0:08 This is The GPL Podcast, part of the Pulltab Sports family. 0:16 Oh boy. 0:18 Juke making mistakes, I love it. 0:20 And so, I had to train for this marathon. 0:24 Make sure you stay away from the game tomorrow. 0:30 Wait a second, hair game on GPL. 0:42 Let's get this bandwagon going, folks. 0:44 Take that, Mr. 0:46 Negative. 0:49 Now, here's Jupiter and Vego. 1:03 Good evening, and welcome to The GPL Podcast, episode number 267. 1:11 Let's bring them in. 1:12 Veegs, how's it going tonight? 1:14 We're back on our old streaming platform. 1:17 We're just getting right into the regular season. 1:19 We're gonna feel comfortable tonight, hopefully limit our mistakes. 1:24 We don't have a lot of rust because we dusted off with the episode before, so good to go. 1:29 And who's ready for Vegas, huh? 1:31 Oh, I know, but I know one guy who's probably ready for Vegas and ready for the season to start, and I think that's Pat Micheletti, and he's our guest tonight. 1:39 Let's bring him in. 1:40 Pat, good evening. 1:42 How are you? 1:44 Oh, did we lose Pat again? 1:48 We lost audio with Pat, obviously. 1:50 Did we lose? 1:51 We just had him just a second ago. 1:53 You can't hear us now, Pat. 1:56 Look at that. 1:57 That's funny. 2:01 We'll give him a second here. 2:03 Now you're muted. 2:04 Can you hear us now? 2:11 We'll kick him out for a second and just continue. 2:17 Hopefully, Pat can figure some things out here. 2:18 Let me go to the chat here, Veegs. 2:21 While I'm doing that, why don't you talk about what just happened this past weekend against St. 2:26 Cloud? 2:28 Yeah, I thought it was a good way to start the season. 2:30 You know, with the COVID situation where teams couldn't cross the border, NCAA said, heck, you can just play US college teams for your exhibitions. 2:41 And Minnesota and St. 2:42 Cloud weren't going to play each other this year because of the scheduling conflicts that were coming up. 2:47 And, you know, got to fulfill his contract. 2:50 So they managed to figure out how to get an exhibition together. 2:53 And, you know, talking to the players, they all felt like it was a real game. 2:58 Cal Thomas said, you know, when you go back for a puck retrieval and there's a husky on your back, you know, they're trying to get you. 3:05 So you have to quicken up your retrievals. 3:08 You have to quicken up your breakouts. 3:10 Everybody has to be a real sharp. 3:12 No Mason never said, you know, guys are trying to crunch you out there. 3:16 You know, it gets your head clear real quick and you got to play real hockey. 3:20 And I think that first period, the Gophers turned over the puck a little bit too much and Bob kind of reiterated, you know, you come out of your summer skills work and you've got some stick handling moves you maybe want to try and you know it's an exhibition. 3:35 And then all of a sudden the coaches start getting in your ear and say, hey, let's get back to our game. 3:39 So they're getting pucks deep and they're getting in their flow. 3:42 And I really liked what I saw of the GopherPower play against St. 3:46 Cloud. 3:46 You know, they're getting pucks to the point and the point defensemen were getting pucks on net. 3:52 You know, Chesley and Kessler getting goals, lots of traffic in front of the net. 3:56 I asked Bob about that this week at availability and he said, this team got to net presence faster than any team he's coached. 4:05 He hopes that's a sign that this season that'll be a trend for them. 4:09 Can you hear us now, Pat? 4:11 Yes, yes, nice. 4:13 Yeah, you know, we have a few glitches. 4:15 It was funny, we had you live, we were talking, we heard you all right before the show and then. 4:19 I thought Veegs wanted to get rid of me already, but I forgive you Veegs. 4:27 Veegs, one thing I will say is I was surprised by, I've never seen, I haven't seen Minnesota dominate in St. 4:34 Cloud. 4:35 Yes, exhibition in a long time. 4:38 That was, I thought it would be a much closer game, seeing it so early in the season. 4:43 Yeah, you know, I think that just speaks to how deep the Gophers team is this year with experience and not just the returning players, but their freshmen are experienced players too. 4:53 One thing I really noticed throughout the game was how patient Minnesota was with puck possession. 4:59 You know, even when the puck was in their skates or in a tight spot on the boards, you noticed guys like Huglund and Thomas and Wood and Stuggerud just being present to get their body to defend the opponent from the puck and then make a good possession play. 5:18 I saw some of that from Oliver Moore too. 5:19 Eric Paulsen was a player I noticed do that quite a bit throughout the night. 5:24 And I think that's a big thing moving forward for this team is to make smart puck possession plays. 5:30 You know, one of the things Bob talked about with Matthew Wood, he's a big guy who knows how to use his size, knows how to possess the puck. 5:37 And I think that's going to be a big advantage for this group this year and really going to be a point of emphasis. 5:43 And Pat, you know, like Veegs alluded to, you know, Minnesota started a little slow, but then they got it going and St. 5:49 Cloud really didn't have any response even in an exhibition. 5:54 Well, you know, I think you guys had mentioned it, a big difference from a year ago and even two years ago that I noticed. 6:07 Their depth is off the charts, okay? 6:11 And I was talking to Bob about this the other day. 6:13 You know, we were talking about power play. 6:15 You know, I said, what's going to be your power play? 6:17 He says, you know, I got three, I'm going to play three. 6:20 You know, I thought, okay, here we go again. 6:22 You told me last year it was two and you were going to, you know, and, but again, but now he's got three. 6:28 Now he's got three power play units and they're going to all play. 6:31 And, and, you know, and then secondly, you know, I mentioned the depth of their team. 6:39 And I said to him, well, you know, where's your one, your four? 6:42 He said, we, we got four. 6:44 We got, that's it. 6:45 We got four lines. 6:47 They didn't know one, two, three or four. 6:48 We have four and we're deep. 6:53 So, you know, to see Bob this optimistic was a little, a little surprising. 7:01 I mean, he's thoroughly excited about it. 7:04 But what they're telling me about this team is that, you know, there's guys that are going to want to play and want to show them that they can play. 7:15 And every line feels they're as good as the other line. 7:19 And so, I think the big mantra for this year's team is to continue to push everybody to, you know, to push each other for that last shift at the end of the game, for that power play opportunity, for that penalty kill opportunity. 7:37 And not look at it from a, you know, if you go back two years, guys, you know, it was nice, coolly and snug-a-roo, right? 7:46 I mean, every time they went on the ice, or you know, in a goal scoring situation, they were going to be on the ice. 7:53 We don't know what that line is going to be this year, if any, and that's okay, you know. 8:00 But, you know, so he's just, I just know they're really, really happy with the depth. 8:07 And, you know, one thing they mentioned to me also was taking nothing away from Brodsinski or Nelson or, you know, guys that were here in the past. 8:19 He said, this group of guys is playing with a little more bite, you know, a little more in your face, you know, not back down, you know, win those battles. 