0:08 This is The GPL Podcast, part of the Pulltab Sports family. 0:13 You're younger than my dad. 0:18 My dad's 50, my dad's 56. 0:21 You're younger than my dad. 0:22 Yeah, that makes me feel so much better. 0:27 Does Eric even know who Spiari is? 0:31 No. 0:32 Yeah, there you go, Vogue. 0:34 Don't be embarrassed to say no or not. 0:35 No, I wouldn't be embarrassed at all. 0:38 But the Big Ten's a bad conference. 0:41 That's a joke. 0:42 If this gets clipped, that's a joke. 0:43 Oh, no, no. 0:45 We're definitely hooking that one now. 0:48 Now, here's Jupiter and Vegoe. 1:03 Good evening, and welcome to The GPL Podcast, episode number 269. 1:11 Veegs, what a successful weekend in Duluth, even though the third period of Friday night was a little hairy. 1:19 Little dicey, some weird bounces, but probably the best weekend the Gophers have played in Duluth for like 20 years, maybe. 1:28 I mean, it's been a long time since they've looked that good against the Bulldogs, and it was just kind of one of those reverse situations where the veteran gopher team went in there and beat up a young and experienced Bulldog team. 1:41 Yeah, it was definitely a fun weekend when up there as a fan. 1:44 I know you wanted to get up there. 1:45 Couldn't quite make it due to coaching and other stuff going on, but it was a fun weekend in Duluth, though. 1:51 Canal Park's a little more dead these days that Grandma's saloon is no longer operating. 1:59 So I keep those sports fans in check. 2:02 Yeah, you kind of do. 2:03 But well, we'll talk about more about the Duluth series. 2:07 But, you know, we're Gophers playing St. 2:10 Thomas this week. 2:10 And I thought, you know, we've got to get Sam Ekstrom on the podcast at some point here because, you know, he was calling games to the Gophers. 2:18 And of course, he's always been calling games for St. 2:20 Thomas. 2:20 But things have changed a little bit. 2:22 But I'm like, you know what? 2:23 I want you on anyway. 2:24 So let's bring him in. 2:25 Sam Ekstrom, welcome to the podcast. 2:28 Thanks for joining us. 2:30 See, I got to make sure the audio works so I don't end up like Mickle Eddie. 2:34 I saw the Mickle Eddie show. 2:36 It never fails. 2:37 Had a little mishap. 2:38 It never fails. 2:40 Yeah. 2:41 I think we're good though. 2:42 Yeah. 2:43 It's working. 2:44 It's funny because you own the pre-show. 2:45 We'll talk a few minutes. 2:46 Get ready. 2:47 And the microphone always works for Pat. 2:51 And then we come back on live and I can't hear you. 2:55 He's got mural cred, but no production cred. 2:58 Maybe he's just faking it. 3:00 Maybe he's just pulling the wool over your eyes just to mess with you. 3:03 Maybe that's his revenge for all these late podcasts, Veegs. 3:07 Hey, we're on when we're on. 3:09 You had him on right before he was flying to Vegas. 3:12 The man needed his rest. 3:15 It's been like a running joke with him too. 3:17 It's not too late. 3:18 It's just I can't do it. 3:19 It's like it's past my bedtime. 3:20 I'm like, no, it's not bad. 3:24 I love Nick, man. 3:25 Oh, he is a lot of fun. 3:28 So we'll get to the loose stuff here. 3:30 But St. 3:32 Thomas actually had a week off after playing Vermont. 3:36 But Vermont was pretty successful. 3:37 A 5-5 tie and a 3-1 win. 3:40 What can you tell us about that? 3:42 Yeah, well, I went there to Burlington last year. 3:45 Really? 3:46 Yeah, they had a series, two in Burlington last year, and then they came here. 3:52 So, I was at those two games last year, and we got spanked. 3:57 The Tommies have not performed great in non-conference situations in their D1 tenure, and that was just another example where they played everybody competitively last year, like, except Vermont. 4:08 So, for Vermont to come back, St. 4:11 Thomas was healthier. 4:12 St. 4:12 Thomas kind of had their full allotment of players. 4:15 Yeah, to get a tie and a win, they'll take that. 4:18 Weird Friday night, followed by a more stable Saturday. 4:22 A lot of goals on Friday, and then, you know, needed the empty netter to secure the 3-1 win on Saturday. 4:27 But Tommies have played three decent games. 4:31 One, nothing against St. 4:32 Cloud State, where they were probably the better team for two periods and just couldn't score. 4:36 And then, you know, the Vermont series, I think, was a success. 4:39 So, they're going into this Gopher series with a positive feeling, plenty of rest, like Minnesota's had. 4:44 They both had two weeks off. 4:46 I think Friday is going to be awesome. 4:48 You know, Veegs, it's kind of hard to predict almost a lot of teams. 4:51 Now, I mean, you know, like you said, you know, St. 4:54 Thomas had one last thing, lost St. 4:56 Cloud. 4:56 We thought St. 4:57 Cloud was not good in the exhibition because, you know, even at home, they didn't play well against Minnesota. 5:02 Then they go to Michigan and don't play well one night, play well the other night. 5:06 Michigan's kind of the same back and forth. 5:08 A lot of kind of craziness early this season. 5:12 Well, I think early in the year, you know, when teams are trying to integrate freshmen in their lineup or they've got some key departures that played big roles, you see a lot of teams that lean really heavy on their experienced players down the stretch. 5:26 And so that next year, they have a lot of roles, a nice time to fill. 5:29 And we've seen that so many times with Minnesota, where it's like, who's going to be on the power play? 5:34 Who's going to take the big draws? 5:36 Who are we going to put out there to shut down the other team's top lines? 5:40 And so you get these start of the year situations, and it takes a while to figure that out. 5:45 And those veteran teams have such an advantage over everybody else. 5:48 And everybody else is trying to figure it out one night to the next. 5:52 You know, the coach has the big film session on Saturday morning and says, we got to fix this and this. 5:56 And guess what? 5:57 They do it the next night. 5:58 And that's why it's so hard to sweep in college hockey, especially at this time of year. 6:03 It definitely is. 6:03 Gophers did that pretty well, though, in Duluth. 6:05 That was impressive. 6:07 Coming back 5-1 the next night, that was a thorough performance. 6:11 I've never heard Matsuko that encouraged after, like, an early season non-conference series. 6:17 That's the sign of a pretty mature team, even though they're young. 6:21 Don't you think? 6:22 Well, Vegas, kind of on top of that, though, it's like Friday night. 6:27 I was never concerned when Duluth kept coming back, and maybe Matsuko didn't have, maybe he didn't relay any concern when, you know, it was, you know, it was 7-3, all of a sudden 7-5. 6:42 He knew things weren't going well, but it seems like they still stayed calm and finished. 6:47 The game out, whereas in the past, that might not have happened. 6:50 Well, I think the goals were coming off a weird bounces. 6:54 Like one goes off a mask and nobody can find it. 6:56 You know, one goes through traffic right to the free guy. 6:59 Those weren't coming off of mistakes, where your team is forcing a play and turning the puck over at the blue line, or mishandling a pass and giving up an on-man rush. 7:09 You know, it wasn't that kind of game for Minnesota when they're giving up goals. 7:13 So as a coaching staff, you just go, let's just roll with it. 7:16 And part of the point I'm making about Minnesota is even their freshmen are guys who have played a lot of junior hockey and are experienced players. 7:26 And he's got enough guys who have had big jumps in their offseason where I think Bob's pretty confident in this group. 7:33 You know, he really wants to compare this blue line to the one with all those NHLers that are now playing pro hockey. 7:40 And I think he likes this group because they're bigger. 7:44 They're a little more physical. 7:46 And I think they're a little more even in their games. 7:49 So you know, this team's got a lot of potential. 7:52 You know, you could hear Scott Sandlin talk about it all last week. 7:55 You know, I call it rat poison when you have an opposing coach. 7:57 These guys are going to St. 7:59 Louis. 7:59 These guys are probably a favorite to win the Frozen Four. 8:02 These guys don't have a first and fourth line. 8:05 You got to pick their poison. 8:06 They're all first line type guys. 8:09 And Minnesota is handling that pretty well so far. 8:12 And he's not wrong either. 8:16 Well, I mean, you've got Mason Nevers and Aaron Hublin on your like kind of fourth line. 8:23 Those guys are experienced. 8:24 They don't make many mistakes. 