0:08
This is The GPL Podcast, part of the Pulltab Sports family.
0:16
You know, a good recruiting tip is like, we're gonna get a good drink around here.
0:33
You know, it's good to see that the Big Ten Network recognizes how to cover hockey in the last game.
0:42
The over under for this game, it's seven.
0:46
Over!
0:48
Hammer, here's the hammer, hammer!
0:52
Now, here's Jupiter and Vegoe.
1:04
Good evening, and welcome to The GPL Podcast, episode number 264.
1:12
Well, good evening, Veegs.
1:14
How are things with you?
1:16
Doing well.
1:17
It's spring break for my family.
1:19
I just got back from Chicago.
1:20
I ate plenty of good stuff out there.
1:24
I got my Gino's East, got my Lou Malnati's, did the tourist sites.
1:29
It was a great little getaway.
1:30
And now it's time to just dial in and get ready for regionals.
1:36
I like that idea.
1:38
Yeah, I saw some of your pictures from Chicago, and then you're teasing us with a little Lou Malnati's pizza, and we're talking about it.
1:46
Wow, it looked delicious.
1:47
It looked like a delicious week.
1:49
And it was Craig, quite good.
1:51
I was talking to Cappy.
1:53
He's like, you can really eat your way through Chicago.
1:55
It's probably good that I don't live there.
1:57
I'd be even larger than I am now.
2:00
But it was delicious.
2:00
I kind of had this brainstorm.
2:02
I was like, I'd like the Lou Malnati's toppings on like a Gino's East crust.
2:09
So I'm going to have to do some experimenting at home with my deep dish.
2:14
You know, I'm usually more of a New York style or Tavern style guy here.
2:18
Yeah, it's tough.
2:21
You know, I used to love when we had Uno's in town.
2:24
Similar style of pizza.
2:27
I loved it because it's just nothing but toppings.
2:30
I love a lot of toppings.
2:31
But you know, people complain all the time.
2:33
People like thin, people like thick, people like New York.
2:36
I mean, really, you can't go wrong with a lot of pizza.
2:40
People complain about different styles of pizzas.
2:44
Open your mind.
2:45
As people see with my GPL podcast, Beer of the Week, I like variety of my life and everything except my wife.
2:56
Big's just earned a lot of points on that one right there.
3:00
Well, you're in Chicago this past weekend, but you were also busy finishing up a license article for uscho.com.
3:07
Tell us what you did for them recently.
3:11
Well, I've always been interested in how you build a roster in college hockey.
3:16
You know, we've seen in my lifetime, you know, the Doug Woog style of putting a roster together kind of changed.
3:23
You know, you started to have to get kids who played a couple years of juniors before they got to your roster and you had to get away from the high school kids.
3:32
And then you've seen people go out there and do lots of early recruiting and have these full pipelines of players coming into your program.
3:41
And sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
3:43
It's so hard to project what a player looks like when you're recruiting them at 14.
3:48
You know, it's just like that's such a long ways away until they get to college.
3:54
And, you know, the coaches have kind of put these rules in place to protect themselves and delay recruiting a little bit.
4:01
I just want to see, you know, what kind of impact that's having on rosters.
4:05
So I basically looked at every single player in college hockey and I figured out when they committed, when they enrolled and how old they are right now.
4:16
So it was a lot of spreadsheet manipulation to try to figure it all out.
4:19
Was Jackson Nelson like the oldest or maybe?
4:22
He's one of them.
4:25
But you look back at his recruitment, he committed pretty early.
4:29
And he had a lot of questions about what he was going to do when he went from Laverne.
4:33
Was he going to go to the development program?
4:35
Was he going to play in the USHL?
4:37
When there was the coaching change at Minnesota?
4:39
Was Bob going to keep him in the committed pipeline?
4:44
And it's just fascinating to see how all the different coaches handle it.
4:49
And it was always great to talk to a couple of territories.
4:52
So that was fun.
4:53
I got to talk to them each.
4:54
They're very gracious with their time.
4:56
I got to talk to them each for about half an hour, 40 minutes.
4:59
And I talked to Steve Miller, who's seen it from a lot of different angles.
5:03
I got on the phone with Don Lucia, the CCHA commissioner, former Gopher coach, and got his perspective on how things are changing.
5:11
So lots of interesting things.
5:13
And I think one of the big takeaways from the article is, yes, Big Ten, Hockey East, NCHC are going after kids right away, especially the premier programs, they're trying to get kids to commit that first month or two of the recruiting cycle and get those kids in their pipeline.
5:31
But what you also see with those schools, if those players aren't first or second round picks, they need to play some junior hockey and they need to come in at 1920 to be successful.
5:44
And you also see a lot of players who come into these big programs and they kind of get pushed out and they lose their spots because just that verbal agreement, yes, the school is interested in that player, but that player has to do their part too and keep getting better and improving to match what both parties think fits.
6:05
Yeah, I just remember the picture of the two Lucius kids when they looked like they were five years old.
6:11
They were probably like, I don't know how old they were, but they looked really young.