8:33 And, you know, that's something a little bit different, you know, from years past a little bit. 8:40 And so it'll be it'll be interesting to see how this whole thing evolves. 8:45 And Veegs, one thing you had been talking about is that, you know, you'd seen quite a few practices before this game against St. 8:51 Cloud, and you didn't see any play penalty power play work. 8:56 And you were kind of curious what was going to happen. 8:58 What did you see? 9:00 And is it's just still very beginnings of that power play being built? 9:05 Yeah, I think there's beginnings, but anytime you can have a power play and have four number one picks out there with L, Stuggerud, Moore and Wood, that's going to be an effective unit. 9:17 And I thought they looked pretty good. 9:19 Brody Lamb was playing on his strong side, which maybe is a sign that they want the puck mostly on the Stuggerud side, and they want Lamb to not be stuck on the half while they want him closer to the slot to really put the pressure around the net and kind of shrink the ice. 9:37 So we'll see how that fits. 9:38 What I liked was the dedication to traffic in front of the net. 9:42 I think we're going to see that a lot with the guys that they have out there. 9:46 We saw defensemen shooting the puck, I think, for a power play to be effective. 9:50 You can't just rely on the guys on the off wings. 9:53 You got to have guys up top who can fire the puck. 9:56 You know, Rinzel, we're still kind of waiting on that a little bit from him. 10:01 But you definitely saw it with Chesley and Kester. 10:03 And, you know, if Rinzel doesn't step up into that role, you know, they've got depth there and options. 10:10 I think the other thing I liked is Oliver Moore's speed on zone entries in the power play. 10:15 You always want a guy who can just beat the, you know, forecheck with their speed and all of more. 10:20 Looks like a guy who can do that. 10:22 The big question, I think, for me will be, who can win the key draws? 10:26 Minnesota went 40% against St. 10:28 Cloud. 10:29 And I asked Bob about that and he's like, yes, we are aware and it's not just the centers. 10:35 We need our wings to pick that up. 10:37 We miss Jackson Nelson. 10:39 We've got to fill that hole. 10:42 Exactly. 10:43 You would think a guy like Hugh Glynn is, you know, in the strength of a more and, you know, how low he can get and is built, you know, you would think. 10:54 But, you know, it takes more than one guy. 10:57 You need, you know, you need your help from your wingers. 11:00 You gotta know who's going in. 11:01 You gotta know, you know, what am I gonna do here? 11:05 Right? 11:05 Am I gonna tie the guy up? 11:07 Am I gonna try to win a claim? 11:08 Here's where I'm gonna go with it, you know? 11:10 And that's communication amongst those guys. 11:15 But they've got to all understand, you know, what's happening on a particular draw. 11:22 You know, what's crazy is I saw that I'm working on draws this week, and one of the guys that just kind of stood out to me was Paulson. 11:30 Yeah. 11:30 You know, there's just something about him. 11:32 He's got the hands, he's got the strength, he's got the technique. 11:37 I think he could work his way into a lot of situations with that skill. 11:42 Yeah. 11:43 I think people are gonna really like him. 11:46 I think you gotta give him time to acclimate himself to college hockey, but he's very impressive for a freshman. 12:00 Oh, yes. 12:01 I'm looking forward to seeing all these guys grow really quickly. 12:05 Vegas, one thing that came up to me, or I started thinking about, is everyone knows where Snuggeroot is on the power play. 12:12 They know what's coming to him. 12:14 Is this gonna be an Ovechkin thing where they just keep feeding him anyway and think it's gonna get through? 12:19 Or could he be a decoy even on the power play? 12:23 because, I mean, all the pucks go in there. 12:25 We saw at times where he would switch with the player down low and go kind of to the side of the net and almost work a behind the net power play and pop out from time to time and create different looks. 12:40 I think that's something that Minnesota is gonna have to do. 12:42 They're gonna have to have him be one of those players who can slide all the way around from the top of the umbrella to the half wall to that net side and just be dangerous. 12:53 You know, if the teams are gonna give him one timers and catch and shoots on his off wing, he's gonna take him. 12:59 They're clearly taking that away. 13:01 You know, he's gotta be dynamic and show other ways to score. 13:05 And I think at times towards the end of the year, Jimmy just wanted to force shooting in those positions. 13:12 And goalies are ready for that at this level. 13:14 Goalies, if they see it, they have a better chance than most, even against a snuggered shot. 13:19 So you just gotta be a little more creative. 13:22 And they've shown that at times. 13:25 And that comes with maturity, too. 13:28 You know, and I expect to see a different Jimmy snuggered this year, just in terms of, okay, you know, I don't have to do this this time. 13:39 I don't have to, you know, the play doesn't end right. 13:44 You know, right now, you know, I can be a little bit more patient. 13:47 I can find my spots and to your point, Veegs, and to, you know, get in those areas, not just, you know, stamp out waiting for it and to let it go, you know. 14:00 And so, and I think, and that's why I'm so happy he came back, because I just think that whole year is gonna make him, you know, just a completely different type of player than we've seen. 14:16 And I think it will be a better player. 14:18 And I think one part about Stungard on that power play is Matthew Wood has spent a lot of time in the spot where Jimmy Stungard typically likes to go. 14:27 And I know when Bob was putting together that unit, he asked Wood, are you okay being in the spot? 14:33 And Wood's like, I've never played that spot before on a power play, but I'm happy to do it. 14:37 But I think having a guy who can trade spots is really the best way to have a dynamic power play that can handle a lot of different looks. 14:46 I'm glad you brought up Wood, because I was asking Bob about him, and the best way I can describe where he's at is, it's like you're playing a golf course for the first time, you don't know, right? 15:02 You don't know. 15:05 I think they're trying to get him through that first round and understand where he thrives, because they love him. 15:16 But where is he going to be most effective? 15:21 I think through a few games, they're going to find that out. 15:25 But look at it, he's big, he's strong, he's got great hands, he thinks the game really well. 15:32 And so I think obviously he's going to be a great addition to this team. 15:42 So a great opening exhibition against St. 15:46 Cloud. 15:46 Now they're back to normal work here. 15:50 And now you've got a slight change with your job here, Pat. 15:54 You're going to be taking over all the home games. 15:57 You're taking over where Frank was, and yeah, for the road games. 16:01 Yep. 16:03 Oh, sorry. 16:03 Yeah. 16:03 Sorry. 16:04 The road games. 16:04 Yes, that's right. 16:05 The road games will be taken over for depending upon how it all works out. 16:11 Yeah. 16:12 Yeah. 16:13 So yeah, it'll be a fun year. 16:15 It'll just, you know, be every game. 16:18 And, you know, it'll be, it's best for me and everybody involved, I think. 16:27 And obviously, you can't fill Frank's shoes. 