8:26 I thought a big thing this weekend from Minnesota, Sam, was freshmen started the game scoring. 8:33 Was it? 8:33 Zemur scored both games. 8:36 Game opening goal. 8:37 Yeah. 8:38 Yeah. 8:38 Back to back days. 8:39 Yeah. 8:39 It took him like 90 seconds the first night and then nine minutes the next day. 8:44 And the Gophers last year, I think that was kind of the missing ingredient. 8:48 They didn't have, I mean, I got to be careful because they got like 50 assists from Rinzel and more, but they didn't get a lot of goal scoring from freshmen. 8:58 They didn't get a ton of that. 9:00 Seems like they've, I mean, Paulson, I mean, talk about Paul, a guy who could score in the USHL. 9:05 Zemur seems like he's ready to play. 9:08 And Matzko's not been shy about playing these guys early in the year. 9:12 Faloon's played, I think, all four games. 9:15 I know I'm forgetting someone else, but they, yeah, the freshmen have had really good starts. 9:21 And Matthew Wood, it almost feels like he's a freshman because he's 19. 9:26 It's like this new player who's 19. 9:27 Oh, he must know a 30 year player and he's probably going to be an NHL stud someday. 9:33 But yeah, great contributions from all the newcomers early. 9:36 And Veegs, Veegs, we talk about Wood and I like you've seen people tweeting, Oh, Wood, he's so slow. 9:43 He's lumbering out there. 9:44 I think he's just a tall guy that looks like he's going slow because he certainly is making plays. 9:50 I think big guys always look a little slower, but you can look at old clips of Mario Lemieux and you're just like, Oh, he doesn't look that agile and quick out there. 10:00 He's he's moving. 10:01 He's just really big. 10:01 He's got big, powerful strides. 10:03 But I do think the thing about Wood that makes him special is his ability to hold on to pucks, slow down the possession and make the right play. 10:14 And playing on the line with Kurth and Clark has been a really combination. 10:18 We were asking Bob about that this week, and he's like, Well, there's no real rhyme or reason. 10:23 I'm just trying to balance out my team because during camp, you know, he was putting more stungered and wood all together. 10:30 And so he wanted to maybe kind of spread that out a little bit. 10:33 And he's found what he called some showtime with that line. 10:37 And it's working. 10:39 And I also think with Oliver Moore putting him with the young guys, Zemur and Beckett Hendrickson really worked. 10:46 You know, I was questioning coming out of the Vegas series whether Moore was going to stick at center. 10:51 You know, hat tip to Drew Cove and Nate Wells for pointing this out. 10:54 I always talk about, you know, Sammy Walker and guys who don't fit at center. 10:58 But Oliver Moore looked really good at center with those two. 11:02 And I don't know if it's just, you know, a different style of play with those guys, with how they exit the zone. 11:07 But they all looked cohesive as a unit. 11:11 Yeah, how about 22 points through four games for that that Kirth, that Kirth Moore line? 11:16 That's, that's pretty ridiculous. 11:19 Showtime. 11:20 Kirth Wood Clark, sorry. 11:21 Kirth Wood Clark. 11:23 Yeah. 11:23 Well, and like I said, we mentioned, you know, the freshmen scoring in a hostile environment, you know, a zimmer both nights, kind of quieting the crowd vegs really quick. 11:34 And we really haven't seen that much from the young players in Duluth, the games they've played. 11:39 For many years. 11:42 Well, that's kind of the book on Zemur, is that he's a competitive guy. 11:46 You know, in the lower junior ranks with the development team, he was named captain of a lot of those groups. 11:51 Let's say go play in international tournaments. 11:53 It's because his teammates can rely on him to be a big player in big games. 11:58 And so I think he's just stepping right into that role of Minnesota. 12:01 And it gives Bob a lot of freedom with his depth. 12:05 We asked him, is he going to change things up? 12:07 He's like, you know, everything's working right now, but I don't think I'm doing anything special to create that chemistry. 12:13 We could probably mix it up with a lot of different guys and still be OK. 12:18 So this weekend, Sam, I went to Duluth as a fan. 12:21 I like to go to at least one series a year. 12:23 It just keeps me sane. 12:24 It keeps me going. 12:26 You know, it's not thinking about, you know, being behind the camera and trying to get the photo. 12:31 I turned around to a person I know at the game. 12:34 I go, you know, Snuggerood is eventually going to get going here. 12:39 And this team could be really dangerous. 12:41 And literally 30 seconds later, he'd get, he did finally get off the Schneid and score a goal this weekend. 12:47 I kind of a wild shot, but he just needed to get going. 12:54 Yeah, this has been a little bit of the story with Snuggerood, right? 12:57 Some cold stretches followed by some explosions. 13:01 You know, you think about last year, the Snuggerood, we saw coming off of World Juniors was at an entirely different level. 13:09 And then once the adrenaline wore off from that, you know, there was a little bit of a lull there, I think. 13:15 And that lull might have been what got him back for his junior year. 13:19 You know, if he continues that pace we saw in early January, I think he's going to St. 13:22 Louis. 13:23 But a little bit of a slower end of the year, he's back, unfinished business. 13:28 He cited Brock Faber. 13:29 He said, Hey, I saw Faber come back in junior year, you know, almost win the Natty. 13:33 I want to do the same thing. 13:35 And now he gets to be a 100 point guy with the Gophers, gets to put together probably three consecutive 20 goal seasons. 13:41 I don't know how close he is to dad's stats. 13:43 I think dad had like 140 points with the Gophers. 13:47 A little different era too. 13:49 He's got a ways to go. 13:50 He's going to need like an Otani 40-40, 50-50. 13:53 Yeah. 13:56 But, yeah, I mean, Snuggeroots scored four goals against St. 13:58 Thomas last year in the series, so I could see this being a big weekend for him, especially at the X, under the bright lights. 14:05 I think that's probably a setting where he's going to thrive. 14:10 Well, I'm definitely looking forward to that because I would love to see Snuggeroots succeed. 14:14 We all want to see Snuggeroots succeed, Veegs. 14:17 He has been very much up and down kind of his entire career at Minnesota. 14:23 Yeah. 14:23 And I think that gets to him too. 14:25 You can see his body language when he gets frustrated. 14:28 And I think for his growth, he's got to be able to be a little more resilient in these situations where he's not putting up as many points as he'd like. 14:38 And I think they're going to come. 14:41 I still am waiting for that power play to look a little bit better. 14:44 It still looks a little too robotic and a little slow too, a little slow because they kind of get in their positions and they want to be there and make the plays that they've got. 14:56 These guys are first round picks because they're so talented. 15:00 So they've just got to kind of free up that flow state and figure it out from there and maybe just getting some quick shots with some rebounds and winning those second chances and tiring down a penalty kill is going to be good for them. 15:12 It's hard to know, but it's still something for this team to unlock. 15:17 So Sam, I'm looking at your equipment there. 15:18 You got a Shure mic. 15:19 You got the headphones like I do. 15:22 You are all over the place on the internet. 15:24 You've got your Vikings podcast. 15:26 I saw you kind of filling in a little bit on a Timberwolves podcast. 15:29 So besides your St. 15:30 Thomas duties, what else are you doing here? 15:33 Because it seems like I'm seeing you all over the place. 15:37 Yeah. 15:37 Someone came from North Carolina and said, provided all this equipment. 15:41 I have no clue what I'm even speaking into really. 15:43 But so the, the company that, you know, gives me a 401k it's the locked on podcast network. 15:49 And they are a national podcast network at the local level, if that makes sense. 15:55 They've got 250 shows in local markets, and they combine that strength into a national network that they sell to some of the biggest advertisers. 16:04 And it's a really brilliant concept and that's my full-time gig. 16:08 So I talk Minnesota sports for them. 16:10 And then I work some national projects for them on the back end, but that's my full-time job. 16:14 So I'm down here every day talking Minnesota sports for locked on, a lot of Vikings, a little Wolves, little twins, little wild, little Gophers, of course, but it's pretty heavy football. 