6:19
How do you project a player like that to be college hockey players?
6:22
You're recruiting players for guys who aren't even on campus yet.
6:26
When you're recruiting guys like that at 14, they're replacing guys who are still 18 or 17.
6:34
So those guys aren't on campus yet either.
6:36
So it's really interesting how that all works out, that dynamic.
6:39
And you see with Atlantic Hockey and CCHA teams, a lot of them recruit a player, they play one more year, and then they're in college hockey.
6:49
Whereas a lot of these players in the other conferences, it's a three, four year wait before they get to campus.
6:55
So it's really interesting.
6:56
I think we're always going to have the young kid who's 18 who comes in from a development program.
7:03
Back in the old days, it was a superstar from high school.
7:05
You think of Crowley, Bond and Kraft for the Gophers back in the 90s.
7:10
They were the type of player that could come right in and contribute right away.
7:13
And now you're seeing less of obviously less of those high school kids come in and do that.
7:20
But still, the higher end guys come in like a coolly, like a favor, very young and can still contribute.
7:28
But that's just not the case for, you know, 90, 95 percent of the recruits these days.
7:34
And I think programs are seeing that you can't build a program with four or five of those types.
7:39
You can have room for two, maybe three.
7:43
But to have continuity in your program, you have to bring those kids in with older players.
7:48
You look at what Bob is doing with his class coming up this next year.
7:52
You know, he's got a bunch of 20 year olds coming in like Paulson and Faloon and Reid and Gruba.
8:01
You know, these guys are older players.
8:03
They're going to come in.
8:04
Hendrickson, who played that extra year post development team.
8:07
That's important for a team because you can't have guys coming into BigTen College Hockey looking for their game.
8:14
That was something that stood out to me from Steve Miller.
8:16
It's like if a player hasn't had a great year of junior before they're coming to campus, it's really a risk for both sides to push that next move because it's really hard to find your game playing a schedule like the Gophers do.
8:31
As we saw with a lot of teams at the end of the season, if you lose games in October, it can cost you in March.
8:38
And if you look at Colorado College losing to Augustana, that's probably the number one reason why they didn't make the tournament.
8:46
You know, it was interesting.
8:47
I was listening to the CHN podcast with Wooden and I forget the Colorado College coach's name.
8:54
Matt.
8:54
Yes, yes, that's him.
8:56
He was saying they love pairwise, but he felt it's a little unfair to have it waited so much during a tournament playoff.
9:07
You know, he's saying if you win on the road, it's kind of 1.2.
9:10
But, you know, if you lose it, you know, you win at home, it's only a point.
9:13
I mean, just maybe that works in the regular season, but I think he's he has the feeling it'd be better if it was a little more balanced.
9:23
Yeah, that was interesting.
9:24
He thinks all the postseason games should be neutral site, even with people going to campus sites for their tournaments.
9:31
I thought that was a fascinating idea, actually.
9:33
Yeah, I still think if you're playing at home ice, you have the advantage.
9:38
You know, you still have an advantage playing at home.
9:40
Yes, you earned it, but you should be the better team on paper.
9:45
And those wins are important for you.
9:47
And it's harder to win on the road.
9:50
But it was in perspective.
9:53
They also didn't make it because UMass lost so many times to teams like BC.
10:02
I mean, they were, I want to say they were, somebody did, it might have been on ESPN, one of those networks who did a comparison showing that, you know, like UMass was one and eight and something against top ten and CC was much better record.
10:16
I felt even worse for them because yeah, they had a loss back in October or whatever.
10:23
But, you know, they actually were successful against some of these top teams, whereas UMass wasn't.
10:30
So I felt bad for them a little bit there.
10:33
Yeah, I feel like college basketball, they have those net rankings and those, you know, quarter one, quarter two, whatever wins.
10:41
They figured out that they want to reward teams for having those big wins.
10:46
And, you know, Massachusetts just doesn't have those.
10:51
They have a lot of wins, but just not against good competition.
10:55
Whereas CC does have, I think, eight wins against top ten teams, which is important, I think.
11:03
And yes, as Andrew says, if you use Cratch, CC would have made it.
11:08
And that's something that the CHN guys have been talking about all year.
11:12
We've been talking about seeding for regionals and campus sites.
11:17
You know, Cratch is probably better than pairwise.
11:19
You know, I think just having these tight results at the end of the year could influence the discussions in Naples.
11:27
But there's so many things on their agenda right now.
11:33
Well, you know, well, we'll talk about a little bit later.
11:35
But, you know, I was going back and forth with Schlossman last night.
11:40
And he's saying there is no press area in Maryland Heights.
11:44
There's standing room and they're right there.
11:48
I'm like, oh, boy, you might have to watch the game from the media room and then come in and interview players.
11:54
Open locker room policy during the playoffs.
11:56
So that is true.
11:57
Maybe that's where they'll do it all.
12:00
But this, you know, before the selection show happened, Saturday night, Veegs, Michigan went into Michigan State and Michigan State showed why they were the best team all year.
12:10
They came through, they shut down Michigan.
12:12
It was quite a back and forth game.
