
They take more penalties and they just get into a funk because they're pressing.
5:31
So for them to be able to get the win on Friday night, Michigan maybe takes a little of that pressure off.
5:37
And also though too is that I would say Minnesota's penalty kill is just better against other teams.
5:42
It's something about Michigan.
5:44
Obviously Michigan's a highly skilled team.
5:46
They just don't seem to do well at stopping Michigan's power play.
5:50
And Michigan just made them pay big time this weekend.
5:53
So keep, stay out of the box when you play Michigan is the key, isn't it?
6:00
And Steve Miller has been working on the penalty kill, I think, a little bit more lately trying to get that shored up.
6:07
You know, they do have some changes there, at least on the back end.
6:11
And some things they need to work on are getting in those passing lanes and then getting their sticks in the right spot.
6:18
You have to have your stick on the ice and you have to be aware of where the passing lanes are and getting your sticks in the middle there because you can't make it that easy for the opponents.
6:27
And I'm pretty confident they'll be able to get done.
6:31
Steve Miller is known as a great tactician in college hockey.
6:35
Minnesota seems to be going to that almost triangle in one on the penalty kill where they have the 2D on each post and they have a forward sag in the middle of that slot.
6:46
You know, they're kind of in the right spots.
6:49
I do see at times where, you know, the forwards, the D get caught chasing the play outside the dots and that can create some problems for you or they're not confident, sagging back down into the slot, taking away those passing lanes.
7:03
So we'll see if they continue to get better at that.
7:06
I see Eric, our guy Eric Brewer.
7:09
I dislike our hangback PK.
7:11
We are good enough to pressure teams and force turnovers.
7:15
Well, I think the Gopher PK is really good at pressuring through the neutral zone.
7:20
If you go back a couple of weeks on the podcast, we were talking about the stat that Bob dropped to me during one of the availabilities where he said of the 22 zone entries, our opponent had 16 of them we won and broke up.
7:32
And when you can break up those zone entries with your speed and aggressiveness, you're going to be in a good position because you can ice the puck during 30 seconds.
7:42
You do that three times.
7:43
That's basically a kill.
7:45
But the problem is once you get in the zone, you have to be smart about when you are aggressive and when you hang back.
7:52
And I think what Brewer is getting at here is when you hang back, you got to wait for that moment to be aggressive.
7:59
And against a team like Michigan that's not going to fumble pucks, those moments of being aggressive don't always show themselves.
8:07
So great Friday night.
8:09
We move on to Saturday.
8:13
Got behind again.
8:15
Kind of chasing the game again.
8:21
But, you know, we got got another tie.
8:27
Went to a shootout, lost the shootout.
8:29
I want to get into that a little bit later.
8:31
I don't want to get too much into that.
8:32
But one thing I did notice Saturday night that was much better were the faceoffs because they were just getting killed on Friday night.
8:43
So they did improve that.
8:44
Actually, I saw Nelson was much better.
8:47
You see appeared to be at least maybe I was just I kind of noticed more the key ones like, you know, offensive zone when you're when you have control of puck or a defensive zone.
8:56
I know it's Nelson was better.
8:59
That's still a concern for me.
9:00
They need to get it up their percentage up quite a bit.
9:05
Yeah.
9:05
And part of it's, you know, the number of centers they have right now, they lean on Nelson pretty heavy.
9:12
They're trying to get Oliver Moore in that situation.
9:15
They're trying to get Aaron Huglen back consistently in the lineup, you know.
9:21
And then Jimmy Clark, I think, has been OK.
9:24
But as a freshman coming into the Big Ten and the scheduled Minnesota plays, the face off intensity is just so much different.
9:31
I think he's been OK.
9:32
But, you know, that's definitely an area where he's got some room to grow.
9:36
I mean, Bob always talks about the center being one of the most critical positions to set when you're making lines.
9:43
And then you go from there and everything's a little bit in flux right now.
9:49
Brody Lamb.
9:52
No sophomore slump for that kid.
9:54
He is just maybe it's a confidence thing.
10:00
He just he's just he's he just seems to be doing all the right things.
10:05
Yeah, he talked about that.
10:06
He was at availability today.
10:08
He was just saying, you know, he's put on the extra weight, especially in his lower body, to gain that strength would have given him confidence to go out there.
10:19
And for him to have six goals this early in the year is pretty impressive.
10:23
And you probably argue.
10:25
Yeah.
10:26
You could probably argue that his line was the best line against Michigan with Clark and Kurth.
10:31
Definitely Friday night.
10:33
And Bob's got a dilemma trying to figure out what to do.
10:35
Because as I tweeted out today, the Gophers are going to be short of forward likely this weekend.
10:41
And that's where the pigs do you know who it is?
10:44
We can get to it.
10:45
We'll tease it a little bit.
10:46
We have 53 listeners.
10:47
We'll try to keep them on.
10:48
But I will say this early in the show that Brody Lamb is probably going to be one of the guys who shifts to center.
