0:07
This is The GPL Podcast, part of the Pulltab Sports family.
0:16
Oh, boy.
0:18
You're making mistakes.
0:19
I love it.
0:20
And so I had to train for this marathon.
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Make sure you stay awake for the game tomorrow.
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Triple, hey, stomp the same ball.
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Let's go.
0:37
There we go.
0:40
So how was the flights in and out of Penn State last weekend?
1:05
Good evening, and welcome to The GPL Podcast, episode number 255.
1:12
And one of the first time, Veegs, I've been this remote for a podcast.
1:18
Yeah, we've done it with me in a Civic.
1:20
We've done it with me in DC.
1:22
We did one together in Tampa.
1:24
That was good.
1:25
And now we've got an air national show.
1:28
Yes, I am currently in the Dominican Republic, so you all can suck it.
1:32
It's hot and humid here.
1:35
It's going to warm up here eventually, but it is for the outdoor rinks.
1:38
Next week when I come back, it's going to be in the 30s.
1:40
I'm just perfectly fine with that.
1:43
So I'm definitely rubbing it in because this is the first time I've ever had a vacation.
1:48
It's actually lined up with bad weather in Minnesota.
1:50
So I'm all for it.
1:53
But first, we need to bring in a guest.
1:55
And we thought it was going to be a little sketchy with my connection here.
2:00
It's probably not the greatest video, but hopefully you all could hear me pretty well.
2:04
We didn't want to have Vegoe be solo in case we had issues.
2:07
So we scheduled Cappy.
2:09
And of course, we scheduled Cappy because it's Ohio State Week.
2:13
Let's bring him in.
2:14
Cappy, how's it going, man?
2:16
I mean, apparently it's not going as good as for you.
2:19
Oh, come on.
2:21
How many times have you been podcasting from Florida?
2:24
Not enough.
2:25
I mean, that never gets old.
2:30
No, I'm happy for you.
2:32
I'm surprised your tan is not good right now.
2:35
You're maybe hiding in the shade or what?
2:38
I hide the shade and use a lot of sunblock because otherwise I would be a lobster.
2:46
I'm like the whitest.
2:47
You can see the light tint.
2:49
Oh, yeah.
2:51
I wear a shirt, one of the swim shirts because otherwise I would just be so hot if I got burned.
2:58
So I just avoid it.
3:00
He doesn't have that Italian blood like you do, Cappy, where you instantly go bronze.
3:05
I only have Italian.
3:07
So I get red first and then it molds itself into a brown.
3:13
So the Italian comes in at the end.
3:15
Maybe tomorrow, our last full day, I'll get a good color, good burn.
3:23
You only live once, man.
3:25
I mean, my arms are...
3:26
No, it doesn't even show up on the camera.
3:28
I give up.
3:29
Yeah, there's no watch.
3:32
There kind of is, but it's hard to pick it up on this video.
3:35
It's not a good video.
3:36
So what do you do?
3:38
But Veegs, actually, let's talk some hockey here.
3:42
Robert Morris came in this past weekend.
3:44
Minnesota swept him.
3:45
I would say the fans were just probably disappointed the scores were so low.
3:51
I think everyone is expecting double Culver's from the weekend.
3:55
And they got nothing, no Culver's.
3:57
No Culver's.
3:58
It very easily could have been based on the amount of shots Minnesota put up over the weekend.
4:03
Robert Morris got great goaltending from each of their goaltenders against Minnesota.
4:08
You know, the Gophers put up nearly 30 shots in the first period on Friday.
4:13
There were moments of the weekend where it looked like Robert Morris might be dangerous on the counter attack, but the gopher goaltending played pretty well.
4:21
I thought the Gophers did well to limit the chances against.
4:24
As I told Bob after Saturday, it's like, how do you feel about a weekend where your D didn't touch the stove?
4:31
You didn't see them diving down below the goal line too often.
4:35
And so they played a pretty smart weekend and got what they needed out of it, which was two wins.
4:40
So it really helped them survive a pairwise scare.
4:45
Yes, definitely.
4:46
But tell me about Aerie.
4:48
What did Coach Matsuko say about Aerie's performance Friday night after his first regular season start?
4:56
I mean, they brought him to the Minnesota to play games.
5:00
And if he hadn't had his injury the entire first half, he obviously would have been playing part of the rotation with close.
5:08
I don't think they were going to do a straight rotation, but they brought him in to play games.
5:12
You know, he had played 2,000-minute seasons in the junior ranks two years in a row.
5:17
A lot of experience.
5:18
He's a big goaltender, and he looks very technically sound.
5:22
He moves well.
5:23
He's not out of position.
5:25
He's got good rebound control.
5:27
You know, the goals he gave up, you know, one of them was a weird tip that not many goalies are going to be able to react to.
5:34
And the other was a power play shot where he was screened late in the game.
5:38
So maybe a little bit conditioning came into that as well.
5:41
But I think Minnesota showed that they've got two goalies now.
5:44
That if something happens, they've got someone they can rely on.
5:48
And on the Ohio State side, who did they play this weekend, Cappy?
5:54
You don't know?
5:54
You're that detached.
5:56
Was it Notre Dame?
5:57
They split with Notre Dame, didn't they?
5:58
They finally got their first conference win.
6:01
They did.
6:02
Which actually put them over 500 for their record for a night.
6:09
So for a night.
6:12
I mean, that literally, they're what?
6:13
Their last place in the league, but they're nine and nine and four.
6:17
So they didn't lose a non-conference play all year.
6:19
They didn't have an overly tough schedule, but they went to Omaha and on the road and wanted to hide there.
6:26
That's their best non-conference wins.
6:29
But I think they're finally at full strength.
6:33
I still think they're probably right in the bottom two, three teams in the league, but they showed they can win.
6:42
They beat Notre Dame, so I think that's off their back or not thinking about that.