12:14
It was a very enjoyable game.
12:16
And they got them in overtime.
12:18
And the excitement at MUN Arena, you know, the coach was saying, this is maybe the biggest game we've ever had at the arena before because all those CCHA championships and other championships were always neutral sites.
12:34
I think it's great.
12:35
You know, you look at the atmosphere at MUN, they've come a long way in the last 15 years.
12:41
You know, they are the last Big Ten team to an NCAA tournament.
12:48
It's amazing that we've gone through the last decade or so of this Big Ten and no team has been able to pull it off.
12:54
And Michigan State, they're in position this year to maybe go on a run.
12:58
I still think they have an uphill battle.
13:01
Yes, they do.
13:03
I mean, you look at their region, that's the region of death.
13:06
Those are all going to be tough games.
13:08
I think Western Michigan is a tough team to play against.
13:11
And then they're going to have to play North Dakota or Michigan.
13:14
Michigan looked great.
13:16
I was surprised the Wolverines weren't able to pull it out at MUN.
13:20
But maybe that home ice advantage really paid off for them.
13:23
Bemidji also had a great atmosphere for their championship game.
13:28
And what?
13:30
They lost.
13:30
Oh my gosh.
13:32
You mean home teams can lose at home?
13:35
That's right.
13:36
Boy, I wonder.
13:38
I wonder if Michigan Tech fed off of that.
13:42
Well, I think that helps.
13:43
You know, it's fun to be the villain sometimes.
13:45
Yes.
13:47
I watched a fair amount of the women's college basketball tournament this last weekend.
13:52
Best ratings ever.
13:54
Guess what?
13:55
Campus sites.
13:56
I think there are great atmospheres at all the venues.
13:59
UCLA was maybe the only one that didn't have a great sellout type fan base atmosphere.
14:04
And people watched it on TV.
14:06
It's great for the game.
14:07
I think women's college basketball is growing, maybe the fastest of any college sport right now.
14:13
And I think part of it is, you know, you know the players, they stick around and they have this great fan support.
14:21
And college hockey could really benefit from that too, because there's so many of these guys that are going on in the NHL after their college careers, and they stick around.
14:30
Could be fun.
14:31
I actually haven't watched much college basketball, at least the men, in 35 years, because back when I first started watching, kind of late 70s, early 80s, into the 90s, exactly what you just mentioned.
14:45
These players, most of them were staying three, four years.
14:49
I remember Patrick Ewing, it seemed like he played forever for Georgetown back in the day.
14:54
So you got to see these guys year after year.
14:57
And I couldn't tell you any of these guys in college basketball now, but you know what?
15:03
I certainly know more about the women these days.
15:05
I mean, we've got Paige out, you know, people forget about Paige out in Yukon too.
15:11
Yeah, it's great for the stars.
15:13
And the one thing about college hockey is because the players are already drafted, they're going to have that additional tie to NHL fan bases as well.
15:21
And it's an attractive option.
15:24
It may get the best atmosphere you can.
15:27
Well, and then on the flip side, the NCHC ended up having the worst type of final teams with Denver and Omaha.
15:37
And it looked pretty bad in there.
15:40
I mean, all of three of Denver fans didn't show up.
15:44
Yeah, and I feel bad for that guy who was having the beers stacked on his head as he was taking the nap in the lower level of Excel.
15:51
He was three or four feet tall.
15:54
Poor guy.
15:55
Jumbotron star.
15:58
Just an unlikely hero.
16:00
I wish I could sleep like that.
16:01
I can't sleep like that.
16:03
I'd be what?
16:04
Yeah, well, you got to make a few mistakes before you can take a nap like that.
16:10
But that's always the risk with the NCHC's format.
16:14
You have teams from all over.
16:16
It makes it hard when they have that kind of final.
16:19
And they only have one more season, I believe.
16:22
Yeah, one more season, full season, and then so the next year 25, another time, and then 26, they'll be going to home rinks for that.
16:33
It's an expensive building to rent out for a tournament, as we've learned with Excel.
16:39
And they probably would like to have those dates back a little bit.
16:44
I would agree with you there.
16:46
Well, we're not going to have a super long show tonight, so let's get here from some of our sponsors.
16:55
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17:53
Of course, we thank Dew Cannon for sponsoring The GPL Podcast and my wonderful heritage day.
17:58
But also, we got to talk about Cub Foods, Veegs.
18:01
Cub, they're all aboard the Pulltab Sports Wagon.
18:05
They are all about sports.
18:06
Whenever there's something going on with Gopher Athletics, you can go to Cub and find that promotion.
18:11
They sponsor The Wildlands Seventh Pod.
18:13
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They're on PJ Flex headset, and they're one of us and support The GPL Podcast.
18:20
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18:21
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18:25
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18:30
You know, if you're looking for some THC drinks, some pale ales, some IPAs, maybe you want a beer of the week to enjoy with us, stop by Cub.
18:38
Great idea.
18:40
Stop by Cub.
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18:44
All right, Veegs.
18:45
NCAA Tournament is upon us.
