0:08 This is The GPL Podcast, part of the Pulltab Sports family. 0:13 They've got the wild going tonight, and they want to have that continue. 0:18 But I said once, Mayor Uchi, can you mute yourself? 0:22 Oh my God. 0:25 Leo, how was your recruiting? 0:27 I mean, you, I mean. 0:29 My recruiting, I probably had 76 D1 offers. 0:36 Oh boy. 0:38 You're making mistakes. 0:39 I love it. 0:40 And so, I had to train for this marathon. 0:44 Make sure you stay awake for the game tomorrow, too. 0:48 Now, here's Jupiter and Vego. 1:03 Good evening, and welcome to The GPL Podcast, episode number 275. 1:11 Veegs, we're getting up there in shows, getting close to 300. 1:15 Yeah, just like Bob, getting close to a milestone win here coming up. 1:19 Oh, really? 1:20 What's he at right now? 1:22 I think we got like 150 with the Gophers, if he gets one this weekend. 1:25 Oh, well, he's definitely gonna get that. 1:27 So yeah, way to go, Bob. 1:30 Splitsville is, well, I wouldn't call it Splitsville, but it did feel like a split against Anchorage this past Anchorage. 1:36 Gosh, I'll get Alaska this weekend. 1:38 Yeah, just stick to Alaska. 1:40 That'll keep you safe. 1:41 Yeah, I was saying Anchorage all weekend. 1:43 I just kept. 1:45 The Nanooks, that's fun to say. 1:48 Yeah, I know. 1:49 Friday definitely did feel like a loss, though. 1:52 It was a game that was a little difficult at times to watch in terms of what was happening. 1:57 And you just kind of sensed it was going to be hard for the Gophers to get a goal once it got into that routine. 2:04 Yeah, if you heard the locker room for Alaska, it definitely sounded like they won the Stanley Cup. 2:09 They were loud and having a good time. 2:13 So we'll get more into that. 2:16 But first, we've got a brand new guest on the podcast this week, Sam Rossini, who's kind of filling in along with a few other guys, kind of filling that hole that Frank Mazako left during his retirement. 2:27 Let's bring him in. 2:28 Sam Rossini. 2:30 Welcome to the show. 2:31 Nice to meet you. 2:32 Awesome. 2:33 Hi, guys. 2:33 Yeah, thanks for having me. 2:35 This should be a good time here tonight. 2:38 Well, like I said, you know, Frank Mazako just kind of sailed off into the sunset quietly last year. 2:45 We're all still kind of sad about that. 2:48 But it kind of gave you, you know, you, Jack Ramsey, Eric Sheerhorn, and a little chance to get in there and be part of the broadcast, hasn't it? 3:00 Yeah, it's been an awesome experience so far and excited for the rest of the season as well. 3:04 But we, I think we all miss Frank in the broadcast booth. 3:08 I know I, watching The Gophers growing up when he was on TV, used to listen to him all the time. 3:13 And so he was definitely a guy that I am sad to see go, obviously. 3:18 But he's still texting us during the broadcast and stuff. 3:22 So, you know, I kind of heard about that, you know, throw a stat at Wally and you guys just like, hey, do you guys know this? 3:29 Did you know that? 3:31 Yeah, it's great. 3:32 And I've kind of leaned on him too as a mentor. 3:34 And I tell him, hey, shoot me a text if you hear anything on the broadcast that I need to do differently. 3:39 So, well, one thing about Frank Veegs is that he kept meticulous notes for his entire career. 3:48 Yeah. 3:48 And I know he would have like summer projects to like research even more stats and keep in his database where he was just like, Veegs, you got to help me track this down. 3:58 I'm looking for this. 3:59 It's the series record between Minnesota, Wisconsin. 4:02 There's a lot of debate. 4:03 Let's dig into some old newspaper archives and get it right. 4:08 Yeah, yeah, he's great at that. 4:10 And he, I think he pulled is the game that I called. 4:14 It was a 1-0 win. 4:15 And he pulled the last time the Gophers had won 1-0 at Mariucci. 4:19 And he texted that to Wally and I. 4:21 Wow, Frank, he's still part of the broadcast, isn't he? 4:26 It's hard to let it go. 4:27 I mean, we miss him at media availability. 4:30 We had one this week Wednesday and you usually get to see him there as he interviews players for those between the period segments and we miss him around there. 4:40 Yeah, we definitely do. 4:41 We never had really an official goodbye for him either. 4:45 So we're going to have to drag him out one of these nights after the game. 4:48 Don't you think, Veegs? 4:50 No better time than the holidays here. 4:53 So yeah. 4:54 And these Saturday games that are early. 4:58 Perfect time for a carafe of wine with Frank DeGasco. 5:02 Well, let's get into this series. 5:04 A 1-1 tie shootout loss to Alaska Friday night. 5:10 Saturday night, kind of similar start, slow start, but then they just poured it on four straight goals at the end, Veegs. 5:17 Your thoughts? 5:20 Well, I mean, on Friday, Minnesota didn't give up much. 5:23 You know, the only Alaska goal was off Cal Thomas' stick. 5:27 So I think it's difficult for the coaching staff to be too upset with the performance on Friday. 5:33 You know, unlike some other Gopher teams historically, even though it's a tight checking game and there's not a lot of space, you don't see players doing reckless things with the puck. 5:43 You don't see a lot of bad turnovers. 5:45 You know, if there's the one critique you have in a game like that, it's the Gophers aren't getting pucks into the goalie's feet. 5:52 They're not looking for the rebounds. 5:54 They're shooting wide and giving the other team zone exits for free. 5:59 You know, those are the kinds of things that frustrate coaching staffs because when they played Notre Dame, you saw a great net front presence. 6:07 You saw lots of traffic around the net take away the goalie's eyes. 6:10 You get into a series of Alaska, you expect to see the same kinds of things. 6:14 And it was pretty inconsistent up until the third period on Saturday. 6:18 And Sam, that's what I was going to ask you. 6:20 That's exactly it's like a switch turned on Saturday, third period where they did start to just, hey, let's get things on net and see what happens. 6:29 And it worked. 6:31 Yeah, absolutely. 6:32 I think back to Veegs' point on Friday night, the players start missing in that, they start missing on passes and then they start to get frustrated and then they grip the stick too tight and then it just kind of snowballs. 6:44 But yeah, Saturday night, period three, it looked like something clicked. 6:48 I'm guessing something was said in the locker room in between periods. 6:52 Well, it's kind of funny. 6:53 We were pressing Bob, like, what did you say? 6:55 Did you kick the trash can? 6:56 He's like, no, for the most part, I was really happy with the way they were playing. 7:00 One thing I noticed on Saturday, instead of shooting wide, some of the Gophers would shoot nearside off the end boards and almost play for that carrom into the crease area. 7:10 And that's how they got some pressure and a couple goals on Saturday. 