6:50
They got Joe Dunlap back, who was a 14-goal score last year.
6:53
He missed the whole first half.
6:54
I mean, they need every piece of offense they can get, because they just don't have the depth.
6:58
So they'll be, I think, a little tougher.
7:02
I mean, they played Minnesota really well, obviously, since one plus ago.
7:07
And so we'll see.
7:08
I mean, obviously, it's a much different story when you go into Mariucci.
7:12
And I think Minnesota, in my mind, I said this a couple of times now.
7:17
In my mind, for them, in the pair wise, the Big Ten standings, I don't know.
7:23
To me, it's all about the NCAA tournament.
7:26
For many teams, this is a must sweep for Minnesota, if you're looking at wanting to get a little comfortable.
7:33
Because if you don't, if you split, you're going to go down a little because it's a home split against a team, not too low, but I mean, they're in the 20s.
7:42
So this is a must sweep, or at least a win in a tie situation for Minnesota.
7:48
One thing you made sure to do this weekend over Friday and Saturday, is both Vegoe and I, about the women's team at Ohio State, just leveling the women's team at Minnesota.
8:02
I couldn't believe it when I saw the scores.
8:04
I mean, I know that they have a really good team, but to go into Ritter and do that, 13 to 1, has Minnesota ever had that happen to them?
8:13
Ever?
8:14
I doubt it.
8:16
I doubt it.
8:17
Maybe Wisconsin, maybe it would be the only team.
8:20
But not that many goals though.
8:21
No, plus 12.
8:24
No.
8:25
So I mean, I had it, sure.
8:26
I mean, you just don't see that.
8:30
I mean, I was as surprised as anyone, but that's pretty good stuff.
8:34
And after his final tweet on Saturday, I basically replied to him, not sober, don't care.
8:43
That was a great response.
8:44
That's what I would have said.
8:45
Yeah.
8:46
Oh, here we go.
8:48
Jupe's going to have to go tarps off here in a minute.
8:50
He keeps getting in the top.
8:52
I'm just sweating beads out here.
8:55
It's like 80 and the duplicated is 76.
8:59
I'm just sweating like a maniac here.
9:02
A fat guy's sweat.
9:04
That's just how it is.
9:07
So, Minnesota didn't hurt themselves, Veegs in the pairwise was just good.
9:14
Why didn't Wisconsin, did they lose a game this weekend?
9:19
They tied.
9:20
Tied, which feels like a loss.
9:22
Did they lose the overtime?
9:25
No.
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Or a shootout or anything like that, which is the tie.
9:27
They won the shootout, but it literally means nothing.
9:30
Yeah, it does.
9:30
In a conference game.
9:32
It didn't hurt them that way.
9:33
I think they might have dropped a five or something like that.
9:38
But that's a close one for the Badgers with how they've been playing.
9:42
Yeah, a loss probably would have been a bigger impact, but they've done enough work so far in the season that they've got enough of a cushion to help themselves.
9:51
They're in a much different situation than Minnesota, where Minnesota needed to come through with regulation against their opponents.
9:59
So the Badgers still are going to be tough in the second half.
10:04
The big test for them is now the expectations are going to be placed on Hastings and the Badgers to come through in the second half.
10:12
The first half, they're pretty much a surprise.
10:15
Go from seventh in the Big Ten to first is quite the turnaround, and we'll see what happens and how they handle it in the second half.
10:23
So, you're telling me something interesting before we started here, that a certain Robert Morris coach was looking for you this past weekend, wasn't he?
10:34
Yeah.
10:34
I gave a little chirp to Schooley in a show podcast, where he spilled the beans on Robert Morris scheduling the series to happen over World Junior.
10:45
But Minnesota made a request, can we bump it back a little bit?
10:49
I said, you know, when you're going to check for $49,500 from the University of Minnesota, you're probably willing to negotiate the dates of the series.
10:57
So they moved it so the Gophers could get their World Junior players back.
11:01
And after the game on Saturday, he came into the availability and stood up in front of the Minnesota banner and said, hey, is that guy who chirped me on Twitter here tonight?
11:11
Is he here?
11:12
Where is he?
11:13
I go, right here.
11:15
Oh, you're a big guy.
11:15
Never mind.
11:16
Yeah, I'm 6'2, and, you know, 275.
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So I'm like, I'm right here, Derek.
11:23
He's like, ah, it's all good fun.
11:25
You know, we're happy to be here.
11:27
He was pleased with the way his team played.
11:29
I think they made it difficult on Minnesota at times during the weekend.
11:32
They really packed it in in the slot, forced Minnesota to take shots from the perimeter.
11:38
The nice thing for Minnesota is that they did have pressure around the net.
11:43
That's something that Steve Miller especially reinforces in practice all the time.
11:47
You have to have a player in front of the net providing traffic.
11:50
You have to have a second player ready to pounce.
11:53
Minnesota did that.
11:54
Their first two goals on Friday were like that, and they did that again on Saturday.
11:59
Very nice.
12:00
Well, I know we want to get into a great article by our guy Schlossman.
12:06
But first, let's hear from our sponsors.
12:12
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12:16
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12:18
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12:22
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12:26
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12:30
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12:32
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12:38
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12:40
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12:41
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12:42
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12:45
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13:00
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13:06
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13:11
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13:14
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13:24
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14:03
Of course, we thank Ferda Fundraisers and Duke Cannon for sponsoring The GPL Podcast.
14:09
This is all Duke Cannon for me, Beegs.
14:11
All week, nothing but Duke Cannon here.
14:14
Tarpon, though.
14:15
Keep the tarp on for a little bit longer.
14:17
Yeah, gotta keep the tarp on.
14:18
I'm not taking that off here.
14:20
That would just be ugly.
14:24
So I missed kind of an article over the past couple days since I was down here.