16:32 He's such a pro. 16:33 He's been doing it for so long. 16:36 A boy, what a great career he has. 16:39 Listen, there's a lot of pressure on me because I pick on Wally all by myself. 16:46 It's easy to play off of Frank, you know? 16:48 And Frank and I had a little thing going there. 16:51 And, you know, poor Wally. 16:54 I mean, I think I'm up to the task. 16:57 Although I will miss picking on Frank too because he's really easy to pick on, right? 17:05 I mean, you guys know. 17:06 So, hey, listen, I'm going to miss Frank. 17:10 Love him to death. 17:11 And, you know, when you had enough, you had enough and he had enough. 17:18 And he wanted to step away from it and, you know, spend more time with his life and family and good for him. 17:25 You know, but, you know, we'll get his name in every broadcast, that's for sure. 17:31 Oh, yeah. 17:32 Frank. 17:34 Frank and Lou, gone the same year. 17:36 Times are a-changing. 17:38 Yes, yes, they are. 17:40 But that's just that's kind of how life is. 17:42 And, you know, so you'll be filling in on the road and a couple of things at home, depending on where it is. 17:48 And then you've got a group of youngsters that are going to cover the home games. 17:52 And I kind of like that, a little freshness getting into the broadcast there, isn't it? 17:59 Well, I won't bore you with everything that happened, but as the process went along, it was just, you know, I said, you know, get a bunch of guys, you know, do it every game, get a different guy in. 18:14 And, you know, they settled on going with three guys that will, you know, fill in when I'm on TV. 18:23 And I think that I think it's great. 18:24 I think it involves more guys and the alumni and young guys who might want to get into this line of work at some point. 18:33 And so, so let's go to Eric Shearhorn, as you guys know, Jack Rams and Sam Rossini. 18:42 And so, you know, it'll be great for those guys. 18:47 They'll have a good time. 18:48 Wally will get them through it and it'll be good. 18:52 And I'm trying to get Sam on the show for next week. 18:55 We'll see. 18:56 We're having a little back and forth and communicating with the other two as well. 19:01 So they would be fun to have on. 19:02 They'd be a lot. 19:03 So, you know. 19:09 Well, I remember they did this with the TV position that Ben Climbers stepped into years ago, too. 19:14 I remember, I think Casey Hankinson did some games. 19:18 There was at least one more player and they kind of did the same thing and see how guys fit. 19:22 And it's exciting to have the young guys. 19:24 They've been great on the podcast so far and I'm looking forward to it as well. 19:28 Yep, I think it's a great move. 19:34 Listen, great girl lock and everybody involved there were kind enough to work things out with me on that side. 19:47 So it worked out well for everybody, I hope. 19:52 I think so too. 19:54 But now we're going to put Pat on hold for a second because we need to talk about our sponsors here. 20:00 And one of those sponsors is Lunch Bucket Hockey, Veegs. 20:04 Tell us about Lunch Bucket Hockey. 20:07 Yeah, Lunch Bucket Hockey. 20:08 Players that are hardworking grit and grind players that would do anything for their teammates from mites to beer leagues and everywhere in between. 20:16 Lunch Bucket players are the hardworking unsung heroes of the greatest game on ice. 20:21 Now there's an apparel and lifestyle brand celebrating these pillars of the sport. 20:26 Get the gear to match the grind with Lunch Bucket Hockey hats, hoodies, tees and custom jerseys. 20:32 Check out lunchbuckethockey.com today and get some gear. 20:37 Yeah, I cannot wait. 20:38 I need to get some gear myself. 20:39 But we also need to talk about Jimmy's and you were talking about how you were getting some of that caramel sauce out Veegs. 20:47 How did you get a chance to use it? 20:49 Maybe a little too much lately, because it's caramel season. 20:53 You know, we've had some cool nights. 20:56 I get a lot of apples at Cub and I also get my Jimmy's caramel dip. 21:00 And you know, it's delicious with apples, pretzels, celery, ice cream, even your finger or spoon. 21:08 You can't go wrong however you want to dip Jimmy's caramel dip. 21:12 Available in original and sea salt caramel. 21:14 You can find Jimmy's at your local grocery store today. 21:17 Pick up a tub or two because you're not going to want to put it down. 21:21 Caramel's coming. 21:22 Jimmy's salad dressing and dips. 21:24 Don't you? 21:30 And of course, we thank both Lunch Bucket Hockey and Jimmy's for sponsoring The GPL Podcast. 21:36 Let's bring Pat back in. 21:38 I'm hungry. 21:39 There he is. 21:41 Yeah, I bet you are. 21:44 There it is. 21:46 I'm disappointed in both of you guys, though. 21:48 I thought, you know, we'd have some fun in Vegas and find out you're not going. 21:56 I had already planned to do Duluth this year, going up there. 22:00 It's going to be wonderful, a full weekend. 22:03 Traveling. 22:04 I have a huge trip traveled for next year. 22:06 That's very long and expensive. 22:08 So I'm like, I'll skip Vegas. 22:12 I've got a busy weekend of Peewee and Tenu Hockey Coaching, and I've got to get my level four certification. 22:19 So I've got to be in a classroom this weekend as well. 22:22 Got to get that out of the way. 22:24 So sorry, Pat. 22:25 All right, but you'll be listening on the radio. 22:28 That's right. 22:29 It'll be like I'll be right there with you. 22:31 Yeah. 22:32 No TV this week. 22:33 No TV. 22:35 There says BTN plus on Friday night. 22:38 I don't know how they're going to do that. 22:39 I don't know. 22:40 Doesn't say Saturday. 22:41 Only says Friday. 22:41 Maybe BTN's mistaken and they'll get rid of it, but that's what it says now. 22:48 Maybe we'll get the arena video and we'll still get to hear Pat. 22:52 It's a good thing to do, right? 22:55 That's good to both worlds right there. 22:59 Well, Veegs, you've kind of been doing your own little top 20 in your head for years. 23:04 And you and I thought this week, hey, let's put out what you've got going for your top 20. 23:12 So we added this new page on GPL for Vegoe's top 20. 23:16 Let's bring it up here. 23:18 And you're going to do this every week, Veegs, to tell us what you think is the top teams. 23:25 Tell us about it a bit. 23:27 Yeah, I really think there's a clear top six at the start of the year right now with Denver, BC., Minnesota, BU., Michigan State, North Dakota. 23:36 I think those are my teams that are favorites for the Frozen Four. 23:40 They're all kind of favorites in their leagues. 23:43 I like the depth of all these teams and the high-end talent. 23:47 I think once you get past that top six, you get into a tier of that seven through 20, all tournament eligible teams. 23:57 It probably goes deeper than 20. 23:59 I think I've got three or four teams that are just outside this top 20 that I think could develop over the year and rise up into it. 24:07 So, I think that's kind of my big thought there. 24:09 You know, I had Michigan kind of higher up in the standings. 24:13 And then after them play against Minnesota State, they are going to drop some games the first half of the year. 24:20 Will they get it figured out? 24:23 You know, history shows that they can pull off big upsets. 24:27 I think they're going to be a team that's going to struggle and have to rally at the end of the year to get in good pairwise position. 24:33 So, just when you're doing a ranking, I thought they're not quite as polished as these other teams right now. 24:40 You don't seem to have Cornell at number one. 24:42 They seem too low. 24:44 Somebody keeps voting for Cornell on the uscho poll or whatever. 