0:07 This is The GPL Podcast, part of the Pulltab Sports family. 0:18 So, right away, my confidence is doing really, really, really well before that. 0:26 And then Don goes, Can anybody on the ice take a penalty shot? 0:30 And the referee goes, No, it has to be Ramsey. 0:32 And I'm like, Okay, there's shot two to the confidence. 0:34 That's great. 0:41 You know, I think there is some shenanigans happening in the goalie community. 0:45 Are you gonna speak on that? 0:46 In the goalie community. 0:57 Jupiter and Vegoe. 1:05 Good evening, and welcome to The GPL Podcast, episode number 258, Veegs. 1:13 Good evening, how are you tonight? 1:16 Doing awesome. 1:17 This is a great part of the year. 1:18 Things are starting to ramp up. 1:20 People are paying attention to the pairwise. 1:23 They're looking at conference standings, where teams might be going for conference tournament play. 1:28 Podcast has been a little crazy this week. 1:32 Yeah, there's been a lot of news this week for people to talk about. 1:35 So I'm glad to see that the NCAA regionals discussion is going on still. 1:40 And I'm glad to see that we're starting to find out what is goalie interference. 1:45 No, I don't think we've actually figured that out yet. 1:48 But we'll see. 1:49 Maybe we can get some help tonight on this controversy. 1:53 Well, we might be able to get some help here. 1:55 We've got a guy who's new to the show, but not new to many of you. 2:00 If you followed any Penn State hockey or even the Frozen Four, I guess, should you say, Veegs? 2:05 He's been calling that the last couple of years as well. 2:08 He's a man around college hockey. 2:10 He's brave to come in with us. 2:12 Yeah, Brian Tripp. 2:13 Let's bring him in. 2:15 Brian, thanks for joining the show. 2:18 No problem. 2:18 I'd say first time, long time, but I gotta be honest. 2:21 I just skimmed a couple episodes to get ready for this thing. 2:25 That's quite all right. 2:26 We had some back and forth with Cappy a couple of weeks ago. 2:29 He's like, yeah, you should get this guy on. 2:30 I'm like, yeah, we've been needing a Penn State guest forever since they joined the league. 2:37 We haven't found one. 2:38 You guys come highly recommended. 2:40 And after I heard that you may crack a beverage during the overtime, I'm like, I'm all in. 2:44 These are my people. 2:46 Yeah, Veegs cracks something every week. 2:49 And on special occasions, I do drink a bit more than I should. 2:54 But that's the fun about it. 2:55 We have fun. 2:56 That's the key. 2:59 So what can you do? 3:01 So thanks for joining us. 3:02 We'll get into more of some of the stuff you do in a bit here. 3:06 But Veegs, big weekend in Wisconsin this past weekend. 3:13 A split for points, but a little bit more for pairwise than a split would be. 3:23 Yeah, just a reminder, all our college hockey fans out there, when you get a win on the road, whether it's in regulation or on the three on three, you get that bonus percentage in the pairwise, which is what we're all concerned about right now. 3:36 So a win and a tie for Minnesota actually helps them overall. 3:41 As a weekend, it's kind of like a winning weekend for them. 3:43 So you see them get that boost in their pairwise and really solidify their place right now in that 2-3C range. 3:51 You start looking at some of the sites out there that project where teams can finish. 3:56 It means Minnesota is pretty solid in that 98% to make the tournament. 4:01 And now they're starting to get in that position where they can play for seeding. 4:06 Well, you know, I picked, you know, four points for the Gophers past weekend. 4:12 And, you know, I thought they would lose the overtime then win. 4:15 But then they have winning in overtime Friday night. 4:18 Excellent play. 4:21 And actually not a bad game all around, was it? 4:27 Well, Friday they had to weather the storm. 4:29 I think they did. 4:30 The Badgers really came after Minnesota. 4:33 And Minnesota leaned on their goaltending and their structure. 4:37 Probably a little bit more than the fans would like. 4:40 You know, Justin Close, I think he saw 40 shots, maybe 41, I think, during the play on Friday. 4:46 So that's a lot of action for him to see. 4:49 And he held his ground. 4:50 I know a lot of people have been critical about Close over the years. 4:54 You know, that he's an average goalie to a slightly above. 4:57 Well, he definitely showed out on Friday and earned the Big Ten Number One Star of the Week with that kind of play. 5:03 And I think for Minnesota to do something this year, they need Justin Close to be that goalie and be reliable in games where Minnesota has to withstand pressure and defend. 5:15 We're going to get into goalie interference a little bit later. 5:17 But all in all, Saturday a much better game. 5:23 Couldn't quite get those goals to get the win. 5:27 Losing a shootout yet again. 5:32 But they did play much better and they did lock down Wisconsin a lot more than they did, especially for the second period on Friday night. 5:39 Yeah, I thought they controlled play much better on Saturday than on Friday. 5:43 You know, Bob called it one of the best games he's seen in his six years in the Big Ten. 5:49 And Minnesota maybe deserved more than what they got out of that night. 5:54 But I think what Gopher fans have to keep in mind is they played well. 5:58 And I brought this up to Bob today at availability is as a coach, you have to be happy with a team that has all this noise. 6:05 And I'm not talking about the sellout crowd at the Cole Center. 6:08 I'm talking about the officials, maybe not making calls that go in your way. 6:13 Maybe officials who aren't calling any penalties, and they're letting a lot of clutching and grabbing and stick work go. 6:20 And you still hold your game plan, and you play consistent throughout regulation and overtime. 6:27 And you don't really give the Badgers grade A scoring chances, and you continue to work with your ground game and control the puck. 6:35 And that's winning hockey. 6:36 And I think when you're looking at Minnesota, and you're looking for signs of maturity, being able to have a night like that where things aren't going right for you, and you don't pout, you don't get distracted. 6:46 You stay focused, and you stay in the rock fight, as we talk about in a game like that. 6:51 So that's important, I think, for Minnesota to see, because if that game kept going, you know, if you were playing 20-minute overtimes, I think Minnesota fans would have been happy to see that happen. 7:03 And on the flip side, Brian, you guys had a nice little weekend off. 7:09 Hopefully you got, hopefully the team got a chance to recharge. 7:12 Did you get a chance to recharge? 7:14 I saw you doing some videos from wrestling, you know, kind of during that off week. 7:18 How busy were you this past week? 7:20 Yeah, so I do the broadcasting of the hockey games. 7:23 It's just a small part of my job. 7:25 I work as feature content specialist with all 31 teams here. 7:29 So I actually missed probably the first month of hockey season, traveling with football. 7:33 I just got a couple of games in early in the year. 7:36 So no, I did not recharge too many of my batteries during the off weekend. 7:40 The hockey team did, they had a sled hockey classic, great fundraiser on Saturday for the State College Coyotes organization. 7:48 And they raised more than $17,000. 