14:28
You sent it over to me.
14:29
Mr.
14:30
Schlossman, the Grand Forge Herald Beegs, putting out some great stuff of what should be done with the NCAA regionals.
14:38
Tell us about it.
14:39
Well, I think Schlossman hit it note for note on the arguments for moving to on-campus sites for the NCAA tournament.
14:47
And he proposed, you know, those first two round games, campus sites at the high seed is what you should do.
14:53
You know, it's what they do in a lot of other tournaments for the NCAA.
14:57
And it makes so much sense.
14:59
And he got quotes from David Carl from DU supporting it.
15:03
He had Butchagross chiming in in the article.
15:07
Then on Twitter, he was saying it's time.
15:10
Mike Cross from Penn State, you know, talking about the revenue that you could generate by moving to campus sites.
15:16
And it's not just small money either.
15:17
It's like a two million dollar difference to go from these regionals, where even best case, you're getting 70 to 80 percent of the fans in the building.
15:28
And you're just hoping that the host team or a team in the area makes the tournament to even make that possible.
15:34
So if you move to these campus sites, it's just going to be a better atmosphere, better for the student athletes, better revenue, and probably fair for the teams that make the tournament.
15:44
If you get a top eight seed, you get a home game, you've earned it.
15:48
And it was interesting, he looked back at some of the historical data, there's a lot of teams that would have had home games over the last decade that you wouldn't expect.
15:57
And it would just be fun for College Hockey to see that atmosphere because when you have those empty regionals, it doesn't make for good TV and it doesn't make for a good experience.
16:05
No, it definitely doesn't.
16:07
Cappy, I'm guessing you may have paid in a regional or two like that, but in your day, it still kind of was some home campus sites.
16:17
Well, it was, and I think that's one of the big change because of Michigan or it was a big reason.
16:24
But that was a predetermined, you know, it was, it was, it was just the same except for they made Ann Arbor one of the regionals.
16:33
You know, it was the same kind of scenario.
16:35
They literally put the regional in a home rink in Ann Arbor twice.
16:39
I think in my four years, Michigan or my four years right around them, they hosted it as the four seed.
16:46
And they beat the number one seed both times in a packed Yoast Ice Arena.
16:51
And I think that it was Colorado College once and maybe Denver the other time.
16:56
And that had a big uproar.
16:58
And that had something to do with what?
17:03
Staying away from anything like that.
17:05
This is clearly a different idea.
17:07
And I actually like it because in my mind, at first, when I was thinking about this, I thought they were talking about the four number one seeds would get the home, you know, and then they host the regional.
17:19
And I didn't mind it, but like they said, if the number one seed gets knocked out, that regional final could look ugly in terms of attendance.
17:30
So I do like this scenario where there's going to be a home ice for every game.
17:36
The home team is going to have what you would think a full barn or most places in the country.
17:42
Late March, no one's on spring break anymore, which that's not really a concern, I don't think.
17:49
So I did like everything.
17:50
And then when you get David Karl, who's now, you know, a top five successful coach, and even he said, like, I mean, they've won and they haven't had, you know, they've had to do it this way.
18:04
They weren't getting home ice.
18:05
So he's not complaining.
18:07
Like, he's had, you know, everything go his way to get to where their success is.
18:13
He's all for this.
18:16
And, you know, Butcher Gross is big because, like, he knows some of those small rinks out east.
18:22
You know, are they TV friendly or not?
18:24
If they've done some stuff there, then if they can be done, then I don't think it's, you know, a problem.
18:29
You can make things work nowadays with technology and with cameras and whatnot.
18:33
You know, I think I remember one of those Michigan Regionals.
18:36
It was sort of back then before they expanded to 16 teams.
18:41
It was a super regional.
18:42
So Minnesota came out of Michigan in 2002 and Michigan came out of there.
18:48
So I believe Minnesota and Michigan had the bye games.
18:55
And then two other teams, you know, played each other to play Minnesota, two other teams to play Michigan.
19:01
And then Minnesota and Michigan met in the Frozen Four in St.
19:05
Paul that year.
19:05
So that was, that I believe the next year they might have gone to 16.
19:10
Yeah, the 16 happened during my years.
19:14
So I made, we made the tournament 03 and 04, my last two years.
19:18
And those were 16.
19:20
I think my 01, 02, maybe the first year or this or might have been 03, my first, our first tournament might have been 16.
19:28
But yeah, I think this is, I think now there's like a really good template out there for the coaches to look at now and have people study it.
19:38
And then literally, look, no offense, I would take more than a fricking vacation in Naples in April and get this done.
19:49
Well, Bonner has kind of a question here.
19:51
How would that work with travel between games one and two of EIGS?
19:57
Well, they'd be a week apart.
19:58
So you'd probably have your Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday games spread out for TV.
20:04
And then you'd have a more condensed Friday, Saturday, week two, where you're just having basically your regional finals the next week.
20:12
And then the week after that, you'd have your frozen four.
20:16
So right now, you know, they take that week off.
20:18
Now you just have three weeks in a row to get ready for the National Championship.
20:22
And I think it'd be great.
20:23
Like right now, you'd have Minnesota going to Maine.
20:26
You'd have UMass going to play Quinnipiac.
20:29
You'd have St.
20:30
Cloud going to Wisconsin.
20:31
I mean, these would be great first round matchups with packed houses.
20:36
But would they even need to?
20:38
I mean, the season is still spread out.
20:41
Wouldn't they take out some of that break time or something and just, you know, maybe move up their tournaments there?
20:49
We know that Big Ten could use to move up the tournament and condense it a little more.
20:53
You would think that they could maybe condense it and just still keep a two-week break.
20:59
I'm for that.
21:00
I mean, I'm for condensing the Christmas break.
21:03
Like, it's ridiculous how long.