16:25 But I'm talking into a microphone all the time. 16:28 And I think it keeps my voice fresh. 16:29 So it's like good conditioning for the hockey season. 16:33 But yeah, I'm staring into some studio lights right now. 16:35 I'm kind of squinting. 16:36 It's a little too late at night for this. 16:38 You can turn them down. 16:39 Well, you could turn them down for overtime. 16:42 Perfect. 16:43 Is that when I get to pour another old-fashioned? 16:45 I was told it's okay. 16:47 Oh, yeah. 16:47 Sip this on the show. 16:48 Okay. 16:49 Oh my goodness. 16:50 Yeah. 16:50 Old-fashioned. 16:52 And actually, I got on to brandy old-fashions in Wisconsin. 16:56 I believe it was a couple of seasons ago when I was there. 16:59 There was an early Wisconsin game for Minnesota. 17:03 Since it was done, one of the supper clubs is open. 17:07 I went to a supper club, had a great time with Wisconsin fans. 17:11 And one thing you've probably noticed is that these college hockey fans are, we're a little bit different. 17:17 It's a very niche group. 17:20 I mean, obviously, you know, we have a podcast, but it's not going to be a national level. 17:26 But the college hockey crew is quite passionate. 17:31 Passionate about old-fashions or just passionate in general? 17:34 Well, passionate about drinking too. 17:36 Yes. 17:37 No, I know exactly what you're saying. 17:40 I love the college hockey community. 17:43 I love talking to the coaches in college hockey, the fans, the writers. 17:47 I mean, the people that cover this sport are so committed to the game. 17:53 Because most people, I feel like you cover this sport because you love it. 17:58 You don't cover it because you're filling a void for the local paper. 18:01 You got forced into it. 18:02 No, you're covering it. 18:03 Oftentimes, it might be your own website. 18:05 It might be some kind of independent startup or podcast. 18:08 And the people that follow College Hockey are some of the most dedicated that I know. 18:14 So, how many shows is this? 18:16 Like 269. 18:19 We do them once a week during the season. 18:21 So, and it's our 14th season. 18:23 We were doing a podcast long before many others were. 18:26 So, we've been around a long time. 18:27 We just don't do a show all the time. 18:30 You were around before the Lockdown Podcast Network. 18:33 I will give you that. 18:34 You were predated us by a long ways. 18:37 Well done on your guy's part. 18:38 So, 2010. 18:40 It's because of that passionate fans. 18:44 We started with just, we recorded an audio podcast with a few of us. 18:49 Like, yeah, this could work. 18:50 Well, let's find out a way to do it live. 18:52 So, we did it live via audio, the app called Mixlr. 18:56 And people seem to really enjoy that. 18:58 They could send us questions and we could respond live. 19:01 And then we figured out with Zoom and now StreamYard, we're doing video live. 19:09 Yeah, it's not gonna be as polished as a recorded podcast, but I love the interactability of the fans. 19:15 You know, when people chime in and chat, things go wrong. 19:20 That's how it works. 19:22 And so I love it. 19:24 And you guys do a lot of live stuff too. 19:26 And it's just, it's fun. 19:29 No, we've done a huge pivot to live. 19:31 Live is the way to go. 19:33 So I oversee our national post-cast initiative. 19:37 So there's like 15 markets we're in right now, where we have someone doing instant reaction shows live after all the major pro games in that market. 19:46 Because that interactivity, it actually helps the YouTube algorithm a ton. 19:50 So YouTube sees the engagement that you guys get, and it amplifies it. 19:55 And it's all about getting seen on that home feed. 19:58 Like the subscribers are nice on YouTube, but really you just want to get seen on the home screen. 20:02 Most people that watch aren't even subscribers. 20:04 I get really into the science of this with the day job, and you're absolutely nailing it with the live concept. 20:10 I love it. 20:10 You're way ahead of the curve. 20:12 And we've been having fun with it. 20:14 So that's why we do it. 20:16 We've been, like I said, 14 seasons. 20:18 So it's been a lot of fun. 20:20 One thing that has changed, though, the last two seasons you had been calling Go for Hockey for most of the home games, whether it was Fox9, Fox9 Plus. 20:32 But now Fox9 wants to have a little more involvement of the broadcast and kind of bringing in Jim Rich instead of you. 20:44 Obviously a big downer for you, but you could probably understand where they're coming from on the opposite end. 20:49 So probably a lot of mixed feelings. 20:53 You know, there's a definite sting to it when you get that news because this is a job that you aspire to. 21:01 It's a job that means a lot to a lot of people. 21:04 And when I grew up in the Upper Midwest, I've got a lot of Minnesota friends that love the team. 21:09 They love listening to me call the games. 21:11 And you're very proud of that aspect. 21:12 But again, how privileged am I to have been in a position where I get to fall back and be the voice of the other D1 team in the metro area and the Tommies. 21:24 And I absolutely love the Tommie gig. 21:27 They've been nothing but great to me. 21:28 And they kind of let me have this side gig doing Gophers TV. 21:32 And I guess if there's a silver lining this weekend on Friday, I don't have to swap out like the maroon and gold tie for the purple tie. 21:40 Because last year, Friday night, I did it from the Tommies perspective. 21:44 And Saturday, I did it from the Gophers perspective on Fox9. 21:48 Don't have to walk that line anymore, but I'll miss it. 21:51 I'll miss it considerably. 21:53 The energy in in Mariucci and working with Pat and the season before that, Ben Clymer. 21:59 It was so much fun. 22:00 Some of my best memories. 22:02 But you know, Fox has their job to do. 22:05 They're trying to create chemistry and cohesion with their newscast into their pregame show, into the broadcast booth. 22:12 And Jim has been a stalwart in this market for how long? 22:15 And I think he'll do a great job. 22:16 We've heard him call St. 22:17 Cloud State Games for forever. 22:20 So nothing but the best of luck to those two. 22:24 I know there's obviously no ill will on Jim's part toward me. 22:28 None from me to him. 22:30 I wish him the best. 22:32 Well, Veegs, it's been interesting. 22:34 TV has been a little chaotic since, honestly, since, you know, FSN got rid of Frank Mizako because Mizako was the stalwart for over 20 years at the time from the late 80s until 2010. 22:50 And then it's been a bit chaotic since then. 22:54 Yeah, I think the TV has been a challenge for Minnesota as a whole to figure out post, you know, wild, like trying to figure out where they fit in because they're not the big hockey team in the state anymore. 23:07 So they've got to figure out how to share it. 23:09 And you've seen that you try to do a lot of different things. 23:12 And, you know, the Big Ten coverage is one thing. 23:15 And then the Fox coverage and the ESPN and all these different networks. 23:21 And I know a little bit for this year, you know, that you really want to try to have as consistent a presence as they could on Fox9. 23:30 And so they were trying to figure out how to sell sponsorship packages for this entire season. 23:35 And so I think they were really trying to drive that. 23:38 And we'll see how it goes. 23:41 You know, I'm used to all these different people coming in. 23:44 And, you know, that's how we've gotten to know Cappy and Dan Kelly and things like that. 23:49 And Ben holden with all the variety of broadcasters. 23:53 But, you know, this year will be interesting to watch. 23:56 And, you know, I'll be watching to see if Jim Rich wears that black and red tie to one of the games this year, because I don't know how many maroon ties he has in the closet. 24:06 You know, Veegs, I want to say, I heard back in 2010, or actually, it was sometime in that time when they were looking for another guy, that he might have been up for the job back then. 24:22 I think it was when Doug McCloud got it. 24:25 I want to say he was interested then, and they went with Doug McCloud. 24:30 And then we had Charlie Beatty for a little while, and he got out of the business completely. 24:35 So, Sam, please don't get out of the business. 24:37 We like you here. 24:40 The plans to stick around. 24:42 I've got already a Gophers volleyball gig on FS1 on the 29th of November. 