7:50 It was the second time doing it. 7:51 They had nearly 500, 800 people there in attendance. 7:55 A really cool activity on Saturday morning. 7:57 But the team was, they were honestly a little banged up after the Ohio State Series. 8:02 The Ole Miss kind of running through a little bit. 8:04 It actually did come, you know, even though they got some momentum finally against Ohio State, played well, saw special teams, goaltending, get on track. 8:11 I think it did come a good time for them. 8:13 But overall, I mean, it's 50 and sunny in State College last weekend. 8:16 So the bye weekend did come with the weather being pretty nice. 8:18 It's been that way here too. 8:21 Well, by the time, well, it'll be warm tomorrow. 8:23 You guys are coming tomorrow. 8:24 But it's going to get cold again. 8:26 But you're going to get here and there's no snow. 8:29 It's brown. 8:30 It's ugly. 8:31 It's not February. 8:34 But you mentioned sled hockey. 8:36 I enjoy that. 8:38 I love watching the Olympics. 8:41 I want to say those guys are beyond athletes, what they can do. 8:47 I mean, you know, some of them have literally no legs and the strength and the balance they have out there. 8:56 It's just, it's not just inspiring. 8:58 It is just like it's jaw dropping at times. 9:02 Yeah, the Dylan Lugris, who's up for the hockey humanitarian, he's a junior forward on the Penn State team. 9:07 He recognized that this team needed a way to find a way to get funding for ice time, equipment, anything, and they didn't have it. 9:15 So they started going to their practices and doing anything they can to participate, help, and they were gassed, like completely gassed after the game last week when they played. 9:26 Guy Gadowski, he's gone to the practices to the head coach. 9:29 He actually played for the sled hockey team, the guys who are always playing, guys and girls who are always playing in that, and he deflected the game winning goal in for them. 9:37 So I think he's been telling the players about it all week. 9:39 But to watch the Penn State hockey team, Division I athletes, try to sled around on the ice. 9:45 There are a couple of guys with like training wheels on, guys going into the boards. 9:49 They're pretty fortunate. 9:49 No one got hurt doing this thing. 9:51 But it's really cool how they've embraced it. 9:54 And not only was it this event, they've been going to practices every Sunday with them and trying to help them find ice time. 10:00 And, you know, it shows that hockey really is for anyone. 10:04 And I think the event was so much fun. 10:07 It was just as much fun to see the sled hockey team out there. 10:11 And then to see how bad the Penn State hockey players were at the sled hockey itself. 10:17 Like I said, it's it's not easy. 10:20 I could not imagine doing it. 10:22 I could barely do regular hockey leagues. 10:23 You've seen me play. 10:24 I could barely do that. 10:26 Yeah, I'm always impressed with the sled hockey players, just like the wheelchair rugby players. 10:30 I think that's gotten a little bit more national attention over the years. 10:35 The people who get in that there's documentaries on that. 10:37 I think sled hockey is something that maybe those documentary people should be taking a look at because sled hockey is just as fantastic and the stories are just as amazing. 10:48 And a big thing for former Badger Coach Jeff Sauer before he passed away was his involvement in sled hockey was gigantic in their success. 10:58 Yeah, it's huge to see people get involved and give back and get that experience. 11:02 I think it's rewarding not only for the sled hockey players, but for the people who volunteer as well. 11:08 It's a good way to recharge, Brian. 11:10 I did have, we have two TVs in the living room. 11:12 Did have both TVs up streaming games all weekend too. 11:16 So watch anything we could. 11:18 Your hockey people, that's what you're going to do on Friday and Saturday night. 11:21 Did you use Big Ten Plus to stream all those games? 11:25 Peacock, Notre Dame was on Peacock too. 11:27 Oh yeah, you got that too. 11:29 I was watching games all weekend on Big Ten Plus and I hear people complaining and why isn't this game on TV? 11:35 We talked about that last week with Todd Molesky. 11:38 There's reasons behind it. 11:41 But Veegs, I love Big Ten Plus and it was great. 11:44 I had the Minnesota game up on my big screen TV. 11:48 I had the Michigan game on my laptop just kind of chickening with that. 11:55 I think it's a great service. 11:57 We've got to get people to embrace this thing. 12:00 It's part of the Big Ten moving forward. 12:03 I know some people are having a hard time with some of the announcers that are putting on some of these broadcasts. 12:08 That's up to the host school, what they choose to do, who they have behind the mic. 12:13 But the product is pretty good. 12:16 I compare Big Ten Plus to the NCHC service. 12:20 I think Big Ten is a little bit ahead. 12:22 I just got my peacock getting ready for some Gopher Hockey series. 12:26 I got to see the Michigan State Minnesota basketball game last night that the Gophers won. 12:31 I was actually at Williams Arena to see the Gopher basketball team beat Northwestern this past weekend. 12:37 So, you know, it's the way of the future. 12:40 And the Big Ten is investing in a lot of these things. 12:43 It's pretty dependable. 12:45 I read that one announcement with ESPN and a couple other entities. 12:49 They want to do their own new streaming service. 12:51 Sounds like their own kind of cable thing almost. 12:53 Sounds like a big bundle. 12:55 I think it will be streaming. 12:56 It's just going to be combining a lot of the sports fan channels into one. 13:00 It's just going to be another option for people. 13:04 We're still going to want Big Ten Plus. 13:06 We're still going to want Peacock. 13:07 Eventually, I think Paramount is going to be coming in for basketball and football. 13:11 So stay tuned, everyone. 13:14 So, Brian, you know, we mentioned you do the Frozen for how long have you been doing hockey itself? 13:20 Yeah, I started doing when Penn State went and joined the Big Ten. 13:24 So this is the 11th year that I've been doing hockey. 13:26 Oh, so you're the reason why this is all messed up. 13:29 No, do not. 13:30 I know the audience. 13:32 Do not put that on me. 13:36 I know the audience. 13:38 Yeah, 11 years. 13:42 Not fall for that lion trap, Jub. 13:44 No, there's no chance. 13:47 Walked around, very smart. 13:49 But I think, you know, the Big Ten, you know, as much as it's been bad for Minnesota, it's been great for Penn State. 13:54 You know, Penn State has a great rank, great building, great for the fan base. 13:58 I think it's good for hockey in Pennsylvania. 14:00 I feel like Big Ten Hockey has been pretty good for all the other schools. 14:04 And now that Wisconsin and Michigan State have new coaches, you know, they're back. 14:09 Minnesota has seen good atmospheres the last two weekends. 14:13 And when they go to Penn State every time, it's great. 14:15 Yeah, I don't think it's been bad for Minnesota. 14:17 When you look at the success they had the first four years, the run they've been on now, I think it's just taken, you know, look, it's a sport where you want rivalries and there's been building rivalries for decades. 14:27 And to play St. 14:29 Cloud and Minnesota Duluth and all those great teams up in the state, yeah, I mean, you want to play your rivals. 