21:05
Like, you could easily play another week.
21:08
You know, at the beginning, the ninth, the ninth, yes, and is the last weekend.
21:12
Why not play the 16th, 17th?
21:15
You know, school might be out, but most places, like student wise, it's fine.
21:20
Like finals are over, they're in finals.
21:22
But every other, you know, everyone, every other sport doesn't stop for a month.
21:27
Like, it's just it's, you know, when I played, you had a tournament.
21:32
We had about two weeks off, maybe two and a half.
21:34
You got to go home for seven, eight days.
21:36
You came home and you played a tournament right after.
21:39
Way the schedule is so spread out now for a lot of teams.
21:41
And I get it for world junior reasons.
21:44
I know Minnesota and with Michigan specifically do that.
21:49
You know, had an interesting talk with Adam Nightingale about that.
21:52
And I'll tell you that answer in a second.
21:54
But I just think it's just it shouldn't, you don't need to condense.
22:00
You could easily condense the season a little bit.
22:03
I guess the long answer I gave on that.
22:05
But Adam Nightingale, so talk to him last week before our game and asked him about that now that he's going to have players going to world juniors.
22:13
And he said, you know what?
22:15
We're going to rely on our depth.
22:16
We're not going to schedule.
22:17
We're going to where they've signed a contract to play in the GLI for four more years, no matter what.
22:23
So he did not bat an eye at that.
22:25
He's going to have his team, whoever he played, the way it's played.
22:30
So I thought that was interesting.
22:32
So Veegs, how are you going to get those small schools to get on board with this?
22:38
Because honestly, it would be better for the game.
22:43
It'd be better for showcasing the game when you're having the playoffs with full arenas.
22:48
That's one of the topics that Schloss was talking about.
22:51
But how do you get these other schools on board?
22:54
Because they have just been such blockers on this.
22:59
Well, I think first off, you have to get a strong voting block of NCHC, BigTen coaches, get some CCHA coaches on board, that this is how it's going to work in Hockey East as well.
23:12
But I think some of those Hockey East teams, some of them think we've got enough nice venues out east where it doesn't impact us.
23:18
And it's an advantage for us to have three regionals out east.
23:23
So I think there's that selfishness of some of those coaches that's going to come into play.
23:28
So I think you really need the west to unite and really get everybody on board and get as many other schools on board as you can, because it's just hypocrisy from those eastern coaches.
23:38
You look at how they run their conference tournaments now.
23:41
Most of them are using campus sites all the way through from first round to championship.
23:46
If they're doing it for that, why can't they do it for the NCAAs?
23:50
Get them to understand the revenues are going to go up.
23:53
You know, at least one or two million dollars more going to NCAA in a profit-making tournament if they do this right.
24:00
And it's going to be better for the players.
24:02
And if you look at history, those Eastern teams are going to get home games, especially right now.
24:08
I look at the top eight, BU, BC, Quinnipiac, Maine, all getting home games.
24:13
Providence right on the bubble.
24:16
That's pretty good for them.
24:17
And they just have to see that it's going to be an advantage for them just as much as anyone else.
24:23
And some of it's just about fairness too.
24:25
I mean, we've seen how many times, like Mankato from a few years ago, having to go to a Providence regional, where Providence was the fourth seed.
24:34
They got penalized for being the number one overall seed.
24:38
Yeah.
24:38
There's a lot of teams that don't get what they deserve.
24:41
But the fair is where you go to buy a pig in the fall.
24:44
Doesn't apply to college hockey.
24:47
Now, the one maybe hiccup, I think I messaged you guys on this, is are we trying to avoid the conference versus conference match-up?
24:59
Because before, I think, there was a game Tuesday that moved the bracket, but North Dakota was six and Western Michigan was 11, and they would be playing in that first round.
25:09
Are you looking to do that, tweaking a little, or one year might line up where you could have two or three NCHE's playing two, three, two BigTens, or Hockey, he says six teams possibly this year, or five.
25:24
I'm just saying down the road, that's one maybe thing you got to have some rule or adjustment process.
25:32
I don't know.
25:33
I say, let's let it roll.
25:35
Let's have some excitement.
25:38
That's one of the things they want to do.
25:39
I mean, could you imagine North Dakota having to go into Western or something like that first game?
25:46
I think every time I've heard then CAA, D1 Hockey Committee, people talk about swapping teams around.
25:53
They're comfortable with it because the margins between like 12 and 13 are so small.
25:58
Just looking right now, we're seeing St.
25:59
Cloud in New Hampshire.
26:01
It's five, six, two, five, and five, six, two, three.
26:04
That is a very minuscule difference between those two in the rankings.
26:09
I think the coaches are like, we like the pair wise because it determines who gets into the tournament.
26:14
It's cutting dry.
26:15
You know going in the end of the year what you need to do.
26:18
But there is probably some wiggle room to move seeds around to keep the conferences apart.
26:26
Yeah, the top eight are going to be at home.
26:27
You earn that home.
26:29
It's the other eight that probably get swapped around a little bit.
26:33
Our guy Gator, how many campuses would have arena issues keeping the arenas available?
26:38
With the possibility of a weekend one or weekend two game?
26:44
They do it for women's hockey.
26:48
There's a bunch of D3 hockey schools that figure it out.
26:52
Is Wisconsin one of the problem places because of them?
26:56
The basketball tournament, there's something like that around playoff time, isn't it?
27:01
What are they going to prioritize?
27:03
They finally got a hockey coach there who's winning so maybe they'll prioritize hockey.
27:08
Yeah, but a lot of times, you know, it's already predetermined.
27:12
I don't know, just something to think about.
27:14
Well, like Vegas is talking about, if you're going to have eight games that one weekend, you probably have three days.
27:20
You maybe not want to have Sunday or maybe you're thinking Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
27:25
You have those three days to kind of OK, Wisconsin, the Cole Center has got something on Thursday.
