0:08 This is The GPL Podcast, part of the Pulltab Sports family. 0:15 Wait, did you drink the entire bottle? 0:19 Almost. 0:21 Oh, there we go. 0:22 What's the line, right? 0:24 People have been quoting it all day on Twitter. 0:26 Do you think I'm mistaken? 0:27 There you go. 0:30 I think Bart must be watching upstairs, because... 0:36 Aw, he's trying to be awake for Thanksgiving tomorrow. 0:39 Joob's roommate's worried. 0:41 Joob's roommate's worried. 0:48 Now, here's Jupiter and Vego. 1:03 Good evening, and welcome to The GPL Podcast, episode number 274. 1:11 Good evening, Veegs. 1:12 Hopefully everything is going just as crazy as it has been for you. 1:16 It's been a month. 1:17 You know, we've got a lot going on in the household, and ready for Thanksgiving weekend, thankful to have the GPL crew with us, and the Pulltab Sports family supporting us this season. 1:29 So, ready to talk some hockey. 1:31 Yeah, a couple of big wins this weekend. 1:33 We'll get a little bit more into that. 1:35 What are your initial thoughts? 1:36 It was a successful weekend. 1:38 Yeah, Bob was talking last week how the team needed to have more net front presence, and I think we saw that against Notre Dame. 1:45 A lot of guys get in front of the net. 1:47 Oliver Moore was one of the players who was talking about it during the availability last week, and sure enough, he gets a bunch of points all right around the net. 1:55 Definitely. 1:57 So great weekend. 1:59 It's our Thanksgiving episode, so we thought we'd have a special episode. 2:02 I've been going back and forth with Nick Angell for about a month or so now, and we were going to have him on earlier, but then he had some surgery, didn't work. 2:09 He's like, you know, I can get Leopold on. 2:11 So I figured we'd get the both on our Thanksgiving show. 2:15 So here they are, Nick Angell and Jordan Leopold. 2:19 Good evening, gentlemen. 2:21 Good evening. 2:23 How are we? 2:24 We are doing well. 2:25 Well, Nick, I'm going to start because I'm a smart ass. 2:31 You've been playing hockey all your career. 2:34 And, you know, I'm sure that's what led to your little surgery you had on your neck, right? 2:40 Years and years of hockey and hits and everything. 2:42 Yeah. 2:42 It was probably the, you know, wear and tear. 2:44 And, you know, it was probably due, you know, so. 2:48 But to put it in the end, it was the wild thing at Valley Fair with my six-year-olds that took my neck out. 2:56 So, Jordan, how do you feel about this? 3:00 He plays a long career in Europe and Gophers, and it's the wild thing that takes out his neck. 3:08 Well, here's the thing that people don't realize about Nick. 3:11 Nick actually had a longer career than I did. 3:14 So, I mean, he played over in Europe and Russia, Finland, all over the place, and was very successful over there. 3:22 Then now, he's using his brain to go out and do bigger and better things. 3:28 Unlike me, who I just go out and work with chainsaws and cut trees down. 3:34 But no, yeah, the wild thing will get you. 3:38 I mean, I went on Excalibur once out there, and I told myself, I will never do that again. 3:43 So wild thing wasn't going to happen for me. 3:47 I don't know why you did that. 3:48 You should have called me, but you didn't. 3:50 And look at you now, you have a big scar on your. 3:52 Hey, he's a family man, and he took his kids on the wild thing. 3:56 They were like they'd been wanting to go on that thing. 3:59 We had like the season pass, so I was like, all right, let's put our shoes on that have like a little more lift in them. 4:05 We're going to spike your hair up. 4:06 I'm going to teach you how to like kind of stand on your tippy toes a little bit. 4:09 We get them on it, front row, and it's like we're going up to the top. 4:12 I'm like, all right, dudes, get your hands up, and we're going down, screaming and yelling, and we hit the bottom, and I just like whiplashed forward, and like my chin bruised my sternum, and we got caught, and I'm like, oh man, that hurt. 4:26 And my kids were just like, that was awesome, let's do it again. 4:30 And then I wrote it another three times just to try to Oh no. 4:33 hold that. 4:35 And yeah, herniated a disc and was hitting the nerve, so just rifling pain down my arm, and then we got the Jack Eichel surgery. 4:43 And if people don't know kind of the story about that, yeah, so here's the Here, let me bring you up, so look at that. 4:49 There's the scar right now. 4:53 So like, it's not like you don't notice it. 4:57 Yeah, so one of my buddies just said there's so many inappropriate things right now. 5:01 Yeah, I lost a knife fight. 5:06 You were required to wear the neck protector when you played. 5:09 Yeah, no, it was weird. 5:11 I'm so used to it after being in Europe for so long. 5:14 But yeah, if you don't know, like Jack Eichel kind of had the same injury, C6, C7, and the team wanted him to fuse his neck, and he really didn't want to do that. 5:25 And this artificial disc replacement was kind of like a newer surgery for like contact sports, but they'd done it for player pilots and special operations forces in the military. 5:34 But the team, I think it was Buffalo. 5:38 Leo, you probably know. 5:39 Yeah, it was Buffalo. 5:40 Buffalo said no, and then he took it to the NHL, and the NHL backed Buffalo. 5:43 And so he asked for a trade, and then he went to Las Vegas, and Vegas was like, yeah, let her rip. 5:49 And he got the surgery, and he's kind of been good to go. 5:52 So I'm hoping, you know, I'm not looking to make a comeback here, but I'd like to get back out on the golf course one of these days. 5:59 Well, I would hope so. 6:02 I mean, that's important. 6:03 You got to be able to set the golf course. 6:05 Banks, how was your game this year? 6:07 Your game was pretty good. 6:08 You won a tournament, didn't you? 6:10 I won a bunch of tournaments. 6:12 Handicapped golf was very good to me. 6:14 I was very comfortable. 6:16 Sam Becker! 6:17 Oh! 6:20 You know, when you're like a 14 and you shoot 83, 84, 85 every time out? 6:24 That means you're not a 14. 6:26 Yeah, I golf five times a year and that's, yeah, uh-huh. 6:33 It was a good year. 6:34 Good year for me. 6:35 Well, yeah, it was a good year for you. 6:36 I don't play golf because that would... 6:40 I would not shoot 120 if I tried. 6:44 Where's your go-to course? 6:46 Well, I'm in the University of Minnesota Golf Club at Les Bolstad. 6:49 So we play events there pretty much every other Saturday. 6:53 I was coaching baseball for the first half of the year, so I didn't really play much golf until end of July. 6:58 And then I just played a ton after that point. 7:01 And I like to get down to Stone Ridge once, Keller, Chesaquatown course, try to get on some courses like Hazel Teen and Northland when I can. 7:12 So didn't Rob get you on down on Minnesota Valley too? 7:16 Yeah, I got to Minnesota Valley with Rob Shield a couple of times on Mondays for his employee golf. 7:21 That was a lot of fun. 7:24 Oh, that's good. 7:24 Good year. 7:25 So Nick, I know you follow the Gophers pretty closely these days. 7:31 Leo, how much are you following it? 7:32 Or are you just chopping down so many trees? 7:35 Cause you've got 5,000 trees along the river there. 7:37 I mean, I'm like Paul Bunyan, but you know what? 7:42 I follow it. 7:43 I'm not a religious follower. 7:46 I do coach high school hockey up and hand over. 7:48 So I'm pretty concerned with that busy. 7:52 I got three kids that are playing hockey. 7:55 Much, much like all of us. 7:57 I do have five kids, but I got two older, older adult kids. 8:01 Or it should be out of the house, but they're kind of still living at home, very comfortable. 8:06 I wouldn't leave either. 8:09 You got to stay at home, stay at home, son. 8:12 Yeah, yeah. 8:13 And my son, who's now close to 16, he'll probably be the first one to actually leave the house, which is kind of funny. 8:23 Yeah, it's, geez. 8:26 I mean, I watch as much as I can. 8:30 Every year I see all these new faces come in. 8:32 I'm like, okay, which ones are new, which ones old? 8:34 Try to learn them. 8:35 And by the end of the year, we're done. 8:37 So it goes by quick and these guys know it too. 8:42 But College Hockey has changed so much over the years with NIL now, with The Portal, and it is the Wild Wild West. 8:52 It's nothing like it was when we played. 8:54 It's just crazy. 8:55 You know, Nick, I think it has changed quite a bit over the years. 8:59 I think the big change came right before you guys would have gotten to college. 9:03 I mean, if you look at the late 80s, early 90s and compare that to the late 90s, early 2000s, the game really made a big change. 