14:37 Is it just a different embrace of it? 14:40 But when you look at the success, four teams pretty much every year now getting into the NCAA tournament in the Big Ten, two teams last year in the Frozen Four, a couple years, three teams in the Frozen Four, the Big Ten, yeah, they haven't cracked through and won one yet. 14:52 I really thought it was coming probably four or five years ago. 14:56 I think it's just taken a while to embrace because, you know, it is different. 14:59 But overall, I think the league's been really good. 15:02 TV exposure on national television on Big Ten Network FS1 has been really good. 15:06 I think when Penn State joined, you thought that that would be the impetus for other big schools to make the jump, you know, not your LIUs, Lindenwoods, Augustanas of the world, to make the jump to Division I hockey. 15:23 And, you know, by now, I think we thought you'd have an Illinois, a Northwestern, like, who else in the league was going to jump and do it? 15:31 Would it be opening the door to Southern Hockey and the SEC? 15:34 Would some of these Pac-12 schools besides Arizona State make that leap? 15:39 And because it hasn't infiltrated other Power 5 leagues and whatever it's going to look like now that all the conference realignments happening again, I think that's where you start to get that divide into why was this significant, why wasn't it? 15:55 But overall, I think it's been really good for the sport. 15:57 You now have a Power 5 voice with the Big Ten, the commissioners, having that voice at the table at an NCAA level. 16:06 But I do still think there's room to grow the league, and I think there's room to grow the game amongst major conference teams. 16:12 I've been surprised that it hasn't happened yet, but completely understand the consternation among many for a team that's been in a program that's been unbelievably successful. 16:24 They've done it since they've joined the league, too. 16:26 I don't know that it's hurt Gopher Hockey, and obviously what Bob's done the last couple of years to get them back to where I think people think they should be every year, proves that you can do it and do it at a high level in this league. 16:38 I think it's more about nostalgia, but I think rivalries are huge, and Veegs, I'm not sure this rivalry of Penn State was that good until Penn State started kicking Minnesota's butt every time. 16:52 Well, I think that made a big difference. 16:53 I think the players from Minnesota realized they were going into a tough atmosphere at Penn State, and it just kind of grew a little bit of hate, you know, as, you know, Pavlichev and Smirnov and Barrett, you know, started chirping the Gopher bench, and there started to be some bad feelings there, you know, that built up. 17:13 I just don't know if the fan base at Minnesota has totally embraced the rivalries of the Big Ten outside of Michigan and Wisconsin. 17:21 You know, they're growing, but there's a lot of fans who do crave the local rivalries, and, you know, you look at Minnesota, they're always going to be scheduling four series against in-state schools. 17:34 They're just going to be rotating through who they play and who they skip. 17:37 So they'll still do their best and maintain those while they continue to build the Big Ten rivalries. 17:44 Because there aren't bad teams in the Big Ten. 17:46 Everyone's got a good budget, everyone's got good support, and there's plenty of good hockey players in the country, and a lot of them really like playing at Big Ten schools because of all the support they get. 17:57 And it looks like we're going to have good crowds this weekend. 17:59 Oh, go ahead, Brian. 18:00 Yeah, I was just going to say, you have unbelievable environments, unbelievable buildings with what Wisconsin's done in bringing Hasty there, and I think Adam Nightingale at Michigan State, there are no bad teams in the league right now. 18:13 Ohio State has a bit of a down year, but they were one win from a frozen four last year. 18:18 Penn State's sixth in the league, but one shot from going to the frozen four last year. 18:22 And I think Guy and Steve has had as many 20-win seasons as anyone else in the league during the last seven to eight years. 18:29 But I just think the league, the margin between the teams, is so thin. 18:34 And you look at what? 18:35 Four or five points separating second to sixth place last year in the conference standings. 18:40 I just think every team is really, it's really good. 18:43 And the Big Ten, you haven't had that basement. 18:46 Even in the NCHC, there's been a gap between top three, four teams and the bottom teams. 18:52 Maybe a Wisconsin, maybe a Michigan State here or there, but you haven't had that in the Big Ten. 18:57 The depth of the league, I think, is what separates it from the other leagues, you know, the NCHC and probably Hockey East. 19:04 Yeah, I've heard Bob joke sometimes it would be nice to have an eighth team be a basement team because there's no easy weekends in the conference. 19:14 You know, you just invite Illinois and Northwestern, they could be that team for a couple years, you know, just be fine with them. 19:20 Well, people thought it was going to be Penn State for about five, six, seven, ten years, and it took about three years. 19:26 And when they went on that Big Ten tournament run, all of a sudden, they're in the NCAA tournament and have Denver in a regional final. 19:32 I think even here, look, everyone knew that it was going to be tough, but to have the success they had against Blue Bloods, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, from basically year one, year two, it got a lot of people by surprise. 19:45 But it's a credit to what Guy did to get them to that point and the people that they brought in. 19:51 You know, they identified players that had a chip on their shoulder and wanted to prove something at this level. 19:56 And now it's about finding the players that can get you to sustain success and compete against teams that have had players that are going one and done to the NHL. 20:05 Well, it's definitely an exciting time. 20:07 We're going to get into that Penn State series later because, you know, we can talk about the rivalry. 20:12 We're looking like at a full barn, at least on Saturday. 20:14 They announced a sellout for that, I believe, over a week ago. 20:18 Yep, I think there's a lot of youth hockey groups that want to get there, so there's going to be some young energy in there and growing new fans. 20:25 So I think it should be a great atmosphere this weekend. 20:27 I know the players are looking forward to it as well. 20:31 All right, well, one thing we need to do, Veeves, is talk about one of our sponsors here. 20:35 And, you know, our sponsor, a new sponsor last week, Will Anderson Insurance, is now on board with us. 20:41 Yeah, Will Anderson, he's a hockey guy who played for the Gophers. 20:45 Fixture in his hometown community, always giving back. 20:49 But you should close your eyes and think of your insurance agent. 20:52 Who is it? 20:52 Someone you used to know decades ago in high school, friend of a friend, ex-boyfriend or girlfriend. 20:58 Now ask yourself, what has your insurance person done for you lately? 21:01 Are they saving you money? 21:03 Will they answer the phone when you call? 21:04 Do you even know their number? 