27:30
So Wisconsin has got to be on Friday or Saturday or vice versa.
27:34
Ohio State with, you know, the Schottenstein Center's availability, you know, whatever, whatever the case is, I just know those places are bigger and they'll have maybe have concerts or whatever going on there.
27:46
You have if you have those three days, you can kind of, you know, massage it hopefully.
27:52
It's not all three days it's taken up or whatever case.
27:55
I think there's some room there for that.
27:57
But also too, you know, if they decide kind of now, you know, Wisconsin and the Cole Center would have two years to kind of prepare and kind of maybe block off some of this stuff.
28:11
I can see it last second, you know, like, oh, we're going to do it this year.
28:14
Yeah, wouldn't work this year, but they do have a couple of years.
28:17
The key is the vote this year, though, right?
28:19
Because this is when they start doing the next four-year block.
28:22
Yes.
28:23
Two years, I think, for the region.
28:24
I thought I read two years.
28:25
I believe it's two.
28:26
Frozen Four, I think, is a four-year block, and that might be a year out.
28:30
But I think that's the key, is this would start 25, 26, 26, 27.
28:36
26, 27, I think.
28:37
26, 27.
28:38
So you have two more years after this of what we already have.
28:42
Well, here's the deal.
28:43
I think it's on the coaches to keep this topic relevant.
28:47
Keep talking about it.
28:49
Don't let it go by the wayside.
28:50
Also, we got a boat coming up, and I kind of forgot about it or whatever.
28:55
So bigs, they need to keep it going.
28:59
Well, I think every coach on the East Coast should have to respond to this on record about their perspective, especially if they're going to vote against it.
29:06
People should be asking those coaches what they think, just so we get a counter argument.
29:11
Because Brad has laid it out pretty well.
29:14
And if you're going to go against it, I want point by point responses to each one.
29:19
Because I just don't see how it makes sense to continue doing what we're doing.
29:24
And even when it works well, it doesn't actually work that great.
29:28
Well, you know, we need to happen this year is to have like three hockey East or three East teams get number one seeds.
29:35
And at least one of them is going to get sent to the Sioux Falls or St.
29:40
Louis that the region is St.
29:42
Louis here.
29:43
And I'm pretty sure that team would probably vote the other direction come April of that.
29:48
And if they're going to get knocked out, they're playing in front of 800 people in St.
29:55
Louis.
29:56
Right.
29:56
Again, Maine has to go to St.
29:58
Louis for some weird reason.
30:00
And they're playing North Dakota, North Dakota travels and they'll have two or three thousand, four thousand people will come down to that and they'll get knocked out in the first round or whatever.
30:08
You know, maybe Maine's an interesting one because they're kind of just back in the party, you know, a little bit.
30:14
Even BU and BC have.
30:16
BU has been good a couple of years now.
30:17
BC struggled recently, too.
30:20
So it'd be interesting to see if they get kind of the quote unquote shaft and get sent west as a number one seed.
30:28
Maybe that would sway their, you know, mind.
30:31
I mean, I'm thinking there's a pretty good chance you could have like a Michigan or St.
30:35
Cloud or Minnesota be a three or four seed out west.
30:40
And a top East team is going to have a tough road.
30:44
Absolutely.
30:45
I mean, I don't know.
30:47
I haven't seen this boat.
30:48
I haven't known what the actual how far apart it is and whatnot.
30:54
I don't think anyone's seen.
30:55
I think a lot of people thought like me about how it would be four regions with a one with a one seed at the one seeds.
31:03
Not I don't know if it's been seen by the coaches proposed.
31:07
Has it been that much where they do the single game and then another single game weekend?
31:13
Has that been proposed before to those coaches?
31:17
I don't know if it's happened recently, but I think Schlossman's done a lot of work on this to find a proposal that would get the most traction.
31:26
That doesn't mean I think this is a new version.
31:29
Yeah, because he's highlighted that it wouldn't just work for the top four seeds to host four teams, because if the host team loses in the first round, that championship or the regional final is not a great venue either.
31:40
Right.
31:41
All the times we've talked about it, that's the way he did it.
31:44
That had not been what I've ever heard or have I thought of to discuss.
31:50
When you stop and think about it, you're like, okay, this could work.
31:57
That's one.
31:58
It seems like we're all on board with that.
32:00
Yeah.
32:01
We need the college hockey media types.
32:03
You writers out there, ask your coaches, talk about it.
32:10
I think it'll be big, obviously, come March, when regionals are coming around and then the seeds happen.
32:16
I think if I'm Schlossman, I'm reposting that and I'm sure Butcher-Grasse will now, too.
32:26
He loves college hockey, promotes it like nobody else and he has the biggest platform of anybody.
32:31
Correct.
32:33
Yeah, we'll see.
32:34
But I think that's when it will change the biggest traction.
32:37
Then that boat, that's two weeks later, three weeks later, they're in Naples the week after the frozen four, I believe, or two weeks after.
32:47
All right.
32:47
We're going to put you on hold here for a second, Cappy, as we start to talk about our guys at Chill Boys Veegs.
32:56
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33:01
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33:31
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33:36
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33:38
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33:41
Cub Foods, it's one of your local companies that supports local sports.
33:45
You know, they're on PJ Flex headset.
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33:49
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33:55
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34:00
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34:04
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34:08
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34:10
Yeah, I love those little cinnamon donuts they have.
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34:19
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So we thank Cub being a sponsor of The GPL Podcast.
34:25
All right, let's bring Cappy in.
34:27
We've got Ohio State coming to town this weekend, Veegs.
34:36
Ohio State is playing better.
34:37
They played Minnesota pretty damn well.
34:41
Not very long ago and in the last week of December there.
34:46
Yeah, I think Ohio State is a dangerous team.
