0:08
This is The GPL Podcast, part of the Pulltab Sports family.
0:15
Eat that, Todd.
0:17
Eat that, Tatha.
0:18
Eat that, Schlox.
0:21
Eat that, Drew.
0:30
Cripple, hey, Stomp's from St.
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Paul.
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Let's go.
0:33
Stomp.
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There we go.
0:37
We got to complete the same question.
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Duck, duck.
0:42
Goose.
1:01
Good evening, and welcome to The GPL Podcast, episode number 266, and the beginning of season number 14 of the podcast.
1:13
Well, let's bring him in.
1:14
Eric Vegoe, Veegs, how are you doing?
1:18
I'm doing great hockey season as well underway for me.
1:22
I've been coaching some youth teams a little bit already, and I've taken in a bunch of gopher hockey practices to see how this group can come together.
1:31
I'm excited for the season.
1:32
It should be a really good one.
1:35
Sorry to strike me into these new ear buds.
1:37
I haven't gotten used to them yet.
1:38
I'm not as cool as you yet.
1:40
So I'm just just trying to get there.
1:43
And of course, I have video problems right away.
1:46
Well, it's a new season.
1:47
Well, software, new software with CNN and my internet company cannot go away fast enough.
1:53
I'll be getting my fiber hopefully soon.
1:57
But they just said fall.
2:01
What does that mean?
2:02
Big fall means it's complicated.
2:05
Could be this fall could be next fall.
2:07
But we know that the hockey season is coming now.
2:09
And that is the truth.
2:10
The hockey season is coming.
2:11
But about a week and a half ago, 11, 12 days ago, we woke up to some what the F type of news, Veegs.
2:23
Mr.
2:23
Pitlick, he didn't show up on a pro roster.
2:28
He showed up at another school.
2:31
Very surprising.
2:33
I was on the golf course as I've been trying to get on the golf course a lot after I was done coaching baseball.
2:39
And my phone was kind of blowing up during the round.
2:42
It was a very important round for me.
2:44
It was the shootout of my club.
2:47
And I got distracted by the news.
2:50
But it wasn't a surprise to see Pitlick would not be back with the Gophers.
2:54
I think he had made it pretty clear at the end of the year by withdrawing from school, finishing up his classwork that he did not want to be a college hockey player.
3:05
And so I think the coaching staff was moving on.
3:09
I think Bob had multiple appearances with media where he said, you know, we're going to give him his space.
3:17
He wants to be professional.
3:18
He wants to take this next step.
3:20
That's his mojo.
3:22
Let's let him do that.
3:23
And I think Rhett found out the offers were not going to be coming from the professional teams like he'd hoped.
3:30
And kind of as a last minute lifeboat, he's headed down to Mankato.
3:38
What?
3:40
What?
3:44
I mean, what is that?
3:46
It's an opportunity for him to, you know, show himself at another program and continue to put up offense.
3:53
We'll see if he puts together, you know, the complete game defensive side of the puck, you know, less turnovers, hard to know for sure, if he can accomplish that.
4:03
I know he's always been kind of a free spirit, but the offensive talent is definitely there with him.
4:09
And it's just going to be up to him to hone that in a little bit more and make himself attractive to a pro team.
4:16
And they're wondering what happened.
4:17
So we pressed start broadcast here.
4:21
All said it failed and it created a brand new one on YouTube.
4:26
Sorry about that, folks.
4:27
It's like I said, it had an issue.
4:29
It didn't record.
4:30
So I'm in the in the background trying to figure out if I can update it on the website.
4:36
So what do you think?
4:39
It would just it created another one.
4:42
Things like that happen, Veegs.
4:45
Technical difficulties.
4:47
I was thinking it might not work on Facebook, but I think it might have.
4:51
Who knows?
4:53
Here's the reason, though.
4:54
We decided to go away from StreamYard because out of nowhere, they doubled their prices per month, folks.
5:01
And I'm like, whoa.
5:04
What happened there?
5:07
But if we keep having trouble here, we might have to just go and pay the price, Veegs.
5:11
I don't know.
5:12
I mean, that's kind of what happened to Rep Pitlick, is he had to pay the price and go be a Maverick.
5:19
You know, I think it makes him a good player for that roster.
5:22
I think the offense is going to be there for him.
5:24
It's just, can you play a more consistent game?
5:28
Yeah, that's kind of troubling because my earbuds are falling out now.
5:33
Geez, maybe I should have stuck with the other ones.
5:35
She has problems all around.
5:37
This is like an exhibition game for us.
5:39
So well, it kind of is.
5:40
Well, there's an exhibition game this weekend.
5:42
But so how did Pitlick actually have to do it?
5:46
Technically, he wasn't supposed to do anything, but he just had to like enroll in school or something.
5:52
But what happened there?
5:54
Yeah, it's kind of a curious case.
5:55
I like he couldn't be recruited, apparently, according to everyone I've talked to, which is very confusing.
6:04
And he didn't enter the transfer portal, although I think he could have.
6:08
Yeah, I was a graduate student.
6:10
It's just all very confusing.
6:12
It kind of aligns with some of the Red Pitlick aura of the past.
6:17
It's very confusing.
6:18
This this kid, you know, he's he's well liked, you know, as a person.
6:24
It's just I think there's some challenges there that, you know, for Minnesota, I think it's going to be fine.
6:31
You know, he's one of those players.
6:33
He does put up a lot of points.
6:35
I've heard that in my DMS from all of you Gopher fans.
6:38
You're going to miss that offense.
6:40
But I think it probably makes this year's team a little easier to manage as a coaching staff.
6:46
You don't have to worry about the randomness of him and his game, his personality, and just the, you know, the locker room chemistry.
6:56
I think it's a simpler team to manage.
6:58
That's also why I think the Gophers didn't add any extra players.
7:02
Why some people think maybe they're a little short at forward going into this year.
7:07
This is a really talented team and you don't want to just change too much because you have so much talent in the roster already.
7:18
Corey, if you have a comment here, it's also easy to manage personalities when you give them all letters.
7:27
Yeah, that's a lot of letters.
7:29
You know, if anyone saw my tweet today, the record before was five.