21:06 Or better yet, reach out to our sponsor, Will Anderson Insurance. 21:09 Simply put, Will insures you the same way he'd insure his own family. 21:14 While we can't promise he'll save you money, let's just say you should sure get a quote. 21:18 Call 612-361-7283 or visit willandersonagency.com. 21:26 All right. 21:27 Of course, we thank Will Anderson Agency for being a sponsor. 21:30 And then we've also got Yocum Real Estate Group, Veegs. 21:35 If you're in the market to buy or sell a house, tis the season. 21:38 It's a little known fact that Super Bowl Sunday here in the Midwest is the official trigger point to list your home or start looking. 21:46 And if you're going to the market, whether you're buying or selling, don't roll the dice on your biggest asset. 21:53 Sarah and Jody bring different skill sets to the table. 21:56 Sarah is a lawyer by trade ready to help you see around corners. 21:59 Jody is a born creative there to unlock your vision and creative side. 22:04 Call the twins at Yocum Real Estate. 22:06 Visit yocumrealestategroup.com for more info. 22:12 And of course, we thank Yocum Real Estate as well. 22:15 Let's bring Brian back to the conversation. 22:17 I know Veegs wants to talk about this, but Brian, I want to know, can you define goalie interference for me? 22:27 I mean, certainly watched the games last week. 22:29 I'll say this. 22:31 Even head contact, all the stuff in the Big Ten this year. 22:34 I just wish there was more consistency from week to week. 22:40 I just want consistency week to week in the league. 22:45 I don't feel like you have uniformity amongst the officiating crews week to week. 22:50 Oh, hold on a second. 22:52 Wait, look at this. 22:53 Who's watching the show right now but Cappy himself? 22:56 Where's his finder's fee? 22:59 Cappy, I heard you didn't even pay for lunch. 23:04 Cappy, maybe we'll get you a gift card that you can use next time you see Tripper on the road. 23:11 He paid for it. 23:12 We'd love to throw in Cappy. 23:13 We've got to throw Cappy into the bus if he's watching. 23:19 Sorry, that was a little too easy. 23:21 Veegs, your thoughts? 23:23 Sorry for the distraction there. 23:25 Well, I just think something like goalie interference and head contact is a judgment call. 23:33 Steve Pietroski, Big Ten head of officials was on a show this week to talk with Jim Connelly and Ed. 23:40 And he said, you know, even when they do training and they go over, you know, six head contact or six goalie interference, very rarely does their group all 100% agree on every call. 23:53 So a lot of these things, you get different camera angles and different perspectives. 23:58 I'm sure most of the people listening to our podcast right now feel like the Gophers have been cheated out of three goals. 24:04 I'm not going to out fight club 30 on our message board about his explanation, but he's a former D1 hockey ref. 24:12 And he looked at each call and he said, yep, I can see what the ref was seeing on all these. 24:16 And I agree with him that there are no goals. 24:20 It's frustrating. 24:21 I think, you know, I saw the first Nelson goal of the three as clear interference because he definitely could have avoided the goaltender. 24:29 The second one with Oliver Moore getting pushed into the crease and making very, very light contact with McClellan and the goal gets waved off. 24:37 Very surprising to me. 24:40 The third one. 24:41 The only reason it's an issue is because McClellan tried to milk getting knocked over. 24:46 You know, if he just gets up right away, he's probably in clear position to make a save. 24:51 But instead, he's trying to milk it for some sort of injury. 24:54 That's where now as a ref, you've bailed him out for doing that. 24:59 And so it's kind of a challenging thing there. 25:01 You know, I retweeted a video from, I think, four or five years ago, Minnesota and Wisconsin, where a Gopher player got checked into the net and Ben Brinkman got a goal. 25:14 You know, the ref said, hey, you did that to your goalie. 25:17 I'm not bailing you out. 25:19 So it's very much a judgment call. 25:21 It is a judgment call, but in this specific case of EGGS, McClellan had a chance to get up, squared up to Brodsinski. 25:28 Brodsinski made a pass. 25:30 He started getting squared up to that, didn't make the save. 25:36 That's where I think a lot of people had some issues with it. 25:39 Yeah, it's a judgment call. 25:41 And the ref judged that that collision was enough of a factor that he was going to wave it off. 25:47 It's not written or explained clear enough where he's clearly wrong. 25:54 It's clearly a judgment and clearly his judgment differs from Bob Matzko's judgment. 26:00 But that's why he wears the stripes and Coach Matzko wears the sweater vest. 26:06 Now, my thought on this, Brian, is that I think the ref standing there in the corner watching this happen, he sees Nelson kind of get tripped. 26:15 And I'm like, oh, he tripped into the goalie. 26:17 Oh, boy. 26:18 I haven't blown the whistle yet. 26:20 All of a sudden, five seconds later, the puck goes in the net. 26:24 And it's a good two seconds before he goes, yeah, no, not a goal. 26:29 And for me, I'm thinking in his head, I might have messed up a couple of calls here. 26:33 I, ooh, I better. 26:37 We're all human. 26:38 And we all like, ooh, maybe I should have missed that. 26:41 That's just kind of my thinking along this, but this could decide a national title championship game down the road for any amount of teams. 26:54 I was just going to say we had one, the second one that you referenced where, you know, I thought it was hard from the overhead angle to really see what I think was for Lickie and more and for Lickie kind of hit him back into into the goalie. 27:06 You know, we had one where even if you don't contact the goalie, but you're positioned in the crease as more was, if you're in the crease and you're taking away the goalie's sight line to the puck, it is interfered. 27:23 So I think like you couldn't tell when for Lickie initiated that contact to bump him in. 27:28 But if he was positioned there before for Lickie even added to it and bumped him into McClellan, like I didn't have a problem with that one. 27:37 I agree with you guys on the third one. 27:38 I think there's a lot of ambiguity on the third one that you're talking about. 27:42 But the second one, like I can see that one based on how it's been called before and where Moore's positioning was in the crease. 27:50 Vegoes, you get that look in your face, Veegs. 27:57 I also think in an NCAA tournament, the judgment changes a little bit. 28:04 You know, this is just a regular season game where this is the way things have been going. 28:08 You know, it's not as big of a scene to wave off a goal. 28:15 I think in the NCAA tournament, you know, things are maybe a little bit different and maybe that's a good goal. 28:20 Because, you know, one thing in college hockey and NHL hockey, you know, we try so hard to create situations where there can be offense. 28:32 And when you're giving the defense ways to bail out your goalie, you know, you're starting to get into a slippery slope for me. 28:40 Is it now a strategy to bump players into your crease to make contact with your goalie if they're not going to call anything there? 28:48 It's just not great for the game if that's going to be where we're going. 