34:48
You know, the fact that they just got their first Big Ten win last weekend against the tough Notre Dame team means that they might be finding their game a little bit more.
34:58
You know, Stephen Halliday is a great player for them.
35:01
I got to imagine Steve Miller was recruiting him out of Dubuque when he was a, you know, point and a half game scorer there.
35:07
You know, he's a dangerous player for them.
35:09
And so it's something that Minnesota has to be careful with defending him.
35:14
You know, you want to make sure you know who's on the ice against you.
35:18
Sometimes I think Minnesota forgets that part of the game management is, you know, when you're out there against the third or fourth line, you can maybe get away with more than you can when Stephen Halliday is on the ice.
35:29
He's a big 6-3-6-4 player who is pretty deceptive and good around the net.
35:34
So I'll be interested to see how Minnesota plays against him.
35:38
Cappy, what are your initial thoughts?
35:41
You know, it's, man, you talk about Halliday.
35:46
He's a good player.
35:47
Man, I'll tell you, the guy that's really helped him offensively is a defenseman.
35:51
Scooter Brick, he's got nine goals.
35:53
I mean, that's pretty good stuff.
35:56
You have the game winner against Notre Dame.
36:00
You know, they're just, like I said, they got Caden Brown back.
36:04
He's a solid offensive player and Joe Dunlap.
36:07
They have a little more depth up front.
36:10
But, you know, they got to play hard, they got to play smart.
36:14
They can't, they got to play with the lead.
36:16
If Minnesota gets a couple goals on them, they're not going to chase the game very well.
36:24
You know, they haven't changed.
36:25
They're going to play hard.
36:26
They, like I said, they, what, took two points?
36:30
Or one point, was it one point?
36:31
Was it a win, a tight win against Minnesota and then a tie?
36:37
Last.
36:38
With the shootout point going up.
36:40
Yeah.
36:41
Shootout point that Ohio State got.
36:42
I mean, you could argue there are long stretches in that series where Ohio State was the better team, or at least we're outplaying them.
36:50
Yes.
36:51
Just by being a little, having a little more energy and just being hard on pucks.
36:55
They got to play that.
36:56
They're not a high skill team.
36:57
They got to make things hard on Minnesota.
37:00
You know, maybe it's last weekend was a good tester for Minnesota, having Robert Morris.
37:06
And like you said, how they caved in and front made Minnesota shoot from a side.
37:11
I think the Ohio State Buckeyes are going to have to do the same thing.
37:15
You know, their goaltending, we'll see.
37:17
They've kind of gone a little bit with the freshman now.
37:20
He got that second game against Minnesota, and I thought he played pretty well.
37:24
He struggled last week.
37:25
I don't know if the goals were really his fault, a couple of tips in front and what not, but Turner's played really well in the win on Friday night.
37:32
I think they are trying to do the every other game thing.
37:36
But the Buckeyes got a shot.
37:38
Minnesota, I think it's on Minnesota.
37:41
Minnesota's got to carry the play.
37:42
I mean, they have to realize that they're in a do or die situation, but they're at a, we're getting to the home stretch.
37:50
There's about 12 games left.
37:52
You got six, you know, six weekends with an off weekend.
37:56
And I think if, you know, Minnesota's going to have to play with some major intensity to make, to come out of there with six points.
38:05
I guess one good thing that I did see this weekend, Veegs, is that Mason Nevers finally got a goal.
38:17
He did.
38:17
And Bryce Brodzinski found Nevers in a perfect spot.
38:22
Nevers had plenty of time to pick his corner and he took advantage of it.
38:26
And you could just see the relief on his face and the excitement of Brodzinski and all his teammates that he finally got a goal.
38:32
And, you know, we were asking Nevers after the game, you know, what it has been like for him this year.
38:38
He got injured in the Bemidji State with a kind of a reckless hit in a game that didn't mean anything by Bemidji State player who was looking for a head to hunt.
38:49
And it was just a nasty play.
38:52
And that really set Nevers back.
38:54
And he talked about how, you know, his head is finally clear, which for a guy who went through a concussion, there's a pretty significant telling quote.
39:03
You know, he has not been himself the first half and he felt like he was behind the eight ball with his conditioning just because he couldn't push himself the way he wanted to recovering from that injury.
39:13
And he was just behind the eight ball.
39:14
And having that winter break, as much as we probably want the college hockey season to keep going and not take such time off, it was good for Nevers to reset.
39:24
And he said he's gone from practice conditioning to game conditioning to now close game conditioning, and he feels like he's back.
39:31
And for his line to work, Nevers has to be back.
39:34
Yes, that's kind of what I was getting at here, Biggs, because they need them.
39:40
They need that line big time.
39:42
And, you know, the occasional, you know, goal by Brudzinski or whatever, they need Nevers to perform to go anywhere this season.
39:53
Because Brudzinski has been able to get some points, but they haven't driven play like they did last year.
39:59
And that's really what they need is need another line that can really move the chains, as Bob will sometimes say, get that ground game going.
40:07
If Nevers is truly back and he has a good weekend against Ohio State, that gives this team a lot more confidence to play in close games.
40:15
Yeah, I was just getting yelled at by the wedding couple a couple stories down here.
40:18
They saw me up here podcasting.
40:20
So what are you doing working up there?
40:24
I yeah, I mean, that's as veteran line as you can get, right?
40:27
You have two fifth year guys and a fourth year senior.
40:29
And, you know, seeing Nevers in person that weekend in Penn State, he did have one really good chance to hit the post.
40:37
Kind of the same size scenario as he scored on this time.
40:41
But I was just watching him.
40:42
I'm like, he doesn't look like a guy.
40:46
He's able to he doesn't look right.
40:48
Or you know what I mean?
40:49
Like he's able to play.
40:50
He's just not looking like he can do everything he wants to do.