9:13 Goaltending changed quite a bit. 9:14 Schemes came in. 9:16 It just became a different game, and we've just kind of advanced further from that. 9:20 But it changed quite a bit right before you guys came around. 9:24 Yeah, and I think we were just kind of right at the cusp, and I think it was a little bit more maturity and stuff. 9:31 I mean, our years, most of the guys we had were 18 years old. 9:36 We had a bunch of young freshmen coming in. 9:38 Now, guys are a little bit older, but I think the latitude that players get to control the puck and be creative is way different. 9:47 If you would die and say, hey, here's going to be our power play breakout, and we're going to have a guy skate as hard as he can right up the middle and then just drop past it 55 feet back to the far blue line. 9:59 I mean, if I would have said that in the team huddle and be like, hey, here's a really good breakout. 10:04 I mean, guys would have just been this guy must be high. 10:07 He's insane. 10:08 There's no way that's going to happen. 10:09 Shut up, give it to the wing, dump it in, cross-corner dump, and then let's go to work. 10:15 But now the game is so much more creative than it ever was before. 10:20 I mean, we have our alumni nights, and we're sitting up there watching the game, and you watch these guys. 10:26 I think I said to Leo, I was like, these kids are so much better than we were. 10:30 It's not even funny. 10:32 I don't think there's a guy. 10:33 I was like, we had the best defensemen in the country. 10:35 I was like, Leo, I love you, man, but I don't think you'd make this team. 10:38 I know I definitely would. 10:39 These guys are unreal. 10:42 They're so much better than we were, way better. 10:46 Yeah, I mean, you look at puck skills. 10:48 Their puck skills are absolutely amazing. 10:50 And I mean, a lot of these guys have skill coaches, have advisors that are really young age. 10:59 They have conditioning coaches, have all this stuff. 11:03 It was totally unheard of when we were coming up. 11:06 And when I first actually broke in the NHL and got on a college hockey, the NHL was even still, all right, if you're going to be an NHL defenseman, you got to be 6'2 and 220 lbs. 11:19 And you got to be able to fight. 11:20 You got to be able to cross check the hell out of somebody. 11:23 And that wasn't my game. 11:25 And I was lucky enough that I was able to adapt and kind of get through, you know, three or four years of tough play. 11:33 And then the game started to evolve and change a little bit. 11:36 Where you look at a guy like Mike Crowley, I mean, Nick and I watched him and you guys did too. 11:42 I mean, unbelievable. 11:43 If he was in the game today, the way he played, he'd be a superstar. 11:48 I mean, he would. 11:49 He just carried the pace, carried the play. 11:51 He couldn't get the puck off him, but he wasn't. 11:54 He was 5'11. 11:56 He was too small. 11:57 185 pounds in Anaheim. 11:59 And Anaheim was a really good team at the time. 12:01 So how do you crack that line up? 12:02 You know, he never really got a sniff. 12:04 Should he have? 12:05 Absolutely. 12:06 But it just didn't work out. 12:07 I mean, you look at how good he actually was. 12:12 But, you know, we talk about today's age and player. 12:16 They are so much more skilled. 12:17 They just are. 12:19 I mean, we, Nick and I, we were lucky enough to go out with Eric Wendell every once in a while, play some alumni hockey with some of these guys. 12:27 And we call ourselves the antiques when we go out there. 12:32 We just have this triangulation system that we use and we do it to a tee. 12:36 But the skill-wise is just head above what we even got to witness when we played. 12:43 We just got a little more experience, we try to spread it. 12:46 Because I mean, they're bigger, stronger and faster than we are. 12:48 And we've played the game a little bit longer. 12:51 So we just kind of know the bounce is a little bit more. 12:53 And it's just like the way you used to remember your friend's telephone number. 12:58 We're more rink ratty than they are now. 13:01 But I think they're more like polished and finished than we ever were. 13:05 You know, you mentioned Mike Crowley, and no offense to President Company. 13:09 He was always my favorite Gopher hockey player. 13:11 You know, I'm a Jefferson hockey guy, went to the school. 13:18 You know, you talk about that skill level. 13:19 I think he just had that long before anybody else did, especially in the college game. 13:25 And like you said, you just couldn't believe the things he did. 13:28 I mean, it wasn't that long ago. 13:29 He was still doing pond hockey, the pond hockey stuff, and his teams were getting into championship games for pond hockey, and he was long out of the NHL by then. 13:38 So it's amazing that he at his age still has a pretty darn good skill. 13:44 Well, he's got a kid now. 13:47 My son plays against his kid over, I think he's in Ponca. 13:51 So you kind of see the evolution of it, you see these legacy kids come through. 13:57 And I don't like the fact that my son has to bear what I accomplished, and that's the standard for him. 14:07 It's not. 14:08 He's his own kid, he's his own player, he's got to figure out his own identity. 14:13 But you know, a guy like Crowley, too, you put that name on the kids' back, and I was going, boy, I wonder if he's as good as his dad. 14:19 Same with the Bonnans of the world. 14:21 I mean, even the Pol Wendell girls, you know, you look at them, they got... 14:27 Oh, they're screwed both ways, because they got Johnny, and then they got Chrissy's jeans. 14:34 I mean, if they don't pan out, it's like they're family. 14:38 Eric kept the bar a little low. 14:39 Yeah. 14:42 Then you got brother Eric over there, you know, and that family, those poor girls, but they're really good kids. 14:49 And I think that's all we can really ask out of any of our kids. 14:52 If you talk to anybody, we just want the best for them. 14:55 And Veegs, that's kind of the exact same situation. 14:57 You know, Jimmy Snuggeroot is in right now. 15:00 He's a legacy player. 15:02 I think the thing is he scored the same number of points as his dad did in the same number of games. 15:07 But I think the game is a little bit harder to score now than it was when Dave played. 15:12 So he's got the leg up on there. 15:14 And I'm sure Dave wishes he has Jimmy shot right now. 15:17 Well, that kid has got one heck of a release. 15:20 I mean, he's got the best release easily in College Hockey. 15:24 But I even just watching him, you know, I went up to Duluth, you know, a couple of weeks back and just I'm in awe. 15:31 I'm sitting next to my son going, you see how quick that puck gets off that guy's stick. 15:35 That's, NHL guys don't even shoot like that. 15:39 He's got a talent, he's got his niche. 15:42 He just needs to ride it, you know, and he will at the next level whenever he decides to do that. 15:47 The technology is so much different. 15:49 Like you go in like, so in the alumni room at Mariucci, we've kind of got like our couches and TV and stuff where guys can go in. 15:56 But right next to the alumni room is like the escape, the little shooting room where they've got kind of like some the synthetic ice and stuff. 16:04 And you look at these guys' sticks and their curves, and they're all like these crazy like just toe curve. 16:12 Like when Jordan and I played, like I mean the way we curved our sticks growing up and probably for you guys, we stuck it, heated them up and stuck them under the door. 16:20 So you had like this spatula looking heel curve. 16:24 And like, and I was using like a hundred flex. 16:27 What were you using at the U, Jordan? 16:30 I think I had a hundred and ten. 16:32 I had a penny brand. 16:34 Yeah, now these guys are like, I mean, if you have 75, it's probably like pretty stiff. 16:39 And it's just, I mean, these guys just lean down and just torque that thing like crazy. 16:43 And the release is just so different with that toe curve and that like that wild whip on the stick. 16:49 And I used to think Brett Hall was crazy because he had like an old, he was using like a 70 flex. 16:54 I'm like, that's insane. 16:55 I use a 100 and it worked pretty good. 16:58 But yeah, these guys are pretty good. 17:00 But speaking of Crowley, he was number 20. 17:02 And they were like, hey, what number do you want when you're coming? 17:04 I was like, I don't want that one. 17:05 Jesus. 17:10 No way. 17:12 Veegs, we talk about Snuggerud and his shot is awesome. 