18:48
The field, we always know the night before what the field is going to look like.
18:52
So let's take a quick look.
18:54
And obviously we knew that the overall number one seed was going to be Boston College.
19:00
And they certainly are the number one seed.
19:03
And they'll be facing Mr.
19:06
Michigan Tech.
19:09
The Misfits are going to be going out to see them play.
19:14
BC is probably the top team in the country based on how they performed.
19:18
They've got so many young players.
19:21
It's going to be interesting to see how they perform on the stage.
19:24
As Minnesota found out last year, you know, you could have a great regular season.
19:29
You get into this postseason.
19:31
You can get into a tight game, and then all of a sudden your players start trying to do too much.
19:35
I don't expect BC to have a lot of problems in this region.
19:39
You know, Tech had a great game against Bemidji.
19:43
Bemidji didn't play very well, and here we are looking at BC with that well-deserved 1-16 matchup.
19:50
And then we look at Wisconsin, Quinnipiac, and, you know, I would say earlier in the season, Veegs, you know, like maybe even January, Wisconsin, I would think would have had a decent chance to come out of this, this bracket because they were playing so well.
20:06
But, yeah, I would say the last month and a half, they've been a little exposed.
20:11
Yeah, they've kind of limped into the NCAA tournament here.
20:14
I'm not sure.
20:15
I haven't watched super closely how UW is playing.
20:19
You know, Hastings' message might be getting long on some of these guys.
20:22
And, you know, Cappy talks about how hard Hastings is as a coach on players.
20:27
Maybe there's a little bit of fatigue, a little bit of friction there.
20:31
We talked about Charlie Strammell not having a great year and maybe leaning towards the portal.
20:36
That could be an issue.
20:37
I think playing against Quinnipiac is probably a good matchup for them to kick things off because Quinnipiac will sit back and trap and let Wisconsin try to figure it out.
20:50
I think Hastings style, you're going to see a lot of pucks chipped and a lot of retrievals and a lot of dump-ins.
20:56
We'll see who can get the offense going in that game.
20:59
Because Quinnipiac needs a team to make mistakes against them, I think usually to get going.
21:03
I don't see Wisconsin always making a ton of mistakes.
21:08
We'll see.
21:09
I do like Wisconsin coming out of that game.
21:12
Then Wisconsin losing to BC, I assume.
21:16
Yep, I think so.
21:17
BC's just got so much talent right now that they'll get out of there.
21:21
Alright, let's scroll on down here.
21:23
We see that Michigan State is the number four overall seed.
21:28
They're going to face Western Michigan.
21:29
On the other side, we have North Dakota and Michigan.
21:34
As you said earlier, this is the group of death down in Maryland Heights, Missouri.
21:40
It might be death to someone's bank account if they want to go to these games in person.
21:46
I've heard the prices have actually come down probably because no one was buying them at those prices.
21:51
Probably not.
21:52
It only takes one to set a record ticket sale price, but I think the prices will come down a little bit, especially as teams try to figure out how to get there.
22:02
That's going to be an issue.
22:03
Tough draw for Michigan State though getting Western Michigan.
22:07
That's basically a three seed with them.
22:11
They can score.
22:13
They're fast.
22:13
They're older.
22:14
That's going to be a tough matchup.
22:17
Based on how Michigan State played against Michigan, I think they have a chance to come out of this one, but it's going to be probably one of the closest games in the first round.
22:26
Okay.
22:26
And then a highly anticipated match of North Dakota and Michigan.
22:30
All the experts, Veegs, were all over North Dakota with this one.
22:35
Yeah, I don't know.
22:36
You know, North Dakota had an illness go through the team last week during the NCHC.
22:41
And that impacted a lot of their players and probably their energy level.
22:44
You know, they got worked by Omaha, I think 6-3 in their game there.
22:50
So a lot of question marks how North Dakota is going to come out health-wise into this.
22:55
And if there's still kind of that carryover effect, you know, maybe more players are getting sick.
22:59
Michigan has looked like one of the best teams in the country the last couple of weeks.
23:03
We've seen them a lot lately.
23:07
I don't think anyone who's a familiar listener to this knows, Gavin Brinley is my favorite player in the West this year.
23:14
He drives play.
23:15
He is so good.
23:16
I think when Brinley got put with Fantilly last year, that really pushed his Hobie candidacy to the next level.
23:23
And I'm excited to see what Brinley does in this regional because I like Michigan coming out of this.
23:29
So you're thinking Michigan with North Dakota.
23:31
What about that Western Michigan state?
23:34
I think Western's in a good spot to upset them here.
23:37
I think that's probably the upset.
23:39
If you're looking at a one seed to lose, this is probably my best guess at one.
23:43
I think Sparty gets out of that first run round game and we get a rematch of the Big Ten championship.
23:49
I think Michigan comes out of this group.
23:52
Like in Michigan.
23:53
The thing is, it is kind of the group of death because honestly, any four of those teams could make it out.
24:02
That's very true.
24:03
I mean, it's probably the closest top to bottom.
24:06
Yeah.
24:06
Yeah.