10:56
And so that will mean someone's someone's moving out of the center circle.
11:03
Well, like I said, I guess faceoff staff never super bothered me.
11:10
I just I think I just noticed it more when it's like end of the game.
11:14
You're trying your you have you've iced the puck.
11:17
You need to gain control of the puck.
11:18
I've noticed in those kind of what you taught me in those key situations.
11:22
It's not always about, you know, winning 50% or winning more.
11:27
It's winning in those key situations.
11:28
And that's the situation that I think they really lacked.
11:35
Yeah, I think those are the draws that matter.
11:38
And you just can't rely on one guy to get you through the whole year.
11:42
And so we've talked about this a lot where Bob is a guy who's trying to develop some depth early in the year.
11:49
And he's going to give other guys opportunities at this part of the season.
11:54
As the year goes on, you know, if they're not producing, they're not going to keep getting those chances.
11:58
You know, the leash gets a little bit tighter as the season goes on.
12:03
Can we get up a Johnny Pole up there somewhere?
12:05
Man, that kid won a lot.
12:08
Bukestad, Nick Bukestad was a great center with his leverage.
12:14
But I think Jackson's had a couple nights when he's been really good.
12:17
You know, the one night against North Dakota, I think he was struggling a little bit.
12:22
But you're going up against one of the programs that routinely emphasizes face-offs.
12:27
And Cameron Berg is a great one for them right now.
12:30
I think he's going to be among the nation leaders and draws by the end of the season.
12:36
All right.
12:36
Well, before we get too much further, Veegs, we need to talk about our guys at Duke Cannon.
12:42
I've been loving their products so far.
12:44
Well, the one I use, I've been loving so far, the newsman stuff.
12:49
I can put my hair straight up.
12:50
But tell us a little bit about Duke Cannon.
12:54
Yeah, as part of the Pulltab Sports family, we got to make sure our hockey hair is elite.
12:59
Because that's where John King got his start, was with the all hockey hair team.
13:04
And we're creating something special here in the area that some call flyover country.
13:10
It's not going to be much longer.
13:12
And one weapon, your haircare arsenal should be Duke Cannon Men's Grooming Products.
13:18
Minnesota Company makes hardworking products for hardworking men.
13:21
Whether it's serious flow styling putty, where you got to do the Mr.
13:24
Miyagi, just a little bit.
13:26
Get that in there, work it in.
13:28
Works better when you have wet hair rather than dry hair.
13:31
Or some news anchor thick hair to increase that volume.
13:35
Visit dukecannon.com, Target, or even your local hardware store for products to make your hair a weapon.
13:41
We're going to make it a weapon.
13:44
But also, besides Duke Cannon, we also want to talk about FerdiVeegs.
13:48
I know you had mentioned the other day, you might want to use them for your youth team.
13:55
We are working on it.
13:56
Youth hockey, you got to raise money.
13:59
We're trying to find a way for us to work with Wayne.
14:03
He'll set you up with a website and support for your organization from start to finish to try to make it as easy as possible.
14:10
You're selling products that are shippable, shareable, at reasonable costs.
14:15
You're not paying overpriced stuff.
14:18
They've got great local products like Joe Mama Salsa, Von Hansen's Pretzel Snacks, Croy Valley Barbecue Roast Spices.
14:26
They've got this freeze-dried candy that a lot of kids like.
14:30
It's kind of fun stuff.
14:31
So visit FURTA Fundraisers to ignite your fundraising.
14:35
FURTA Boys, FURTA Girls, FURTA Community.
14:39
And Veegs, if you do end up, you'll need to share some links with us so we can check out what your team is selling.
14:48
So hopefully you support hockey in North and Northeast Minneapolis.
14:51
That would be great if the GPLers could help out your little team.
14:55
Wouldn't that be great?
14:56
That would be great though.
14:57
That would be great.
14:59
So what's with the shootout Veegs?
15:05
I'm going to keep ragging.
15:08
I want to say our guy Nate, a couple of years ago, they were like two and ten or two and nine.
15:16
And like, oh, I'm going to write this down.
15:18
I've been keeping track ever since.
15:20
Since the Big Ten started and also just Big Ten Games.
15:24
They are two and twelve in shootouts.
15:31
What's the deal?
15:33
Do we know?
15:34
Is it just a goofy thing that maybe it'll average out?
15:37
But it's going to take a while to average out.
15:39
Well, I just think you don't have so many situations where you do shootouts in college hockey, because you're looking at since the Big Ten formed.
15:48
So we're looking now 11 years, 10 years of Big Ten.
15:55
So they've averaged less than two a year.
15:58
So it's not a regular thing.
16:00
Like in the NHL, there's overtime all the time.
16:03
There's shootouts all the time.
16:05
So guys get a lot of experience.
16:07
They get into rhythms.
16:08
They're familiar with how it's feeling.
16:11
They maybe scout the goalies a little bit more.
16:13
There's a bigger track record.
16:15
It's not like that in college hockey.