17:16 But I think it's the other things he's been doing this season that's making him more successful or getting into being successful because he was down on the scoring list quite a bit. 17:24 But all of a sudden now, after just tweaking a few different things, moving different positions, doing different things, he's now leading the team in scoring. 17:32 Well, I think the biggest thing with Jimmy is he's become more comfortable in his role on the team and drawing all the attention that he draws. 17:39 And he's starting to do different things in the power play. 17:42 You see him moving the puck a little bit more across the zone. 17:45 You see him popping into different spots. 17:47 And I think he's just playing with a little bit less pressure on himself. 17:51 And you just see him on the ice. 17:53 He's more composed. 17:54 He's not getting frustrated. 17:56 He's not looking up at the heavens when he doesn't put the puck in the net. 17:59 I think he's just more comfortable in his own skin and doing more to help out the team. 18:04 And he's putting up a ton of points and playing really well, winning second chances. 18:09 And I think that's really a big reason why the Gopher power play now is starting to click like they are. 18:15 Well, you look at it at Snuggier, Jimmy Snugs, whatever we want to call it, Jimmy Snipes, you know, whatever. 18:23 You look at him, he's kind of got that old Vetchken-esque to him, where it doesn't matter where Olvi stands on the ice. 18:32 If Olvi gets the puck, he's going to blast the thing and he's going to score goals. 18:36 You know, Jimmy's got that same thing where that release is just bam, it's there. 18:42 And I tell you what, and Nick knows this too, is when you play with a guy like that, all right, all I got to do is I got to feed it in a little dime area spot. 18:51 And it doesn't matter where, he'll figure out how to get it and get it off. 18:55 And he will score goals and you're seeing it. 18:57 And they come in bunches as we all say. 19:00 But, you know, he's a scoring threat, no matter what, even if we come down the stretch and they start really favoring him, well, then, yeah, other guys got to pick up the pace. 19:09 But he's going to either draw the attention or he's going to score goals, one or the other. 19:14 So it's a great scenario that we have to our advantage, for sure, just to loosen things up and even find a spot to get him open. 19:25 It doesn't matter. 19:26 He's going to score goals. 19:26 He's going to go to the net and get a shot off. 19:30 So we had Mike Carman on the podcast last week. 19:34 Mike who? 19:35 Yeah, Mike Carman. 19:36 A little after you guys, just a little bit. 19:38 No, we know. 19:41 You know, he started a new podcast, you know, basically covering, you know, life after sports and after the big thing you do. 19:49 And what do you do? 19:50 You know, how do you deal with, you know, whether it's depression or not knowing what to do. 19:55 And sometimes he said, you know, I feel like it was a failure. 19:59 You guys pull your post career, Jordan, you start Leopold's, you know, Mississippi Gardens. 20:08 Yeah, you did after your career. 20:11 And obviously, Nick, you went into finance. 20:15 But I loved the concept of it because we know that a lot of players don't have something after their sports life. 20:24 Can you talk about that a little bit, Nick? 20:26 I mean, what was it like for you ending your career? 20:29 Yeah, sure. 20:29 I mean, I don't think anybody ever just has this like crystal clear path. 20:35 And it was like, well, I was I was lucky my my dad was in finance. 20:39 So like, kind of some of the money I was making, he was giving me some advice on that. 20:45 And you see some of my, you know, your friends that are maybe not making some great financial decisions. 20:50 And I kind of looked at it and said, like, well, how do I give back? 20:53 How can I help? 20:55 And it was like, okay, if I can get into finance and I can start like helping some of these guys, get some of the great information and the great recommendations that I got. 21:05 And then it just kind of spiraled once you go down the path and you start moving there. 21:09 But, you know, it's, I mentioned this earlier in our pre-session, one of my buddies is a SEAL Team 6 guy. 21:15 And it's, it's similar, like for those guys, those special operations guys where it's like, you're part of a high, you know, high functioning, intense team where everybody's pulling, you know, for the common good. 21:27 And then you get off the train, and the train just takes off. 21:31 And I remember my first year, it was like, okay, it's end of July, August, I should get, you know, kind of be getting ready here to go to camp. 21:39 And it's like, all right, there's no camp, you're, you're just going to go to work and work nine to five. 21:43 It's, it's a big change, you know, and I think, you know, trying to make sure you find a good organization or you start something, you build a business that you can kind of put your, your heart and soul into just like you did when, when we're playing, you know, for your university, you know, it was, yeah, that was, that was kind of the tricky part was, was finding something you're passionate about and that you can kind of work together for, for a new goal. 22:08 So. 22:09 And Jordan, now you're cutting down trees. 22:13 Well, it all started when, when you start having success, you obviously start accumulating funds. 22:22 And what do you do with all these funds? 22:24 So my, my father-in-law and myself, and you know, even my wife, we're, we started investing in properties. 22:32 And when we started investing in properties, we'd come across some, some great deals. 22:38 And my wife, my wife had an interest to be in, in the catering and hospitality business, because that's what she was in before we got married and before we went off and lived this pro-sport life. 22:50 So we kind of made a deal. 22:52 Okay, if we ever make enough money to do it, you can go ahead and do your own business and do it however you want. 22:59 And that's kind of where we are. 23:00 We acquired our property in 2009. 23:02 I was still in the middle of my career, but we, we developed it over, what, six years and then eventually opened right at the end of my career. 23:12 And it was just go from hockey into this business. 23:16 And I poured my heart and soul into it for about two years and I wore myself out. 23:20 I just did. 23:21 I worked overnights. 23:22 I worked all the time. 23:24 I, I'm a bit of a workaholic when it comes to stuff like that. 23:28 And that's part of the reason I've been successful in that trade. 23:31 But now I've, I've kind of laid back since COVID and kind of been trying to find myself, like, okay, what, what really makes me tick? 23:41 And I, I ended up rekindling with a body of mind that I grew up with childhood. 23:46 Really one of my best friends growing up. 23:47 And he's an arborist and he does trees on the, on the side. 23:54 He's a corrections officer during the day. 23:56 But he's like, hey, why don't you come out and cut some trees with me? 23:59 Like, what? 24:00 No way in hell am I doing that? 24:03 And, and he eventually broke me down and said, let's do it. 24:07 So I go out there. 24:08 I mean, I fell in love with it. 24:10 So now, now I'm like a partner in his tree side business. 24:14 And we work two days a week together with some other people. 24:18 And then we do tree removal and trimmings and all that kind of stuff. 24:22 And it's great for me. 24:23 I'm working with machinery, which I love. 24:25 I'm fixing stuff and outside working with my hands and doing some physical labor. 24:33 I guess I'm happy in hell doing that. 24:35 Not to say that I don't mind doing my wife's business, but I probably enjoy that more because it's just a little bit more than what I'm used to. 24:44 But you're keeping yourself busy. 24:47 And like I said, the train left and you got on a new train, really? 24:52 Yeah, yeah, I got on a different train. 24:54 I'll tell you that. 24:58 My body couldn't take what it did abuse-wise for 25 years, being a kid and actually going through the professional ranks. 25:10 My body just broke down at the end of it. 25:12 I was 34 years old and I wanted to squeak one more year out, but I could hardly walk. 25:18 My knees were bad and that was it. 25:22 I knew right away the day I didn't get resigned or get an offer on agency day, I walked into my workout group and said, boys, it's now your group, I'm out of here. 25:35 I flat out quit that day. 25:37 I don't quit that much, but I knew it was time. 25:40 Yeah, you get to a point. 25:42 I mean, I've had season tickets since O2, and I always wanted my tickets to be at the very top row of Mariucci because I used to have to run down those damn stairs, and I said, I will never go down those damn things again. 