7:13 And that was just like a change in mindset. 7:15 It's like, OK, we don't have to pick corners. 7:18 We just have to get it into the mixer. 7:21 And that seemed to pay dividends for them. 7:24 And you know, when I was, I shot, I must have been, I shot the third period on Friday night from between the benches. 7:33 And I could hear the coaching staff getting frustrated a little bit with, hit the net, hit the net. 7:40 You know, from killer to, you know, to Gordon. 7:43 How many are Gordon there? 7:44 But definitely Moscow is saying he was getting frustrated. 7:48 And Sam, you could, you definitely can understand that when you're trying to pick corners and trying to get the good shot, instead of getting it, like Vegoe said, get it in their skates, get it off his pad. 7:57 You just never know where that puck is going to go. 7:59 Yeah, it's also amazing how things start to click when you get back to the basics. 8:04 You sometimes try to do too much, but then you get back to getting pucks in deep, getting pucks on net, creating traffic in front. 8:11 Then the puck starts to bounce your way, which means you're usually doing the right things. 8:18 How was Bob's mood after that second game? 8:20 Because I was in the media room alone Friday night, no one else is there. 8:28 What's going on with that, Joe? 8:29 Well, for me, when I'm behind the lens, it's really hard for me to watch the game. 8:36 I'm really focused in on just getting a shot here, shot there. 8:40 And I always go to the post game when I'm there and I record it. 8:44 I was the only media member there. 8:47 And I'm like, where is everybody? 8:50 And I'm like, you know, I'm not going to keep Coach here because I honestly don't know all the full details unless they go back and watch the game. 8:58 And then, you know, SAD is like, you know, do you want any players? 9:02 I'm like, I'm not going to waste your time. 9:04 I'm not going to waste your time. 9:06 Veegs, it's a little different because, you know, when you're up at the booth, you're watching things. 9:09 You have that wide view. 9:10 You're seeing things. 9:12 But for me, sometimes I'm like this, watching the game, I'm like, what happened when I was looking through the lens? 9:19 So I am just not qualified to ask questions unless I'm actually watching the game. 9:26 I'm not going to throw you too much under the bus, but the stat crew is happy to see me there on Saturday. 9:31 I'm going to ask a few more questions. 9:35 That's funny. 9:37 I kind of get the same way when I'm doing radio, is I get so honed in on trying to provide insight in what's happening in the intricate part of the game, that I lose focus of the flow of the game and the plays that are happening. 9:51 It's interesting through that scope. 9:55 So did they learn their lesson, Veegs? 9:58 I see a question here on Twitter we got earlier from Darren Bach, and he's always had an honest question. 10:03 Is the Gopher slow starts a lack of defensive awareness early, or just bad luck because they do give up the first goal or goals a lot more this season? 10:15 Yeah, I think we're at nine times now that they've given up the opening goal of the game, which for a team with this much talent is pretty surprising, especially that blue line core. 10:26 We've been talking all season about how good this blue line is. 10:30 And yet to fall behind that many times is kind of surprising. 10:34 I asked Bob about that today. 10:35 Are there any details to your game that you want to change to avoid falling down so often this year? 10:41 And he actually said, I want us to get more into our offense. 10:46 We need to score the first goal. 10:47 It's not really something that we're doing defensively or being careless with the puck or not coming with the right intensity. 10:54 We just aren't getting that first goal. 10:56 And we're letting the other team kind of stay in it longer than they should. 11:01 So I thought that was kind of an interesting response. 11:03 I don't know if the players quite felt the same when we asked that question to them. 11:09 But you know, Brody Lamb and Sam Rinzel today were both saying, you know, we have to play disciplined with the puck and not be careless and just be more detailed in our game. 11:19 But I think the coaching staff is like, hey, we need to manufacture goals faster and not kind of allow the other team to breathe. 11:27 But on the opposite end, you know, yeah, they gave up the league twice on the weekend, Sam, but they only did give up three goals on the weekend. 11:36 Yeah, that's not a bad weekend for the defense or the goalies either. 11:41 Yeah, absolutely. 11:42 Definitely, definitely. 11:44 A bright spot is the only giving up three goals. 11:46 It's just the timing of those goals, I think, is they come early and then it's hard not to get down. 11:52 But I think the Gophers has done a great job of bouncing back and staying in games as well. 11:57 It's easy once you get down early in a game to kind of shy away. 12:01 But the Gophers, Bob always says that you got to get punched in the nose and learn how to respond. 12:06 And I think the Gophers, they've been doing a good job of it so far. 12:10 Was the power play goal that put them up two to one in the second period on Saturday Veegs, again, the worst power play in the country. 12:19 They were saying second worst, but the other team, I think you sent a stat to me that they're actually the worst, aren't they? 12:27 It's the worst team that's actually played games, individual and hockey. 12:31 For whatever ranking they have, they had Utica in there, which shouldn't be counting. 12:35 Yeah. 12:37 And Alaska had given up some shorthanded goals, too, again. 12:40 So like their power play was almost like a net negative for their program on the season. 12:45 And, you know, that's just one of those things. 12:47 You don't clear a puck on a penalty kill. 12:49 You're going to give the other team an extra out, and you can't really get away with that. 12:54 And even Alaska, you know, it was a nice goal. 12:57 It was a nice one time around the off wing for them. 13:00 But, you know, I think it kind of shook Minnesota a little bit. 13:03 And for them to get an odd man rush shorthanded was nice to see out of the Gophers. 13:09 And you know, kind of got them going a little bit, a little bit more energy and jump. 13:14 It definitely got them going. 13:18 You know, the tie won't hurt them, I would say, because technically Friday was a tie. 13:22 It shouldn't hurt them too much in pairwise, should it? 13:25 Or should they be more worried about the UNO and Bemidji losses? 13:31 I mean, I don't think any of the losses are that bad so far. 13:33 You know, Alaska is not a great loss to have on your record, but Minnesota has played well enough where I don't think you can look at one game like this, and it'll hurt them. 13:42 If they were a team that was, you know, more around 500, it could be a bad loss. 13:48 But I think Alaska is going to beat some teams here down the stretch. 