7:36
Gophers getting a letter, usually it's three.
7:40
Sometimes it's four.
7:42
The one time was five, six.
7:44
I do think six is probably too many.
7:46
It just is a lot for me.
7:48
But I'm sure there's a reason.
7:50
You know, I'm sure the coaching staff was looking at who the team wanted to have letters.
7:56
The team is like, it makes sense for all these guys to have them.
7:59
Hey, if the team wants it, it's kind of like jerseys these days.
8:02
If the kids want different jerseys, different helmets, different gloves, different skates, let them have it.
8:07
If it makes them happy and perform better.
8:09
I'm old school.
8:11
I do like when you look back at the old, you know, history of captains, there's one or two, and one has the C, one has the A, you know, stuff like that.
8:18
But that's kind of what I'm thinking.
8:20
I mean, we were chatting back before.
8:21
I like miss the old days.
8:22
One captain, two assistant captains.
8:25
And so many teams these days have a leadership council or a leadership group that meets with the coaching staff to kind of go over what's going on.
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The team, how to handle situations, bring up problems and elevate them and handle them.
8:39
And usually it's like one per class, one per position group.
8:44
So you end up having like eight or ten players who interact with the coaching staff a little bit more deeply than trying to do it with all 26.
8:52
So I think this is just kind of a continuation of that model.
8:58
I know it's confusing for a lot of people.
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I've gotten some pretty funny DMs on that one today as well.
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Just got a text from Barb upstairs.
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She says, it's no go on Facebook.
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Shocking.
9:09
So maybe we'll be back to stream Air Diggs.
9:12
We'll see.
9:13
We're trying things out.
9:15
It's like putting together line line combinations early in the year.
9:18
You know, you usually don't pick the right ones at the start of the year.
9:22
Well, what have you been seeing so far?
9:24
I mean, you've been at a lot of practice with the nest and put a little like five second clip tease.
9:28
You couldn't do anything longer.
9:29
This little five second clip today.
9:31
Yeah, I think the coaching staff wouldn't want me to video the entire practice.
9:35
But no, no, a little three on three cross eyes at the end of practice where they're playing a little game is fun to see.
9:42
And that was Brody Zehmer scoring a goal.
9:44
He was playing with Matthew Wood and Oliver Moore or no, he's playing with Oliver Moore and Jimmy Stungard at that one.
9:52
We've also seen Matthew Wood playing with Moore and Snuggerud.
9:55
So I think, you know, the coaching staff is trying to figure out what combinations work best.
10:01
I've often heard from Bob that he likes to have two players be consistent together all year and then mix in third players.
10:10
And some of the players that I'm seeing stuck together are more Snuggerud.
10:14
I'm seeing the Hublin and Lamb, I'm seeing Clark and Kurth, and I'm seeing Hendrickson and Poulsen.
10:20
So in terms of forwards, I'm seeing those four pairs together a lot.
10:25
Okay.
10:26
Evers, Zeamer, Faloon, Wood moved around in different spots on those lines.
10:33
The short amount of time I saw Wood skating last week, very smooth, almost kind of just flows in the wind out there.
10:45
It was just really odd to me.
10:46
It wasn't something I was used to.
10:49
Well, Bob kind of says he's got a little bit of Thomas Vannick in him.
10:53
I can see some of that.
10:57
Wood's a pretty smooth player in transition, handling pucks, getting things to the net.
11:03
I'm still waiting to see how he battles, how he can move for pucks.
11:09
I worry sometimes with players, there's so much transition emphasis, there's so much rush emphasis.
11:17
But that's only really about 10 percent of college hockey.
11:20
So much of college hockey is in-zone offense, pressuring the puck, winning pucks back, getting second chances.
11:27
I think that's really what makes elite teams.
11:30
I think that's one of the reasons Jimmy Snuggerud came back, is to develop that part of his game a little bit more.
11:37
So I think Matthew Wood coming to Minnesota is really going to force him to develop that part of his game as well.
11:46
Well, I see Mote is in the chat.
11:48
I'm just kind of looking through some questions here.
11:53
Let's see, Boxboy10 has a question, Veegs.
11:56
So with what I looked into, the Gophers hosting the icebreaker, that would technically leave two more games they could schedule because it doesn't count towards the max games allowed.
12:06
Is that correct?
12:07
Yeah, on our GPL schedule page, we've got little notes about how the schedule can work and the exceptions you can get for getting extra games.
12:19
You know, you get your 34-game limit, but you can get exceptions, the icebreaker, the Hall of Fame game, and things like that.
12:27
So you can get extra games into your schedule that way.
12:30
You can play the Alaska schools.
12:32
If you play there, you get extra games.
12:34
So those are how you can get above the 34.
12:37
Things like the exhibition game don't count.
12:40
And also, you know, you can go abroad.
12:45
Like, you know, Wisconsin went to Vancouver.
12:48
Some teams have gone to Italy and things like that.
12:50
So there's ways to do those kind of things.
12:52
Up there in the schedule notes.
12:54
Yeah, in the schedule notes here, Veegs has explained that also.
12:59
Always just head over to the GPL schedule page and it'll tell you everything you want about it.
13:03
And also, you can subscribe to the schedule there.
13:07
I keep one calendar active.
13:09
So if you subscribe, it's going to fill in games going back about 10 years.
13:13
So you just stay subscribed to one calendar and you're good.
13:16
I just update it when things change, like when we get game times officially.
13:21
Because you just kind of guess the game times, but we're still waiting for that.
13:28
So it's just something out there for you guys to use in your advantage.
13:33
And we are hearing a few things, Veegs.
13:36
We're hearing that all the home games will be on TV this year.
13:42
Combination of Fox 9, Fox 9 Plus, Big Ten Network.
13:48
But we're still kind of waiting for the Big Ten to figure their stuff out, aren't we?
13:54
Yeah.
13:55
And we've talked about this a lot in the past.
13:57
How, you know, the University of Minnesota really pushes budget into televising as many games as they can.
14:04
You know, they partner with Rush Media for that production part of their broadcast schedule.
14:10
Other schools in the Big Ten don't put that kind of emphasis on hockey.
14:15
So sometimes you just get like that in arena camera work for those games.