28:55 And I did hear, I know that we got Eric Brewer here saying that Big Ten agrees they're wrong. 29:04 I talked to somebody at the university today and he affirmed that the Big Ten says it's a judgment call. 29:11 And their referee has the judgment to make the decision the way they made them. 29:15 So I don't know if it's quite the right. 29:19 I think Jess thinks that the Big Ten maybe thought they were wrong, but no, I heard I heard a little bit different. 29:28 And Breffer's a lawyer, so. 29:35 It's just a tricky situation. 29:39 It's one weekend. 29:41 It's not the worst thing in the world, Bigs. 29:46 The one thing I had another note here. 29:47 Shootout becoming a sick joke for the Gophers. 29:55 And I know you don't put much emphasis on this, but I'm thinking and you see them practice this every week. 30:02 Maybe they should just stop practicing. 30:04 That's what I think. 30:05 I think they should stop practicing for a while. 30:07 Just go into the game cold instead of, you know, working on shootout moves, because I always thought that the best thing to do on a breakaway and a shootout is to read the goalie, not predict in your mind what you're going to do. 30:20 So if you spend your time working on a shootout move and the goalie does something different, you're not really even paying attention to it. 30:26 You're putting yourself at a disadvantage. 30:28 So maybe not practicing is the way to go for a little bit. 30:31 Because I really think that the Big Ten race is maybe out of reach unless somebody really falls on their face down the stretch here. 30:39 And these points don't really matter that much in the big picture because Minnesota is not playing for a Big Ten title this year. 30:46 I don't think the fans would be satisfied if the Gophers won a Big Ten title and then we're out in the first round of the NCAA tournament. 30:53 This is a team that's building for a Frozen 4 run. 30:56 So that's where they're putting their time. 30:59 Brian, how has Penn State done on the shootout? 31:03 You know, I'm looking here. 31:04 Minnesota has never had gone to a shootout with Penn State. 31:08 Yeah, well, Penn State, you know, as long as I've been doing this, they did not play a lot of overtime shootout games. 31:13 I think it's because of their style of play and the wide open style that they have. 31:18 This year, first three Big Ten games all over time, you know, you have ties and they've done well this year. 31:25 I think Suleer is a pretty good shootout goaltender when he's been in and having a freshman like Aidan Fink to finish has really helped. 31:34 And they've got some guys that, you know, you always think like it's going to be the top guys on the team that are going to score. 31:41 I think last year they had an eight round shootout or something like that with Notre Dame. 31:45 And it was, I think it was the Burke that doesn't score, scored for Notre Dame to win the shootout. 31:53 You know, when you look at Minnesota, when you think Snuggerud and the team they had last year, but especially some of the guys this year still, yeah, who's going to beat the Gophers in a shootout? 32:02 But it just doesn't play out that way. 32:04 It definitely doesn't because their last win in a shootout was February 14th of 2020 against Notre Dame. 32:15 Only one goal was scored in it, and that was Brandon McManus. 32:18 Somebody, I think you want to get on the podcast eventually, don't you, Veegs? 32:21 I was just saying, when you got to get Brandon on the podcast, maybe a Notre Dame week would be perfect for him. 32:26 You know, you can open some wounds on that rivalry and share his expertise on the shootout. 32:32 It's just hard to believe, because you would think Rhett Pitlick and Jimmy Snuggerud would be two great shootout options. 32:37 Snuggerud with the great shot, Pitlick with the great hands. 32:41 You know, Pitlick comes in on his shootout attempt going 100 miles an hour. 32:45 I don't know if that's the right strategy, but you know, Rhett's Rhett, he's going to do what he wants to do. 32:50 But Ed Coles was trying some new stuff this last weekend. 32:54 He was coming way out of his crease to try to play the guys in and didn't work for him either. 32:59 So we've got some bad juju right now on the shootout. 33:02 Yeah, just if you see him start practicing, just yell down to Bob, no, don't do it. 33:10 Bring a whistle with. 33:11 I'll give them three hard whistles. 33:13 I'll say full time, everybody off. 33:18 It's just, it's been the goofiest thing, Brian. 33:21 Like you said, you have all these called superstars, but obviously it's a different situation at the end of a game. 33:26 You might be tired, but I think it's just a goofy stat for Minnesota. 33:31 I mean, seven in a row, seven games in a row, they haven't even scored a goal in a shootout. 33:39 The Flyers had that going for them for a little while too, like a little different there, right? 33:44 But I think it's just an odd coincidence. 33:46 I was going to say you should have had McManus instead of me this week and just go to Hattrick and Penn State the one year. 33:58 It's just a goofy thing. 34:00 I think it's a great topic because, you know, it's cost them four points this year, Veegs. 34:07 They could have been like just a point or two behind Wisconsin right now if they hadn't lost some of those points. 34:13 It adds up over the time. 34:15 I mean, you know, when I look at the times they've done it, you know, they did it a lot last year, a little bit this year. 34:22 But then, you know, like in a couple of seasons, they hadn't had any shootouts. 34:25 So it kind of goes all over the place. 34:28 Yeah, I mean, I guess I don't mind the shootout being part of the game because the NHL uses it. 34:33 I know in college you play a lot fewer games, so maybe it's a little more important. 34:38 But I like that you get that point, you know, going into overtime. 34:42 And this is just a bonus point that gets awarded. 34:44 You know, if you start, you know, just having overtime ties, you get a point and a half. 34:50 You know, do you have to reset your point structure to handle that? 34:54 You know, the NCAA had to go through all these hoops to get everybody to agree to do this three on three so that you could have pairwise points in overtime. 35:03 I'm fine with it. 35:05 I think it's just, you know, this is just the roll the dice here for a little bit for Minnesota. 35:11 They'll get past it. 35:12 I like Andrew Carlson here, Veegs. 35:14 I've been waiting for someone to just rip a Brian Rolston slapper to break the seal. 35:20 A clapper. 35:21 You can clap. 35:22 Clap bomb. 35:23 He, Rolston just wound up when he was doing those shootouts. 35:28 Ryan Chesley. 35:29 Ryan Chesley is going to come in, take a big bomb right between the hash marks. 35:35 I would love to see it. 35:36 I mean, change up. 35:38 Why not? 35:39 Exactly. 35:41 It would definitely be fun. 35:43 Well, let's get into this week in a bit here. 35:45 But Veegs, we need to talk about a couple more of our sponsors here. 35:48 Cub Foods. 35:49 I was just in the ShockBee one the other day. 35:52 I got myself some nice warm chicken tenders for myself. 35:56 They have the best tenders. 35:58 But they 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was because of hard work, but the truth is, I run hot. 37:00 Yep, I'm a sweater. 37:01 In my role as Director of Hair and Hygiene, I'm sort of like a player coach. 