24:49 So I will be on campus in a month calling a Gophers game on cable. 24:54 So we're not going anywhere. 24:56 You'll be calling the radio Friday night, won't you? 24:59 Yeah. 24:59 So I'll be at Mariucci Friday. 25:01 I'll have the AM 1500 ESPN radio call Friday night. 25:07 And then from the Tommy side of it, Fox9 plus Saturday at the X. 25:11 So you can't get rid of me. 25:13 I'll be with Mark Parrish on Saturday. 25:15 Oh boy. 25:17 Calling that one. 25:19 And we had the thriller last year. 25:21 We had the 6-5 overtime, snuggeroot walk-off of Parrish and I last year. 25:26 So we're going to run it back, see what happens. 25:29 What do you guys think of the rivalry? 25:32 Gophers and Tommies so far, two games in obviously, but two more this year. 25:36 Tommies gaining a little more relevance. 25:37 Where do you think that's at? 25:39 I always think a rivalry is built when the season's on the line. 25:42 So it's going to take a while. 25:44 You need to play someone in the playoffs and some bad blood needs to... 25:48 When these non-conference games, it might take a little longer. 25:53 But I think personally that, you know, you think of the traditional rivals, North Dakota, Wisconsin, UMD, St. 26:00 Cloud. 26:02 All of those teams have ended Minnesota's season. 26:06 I mean, how many times did Michigan end our season back in the 90s? 26:09 They weren't even in our conference at the time. 26:12 They were a big rival for me. 26:14 So what do you think, Veegs? 26:17 I think it's going to get there, but maybe more important games first. 26:22 I do think the fans make a rivalry. 26:25 And that's the one thing I think the Tommies instantly have. 26:29 You look back at highlights from the Excel game last year, and there were a lot of students in the building, and there were a lot of alumni and Tommy community people that really are rallying around those program. 26:42 And I think that's going to allow this to heat up quicker than maybe some of the Minnesota rivalries with Minnesota State and St. 26:49 Cloud when they went to D1, because that was kind of a slow build up, I think, for those programs. 26:55 You look at the money, the St. 26:56 Thomas community is investing into athletics. 27:00 They are just getting cash injections to build buildings and give scholarships and build all the things that programs need to be successful. 27:07 They are doing that very quickly. 27:09 So this is like a Silicon Valley startup, and they are they are arriving on the scene, and that is why there is such an attractive school that can get into a conference and get into the next conference and attract a big name coach. 27:22 And I think this rivalry is going to grow pretty quick. 27:25 And probably cause controversy, Sam, because they came close to winning the CCHE last year, and it would have been, okay, you win the playoff title. 27:34 Second place team goes to the tournament instead. 27:38 There is a very good chance of that happening this year as well. 27:41 Yes. 27:42 And I think there is a vote in January to see if the Tommies could be eligible next year for the NCAA Tournament. 27:49 They are hoping to expedite it by one year. 27:51 If that fails, then they have to sit two more years, which is the two more years that they have in the CCHE. 27:58 And that's kind of school wide though, isn't it? 28:01 All sports. 28:02 Correct. 28:04 Yes, it is. 28:05 Phil Esten, Athletic Director, is super optimistic that it's going to pass and that they'll be eligible next year, which I think coincides perfectly with what's probably going to be their best team, going to have the new arena, probably a chance to flex their muscles from kind of a fan support standpoint for the first time because they've been stuck off campus, tiny arena, freezing arena, you know, no eligibility in the cards. 28:33 Hard to get people to come out in January for a Lake Superior State Series. 28:37 It's just, it's tough. 28:38 It's tough. 28:39 But with the new building, more on the line and then the better conference coming two years down the road, I think we'll start to see the support that we've seen the Tommies get for basketball, the Tommies get for football. 28:51 And I would expect hockey will be the same once you have a Duluth, a St. 28:55 Clouds State, Denver coming in there, Arizona State. 28:59 Like the NCHC rivalries have so much more name recognition that I think we're going to start to see a lot more purple and gray coming out to hockey games here next year. 29:13 Well, I must say that personally, there was a nice highlight that you called for GPL last year. 29:20 And I thought I would just play this since it was against the Colorado College team when Close got a stick to the face and I happened to capture it. 29:28 And you talked about it in the broadcast here. 29:31 Here's a clip of that. 29:31 I just need to thank you for this. 29:34 And he had a close call last night. 29:36 We saw a photo courtesy of Gopher Puck live. 29:38 He had a stick go into his goalie mask on the fifth goal scored. 29:42 Yeah, he's fortunate that he didn't suffer an injury, an incidental stick going into his mask, a wild photo. 29:50 If you haven't seen it. 29:52 So, thank you for mentioning us on that. 29:55 It was pure luck shot, but what a photo. 29:59 What a photo. 30:00 Scary though. 30:01 Yeah. 30:03 Yeah. 30:04 Seriously. 30:04 A millimeter from being, having an eye gouged out. 30:08 That was, that was crazy. 30:11 Great job on your part. 30:12 Are you? 30:13 I was shooting for the bench there, so I got lucky. 30:15 How many games a year do you do photos for? 30:18 Any game I'm there. 30:20 Awesome. 30:20 Because I'm, you know, Vegoe will do the writing or Chris Ekkes will do the writing for us and I will take the pictures. 30:29 You know, I'm not, obviously not at every game, so I don't always have pictures because, you know, I have a life here too. 30:34 Just like Vegs, you don't go to every home game either. 30:38 You know, we're a fan site where we do as much as we can and try to do as much as we can for the, for the people who use our site or follow us on Twitter and whatnot. 30:47 So I will be there both games this weekend. 30:52 In fact, I was in the photo box for that overtime goal that Snuggeroot, he skated right out in front of me, went right around and some of us weren't used to that kind of moves. 31:03 Not a lot of resistance either. 31:05 No, he did. 31:07 I think the defenseman was surprised in that moment, Veegs, because we don't usually see Snuggeroot make that type of power move. 31:16 Yeah, he's usually just looking to shoot. 31:18 And so, you know, for him to maybe break his little streak here, he's got to do unexpected things like that. 31:23 Yes. 31:24 I mean, he's got 43 college goals. 31:26 Like what do you think the heat map looks like of where those goals were scored from? 31:30 Are they do you think it's mostly like at the blue line in the circles? 31:34 Like, I don't think there's a lot of goals that are in that in or near the crease for Snuggy. 31:38 I think most of them are in the OV spot. 31:41 You know, that off wing circle, he loves to be there. 31:45 Or that CC game, he was just about halfway in the zone, just top of the circle, maybe shooting and, you know, yes, he had the hat trick that night, but I don't think the keeper was that good. 31:57 I know Vegoe, you mentioned a couple weeks ago that some of those he probably should have had. 32:02 And Berenko was supposed to be good. 32:04 He was supposed to be really good. 32:05 He was like the NCHC goalie of the week, I think, coming into that weekend. 32:09 And I know Chris Maynard really likes him as a goalie and leans on him. 32:14 It almost seemed like Emberko was having a hard time seeing the puck that night. 32:18 Sometimes the lighting last year was such a controversial thing to a lot of people. 32:23 Sometimes the angles would be different and the number of people in the seats could impact the vision. 32:29 And he just was having a hard time finding it. 32:32 There was a noticeable change. 32:34 Because my first year on Valley Sports, when they had the old ring, old lighting, the way it came across on TV, I thought was radically different and not for the better last year. 32:45 The lighting and the glare off the ice, it was a little unattractive, I thought. 32:49 And that's nothing against anybody. 32:50 It's just kind of a product of the renovation. 32:54 Well, it is a product of the renovation because before they had individual lights coming straight down on top of the ice. 33:00 Now you have the bank lighting. 