14:21
And unless the Big Ten kind of steps in and upgrades that production value, you haven't seen the other schools really have the Minnesota product.
14:29
So we'll see what happens.
14:30
It's still kind of early for that stuff.
14:32
Yeah.
14:34
And usually, yeah.
14:39
We don't really know because some of the, you know, the BigTen or B1G Plus software now is that they don't allow you to select a sport or a school.
14:49
You got to select this just big package now.
14:52
So we're also not sure what's going to be on BTN Pulsar or B1G Plus.
14:57
Like last year, a lot of those Fox9 games were on the Plus Beaks, streamed live.
15:03
So knock on wood that happens this year.
15:07
So a lot of people out of market can see some of these games, right?
15:11
And I'm intrigued because I think we've seen some renewals come across on BigTen that are the old package.
15:18
So maybe if you're grandfathered in to the streaming service of just having like Minnesota Hockey, you're going to get that going forward.
15:27
We will see.
15:29
And of course, as MoTay said, you're going to have Peacock involved for Notre Dame too.
15:35
Always, yep.
15:36
That will be special.
15:37
Always the case.
15:38
Always the case.
15:40
Well, these, Pulltab Sports is excited.
15:43
They want to keep with us this year.
15:45
So they're sending us some ads, some things we've seen already and some things we haven't.
15:52
But of course, I think we need to start with my favorites, which would be Duke Cannon, don't you think?
16:00
Oh, there it was, too.
16:01
Right.
16:02
You a hard worker?
16:04
You need a soap that works just as hard as you do?
16:07
Look no further than Duke Cannon and their seasonal selections, including Trophy Game, Buck Moon and the ever popular Candy Corn.
16:15
Grab yourself Duke Cannon's big ass brick of soap today.
16:17
Try it out for yourself.
16:19
Climb aboard the Duke Cannon train and get the best in men's hair care, beard care, soaps, deodorant and cologne.
16:25
Smell like you give a damn with Duke Cannon.
16:28
Work harder, smell better, make your hair a weapon.
16:32
Just like I do with my news anchor, PoleMaid.
16:36
You do.
16:37
You do.
16:37
And I haven't had a chance to use the soaps yet, but I'm hoping to get a chance to do that fairly soon.
16:43
But we also need to talk about Cub Foods, Veegs, one of my favorites because I love their doughnut holes.
16:50
Yeah, tailgating season.
16:52
Cub Foods is a go-to grocery and liquor store.
16:55
You know, if you're getting ready for the Gophers-USC game, you better stock up.
16:58
Don't scurry around town picking up all your game needs everywhere else.
17:03
Just go to Cub.
17:03
You'll get your hamburgers, your hot dogs, brats, chips, veggies, cold cuts, party trade desserts, even stopping by their liquor stores and grabbing drinks for all your tailgating needs.
17:15
Go to local Cub on your next shopping trip.
17:18
All your tailgating essentials.
17:22
And of course, we thank both Cub and Duke Canada for sponsoring The GPL Podcast.
17:28
Okay, let's take an earlier look here.
17:30
We've got some freshmen.
17:31
We've got some transfers.
17:34
So it's a little different than a normal year.
17:36
We have, you know, Bob hasn't really dug into the portal much.
17:40
This year, he did in Wood and Sullyay.
17:43
Sullyay, Sullyay.
17:44
I'm not sure how to pronounce it.
17:46
Sullyay.
17:48
So that'll make things interesting, at least on the goalie side, but also on the offense.
17:52
Things are really different with Wood.
17:56
Well, I think with Wood, the coaching staff got aggressive getting his interests because the coaching staff thought they're going to be losing Jimmy Snuggerud.
18:07
And so they're looking for an offensive wing player to really come in and hopefully fill that spot on the roster if Snuggerud were to sign.
18:16
Snuggerud was disappointed with how the season ended.
18:18
He was dealing with some injury stuff down the stretch.
18:21
I think he was just kind of getting a little fatigued at the end of the year and he just wasn't dominating like he wanted to.
18:28
And so he had that itch to come back.
18:30
And so when that decision was made, all of a sudden, you now could have a line of three first round draft picks with Snuggerud, Wood and Moore.
18:39
And I think we'll see at least those three together on the power play.
18:43
But it just adds a lot of firepower to this roster.
18:46
Some people are saying, how are you going to replace Pitlick?
18:50
I think they've got plenty of talent coming back to fill out the lineup and score lots of points.
18:55
And I think it probably makes them better defensively.
18:58
They're going to have more possession, more continuity.
19:01
So I think that's important with Wood.
19:03
And then with Soullier, always a question mark when you have a goalie who hasn't played a lot of hockey.
19:11
And Nathan Airy was recruited to come in and play games.
19:13
He's a big guy.
19:14
He's got lots of junior experience in Canada.
19:18
But he hasn't played a lot of college hockey and he had a little bit of an injury issue coming in.
19:22
So when you have a roster this talented, you don't want to put all your eggs in that kind of basket.
19:28
You want to have a little bit of reassurance.
19:31
And you know, Bob has said, Soullier almost recruited Minnesota as an option, rather than Minnesota going after him.
19:38
And he knows that he's going to be competing with Airy for a spot.
19:42
And I think what we'll see at the start of the year, one goalie will get Friday, one goalie will get Saturday.
19:48
Yep.
19:48
You'll go for a couple of weekends and see how things are going.
19:52
And then maybe a number one goalie emerges.
19:55
Bob has always said, I pick starters for a game.
19:58
I don't pick a number one.
19:59
I'm not just going to hand you a number one spot.
20:02
You're going to have to earn it.
20:03
And so we'll have an old fashioned goalie battle on our hands.
20:06
And we won't have Jess Myers in the press conference every week asking.
20:11
So that's going to make me uncomfortable as we pursue that story this season.
20:16
Because you do like to have a number one goalie going down the stretch if you can.
20:21
It's just we don't know who that's going to be yet.
20:23
I think Ari gets first shot at maybe having a little bit of extra leash to get through.
20:28
Any growing pains, but he's a very big technical goalie.
20:31
Looks very good when he plays.
20:33
So I think it's not going to be a weak spot.