25:57 It's like, no way. 25:58 I'd never ever get to do that. 25:59 But I think to our point about giving back, it's probably one of the reasons that Jordan and I started that Gopher Hockey Alumni Association, giving back to the kids. 26:11 You know, because, quite frankly, the M Club hasn't been just amazing for us out there. 26:16 You know, I think it's something they're working on. 26:19 But now, to be a resource for some of these young student athletes has been awesome. 26:24 And just this summer, I was talking with a player whose name was Nick Michael, who walked on last year. 26:32 And he's got an amazing story. 26:33 And he said, hey, Nick, I've done four years now. 26:38 I'm kind of graduated. 26:39 Should I be done? 26:39 And I said, like, listen, buddy. 26:41 And he's like, I want to do what you do. 26:43 I want to get into finance and really interests. 26:44 I connected him with a couple like advisors, a couple of people that kind of do what I do. 26:48 There's three guys, three Gopher guys that kind of have the same job that I do. 26:52 You know, giving him those resources. 26:54 And I said, I was like, listen, I think you should play one more year because, you know, maybe if you quit and you've just done after four, you might look in the mirror, maybe in two years, three years, four years and say, I never got a game. 27:07 You know, I would have liked to wear that em out on that ice. 27:11 And if you quit, you'll never know what that was like. 27:14 But if you go and play, and if you don't get the game, at least you can look yourself in the mirror and say, hey, I gave everything I can't did. 27:22 And I came up maybe just a little bit short. 27:25 And I'm, I was so happy to see that he's already got three games. 27:27 I literally shot out of my couch when I saw him get that insist. 27:31 And I had a stupid neck brace on. 27:35 I was like, 27, just got an insist. 27:38 I was so damn excited for him. 27:40 Jordan and I played with Chad Roberg, who was kind of like our walk-on Rudy guy. 27:45 And it was the year after we left. 27:48 He got to score his goal in the US national team game. 27:51 And guys swarmed him on the ice. 27:54 They cleared the bench for him. 27:55 And those are the guys that make this program awesome. 28:01 You think about going to the rink. 28:03 It's easy to go to the rink when you're a first or second-line power play guy. 28:07 And you know your name is going to be up on the board. 28:09 But what about the guy that goes to practice every single day? 28:13 Doesn't know if he's ever going to get a game. 28:16 Blocking shots on the practice PK with his ankle. 28:20 That's a guy that almost puts in more work than the guy that's, you know, first on the lineup sheet every single game, right? 28:27 You know, because you think about like how mentally and physically exhausting that is to go through a full year with maybe a year or two. 28:37 And I mean, you got to give the kid credit. 28:38 I'm so excited for him. 28:40 And I know he's studying up his securities licenses. 28:42 So if there's anybody in finance, he's already got his SIE done and he's working on his Series 7. 28:48 So he's ready to hit the ground running. 28:51 Yeah. 28:53 So tell me more. 28:54 I mean, tell me more about this, though, Leo, you guys. 28:57 You know, I know alumni was kind of scattered a little bit. 28:59 And, you know, Nick was telling me, hey, I'm building this website. 29:02 You know, she'd check it out. 29:04 We're going to try to get these gangs together. 29:05 And so far it's been coming together pretty well for the alumni. 29:09 Well, here's the thing. 29:11 Nick is a doer, OK? 29:14 In order to get things done, you have to have doers, OK? 29:18 And Nick and I were down in Tampa two years ago for frozen pork. 29:23 And we went down there and there were probably about 30 of us alums down there. 29:28 And we just had no organization. 29:30 We had no communication. 29:31 We had nothing. 29:33 So light bulb went off between us. 29:35 And I think even Eric Wendell was down there. 29:38 And we were kind of going, how can we make this better? 29:41 You know, it shouldn't be like this. 29:43 And we were fortunate enough to be on the receiving end of some great times at Gopher Hockey. 29:50 When you win one national championship in St. 29:53 Paul and then you win another the next year when we weren't there, it cemented those couple of teams as far as relationships, as far as being lifehood, brotherhood, you know. 30:07 And I think we realized that it was important for us, but I think the other guys can have it as well, even though they didn't have the success we had. 30:15 So we're looking going, okay, how will we make this better? 30:18 Yes, the Young Club is there, but the Young Club is just an entire blanket of all the alum throughout all the sports. 30:26 And in hockey, for us, and men's, probably 90% of our guys, 90 to 80% of our guys live within 50 minutes of campus. 30:36 They stay in town, it's just what it is. 30:38 Most guys are from here, or if they aren't from here, they meet a girl at school that is from here and they end up marrying her and staying in town. 30:46 So why shouldn't we have our own alumni association? 30:53 It just was a no-brainer. 30:54 So here we are in our early stages, trying to get this thing to go. 30:57 Like Nick says, Nick's big thing is, he wants to help younger guys, he wants to help guys find them. 31:02 Me, I just want to get the guys together. 31:05 I'm hospitality, that's what we do at work. 31:09 It's fun to me, I love throwing parties, as Nick knows. 31:15 That's what does it. 31:16 Nick runs golf, I run an alumni night. 31:21 We got some other things coming up through the pipeline. 31:26 We don't charge our guys, we just want their participation. 31:31 Our feedback has been tremendous, we're moving forward, but hopefully with guys like you, we can feed you. 31:37 You can use us as an outlet now and find guys who want to get on podcasts like the Crowleys, the Bonnets, Stobbers, maybe even a Brotman. 31:47 We have a board member on the show next week, he's going to be on our show next week. 31:53 Okay. 31:54 Yeah. 31:54 But that's what we're trying to hit every generation with our board members to make sure we can get the word out to guys. 32:00 We live in a day and age where communication is pretty important. 32:03 It's a lot easier too. 32:06 The challenge we have is getting the guys from the 1980s and older, the 70s and 60s, because they don't use the technology like we do. 32:16 It's hard to get them. 32:17 You pretty much have to pick up the phone and talk to them. 32:19 But they're coming around too, which is great. 32:23 Hit up Pat McGilletti. 32:24 He's got all the contacts, doesn't he, Nick? 32:26 The only thing is you can't get them off the phone. 32:28 Oh, yes. 32:30 Long calls. 32:31 Lots of long calls there. 32:33 We've had Pat on the podcast quite a few times. 32:35 It's always interesting. 32:36 We can just let them go. 32:38 Oh, yes. 32:38 You just let him go. 32:39 You feed him one question and he's gone. 32:42 It makes for a nicer podcast. 32:44 We can just sit back and let Pat go. 32:46 Yes. 32:47 Then you look at his brother Joe. 32:48 His brother Joe is super polished. 32:52 He's the guy doing all the interviewing. 32:54 I'd say Pat doesn't too, but Joe is just like right to the point. 32:57 Then Pat is just blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. 33:00 I think Pat is the youngest of all those 10 kids, whatever he is. 33:04 You have to be able to at least talk to get in there. 33:07 He needs his attention. 33:09 He gets it. 33:09 It's all good. 33:13 But I think another thing that the alumni that we didn't touch on, that I know Bob is really excited about. 33:19 When Bob first came in, I think he did a really good job welcoming the alumni. 33:24 I know there was a little bit of like, maybe this is inside baseball, like animosity when like Lucia, because Lucia didn't really welcome the alumni, and Bob did a really good job. 33:35 It was the elephant in the room. 33:37 Most of the alums wanted an M Club coach. 33:39 He just said, hey, listen, I'm not an M Club guy. 33:42 I got cut by Brad Buto twice. 33:46 I think he just did a really good job bringing the alumni in and saying, hey, this program is about you. 33:52 For us, I said, hey, to give back to some of these young kids, but also as like a recruiting piece. 33:57 I mean, I know scholarships are possibly going to change next year with how they're going to do it with the NCAA. 34:04 But you're always competing for kids. 34:06 Let's say St. 34:07 Cloud State is going to offer some kid a full ride, and we're able to give them half a ride. 34:12 When they're sitting with mom and dad to say, listen, we can only give you a half a scholarship. 