24:07
It looks like a great bracket.
24:09
Too bad hardly anyone's going to see it live, but that's just kind of how it goes.
24:12
And let's move over to some of the Thursday games here.
24:17
Denver, the number three overall seed, number one in this.
24:22
That's Mass Mutual Center.
24:23
Which town is that?
24:24
I forget again.
24:25
Springfield.
24:28
Springfield.
24:28
Yes, that's it.
24:29
We got DU and UMass.
24:31
UMass just snuck in last minute.
24:34
Thanks to DU.
24:35
And we've got Maine and Cornell, a couple old rivals there.
24:40
So what do you think about this bracket?
24:42
I like this bracket, actually.
24:44
This has got to be like the Adam O'Don region.
24:48
Just because you got Cornell in there.
24:51
You know, you've got the East Coast flair with UMass and Maine and Cornell.
24:56
And then you got David Carles, DU here, who has been the highest advocate for the campus sites.
25:02
And what does he do?
25:04
He draws UMass in a first round matchup.
25:07
After last week winning the NCHC, when probably losing that game would have helped give them a better first round matchup.
25:15
Yeah.
25:17
Unbelievable.
25:18
You know how that worked out.
25:20
I really like DU.
25:22
It's perfect.
25:23
We need this to happen.
25:25
Yeah, this is drama right here in College Hockey.
25:29
I really like DU.
25:30
Coming out of UMass, DU has a lot of talent.
25:34
I love the coaching style of their program right now.
25:38
I think they're primed to go on a little bit of a run here.
25:40
You know, DU is one of those teams that stayed away from the transfer portal, stuck to their committed recruits, developed their players.
25:49
You know, it's that Bob Motzko style of, I like what we got and we're going to stick with it and we're going to develop it for the end of the year.
25:57
And that's what the Pioneers are right now.
26:00
And then on the bottom, we've got Maine and Cornell.
26:05
Wooden thinks, you know, Cornell should have had a national championship by now.
26:13
Well, there's a reason they don't.
26:16
This is a tough one for me.
26:18
I don't know how good Maine is.
26:20
You know, they're coming out of Hockey East where I feel BC and BU are at a very elite level.
26:25
And I'm not sure where UMass and Maine are in that standings.
26:31
Every once in a while, BC and BU drop games throughout the year that they probably shouldn't have based on talent, but it's hard to play consistent every night when you have those young players.
26:40
And I think they're kind of, you know, taking the benefit of that.
26:45
I like Cornell with the upset in the first round, and I like DU coming out of the region.
26:51
Nice.
26:52
I like that little upset.
26:53
Well, that'll make Woden happy.
26:54
If Cornell can at least get a victory in there, wouldn't it?
26:57
Yep.
26:57
It'll make Saturday more fun.
26:59
Definitely makes Saturday more fun there.
27:01
So I'm just going to quick check.
27:04
Any good questions?
27:05
There's been a lot of chat tonight.
27:06
I haven't been able to keep track of it.
27:09
I know I did see that our guy Alex McLeod, he was watching earlier.
27:14
And he was actually talking about the transfer portal is going to be crazy with tons of movement.
27:20
You know, we've seen a couple of guys here and there and a couple of guys already been picked up.
27:24
But it's kind of, it's really going to pick up.
27:28
But this is like we've talked about.
27:30
This is kind of the last year of kind of a lot of portal players because it's that last year of eligibility for COVID.
27:38
Yeah, one of the things that article I did for USHO is I was looking at how teams are balancing using that COVID year and transfers.
27:47
And you almost kind of look at it as the same thing.
27:50
You know, you see a kid who's a senior on your program.
27:55
Do you want to keep them?
27:56
That's almost like going on the portal, except you know what you have in that player already.
28:00
Where do you let them go?
28:02
As we saw with Blake Biondi, you know, he left UMD to go to Notre Dame.
28:06
I know a lot of Gopher fans were hoping he might come to Minnesota, but probably not a great fit.
28:12
You know, he's looking for something different, and Notre Dame is probably a good fit for him.
28:18
But I don't know if Minnesota will be active right away.
28:23
I think they will dip their toes in and look for a couple players here and there.
28:30
They have some decisions to make.
28:33
Their players have some decisions to make if they want to come back.
28:36
You know, with Nevers and Kester.
28:38
We'll see.
28:40
Does Minnesota look for a goalie in the portal?
28:44
You know, Bardo has not done very well in junior hockey this year.
28:49
Nathan Airy hasn't played a lot, a little bit of an unknown.
28:52
You know, are you looking for someone who's more experienced?
28:56
That'll be interesting to watch in the portal because there's a lot of good goalies in college hockey and there's only one net for each team.
29:04
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29:05
That is the truth.
29:06
You talk about experienced all things, but as you talk about that, we need to talk about another one of our sponsors.
29:13
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29:17
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29:18
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29:19
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29:21
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29:31
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29:33
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29:34
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29:37
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29:42
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29:43
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29:48
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29:54
And hopefully if there's a big officiating disaster this weekend, he could explain it to you over the phone as well.