20:36
But I don't know if it would be a strength.
20:38
All right.
20:38
Well, let's start on defense here.
20:41
We've got a freshman, John Whipple Vs.
20:45
Tell me about this kid.
20:48
Big defenseman, you know, I think when he committed to Minnesota, we're thinking he is one of the top defensemen in his age group.
20:56
I don't think he quite had the experience in Ann Arbor with the development team that he was hoping for.
21:02
He kind of became kind of that support defenseman.
21:05
But I think he steps into Minnesota ready to play that role.
21:10
He is going to be kind of that defensive defenseman in waiting.
21:17
I'm trying to think what kind of player he'll be like.
21:21
Maybe a Ryan Johnson type guy.
21:24
If he can be Cal Thomas, that would be great for Minnesota.
21:27
But he's big, he's physical.
21:29
I've seen him throw some guys around in battle drills.
21:32
So that's going to be there for him.
21:35
All right.
21:36
Well, next I'm going to bring up Mr.
21:38
Leo GrubaVeegs.
21:41
This kid is, he's all over the place.
21:43
He signed with Nielsen Sports.
21:46
I've been seeing his new NIL stuff all over the place.
21:51
But what about him as a player?
21:53
A USHL Defenseman of the Year last year, really an offensive talent and an experienced guy.
21:59
He's going to be 20 here when the season gets going.
22:03
And he's a pretty talented guy.
22:07
One of my question marks on the blue line for Minnesota is who can run a power play?
22:12
We've seen guys back there running it, but it hasn't really been great the last couple of seasons.
22:18
I think that's something for Minnesota that they really would like, is to have a guy come back there and take it over.
22:23
And this group of that guy, we will see.
22:27
You know, he's definitely got some talent.
22:29
I was watching some drills at the end of practice where guys were testing the goalies with their shot.
22:33
Grubo was hanging in there with Jimmy Snuggerud until the end.
22:37
You know, he can shoot the puck.
22:38
He's got good vision, good hands.
22:40
I think he's a good fit for Minnesota.
22:43
All right, a little zoomed in there.
22:47
Sorry about that.
22:49
Let's check out the old right up here, right in the forwards August balloon here.
22:55
Another six foot two kid.
22:57
I mean, that's one of the things about this team is I noticed on the first day of practice, they look bigger out there.
23:05
There are not very many smaller players.
23:08
There's a Mike Kester out there who's not real big, but a lot of these new players are all filled out and developed.
23:15
Even Brody Zimmer, he's not the tallest guy in the world, but he is thick.
23:20
You've got some guys like that, and Falun's a three-year vet of USHL Hockey.
23:25
He battles hard, he's a big body, he drives the net.
23:28
I'm not sure how much skill he's going to bring to the team, but as old coach used to tell me, size doesn't tire, and he's going to be big out there and help out.
23:38
All right, let's keep moving forward here.
23:42
Beckett Hendrickson, that sounds like a familiar name, Biggs.
23:46
Yeah, Darby's little guy.
23:48
Yeah, so it's fun to see him on the roster.
23:52
He got traded to Dubuque last year and played with Eric Paulson, another guy we'll get to here, and they were a dominant line for the Fighting Saints in the USHL.
24:02
They actually got to the Clark Cup Final against Fargo and Leo Grubo's team, and Hendrickson and Paulson had some chemistry, so much so that I've seen them kind of paired up together on lines throughout the practices I've been to.
24:14
He's a big body guy who was at the development team, and I don't think he had the best experience.
24:21
He was kind of pigeonholed down the roster a little bit.
24:25
You know, sometimes when you get to Ann Arbor, they really focus on their high end players and give them lots of special teams time and first line minutes.
24:33
Yeah, it's really a difference.
24:34
So for him to go back to the USHL for another season really helps him come into college hockey, ready to play.
24:41
I've talked to coaches before.
24:43
It's really hard to make the transition from junior to college if you're not confident.
24:49
Because it's not getting any easier, especially in the Big Ten, especially a place at Minnesota, where you have a lot of eyes on you.
24:55
Getting that extra year of experience is really going to help Beckett as he transitions to college hockey.
25:01
Another six foot two kid.
25:04
Geez, these kids are big.
25:06
You think they're recruiting some size here?
25:08
You think that was an emphasis?
25:11
And then we go to six foot one, Eric Paulson.
25:14
So he's no tiny guy either.
25:16
Yeah, I think center was one of my concerns for the team coming into this year and having Paulson another six foot plus near 200 pound guy who's older and experienced coming to line up who can play center is going to be helpful.
25:31
And I think he's got a lot of potential with the Gophers, you know, kind of a late developing guy.
25:38
He looks really solid in practice, competes really hard, really strong on the skates, good vision, you know, I think he's going to be a good fit for Minnesota.
25:50
OK, next on the list.
25:52
Oh, I don't want to go too far down there.
25:54
Brody, is it Zeamer?
25:56
Is that how you pronounce it?
25:58
Let's bring him up here.
26:00
Oh, only 5'11.
26:02
He's tiny weeks, but 195 like he is.
26:05
He is a little tank out there.
26:07
And I think, you know, everyone talks about his compete level and his leadership skills.
26:14
You know, he may be a younger player at 18, but I think he's experienced and maybe plays older than he is.
26:22
And so I think he's going to be fit on a lot of different lines.
26:25
He's not, you know, one of those pairs that Bob puts together at the start of the year, but he can maybe play with more and snuggered.
26:33
You know, maybe he he drops down a line a little bit, maybe plays with Paulson and Hendrickson, and you know, got a freshman line together.
26:40
The one thing I worry with Zemur when I saw him out there with more and snuggered is maybe being a little too deferring with the puck and trying to get the puck.
26:50
Yeah, it's snuggered and more.
26:52
You know, you want to see guys who are confident in taking their chances.
26:55
I think we saw that with, you know, Connor Kurth and Jimmy Clark and Brody Lamb last year, you know, deferring to players that maybe have a little bit more pedigree than they do.
27:06
So, that's always the worry for me with players like this.
27:09
But everything about him, all his coaches, all say that he's a hardworking, competing guy.
27:16
Is that all we've got?