13:51 You know, if they play like they did this weekend against other teams, they're going to pull out some wins. 13:59 Sam, do you have any eligibility left to take shootouts? 14:02 Can we get you any nice for something like that? 14:04 Unfortunately, that's not my cup of tea. 14:07 I don't think I would ever get picked unless it went to the 20th round. 14:12 But is anyone really good or qualified? 14:16 It's at this point, you might as well. 14:20 I wonder if Bob still does it, but we used to do on Thursdays a little shootout to end the practice. 14:27 We called it, I forgot what we called it, Stick Boy, where the last person alive would have to go collect all the sticks and the stones. 14:37 Oh, zero for their last 21 shootout attempts, Vegoe. 14:42 I can understand consecutive losses. 14:45 It's, I believe, eight consecutive shootouts have lost, but not even scoring a goal in 21 attempts. 14:55 That's beyond ugly now. 14:59 It's hard to believe. 15:01 Yeah, it really is. 15:03 But at the same time, this one was meaningless. 15:06 It felt like a loss. 15:07 Yes, it was. 15:08 It doesn't actually mean anything. 15:10 Maybe in their heads, the shootouts are a challenge for them. 15:16 You see guys kind of mishandle a puck sometimes in these situations. 15:20 If you do it at the end of the practice, the ice should be just as bad as at the end of the game. 15:24 I can't really even explain it. 15:27 I remember seeing some shootout competitions the last couple of years. 15:30 It's like defensemen who you wouldn't expect to be the winner of these competitions ends up winning them for the Gophers. 15:36 And then the coaching staff throws them out there for the attempts in the games. 15:39 It's totally different. 15:41 And it's not like you want to waste a lot of practice time on shootouts when they when they don't really mean that much. 15:47 So it is hard to explain. 15:50 But the Gophers are are snake bit in the shootout. 15:53 And until they score a goal in one of these or win one of these, it's just going to be a snug root just to wind up a new and old Rolston and just 15, 20 feet out, just wind up. 16:05 You know, sometimes I think these guys predetermine what they're going to do. 16:09 And that's usually a recipe for disaster in my mind for shootouts. 16:13 You got to come in thinking, okay, I'm going to take what the goalie gives me and just have it with that mindset. 16:19 You know, I saw Hugh Glenn, I think, put one, like he was going to fake going between the legs. 16:23 Then he kicked it up to a stick and mishandled it. 16:26 You kind of overthinking it at that point for a shootout move. 16:31 Sam, it's just, it's so weird. 16:34 I mean, it's the overall record in the Big Ten is, I want to say two and 15 in shootouts since it began back in 2013. 16:50 So it's just so crazy. 16:52 It's not explainable. 16:54 Yeah, I was going to say there's not really an explanation for it. 16:57 I know, I think the good guys, like they'll have an A and a B move, right? 17:01 And so they'll go down, they'll see if the goalie goes down first. 17:04 If they get the goalie to make the first move, then they go with the other move. 17:07 If the goalie doesn't bite, then they go with their other move. 17:10 So that's what makes a shootout player good, I think, is having that A and B move. 17:15 But with the predetermined moves, that's sometimes the puck doesn't go your way. 17:19 And that's kind of what's happening here. 17:21 I don't know how else to explain it, really. 17:24 Yeah, like I said, shooting from further out, just try to do something different, because it seems like most of the time, they are, excuse me, trying to do a move last second, and sometimes they're just in too close. 17:38 Yeah. 17:38 I mean, they practice it. 17:40 They're good hockey players. 17:41 They're all skilled. 17:42 Hockey players today are probably more skilled than ever before. 17:44 Oh my gosh, by far. 17:46 It's just really one that's hard to explain. 17:48 And in my mind, it's not worth spending that much time about. 17:53 Well, yeah, and probably not. 17:56 But that's why I'm thinking try something different. 17:59 So I had to, I got a question. 18:00 I had to miss, I was down in Arizona for Thanksgiving, which was fantastic. 18:04 Got out of the cold a little bit. 18:05 Shirk. 18:08 So I missed the shootout on Friday night, caught in the first two periods, missed the third period in the shootout. 18:14 Out of conference shootouts, is that one and done? 18:17 Or what is the, is it a three round shootout? 18:19 It is three. 18:21 And I believe that it was decided a while ago. 18:24 They're just going to do it for fun because. 18:26 Yeah, that's what I. 18:29 I think most schools just do it for fun now because I want to say 2018. 18:37 Minnesota opened up in Duluth. 18:38 It was a one one tie and there was no shootout. 18:42 All of a sudden, it's the end of the game. 18:44 That was my second career college game. 18:46 There you go. 18:47 You remember it then. 18:49 Everyone was kind of like, well, what now? 18:50 It's like, no, it's we're done. 18:53 We had five on five overtime at the thing. 18:54 I don't think it was three on three. 18:57 And that was it. 18:58 And then a couple of years later, two seasons ago or last season, they had a shootout. 19:05 Doesn't mean anything in non-conference plays. 19:07 So it's just like the coaches just kind of decided we're just going to do it. 19:12 And maybe make the fans happy. 19:14 But unless you're Minnesota fan. 19:18 Well, it can just be such an emotional low for a team like Minnesota to have this continue to happen. 19:24 And, you know, you're right with Alaska. 19:26 You know, the shootout win doesn't mean anything to them, but it sure felt like it for them and probably gave them a little more confidence going into Saturday because you could just sense it in the building on Saturday. 19:39 Then Alaska felt like that game was there for the taking throughout. 19:43 You know, most of two periods and a little lot more. 19:47 You could see it in the goalie. 19:48 Rabko is just kind of super confident. 19:51 Almost like egging on some of the Minnesota players. 19:54 Wallenimo-esque. 19:56 Yes, very cocky and confident. 20:00 So I think Alaska just had a little bit more extra juice on Saturday because of that, even though it doesn't mean anything. 20:08 Wallenimo was a player for Denver, Sam. 20:12 Mid-90s, I would say Higgs. 20:14 Height of the final five. 20:16 Oh, yeah. 20:17 And just very confident. 20:20 He would turn around and egg on the crowd. 20:23 You know, I had Mariucci. 20:25 Apparently, now he's like he's in the Parliament in Finland or something like that. 20:32 He's a politician now back in his home. 20:34 I think it's Finland. 