37:07 Let me pull out the grease board here. 37:10 Well, it's not actually a grease board, because there is nothing dirty about Duke Cannon. 37:15 How do I help the guys stay squeaky clean? 37:18 Helpful reminders. 37:19 It's simple. 37:20 Tarp saw, Duke Cannon up. 37:22 Say it with me. 37:23 Tarp saw, Duke Cannon up. 37:29 Pick the scent that suits you. 37:33 Thick body wash. 37:36 Extra thick. 37:38 And my favorite, midnight swim. 37:41 Tarp saw, Duke Cannon up. 37:43 Duke Cannon. 37:44 Work harder, smell better. 37:48 All right, we're all back here, and Penn State's coming to Mariucci this weekend, Veegs. 37:55 What are you looking forward to? 37:56 Well, we've often said that Guy Ganowski has chaos hockey as his mantra. 38:03 I feel like he's trying to get away from that a little bit and put a little more structure into his team's play. 38:09 But I think, you know, the DNA of Penn State is lots of shots, get the defenders turning their back to the four check and having to regroup and organize themselves under a lot of pressure and stress. 38:22 And Minnesota historically had a hard time with that. 38:25 You know, in that stretch where Penn State was kind of dominated in the series, Gopher defensemen were having a hard time getting back and retrieving pucks off those shots. 38:35 They were losing players in front of the net, and that just became a really bad situation for Minnesota. 38:41 You know, when you had all the NHL defensemen that Minnesota's had the last couple years, that kind of disappeared because the defense were so sound. 38:49 I think we saw in the first game of this series earlier in the year, maybe a little bit of a concern for Minnesota, as they started to lose track of Penn State players and drop that first game. 38:59 You know, they cleaned it up for the second one, but I think it's definitely a concern coming in this weekend, how they handle that. 39:06 Definitely a concern. 39:07 And Brian, you guys are traveling tomorrow, I believe you mentioned, heading out here. 39:13 What's your favorite, before we get it on, what's your favorite place to eat when you come here? 39:18 Besides Surly Brewery and the drink. 39:23 That's a tough one. 39:24 You know, the team, and we're kind of separate from the team right now, just the way it works out. 39:30 We've been going to Hoyt's for a couple of years. 39:35 That's pretty good. 39:38 I know why you took me off the screen for the last ad, by the way. 39:41 I was going to get you some products for coming on the show, Brian, but I might have to go over to something else. 39:55 Yeah, my hair is white, but I still got plenty of it. 39:59 JD Hoyt's is always good. 40:00 Good pork chop. 40:01 That's a favorite for Gopher Athletics around here as well. 40:05 It's hard to go wrong. 40:06 We've got a pretty good food town here in Minneapolis. 40:09 Gosh, I haven't been at Mariucci since CC, Biggs. 40:14 That vacation and then all of a sudden these road series. 40:17 It's going to be nice to actually get back to Mariucci. 40:20 Which games are you planning to come to this weekend, Biggs? 40:22 I'm planning on the Saturday afternoon game. 40:24 I've got two youth hockey players that are going to be joining me for my trip to Mariucci, along with some swag. 40:31 I know we'll be tweeting about this for our followers. 40:34 I've got a Snuggeroo jersey, a Close jersey, and a Pitlick jersey to give away. 40:42 We've got some Tiki Town Athletes swag to get out there. 40:45 Stay tuned on the socials for us. 40:48 Make sure you're following GopherPuckLive, Pulltab Sports, on Twitter, X, and Instagram. 40:54 Then you can get a chance to win those. 40:58 Brian, what does Penn State need to do this weekend to be successful in your point of view? 41:03 We need to finish in the positives on special teams. 41:07 Penalty kill, power play were much better against Ohio State. 41:12 Obviously, Minnesota is a different opponent than Ohio State is this year. 41:16 But I thought the power play to have five power play goals in a weekend against Ohio State, it can be an equalizer. 41:21 It had been hurting Penn State. 41:24 It just couldn't get any momentum off of it even. 41:27 And giving up some shorthanded goals, especially against Michigan State, really hurt them. 41:31 And then to get goaltending from Sulear. 41:32 I mean, last year, he had a 919 save percentage. 41:36 Postseason run, he had 52 saves in a game at Ohio State. 41:40 He was great in the regional, great in the first round win, shutout. 41:44 He was great against Michigan. 41:46 I thought he really was a stabilizer. 41:48 The team played really confident in front of him last year. 41:51 And it just didn't have that same sense this year. 41:53 The second game against Notre Dame, even though they lost three of the four goals against him, were power play goals. 42:00 And yeah, he didn't pitch a shutout against either four or three wins. 42:03 But he made some spectacular saves in sequences and they were timely. 42:07 They just had, they hadn't been getting timely saves all year. 42:10 He's kind of split with Grannon, won the job here finally, going back to him. 42:15 If they can get that goaltending and special teams, you know, five on five, I think they've not necessarily been at their identity all year, but I think they've been a pretty decent hockey team. 42:23 But it's kind of those margin areas that they've been up and down. 42:30 And if they can get that consistently to go along with how they've played, you know, five on five and give them 60 minutes, I think they've got a decent chance here on the road. 42:38 You know, I think they're still a real feisty group, probably a group that with their freshmen has gotten better offensively as the years gone on with the line of Fink, who's unbelievable and putting great numbers up. 42:52 They've got these two other freshmen, Lawback and DiMarciko. 42:56 And then when they go, you know, to have success, Kerwin and Genevieve need to have good weekends offensively for them. 43:04 It's probably a team that, you know, you reflect back on the team, you're talking about the team that made all the runs and wins against Minnesota. 43:10 Smirnoff and Pavlichev became third-line guys, and that's a pretty darn good third line. 43:15 I don't know if they have the depth this year, scoring-wise, if they've had maybe on some of those really good teams in the past, but when the freshman line's scoring, when Genevieve's scoring, Kerwin's scoring, those other lines are still good, solid defense and identity lines. 43:30 They're not pushovers. 43:32 So if they can get the scoring from their top guys, too, that will really help them. 43:37 Veegs, I would like to see a little more from Mr. 43:41 Snuggerud. 43:42 He's been a little quiet since the big CC series with his four goals. 43:50 He's had some pretty good chances, too. 43:52 There's a couple of times last week and he was left, you know, in the last couple of weekends, he's been left alone out front and hasn't been able to bury it. 43:59 Yeah, and he hit that pipe on Saturday that could have sealed the game. 44:03 You know, Snuggerud's going to keep shooting. 44:05 That's kind of his thing. 44:07 He's going to keep firing pucks on net. 44:09 I think what needs to happen is he just has to get more of those pucks on net as opposed to some of the corner picking that he's doing. 