27:17
I think that's it, isn't it, Veegs?
27:19
Yeah, we got through the sixth freshman.
27:20
And, you know, the average age of these guys is almost 20.
27:23
And Bob on day one said, I'd like to get older with this roster.
27:28
I'd like to get older with this team.
27:31
This is one of those classes.
27:33
You know, you've got Whipple and you've got Zeamer who are younger guys, but they're physically developed younger guys.
27:39
They're not tiny people.
27:40
And so they can fit right into this roster and I think can play right away.
27:44
And that's why you didn't see Minnesota go out and grab extra guys, even with Pitlick leaving early.
27:52
So what are your thoughts on how the schedule ended up coming together this year?
27:59
I guess Vegas kind of messes up the home games.
28:02
We're not going to see a game until here at Mary Uchee until, was it late October?
28:10
That's a long way.
28:13
Yeah, it's going to be interesting to see this team have to go on the road right away.
28:17
I know Bob likes the road.
28:19
He likes that road trip atmosphere.
28:22
So it's going to be a lot of hotels for this group, a lot of bonding.
28:27
Also probably works out pretty well for Minnesota to delay their schedule at home when more focus can be paid to Minnesota hockey.
28:36
We always joke around January, the media room fills up and Bob goes, Oh, football season must be over, huh?
28:43
You guys all have a little free time to come watch some hockey.
28:46
So hopefully that helps the fans, too.
28:48
You know, we've looked at attendance in years past, and even though they have some big matchups with the North Dakota or Minnesota, Duluth, the St.
28:56
Cloud, you know, when it conflicts with football stuff, sometimes that impacts the crowd.
29:01
So maybe we'll see a little bit of increased attendance and scan tickets this year at Mariucci, but also a little bit lighter schedule for non-conference.
29:12
I would agree with you.
29:14
So we'll talk about the St.
29:15
Cloud game here in a little bit, but, you know, heading to Vegas for the icebreaker that also, you know, against Arizona, starting up not this Friday night, but next Friday night, 9:30 p.m.
29:28
puck drop.
29:29
And then in the other side of the bracket, you've got UMass and Omaha.
29:32
That's why we've got TBD.
29:33
So we'll have to wait to see what happens there.
29:38
Omaha is a pretty good team.
29:40
So, yeah, and UMass has been good in the past, but I would expect the Gophers to play Omaha.
29:46
And who was at Omaha this year?
29:52
Did somebody transfer to Omaha?
29:54
Pinomini?
29:55
Is he there?
29:56
I know one of them, David.
29:59
Where'd Strobel go?
30:02
Strobel's at CC.
30:03
Okay, yeah.
30:04
Well, then it's Pinonimi.
30:05
Pinonimi.
30:07
There you go.
30:09
I don't think he'll be tentative at Omaha.
30:11
He's always a tentative player at Minnesota.
30:14
I think he'll fit right in there.
30:15
And some guys, I think when they when they leave Minnesota, you know, the microscope kind of disappears on them and they can, they can develop players.
30:21
Some players can handle that kind of pressure.
30:25
Others, it kind of impacts them a lot as a hockey player.
30:28
So we've seen that at the NHL level, too.
30:30
You've seen some Minnesota guys come home for the wild, and it's just not great.
30:34
You know, they're worried about getting tickets for friends and family and seeing them before and after the game.
30:40
And that can be a challenging situation for players.
30:43
So, you know, I don't think these guys are bad kids for going to try something else.
30:49
Steve's a little concerned it's going to be empty in Vegas.
30:52
And you've got Big Box Boy saying that he's trying to get rid of his tickets.
30:58
We know quite a few people trying to get rid of their tickets.
31:00
They got their tickets and all of a sudden they decided to back out.
31:03
I think it also doesn't help that the Gophers are going to the Rose Bowl and football to play UCLA that same weekend.
31:11
Yeah, that's a tough one for Minnesota fans who have longed to be at the Rose Bowl and see the sunset behind the mountains.
31:17
And, you know, it's tough.
31:19
Vegas, California, if you've got options, it's a challenging one.
31:24
So then they head up to Duluth for a full series in Duluth, something that we know Sandlin loves and we know actually Moscow loves.
31:33
But the Don kind of messed that up for a couple of years, didn't he, with these homonyms?
31:37
Well, and I think the 80s probably got involved too.
31:41
You know, as they're trying to sell tickets, they would like that game to be on the schedule every year because it's such a big draw for Duluth even to have that on their schedule.
31:51
You know, if it's every other year, that probably hurts their ticket sales just a little bit.
31:55
You know, we've heard so much from our rival fan bases to Minnesota about how, you know, they don't care that the Gophers went to the Big Ten.
32:04
These schools all like happy Minnesota.
32:07
So, it makes a difference.
32:10
Then we go to a home and home with St.
32:12
Thomas.
32:14
Yeah, every coach's favorite road trip, going to Target Center, soon to be the Anderson Arena over on Creighton.
32:23
Okay, I'll take it.
32:25
I'll totally take it.
32:26
You know, St.
32:27
Thomas is ranked pretty high in the conference this year.
32:32
There's a lot of expectations for the Tommies and Rico.
32:35
And for their last year in the conference?
32:38
Yes, we think, right?
32:40
I bet you the Don is just loving that.
32:44
Yeah, there's a little contentious feeling there.
32:47
I think at the NCHC Media Day, Brad Schlossman asked Heather Weems if St.
32:52
Thomas might be able to get out of the conference early and join the NCHC, and that was definitely a talking point.
33:00
Not something we knew about when we talked to the Don at the frozen floor.
33:05
He was real happy with how things are going along in the CCA, wasn't he?
33:10
Yeah, I mean, there's always going to be a little shakeup in the conferences across college hockey.
33:15
I don't think we're done with all the movement.
33:17
You know, it seems like a different team is leaving one conference for another in football every day here, you know, with all the shakeup in the Pac-12 and the Mount West and things like that.
33:26
So we'll see.
33:27
You know, the Big Ten has grown in everything except for hockey.
33:30
Yeah, there's a talk about Super Conference, all these weird things I just heard on the news this afternoon.
33:38
Let's talk about that.