20:35 Don't quote me on that. 20:36 But it feels like a Swede to me. 20:38 But it could be whatever he is. 20:41 He's in politics now, but he was fun for us because I loved it. 20:46 He would egg on the crowd. 20:47 It's just we all know goalies are weird in the first place, but he just took it to the next level of these and he was good. 20:54 Yeah, it's always entertaining for the crowd to have a goalie that's engaged. 20:57 So I had more power to him. 21:01 Oh, Andrew Carlson, he'd sit up on the net, swing his legs to the music. 21:06 What do you really? 21:08 He was just a different guy. 21:13 Just a different guy. 21:14 He was he was having pure fun and he was good. 21:16 So most goalies are different, though. 21:19 So we benefited it out. 21:22 Yeah, we've had Shearhorn on quite a few times. 21:24 He's going to be on next week. 21:27 And, you know, he's really not that he's pretty. 21:30 He's pretty normal for a goalie to start a stretch of goalies at Minnesota that seemed pretty, pretty normal guys for the most part. 21:38 Close is pretty normal. 21:39 We had him on during the summer a couple of years ago. 21:41 He was. 21:43 Yeah. 21:43 Closer is a great guy. 21:44 Shearhorn Robson was a good guy. 21:47 LaFontaine is a good guy. 21:49 Yeah, there's been a good streak. 21:51 I don't know the Gopher goalies right now personally, but her good thing. 21:55 Suleiro was pretty personable after the Penn State Series. 21:59 That was a big one for him and he came out to the media. 22:02 They've kind of been sheltering him from us. 22:05 You know, keyboard warrior, jockey. 22:08 Yeah, it was Finland. 22:09 It was Finland. 22:10 Say thanks. 22:11 Thanks to the chatter. 22:12 You guys. 22:12 People watching live. 22:14 Always keeping us honest here. 22:17 All right, Vs. 22:18 Well, I know we've got some sponsors to talk about here. 22:23 We're going to start with Jimmy's Vig. 22:25 What's going on with Jimmy's? 22:28 Jimmy's I talked about last week. 22:29 I think I've found the new tag for them. 22:33 Oh, tailgating season is kind of out, but it's outdoor rink season. 22:37 You know, you see the flooding out there. 22:39 I think caramel dip and apples is a great snack when you get out to the rink. 22:43 So think about it. 22:44 Look at your grocery store. 22:45 I see it at Cub all the time when I walk in. 22:47 It's great with apples, pretzels, celery, or even right with your finger. 22:52 You can get the original. 22:53 You can get the sea salt. 22:54 Pick up a tub or two because you're not going to want to put it down. 22:57 Jimmy's Salad and Dips. 22:59 Don't you be messing with my dress hat. 23:03 And I saw an image earlier today of our guy, John King, wearing a lunch bucket hockey jersey while playing beer league hockey. 23:15 I mean, it's perfect lunch, hockey, a couple of retiree guys who play Friday lunchtime hockey, started thinking about apparel brand for their business, and they want hardworking grit and grind players to wear lunch bucket hockey. 23:29 From mites to beer leaguers, check out lunchbuckethockey.com. 23:33 Get something for your team. 23:35 If you've got a team that's about to start their winter league and you need jerseys, check them out. 23:40 A couple of local guys we love when people go support one of us. 23:45 Definitely like the local thing there. 23:47 We thank lunchbucket and Jimmy's for sponsoring the GPL Podcast. 23:52 Time for Vigo's top 20 Michigan State. 23:55 It looks like your top three stayed the same this week. 24:00 Western Michigan going up, Minnesota going down a bit. 24:03 Obviously we got the big drop of North Dakota. 24:07 12 spots in your poll. 24:09 You're getting down on North Dakota. 24:11 What a shame. 24:12 I think we've been propping the fighting hawks up a little bit all season, maybe inflating our perception of them. 24:20 They've had a lot of injuries issues. 24:23 They've been missing two of their top centers, but they just keep dropping games. 24:28 If you look at the cratch ratings and the pairwise ratings, North Dakota has put themselves in tough spot. 24:34 I think they're 25th or 26th in the pairwise right now. 24:39 Those things always change as the week goes on, it feels like. 24:42 But right now, they have a season left of Conference Games and the NCHC, and they've dug themselves quite a big hole. 24:49 And it's hard to justify giving them a much higher ranking right now until they start winning games on the ice. 24:57 Dartmouth's been moving up your poll quite a bit there. 25:00 It's been a while since we've... 25:01 I don't recall Dartmouth really ever being much of a top 10 team. 25:05 Yeah, I think the Big Green have a chance to win ECAC. 25:08 You know, a lot of people were looking at Cornell, including the one mysterious USCHO voter who was giving Cornell that number one vote for a long time. 25:16 Adam Woodham. 25:18 I do think there's probably an ECAC team worthy of being a top 10 team, and maybe it's going to be Dartmouth. 25:24 I think they played BC this weekend real close. 25:27 They've played a pretty good schedule, and they've come out on top in a lot of games. 25:32 They've got a veteran older team, and right now I think they're the ECAC team. 25:38 Anything else on your poll that sticks out for you? 25:41 I'm probably higher on Western Michigan than most around the country. 25:46 They played this home and home with Michigan, who's going to be playing Minnesota this weekend, and they split. 25:51 They won the home games each team. 25:53 I thought Western played really well on Friday. 25:56 I saw some clips of it, read a little game reports on it, and they took it to them. 26:02 Michigan played a much tighter game the second night and came out in a low scoring game. 26:08 I don't think that's really Michigan's strength. 26:10 I think they really, really reacted to what Western did to them on Friday night, and Western's done that to a lot of teams this season, so they're going to be dangerous. 26:18 I think they have Denver here coming up. 26:20 That's going to be a big one circled on my radar. 26:24 All right, Sam, what do you think of Big's top 20 here? 26:29 I like that North Dakota dropped in 12 spots. 26:34 Did just for you, Sam. 26:36 I do agree with that, though, and I follow Gage Osmous, and who is it? 26:41 Jordan Schmaltz, I think, on Twitter, and they're always pretty vocal about the Hawks, and I think it was Gage Osmous was saying that they're just a super young team, and they better watch Outcome March, and I wouldn't want to play them in March and all that, and I mean, that is good. 26:57 But that's what they do every year. 26:59 I mean, they really do. 27:00 They start slow. 27:02 You know, people keep yelling, fire the coach, fire the coach, and they get better. 27:05 Oh, but I think one thing with North Dakota right now is they've leaned so heavily into the transfer portal the last couple of years, that I think that character and tradition and resiliency in the program has dipped a little bit. 27:21 When you've got that many mercenaries coming into your program, I think it's hard to build a sustainable culture. 