24:48 But they did have two votes in the first poll. 24:50 So, somebody already changed their mind and said, Oh, I can't vote for them. 24:55 It's always hard to vote for those ECAC teams. 24:57 You know, they get started a little bit later. 25:00 They've had down years since COVID. 25:03 I think, you know, not having the grad transfers in that league really hurts them in today's college hockey. 25:09 And I think they've lost some players that, you know, could be in that league. 25:13 So, even though you might have a team that has a good record in the ECAC, I don't know if they're being tested like some of these other teams in college hockey. 25:22 I think college hockey as a whole is getting better, deeper, more experienced. 25:26 Sure, they could, you know, make a run here at the end of the year and surprise us. 25:30 But I just think it's a little early to be crowning them as a top team. 25:36 So what do you get? 25:37 Oh, go ahead. 25:37 Go ahead, Pat. 25:38 obviously, the regions are going to be, what, Fargo, right, this year. 25:46 So, I mean, are we put Minnesota, North Dakota in there right now? 25:52 If there are one seed and a two seed, they're for sure going to be there, especially with those other teams, Denver, BC, VU, trying to compete for those top seeds. 26:01 It will make too much sense, which will be a fun time in March. 26:06 You got to beat the best to be the best. 26:08 Yeah, no doubt. 26:10 And you'd rather play in front of a big atmosphere. 26:13 Even in St. 26:13 Louis and the region last year with those big schools, you didn't quite have the fans pack the building, even though it was a small building. 26:21 If you have a Minnesota, North Dakota regional, it's going to be packed for all three games. 26:27 You'd probably be able to double it, right? 26:30 I mean, for sure. 26:31 Fargo is smaller than Sioux Falls, so it's not as big of an arena. 26:35 Right. 26:35 It's about what? 26:36 They can get what? 26:37 Almost six, maybe 55. 26:41 Yeah, it's around five or less. 26:44 It's around there. 26:47 Great atmosphere. 26:48 But, you know, I've been to both. 26:50 I did prefer Sioux Falls is building a little better because it was just bigger and a little more accommodating. 26:56 But like you said, it'll be fun either way. 27:01 So all depends on the pairwise, though. 27:05 All depends on pairwise. 27:06 And I think you already see, you know, games impacting pairwise. 27:09 You know, Michigan split in Minnesota State pairwise implications. 27:12 I mean, that's a that's a huge win for Minnesota State. 27:16 You know, it's a it's a huge win for CCHA. 27:19 Yeah, for that league. 27:21 You know, I think sometimes you look at leagues and you can almost say, you know, there's going to be a one seed from Hockey East, Big Ten and CHC, and then you might have another one from one of those leagues. 27:34 And then you start looking in two seeds, Big Ten and CHC. 27:40 Last year, Hockey East didn't have high end teams after the top two. 27:44 So I think, you know, I've got Omaha pretty high right now. 27:47 I like what Mike Gabinet is doing there. 27:49 He just got a contract extension. 27:51 They have depth. 27:52 They play heavy. 27:53 They play hard. 27:55 You know, they're going to be in the race for the NCHC this year because I think, you know, the top three or four teams from that league will be in the top eight or nine in the pairwise at the end. 28:07 Yeah. 28:08 You know, I, listen, I play UMD next weekend. 28:12 Unfortunately, the Plant kids are going to be out, but they've got a lot of young, really good players. 28:20 You know, this is one of the first, you know, first year Scott Sandlin. 28:24 He said, you know what, I think we could be pretty good. 28:26 And, you know, that league will be, that league will be interesting to see. 28:33 You know, Denver lost a lot, but they have a lot coming back, right? 28:36 They buy them obviously coming back and other guys filling roles. 28:43 But that's going to be, it's going to be, that's going to be another tight league, you know, for sure. 28:50 The top five anyway. 28:53 Yeah, I think the one thing with Duluth, you know, we're getting a week ahead of ourselves here, but I felt like that team needed a shakeup and they've got the 11 new freshmen you know, that's going to change their locker room quite a bit and maybe elevate the competition within. 29:09 You know, they had so many injuries last year, talking to Scott Sandlin, you know, it's hard for them to practice. 29:16 You get the right, you know, compete level and get the right mindset and play hard all the time rather than, you know, kind of just get to Friday, you know, get a roster on the ice. 29:28 You know, that's not a good situation. 29:30 And what he has compared to years in the past, he's got some guys who can finish, you know. 29:38 I mean, he's, you know, Chagabay, you know, both plant kids, you know, that line is going to be dynamic for them, you know, when they're all healthy and when they're all playing. 29:50 But, you know, they've got a little more scoring on this team. 29:57 And so, you know, it'll be interesting to see the style that they play, too, because, you know, you know, how they, you know, they shut it down. 30:06 They play it close to the vest. 30:09 They don't give up, you know, when you're seeing good UMD teams. 30:13 So I'm anxious to see them play next week. 30:17 My last UMD comment here, you know, their scores also are tough scores. 30:22 You know, when Isaac Howard went to UMD, a lot of people were like, ooh, flashy, high pick, you know, goal score. 30:28 Not the right attitude for development. 30:31 No, right. 30:31 You know, that was kind of a misfit for both sides. 30:35 And I think some of these guys that we're talking about here, they fit UMD hockey a lot better. 30:41 As I talk to coaches, what do you recruit? 30:43 Fit. 30:44 It's gotta be the right fit, number one, or neither party is gonna be happy. 30:50 Yep, 100%. 30:52 All right, Veegs, so you know, you got your top 20 thing here. 30:55 Anything else you want to talk about? 30:56 It looks like something you want to do maybe every week or so. 31:00 Yeah, let's talk about it. 31:02 Sounds good. 31:03 All right, sounds good. 31:05 Let's bring it back here in a one up. 31:08 I agree with your top six, so. 31:12 Well, there you go. 31:13 There you go. 31:15 A lot of new rules this season, Veegs. 31:18 I know you're highlighting a couple of them for us here, but checking from behind can be a minor if a player turns their back at the last minute. 31:31 We've seen a lot of defenders try to get away with us turning on purpose or not on purpose. 31:38 But now it looks like the referees have the discretion to call that differently. 31:44 I think when the rule was put in place, they really want to protect amateur hockey players. 31:51 And the mindset was if you make contact to the head, if you hit somebody from behind, it's a five-minute major. 31:59 I think what we saw with that implemented in the game is you had so many of these hits where it's minor contact. 32:08 He eases up going to the boards and the player has made kind of that mistake move to turn his back at the last second. 32:14 And the hitter doesn't have a lot of opportunity to ease up. 32:20 And they're still going to make some contact. 32:23 So I think this rule is kind of a walk back from that. 32:28 So now the referee has to make the decision, is it a violent contact? 32:34 And is it reckless? 32:35 Is it risking injury to the player? 