33:39
But then we've got Penn State at home, Wisconsin on the road, a home and home with Bemidji.
33:46
Kind of right into it there, Veegs, you know, Penn State's not picked to do so well this year.
33:52
Badgers did really well last year, picked to be a little down.
33:55
And then you just never know with Bemidji State.
33:57
So it's an entertaining first part of November, at least.
34:01
Yeah, I mean, I think that's when the season really starts to solidify and you start to figure out what teams are where in the country.
34:10
As we often say, you know, I think pairwise starts to come together in November.
34:15
You start to see the tiers for the conferences, you know, which conference could get four or five bids, which conference might get one or two.
34:25
You know, I think you start to see that in November and it's important for Minnesota to really put themselves in a good position here with wins against these teams.
34:34
And then we've got to North Notre Dame at Notre Dame, and then Alaska comes into town, the old Alaska Fairbanks.
34:44
Yeah, a chance for an Alaska goalie to showcase his talents, probably.
34:50
It's often kind of been a showcase for potential transfers when they come to town.
34:55
So we'll see.
34:57
And then, you know, we've been having this at the end of the season, but it's early this year that Michigan comes to town in early December, followed by Michigan State.
35:06
That's quite the gauntlet before the break.
35:10
And I think that's a great time for Minnesota to play those.
35:13
I think Michigan and Michigan State are probably the top competitors for the Big Ten this season.
35:19
You know, by this time, both teams, all the three of these teams should have their lineups pretty well structured and figured out.
35:26
So that should be really good hockey in December.
35:30
And it's a rare series during finals for the Gophers with the 13th and 14th.
35:37
Don't often see that at Marriott Arena.
35:40
So let's finish.
35:42
I heard a weird thing that they can only have conference games during finals and they can't have a non-conference.
35:50
I don't remember.
35:51
Did I hear that from you?
35:51
I heard that from somebody.
35:53
I think we heard that from Craig Floor.
35:55
The man, the Craig Floor, the Craig Floor revealed that to us.
36:01
I think it was confirmed by other people.
36:02
But I think those are the big series.
36:05
I still don't know if I trust Michigan as a consistent team.
36:10
But they have had Minnesota's number in these Big Ten Championship games.
36:14
Michigan State really did well last year.
36:16
They've got great goal-tending.
36:18
They lost their goalie or their defenseman to the Pro Leagues.
36:22
But they also got some transfers in as well.
36:26
Lev Shnauf or something like that.
36:28
Yep.
36:29
Whatever his name was.
36:30
Okay.
36:30
And then early January, while some other teams are playing in Wrigley Field.
36:38
I'm not sure I would want that during the junior tournament.
36:43
So I think Bob was secretly happy that he wasn't playing at Wrigley Field in early January.
36:51
What are your thoughts?
36:52
I think Bob said, you know, we don't really need to do that.
36:56
We'll be just fine on our own.
36:59
We'll probably have players.
37:01
We'll probably have a bunch of players at the World Junior Tournament.
37:04
It's in Canada this year, so not a huge travel concern, but the roster probably be a little light for Minnesota.
37:12
It'd be a good opportunity for Begley and Rudd, Middlesat and Michael to get some game action.
37:19
But I am a little concerned at this point of the year if there are injuries.
37:25
We might see Minnesota dip into the junior ranks and pull someone early.
37:30
That has happened across college hockey in the past.
37:33
That's the one risk with the Gopher roster this year, is there's not room if there's big injuries.
37:40
Now, something to have in the back of your mind.
37:43
If there is that kind of transition, this would be the weekend where we'd probably see a move.
37:49
And then obviously, we go straight in to, obviously Mercyhurst comes to town, shouldn't be too big of a deal.
37:55
They go straight into conference games.
37:57
January is busy at Ohio State, Notre Dame here at Michigan State, and then finish up at the end of the January with Madison coming here.
38:10
Not much to really talk about, just kind of a standard schedule for the rest of the way, except for, you know, you're playing, you know, Michigan States and Michigan's on the road in the second half of the season.
38:19
Yeah, I think the second half of the year is probably more challenging because those road games at Michigan, at Michigan State, you know, Minnesota does have that bye week in there between the Wisconsin and Michigan game.
38:31
So that right here, a little bit.
38:33
So also, if you're a fan of the team and you want to do Skate with the Gophers, probably pencil it in for that weekend, around February 8th.
38:44
Good idea.
38:45
And then, like we talked about, going to Michigan late in the year, on Valentine's Day, and then we've got Ohio State here and then at Pagula to finish up the regular season, Veegs.
38:57
Luckily, Pagula is not the place of horrors that it used to be for about a four-year span.
39:03
And I think we've seen the Gopher Blue Line get a lot better over the last four years, where they can handle that kind of chaos hockey that Guy Gadowski throws at teams.
39:13
I think that's been the biggest difference why Pagula hasn't been as hard for Minnesota.
39:19
Some of those years and that transition at the end of the Don into Bob, they did not handle that pressure as well.
39:33
There was another announcement today, Veegs.
39:35
We found out the frozen four sites and regional sites for 2027 and 2028.
39:41
Unlike what we had been talking about at the end of last season and actually Schlossman, we had to had everyone on talking about.
39:49
And Woden, Woden and Schlossman.
39:50
That was a fun show.
39:56
We're still having regular regional sites, not campus sites.
40:01
And the strange one is in 2028, it's both Sioux Falls and Fargo has a regional.
40:09
To get to the frozen four, which I believe is then in Chicago that year and the previous year, I believe is in DC or is it switched?
40:15
I think you're right because the reason is Denver didn't bid for Loveland because they're doing the frozen four in Chicago.
40:24
So Denver is not going to host a regional and the frozen four.
40:27
So just use your imagination.
40:31
How many bids out west were there?
40:34
Probably just two, not even a site.
40:37
I would love to see if Amsoil or Mayor Chief threw out a bid as a site or something, but the NCAA has made it clear they don't want to do that.
40:46
They did it that one time with Notre Dame and Compton.
40:50
Steve Larson thing, North Dakota.
40:51
No, not necessarily there because I believe one of them is Loveland and Fargo is only one of the years.