33:02 I would find when I was in the box, I could turn around and try to look at the people, but I'd be getting the glare from the behind me hitting the glass and I couldn't see people at a certain angle. 33:12 I'd be having people waving at me. 33:13 I'm like, and I couldn't see them. 33:16 So, well, we know Craig Floor and he'll probably have them adjusting that thing. 33:22 I know the company who hung them say, oh no, they're fine. 33:25 Well, they were going to make adjustments. 33:27 So hopefully they're doing that during this off season. 33:30 So Veegs, we need to talk about some of our sponsors here and I've got Jimmy's up on the list and you know what you like from Jimmy's. 33:40 Yeah, I've been walking in a cub down on the quarry quite a bit lately and I've seen the Jimmy's Caramel Dip and I've been buying tubs. 33:49 I like it, my kids like it, it's apple season. 33:52 We just dip them in the Caramel Dip, we warm it up in the microwave, put it in some mugs and you know it's fall. 33:58 So get your Jimmy's Caramel Dip, they've got the sea salt, it's great. 34:03 They're at other grocery stores as well and you know, if you've got some sort of barbecue stuff, maybe you want to get some Jimmy's salad dressing and dips. 34:11 Don't you be messing with my dressing. 34:16 Lunch bucket hockey. 34:18 I don't need to get one of those hats. 34:19 I love those hats. 34:21 Yeah, their founder just celebrated a birthday this week. 34:24 You know, a couple local guys who, you know, do pick up hockey, you know, Friday lunchtime skates. 34:30 You know what we do when we get older, we got to find time to play hockey because there's nothing like it. 34:35 You know, unsung heroes, greatest game on ice, wearing their apparel that they've come up with, you know, check out their stuff if you're looking for some beer league jerseys or you want to get a hat just to show off the attitude because you've got the hardworking grit and grind, your lunch bucket hockey player. 34:53 And of course, we thank Luchbucket Hockey and Jimmy's for being sponsors of The GPL Podcast. 34:58 Well, now it's time, Veegs, your top 20 this week. 35:04 Denver's still at the top. 35:06 They earned it. 35:07 They put up that 10th championship banner. 35:09 They've got a lot of their guys back from that team. 35:13 Maybe they're not the best team. 35:15 There's a voter who thinks Cornell's the best team on the USCHO poll. 35:19 There is now a voter that thinks Minnesota is the top team, which is interesting. 35:23 I wonder if Jess still has a vote. 35:25 He's doing it. 35:26 It's not Jess. 35:29 Sounds like he knows. 35:30 I do. 35:31 It's probably Cappy. 35:34 Anyway, I'm not going to go anymore. 35:36 Then it's not Jess. 35:37 But Denver's at my top spot still. 35:40 And then we've got the Boston schools, BU, BC. 35:43 They still look pretty good. 35:45 And I put Minnesota up to four after how they looked against Duluth. 35:48 You know, I still think they played really well against Omaha, probably deserved the win against them with all the shots they had and all the chances. 35:56 But when they didn't pull it off, I dropped them down a little bit and I just thought they earned it. 36:03 So they go up a little bit. 36:04 One of the big surprises in the poll, Maine had a really good weekend. 36:08 They pulled off the sweep of Quinnipiac, if I'm remembering right. 36:12 Pretty impressive for Maine. 36:13 Ben Barr has got things going there. 36:16 Alfond Arena was sold out for that weekend. 36:19 They're going to be good. 36:21 You know, they're kind of an old blue blood. 36:24 Nice to see them back. 36:25 Korea, Jim Montgomery, those baby blues probably gave us some 2002 bad memories when I was like a middle schooler probably. 36:34 But, you know, they'll be back. 36:37 Maybe we'll see them in St. 36:38 Louis. 36:38 I don't know. 36:40 The other things in the top 20 that I saw, you know, Michigan still looking a little inconsistent. 36:46 Yep. 36:47 Western Michigan bumped up a little bit. 36:48 They had a good weekend. 36:50 Omaha, not so good a weekend. 36:53 No, probably should have put Augustana in my top 20 after that weekend. 36:59 Kind of an afterthought, you know. 37:02 They should be in there. 37:03 If they have a good weekend coming up, they're going to be in my top 20. 37:06 But I noticed that top 10 teams from just a few weeks ago is now gone. 37:10 And the team that swept them this past weekend or actually got five out of six is now number 19. 37:16 You got Ohio State there at number 19. 37:19 After getting five or six points at Wisconsin, Wisconsin cannot score Vs. 37:24 They cannot score. 37:25 They are getting some pretty good shot differentials, but they're not putting the puck in the net. 37:31 And I don't think I was as high as the rest of the country was on Wisconsin. 37:35 I don't know if I had them in my top 10. 37:37 I had them kind of in the like the 12s, I think. 37:40 But after a weekend like that and how they've looked, you know, Wisconsin is going to have to earn their way back in. 37:45 Mike Hastings has his hands full. 37:47 We talked about a little bit last week. 37:49 You know, he's discarded a lot of talent. 37:52 And so he's got to, he's got to deal with this roster and figure it out. 37:56 So they don't have an easy stretch coming up. 37:58 They've got some really tough games. 38:00 They're going to Denver this weekend. 38:03 And I don't think it gets any easier for them after that. 38:06 So Sam, this is Vegoe's top 20. 38:09 You question anything or would you have things a little different? 38:14 I'm not going to question the master of the top 20. 38:18 I'll, I'll respond though to a couple of things that were said. 38:23 Augustana, sneaky candidate to be in the NCAA tournament this year. 38:28 That's my hot take of the show because they're eligible because only one program went D1. 38:35 They don't have an ineligibility period like the Tommies. 38:38 They could make it. 38:39 Furthermore, they can be the number one seed in the conference by points percentage because they're only playing half a schedule. 38:47 Go figure. 38:48 They're playing half a conference schedule, but they can win the conference. 38:52 I've got notes on that because it's come up on USCHO, College Hockey News, a bunch of other podcasts about why they're playing that half a schedule. 39:01 It's because as they were accepted in league kind of early, they had a lot of scheduling agreements already made with other schools. 39:10 And the cost to get out of a scheduling agreement in contracts is usually anywhere from $20,000 to $40,000 a series. 39:18 Augustana just built a new rank. 39:19 They're not going to look to spend another $250,000 trying to buy out these scheduling agreements. 39:26 They just had to get these games played. 39:28 Now they can play a full schedule. 39:29 So that's why it's so goofy this year. 39:32 I know Jupe knows I do Freedom of Information Act requests on these scheduling agreements. 39:37 That's how it works. 39:38 And especially coming out of COVID, schools did not want to do a lot of schedule rework. 39:45 I don't know this for a fact either, but there might have been a little bit of a ripple effect from the Tommies making their announcement to leave. 39:53 And then they kind of threw Augustana a bone and said, Hey, you're kind of quickly becoming a pinnacle program in our conference. 40:02 You can be a full member this year, because this was supposed to be, I believe, another ineligible postseason tournament for them. 40:10 But I think they expedited it one year, I believe. 40:13 Yep, they did expedite it, but they couldn't get out of those scheduling agreements to play a full season. 40:18 Correct. 40:19 So it is wacky this year. 40:20 So that's my hot take, Augie, to the big dance. 40:25 I don't think that's a bad call. 40:27 I mean, hey, win, baby, just win, baby. 40:30 As Garrett Boyan says, they hold the pen. 40:35 They do. 40:36 Hashtag. 40:37 Hashtag, hold the pen. 40:41 So, you know, we're still seeing more inconsistency, Veegs, with, you know, the conference teams not doing so well and non-conference schedule. 40:53 Are you concerned about it yet? 40:55 Because I am a little, because, you know, win, baby, win for Minnesota, yes, it's good, but it still could affect them in the long run with all the ups and downs of the Big Ten and non-conference play. 41:08 But if you look at the Big Ten as a whole in those inter-conference records, they're still the best conference in the country. 