16:19
The other teams are in the same boat.
16:21
I think it's just random.
16:22
I know we were looking for something here and I know the fans are too.
16:26
They're like, why is Cal Thomas in the shootout at the end of the game?
16:29
Well, because he won the shootout every Thursday for a while.
16:32
He's always in the finals for the team in their little shootout drills.
16:37
So it's not like they're just, you know, kicking the can and saying we don't even practice it or whatever.
16:44
We don't emphasize it.
16:45
You don't want to spend a ton of time on shootouts and perfect it.
16:50
You know, it is a little bit extra, but it's, you know, a point or two a year.
16:55
What's going to be more important for that point or two a year?
16:57
Special teams or shootouts?
17:00
Well, let's say it comes down to Michigan and Minnesota and Michigan wins by a point in the league.
17:07
You'll be able to go back and say, oh, if they wouldn't have gotten that point and Minnesota would have gotten that point.
17:13
You know what I'm going to point to if you bring that up?
17:15
Getting swept by Wisconsin at home.
17:18
That's a little bit more critical towards this.
17:21
True.
17:24
It's a frustration just because it's been happening for 10 years.
17:27
It's like, do they not have the skill?
17:30
Do they need to try to do something different?
17:32
I'd love to see somebody come down with a little more speed and make it more like a breakaway type of thing.
17:41
But they love to come in slow a lot of times.
17:43
And I don't know, maybe it's just me, but I sense the fans are a little sick.
17:52
Well, I was kind of on board with shootouts when they first got introduced, but I just don't love it one way or the other.
18:01
I don't mind.
18:04
I love the three.
18:05
I love the three on three.
18:06
I think that's a lot of fun to watch, even though teams have kind of gone into this possession style approach to the extra period, but it's still fun.
18:17
They generate rushes.
18:19
Correct.
18:19
I heard Derek Schooley say that you maybe should have an over and back rule in overtime.
18:26
Yeah, I thought that was a really interesting idea by Schooley where he's like, once you gain the zone, you can't bring it out.
18:33
Otherwise you have to give the puck back or there's a face off or something.
18:37
So that would be interesting.
18:40
And maybe force some creative situations.
18:42
But I like the three on three.
18:44
Not a big fan of the shootout.
18:47
Just reading some of the comments here.
18:51
Oh, that's too much.
18:52
That's too much time there.
18:53
Because I missed four and four.
18:56
Five minutes to three on three.
18:57
That's probably just too much hockey, I'm guessing.
19:01
Yeah, they're trying to end it quickly.
19:05
I think just one thing that just happened this past weekend when they played Michigan, it was one of those odd things where both teams kind of played conservative in that overtime.
19:15
They didn't really try to push it, didn't try to cause turnovers as much as you normally would.
19:19
Because I remember the last time they went to an overtime, I think it was here at Mariucci last season, and Michigan had control of puck the entire time, and it was a very short time.
19:27
They just got to go a little quick.
19:29
Then Minnesota has won in overtime.
19:31
It was a nice last year.
19:32
We had two overtime games here at Mariucci.
19:35
Regular season or something.
19:37
Whatever it was, it was a bit of a boring overtime in Saturday night.
19:45
There wasn't really any big chances.
19:48
Well, I think there's a little bit of fatigue from the weekend as well.
19:52
I remember during one of their intermissions, Marshall Warren got interviewed for Michigan, and he said something to the effect of, hey, don't play scared.
20:01
When I hear that kind of language out of someone, it means in the back of his mind, he probably is playing a little bit scared, and he's trying to talk himself out of it.
20:12
I'm a very big positive mental imagery guy when it comes to things like this.
20:16
You know, if you're standing on the tee box, and there's water down the left side or something, you don't say don't put it in the water.
20:24
You say, I'm going to hit a fade, or I'm going to play down the right side and hit an aggressive draw.
20:29
You know, you're not saying don't do this.
20:32
You're saying, okay, this is what I want to do.
20:34
I want to execute that.
20:36
And so as silly it is for some of the guys to say, I want to get pucks deep and I want to put pucks on the goal.
20:41
You know, I want to get clean exits and things like that.
20:45
You know, that's a better way to think than say, ah, don't play scared.
20:48
I know all I think of when you say don't play scared is that thin corridor of people when the PGA Tour guys are about to tee off.
21:03
Because I'm thinking every single time, I'm going to kill somebody along this corridor.
21:10
It's nice to be confident.
21:12
I bet you Brody Lamb right now is feeling pretty darn confident.
21:16
He'd be, you know, coming down the rink shooting the puck with a lot of people.
21:19
He'd be like, I'm just looking at that corner.
21:21
I'm not seeing anything else.
21:23
I love how he's upped his game.
21:25
Clark is coming out.
21:28
I kind of tweeted out Saturday night, come on, we need the Snuggerood.
21:32
We need more to do something.
21:33
And Snuggerood did get obviously a key goal in the tie, you know, on Saturday night.
21:40
And it was a nice dirty goal right out front.