40:58
Sioux Falls is the other.
41:02
But the year that it's Fargo and Sioux Falls, it's Fargo, North Dakota and Sioux Falls is Denver hosting.
41:08
So they don't get a pick.
41:10
They would be at Fargo no matter what.
41:16
So that's how it works.
41:18
I like Sioux Falls.
41:18
It was a fun.
41:19
It was a fun regional last year, even though Minnesota couldn't pull it through.
41:22
It was a nice site, nice arena.
41:24
Yep, David Carl did mention to me and Schloss at the NCHC Media Day that he appreciated our campaign efforts for him and he will keep fighting the good fight.
41:34
It's just not something that took traction nationally.
41:39
So just keep asking about it.
41:41
You know, I don't think the attendance last year at the regionals was because they had such great sites.
41:47
I think it's just because it lucked out that you had big programs.
41:50
The Blue Bloods are back and they will travel pretty much anywhere.
41:54
But I will say you did not have packed houses for these games.
41:58
You had fans and atmosphere, but it's not like all the arenas were sold out and filled with fans for the games.
42:07
Just not a great atmosphere at that time of year, I think.
42:11
Better if it was at these home sites.
42:13
We'll see if in 2029, if things turn over like we have seen a lot of coaching turnover lately, with coaches leaving College Hockey, maybe because of NIL, maybe because of this revenue sharing that's coming, maybe because of roster limits.
42:31
They don't want to deal with all that stuff, so they moved on.
42:34
Maybe we get some turnover in coaching, and this can happen in 2029.
42:38
We'll see.
42:42
Hard to complain.
42:44
At least Fargo and Sioux Falls are okay.
42:46
Yeah, and I don't mind the drive to those.
42:49
Those are just fine for me.
42:51
I was surprised that Detroit didn't get a makeup since they lost theirs to COVID.
42:56
Maybe they didn't even want to pursue it.
43:00
We had heard heavy rumors about Seattle maybe getting on one of those.
43:05
I was a little surprised to see DC and Chicago and the United Center, but let's go.
43:14
Well, looks like we'll see probably Tampa, Boston, Minnesota, probably the next round, don't you think?
43:19
I mean, that would be a pretty obvious odds making right there.
43:23
So I'm worried with you.
43:26
All right.
43:26
Well, we need to get another talk about our sponsors here.
43:29
And now we're going to talk about Jill Jimmy's salad dressing and dips.
43:33
Veegs, I know you have used.
43:37
I've used the caramel stuff yet.
43:39
I got the caramel stuff right in my hand right now.
43:40
I was going to try to get it before you put up the screen.
43:44
I'll bring you back here.
43:47
Let's bring Veegs back.
43:48
Let's show what Veegs got.
43:50
So you've got the caramel stuff.
43:51
Oh, you got it right here.
43:54
I mean, you should have one.
43:55
Maybe you should have two.
43:57
I mean, the stuff is great.
43:59
I love apples.
44:00
Leaves are changing.
44:01
Weather is cooling down.
44:03
Hopefully, you know, it's Jimmy's caramel season.
44:06
Delicious with apples, pretzels, celery, if you're going healthy, ice cream if you're not going healthy, even on your finger.
44:13
If you just don't have anything in the house and you crave the caramel, you can't go wrong.
44:18
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44:22
Find it at your local grocery store today.
44:24
I get mine at Cub.
44:25
Pick up a tub or two because you're not going to want to put them down.
44:28
Caramel is coming.
44:30
Jimmy's salad dressing and dips.
44:32
Don't you be messing with my dressing.
44:38
And then we have a new sponsor joining us this year.
44:41
We've done a little bit of Jimmy's before, but now we've got Lunch Bucket Hockey.
44:44
Tell me about that, Veegs.
44:46
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44:53
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45:00
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45:12
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45:17
Definitely, and thanks to Lunch Bucket Hockey and for Jimmy's for sponsoring the GPL Podcast.
45:26
At Lunch Bucket Hockey, I'm kind of loving that logo they got going there, Veegs.
45:31
Yeah, a couple of beerleaguers had probably had a couple of Barley Pops with their lunch and brainstorming the idea.
45:37
So good to see another local company sponsoring the podcast.
45:43
We weren't smart enough to do that in our beer league days, were we?
45:46
We were too busy arguing about things.
45:48
I was putting out ketchup packets and salt packets on the board and, you know, talking choc-tock.
45:55
All right, Veegs.
45:56
Well, we've got an exhibition game with St.
45:58
Cloud.
45:59
We don't obviously have a regular season game with them, but since COVID rules change, you can now have exhibitions against fellow D1 teams.
46:07
And Minnesota took advantage of that last year by playing Bemidji State.
46:11
And this year, they're doing it against St.
46:13
Cloud up in St.
46:14
Cloud.
46:15
I think this is a great way for the in-state schools to play each other because it's so hard to get all those games on the schedule each season.
46:23
So getting these exhibition games means a little bit more to these players.
46:28
You know, you're going to tell everyone that it's an exhibition game.
46:31
I guarantee you, the players at St.
46:33
Cloud State want to beat Minnesota.
46:36
Yes, it's very similar for Minnesota with St.
46:38
Cloud.
46:39
You know, it's the big metro school against one of those out-state schools.
46:43
So it's going to be a battle.
46:45
You know, Minnesota has a lot of new players that they're going to have to depend on this season.
46:50
They're going to go right in the lineup and right into an in-state rivalry game will be good.
46:54
I think we see at least two goalies, maybe three.
47:00
You just want to have everybody get some experience and get some playing time.
47:03
You know, there's no roster limits of this stuff.
47:05
So I think you'll see all the D play.
47:07
You can see all the forward suit up.
47:10
I don't know if you're going to want to have guys out there for the full game that you know that you can count on.
47:16
So you do not want to see a situation like last year at Bemidji State where Mason Evers got his concussion.
47:22
He just really hampered his season.
47:26
He wasn't back to full strength really until after break.
47:30
And even then, I think there was still a little bit of a hitch in his game, trying to come back from that concussion.
47:40
Are we going to see more of this in the future years?
47:42
Would St.