30:04
I like that.
30:05
But also we cannot forget about the twins at Yocum Real Estate Group, Veegs.
30:09
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30:10
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30:13
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30:22
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30:28
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30:33
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30:41
Veegs, I see Deutch is saying, nice sweatshirt.
30:44
He loves the sweatshirt you're wearing tonight, so Deutch must be watching.
30:46
Hi, Brian.
30:47
Hopefully things are well with you.
30:49
Well, we've had Nelson Farms right by Sioux Falls.
30:52
So you might be able to drive by it, get a look at the cattle on your way there.
30:59
Not a bad idea, Veegs, not a bad idea.
31:01
So it comes to this, we've got this final region that has Minnesota in it, Veegs, and Boston is also there as well.
31:13
And they're not BC, but they're not far behind.
31:19
I think they're not far behind, but I think it's a good match up for a region for Minnesota with these groups.
31:26
You know, BU's got a lot of talent.
31:29
Celebrini is probably one of the most talented players in college hockey for the last couple of years.
31:35
I think he's better than Cooley.
31:36
I think he's better than Fantilly.
31:38
You know, I'd probably put him, you know, at that Matthew and I's type level in terms of impact on a college game.
31:44
You know, he can really drive play.
31:47
He's physical, he's skilled, he wins pucks.
31:51
He can score, he can dish.
31:53
He's good on the power play.
31:54
It will be fun to see him in this regional.
31:58
And RIT is a veteran team, so that's going to be an interesting matchup for them.
32:02
I thought BU against Minnesota last year in the Frozen Four got kind of pushed around.
32:08
Hudson probably played too many minutes in that game.
32:10
Minnesota really put the forecheck on him and made life difficult.
32:14
You know, the BU forwards didn't do well against Minnesota's bigger players and the Gophers controlled the game.
32:21
So if you're looking for a tough first-round matchup where if a team's not ready to go, RIT is going to be a difficult opponent.
32:28
They've got a lot of older players, a lot of fifth years.
32:31
They'll be in it for that one.
32:34
And I'm guessing anyone who's there, either a Minnesota fan or likely quite a few North Dakota fans will be there because a lot of people probably bought those tickets thinking North Dakota will be there, will be cheering against Boston University in that RIT matchup.
32:48
Well, for sure.
32:49
So the hostile crowd, you know, if people get there early, who knows what kind of atmosphere you get for that first game as well because it can be kind of a challenging thing to play that afternoon time.
33:01
It can be.
33:02
And then we've got Minnesota and Omaha.
33:07
Wasn't that long ago at Loveland Regional that Minnesota actually ended Omaha season a couple of years back, Veegs.
33:15
And now they have the chance to do it again, but I think this is a tough matchup for Minnesota because Omaha is playing extremely well right now.
33:26
Yeah, you look at where they were in the pairwise at Christmas to making the tournament where they did.
33:34
Quite the performance.
33:35
I think you have to go back to when Wisconsin made that leap from the high 20s into the tournament to find a team that made it from that far back.
33:44
And so they got hot at the right time.
33:47
And they are a tough defensive team.
33:50
They're an older team.
33:52
They've got good centers.
33:53
They've had good goaltending.
33:55
And they've beaten a lot of good teams here down the stretch.
33:59
I didn't think they looked great against DU in the championship game.
34:02
Maybe they kind of ran out of gas.
34:05
But the Soviet...
34:06
Yeah, they did play three games the weekend before and they obviously played the night before.
34:10
So yeah, I think they might maybe ran out of gas in that game against DU.
34:15
DU is a tough team.
34:16
And DU had to come back in that game as well.
34:19
So impressive performance there.
34:21
But I think this will be a good matchup for Minnesota.
34:24
The Gophers have played pretty well against teams like this who lock it down.
34:29
You think of Ohio State and Notre Dame in the last couple of years.
34:33
The Gophers have been pretty patient.
34:35
And all year, the Gophers haven't really turned over pucks at the blue lines very often.
34:42
Your favorite thing that you hate.
34:44
Yeah.
34:44
And they've done a good job of avoiding that.
34:46
Which is promising when you play teams like Omaha who are looking for you to do that.
34:51
I think the problem with Minnesota this year is sometimes when they get to the circles, they take a bad shot, a low percentage chance, or they miss wide on shots, and they don't really get into their ground game as effectively as you'd like them to get.
35:09
So they're not going to feed Omaha's offense, which I think is a good situation for Minnesota.
35:15
And if they're able to have better shift discipline, string together and connect shifts and win draws, this should be a good matchup for Minnesota.
35:25
I don't think Omaha is going to drive play against them.
35:27
So this is an opportunity for Minnesota to get comfortable, feel the puck, get their forecheck going, and play a structured game and get going in the tournament.
35:37
It's a good opportunity for them.
35:39
You know, I think, and I've said it for a while, I really think this team goes as far as the superstars can bring them.
35:49
You know, we had Snuggerud talking with the media today, a couple of articles, I know Jess did an article about him this week.
36:00
It's, well, it's not just Snuggerud.