40:56
And they need him to do that.
40:57
They I mean, if that line can get going in the second half, I mean, you know, the way Snugger started the second half, you've got two lines there and then you hope like the, you know, Hugelin can get going a little more too.
41:09
But man, Nevers gets going and that, you know, kind of energizes that line.
41:17
Man, that makes the Gophers a way different offensive team.
41:25
What else is on your mind, Biggs?
41:27
I mean, I want to go to predictions here.
41:31
But for me, I'm just, you got to prove it to me.
41:37
They still haven't.
41:37
So for me, I'm thinking split right away here because they still haven't shown us that they can win two games against, you know, not Robert Morris yet.
41:50
Yeah, I think this team is showing some signs.
41:53
Especially, I like the way Rinzel and Chesley have come back from the World Junior.
41:58
I feel like they're making better decisions.
42:01
You know, I joked about earlier about not touching the Stovall weekend.
42:04
Rinzel still is generating offense.
42:06
You know, he, I think he had seven assists in the last four games.
42:11
And he did that without being reckless.
42:13
You know, I think we saw in the first half, a lot of times he would take the puck into the zone and then be like, oh, I'm going to get pressure here and I'm not sure what to do with it.
42:23
As we've seen the last couple of weeks, he's able to get in the rush and not put himself in bad situations and take care of the puck.
42:30
And I think for Minnesota to take the next step, they have to be good about puck possession plays, putting pucks into areas where they can get it back and support each other.
42:41
So I thought they did that really well against Robert Morris.
42:43
Now they had a ton of space because Robert Morris really packed it in and didn't pressure him on the outside.
42:48
But I think you might see a similar look with Ohio State just with higher end players.
42:55
I think with Rinzel, I think the first half he was trying to figure out what he could get away with, what he couldn't get away with by trial and error to an extent.
43:04
Because he's got the talent, he skates 6'4, he can skate.
43:08
Like I just watched him, like, man, I'm very jealous of how easy he makes it look, kind of gliding up the ice, so, you know, without taking many strides.
43:17
So you see it so many times, those guys come back from World Juniors, and it's like, they're veterans, you know.
43:26
Even, you know, Oliver Moore has had a nice start to the second half.
43:30
Him, I think it's more when he gets, he needs to gain some strength, he needs an off season, like in the weight room, and put on 5 to 7 pounds of muscle.
43:41
You know, you don't want to do it all in one summer, but gradually, because he does a lot of smart things out there with his stick, or makes little plays, but he's not able to win all those battles.
43:52
You know, he wins the speed battle, but he's not winning like the physical battles that you're like, man, he's close, but he's not quite there, because he just gets outmuscled as a young guy still.
44:04
But I just, if those guys do have better second halves, couple with Nevers, you know, the defense, that's where the biggest difference for Minnesota in the second half, if that defense plays well, that's where they could go on like a four or five game winning streak.
44:20
So I'm still going to predict a split.
44:23
Cappy, what are you predicting?
44:27
I'm going to predict a win and a tie.
44:34
Minnesota win and who knows, wins this over.
44:39
Well, they'll go to overtime.
44:40
Shoot, I'm going to take Minnesota to overtime in the second game.
44:43
That's what I'm doing.
44:44
So two wins for Minnesota, but that doesn't equal a full win, right?
44:48
Okay, so that's basically five points to one.
44:50
57%, right.
44:51
So five points.
44:53
Okay, well, we'll switch a little bit.
44:55
How many points?
44:56
They get more pairwise points for an overtime win as opposed to a shootout.
45:01
You don't want to go to a shootout, remember.
45:03
Minnesota does not want to go to a shootout because they're not going to win it.
45:06
Because there's a thing.
45:07
Or score a goal, right?
45:10
Yeah, there is that.
45:13
Okay, V, how many points then?
45:17
I'm predicting six.
45:19
Oh, it's the reverse.
45:20
The guys are flipping.
45:23
I just feel like this team had a good warm up with CC and Robert Morris coming into the series.
45:30
I'm seeing a lot of positive signs with them.
45:33
The one thing I'm worried about right now is their power play hasn't looked as dynamic as it could be.
45:39
When you've got a player like Jimmy Snuggerud on one of your units and you've got a talent like Sam Renzell quarterbacking, there should be more danger and chaos out of that unit.
45:50
I think they're still trying to find that chemistry and figure out how to move the puck fast and create those chances.
45:57
Maybe because they're so focused on getting the puck to Snuggerud on the power play.
46:01
But I think they got to change things up.
46:03
Like when they moved Pitlick and Snuggerud down to the goal line and they did that spread power play, I thought that was a great kind of change up for them.
46:12
I think that's something they need to kind of integrate into their philosophy for a weekend, is to throw that out there every once in a while.
46:20
I don't know if they will, but I think it's something to take a penalty kill and get them off base and maybe get their power play going a little bit so they're just not so robotic.
46:29
But I really like the play of everybody.
46:31
Oliver Moore, he's developing a little bit like Rhett Pitlick did.
46:36
He came in with just lots of speed and trying to beat people one on one.
46:40
He's developing a little bit more possession to his game.
46:43
I think that bodes well for Minnesota in the second half.
46:47
With Jimmy Snuggard, I think you should move him.
46:50
He should be all over the ice in the power play.
46:52
He should not be sitting on that top of the circle, on the OV spot.
46:57
I like him down low.
46:58
I like him in the bumper.
46:59
Get him in the high bumper spot.
47:01
Because what that's do, every team is going to be like, where is he?
47:06
And it's like, send the direction this way.
47:09
And then, oh, wait, Pitlicks open on the weak side because everyone's, oh, wait, Snuggard's in the middle?
47:15
You know, we don't know how to, you know.
47:17
So with that power play thing, I think you move him around and you make him dangerous from everywhere.