47:44
Cloud maybe try to come down here next year for an exhibition game?
47:47
I know we're going to Denver next year for the Hall of Fame game.
47:53
We've got a couple of weird little things here and there.
47:56
What can we expect from this?
47:58
Yeah, I think you keep seeing them play in state teams.
48:01
Now that the NCAA made this acceptable.
48:04
You know, when you play those Canadian teams, they can often be older teams.
48:10
They can get kind of rough.
48:12
There can be a lot of penalties as people get a little chippy in those games because they don't really mean anything to the teams involved.
48:20
So it can get out of hand quickly.
48:22
I think when you play these pure type hockey programs, you're going to get a better experience.
48:29
You're going to have better evaluation of your players.
48:33
You're going to see more energy from your players in it.
48:35
Because like you said, you know, as long as there's a ref and some fans, these guys are going to go hard against each other.
48:42
Definitely.
48:43
Okay, I see a question here that a topic we didn't even think about, or I didn't have on the list here, but Slim Jimmy wants to know, Vegoe has to talk about recruiting.
48:54
All his targets early this fall committed elsewhere.
48:57
Bob has an ace up his sleeve, I'm guessing because it has been awfully quiet beings in the recruiting scene and the early signing period.
49:07
Yeah, I thought Minnesota might grab one or two out of this early signing period and those players chose to go to Denver.
49:16
And I think those were the guys that Minnesota had their eyes on.
49:18
And I just got the sense from what I've heard around recruiting circles is those guys were ready to leave the state.
49:27
They had issues maybe staying in Minnesota and being in Minneapolis, and they just wanted to have a different experience for their college.
49:36
And that's really not an easy recruiting battle to win.
49:41
And, you know, if they had committed, they might be flight risk to decommit and go somewhere else anyway.
49:47
And I get the sense that with a lot of the rest of the class, the coaching staff wants to see these guys play against older competition.
49:56
Because a lot of these early signing guys haven't played much big games.
50:01
They haven't played junior hockey.
50:03
You know, you haven't seen them against competition where there are battles and pressure.
50:10
You see a lot of transition play out of these guys.
50:14
You see a lot of skill.
50:15
You don't see a lot of physicality.
50:17
It is hard to evaluate.
50:19
And so if you're crystal ball recruiting that age, you better be sure you're getting a player that you want.
50:26
And I think this staff, especially you look at this recruiting class, a bunch of 19 and 20 year olds.
50:34
I think what Minnesota wants is they want these developed players and then sprinkle in a Zeamer or Whipple as a younger guy that can come in.
50:44
He's got those physical skills that you're looking for and they feel confident in getting them early.
50:50
I don't think that's common in this class of 16 year olds that are committing right now.
50:55
So I know Gopher fans don't want to hear it, but it's going to be kind of a wait and see and see who develops.
51:01
You know, you look at some of these lists of recruiting rankings, it can change a lot between 16 and 18.
51:07
And I think you look back in the past, Minnesota's made mistakes just taking a couple of these commits early and then not having them pan out like you want.
51:19
And I think the other thing is there's an unknown with the CHL and the NCAA.
51:26
Is there going to be an opportunity for D1 schools to have players from Major Junior come down to 20-year-olds and play college hockey?
51:35
If that's going to happen in two or three years, the hunter hates of the world are not wanting to go back and play a 20-year-old season in the CHL, maybe they want to come to Minnesota.
51:46
Maybe some of these wild picks that they take that are maybe too good for the CHL, want to test themselves in the Big Ten.
51:54
And that could be an interesting interaction between these leagues and the pro franchises.
52:00
And I think Minnesota is just setting them up for some flexibility down the road.
52:04
They do have the next couple of years filled out mostly with recruits, and they've been able to have these kids delay their enrollment a little bit so they're older and more prepared when they come in.
52:15
We shall see.
52:17
I think it's going to make for a good overtime topic because we've had some other players moving around this off-season that we find very interesting.
52:25
So I think we should bring that up in overtime, don't you think?
52:28
Perhaps.
52:31
You got anything else?
52:32
Obviously, it's an exhibition week, so we're just we're not going to take the exhibition too seriously.
52:37
But what else is on you?
52:39
Anything else on your mind?
52:40
I mean, the biggest thing for me is to see the battle level of Matthew Wood against a team like St.
52:45
Cloud.
52:45
I think it's going to be a physical game.
52:47
St.
52:47
Cloud's got a pretty good team this year.
52:50
I want to see who is on the specialty teams for the Gophers.
52:54
I've been to a bunch of practices.
52:56
I've yet to see a power play group.
52:58
Maybe that's by design by the coaching staff.
53:02
I don't think they see me up in the stands and say, we're not doing power play today.
53:05
But I think that's just something that Bob is not focusing on right now.
53:09
He's focused on the power play.
53:12
Yeah, I don't think that's what's happening.
53:13
But I think he's focusing on his habits that he wants to develop with this team rather than put people in roles too early.
53:22
He's got to see how these guys fit together too.
53:25
Yeah, of course.
53:27
Yeah, of course.
53:28
Makes sense to me.
53:31
Well, I think that's all we've got here this week, Vs.
53:34
Little technical issues with the show, but we'll get to figure it out.
53:36
And if you can't figure it out, I'll go back to the old streaming service.
53:39
I don't care.
53:40
Let's do it.
53:40
Got to do it right.
53:43
It's gonna be a fun year.
53:44
It's always a fun year.
53:46
This is our 14th season, Vs.
53:49
Do you believe that?
53:50
I can't.
53:51
It's flown by.
53:53
Your kids have grown up.
53:54
You're no longer on the Honda podcasting from your little car.
54:00
And we're on video now trying to do things live.
54:03
So I think I'm going to get rid of these.
54:05
These are bugging me.
54:06
They're not staying in.
54:07
I've seen that in the comments.
54:08
So we'll move on.
54:10
We'll move on.
54:10
OK, well, that is going to do it for this episode of The GPL Podcast.
54:14
We'll be back next week with Pat McAleady as our guest.
54:18
We'll see how things happen there.
54:20
For those of you watching live, stay tuned for overtime.
54:23
But the rest of you will catch you next week on The GPL Podcast.
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