34:16 We wish we had more, but this is all we've got for you right now. 34:19 But what we do have is we have an alumni network of hundreds of successful business professionals. 34:24 They're going to be waiting for your son to help him through his life and his career and give him the advice and give him the foot in the door and the coaching that he needs, not just on the ice, but when his career at the U is done as well. 34:38 That's a hell of a thing, I think, to offer to parents as a recruiting option that I don't think a lot of schools have. 34:48 And I think another advantage to this as well is that when the alumni are around, it also teaches the young guys all about the University of Minnesota hockey program and the history of it. 35:00 Just seeing pictures and a couple of stats on the wall, it's a lot different when you have somebody there interacting with. 35:09 Yeah, as we talk about like today's player, like with all the skill work and individual stuff they do, there's a lot of like self motivation about what's going on in their hockey career. 35:19 And I think, you know, successful programs are bigger than that. 35:23 They've got players like Nick Michael, who grind away for just the chance to wear the jersey. 35:29 And when you get players who understand that they don't just represent themselves, but they represent, you know, their institution, the alums that came before them, the players that want to play there in the future, the coaches, the staff that make, you know, the games possible. 35:45 I think your program can be more resilient and more successful if they have that continuity. 35:51 And you definitely could feel at the end of the Luchia year that there were a lot of factions in Gopher Hockey. 35:58 You know, you go into a rink and if there's a Gopher there, you don't know what perspective they have, but it wasn't unified. 36:05 Yeah, absolutely. 36:06 And I think, well, I know Leo and I were talking because we're talking with Paul Martin because we're probably going to go in and give a presentation to the current team and just say, listen, like, you guys are part of this right now. 36:16 Like, you can join the Gopher Hockey Alumni. 36:20 You're all members, but you just need to sign up on the site and then we'll have access to your contact info. 36:25 You'll get, you know, invites to some of our different events. 36:29 But the big thing, like, you know, we obviously have to share the story of Gopher Hockey, but to let these guys know, like, you don't own that stall and you don't own that jersey. 36:38 You're just renting it. 36:40 And I mean, when I watch players now, like, I mean, I look out there and I'm like, oh, there's Nick Michael, 27. 36:46 Jordan and I, we're thinking Barry Talekson. 36:49 When I see John Whipple out there, number three, I was like, oh, there's Jordan Leopold, right? 36:55 I mean, I mean- 36:57 There's Chris Harrington. 37:00 What's that? 37:01 I said, there's Chris Harrington. 37:03 Yeah, exactly. 37:06 Every player you see out there, you picture the player you played with, right? 37:12 You don't own that jersey. 37:14 You just rent that stall and you're, you know, the front of the jersey really never changes. 37:19 We just change the name tag on the back, you know, every four years. 37:22 And, but now we're getting guys that got, you know, 74 and 91 and, you know- 37:27 I was just going to ask that. 37:28 I was just going to say, do you like, do you like that they go above 35 now or do you dislike it? 37:35 You know, I think that's a Bob thing. 37:37 He allowed it to happen. 37:38 I think that Don kind of stuck to, you know, under 40, I guess it would be. 37:43 Wouldn't it be, Veegs? 37:45 Yeah, I mean, very traditional. 37:47 You can just see it in everything that they do now. 37:49 It's whatever the players are liking. 37:51 True. 37:51 You know, all the different jerseys, there's another jersey coming that we haven't seen on the ice yet, but it's coming at some point. 37:58 And it's because the players like it. 38:00 And, you know, if it makes them play a little bit better or have a little bit more swagger to themselves, so be it. 38:06 So there you have it. 38:08 They want to cater to the player. 38:10 Well, that kind of speaks to society today though, doesn't it? 38:13 I mean, it's very self, self, self. 38:18 And that's kind of what Nick alluded to is, and you guys are talking about winning. 38:22 How do you win? 38:23 You know, I'm working with a bunch of 15, 16, 17 year old kids in high school, trying to tell them if they are all on the same page, we have a chance to win. 38:34 But if you guys can't get on the same page, forget it, we're not going to win hockey games. 38:38 You know, try that buy-in. 38:40 We had to do that in college. 38:42 You know, we had guys that fit in the certain roles. 38:45 We were really lucky that we had guys on third and fourth lines that cherished their role. 38:51 And they knew they were on the so-called green line during practice and they took pride in it. 38:56 You know, I don't know if that's the same today. 38:58 If you come in the practice and you're on the so-called fourth line, if you're going to be a good sport about it or if you're going to be, like, where's my next ticket out of here? 39:09 Where can I go? 39:10 You know, and that's kind of the environment we're in with college sports. 39:14 I mean, it's either in football, it's who's going to give me more money at this school, who's going to give me more opportunity, who's, you know, in hockey, it's, you know, I didn't get my shot here, so now I'm going to go there. 39:26 There's just not, there's not the commitment that there used to be. 39:29 And it's, I really kind of miss that part of amateur sports, but it's becoming more of a professional sport. 39:38 I hate to say it, but, you know, still when you go down to it and you get teams in the Frozen Four, teams will always talk about how tightly knit a group was that one. 39:47 And you look even at the group a couple of years ago that was in Tampa, I think those guys are really tight and I think they were tight. 39:55 Probably the better team probably should have won a championship, but it didn't work out. 39:59 That's kind of how it is, Veegs. 40:02 I was so rattled when they lost. 40:04 Like Jordan was sitting next to me. 40:06 I couldn't even get out of the chair until both teams were off the ice. 40:11 I just thought maybe somebody is going to like call in from Montreal and say, hey, it was offsides in the overtime. 40:19 I was so rattled. 40:20 But speaking of the numbers, there's actually a really good story. 40:23 I think it's Thomas Holmstrom, who is wearing number 96. 40:28 And Scotty Bowman was the coach. 40:30 And this is when everybody was like, you didn't have wild numbers, right? 40:34 It was like zero through one through three. 40:36 Forbidden, yeah. 40:37 Yeah, I think he was number 96. 40:39 And he was like a new guy, rookie that came in. 40:43 And Scotty brought him into the room. 40:44 Hey, I heard you want number 96. 40:46 Why do you want that? 40:47 He goes, oh, that's my first year getting into the league. 40:49 And he said, he's like, why don't you be number 97? 40:51 Because that'll be the year you're out of here. 40:55 And I ended up working for him. 40:57 I think he played like 20 years. 40:58 So it was a different time then. 41:05 Definitely was. 41:07 Vig, you look like you have a thought there. 41:09 So Jordan, you're talking about getting kids to figure out how to win. 41:13 What over the years do you think is the difference between teams that can get over the hump and win championships and go that extra mile versus the teams that maybe get there and lose a game like the Gophers did in Tampa two years ago, where they fall just a little bit short. 41:28 Can you pin anything on teams you've been on that are separators there? 41:33 I think the biggest thing is probably composure on all of it and the adaptability of the teams and of the players. 41:40 There's times when you're going to go through great times and everybody's feeling good, and then there's times you're going to be down in the dumps. 41:46 And it's just the ebb and flow of the season, especially at Pro Sports when you're playing 82 games in the NHL. 41:54 But in college you don't see much of the ups and downs. 41:57 Yeah, I mean, Nick can attest to it with our senior year. 42:01 I think we got... 42:02 Nick, did we get swept in Denver? 