36:02
We need some guys offensively to really start participating here.
36:08
We've seen Jackson Nelson up his game the last month incredibly, whereas, you know, Snuggerud had a goal late in that Michigan game, you know, overtime goal before that in the Ohio States, maybe a week off has helped any kind of lingering injuries.
36:25
Snuggerud, Pitlick, Boyd, Wazinski, if these guys show up at all, I think it's a very successful weekend in Sioux Falls.
36:37
Well, I think the recipe for this team, though, is to win 3-2-3-1 type games.
36:43
If they think they're going to go out and try to score five or six and look to score every rush, they're going to have a short run.
36:52
But they still need those, like it says, looking at you, 8177 and 20-22.
36:58
It's hard to disagree with that.
36:59
I mean, these guys need to...
37:02
We can't have it like against Michigan with, you know, one goal.
37:05
I mean, like you said, maybe three, two, but those guys do need to show up.
37:09
Those guys need to get the three goals.
37:11
You're looking at Snuggerud, Pitlick and Nelson to get your three goals.
37:16
But they can't worry about trying to get a goal every shift or try to get a great scoring chance every shift.
37:23
That's not going to happen.
37:26
Right.
37:26
It's okay to just win a shift, turn it over the next line and gain momentum.
37:32
Because when you gain momentum, you're more likely to go on the power play.
37:35
And that's going to be a good thing for Minnesota.
37:38
I think what they've gotten into trouble against Penn State and Michigan is there's too much individual play.
37:44
As much as Michigan played a great game against Minnesota, I saw Minnesota giving away possessions way too easily.
37:52
And it's not turning over the puck necessarily.
37:54
It's making bad plays, low percentage plays that just aren't going to help you win hockey games.
38:00
You got to play percentage hockey.
38:02
And sometimes that just means winning a momentum shift.
38:06
And so I think that's really key for Minnesota.
38:08
And if they're able to do that, they can go on the run.
38:11
But if they start trying to do it all by themselves, it's going to be like the Walker-McLaughlin teams, where they just kind of get into a rut, the bad body language comes out, and it really impacts the rest of the team.
38:24
There's not the strong leaders of a favor, nice to turn the ship around this year.
38:30
They kind of feel sorry for themselves sometimes on the bench.
38:34
They're saying the right things, but they're not changing their play.
38:36
It will be interesting to see what comes out this weekend.
38:39
I like what Josh is saying here.
38:41
It feels like a good weekend for Kurth and Hughlund to show up big as well.
38:45
It would be great for that line just to play that possession hockey, and cycle and grind.
38:50
And then you get rewarded.
38:54
Hughlund is good at that game, but he needs a little help from Lam and Kurth to sustain the pressure.
38:59
And I feel like too often they're just looking for that quick offense that may or may not be there.
39:06
So it's, you know, I...
39:10
This week I've been slowly feeling better about this series, you know, because obviously this up and down season has been tough.
39:17
You know, we see him play at certain times where, you know, honestly, you know they could shut down BC and win.
39:25
And then we see sometimes like, you kind of wonder, gosh, they could lose to Omaha very easily here because we just don't know what team is going to show up.
39:36
Well, I think Bob is showing the last couple of weeks, he'll mix up the lines.
39:41
If he doesn't like what's happening, he's going to shuffle the deck and try to find some combinations that work.
39:47
And that'll be an interesting thing to watch as well, is if a team has that start, what are the combinations he goes to?
39:57
Because we've seen Nelson play with some different players to get him going and maybe send a message to some of those line mates.
40:04
But they need players to buy in for this weekend at work.
40:09
So what do you think?
40:10
Do you think Minnesota can get it done?
40:12
I just think they've got so much experience that they'll be able to figure it out.
40:19
I think the NCAA Tournament is a different animal than the Big Ten Tournament and what we saw at the end of the season there.
40:26
I think the focus should be there.
40:27
They've had plenty of time to drill in the messages they need to get.
40:32
They'll play a game Thursday, hopefully, for Gopher fans.
40:35
They'll see them again on Saturday.
40:37
So they'll have enough time to get messages from the coaching staff, good game plans, and have a way to come out and successfully attack their opponents.
40:46
I think that's good for Minnesota.
40:49
Also, kind of shortening the bench.
40:51
I think having these games a day apart will help Minnesota.
40:55
We've seen, I think, Bob lean on, you know, nine Fords, ten Fords a little bit more lately.
41:01
We should see that again this weekend.
41:02
And the games are a little longer.
41:04
The breaks are longer, quite a bit longer compared to like a Big Ten game.
41:08
That's right.
41:09
And I think Bob was like, oh, that's kind of nice.
41:12
You can roll your top guys a little bit more and lean on them.
41:16
I know Cappy was talking about that.
41:18
The breaks are like a minute and a half, two minutes or something like that too.
41:21
Yeah, I think they're three, two minute timeouts period.
41:25
So it's kind of like those high school teams that get to the state tournament and all of a sudden they have TV timeouts.
41:29
And so your first line can just play all kinds of hockey.