21:42
You know, came to puck, came away, came quickly, boom, back of the net.
21:48
I'm concerned that the Snuggerood more have been not contributing as much the last couple weekends.
21:57
So it was good to see that.
21:58
But I don't know if teams are keying on them, but I'd like to see more out of more and Snuggerood.
22:05
Yeah, I'm a little concerned so far with Oliver Moore throughout this year.
22:10
It just doesn't seem like it's coming very easily to him how to integrate in with the lineup.
22:16
He seems to be skating himself maybe into the wrong spots or deferring too much.
22:23
When you look at guys like Connor Kurth, he's not scoring a lot of points, but you're seeing him drive play and be direct around the neck and stronger on the puck and contributing.
22:39
And I think Oliver Moore might have to go, okay, it's not coming to me really easy right now.
22:44
What are things that I can focus on that I know I can accomplish and build up from there?
22:50
So I think we might see some different lines.
22:54
I know Bob was joking in availability today that everyone wants to play with Jimmy Clark right now because he's playing so well and he's so reliable.
23:01
You know, maybe you put more with Clark for a little bit here to see if you can ignite him.
23:08
One thing I did notice, I can't remember which, I think it might have been Party Night when Pitlick was supposed to be on the top line with Snugger and more and he was Pinonimi for a while there.
23:21
I'm like, where's, or for one thing, where's Pitluck?
23:25
The guy was saying, where's Pitluck?
23:27
And Houghlin?
23:29
It was tough.
23:32
Pitluck, I'm like, wait a minute, I went back to the starting line.
23:37
I saw him playing on the fourth line for a good first half the period and then they flip flop and then Pitluck was out there.
23:45
I don't know if there was some kind of punishment or something, but something was a little off because it wasn't the lines getting off.
23:52
He was definitely Pitluck being, you know, assigned according to the, you know, the lineup to more and Sagerud.
23:59
But that first period at first, he wasn't out there.
24:02
He was Pinanimi.
24:04
Yeah, I was trying to think if there were any penalties that really bothered me from the weekend.
24:10
And I don't really know if there were the Bratsinski cross checking one was one that wasn't great at the end of the second period on Friday.
24:21
But I think the Chesley call was a little soft.
24:24
The Sagerud one, you know, that's a stick penalty that you don't want to take too many of or Bob's going to start looking at changing your ice time amount.
24:33
But I didn't think the penalties were quite as bad as the previous weekend where Minnesota is maybe a little undisciplined.
24:41
Because Bob said, if you're taking on discipline penalties, I'm going to sit you on the bench.
24:46
And that previous weekend, we saw Pitlick out there with Clark and Strobel, and that looked like a great trio.
24:55
You know, Pitlick had some really good scoring chances right away.
24:58
So maybe they're trying to find that magic by by shaking up the lines.
25:02
You know, Bob said he's not going to be afraid to mix the lines this year.
25:04
Yeah, because nothing seems to be working quite like he'd like.
25:10
Big day today, Veegs.
25:12
Quite a few players signed their letter of intent.
25:17
Yeah, everything's become an official with all that both men and women that was noticing.
25:26
What do you know about these guys?
25:28
I mean, we've kind of had some of them on our radar, but some of them maybe not as much.
25:31
But any thoughts?
25:35
Well, I think one of the biggest things to look at is Bob trying to get older.
25:40
And when he signs guys like Falloon, Paulson and Gruba, they're all going to be 20 years old when they come to campus next fall.
25:48
So that's a big plus.
25:50
You're also seeing guys like Gruba who was committed to St.
25:53
Cloud and Falloon, who's committed to Arizona State, kind of flip their commitments late in the process and go to Minnesota.
26:02
Now, I don't think Bob is out there trying to aggressively violate the gentleman's agreement that was forever in college hockey.
26:11
I think it's long gone.
26:13
The player advisors say, Hey, my guy's interested in flipping his commitment.
26:17
Do you have room for him?
26:19
Yeah, we'll take him.
26:21
So I think that's that's important to see there.
26:24
I still expect Beckett Hendrickson to come in next year, still expect Owen Bartoszkiewicz to come in next year.
26:30
And then there's the two under 18 guys that were in Finland.
26:35
So their signings were a little delayed with Brody Zemer and John Whipple.
26:43
And those guys don't seem to be kind of like your top, top US national team guys.
26:50
I would still expect them to come in since they signed their national letters of intent.
26:56
Maybe they're guys who would benefit from another year in the USHL, like Beckett Hendrickson kind of decided at the last minute last year that he wanted to stay.
27:04
So maybe they'll get that option.
27:06
But when they sign that national letter of intent, it means the school has a spot for them next year and the players intending to come.
27:13
Unless you're Hendrickson.
27:15
Or Nevers.
27:17
Mason Nevers signed a year early to get colleges to stop contacting him because he wanted to be a Gopher.
27:24
And then he chose to delay his enrollment a year.
27:27
So we'll see.