44:17 I think he's starting to get a little frustrated that they're not going in as easy. 44:22 So he's really trying to pick those corners. 44:24 And sometimes you just have to realize, you know, let's just try to beat him somewhere else. 44:29 And that's something I'm looking for there. 44:31 You know, I think, you know, Brian's right. 44:33 The power play in special teams is going to be huge for this weekend. 44:37 I was looking at some of the numbers in college hockey. 44:40 And there's a lot of teams in that 20 to 25% conversion range on the power play. 44:47 And when I was talking to Coach Monsko at the start of the year, he's like, I really like this team to be closer to 30. 44:52 You know, we have so much talent on the power play that they have the potential to get to a 30% type power play if they really start humming and clicking and getting some chemistry. 45:03 And I just, you know, they're not bad. 45:05 You know, they're at 25%. 45:07 They're like 10th in the nation in power play. 45:10 But I almost feel like there's more there that they're not tapping into. 45:15 And so I wonder if we're going to see that at the end of the year here with them or if this is just what we got. 45:21 And they'll just have some chaos goals that they do and just those snipe chances that they convert on. 45:28 Start with face offs, Veegs. 45:30 You see it so many times they lose that offensive zone power play face off and they're chasing the puck back in their own end and starting over. 45:41 Well, I think part of that is that first unit, they're trying to get Oliver Moore that opportunity to play center on that group and develop that skill set for him. 45:51 You know, we've often talked about it. 45:53 Bob wants his players to develop and grow over the season. 45:57 And, you know, this is the time of year where you got to start dialing it in and figuring out what you actually have as opposed to what you hope you have. 46:05 And maybe if Oliver Moore isn't the guy who can win 55 percent of his draws, they might have to figure something else out. 46:12 Because I know Jackson Nelson has really been the only center for them that can dominate in the dot. 46:17 And even he will have his off nights from from weekend to weekend. 46:21 You mentioned Oliver Moore. 46:22 He's really picked up his game since World Juniors. 46:27 Yeah, he's been great. 46:27 He's figured out ways to use his speed, use his linemates, play more possession hockey. 46:33 You know, even though that goal got waved off because he was on in the crease, he's in the right spot. 46:38 You know, he's not viewed as a guy who's a net front guy. 46:42 But every once in a while, you have to sacrifice for your linemates and take that position out front. 46:47 I'm sure that's something we'll see from Penn State all weekend is lots of traffic in front of Justin Close. 46:52 And that worries me a little bit for Minnesota, because it's going to put guys like Oliver Moore in that defense first mode in their own zone where they're going to have to battle in front of the net. 47:02 And too often we see those guys puck watching instead of finding their check and finding sticks and showing their numbers to Justin Close. 47:10 They're often watching Justin Close try to find the puck. 47:14 Well, Brian, one thing I do like that Penn State has brought to this league is offense. 47:22 I love that this is not going to be a 1-0, 2-1 games this weekend. 47:28 I love, the fans love the up and down play. 47:31 Yeah, the coaches probably don't so much, but let's go. 47:35 Let's have some fun this weekend. 47:37 A little race horse hockey would be great. 47:40 Well, I think, and I think Guy thinks this. 47:43 I think everyone in the program thinks this. 47:45 The best defense is a great offense because that puck isn't in your zone. 47:50 And it, you know, it all starts with their defense. 47:53 And I think Penn State's D-Core has got some really good puck movers. 47:56 They want to get it out. 47:57 One pass now. 47:59 And I think Palisic, who came in as a transfer from Dartmouth, 22. 48:04 He's fun to watch. 48:06 Jimmy Dowd Jr. 48:06 is having a great year, number six. 48:08 He can skate. 48:09 He can move pucks. 48:10 And then probably the most consistent guy all year has been number four, Simon Mack. 48:16 Real steady game. 48:18 He's been fun. 48:18 Dylan Gratton's had a really good sophomore year. 48:20 I think those guys on the back end are really important to what they want to do offense. 48:24 And when Penn State's clicking and hitting its passes and their D is moving the puck efficiently and effectively, that's when they're at their best, then setting those forwards up to go retrieve pucks, get shots, get bodies, so then I get those second, third opportunities. 48:39 And, you know, I really thought coming into the year, and I think the goals against for Penn State's more of a reflection of a goaltender tandem that had at one point the worst save percentage in the country. 48:50 I really thought that D Corp was one of the strengths of the team and still believe it to be a pretty decent group. 48:56 You know, it's not, you know, might not have the flashy names of a Faber and Lacombe and a Johnson on it, but I think it's a pretty solid, solid group that they have, the way that they can move pucks. 49:09 So I think it starts with the speed that they play with and the tempo they play with starts with that group. 49:14 I think it's been a fun group for us to watch, watch all year long. 49:19 All right, Veegs, let's hear your predictions for the weekend. 49:23 Veegs, how many points does each team get? 49:28 Well, I think this is going to be an important weekend for Minnesota to have that D-zone structure. 49:34 I think some of the weekends they've had, you know, the shots have come to the net, but there hasn't been that intense pressure looking for rebounds and second chances. 49:45 And that's something that Penn State does really, really well. 49:49 You know, they create that chaos and they want to get teams out of their structure. 49:53 And Minnesota hasn't consistently proven that they can handle that to me. 49:57 I was looking at draftkings.com for an over-under on this weekend at six and a half. 50:03 So they're looking for, you know, seven goals a night here out of this series. 50:08 I think we're probably going to see that at least on Friday. 50:10 And I just don't know if Minnesota is going to play consistent enough defensively to come away with two wins. 50:18 So I'm thinking Gophers get four points, Penn State gets two. 50:22 Probably getting that extra point in a shootout. 50:25 I just think it's going to happen. 50:27 We're going to see another shootout this weekend. 50:29 We're going to see another shootout probably on Saturday in front of my kids, in front of my kids, and Penn State will go home with two. 50:39 Wow. 50:40 That's a bold prediction. 50:41 That's it, if that comes true, Veegs, you're my hero. 50:46 Well, what do you think, Brian? 50:50 That's kind of a split what Veegs is picking here. 50:53 How do you think it's all going to turn out? 50:54 I can tell you Penn State could really use at least one road win against what? 50:58 Top 10 team in a pair wise to try to climb back into that bubble. 51:03 You know where my paycheck comes from, right? 