27:27 And maybe we're seeing some of the impact of that. 27:30 You know, they missed the tournament a couple, a couple of years ago, I think they missed it. 27:34 And now they've got a chance to be a regional host, and they might be dropping the ball on that because they can't overcome these things. 27:41 You look at Minnesota, they've had a lot of injuries, and they've been able to get through it. 27:46 And maybe that's a little bit different of how you run your program, how you develop your depth players. 27:52 You know, I think that's one of the things that makes Bob Mosco a truly special coach in college hockey. 27:58 It's not the X's and O's that he's teaching these guys. 28:01 It's the game experience, it's the skill development, it's the team development and the depth that he builds. 28:09 So, you talk about what the Gophers go through some injuries. 28:12 Bob's had some little illness. 28:13 He missed his radio show Monday night. 28:16 But Nevers looks like could be out until January, isn't he? 28:22 Yeah, he took a pretty bad hit on Friday night, midway through the third period. 28:27 He did come back for one more shift in that game. 28:31 Didn't look like he had, you know, his full energy for that shift. 28:36 And then he didn't play on Saturday. 28:37 I didn't see him at the rink Saturday. 28:39 So Bob, after the game, said he's probably out till Christmas from that. 28:46 And I heard Ben Gordon on the radio Monday. 28:49 He must not have heard Bob talk about that. 28:52 Cause he's like, well, we don't know. 28:54 Mesa is going to be out till the second half. 28:56 So it's what he doesn't want to pull a Bob and say something wrong on the radio. 29:01 Yeah. 29:01 Bob usually gives away more than he should on the radio show. 29:04 But this time he had a sub come in there and played a company line. 29:09 But Bob already let us know on Saturday. 29:12 So tough, tough deal for Nevers. 29:14 Last year he got that hit against Bemidji in the exhibition game that really hampered him for the entire first half. 29:22 It took him until the second half to really get going. 29:25 You have to hope for his sake that it's a quick recovery and he's back in January ready to go. 29:32 Will would be available next week. 29:36 Did anybody ask Bob about that? 29:38 He will not be. 29:39 Canada starts their camp after this weekend. 29:42 Wood will miss the Michigan State Series. 29:45 So another hole in the lineup for the Gophers. 29:47 I saw Begley skating with the forwards again, to give Minnesota some depth there. 29:53 It's a big body too. 29:54 Six-four. 29:55 It's a big body to fill in there. 29:58 So he's giving them a little bit of depth. 30:00 Obviously, Nick Michael, he'll get even more ice time here coming up with the Gophers. 30:06 The World Juniors this year is structured where Oliver Moore and Brody Zemer could have the opportunity not to miss any games depending on how they go through the tournament in Ottawa. 30:17 They don't have that transcontinental flight. 30:20 It's pretty easy to get from Ottawa back. 30:22 And they adjusted the game times against Mercyhurst to increase the ability for them to come back. 30:28 How was that for you, Sam, when you would have players leave and you're playing other teams that have players gone? 30:35 It really kind of changes things up when you're playing either, you know, Mariucci Classic or whatever non-conference game you play in late December, early January. 30:43 Yeah, absolutely. 30:44 I think for us during my career, we always would play Michigan that last game before Christmas break. 30:49 And it would, I mean, when I was there, Michigan, I think had four or five guys consistently that were at World Juniors. 30:55 So their team changed a ton and same for the Gophers, right? 31:00 That was my season, was when those guys would leave. 31:04 You guys know the story of when I came back for the fifth year and it was because of a favor went to the Olympics. 31:10 So, I mean, that's kind of when I got my chances. 31:13 So I looked forward to that time of the year to put it like that. 31:20 But no, it was definitely a change and adjustment from a scouting standpoint and a prep standpoint. 31:25 And then obviously in your own locker room. 31:27 But that's when guys step up like Mick Michael. 31:30 And I think Big Lee, like you said, he's skating with the forwards a little bit. 31:34 I played a couple of games at forward actually, my senior year during COVID. 31:38 So it's guys get chances. 31:42 I think it's a good thing. 31:43 That was definitely a unique year though, these nice and favor go off to the Olympics in the middle of a season in the heart of Big Ten schedule. 31:55 And I think it's also a challenge sometimes for the egos on the team. 31:59 You got to have the right guys as your depth players to step in the lineup. 32:04 And one, they have to be ready to perform, to deliver on the ice time that they're getting and getting that opportunity. 32:11 But then you also have to have the right character for when those guys come back to get back in your role and continue to support the team and be ready. 32:20 You know, sometimes players at the bottom of the lineup, they've got a perception of what they should be getting. 32:27 And if they haven't been getting it, and then they have the opportunity because somebody is gone, and they feel like they performed well, and then those players come back and they have to go back to that old role. 32:37 That can be a difficult team dynamic to manage. 32:40 And so I think that's an underrated part of building a team and having the right culture to be able to handle both those situations. 32:48 Absolutely. 32:49 I always think it's interesting, when I was at the transfer portal, right? 32:53 When guys in those positions, when they go in, they play well, and then they think they should still be playing after. 32:59 And then all of a sudden, they're in the portal. 33:01 It's interesting. 33:04 It's crazy, and some of the madness is going to end this season, Vig. 33:10 So this is the last year of the COVID extra year. 33:15 Yes, the portal is still going to be important, but I think it won't be as populated as it has been the last three years. 33:23 But we're going to have all these CHL players that can play College Hockey. 33:27 That's going to make things record, first of all. 33:31 You know, College Hockey is always evolving. 33:33 And we'll see how the TV money comes in, in the play. 33:40 Don't start talking about TV around here. 33:42 People are so sensitive. 33:43 Where do I find the game? 33:44 Blah, blah, blah. 33:46 Yet the football team is on eight different channels for the entire season, and nobody complains about that. 33:51 Not being able to find it. 33:52 Right. 