32:38 You've put that power in the referee's hands. 32:41 I worry a little bit that we might see players more aggressive in these situations, knowing that can be minors, which is going to be bad for college hockey. 32:50 But we're going to see how mature everybody is. 32:53 Can the players handle it and can the refs handle it? 32:55 Let me ask you this. 32:57 You said two things. 32:58 You said, you said, contact to the head, and then you said hit from behind. 33:04 There's almost two separate rules here, right? 33:09 Both penalties can now be minors. 33:13 You used to have that contact to the head where someone's coming through the neutral zone and they just kind of nick it. 33:18 Both can now be minors. 33:21 They can go to video review, they can take it from a major to a minor, or they can not call anything at all. 33:26 They have a lot of options now in flexibility, in calling it on the ice and calling it in review. 33:32 Now, I know the point of emphasis has been put out to coaches. 33:36 Don't just be challenging these, willy-nilly. 33:40 Can you imagine after, hey, we didn't get the call, and then you call that one? 33:48 Oh, I'll be in the middle of how that plays out, because we see it all the time, right? 34:01 And it'll be interesting to see how this all plays out. 34:07 I'm one of those guys, I hate seeing the checks from behind that are into the boards. 34:18 For me, you're gone, you're done. 34:21 See ya. 34:23 I don't care. 34:24 Now, if you clip a guy and it was unintentional, and you happen to collide or hit the head or whatever, I think you can have some discretion there. 34:36 You know, if a guy wasn't literally going after his head. 34:40 But the checking from behind, I have no time for. 34:44 Zero. 34:46 That's me. 34:47 You know, I get it, but I just don't. 34:51 The one thing with those rules, I hate it when there's play acting happening on the ice. 34:56 Where someone wasn't hit that bad, and they're acting like they got crushed and they can't get up. 35:01 Right. 35:01 But you know what? 35:04 If the officials and us, all of us aren't smart enough to see that, then we shouldn't be in the game. 35:15 Right? 35:19 If the official can't figure that out. 35:23 Yeah. 35:25 Right? 35:26 Yeah. 35:27 I don't know. 35:28 I agree with you. 35:29 You know, it's going to be a challenge for the referees to handle us. 35:31 Yeah. 35:32 And they've just been given more power, more discretion to figure it out. 35:37 Yeah. 35:37 And I think we'll have a lot of confusion with fans and a lot of coaches too. 35:42 But it means I can't wait to see a couple of referees at a local establishment after a game this year. 35:50 just get their thoughts. 35:53 Well, you know, me and the booth, I'm just going to have to say, well, I don't know, we're going to have to wait until it does, right? 36:02 I guess, yeah. 36:04 A couple of other things here, Veegs. 36:06 Double jeopardy is gone. 36:08 So that means if you're on a delayed penalty and you give up a goal on that delay, you do not have to serve the penalty. 36:18 This was kind of a new rule they added about five or six years ago, Veegs. 36:21 They thought it would catch on, maybe the NHL would pick it up and it didn't. 36:24 So they decided to backtrack on it. 36:27 Yeah, everybody at North Dakota, Eric Martenson said he hoped the rest of hockey would like this idea of increased scoring, but no one did. 36:35 And so the coaches said, you know, if no one's going to follow this, we're just going to get rid of it. 36:40 So I kind of liked it. 36:42 I don't think you should be rewarded for taking a penalty and, you know, getting scored on with the extra attacker isn't isn't rewarding that team. 36:51 If the NHL would have done it, maybe things would be different. 36:54 For sure. 36:55 If the NHL would have followed suit, or if they would have done with the PWHL, you know, and said if you score short handed, you get your player out of the box. 37:03 If teams wanted to pursue that kind of stuff, you know, maybe we'd see some of that too. 37:07 I like scoring, so. 37:11 High-sticking, a little different when it comes to a goal now. 37:14 It's no longer the crossbar. 37:16 It's the shoulder blade of the player, which is still more of a judgmental thing, but I think it might be easier for the referees to see this. 37:25 I think it's definitely easier to see and review because you're not trying to break out your geometry and figure out the tangent and the cosign and all that and figure out where that stick is. 37:36 I think the one interesting thing I heard this week is if a player is on their knees around the ice and they're touching a puck, no goal. 37:45 Oh, because it's above their shoulders? 37:49 Correct. 37:50 Wow. 37:52 So, I don't know if Blake Wheeler, you know, when he knocked that puck, if his stick was above his shoulders, but... 37:59 Right. 37:59 That's the rule now. 38:01 Interesting. 38:02 That's very interesting. 38:04 I don't know. 38:05 Uh-oh. 38:06 Here we go. 38:07 You might just see a referee just kind of put their head down and say goal when they see that. 38:12 Yeah. 38:14 Technically. 38:14 What do you think of that? 38:15 What do you think of that? 38:18 Me personally, I've always... 38:20 Oh, hold on. 38:20 I've always liked the idea of least being able to hit the puck or with a high stick when it comes to a goal, because that's skill. 38:28 It's not grabbing a puck and throwing it. 38:30 It's not kicking a puck. 38:33 It's a very skilled thing. 38:35 And typically, it's not like you're high sticking, whacking it at somebody. 38:38 It's more of a deflection or a quick thing. 38:41 Typically, especially in college with full protection, you're not going to be coming close to hurting anybody. 38:46 So I liked it just because it's a skill level. 38:50 What do you think? 38:51 Yes. 38:52 Can I add one more? 38:53 Yeah. 38:54 I'd like to see kicking. 38:58 I would. 39:01 It's hard enough to score goals. 39:07 I have more problem with kicking, but I can see you're playing. 39:11 I don't have any problem with any high stick, and I have no problem with the kicking motion. 39:18 You get the puck in the net, you're doing your job. 39:21 I don't like the kicking motion because you have the goalies who are trying to cover pucks with their equipment. 39:27 If there's a kicking motion at a puck as they're trying to put their glove on it, I think that's too dangerous of a situation for me. 39:35 I don't mind some of the redirection stuff off the skates, but the kicking stuff around the crease just makes me cringe a little bit. 39:44 You got to get in that heavy stance and put two hands on your stick and find a way to get the puck in that way. 39:50 What do you think about the high stick then, Veegs? 39:51 I expect the goalies way too much. 39:54 They do. 39:54 But they do too much. 39:57 I want goalies that want to play goalie. 39:59 If you and I had the conversation of what you teach kids to go hard to the net and take it hard to the net, and now when you take it hard to the net and you have nowhere to go because there's a defender right on you and there's the goalie and you run into them because you have no choice, you get a penalty. 40:23 What do you do? 40:23 You can ask Mr. 40:23 Nelson about that, Veegs. 40:25 That happened quite a few times to Mr. 40:26 Nelson last year. 40:28 Yeah, I guess I'm okay with players going hard to the net and if there's contact, they shouldn't get charged with running to the goalie stuff, but I think if you start allowing kicking at the net, back to what we were talking about, as a bigger guy, I might drive the net locking up the defenseman with my stick and taking him into the goalie and then kicking it. 40:51 So you're going to see big guys just come in there. 