42:04 Is that...? 42:04 That was our junior year. 42:06 I think our senior year, one of our goals was we're never going to lose two games in a row. 42:10 And I don't think we did. 42:11 I think we always bounced back. 42:13 It was like, hey, tomorrow's another day. 42:14 And I always love the quote where people are like, Yolo, you only live once. 42:18 I think it's kind of, that's crap. 42:19 I was like, no, you only die. 42:21 I saw it the other day. 42:21 You only die once. 42:22 You live every single day. 42:23 So let's get after it and let's get what we need to get accomplished today done and then do the next thing tomorrow, right? 42:30 So. 42:32 Yeah. 42:33 And getting back to that point, we were flying high there in our year. 42:39 We were number one most of the year and we were feeling good. 42:42 And then we got into the WCHA, was it the final five? 42:47 And we made the championship game and here we faced, what was it? 42:51 Denver. 42:52 It was Denver. 42:53 And Denver kicked our ass. 42:55 We just thought we were going to show up and we're just going to steamroll. 42:59 And they kicked our ass and it was actually the best thing that happened to us. 43:02 Because we went, okay, boys, there's no more, no more redos after this. 43:07 We lose, we're done. 43:10 And we kind of got our crap together and had to swallow our pride a little bit and our ego go, okay, we got to play hard every game and you know, when the selections came out, we wanted to make sure we stay away from Denver, which we did. 43:24 They went to a different regional. 43:26 We went to another one. 43:27 So we got a good bid when it came to that. 43:30 Denver was actually, they for some reason, even through our whole four years, they kind of owned us and we like to stay away from that. 43:39 Yeah, they matched up so well against us when we lost in the Frozen Four, or Frozen Five, was it? 43:45 Yeah, Frozen Five. 43:46 Final Five, yeah. 43:48 I was so mad because I was like, that's our one chance, I think. 43:52 Right now, at least we could hang a banner. 43:54 I mean, hey, I always want to win the National Championship, but we missed an opportunity to hang a banner. 43:59 I was like, well, I guess we'll just have to win the National Championship and hang a way better banner then. 44:07 Well, wasn't it Maine that took them out in the semifinal on the other side or was that the next year? 44:13 I think that was the next year. 44:14 Yeah, it was New Hampshire took them out the next year, I think it was. 44:17 Was it Vakes? 44:18 Do you remember 2003? 44:19 Well, maybe it was Maine. 44:23 Somebody in the chat will remember. 44:24 What was the other team besides Maine on the other side? 44:31 There's a lot of people have been chatting the whole time. 44:34 Maine, Michigan, Minnesota and New Hampshire. 44:39 New Hampshire? 44:40 Yeah, it might have been something like that. 44:42 It could have been New Hampshire. 44:44 I don't know. 44:45 It was New Hampshire and Maine played on the other side of Minnesota, Michigan on this side. 44:49 There you go. 44:50 See, that's why you have computers in front of you. 44:51 Yeah. 44:52 Well, that's why people watching live. 44:54 That's right there. 44:56 Maine, UNH, Michigan. 44:58 Coming in hot. 45:00 Thank you. 45:03 I'm actually pulling, so we're out in Vegas and I put a little money on the Gophers to win. 45:08 I think they're eight to one. 45:10 Maine, I put a couple of hundred bucks and they were 20 to one. 45:14 Now they're like top four, top five. 45:16 I was like, 200 bucks pays 54. 45:19 Obviously, I'd rather the University of Minnesota win. 45:22 They're my go-to here, but I got a little consolation prize there for Maine. 45:27 Yeah, you do. 45:30 But what if it's Maine and Minnesota in the title game in St. 45:33 Louis? 45:34 I hope Minnesota drops them. 45:36 Eight to one is still pretty good. 45:39 Eight to one is still pretty good. 45:40 Minnesota loses. 45:41 Look, I get to take home as much money. 45:43 I mean, beer is on me either way. 45:46 I was going to say, Nick is okay. 45:48 He doesn't need the money. 45:49 He's fine. 45:49 You heard it right there. 45:51 Beer is on Nick Angell in St. 45:53 Louis come April. 45:55 Minnesota wins the championship. 45:57 Let it rip. 45:58 Let's go. 46:00 All right. 46:01 Well, we have a couple other things to talk about, but first we need to hear from some of our sponsors and Are You Ready Veegs? 46:07 Cub Foods is one of our sponsors. 46:09 And of note on them, they're about the only place it's open tomorrow. 46:13 So if you need to get something late, you need to pick some relish, you need to pick up some food. 46:17 They're open till 4 p.m. 46:18 on Thanksgiving. 46:19 So that's a good thing. 46:21 Yeah. 46:21 I think people maybe have seen me down at the quarry CUB the last couple of days. 46:26 I think I've been there every day the last four trying to get all my things ready for Thanksgiving. 46:30 And the best thing about CUB is they have great stock. 46:33 Like you go to these other places and they're out of everything. 46:36 CUB does great job with their inventory and whatever you need. 46:39 If you need a turkey, go there. 46:41 If you need stuffing, go there. 46:42 If you need cranberries, go there. 46:44 If you need the meal in a can like Juke, I bet CUB's probably got it. 46:48 So go visit CUB. 46:49 They're one of us. 46:50 They're local. 46:51 They're Minnesota. 46:52 And they've got their wine and spirit stores around now, too. 46:55 So you can get everything you need in one spot. 46:58 And of course, we get this new book called State 1981, Dreams of Dynasty. 47:03 Tell us about that. 47:05 Yeah, you know, dynasties in Minnesota, you know, Nick and Jordan, you know, high school players here who've done a great job. 47:12 State Tournament is just a magical thing. 47:15 Back when it was one class, you've got this fictional book here written from the South St. 47:19 Paul Packers perspective of their 21st Tournament experience, and they're trying to get their first championship. 47:27 And it's a great book. 47:28 Check it out on Amazon today and let us know if you get it. 47:33 All right. 47:35 We've got Vegoe's top 20 this week. 47:39 New number one for the first time this year. 47:40 Michigan State is top of your poll because Denver got swept at home to Arizona State. 47:48 That was definitely the big surprise of the week. 47:50 It was. 47:51 And I've got Nick's team main right there at number three as well. 47:54 They're still rolling in Hockey East, but Michigan State gets the top billing this week. 47:59 You know, they've had a great season so far. 48:02 You know, I think Minnesota, if they wouldn't have dropped that game to Bemidji, would probably be in a lot of people's top spot. 48:08 It'll be really interesting here the next couple weeks when the Big Ten is Minnesota welcomes Michigan State and Michigan to Mariucci Arena. 48:17 We might have three Big Ten teams in the top five here. 48:22 Really? 48:23 I mean, they might stick around. 48:25 Well, how about what is the games, you know, the two December series, you know, Michigan and Michigan State at Mariucci. 48:32 I know one of the I think the Michigan Saturday game is going to be a whiteout. 48:38 That's when we figure out how good this team is, Veegs. 48:41 Yeah. 48:42 You look at some of the strength of schedules, Minnesota and Denver have not had the schedules that they traditionally play. 48:48 You know, for whatever reason, the teams that they've got on their schedule haven't been as good this year. 48:53 So we think we know what we see in those teams, but until they prove it on the ice against good competition, we don't know for sure. 49:02 All right. 49:03 Well, it's a good list. 49:04 I like it. 49:05 So there you go. 49:06 I'm also looking forward to that Western Michigan Denver Series. 49:09 It's not this weekend, but it's coming up. 49:10 The Broncos are really tough this year. 49:13 They played really well. 49:14 They played BC tough earlier in the year. 49:18 So that'll be a good one as well. 49:21 All right. 49:22 I know you had some other questions that you wanted to get into. 49:26 I'm looking over here. 49:27 Nick's texting me. 49:29 Are you texting me your betting tickets there? 49:32 Yeah, we got the lion going. 49:34 Just wanted to make sure you said. 49:36 We have proof. 49:37 Either that or you're feeding him questions that set me up. 49:43 Honestly, I was. 49:44 No, no. 49:46 You know, okay. 49:46 So you were in Duluth, Leo? 49:49 Did you go to that Duluth, Minnesota game? 49:51 I went to the Saturday night game up in Duluth. 49:54 So it's Friday night. 49:56 That's the really high scoring seven to five night. 