41:33
Maybe we'll see that with Minnesota and Michigan too.
41:38
That's one thing to look forward to with them.
41:42
Well, it's going to be an exciting weekend.
41:44
You know, Veegs and I will be there on Thursday night for the game.
41:49
I know you got to come back on Friday for some little camp and coaching, but you're hoping to get back on Saturday if they're playing.
41:55
So that sounds good.
41:58
We're going to try to do like a little live YouTube and Twitter broadcast after the game tomorrow night.
42:04
We'll have to see.
42:05
We kind of have to see what kind of situation we've got in Sioux Falls, you know, the setup, the connections, you know, a lot of times like maybe you can only do something in a working media room where you don't want to be talking and make all this noise or guys are trying to write articles.
42:20
So we're playing it by ear right now, but we're going to do our best to get something live to you guys sometime tomorrow night.
42:26
And then hopefully again on Saturday night.
42:29
Yeah, if they win, I'll be there for that one as well.
42:32
A little pre-Easter hockey celebration.
42:38
You know, I just love getting away for weekends and hockey weekends.
42:41
I mean, it's going to be fun.
42:43
Last time in Fargo, I didn't go up until, you know, the second game, but this year I'm up there over the Sioux Falls, I should say, the entire time.
42:52
So I got that day off to find something to do, find a couple of restaurants to watch the games because it's the best weekend of the year, VEGS.
43:01
Even if Minnesota is not in the tournament and they're doing terrible, it's my favorite weekend of the year.
43:07
Well, I think this year's tournament, you know, as much as I feel like I've got some pretty strong favorites as I pick the brackets, any of these 16 teams can go on runs and come out of their regionals.
43:19
You know, RIT, good team, Michigan Tech, good team.
43:23
All these big schools from Hockey East and NCHC, Big Ten, they can go on runs.
43:29
Heck, even Cornell has a chance this year, Jupe.
43:33
That would make Mr.
43:34
Wooden happy, wouldn't it?
43:36
That's right, it would be fun.
43:38
I kind of like your picks though.
43:39
You've got Michigan and Minnesota back in the frozen floor for the third year in a row.
43:46
Yeah, I mean, the job that the coaches have done putting together these rosters at Minnesota and Michigan has been outstanding and there's just so much talent on these teams.
43:57
And I think having talented players can really carry you through a tournament.
44:02
You need them to play well for you to get there.
44:05
But Michigan and Minnesota have some real future stars on their rosters.
44:11
Well, it's going to be fun no matter what.
44:13
So just enjoy the weekend.
44:19
Hopefully, it will be a fun game.
44:22
I just think everybody just wants their team to play well at this time of year.
44:26
You just don't want to have one of those just down-of-the-dump games at this time.
44:32
And Minnesota, at least with their goaltending, should expect consistency back there.
44:38
So, you know, we've got the show right now.
44:39
Maybe a couple short shows after the games this weekend.
44:42
Next week, I'm guessing probably not a show of eagles.
44:46
You know, it's kind of that off week.
44:47
Get people to breathe.
44:49
If Minnesota does make it to the Frozen Four, I would say we're going to do a big Wednesday show.
44:54
Maybe even at the Frozen Four.
44:56
I don't know yet.
44:56
I haven't decided.
44:57
But we'll do some kind of pre-Frozen Four show, whether Minnesota makes it or not.
45:01
And then we'll at least do a recap after the Frozen Four.
45:04
So we got at least two more shows, two more big shows left for this season.
45:09
Does that work for you, Veegs?
45:11
That should be good for me.
45:14
That's good.
45:15
That's good.
45:16
You got anything else?
45:18
Go read his article on uscho.com, folks.
45:21
Yeah, a lot of work to figure out where everybody committed and when they got their stuff.
45:26
And with all the transfers, there's like 20% of college hockey guys transferred this last year.
45:32
So last three years.
45:34
So it's amazing.
45:36
It's just too high of a number.
45:38
Great quotes from the Seratoris.
45:40
I feel for you, though.
45:41
When you're in Excel for that long, you just start seeing boxes in your dreams.
45:46
That's right.
45:47
I had to put on my Huxley Optical Blue Light Lenses to calm the eyes a little bit.
45:53
I got to call them up.
45:54
I got to get my setup set up.
45:56
Some glasses, new glasses.
46:00
So hopefully we're going to see you guys tomorrow night, late in the evening, 10.30 ish.
46:06
Hopefully we'll have to see you after postgame.
46:08
And then hopefully again on Saturday night, playing it by year.
46:11
Just pay attention to our YouTube channel and Twitter and we'll get it all out there for you.
46:16
But that's going to do it for this episode of The GPL Podcast.
46:19
And like I said, we'll be live maybe a couple of times this weekend and otherwise we'll see you guys again right before the frozen floor.
46:27
So for those of you watching live, stay tuned for a little bit of overtime.
46:31
Not going to go outrageous tonight because we've got to get up early.
46:34
Got to go to Sioux Falls tomorrow so we'll just have to wait and see.
46:38
The rest of you, we'll catch you next time on The GPL Podcast.
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