40:54 It's like a rugby scrum and all of a sudden they're the hooker and they're coming in trying to kick their foot and drive the other players out of the way. 41:02 So I think I get your points. 41:05 You want to see the skill plays and kicking can be a skill play, but the way I think about it as a big guy, I'm just going to start doing rugby scrums and trying to get to the puck that way if that's the rule. 41:16 It's a hard game, Veegs. 41:17 It's hard to score. 41:19 It is hard to score. 41:22 Veegs, you have face-offs. 41:24 Listen, how are face-offs changing this year? 41:27 Oh, God. 41:28 The face-off rules of the last couple of years just drove me nuts. 41:31 Where guys would cheat and they'd be given warnings, and there was just no consequences for that kind of behavior. 41:38 And now guys will get thrown out if they're cheating, and they're going to be putting wings in there. 41:44 The one exception to that is the icing situations. 41:48 They don't want to allow that delay tactic where they put in a wing to get kicked out of the draw to get the center some extra time. 41:55 So they're not going to do the kickouts in those situations. 41:58 They'll still go back to the warning. 42:00 But I think it's going to be better. 42:02 It's going to give the linesman some way to have control over the face-off dot, because I think it is just getting to be ridiculous the last couple of years. 42:11 What about goalie interference? 42:12 Can we hear anything about goalie interference? 42:14 Or is it still going to be crazy all over the place? 42:16 because I saw somebody mention it in the chat. 42:18 I just couldn't find it here. 42:20 I didn't see anything in the rules update. 42:22 I'll have to watch through some of the videos a little bit more closely to get that. 42:27 The Big Ten held a conference call where they kind of explained some of the nuances of these new rules, and they've sent out videos of examples, you know, as we get it into the season and we start seeing how these rules are called. 42:41 I think it will be a little more clear. 42:45 Very interesting, very interesting. 42:48 Well, we need to hear from more of our sponsors here, Veegs. 42:52 I know we've got Cub Foods coming up here, so you were talking about Jimmy's and going to get your Jimmy's dips and whatnot, and what a great place to do it, Cub Foods. 43:04 Yeah, I got to go to the Gopher USC game this last weekend. 43:08 Outstanding atmosphere. 43:11 We've seen some night games for the University of Minnesota. 43:15 Tailgating season is well underway, and I hope a lot of those Gopher fans are going to Cub Foods. 43:20 It's your go-to grocery and liquor store. 43:22 You don't need to scurry around town, picking up all your game needs everywhere where things are out of stock. 43:27 You just go one place, Cub, hamburgers, hot dogs, brats, chips, veggie platters if you're eating healthy, cold cuts, party trays, desserts if you're not eating healthy. 43:37 It's all in one place. 43:38 Be sure to hit up Cub Liquor before you head out to grab all the drinks your tailgaters are sure to love. 43:44 Go to Cub on your next shopping trip for all your tailgating essentials. 43:53 And you're muted, Jub. 43:56 Sorry, I was muted. 43:58 That's my bad. 43:59 I wanted to kind of show I've got my Duke Cannon product in my hair here. 44:04 I looked at some other products as well. 44:06 I'm coming this close to buying one of their soap bars. 44:09 What can you tell us about Duke Cannon that we already don't know? 44:13 I mean, if you want some good flow, you want to get some of that medium paste. 44:18 It gives you that good texture. 44:20 And if you're a hard worker, you need a soap that works just as hard as you do. 44:25 Maybe you want to smell like you're in the Caribbean. 44:28 You want that Bay rum. 44:29 Maybe you want to feel like you're going for a midnight swim with the sandalwood. 44:33 I kind of like that one. 44:35 And we've got some seasonal selections too. 44:37 We've got Trophy Game, Buck Moon, Ever Popular Candy Corn. 44:41 So grab yourself Duke Cannon's big ass brick of soap today and try it out for yourself. 44:46 Climb aboard on the Duke Cannon train and get the best in men's hair care, beard care, soaps, deodorant and cologne. 44:53 Smell like you give a damn. 44:54 Duke Cannon, work harder, smell better, make your hair a weapon. 44:59 Maybe I need some of that beard stuff, huh Veegs? 45:01 I mean, your beard's getting pretty long. 45:03 If you want that Santa beard, you gotta put some product in there. 45:07 Yeah, I did shave it once this summer, but boy, I got, boy, little Amish look gone because it can't quite fill it in here, but maybe I need some Duke Cannon for my beard. 45:21 Yeah, maybe put some product in there. 45:22 It'll enhance the flow of it a little bit. 45:24 Yeah. 45:25 All right, let's bring Pat back in here. 45:29 I noticed you tweeted something today and I thought it was important to talk about it. 45:33 You think because of some recent rulings that NILs, National, what way is it? 45:41 NLI, National Letter of Entire. 45:42 NLI, sorry, NLI are probably going away as of, was it august of next year and it's going to be maybe more of a contract type of thing with players? 45:53 What's going on? 45:55 Well, with the revenue sharing that's coming, things are going to change. 46:00 Right, Pat? 46:00 Yeah. 46:00 You got some insights on this, Pat? 46:02 Oh, I just think we don't, it's not college anymore. 46:09 It's not, I mean it's a free for all. 46:15 I don't like it. 46:18 We're getting further and further away from what college athletics is in my opinion. 46:23 But, and I don't know. 46:28 I'll reserve judgment until we see all of the shakeout. 46:35 But yeah, it's concerning to me. 46:43 It's going to be more like a contract now, Veegs? 46:47 Well, I think they want to have the details in there that bind the player to the school and how much revenue sharing they're getting, so it's real clear up front. 46:55 There's going to be some aid agreements that they're going to be agreeing to when they sign these to kind of, I think, limit the school's liability and just make that real concrete about what's involved. 47:09 You know, I do think players have more flexibility than ever. 47:13 And this is just kind of moving to that because anything that's going to go before the courts is going to get challenged. 47:19 So if they make it more like a contract where they're a professional versus an amateur, maybe you're trying to tie them to the school a little bit harder and get them to agree to these transfer windows that they're trying to set up. 47:33 because once they do sign these aid agreements, these contracts, other schools are not supposed to continue recruiting them just like the NLI. 47:42 And supposedly, they can only leave during these windows that are going to be established by the NCAA. 47:49 But as we know, I'll know there's lots of table talk, between agents and advisors and coaches that get around that anyway. 47:56 We're going to see guys being traded from Minnesota to Ohio State for... 48:05 We are. 48:07 Mark my words, we will get to that point. 48:11 We will get to that point. 48:13 And I don't know, I'm old school, but I know we're in a new era of things. 48:24 I think it really makes it hard on the institution to keep players. 