27:28
You know, when we look at the Gopher roster, you know, there's anywhere from four to seven spots that could open up for next year.
27:35
But I just think that the interesting thing is getting these older players, which we've been talking about at Minnesota for forever.
27:44
I'm looking at you.
27:45
So what is that, Brody Zemer?
27:47
I pronounce his name.
27:50
I'm seeing he's the US player.
27:52
John Whipple, a kid from Minnetonka.
27:59
Just going through the Twitter on University of Minnesota.
28:02
Eric Paulson, a Swede.
28:06
And then we've got Fallon, like you had mentioned.
28:11
It's kind of a big day.
28:12
A lot of guys signing today.
28:14
And just so people know, Javon Moore was another player who was at his commitment ceremony for Minnetonka, but he didn't actually sign his NLI yet.
28:26
It was just kind of a recognition ceremony for Minnetonka's athletes who are likely going on to certain schools.
28:34
So don't worry too much.
28:36
They're not going to rush him.
28:37
He's a big forward who probably could use a little bit more time before he comes to college.
28:44
And he's going to be playing on a very stacked Minnetonka team that's probably the favorite in high school hockey to repeat.
28:51
Sean Goldsworthy has a lot of talent there.
28:54
And I know they escaped one of their games early in the tournament last year.
29:00
I don't know if it'll be as close this year with those guys returning.
29:07
Well, it's always fun.
29:08
It's always good to get some new blood in and see how everyone works out and in Bob we trust, correct?
29:17
That's right.
29:18
I mean, he told us not to worry about recruiting when Cole Iserman flipped his commitment.
29:23
And he's he's done pretty well landing some verbal commitments that will be coming in future years.
29:29
I don't know if this next class has kind of that high high end flash that we might see in the year after that.
29:36
But this looks to be a very deep class that should provide some experience that they need.
29:42
Well, before we get to the Notre Dame preview, we've got a couple more sponsors we need to talk about.
29:47
Of course, my favorite might be Chill Boys.
29:53
Hi, I'm Kevin.
29:55
I've been part of the ball crew at numerous tennis events for years.
29:58
They say I'm an excellent ball handler.
30:01
It's my job to get loose balls where they're supposed to be to make the players comfortable so they can focus on the task at hand.
30:08
Winning, which is why I recommend Chill Boys life changing bamboo boxers and boxer briefs.
30:16
Chill Boys, comfort where it counts.
30:20
And Veegs, I'm getting a couple more on order because when I go on vacation in January, I'm going to the Dominican Republic.
30:27
It's going to be hot there and I'm going to need myself some Chill Boys.
30:32
I mean, that bamboo fabric, awesome for the boys down low.
30:36
Keeps them cool, keeps them dry, essential for those hot environments.
30:41
Or those pressure-packed environments like the stats crew needs.
30:47
We worry about them behind us, you know.
30:49
I think I have a lot of pressure going on.
30:51
A lot of pressure.
30:53
Remember, you could always go to chillboys.com, use the promo code PULLTAB15.
30:59
This is what working with PULLTAB is like.
31:01
We get these kind of discounts to get 15% off your orders.
31:05
That would be just awesome.
31:07
So make sure you go do that.
31:11
Also, VEGES Unreal.
31:16
I keep seeing more of their stuff.
31:17
I saw them doing a charity hat earlier the other day.
31:20
This morning, they just keep coming up with a lot of cool stuff.
31:25
They sure do.
31:26
If you're into like some of this exclusive stuff that they have and you're a hockey fan, make sure to go to their website, unreal.co.
31:34
That's a code on the com and sign up for their drop notifications.
31:39
They're going to be doing some Minnesota wild gear where they're going to do the exclusive drops like they've been doing for the Vikings.
31:46
And everything is cool.
31:47
It's a local company, Michael E.
31:49
Jordan.
31:49
He's a White Bear Lake guy.
31:51
He started this company with $300 in his bank account.
31:55
They're local and he gives back to the community over 10% of all profits.
32:00
He just sponsored a rink down in the Mankato Hastings area.
32:06
And Kinger was down there this week for the ceremony for it.
32:10
So a cool company.
32:12
We like hardworking companies from Minnesotans.
32:15
And this is like our own little under armor Nike right in our own backyard.
32:19
So support them.
32:21
Use that Pulltab 15 promo code.
32:25
You'll get 50% off your order.
32:28
Great stuff.
32:28
Great stuff, Veegs.
32:30
And of course, we appreciate all of our sponsors.
32:33
And of course, Pulltab Sports for bringing us on board this year.
32:37
It's been just it's been a great experience for both these and I.
32:42
Notre Dame coming to town, Veegs improved team and boy.
32:49
It's always about coaching with them.
32:51
I'm sorry.
32:52
It just is.
32:54
He's just he's so good putting a team together.
32:58
Yeah, I joked.
32:59
How often has the term rock fight been used this week?
33:04
And Mary G and Connor Kurth is like, yep, we're hearing that a lot.
33:08
And I asked him, what's the key?