51:04 If you're trying to ask for a prediction here. 51:11 I think Penn State played its best. 51:13 I think Penn State's played one of its best weekends of the year against Ohio State, sweeping them in a Big Ten sweep at home. 51:19 Would love to see the goaltending special teams carry over. 51:24 And I think they match up. 51:25 Look, this is my take on Minnesota. 51:28 I think you guys kind of touched on this in a roundabout way. 51:31 I think they've got a lot of talent. 51:33 Like when you look at the teams in the league this year, I think Wisconsin, maybe not the most talented team, but really buys into the system that they play with what Hastings has done with them. 51:44 Michigan State kind of plays that same wide open style, probably a little bit more talented than Wisconsin. 51:50 Seems like they really buy into their system. 51:53 Minnesota, I'm curious because it's been this way the last couple of years with Bob's teams. 51:58 As you guys have talked about, it's like figuring out who they are and what they want to be. 52:03 That you never really know what their identity, they don't really have that clear cut identity. 52:09 But that doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad thing because they're so darn talented. 52:15 Really curious to see how different they are from December one and two to February ninth and tenth. 52:24 Because I thought Penn State, they took it to them that first period of the first game and Minnesota scored on their first two shots. 52:31 And that was the end of the game because Penn State couldn't recover from how did you play such a great period and be trailing two to one after that first period. 52:40 And the second night Penn State was the better team. 52:43 Granted, it's at Pagula. 52:44 It's a place that has haunted Minnesota over the years. 52:47 You know, Mariucci is a different animal. 52:49 But I thought Penn State played incredibly, incredibly well in that series. 52:54 And I thought they matched up fairly well against a really talented Minnesota team. 52:59 That's still deep, but without that top line to drive it. 53:02 You know, like Jackson Nelson's like my favorite player in the league, 200 foot guy to see at one power play goal this year. 53:10 Like what's going on there? 53:13 Yeah, I'm curious. 53:14 I'm really curious. 53:15 I don't have a prediction, but I'm curious. 53:19 I personally, I'm still not sold, Veegs. 53:22 I know you're trying to, thinking this team has figured it out. 53:26 I don't think they figured it out yet. 53:27 I hope they do, but I still see a split type of a weekend. 53:31 You know, like lose Friday night, win Saturday night convincingly. 53:36 It's like, that's kind of what's happened most of the season this year, Veegs. 53:43 As Bob said, they've been very consistent at playing well. 53:47 Consistently inconsistent. 53:49 Yeah, playing well one night and not well the next. 53:51 And Brian, thanks for correcting me on how last year is when I think I had it flipped around as I thought back to my December brain. 53:58 But yeah, one game they've been good, one game they've been off. 54:02 And that's definitely been the trend for them. 54:06 We'll have to wait and see. 54:07 Like I said, it sounds like- 54:08 What are you thinking, Jupe? 54:09 What are you thinking? 54:09 I think it's gonna be split. 54:12 Three points a piece. 54:13 Yeah, I just approve it to me. 54:18 They can't seem to put it together. 54:20 I'm like, oh, we play five out of six periods. 54:24 We played one good game. 54:25 We played one bad game. 54:27 I still need it kind of proven to me, Biggs. 54:30 Yeah, I just think that the style of play that they've played the last two weekends, they essentially have played 11 good periods out of 12. 54:43 They have been playing very consistent hockey. 54:46 And I always tell like my youth hockey players, don't let the results dictate how you perceive your performance. 54:54 If you're playing well for 11 out of 12 periods, things are going pretty well. 54:58 And you have to trust that that's gonna carry you forward into the games in the future and stick to that formula. 55:05 Don't try to do things that aren't part of your game plan. 55:09 And that's what happened in the one period where they didn't play well against Michigan State. 55:13 They were chasing offense. 55:16 And the interesting thing about that is when Bob criticized it, he didn't criticize them for trying to score. 55:23 He criticized them for not coming back on the back check. 55:27 He's okay with them taking some chances, but you better believe if you're not given your full effort to come back and recover after taking that chance, that's what he's gonna get on you about. 55:39 And that's what Minnesota hockey is. 55:41 Take chances, but come back and play hard defense. 55:46 Yeah, I think you look at the results and I didn't see both Michigan State games, saw how they went obviously to be, dominate the first two periods of the first game and lose it at the end. 55:56 Then to win on the road, I thought they were rolling. 55:59 And then what they did, I know they didn't really score a ton last weekend, but to do that at Wisconsin, those crowds, they're playing some pretty good hockey. 56:09 Like just those results themselves speak volumes because after we saw Wisconsin and Michigan State and I don't know what to say, Penn State played well those weekends. 56:20 I thought those two teams are legitimate national championship contenders. 56:26 And to do it on the road, as I'm very curious, that's what I said. 56:31 I'm really curious to see where Minnesota is at and back at home against a Penn State team that's trying to get on track and seems like it may have and has always given them trouble. 56:41 Really curious how it plays out more than like, I think it's hard to get a gauge on exactly what's gonna happen. 56:49 Well, it's gonna be a fun weekend. 56:50 It sounds like we're gonna have some great crowds, which is what I'm looking forward to. 56:54 I actually like the early Saturday game, Veegs. 56:56 Like you said, a lot of youth, a lot of kids gonna be there. 56:59 Sold out more than a week in advance. 57:01 So over 10,000 tickets sold. 57:04 So that's gonna be fun. 57:06 So I'm definitely, I'm looking forward to just getting back to Mary Uchua, traveling and so many road stuff. 57:11 I haven't been there a while, so it's gonna be fun to be back to this weekend. 57:14 But Brian, thanks for coming on our show. 57:17 First time participant. 57:19 No problem. 57:20 Anytime, you know, I'm more than happy to come back. 57:23 Now you're a Penn State guy. 57:24 So now we're gonna have to have you on every time, every weekend, the week they play Penn State. 57:29 I'll have to get some new material for next time. 57:31 But also like the early Saturday start, we'll be home by 10 o'clock. 57:36 It probably just jinxed a huge flight delay. 57:42 But thanks for being on the show. 57:43 Veegs, are you working on anything right now? 57:46 You'll see something for me soon. 57:48 I'll leave it at that. 57:49 Is it GPL or is it us, Joe? 57:51 We got two things at once. 57:53 Oh my goodness. 57:53 We got two things at once. 57:54 There you go. 57:55 Get ready. 57:56 I like hearing that. 57:57 I like hearing that. 57:58 Well, that's gonna do it for The GPL Podcast. 58:01 Of course, we gotta thank Brian for coming on the show this week and we'll definitely have him back. 58:07 For those of you watching live, stay tuned for some overtime. 58:10 For the rest of you, we'll catch you next week on The GPL Podcast.