41:16 They're still ahead of NCHC. 41:17 They're still ahead of Hockey East. 41:20 The conference has done enough to put themselves first. 41:23 I think their win percentage is 680 or something like that. 41:27 These losses may look really big, but overall, the league is doing well. 41:33 I think Notre Dame lost to Alaska this last weekend. 41:36 That was a tough one probably for the Big Ten and then the lindenwood, Wisconsin losses were bad as well. 41:42 But overall, the conference is doing pretty well. 41:46 I got Corey Vee here saying, Mr. 41:48 Pitlick settled in quickly in CatoVeegs. 41:53 Yeah, we'll see. 41:54 I'm playing the long game on that one. 41:56 We'll see how he fits in as the season goes on. 41:59 He's a talented player. 42:01 Yes, Rett's a skilled guy. 42:03 As long as he's putting up points, everyone's probably going to be happy. 42:08 I haven't watched any of the Mavericks games closely, but along with that talent comes the turnovers, and we'll see how the team responds when that starts happening. 42:19 Sam, we've always loved some of the stuff Petlich did here, but then we hated some of the stuff that Petlich did here. 42:25 I mean, throwing a stick in the North Dakota game, and like Zbig said, he'll make a great play one time, and then he'll drop a puck at the blue line as he's coming in, and all of a sudden the puck's going the other way. 42:38 So it was kind of frustrating. 42:39 Love-hate for us. 42:43 Yeah. 42:43 Ben Climber and I, two years ago in the booth, we kind of had like a knowing glance in the booth when Pitlick would do something like that. 42:52 And that happened probably about every game, every other game where that would occur. 42:58 I didn't feel like that happened as much last year. 43:02 He was a pretty dynamic player in a lot of the games we called. 43:06 And that wasn't every game that was about a third or, you know, 30% of the games, 35% of the games. 43:11 So it wasn't the whole season. 43:13 But we saw him put on a show a number of times. 43:16 He was a co-points leader on the team with Brodsinski. 43:18 So he, they needed that, that skill. 43:21 They needed kind of that high upside, high ceiling, low floor kind of style of play, I think, because they struggled offensively at times. 43:28 What was your guys' read on that whole situation with him not coming back? 43:32 Like what, what I'm sure you've talked about it on the show, but what did you glean about why that didn't work out with him returning? 43:39 Was that his choice? 43:40 Was that the team? 43:40 What do you guys think? 43:41 Well, I know Veegs, you kind of had a couple of things on that. 43:44 You're like, I think one of them was he didn't really hang around this summer because he thought he was going to go pro. 43:48 And a lot of the current players did hang together and practice together. 43:52 And then probably the lateness of everything, you know, Bob's like, you know, we can't hang on to you or see what you're going to do for the longest time. 44:01 So what do you think is kind of a combination of a lot of things, don't you think? 44:05 Well, as we've talked about, you know, he wanted to pursue that free agent path. 44:11 After August 15th, I think it was. 44:12 Yeah. 44:13 Yep. 44:13 So I think he went into the off season saying, hey, I want to wait for that. 44:17 And it's pretty clear to me that Bob with this group in late April, early May told them this year needs to be different. 44:28 We need to do things in a new way. 44:31 If we want to get the places we want to go. 44:33 You guys need to stick around this summer. 44:36 In the previous years, guys went off to their hometowns, their skill development teams, did a lot of stuff on their own. 44:42 Bob's like, this team needs to be different for us to be successful. 44:46 And so there was a lot of team bonding that was happening. 44:50 And I think when Rhett said, I want to pursue this free agent route, Bob said, well, thanks for all you did here. 44:58 Good luck. 44:59 And then when Rhett didn't find a pro contract assigned, he kind of had to scramble and it wasn't going to be at Minnesota. 45:07 And the family has some familiarity with Minnesota State. 45:11 You know, there are some fun things about that campus and that hockey program and their kind of engagement with that community. 45:19 They're very passionate about it. 45:20 So that's where he is. 45:22 And I think there's no super hard feelings. 45:26 But, you know, Rhett's a guy who got benched against BU in the regional final because he kept turning pucks over and wasn't changing his game and not playing in the game plan. 45:36 If you want to win titles, it's hard to have people like that on your team. 45:39 And I think this team is a lot easier to coach and manage when you don't have a player like that. 45:46 Interesting. 45:47 Yeah. 45:48 I looked at his numbers the other day. 45:49 I think two or three goals so far in the first three series, a couple of CIS. 45:54 I'm sure he's top line or a minimum top six over in Mankato. 46:00 Yeah. 46:00 He's going to put up points that there's no doubt there. 46:03 I think last year he led the team in multi-point games. 46:06 He's got that explosiveness. 46:08 If you're playing against a team that's not disciplined, that's going to burn you. 46:11 But if you're playing a tight tournament team that's ready for battle, Rhett could cost you some points. 46:18 I mean, in the CCHA, which I've seen a ton of, he's going to clean up. 46:23 He's one of the most skilled players. 46:26 It's a conference that's rugged. 46:29 It's physical. 46:30 There's not a lot of Rhett Pilek skill. 46:32 I mean, he's going to clean up in some of those bottom tier CCHA games. 46:40 I think when you're playing Minnesota, the teams change their game plan so much to just focus and lock things down. 46:46 I think when it's peer against peer in the CCHA, it's going to be a little more open for him. 46:50 So I have no doubt he will put up 50 points this year. 46:57 Yeah, that's right. 46:58 Yeah. 46:59 Point to game for sure. 47:00 Probably more. 47:01 Probably good for him. 47:02 And then somebody got to pick up both Pitlick brothers, put them on a line with somebody else in the NHL, AHL because is Rem playing anywhere right now? 47:13 He's not playing anywhere right now. 47:15 So also a talented player, a lot of skill. 47:18 One of the best practice players I've ever seen. 47:22 Some of the skill he could pull off in practice was just unbelievable. 47:28 There will be a brothers line for St. 47:30 Thomas this weekend with a Gophers connection. 47:34 So, Corey Laylen, former Gopher, Tommy's assistant, his two sons are wingers on the same line. 47:44 Luke Laylen and Casey Laylen. 47:47 It's a little brotherly love. 47:49 Very interesting. 47:50 Yeah. 47:51 Yeah. 47:52 Cause I'm guessing they probably grew up as Gopher fans because that's where dad was. 47:55 Oh yeah. 47:56 Yeah. 47:57 I have no doubt about that, but Rico Blasi had a good quote this week too. 48:02 He said, so the Laylens connected for a goal in the Vermont series. 48:07 And Rico said, when I looked over it at Corey, after that goal, the fist pump was just a little different. 48:14 Cause I think it was Casey setting up Luke. 48:17 Casey doesn't have his first goal yet, but that was his first collegiate point. 48:20 And it came to his brother. 48:22 Pretty cool. 48:24 Well, definitely cool. 48:25 Definitely cool. 48:26 Well, let's get into that here in a bit. 48:27 But first we need to hear from a couple more sponsors. 48:31 Are you a hard worker? 48:33 Then you need a soap that works just as hard as you do. 48:37 Look no further than Duke Cannon and their seasonal selections including Trophy Game, Buck Moon and the ever popular Candy Corn. 48:46 Grab yourself Duke Cannon's big ass brick of soap today and try it out yourself. 48:52 Climb aboard the Duke Cannon train and get the best in men's hair care, beard care, soaps, deodorant and cologne. 49:01 Smell like you give a damn with Duke Cannon. 49:04 Work harder, smell better. 49:07 It's tailgating season on Cub Foods is your go-to grocery and liquor store. 49:13 Why scurry around town picking up all your game day needs when you can go to one store? 49:20 Look no further than Cub to grab your hamburgers, hot dogs, brats, chips, veggie platters, deli cold cuts, party trays, and desserts all in one place. 49:31 Be sure to hit up Cub Liquor before you head out to grab drinks all your tailgaters are sure to love. 49:38 Go to your local Cub on your next shopping trip for all your tailgating essentials. 