33:09
He's like, well, bring a bigger rock, obviously.
33:13
And Minnesota put a lot of work in the offseason to be bigger and heavier.
33:18
You know, you look at guys like Kurth, guys like Lamb, they are much more solid on the puck this year.
33:25
And so I think that bodes well for a series with Notre Dame where you're going to have to be real disciplined.
33:30
You're not going to get a lot of transition opportunities against them.
33:35
And when you do, you have to transition very, very quickly to get any offense.
33:39
And if it's not there, you got to be careful with the puck at the bull lines and get it deep and get that ground game going.
33:46
Like I think Minnesota wants to do, but I don't know if they've executed it very well this season, which puts a big bang and fine glass on this weekend for me.
33:58
Well, it is a big discipline weekend.
34:01
We're not going to see a high flying score.
34:03
It's usually a two to one, three to two, one nothing type of game against Jeff Jackson.
34:12
Yeah, typically it's low scoring and of course they have Ryan Bischel in that, who is the Big Ten goal of the year last year.
34:18
He's been pretty good this year already.
34:20
I know Notre Dame's schedule wasn't super impressive.
34:25
They did play BU in a series where they split, where there were a bunch of goals scored.
34:30
But BU is so young, it's hard to understand where they're at this year.
34:34
I think that's going to be a better team at the end of the year.
34:37
So I wouldn't put too much stock in that.
34:39
But Notre Dame looked good against Ohio State last weekend.
34:45
I think they only gave up one goal during the weekend.
34:48
They had a couple ties with Penn State the weekend before that.
34:52
So Notre Dame is going to be a challenge for this team.
34:55
And it's not a weekend where I think Minnesota can play like they have at times here where they have to jump start their game midway through or try to flip a switch to say the least.
35:08
They're going to have to be OK from the start and make smart plays.
35:12
You know, you spoke about, you know, Notre Dame sweeping Iowa State last weekend.
35:15
And I got a message from Cappy.
35:18
I want to say Saturday night, he's like, you know what?
35:20
Ohio State's not that bad.
35:23
It's just the rest of the Big Ten is so good this year.
35:26
Maybe maybe he's trying to, you know, protect his alma mater a little bit there, but he's not wrong.
35:33
And I mean, the Big Ten is going to be pretty.
35:35
I mean, you look at the six of the seven teams are top 20.
35:38
I will say Notre Dame made it look pretty easy on some of their goals.
35:43
They were zipping around the puck pretty good.
35:45
You're saying Cappy might have been protecting it.
35:48
Might have been protecting his team a little bit.
35:51
It looked like Notre Dame has enough skill this year where they're going to be able to score goals when they get chances.
35:56
I think last year that was a big problem for Notre Dame.
36:01
They expected to get Logan Cooley in their lineup last year, which did not happen.
36:07
The couple years before, they expected to have Brock Faber in their lineup.
36:10
That didn't happen.
36:12
Minnesota has taken some players from Notre Dame the last couple of years that maybe would have changed their trajectory and how good they could be.
36:19
This year's Notre Dame team is pretty experienced, and they have some young talent that I think can pose some problems for Minnesota.
36:30
Our fellow GPL writer, Chris Ackes, has there been much talk in the current Gopher players about wearing neckguards?
36:38
Chesley Kester wearing them.
36:40
I noticed Kester kind of got the big hubbub, but I did notice Chesley wearing one just at the same time Kester was.
36:49
Did you hear anything?
36:50
Have you been asking when you've been at availability?
36:53
Yeah, Jackson Nelson is another player who's been wearing some neckguard protection.
36:58
You know, one of the issues is that the program itself is having a hard time getting access to these neckguards.
37:06
There's such a demand right now across the country for neckguard protection that it's not easy to just order these and have them show up.
37:14
And I think the players are still kind of adjusting to the feeling of that extra material.
37:20
Some of the ones that are kind of the base layer are very popular, but the players have noticed how hot they get when they wear them because it's an extra heavy fabric to have the cut protection.
37:33
And so the players have noticed, boy, I feel pretty warm when I've got this on.
37:38
And some of the other ones, they just kind of bother them because they're not used to them.
37:42
So I think we'll see more players wearing them as the season goes on.
37:47
I wonder if there's totally enough protection though, because the one I saw Kester wearing was literally this thin.
37:54
It was like it was like a bandana almost around his neck, very thin.
37:58
I mean, I would think you'd want to protect, you know, something a little thicker and not just headband with.
38:06
Maybe it's more about the cut resistant material.
38:09
You know, you can get those gloves that you can wear for when you're cutting things and it's a flexible glove material and you could basically run a blade across it on your hand and you're not going to get cut.
38:21
You know, the way they made the materials now, it's pretty effective.
38:25
It's just, you know, it's not, it's not poly.
38:28
It's not bamboo.
38:30
You know, yeah, I don't know how the, how the, you know, the physical part works.
38:32
Maybe it is just a little part of the neck that's exposed and maybe it doesn't go all the way up here or something like that.