49:59 I'm sitting there at the game as well. 50:01 I'm getting texts from Nick. 50:03 He's got, I'm worried about the goaltending. 50:05 I don't know. 50:07 They don't look good. 50:07 I think we should go get this guy. 50:09 So let me tell you, he's been paying a lot of attention to this team this year. 50:13 Well, here, that's a good question I bring up because I haven't followed it as closely. 50:17 Have we found a 1A option in that? 50:22 Or are we still moving around here? 50:25 What do you think, Veegs? 50:27 I think we're still moving around. 50:29 I think we saw Eric get both starts this last weekend, partially because Bob didn't love the way he played in the first period. 50:37 Oh, that was bad. 50:38 He gave him some time to redeem himself. 50:40 The first goal that got waved off, it looked like Eric just didn't see it. 50:45 Then the second one, it was almost the same kind of deal. 50:48 Then Eric started to battle a little bit more and he looked solid from that point on. 50:53 But I think Bob wanted to give him back to back games in that moment to kind of see what kind of mental makeup he has in a potential 1A goalie. 51:02 He's got the size and that's another reason why he got back to back starts against Notre Dame is because they like to crash the net. 51:09 So Bob felt better having the bigger goalie in that for both games. 51:14 He kind of surprised us all by doing that. 51:17 He said they didn't even go into the weekend thinking that they're going to play every both games. 51:21 But after Friday night's game, the coaching staff said, yeah, let's do it. 51:25 Let's see what we got here. 51:27 I don't know if he did enough to keep the net long term or be the 1A guy. 51:33 Bob said he's going to get Sully Air back in the net this weekend. 51:37 I almost wonder, does he play Sully Air on Friday and Erie on Saturday and then go from there going into the next stretch, which Michigan and Michigan State. 51:46 But we'll see what we got. 51:48 It's encouraging that Erie was able to recover from that first period and then play well the rest of the weekend. 51:53 It was bad, Veegs. 51:55 Those first couple of goals, like you said, the first one that went in, well, even the one that was called off with an offside was not a good goal. 52:03 Right. 52:04 But, I mean, he's a good technical goalie and he's got the size that you want. 52:08 So you always want to test that mental makeup and see what you have there. 52:12 I think that's the most important quality in a goalie is being able to handle adversity and handle a tough crowd and rally from it. 52:19 So we'll see what we got since when is the pre-rack to play goal. 52:24 You got to be six four. 52:28 I think that's an NHL decision. 52:29 I think the game has become so technical, like with the butterfly. 52:34 You know, if you've got a smaller goalie, who does the butterfly and they go down, they're giving up half the net. 52:38 When a guy like Gary goes down, he's given up a fifth of that. 52:43 Leo, did you play with Dubnik? 52:46 Yeah, I mean, that's like looking up at a tree, isn't it? 52:49 Isn't he like six, seven or something like that? 52:51 He's like six. 52:52 I think he's six, six. 52:54 Yeah, he's a very big man. 52:55 But, you know, we saw, we saw small goaltenders. 52:59 You know, I played with Mika Kipersoff. 53:02 I mean, he's just a tiny guy. 53:04 And even when we were in college, Travis Webber, he was a tiny, he wasn't very tall. 53:09 He's like 5'10. 53:10 Who was the Denver goalie that was so good? 53:13 Oh, I'm picturing him right now. 53:16 Dubnik. 53:17 No, Wallenheim. 53:18 No, Dubulitz. 53:20 Dubulitz. 53:21 Oh, God, he was good. 53:23 Little goalie. 53:23 And remember the little goalie from North Dakota, too? 53:28 Carl Gehring. 53:30 Oh, and Kohler was Kohler up there, too. 53:32 I think Kohler was. 53:34 Yeah, but the the goaltending position itself, they're enormous now. 53:40 You know, and I remember when Jigair, he was a goalie. 53:44 Oh, big pads and everything. 53:45 Yeah. 53:46 And in Anaheim, he had the inserts on his shoulders that Michelin man would raise it up now. 53:51 But now these goalies, they have pads that are twice as long as the pads that were back 20 years ago. 54:00 They're just super duper long. 54:02 And all they do is just go into that, what do they call it? 54:04 A reverse VH or some technical term? 54:07 I don't know. 54:08 You see how thin they are too? 54:10 Yeah. 54:11 There's nothing to them. 54:13 Yeah. 54:14 I mean, the ones that, what were the ones that Houser had, those big brown ones? 54:18 I mean, those things were like, they were like a foot thick. 54:21 Like, now they're just these tiny little like foam things. 54:25 You can hear it when the puck hits it. 54:26 It just sounds like it just hits foam and... 54:28 It is a bigger thud. 54:30 A much bigger thud. 54:32 I don't know. 54:34 I don't know either, but I just looking at these goal centers, like even at the U of, looking at the size these guys go, holy crap, are they big? 54:41 You know, and they're really not thick. 54:43 They're just tall. 54:44 They're tall and you call them athletic? 54:47 I don't know. 54:48 I mean, are they, are they just big and they cover it? 54:51 Well, there've been a couple of thick goalies coming through. 54:54 Who was the Ohio State goalie that we would always make fun of, being so, that he needed to mix in a salad? 55:01 I won't be a dead horse on that one. 55:04 But I do think, you know, when they went away from the deer hair pads that just absorbed all the moisture to these foam pads now, you know, the position's totally changed. 55:14 You know, I do think that the goalies, the big goalies have to be good skaters to be able to move around and have quiet feet. 55:21 You know, I think that's one thing with Ari. 55:22 He's very efficient in his movements and that's what makes him a really good goalie. 55:29 But I mean, that's just the different style. 55:32 And I think one of the problems in goal-tending is you need to wait for those big goalies to get older before they can control their bodies. 55:40 Because if you have these 6'5 goalies as 18-year-olds, they can't control themselves. 55:46 They slide around, they push around, they're too gangly. 55:49 It takes them a while to develop the ability to carry that size and weight. 55:55 And that's why you see Bob going to these 20-year-old goalies who've played, you know, 80, 100 junior games before they, or even more than that now, 150 junior games before they get to college. 56:10 Veegs, who do you think has been like the biggest surprise for you this year? 56:17 I think Brody Lamb has been the big surprise for me. 56:19 I think him being on that first power play, I was like, is he really going to fit in with the 4-1 draft picks and be effective there? 56:28 Well, he's gotten that opportunity. 56:30 You know, he's going to be out maybe this weekend with the knee injury after the knee-on-knee, but he's really taken advantage of his ice time and opportunity, and he's putting pucks on net. 56:40 He's winning second chances, and he's really delivered on the opportunity that was given to him. 56:48 I would have to agree. 56:52 He's been really solid, and I've really liked some of what the freshmen have done as well. 56:56 Veegs, you've been talking about net front presence, and we've been seeing kind of Hendrickson and Zeme are kind of hanging around more on the front as well. 57:03 Just, if anything, just to put a body there. 57:07 Well, you have to take away that traffic. 57:09 You know, the Gophers have been goalie three times this year, and it's that lack of traffic. 57:14 It's guys flying by, looking to just kind of tap their blade on the puck rather than actually anchoring in and taking away eyes and getting to rebounds and those second chances. 57:24 I mean, Oliver Moore, not the biggest guy, but he gets a bunch of goals this last weekend by being around the net, taking away eyes and finding space. 57:33 And that's going to be so critical for this team going forward. 57:36 It's funny, even at the high school level, you'd tell these kids to park themselves in front and what I tell them is I say, hey, just stand in front, make sure before you come to the rink, you maybe have a little McDonald's, a little bit of White Castle, something like that and you stand in front and you just let them rip. 57:53 If you just let them rip in front of the net, the goaltender will have to do something, either blink, move his head one way or another. 58:00 And then you're all golden after that. 58:04 So maybe we just got to do that a little bit more. 58:07 Pre-game, pre-game at McDonald's, electric corner, lean on those guys. 58:10 Oh man. 58:13 Double cheeseburger right before the period. 