49:44 Of course, we thank Duke Cannon and Cub Foods for sponsoring The GPL Podcast, another group of local companies we love that they support us. 49:54 Veegs out there, Veegs got the flow, got the flow. 49:59 Definitely got the flow there, Veegs. 50:02 Another home and home series with St. 50:04 Thomas and Minnesota Veegs. 50:07 And the first time Minnesota gets to play on home ice. 50:11 This has got to be one of the later home ice openers, hasn't it? 50:16 Yeah, it's a little weird. 50:17 The football schedule was so front loaded that I think the hockey schedule got pushed back. 50:23 A little bit like I think the Gopher football team has already had five or six home games. 50:28 So I think just campus trying to figure that out is one reason. 50:32 And we've got the early start on Friday because of the homecoming parade. 50:36 Weird time. 50:37 Yeah. 50:37 It's going to be a late arriving crowd, I think, unfortunately. 50:40 Or none arriving because that's going to be tough. 50:44 You got to get there early. 50:45 The roads will close. 50:47 Yeah, with the homecoming parade, get there early. 50:49 I know the prepaid parking is a popular option for people. 50:53 Or, you know, my favorite way, park over by Blue Door Pub on Como and walk your way over. 50:58 That's always a good way, too. 51:01 Well, it's going to be interesting. 51:03 I'm glad we finally get to see some Mariucci or play on Mariucci ice figs. 51:09 Minnesota is coming off a big weekend. 51:11 St. 51:11 Thomas is coming off of a bye weekend kind of early in the season. 51:15 What's your initial thoughts, Veegs? 51:18 I think this will be an important game for Minnesota to come out fast. 51:22 We've seen them play really well against Air Force, Omaha, UMD early in these contests. 51:30 So I think that's something to really continue. 51:32 I think some players, when they get on the Mariucci ice, there is kind of the awe for these young players of getting in front of the fans. 51:40 You can't let that distract you from what you're trying to do to be successful. 51:45 Minnesota probably should try to focus on just getting their ground game going. 51:50 That's something that Bob Osco really talks about every year with his team. 51:53 Get rid of the summer hockey habits, get pucks deep, get to work. 51:57 And that's something that you see out of the Hugh Glenn Nevers line with whoever they're out there with. 52:02 Maybe they get to start to set the tone. 52:06 But I think it will be real important for them to play smart early. 52:09 And interestingly enough, they're actually doing a fire sale of tickets. 52:13 And I looked at the available tickets. 52:15 There really wasn't a ton of tickets available for this game. 52:19 But they really want to try to get it full for a home opener. 52:22 Yeah, $24 for the $24 opener is the deal. 52:26 You know, Moscow is really hoping that they get to sell out for the first game of the year. 52:31 And Sam, you're going to be on the radio call on ESPN 1500. 52:36 So it will be nice that you'll be on our side of the press box. 52:39 You know, not the TV guy side. 52:41 So it's more fun. 52:43 It's more fun on this side. 52:45 Yeah, come on. 52:45 Oh, it's more fun on our side anyway. 52:47 It's a party. 52:48 Well, I don't have to walk a million steps to get a cookie or a cup of coffee. 52:52 Got to walk all the way around the concourse. 52:55 Now I'm going to be right there. 52:56 So that'll be good. 52:58 I've never, I haven't called the game from that side before. 53:00 So that'll be fun too. 53:03 I think the Tommies, this for them is kind of, kind of like the Super Bowl of the non-conference season at least, you know, like this is a pretty meaningful game for a lot of players on their roster, 21 Minnesotans. 53:17 You know, a lot of them had a circuitous route to come back to play for the Tommies. 53:22 They played elsewhere. 53:23 The Tommies recruited them or, you know, off the portal and they transferred over. 53:27 A lot of them are super familiar with that Gophers program. 53:31 So this game just means a lot. 53:32 This series means a lot to them, a chance to prove themselves. 53:36 And the Tommies have been viewing all these in-state rivalry games as measuring stick games. 53:41 That's what you want to get to as a D1 program. 53:44 And they've slowly started to pluck a couple off. 53:47 They beat St. 53:49 Cloud State last year. 53:51 They beat Mankato. 53:52 They beat Duluth in an exhibition game. 53:55 They beat Bemidji State. 53:56 Like they've basically beaten everybody except Minnesota. 54:00 And they went to overtime with them last year. 54:02 So I think the Tommies have every opportunity to steal a game. 54:08 It's going to come down to goaltending for the Tommies. 54:12 They alternate goalies. 54:13 You're probably going to see two of them in this series. 54:15 And can they score? 54:18 Can they get enough offense to keep up with the Gophers? 54:21 Because we know the Gophers are an established product. 54:24 They have so much skill. 54:26 Tommies are going to have to score three or four, I think, to win these hockey games. 54:32 It was interesting. 54:33 I asked Aaron Huglund, what kind of identity do you think the Tommies have? 54:38 And his answer was, I think they think they're a talented team. 54:42 They want to play a skilled game against us. 54:44 And he didn't have to say that any louder in italics. 54:50 You can just tell there's like, we're a pretty skilled team. 54:53 If you want to play that game, let's do it. 54:55 And you can almost feel that out of him in the question. 55:00 Yeah, that's a good quote. 55:02 The Tommies do have this year, I think, the ability to out physical a team like the Gophers. 55:08 And they didn't have that until this year. 55:10 But the second year as a D1 program, they had a really good freshman class. 55:16 And then they just had to get older. 55:17 And that freshman class is two years older now. 55:20 Plus they've recruited some grown men. 55:22 Like they got a couple of CC guys from last year, Chase Foley and Ray Christie. 55:28 And a big brute, Cage Sturzer from lindenwood on the transfer portal. 55:34 And they've added just such a maturity, such a strength to their team that, you know, a young team like the Gophers might, might, I'm not saying they will, the Tommies might be able to push them around a little bit. 55:47 I think that's what they'll have to do to win this game, is to make the Gophers uncomfortable and force the Gophers to commit some penalties, something they don't often do. 55:55 Was there a game against Duluth where they didn't commit one? 55:58 I think, am I correct? 56:00 They did both nights, but the coach is not happy with those penalties either. 56:05 I'm thinking of the wild. 56:06 I'm mixing up the wild and the Gophers right now. 56:08 I apologize. 56:09 Too much hockey for you. 56:10 Carry on. 56:11 Carry on. 56:12 That was, that was a mistake. 56:13 But Veegs, you know, he talks about, you know, St. 56:15 Thomas trying to push Minnesota around. 56:17 I think that's one of the things that Minnesota has. 56:19 They do have size. 56:21 They might not have learned to use that size yet, you know, in the, in the checking department, but in the physical department and controlling the game, I think they've used their size very well in protecting the puck and doing the other things besides checking. 56:39 Yeah. 56:39 That's one of the things I've noticed against St. 56:41 Cloud, against Omaha, against Duluth, is that Minnesota has used their size to buy time and protect the puck. 56:48 And so I've seen those teams try to push Minnesota around, because historically that's worked really, really well. 56:55 And especially in the St. 56:56 Cloud and Duluth game, even when there was that after the whistle physical stuff, Minnesota held their ground pretty well, especially the defensemen. 57:04 They're all pretty big except for Mike Kester, but everybody else on that blue line has some size and sturdiness to them. 57:11 Cal Thomas especially. 57:13 If you see guys try to go after him, that'll be an interesting bout. 57:17 That's kind of a heavyweight match in college hockey, so it'll be interesting to see. 57:21 But you could definitely tell St. 57:23 Thomas last year when they scored goals, those celebrations were a little extra turned up. 57:28 They were maybe 11. 57:31 They want to win this game, so I think you'll see that energy. 57:34 So that'll be interesting to see for an early game. 57:37 Sometimes these 530 games can be a little interesting for guys getting ready in the energy if the building's filling up late. 57:44 But I think that is a key thing to watch. 