38:37
And yeah, because if you get cut higher up, that's not your artery.
38:41
It's just supposed to be protected in the artery or the, you know, the veins in your wrist or your Achilles on the back of your heel.
38:47
You know, that's where they're putting that cut resistant material.
38:50
There's still other parts of the body that could get cut.
38:53
It's just not as dangerous.
38:55
Obviously, we had an interesting development yesterday where the player that ended up ending the life of another player.
39:05
I'm sorry, his main name just dropped on me.
39:09
Is it Johnson?
39:10
Adam Johnson.
39:11
Yes, I'm sorry, old age.
39:14
Arrested him for manslaughter.
39:21
I've heard people say it might have been intentional.
39:27
I've heard other people say it's accidental.
39:29
I don't want to see it.
39:32
I'm guessing with all this hubbub, we may eventually see more of it.
39:35
I hope not.
39:38
It's just hard for somebody like me to say it was intentional.
39:42
It wasn't intentional.
39:44
I saw our guy Jack Ramsey talking about it.
39:48
He thought it was intentional.
39:51
I'm not trying to kill him, but he thought it might have been intentional.
39:56
It's a sad situation, and now it's going in a totally different direction that we even thought it was going to go.
40:06
Yeah, it's hard to comment too much on it other than if you're in a situation where your skates are flying up around someone's head, you're being reckless.
40:16
I don't know how much the intentional thing is where you could get tripped and do that, but it's just a reckless thing to have happen on the ice.
40:27
You got to be a little bit more in control of yourself even if you get tripped.
40:31
So we'll see what comes of it.
40:34
You know, the hockey world is pretty emotional about everything here.
40:41
I would agree.
40:42
Yeah.
40:43
And I'm sure USA Hockey is looking at whether neck protection is something they want to mandate across youth hockey.
40:51
And we'll see.
40:53
It's a conversation to have and we'll see what comes of it, I guess.
40:57
I seem to remember Eric Westrom trying to kick somebody once when he was on his back.
41:05
I don't know if there's anyone else in chat remembers that.
41:07
He was on his back.
41:08
He kind of put his legs up in the air, almost like lunged with one of his legs.
41:14
Late 90s.
41:17
I hope my memory is there, but I don't want to say I remember Eric Westrom doing something like that.
41:21
I'm like, what are you doing?
41:24
Who knows?
41:25
Yeah, the brain doesn't work when the wires get crossed sometimes.
41:28
So I don't think anyone's ever trying to cut somebody, but you know, the escape boots pretty hard.
41:34
All right.
41:36
Well, let's go to something more positive.
41:40
I saw somebody, Sue Slayer 14.
41:42
Bold prediction.
41:44
This will be the Gophers breakout weekend.
41:48
What do you think?
41:49
You think Sue Slayer is on to something, Vakes?
41:51
Or is it just going to be more of the same tough slog in to get that two to one win?
41:58
I unfortunately think we're a little bit in this tough slog part of the season as Bob tries to figure out his line combinations.
42:06
And we're going to be seeing a little bit different look on the power play this weekend, I believe.
42:11
Minnesota is trying to get some more movement on their power play, so they're not so stationary.
42:17
I was joking with Frank and Wally that when you drop out an umbrella power play where you've got the three up top and two underneath, that's how the Gophers look on the power play for almost all the two minutes.
42:29
They don't move very much.
42:32
Everyone's going to be where you expect them to be, and they're just in that mechanical phase right now.
42:37
So one way to get out of a mechanical phase is to do something almost completely different.
42:44
And so I hope we see something like that out of the Gophers this weekend, where they totally change up part of their approach.
42:51
And so we see just something different, because when you do something different, you're not going to be mechanical.
42:57
You're not going to be robotic.
42:58
You're going to be creative and trying something new, because you're not doing something you've always done, or the way you always think it has to be done.
43:06
You're going to be more dynamic out there.
43:11
All right, give me your prediction, points wise.
43:15
I think we probably get to see another overtime this weekend.
43:20
I think we see the Gophers win one of the games outright.
43:26
Probably going to see another shootout loss.
43:28
I think four points for Minnesota.
43:31
Tomorrow is shootout day for the Gophers.
43:33
I'm debating coming by practice so I can see who wins the shootout.
43:38
It seems like someone gets injured every time you go to practice.
43:41
That is true.
43:44
Gophers will likely be without one of their centers this weekend.
43:49
Were you there?
43:50
Were you there for that one?
43:51
I was there when it happened.
43:52
And the player immediately kind of crumpled.
43:55
He said get out of here.
44:00
Yeah.
44:01
So I think I've seen four injuries now at practice this year.
44:06
So if you catch the media availability from the Rink Live, you can see Bob just look at me and just go, what are we going to do?
44:13
And it's like, well, don't kick me out of practice, Bob.
44:16
I enjoy seeing what you do out here, but it's not my fault.
44:20
So you're thinking for four points, hopefully five.