33:54 I don't know. 33:55 We shall see. 33:56 Yeah, we we will see. 33:58 That is correct. 34:01 Oh, Andrew Carlson, he's been impressed with Nick Michael, been a role guy, and he's been jumping out there, Veegs. 34:07 And, you know, you got a point. 34:09 But, you know, I just love his effort out there. 34:13 He's just busting it everywhere. 34:15 Well, he's got he's got the right attitude. 34:17 Yeah, I heard when he came back, one of the things he really wanted to know was when a situation like this came up, when guys were injured or sick or are going to World Juniors, would he get the chance to actually play? 34:30 And would they, you know, not just take defensemen and put them into that spot and kind of put him, you know, scratched on the lineup chart again. 34:39 And Bob said, no, you've done a good job. 34:42 If there is a chance and you're the guy, we're going to give you the opportunity at ice time. 34:46 And he's he's delivering on that. 34:50 I mean, you just never know what's going to happen, because look at Justin Close. 34:54 Oh, boy. 34:55 He never never thought he was really going to play. 34:58 And then he got his opportunity and ran with it. 35:01 And that's you got to always be ready. 35:03 I mean, you think about it. 35:04 One of the reasons Mo left was because he didn't want to compete with LaFontaine. 35:09 Exactly. 35:10 And here's, you know. 35:14 One of the reasons, Vick, one of the reasons. 35:17 Yeah. 35:18 We know there's other reasons like Bob throwing them onto the bus a little too much. 35:21 But I just don't just to give Mo. 35:24 I don't think he was recruited by the staff exactly in that same mindset. 35:28 And I think there was a difference of just demeanor and character and trust there. 35:34 And I think that is part of it as well. 35:37 It wasn't just biding time and being a teammate. 35:40 So sometimes the portal, I think, is good for players to get a different fit in that situation. 35:47 Absolutely. 35:48 Even though you call them Trader Mo. 35:51 And then predicted he would get pulled during games. 35:55 Old history, old history. 35:57 He did get pulled. 35:58 Yeah, he did. 35:59 I don't think he listens to the podcast all the time. 36:04 You never know. 36:05 I had some former players Friday night that I like from the 70s and 80s. 36:10 I'm going to get on the elevator and go upstairs. 36:12 He goes, Hey, that's the Jupiter guy from the podcast. 36:16 I'm like, no idea what they were, but they knew who the podcast speaks. 36:19 I'm like, even some of the old timers from way before our time are watching the show. 36:24 So that's awesome. 36:26 Thanks for watching, folks. 36:27 Definitely. 36:27 Thanks for watching. 36:30 Big series coming up this weekend, Vig. 36:31 But before we get to that, we need to talk about Cobb. 36:34 You know, we talked about him a little bit there. 36:36 But when we're talking about Jimmy's, because you can always find Jimmy stuff at Cobb. 36:39 But what else can you find at Cobb? 36:41 I mean, holiday season, Cobb is the place. 36:44 They're going to have everything in stock that you're looking for. 36:46 You know, we just had our big turkey dinners and stuffing. 36:49 I was at my Quarry Cobb probably three, four or five times, get making sure I got all the right ingredients. 36:55 And they always had what I was looking for. 36:57 You know, if you've got some parties here coming up for the holidays, look no further than Cobb. 37:02 They've got everything you're looking for. 37:04 And they've got liquor stores now attached to a lot of Cubs, too. 37:06 So if you need some drinks, some wine, some, you know, maybe some good bourbon. 37:11 Look for it at Cobb. 37:12 They're local. 37:13 They're one of us. 37:14 They sponsor the Pulltab Sports Studio. 37:17 They're on PJ Flex headset. 37:19 Go to Cobb. 37:21 And then we have state 1981 dreams of a dynasty, sort of the South St. 37:27 Paul view of the first 35 years of the state tournament. 37:33 Yeah, fictional retelling of the 1981 state tournament from that perspective. 37:39 Local author. 37:40 He's got it on Amazon. 37:41 You know, everyone dreams about going to the state tournament, especially back in 1981 when it was just one class. 37:48 And check out Mark's book. 37:51 It's going to be interesting. 37:53 It definitely is. 37:54 And by the way, the 81 championship won by my Jaguars. 37:57 Yay. 38:00 The start of a dynasty there. 38:02 It was. 38:03 It was. 38:04 It was the beginning of the Jefferson. 38:05 Well, they won in 81, 89, 93, 94, 92, 93, 94. 38:10 Sorry. 38:11 Could have been the Packers. 38:13 Did Gino Parrish play there? 38:15 Right. 38:16 Gino played in the youth program, but not in high school for the Jaguars. 38:21 No, he decided to go to Holy Angels when his brother obviously went to Jefferson. 38:25 I'm not sure what that was. 38:27 But yeah, Gino played at Holy Angels. 38:29 Quite a few players left Bloomington, either Kennedy or Jefferson, to play for Holy Angels, especially when Coach Treble left as the Bandom Coach, I believe it was. 38:41 He was the Bandom Coach for Jefferson. 38:44 And then he started his own thing at Holy Angels. 38:46 And he brought with a bunch of them. 38:49 Eric Johnson, I believe, was one of them as well. 38:52 The Holy Angels going to run then? 38:56 I don't think they won titles, but they were always in it. 38:59 Like they became kind of that new private school that was making the tournament under trouble. 39:04 They had a bunch of D1 players. 39:07 And Holy Angels might be back this year. 39:09 I see they're in the they're in the top 11 for Carol Evans, double rankings, Pack Griswold, big Gopher fan, doing some good things in Holy Angels. 39:20 My Jaguars are done, V. 39:21 You keep trying to get me my hopes up with the youth programs, but. 39:26 Well, how about Burnsville? 39:28 I went to Burnsville and they're now combined in Apple Valley. 39:32 Burnsville, Apple Valley is just blows my mind. 39:35 That's a huge rivalry and they're playing together. 39:38 And then next season, you're going to have Kennedy shutting down their program and those kids will be merging with Jefferson. 39:45 Yeah, it's crazy. 39:46 Some of the biggest rivalries that we grew up with are now they're brothers now, Veegs. 39:55 Yeah, I was down at the Apple Valley rink earlier this year with my youth hockey squad and I remember that rink was a really tough place to play for a long time when Eric Westrom was there. 40:05 And back in the day, it was the big team. 40:09 I mean, even hard times, kind of recently with Fashing and Michelson, they had a really good team then. 40:17 They did indeed. 40:19 OK, Veegs, I'm looking at Michigan this weekend. 40:25 Michigan's done very well against Minnesota, typically during the season, the last four seasons, splitting here at Mariucci. 40:32 But when it comes to big ten playoffs, if one three is straight, so like the last four seasons, four and seven Gophers are against Michigan. 