48:30 And I just think it's going to be hard. 48:34 It's going to be different. 48:36 I'll sit back and watch it. 48:38 Well, what do you think? 48:39 You know, Motay Taylor here says, are they going to be handing out 1099s? 48:45 It is not clear how this is going to work. 48:48 I know that you is looking to hire people to help figure this out. 48:52 There's going to be like a general... 48:54 Yeah, general managers, yeah. 48:56 But we think that it's going to be kind of football and basketballs first. 49:01 And it seems like the coaches are going to be the last to know about anything, at least for hockey side and maybe the minor sports at the U, right, Veegs? 49:11 From what I can tell, about 10% of the 22 million goes to every other sport other than football and men's basketball. 49:22 So you're going to have hockey splitting that 10% with volleyball, women's basketball, baseball, track, cross country, wrestling, all that stuff. 49:30 So it is not going to be a big part of college hockey. 49:34 You know, the biggest part of this settlement that's coming is that places like the University of Minnesota can hand out 26 full scholarships. 49:44 Right now, they're limited to the 17. 49:47 This will be 26. 49:48 I've heard some stuff where the roster might be able to go higher than 26, but you can only do 26 scholarships. 49:57 It's still kind of being up for negotiation. 49:59 I don't think there's a lot of hockey people involved in that decision making with the settlement, nor were they consulted. 50:07 So it's pretty complicated how it's going to work out. 50:10 And of course, you have schools that can opt not to go into this revenue sharing. 50:16 You're going to see schools like St. 50:17 Cloud and UMD in this situation, North Dakota, maybe. 50:21 Who knows how they're going to handle it? 50:25 But a lot of change is coming. 50:27 Which kind of worries me a little bit about hockey. 50:32 And we're trying to grow the game and listen, a lot of these schools, look at your top six. 50:42 Right? 50:42 They're all blue bloods. 50:45 Right? 50:46 Yep. 50:48 Guess what? 50:50 It's going to be like that every year, unless they're dumb way. 50:56 And I've been harping, because as much as I want Minnesota to win the National Championship year in and year out, you know what? 51:04 I also love the competition of guys being on, at least having the ability to get some play. 51:14 And the competition of it is the best. 51:19 And we need more than 10 teams. 51:23 You know, I'll add four leads, okay? 51:26 10 teams that are vying for it every year. 51:32 And I think, you know, I don't know. 51:35 I don't know what... 51:38 You know, we always talk about, oh, geez, Iowa should get in the league. 51:44 You know, if you add all these teams, well... 51:49 Where's the incentive? 51:50 Of all of a sudden, you got to split the pot with another team. 51:52 Right. 51:55 Yeah, Ward Manuel was talking about Michigan, how they're going to handle it. 51:58 And right now, you know, they are going to go into the revenue share and maximize that and give out that 22 million. 52:05 But he estimates it's 29 million to fund all the scholarships that they currently offer at full room and board. 52:14 And he's like, we don't have $51 million right now to do that. 52:19 And they don't want to cut scholarships. 52:22 They don't want to cut programs. 52:24 I know I just read that Ohio State is probably going to be cutting men's gymnastics scholarships from their institution because there's only 10 NCAA institutions that sponsor men's gymnastics at this point. 52:36 Mark Coyle got ahead of that and took a lot of flack for it, but I think he was forward thinking, knowing that this stuff is coming and he wanted to focus what the University of Minnesota offers, provides and supports. 52:49 because it's really hard to support a program if you don't support them fully. 52:52 Well, okay. 52:54 Let's stay on Ohio State. 52:58 You guys have seen the crowds there. 53:00 You see where they play in that monstrous basketball building. 53:04 There's been talk for 10 years about building a new arena. 53:08 Who are we kidding? 53:08 That's not coming. 53:10 Right? 53:12 Well, their new president is- 53:14 I know he's a hockey guy. 53:16 He's a hockey guy. 53:18 Yeah. 53:19 Guess what? 53:20 I've heard it for two years now. 53:22 But anyway, yeah, I know he's new, newer. 53:25 But that being said, who's to say? 53:29 Guess what? 53:30 Hockey, you're not bringing in anything. 53:37 It will be interesting. 53:38 Yeah. 53:39 We have to keep moving forward here, guys, because I think this whole pay for play is going to get crazy. 53:45 We're going to keep learning more and it's going to be really another year until a lot of this happens. 53:50 Well, we've got an icebreaker this weekend in Las Vegas, at Orleans Arena. 53:56 Vigz, start out with Air Force playing Minnesota, and then you've got UMass taking on Omaha. 54:02 Omaha is looking really good so far this year. 54:06 But Frank Cerritori's Air Force, Friday night at 930. 54:12 What do you think? 54:14 Yeah. 54:15 The Falcons got their tail swooped by ASU in the first game of the season. 54:21 I think it was 8-1. 54:23 Yes. 54:23 But of course, they came back and won the game in overtime the next night. 54:28 So I think Air Force has been one of those teams. 54:31 They're going to be a tough, tough out. 54:33 Yeah. 54:33 They're going to be a tough out. 54:34 If Minnesota doesn't separate from them quickly, it's going to give Air Force hope. 54:42 And when Air Force gets hope, the games can get long. 54:45 Bob was talking about his tournament game against Air Force where they knocked him out. 54:50 This is going to be a tough matchup for Minnesota. 54:52 You know, one thing I really liked about their exhibition of St. 54:55 Cloud is how well they defended. 54:58 I think they only gave up 18 or 19 shots, something like that. 55:02 You know, they took away the house in their defensive zone. 55:05 You know, there was a lot of room. 55:06 And when they got the puck, they got out quick. 55:09 You know, when St. 55:10 Cloud tried to dump the puck and get in their forecheck, Minnesota was quickly getting to their breakout routes and getting out of the zone. 55:17 So I think that bodes well for a series of the Air Force if your team can execute those two things. 55:22 Well, and I'll add on to that and say this. 55:26 If Minnesota wants to be, you know, in your top five leagues and stay in your top five, they have to be a team that dictates the play. 55:37 And what I mean by dictate the play is that we're going to play our way tonight and you're going to have to try to stop us. 55:45 They can't say, oh, well, you know, Air Force, they like to, you know, they like to, you know, slow it down. 55:53 They like to clog that neutral zone, blah, blah, blah. 55:56 You've got to smack them and keep that momentum going and make them get on their heels. 56:04 And if they do that, then they'll be able to put them away early, in my opinion. 56:09 But if they allow Air Force to play, and Air Force, oh, you're going to let us play, and they play, you know, you saw a different Air Force team from Friday to Saturday. 56:23 And Frank will have it. 56:26 Frank and Bob are good friends. 56:28 They'll compete against each other. 56:30 He'll have his team ready. 56:31 And, you know, it's not going to be a layup. 56:34 It can be a layup if Minnesota decides it's going to be a layup. 56:40 In my opinion. 