44:25
I wouldn't mind seeing that.
44:27
I'm thinking split though.
44:29
Jeff Jackson just sees.
44:31
I still wait for this team to prove it to me.
44:34
And yeah, like I said, Sue Slayer, he wants to see him break out.
44:37
That would be great.
44:37
We'd all be for that.
44:41
A couple little housekeeping things.
44:45
If people are subscribed to the GPL schedule, you know, that calendar, you know, click being subscribed to so you get the game schedule.
44:55
You'll know when the next two series against Duluth is.
45:00
What weekends for the next two seasons.
45:04
So schedule, get on to the schedule if you're not there, or just look ahead and you'll see when they are the next two seasons.
45:13
I did some Freedom of Information Act requests.
45:16
Those dates and the contract with North Dakota is not official for that next series, but Minnesota Duluth is.
45:25
Yeah, actually, somebody actually sent me a text like, why is this something that says, where did you get this?
45:31
I'm like, so if you were, like I said, go to the schedule page, there's a little button there for Google and for Apple.
45:41
Subscribe to it.
45:42
You'll always have the schedule with you, because I use the same schedule.
45:46
You can go back a couple years, you'll see all the games in there.
45:50
And in full back, one thing I've done this year is with each of the games schedule, there's a URL.
45:56
If you click it, it brings you right to the GPL schedule page for that game, tells you the TV, the time, the location, all that stuff is there.
46:05
So it's nicely integrated.
46:07
So nice little surprise.
46:08
You'll know when those series are.
46:11
So that's all I got for you today.
46:17
You got anything else going, Veegs, here?
46:19
Anything else you want that's on your mind?
46:23
I do wonder how this team finishes the first half of the year.
46:30
I think this weekend is kind of a big component of that.
46:36
Because if you look at the schedule, Notre Dame, Michigan State, Penn State, Ohio State.
46:43
If you were to look at the Big Ten, I feel like this is the middle, the bottom of the league.
46:48
And if Minnesota is going to compete for a league title, they have to do very well the next four series.
46:57
I've already got a sweep for next week.
46:59
I've already got a sweep.
47:00
They've won 14 straight against Michigan State.
47:04
Let's keep it going.
47:05
Let's go, baby.
47:07
The Gophers have not been healthy this year.
47:10
And Bob went with kind of a limited roster.
47:13
You know, there aren't a lot of extra bodies to practice with.
47:17
So much so they brought a club team goalie officially onto the team this last week.
47:22
Friday afternoon.
47:23
Well, he's been he's been practicing with the team.
47:25
We did see him in Grand Forks.
47:27
He's been there for a while, but there's a lot of injuries that they're dealing with and they kind of a short roster.
47:33
You know, are we going to see Nick Michael come in the line up, the St.
47:37
John's transfer?
47:40
That could be a possibility here at some point.
47:42
If guys are getting sick like they've had going through the locker room, and now these injuries that are happening, you know, there's other guys that are battling through some injuries right now that aren't keeping them out of line up, but are taking up time and taking away from practice.
47:57
Yeah.
47:58
So it's a big stretch here, because once they get to Christmas, then they can get healthy, hopefully, for a second and a half.
48:04
But this is a big four weeks.
48:06
Quite a few signings recently, though.
48:08
Maybe he's trying to show that he wants to have a more, a thicker roster next year.
48:15
I think for next year, they definitely will have 15 forwards and 90.
48:18
Like after going through this year, you're Minnesota.
48:22
You can handle a couple extra players on your roster, and you're going to have to deal with guys maybe transferring if they don't crack the lineup.
48:31
And Minnesota, I think, will be able to handle that going forward.
48:35
They got caught off guard this year.
48:38
It happens.
48:41
It definitely happens.
48:43
I think that's it, Veegs.
48:44
I think we got everything covered for this week.
48:46
Big 250th episode next week.
48:48
Pat McAleady.
48:50
Early start time.
48:51
8.30.
48:53
Don't be late.
48:54
Steve, pay attention.
48:55
Sometimes he forgets.
48:57
Subscribe to that calendar thing, and maybe you'll get an alert when we're going live.
49:01
Or subscribe to our YouTube channel.
49:03
You'll get an alert half an hour before we go live.
49:07
Yeah.
49:09
Veegs knows it all.
49:10
He's taking over.
49:11
I'll just have him host the show here.
49:18
Well, that's going to do it for this episode of the GPL Podcast.
49:22
We'll be back next week with the 250th episode, like I just mentioned, with our guest, Pat McAleady.
49:27
I might try to get some other people on for overtime.
49:29
We'll have to wait and see.
49:31
But remember, like Veegs said, special time, 8:30 PM Wednesday night.
49:35
For those of you watching live, stay tuned for some overtime.
49:38
We're going to have a little bit.
49:39
I'm kind of tired.
49:40
Don't want to stay up too late.
49:41
But for the rest of you, we'll be back next week on The GPL Podcast.
Search Transcript
No matching lines.