40:42 But yet there's six, one and one at Yost. 40:47 What gives Veegs? 40:48 It's kind of hard to believe it's been that bad at Mariucci because those are some pretty good Gopher teams that have been losing to them. 40:57 And it's always interesting. 40:59 Michigan throughout the year, they are one of the biggest roller coaster teams to watch. 41:04 I feel like they are really undisciplined most nights. 41:10 You look at their Penn State game a couple of weeks ago, all the penalty minutes that they took and all the power play chances. 41:16 You know, you have a 10-6 College Hockey game. 41:19 That just doesn't happen. 41:20 Yeah, that's like 1983 there. 41:23 Yeah, when you have a well-run T1 team, that just doesn't happen. 41:27 You can play one of your worst defensive games of the season and not give up, you know, a 6 or 10 on either side. 41:34 So you never know what you're going to get with them. 41:36 They get really motivated to play Minnesota and they play a little more structured, I think, especially on the road, at home. 41:43 Maybe they still can't shake it and they want to impress their friends and family and girlfriends and things in the crowd. 41:50 But you put them in Mary Che and they're trying to impress the Scouts. 41:55 How is that Minnesota-Michigan rivalry for you, Sam? 42:00 It's been, I have loved it for, you know, 30 years. 42:04 Yeah. 42:06 How was it for you? 42:07 I loved it too. 42:08 That was one of my favorite places to play. 42:10 And I think, again, to this point, Michigan gets so up to play the Gophers at the Gophers and the Gophers get very up to play Michigan at Yoast. 42:18 And so I think that plays a role in it for sure. 42:21 I mean, their student section to play in front of Yoast Arena is just hilarious. 42:26 I don't know if they still do it, but they used to have the whiteboard. 42:29 And then they used to have a scouting report for chirps for every single player. 42:35 When I was there, it got leaked. 42:37 One of the guys on our team got it somehow on Snapchat. 42:40 And we were like zooming in and reading all the cheat sheets that they had. 42:45 And mine was accurate. 42:46 The one they had on me, I was like, oh, that would have been funny. 42:50 I don't know how they get their information, but it's, it's, they do it and they do a good job. 42:54 But yeah, I think that's a huge emphasis when you're going to play Michigan at Yost is you want to win so bad because of how their student section is and they always have a really good crowd. 43:04 And probably the same for Michigan coming in here to Mariucci. 43:09 It definitely is. 43:10 And it's, and I've even said it over the years, Veegs, it's probably my favorite series behind playing North Dakota. 43:17 Even even even over Wisconsin, it's always been a big series for me going back to those old college hockey showcases that I believe started at like the Civic Center in the early 90s. 43:31 It's always been so fun, up tempo, crazy games. 43:36 Definitely expect an up tempo game. 43:38 I don't know if Michigan has the defensive skilled players like they've had the last couple of years to really make them an elite team. 43:48 They do have a very good record this year. 43:50 They they have a lot of points. 43:52 They're they're playing well, but I just don't know how dynamic their defensemen are at this point. 43:58 You know, they've got some forwards who can really play and get up and down the rank, and that's going to be dangerous for Minnesota. 44:04 But I think some of the things that have separated in these BigTen championships have been defensemen for Michigan, getting involved in the play, joining the rush, creating by cycling in the zone. 44:15 You know, Michigan runs lots of picks and switches in their in-zone play, and it can be very challenging to play against. 44:23 And so that's one of the things I'm going to be looking for this weekend is how Minnesota plays against that. 44:29 Now, Sam, people will probably say and probably rightly so that Minnesota's schedule has been a little light, but it really picks up these next two weeks with the Michigan schools. 44:39 I think Minnesota is going to figure out what kind of team they have starting Friday night. 44:45 Yeah, it's going to be these next two weeks are going to be a huge test for them going into winter break. 44:50 I haven't watched a ton of Michigan State this year, so I know they're obviously very talented and they've had a great start to the year and they had a strong finish last year, but I haven't seen too much of them yet. 45:00 So, I'm excited to see how the Gophers match up, but it will definitely, these two weeks will be telling for sure. 45:06 Well, we did hear a bit from Cappy Veegs when he called that first game of the season between Boston College and Michigan State. 45:13 He's like, Michigan State, they weren't nothing. 45:16 And then the next night, they just come back and they kind of beat up Boston College. 45:21 So is that their only loss in the season so far? 45:26 Yeah, I think so. 45:26 Michigan State's been solid all year. 45:28 And Michigan's kind of rebounded as well. 45:30 I mean, they had a little trouble last weekend, but like I said, they have been, you know, they dropped down in your pole down at the teens, but they've been slowly sneaking their way back up. 45:39 Well, I'm just looking at that strictest schedule for all these teams right now. 45:42 And for Minnesota, playing Michigan, Michigan State will bolster theirs. 45:46 I think Michigan, you know, same deal, playing some of the stronger conference teams will help them. 45:52 I just, I think it's so important, like the Gophers playing in the Big Ten and other teams being good in the Big Ten is so beneficial, obviously, for many reasons. 46:01 But that's what I love, too, about the Big Ten is you usually have three, four teams in the top ten, if not in the top twenty, for sure. 46:11 And that just makes everyone better. 46:12 And so I think it'll be important for these these next two weekends, but it will be important for the later series in the in the season as well. 46:21 Sam, when you were a player, do you remember weekends that had big style switches, you know, like the Gophers just played Alaska, who basically were set up five behind the puck almost the entire weekend. 46:35 And now you're going to be playing the Michigan team where they might have five under the puck at times. 46:41 It's a totally different game. 46:43 You don't as a fan or as an observer, you don't necessarily realize it sometimes as much. 46:47 But as a player, it's a totally different style. 46:50 Like I remember Notre Dame versus Penn State. 46:53 Those are two complete opposite teams to play. 46:55 You got Penn State who's running gun, and then you got Notre Dame who is going to wait for you the whole game and just be patient, patient, patient, and then wait for you to make mistakes. 