56:42 I was just looking at my notes from the St. 56:43 Cloud game and I couldn't figure it out right on the fly. 56:48 But there was one moment in the game where the middle stat, Michael Lyon, got the puck in the zone and got some possession. 56:54 Yeah. 56:55 And they connected a shift. 56:57 Yes. 56:58 And it led to a goal. 57:00 That's how you beat a team like Air Force who likes to slow the game down. 57:04 You have to have those shifts where one seamlessly fits into another. 57:10 And Air Force has to have guys out there playing against two or three lines. 57:15 Yes. 57:15 And if you can put that kind of pressure on a team, that's how you break it. 57:20 You lose to teams like this when you have players who turn over the puck too quickly, and you give the opponent a chance to reset, get back in their structure, change lines, get fresh guys out there. 57:32 When they can do that, you just condense the game, and you have less opportunities to make plays. 57:38 So you have to be fast, you have to be quick, you have to take advantage and connect. 57:42 Yeah, and consistency. 57:45 That's why you talked about the depth of this team. 57:49 This is a team that you want to be able to roll, roll one after another, after another. 57:56 After a while, a team is going to look at you and say, enough, and that's what I think they're trying to get at with this team. 58:08 If you ask them, do you have a first line? 58:10 No, we don't. 58:11 We have four lines. 58:13 If that's it, then that's telling me, okay, we're going to roll these babies, and we're going to one after another, after another, and smother you, and attack you, and as you mentioned, take care of their own end, which I thought, like you said, Veegs, I thought they were terrific for a first game, for an exhibition game, for playing a lot of guys. 58:40 I thought they were really good in their own end. 58:46 I just saw on the chat that it looks like Big Ten plus just added the Saturday game as well, so they'll both be streamable on the B1G plus platform this entire weekend for the Gopher Games, both 930 games. 59:01 So that's definitely a thumbs up there. 59:04 I'm assuming Veegs, you think they're going to win Friday night. 59:08 I personally think they will, and they will be facing Omaha, who Minnesota ended their season last year, from what I recall, was a very unlucky play. 59:21 The ice wasn't great there, the poor kid loses his edge, turns over the puck in his own zone, and it boom, that was in the back of the net. 59:31 Who knows if the ice will be in Orleans Arena, but hopefully it's better than it was in Sioux Falls. 59:39 Yeah, I heard that they put in the ice, and they've had youth teams on there all week, some club teams. 59:43 So they're trying to get the ice in better shape than your typical Vegas or Orleans Arena ice, like we saw for the North Dakota game out a couple years ago, where it was terrible. 59:52 Yeah, and they had all the teams come out a day early. 59:55 And so I know they skated today and tomorrow and Friday morning also. 1:00:03 So it should be fine. 1:00:05 But I think one thing with Omaha, they were so good up the middle last year, they lost a couple of guys that they're trying to that they're trying to replace. 1:00:14 I mean, their centermen were really, really good. 1:00:18 And that kind of drove them, I think. 1:00:22 Yes, they played heavy and hard and they had some big D and such. 1:00:26 But I'm interested to see the replacements that they have this year. 1:00:32 But they're well coached. 1:00:35 Mike Gavin, he's a good coach. 1:00:37 And, you know, he always, one thing about him, you know, he always, no matter, you know, they could lose ten in a row, you know, have a smile on his face. 1:00:47 And, you know, he always gets his players ready to play. 1:00:50 And so, you know, I hope they do meet on Saturday, because I don't like UMass. 1:01:01 Also a tournament team last year. 1:01:03 I'll tell you why, but not on this podcast. 1:01:06 Oh. 1:01:15 Yeah, I'll tell you some time. 1:01:20 One other thing to put on the podcast is I dug into the contracts for this weekend, because I know that there are some conflicts of fans who are trying to get to the Rose Bowl, Pasadena, and so they had that hard choice, do I do that or do hockey? 1:01:38 So I don't know what the atmosphere is going to be like in the building. 1:01:42 Right. 1:01:42 Even though Minnesota is the host, it's being run by this Nevada Sports Group, and they are taking the risk on all this, and Minnesota still gets their $40,000 for going out there and playing in the tournament, regardless of what happens for the gate. 1:01:59 You know, all their hotel rooms are covered. 1:02:01 So just one thing to know Gopher fans, even if it looks a little sparse in there, Minnesota is still getting their paycheck, it's going to be just fine. 1:02:10 What does it see? 1:02:11 I think $5,000, right? 1:02:14 Something like that. 1:02:14 Yeah. 1:02:14 Yeah. 1:02:15 It's a small little ring. 1:02:16 So I think, yeah, I think it, I heard some numbers. 1:02:21 It's not sold out. 1:02:25 But it is not. 1:02:26 I know. 1:02:29 I think it'll be okay. 1:02:33 I hope so. 1:02:33 I hope so. 1:02:34 It probably won't be great, but. 1:02:35 Well, you know, 930, later game, and there could be a few liquored up people in there, too, making a lot more noise. 1:02:43 Well, 930 here, but 730 there. 1:02:45 Well, yeah, but still, we'll see. 1:02:49 Right. 1:02:49 So we think it's sweep here, guys. 1:02:51 Veegs, please tell me your prediction sweep, because I'm saying sweep this weekend. 1:02:56 Well, you know, it's not really a sweep, because you're going to be putting in those teams. 1:02:58 But I think they get two real wins against some teams that will help them prepare for the season. 1:03:05 Yeah, I think they're one of the best teams in the country. 1:03:13 So, and as we talked about, I'll go back to when we first started, you know, they've got a little bite to them, and they've got a little, you know, I think this is a team that won't take things for granted. 1:03:32 I hope I'm right. 1:03:36 We'll have to see. 1:03:37 We'll have to see. 1:03:38 I'm looking forward to it. 1:03:39 I'm glad, you know, we'll be able to hear you guys this weekend on the call, you and Wally. 1:03:44 I think a lot of people will be listening to that because they don't want to pay for the B1G plus, so. 1:03:48 Well, if they do, they want to turn the volume down and. 1:03:53 Yeah. 1:03:53 Wally and I. 1:03:58 As fall, this would say mute TV, right? 1:04:00 Yeah. 1:04:01 Correct. 1:04:03 Correct. 1:04:04 Well, thanks for coming on the show, Pat. 1:04:05 It's always great to have you back on the podcast. 1:04:08 I was going to, but I didn't. 1:04:12 I thought, should I ask them for 730? 1:04:17 I thought, oh, Veegs is going to get mad at me. 1:04:21 Oh, boy. 1:04:22 I didn't even bring it up. 1:04:24 I sucked it up for the team, Veegs. 1:04:26 You did. 1:04:27 Yeah. 1:04:27 You're a man of grace. 1:04:28 And I got to get up in five hours. 1:04:33 I got to be at the airport at 7 o'clock. 1:04:38 Well, then good night, Pat. 1:04:39 I appreciate you. 1:04:40 We appreciate it. 1:04:41 Hey, you guys have a great weekend. 1:04:43 Thanks for having me on. 1:04:45 I hope we do it again before the season ends. 1:04:47 Definitely will. 1:04:49 Definitely will. 1:04:49 And that's going to do it for this episode of The GPL Podcast. 1:04:53 We'll be back next week with a brand new show. 1:04:56 Not sure on the guest yet, but of course, today we thank Pat for coming on the podcast and stay tuned for some overtime.