58:15 Lean on those guys. 58:17 Yeah. 58:17 Lean on a little Dutch oven in front of them. 58:19 Oh man. 58:21 I can smell those McDonald's onions, right? 58:24 Oh, you smell like Castle, the White Castle. 58:27 Oh man. 58:29 So there you go, Veegs. 58:30 Teach your little, was it Peewees or Mike? 58:34 Yeah, perfect analogy for those kids. 58:36 You gotta just go in there and just give them the stink. 58:40 There you go, Coach Vegoe. 58:42 You're learning from the masters. 58:44 I'll bring that to practice on Friday. 58:47 Comes from a legend. 58:49 We're chomping in front of the net here. 58:52 You're in it from Leo first. 58:55 Hey boy, brought in some ladies, some sliders. 59:00 Well, Veegs, we gotta talk about a couple more sponsors, Veegs, before we wrap up the show. 59:05 I know Jimmy's has been on your list all fall along. 59:08 Yeah, right when I walk in the cub, there's Jimmy's right there waiting for me. 59:12 And I did see them starting to lay down water at my outdoor rink. 59:17 And I'm thinking, you know what? 59:19 Caramel's not just for fall. 59:20 It might be for winter too. 59:22 Bring it down to the rink. 59:24 Bring a little bit of Jimmy's, bring some apples, give yourself a little snack in between outdoor pickup games. 59:30 You get the original, the sea salt. 59:32 Make sure you get a cover too, because you don't want to put it down. 59:35 Jimmy's Salad and Dressing and Dips. 59:38 Don't you be messing with my dressing. 59:41 And of course, we've got Lunch Bucket Hockey. 59:46 Yeah, we're in full hockey swing right now. 59:48 Lunch Bucket Hockey does all the jerseys and apparel stuff that you need. 59:52 Check them out on Instagram. 59:54 They're showing some of the stuff that they put together. 59:57 You know, these are a couple local guys who did Friday Hockey and they came up with this apparel lifestyle brand for the grit and rind players that would do anything for their teammates. 1:00:06 Check it out at lunchbuckethockey.com today. 1:00:10 And of course, we thank Lunch Bucket Hockey and Jimmy's for sponsoring The GPL Podcast. 1:00:16 Vague's Alaska is in town. 1:00:19 We call them Alaska Fairbanks. 1:00:21 They like to go by just Alaska now. 1:00:23 But one thing I'm excited about is the start of the 5 p.m. 1:00:26 games on Saturday. 1:00:28 For pretty much the rest of the season at Mary Uchee. 1:00:31 And I know a lot of young families who want to bring their kids to games are going to like that. 1:00:36 Yeah, I think the 5 o'clock game on Saturday will be nice. 1:00:39 A lot of people also get out to other games on Saturday nights as they support their local high school programs and things like that. 1:00:45 I think it will be a fun little thing for Gopher Hockey. 1:00:48 You know, the Friday night 5 o'clock game, not so popular. 1:00:51 I think the Friday, the Saturday 5 o'clock will be better. 1:00:55 Alaska came into town here yesterday, so they're here all week. 1:01:01 Always an interesting travel schedule for them. 1:01:05 They have not had a great season so far. 1:01:08 They're having a hard time scoring goals, so it could be a good weekend for the Gophers to get healthy. 1:01:14 Well, I would like to see that. 1:01:15 Did either of you get a chance to play Fairbanks? 1:01:18 Obviously, you saw the Seawolves a lot, but what about Fairbanks? 1:01:21 No, I mean, we went up to Anchorage, but I've been to Fairbanks. 1:01:29 If you don't know where it is, you're like, oh, Fairbanks sounds like a nice place. 1:01:33 Just look, it's literally like butthole of Alaska. 1:01:38 Like it's not where you want to go. 1:01:43 I took an Uber from the airport to the hotel, and the guy was telling me how he salvages roadkill. 1:01:49 I was like, oh, that moose got hit by that train, and oh, yeah, meat freezes, and you can salvage that animal. 1:01:56 I was like, oh, okay, yeah, all right. 1:01:59 Different part of the world. 1:02:00 Different part of the world. 1:02:01 I remember, I think it might have been Mark Barr telling us a story once when the team was up in, I guess it was, well, the Seawolves. 1:02:15 And yeah, yeah, we used to sing that song. 1:02:19 It was catching. 1:02:21 And a bench singing it. 1:02:22 But he said he was awakened to dogs barking because it was the start of the Iditarod or something like that. 1:02:28 Yeah. 1:02:29 And he's and I've, you know, obviously it's a long flight there. 1:02:34 But those Alaska trips are unique and it's definitely a beautiful area. 1:02:38 Let's just say let's just say this with Barzi. 1:02:41 If he's here in dogs at a certain period of time, that may mean he was out late the night before. 1:02:48 Yeah. 1:02:48 Just me. 1:02:53 The little secret is like nobody. 1:02:57 Everybody wants to go on the Alaska trip. 1:03:00 A because we yes, you would I think we would go up there on Wednesday. 1:03:03 So you got out of school like, you know, party time. 1:03:06 You got to go up there early. 1:03:08 You ate at like, I can't remember what the restaurant was, but it was a great seafood spread. 1:03:14 It was awesome. 1:03:15 And the main reason I always wanted to go up there was because if you got left behind and you got your ass handed to you for like three straight days, like, I mean, they would just obliterate you. 1:03:29 I mean, Cal would just destroy you for three days and that was not fun. 1:03:34 So you always want to be in the lineup. 1:03:37 I mean, Jordan never had to worry about it, but like I kind of had to work my way up there, you know. 1:03:43 But yeah, I was like, man, I hope I'm one of those top 8D that get to go on that trip. 1:03:49 So I just like breaking curfew on Saturday night after. 1:03:54 Oh, yeah. 1:03:55 Oh, yeah. 1:03:59 The stories we never heard about the 2002 team. 1:04:02 I mean, they had some weird rules, like we had to be, like, I think we swept and Don was like, all right, you guys got two hours and then you got to be back at midnight or something back to the hotel and like, you're trying to get your drink on and have a little fun. 1:04:15 And it's like, okay, I need six shots of tequila. 1:04:17 And there was like a rule in Alaska where like, you can only have one drink in front of you at a time. 1:04:23 It was some crazy rule. 1:04:24 It was like, I'd need another one, please. 1:04:28 It was like, hey, I'm trying to get a little buzzed up here before I go back to the hotel. 1:04:32 We made it all the way up here. 1:04:33 I'd like to have a libation, please. 1:04:37 Oh, jeez. 1:04:38 We're going to have to save some more of these stories for overtime. 1:04:42 I'm about ready for a libation right about now. 1:04:44 Yeah, I think you're too. 1:04:45 Well, let's just do a quick Veegs. 1:04:48 Alaska is here. 1:04:49 They're struggling to score. 1:04:51 I'm guessing you're saying two wins this weekend. 1:04:54 I think based on what we saw in Notre Dame with the NetFord presence, I would hope so. 1:04:58 Alaska does have a good goalie in Grabco. 1:05:00 He's a graduate transfer from Bentley. 1:05:02 He's probably one of their best players. 1:05:04 You know, that'll be a test for them. 1:05:06 I think if the Gophers play like they did against the Fighting Irish, they should have no problem with two wins. 1:05:12 And there's no more Johnny Sorensen there to cause trouble. 1:05:15 No, no so-so left. 1:05:17 So sweep. 1:05:19 Will you guys pay to... 1:05:20 Will either of you be making a trip to Mariucci this weekend? 1:05:23 I will be there bringing the kiddos. 1:05:26 Friday or Saturday? 1:05:28 I will be there Friday. 1:05:30 All right, I'll come say hi. 1:05:32 It's the only day I'm there as well. 1:05:33 All right, perfect. 1:05:35 I'm not planning on it, but you never know. 1:05:40 I'm pretty spontaneous, so it will be all of a sudden get a burr up my ass and go, let's get down there. 1:05:45 Yeah. 1:05:46 Are you guys ready for some overtime? 1:05:47 You want to do some overtime and get the show over with? 1:05:49 Yes, let's get the show over with. 1:05:51 This show sucks. 1:05:52 Let's get to overtime. 1:05:57 There, Vegs is already getting ready to grab his beverages there. 1:06:00 He's getting ready. 1:06:02 Let's get to the good stories. 1:06:03 Well, thank you both for coming on the show. 1:06:06 It's great to have you on. 1:06:08 We'll definitely get to have you on again. 1:06:10 But that's pretty much the end of this part of the broadcast. 1:06:14 We'll catch a lot of you next week when we'll have Sam Racini on. 1:06:19 For those of you listening live, stay tuned for what I believe is going to be an interesting overtime. 1:06:24 For the rest of you, we'll catch you next week on The GPL Podcast.