57:46 The other thing to watch for Minnesota is the goaltending. 57:50 I'm not super concerned about Nate Airy yet, but he hasn't really seen a lot, a lot of pressure. 57:58 And if he gets that against St. 57:59 Thomas, we'll see how he handles it. 58:02 Sully Air, obviously a veteran guy. 58:04 He's pretty mature and he'll handle it just fine. 58:07 All right. 58:07 Now, hold on here. 58:09 Sam, I saw a visitor in the background. 58:13 Who's the visitor? 58:14 You got to tell us about the dog. 58:15 All right. 58:16 So for those on YouTube, they just saw my 80-pound Black Lab Mix captain climb up on the couch behind me and curl up on probably a blanket there. 58:29 He makes a cameo in literally every podcast I've ever done down here. 58:34 So you got the captain experience. 58:36 Nice. 58:37 Say hello. 58:38 He's probably going to park there for the rest of the night. 58:40 Well, when we first started doing video, my dog was no longer with us. 58:44 Honey used to sleep on the floor right behind me. 58:46 She just stayed there the whole time. 58:48 Just kind of like, what are you doing? 58:49 What's going on? 58:51 So it's nice to have our furry friends on the podcast as well. 58:56 Yeah. 58:57 They want to be the center of attention. 58:58 That's, that's of course. 59:00 Of course. 59:01 Veegs, you mentioned the goaltending and Friday night, when some of those goals started going out on the area, I was getting some texts from Nick Angelis, like, I'm really worried about goalie. 59:16 I think we should have done this, this, this. 59:18 I'm like, I don't know. 59:22 But Angel was concerned about the goaltending. 59:27 Bob said he's going to give these guys at least until November to figure things out. 59:31 So I wouldn't be concerned yet. 59:34 You know, Ari hasn't played a lot in the last two years. 59:36 So that's part of the process. 59:38 He's a different goalie for Minnesota. 59:41 He's on the pad slides a lot. 59:43 He's on his knees a lot. 59:44 But when you're 6'4, you can play that way. 59:47 So just getting comfortable finding the puck in front of college traffic is going to be important for him because it's so different than practice. 59:55 You think Ari on Friday, Suleyere on Saturday? 59:59 That would be my guess. 1:00:01 Yeah. 1:00:02 That's kind of been the trend so far. 1:00:04 I think it's an easier start for Ari to play in front of Mary G in some place he's familiar with. 1:00:09 Suleyere, you give him the experience of the NHL building. 1:00:13 I think he's happy to be a gopher. 1:00:15 He wanted that Big Ten experience for another year. 1:00:18 I think he's happy to be where he is. 1:00:20 I see him out there at the end of practice every day taking extra shots. 1:00:24 He's not acting like this is a vacation retirement year. 1:00:29 He wants to compete and do what he can to be a good teammate. 1:00:32 That's got to be my favorite stat for this game is that Suleyere was 0-5 against the Gophers last year and now he's a gopher. 1:00:40 That's wild. 1:00:42 Can't beat him, join him. 1:00:44 I bet it's great. 1:00:45 I mean, the Penn State was known for a lot of shots, not a lot of defensive discipline. 1:00:51 I bet it's nice for Suleyere to have a blue line of this caliber in front of him. 1:00:56 And I think he's shown that through two games that he's, he's pretty good. 1:01:00 And for Bob Motzko to compare him to Justin Close in the preseason media day, that was pretty telling. 1:01:06 So I think I'm predicting Suleyere will be the guy down the stretch. 1:01:12 Absolutely could be, could be off base. 1:01:14 But I'm going with Suleyere. 1:01:16 I think he's the favorite right now. 1:01:18 I think the betting money would be on Suleyere. 1:01:20 And that's who I'm going with. 1:01:22 All right. 1:01:22 Well, what do you think about this weekend then, Sam? 1:01:25 What are your predictions? 1:01:27 Oh, man. 1:01:29 I don't. 1:01:31 Well, only one team is paying me now, so I don't have to pull the line. 1:01:37 Smart man. 1:01:38 Yeah. 1:01:39 I'm going to go with a very gritty split. 1:01:46 I think the Tommies will steal one here. 1:01:48 And I don't know which game it's going to be. 1:01:51 I think if it's game one, I think the Gophers would respond. 1:01:55 I think they would win game two. 1:01:56 If the Gophers win game one, then I think the Tommies would need to get great goal tending the next night, try to win a low scoring battle at the X. 1:02:06 I think that's the scenario I'm going to go with. 1:02:08 I think the Tommies get the Saturday game, technically the home game with a lot of purple in the crowd. 1:02:14 I think it's going to be another classic in St. 1:02:16 Paul. 1:02:16 So one for the Gophers, one for the Tommies. 1:02:19 I think two good hockey games. 1:02:21 I think there'll be a lot of maroon in that crowd also, Veegs. 1:02:24 But St. 1:02:25 Thomas will take it because it's going in their pocketbooks. 1:02:28 What's your prediction? 1:02:30 I think we see the Gophers pull out a multiple goal lead on Friday pretty quickly and Cruz to a win. 1:02:39 I think we see a much closer game on Saturday after Rico kind of circles the wagons and says we have to play differently. 1:02:46 But I think Minnesota has just got too much talent, gets out of their end too easily and will win both games. 1:02:54 I'm all for that. 1:02:55 I haven't predicted a sweep in a while, so I'm going to predict the sweep for the Gophers. 1:03:01 Of course, our predictions are all over the place. 1:03:05 Sometimes we're right. 1:03:06 Sometimes we're way off. 1:03:08 That's what's so fun about it. 1:03:10 It's hard to be way off in college hockey if you go with a split. 1:03:14 That's why I went with the split. 1:03:17 I can only be off by one game maximum. 1:03:19 That is true. 1:03:21 That is true. 1:03:23 Well, Sam, thanks for joining us and being our first time guests on our show. 1:03:26 We're going to have to have you back again. 1:03:29 I would be overjoyed to come back on this show. 1:03:32 It only took you 268 episodes, but we finally got there. 1:03:37 14 years. 1:03:38 You were probably like 19 years old when we started. 1:03:43 You might actually be spot on with that. 1:03:45 2010 probably was 19. 1:03:48 Probably would not have been able to conduct myself on a podcast. 1:03:51 So yeah, I think our youngest guest was Drew Cove at, I think he was 18 at the time or maybe 19 bigs. 1:03:59 Yeah. 1:03:59 He was a little cautious about the, the linies summer shandy as a beer of the week. 1:04:06 So, but it was fun having you on and I appreciate you coming on with us. 1:04:10 Veegs, you got anything in the hopper right now? 1:04:14 We're starting to look at who are the kings and barons of College Hockey. 1:04:18 So look for that coming out pretty soon here on GPL. 1:04:21 Okay. 1:04:22 Hold on Veegs. 1:04:23 You mentioned you walked down to the Quarry Cub. 1:04:26 So without doxing yourself online, like right where, what area are you in? 1:04:32 Because I'm a Roosevelt Street guy over here. 1:04:35 I'm, I'm, I'm super close to Quarry. 1:04:38 Yeah. 1:04:38 I'm in Wyndham Park. 1:04:39 So we've talked about it before. 1:04:41 I look out on Wyndham Park ice rinks during the winter. 1:04:44 So I've talked about it quite a bit on The GPL Podcast. 1:04:47 And that's where I am. 1:04:48 Northeast Minneapolis. 1:04:50 Very nice. 1:04:51 I used to be over on 28th and Ulysses. 1:04:54 I've since moved to Roosevelt on the St. 1:04:56 Anthony side, but I used to be right there. 1:05:00 We're right next to each other. 1:05:01 All right. 1:05:01 We're neighbors. 1:05:02 Yeah. 1:05:03 Sounds good. 1:05:04 Well, I am not anybody's neighbor. 1:05:05 I'm down in Belle Plaine. 1:05:06 So that's just how it is. 1:05:09 They have Internet down there that works on StreamYard. 1:05:14 Barely. 1:05:15 MediaCom I'm a little unhappy with. 1:05:17 Fiber is coming this fall. 1:05:20 They've wired the fiber right behind our house. 1:05:23 Just waiting for them to come in and bring it in, because I had fiber. 1:05:26 I had fiber in Norwood Young America. 1:05:30 And it was awesome. 1:05:30 And I can't wait to have it back. 1:05:32 So it'll be crystal clear. 1:05:35 I got to say, good job. 1:05:38 It's fun. 1:05:39 It's fun. 1:05:40 But that's going to do it for this episode of The GPL Podcast. 1:05:45 Thanks Sam Ekstrom for coming on the show. 1:05:47 Next week, we've got Paul Caponegre coming on to help us preview the Big Ten season. 1:05:53 For those of you watching live, stay tuned for some overtime. 1:05:56 For the rest of you, we'll catch you next week on The GPL Podcast.