47:23
Make teams adapt to them.
47:25
That, I mean, like, I haven't, like, you know, you saw, you were still around for the CC game, right?
47:31
Jupe, you saw those goals.
47:33
Like, what are we talking?
47:35
I mean, those are NHL, I mean, you know, he's an NHL player, but like those were just get, get him the puck in different areas is my, what I would be if I was coaching a power play for him because he could score from anywhere.
47:48
And it's crazy so quickly.
47:50
Moscow is talking about comparing Snuggers shot to someone in the NHL.
47:54
He's like, no one.
47:57
He's like Mike Bossie.
47:58
He's like, we got to go back and find somebody from history to compare to how good Snuggers is catching and shooting.
48:05
Is his release is just so quick.
48:07
And that's awesome.
48:10
Yeah, he's just found it right now too.
48:11
He's just, he's got that corner picked at any corner really.
48:15
So that that obviously will be a big determinant of the sea on the weekend, too.
48:20
And if he goes off for three or four goals, sayonara, that's six points, most likely going to the Gophers.
48:27
So not to put a ton of pressure on him or anything.
48:31
You know, but I could see him.
48:33
I can see him hitting 30 this year.
48:36
If he got, you know, like you don't see guys when he did the five, those five goals.
48:41
There was not one that was like, oh, you know, oh, you know, a backdoor.
48:44
Or tap in or a puck off the shin guard.
48:48
I mean, they were all ridiculously great shots.
48:52
You know, there's a difference.
48:53
You're even messaging us about that.
48:55
You're like, what the hell is going on here?
48:57
I mean, because you just don't see a guy no five like that in a weekend.
49:01
You usually get a goal or two.
49:03
That's garbage goal.
49:05
Yeah, any but yes, you usually don't score five like that.
49:09
And then Burko is a pretty good goalie for CC as well.
49:13
It's not like he was picking on Megan Stonehill.
49:16
Maybe Pearson and him are the top two goalies in that conference.
49:20
So, yeah, yeah.
49:24
If he stays hot, look out.
49:27
Let's hope so.
49:28
Cappy, when are you going to be on the hat next?
49:33
The hat next?
49:34
When are you going to be on the Big Ten Network?
49:38
The next couple of weeks, if anything, I'll just be on the Big Ten Today show.
49:43
Okay.
49:43
Did it yesterday.
49:45
Next week, I don't know.
49:46
The following week, I will.
49:48
Natalie, I have my last call of the year will be Ohio State in Michigan.
49:54
It's a Saturday, I believe.
49:56
So the next three weeks, I think there's one game on BTN on a Saturday.
50:01
Your game this Saturday.
50:03
And I believe you guys playing Michigan State the following weekend.
50:08
Am I right?
50:09
Yep.
50:10
And then next, the February 3rd, I'll be there in Columbus for Michigan.
50:15
And then the rest of the year will be studio.
50:17
And I think there's quite a few, because there's doubleheaders almost every weekend of February.
50:21
And that last weekend of March, that are the first, first and second, I think is the last weekend of games.
50:29
I think we have a Friday doubleheader.
50:31
So one more game and then mostly studio.
50:35
But I did, well, I got a meeting with the new guy in charge of ESPN tomorrow, but he already asked me to commit to doing another regional.
50:45
So I'll be doing that.
50:48
Might try to persuade him to see if I can eke my way on to frozen four coverage.
50:53
But, you know, we'll take it one step at a time here.
50:57
But yeah, that's exciting to get to do that for a third year in a row.
51:01
I'm pumped for that, but yeah, I love this is the best.
51:04
It's the worst time outside, but it's the best time inside for hockey as we get closer to the playoffs.
51:10
It definitely is.
51:12
Vijay, you working on anything?
51:14
I've got a few things in the hopper.
51:16
I might keep them a little under wraps, a little bit of suspense.
51:18
Oh, I like that.
51:19
But if someone in the chat is looking for tickets, you know, voice your opinion.
51:25
I've got two for Friday to give away tonight.
51:28
We'll do that sometime during our OT.
51:31
If we can't find a sufficient person there, maybe we'll get somebody tweeting at us using the GPL Podcast tag.
51:38
Is it live chat and OT gets first shot?
51:39
Is it cozy 7 o'clock start on Friday night?
51:42
Is it a cozy 7 o'clock start?
51:44
Yep, I believe so.
51:45
Okay.
51:46
It should be a good weekend of hockey.
51:48
Saturday's game is a little earlier, right?
51:50
Same at 7.
51:52
Okay.
51:52
I think.
51:54
I might be able to watch Friday.
51:55
Saturday, my plan lanes at like 8, so.
52:00
Okay.
52:01
So you're there until Saturday.
52:04
I hate you.
52:09
Says the guy where we see palm trees in his background when he's on the BigTen network.
52:15
As he sips his wine too and.
52:18
Yeah.
52:18
Barbie brought me my wine while I was, well, after they yelled at me, she came back up and gave me a glass of wine.
52:24
Hey, life is good.
52:25
Cheers to that.
52:26
Yes, it is.
52:28
Well, thanks for coming out with us again, Cappy.
52:31
You got it, man.
52:32
It's always great.
52:33
You can maybe persuade me during the playoffs, but we'll see.
52:36
Maybe.
52:37
We'll see.
52:38
Well, we'll pay you.
52:41
We'll double your salary.
52:43
Send me somewhere warm.
52:49
All right.
52:49
Well, that is going to do it for this week's GPL Podcast.
52:53
We'll be back next week to recap the Ohio State Series and Preview, heading to Monterino and Michigan State.
53:02
That would be a big one as well.
53:03
Of course, we got to thank Cappy for coming on the podcast again.
53:07
For those of you watching live, stay tuned for a little overtime.
53:12
For the rest of you, we'll catch you next week on The GPL Podcast.
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