47:05 So it is, I do definitely think that there's a lot of preparation and differences when going from weekends like Penn State to a weekend like Notre Dame or in this scenario, Alaska to Michigan. 47:19 I think for me, that's one of the concerns for Minnesota is they've got a bunch of illness, they've got injuries, they did a really light skate on Monday, they didn't practice Tuesday. 47:31 Today even it felt like they were holding back the reins a little bit on players. 47:36 So I'm just wondering how easy it is to switch at this point of the year from a game like that to a game like they're going to be facing this weekend. 47:44 Yeah, I think majority of it is mental. 47:47 It's just getting in the right mindset of what you're going to be facing. 47:52 The physical part will come, these guys are obviously all very talented. 47:55 I'm not worried about that part. 47:57 It's more so the mental X's and O's when you're going into a weekend that switches pace like this. 48:02 Because I look at a player like Sam Renzell, so throughout the question, looking at Michigan's offense, are you nervous about it? 48:09 You can just see Sam just kind of smirk. 48:12 He's like, no, I'm relishing this. 48:14 But I also wonder, how is his decision making going to be after some of these tight weekends? 48:20 Because at the start of the season, he was jumping into the play, into the rush, making the right decision all the time. 48:27 And then you go into a couple of weekends where the other team doesn't really even allow you to have those situations to make those decisions. 48:34 So now you've got to kind of refresh your brain and be like, OK, I'm going to have chances to jump into the play here. 48:41 I got to make sure I do it at the right time. 48:44 Yeah, for sure. 48:44 And I think Bob will help them through that, of course, as far as giving them the green light. 48:50 But I think that's, you kind of alluded to it earlier, that's what Michigan did such a good job of in the years past with those offensive defensemen is creating chaos in the offensive zone and them coming down the wall and their wingers going up high and creating that confusion. 49:05 And that's so hard to defend against. 49:06 So I think Bob will encourage that with Rinzel and some of these other offensive defensemen on the Gophers' blue line. 49:14 So we got FS1 Friday night, so it's a national broadcast, which will should make some people happy, I hope. 49:21 Saturday, we got that five o'clock start, Fox 9 plus. 49:25 And it's a whiteout VEGs on Saturday. 49:28 Yeah, the Gophers have not been at Marriottchi much this first half. 49:33 So this is a big weekend. 49:35 I know a couple of people put tickets up for sale this weekend because they have youth hockey tournaments and things like that. 49:41 It's that season. 49:42 And the tickets went quick. 49:44 So I think there's a lot of excitement for this weekend with the fan base. 49:47 The Gopher football team is done. 49:49 They're waiting for their bowl game assignment. 49:52 Basketball did not impress against Michigan State tonight. 49:55 So maybe all the eyes can turn to Gopher Hockey, from that standpoint, and really get a good atmosphere in there. 50:04 Because this really is one of the best weekends of the year for Gopher Hockey going up against Michigan. 50:11 Do they have some New Jerseys coming out, Gophers? 50:16 Maybe. 50:18 Who knows? 50:20 We've heard a lot of rumblings that there's another jersey out there. 50:25 But the problem is that it's tough to get them ready and finally complete it. 50:31 I mean, even though it was last season, Veegs, they didn't get their home jerseys until it was the end of the season. 50:38 Yeah, they were wearing the road jerseys for a couple of weeks because they were still waiting for the lettering and everything on their home jerseys. 50:49 I have seen the socks for this jersey combo that is going to be coming at some point. 50:57 I would be shocked if they did it for Michigan. 51:00 But at the same point, it would be pretty fun to see it on Friday on the National Broadcast. 51:06 We talked about it with the old guys, Angel and Leopold last week, how they don't like the high numbers. 51:11 They don't like all the extra jerseys. 51:13 But the kids love it and this would be a fun national stage to see it. 51:18 Not that I've heard anything that they're going to do. 51:22 Well, Gopher, those two last week, by the way, I didn't get to watch the podcast. 51:25 But oh boy, it was very entertaining. 51:30 Very entertaining. 51:33 I'll just leave it at that. 51:35 It was entertaining. 51:37 I want to tell some stories about some good stories because in overtime, I had Craig Floor Chirpin of us on text. 51:46 So we got Craig Floor on there. 51:47 And Craig Floor has been around forever. 51:49 Oh yeah, he's great. 51:51 And he knows everybody. 51:53 So he's been on overtime twice already, the Shervings, because you know Craig. 52:00 Yeah. 52:01 He's about the nicest guy there is. 52:04 And he got them to talk about a couple of good stories. 52:08 Well, I'll just leave it at that. 52:10 Watch overtime from last week, folks. 52:13 It's interesting. 52:15 Definitely interesting. 52:18 Veegs, give me a prediction for this weekend. 52:23 Oh, boy, it's hard for me to go anything other than a split this weekend. 52:31 I really like this year's Minnesota team, but just seeing some of these moments where they can't quite put together two games, they can't solve a tough situation on the fly, it takes them a little bit. 52:48 A team that falls behind as often as this one has this year is concerning because when you play a team like Michigan, if you give them three chances, they might score on all three. 53:01 And it's not like Minnesota is giving other teams lots of offense, but it doesn't take much in a game like this. 53:07 And when you have a team that might be gripping their composite sticks a little bit too tight, Jimmy broke his the other day on a breakaway. 53:17 Those are concerning things that pop up. 53:19 Not saying that Jimmy broke his stick, because he's gripping it too tight, but metaphor. 53:26 It's hard to see them gain two wins. 53:27 Would I be surprised? 53:29 No, because I think going into the year, this is the kind of team that we expected to roll. 53:34 And I don't think Michigan is as dynamic as they've been in the past, but they're still dangerous. 53:40 And until Minnesota shows that high flying team that we're expecting to see, I'm hedging my bat just a little bit. 53:49 All right, three points. 53:50 I think they win the whiteout game on Saturday. 53:52 Okay. 53:53 What about you, Sam? 53:54 What do you think? 53:55 I got to take the sweep. 53:57 I like it. 53:59 Just because this Michigan team, I mean, it's the same team year over year, and they have a lot of program guys who, young freshmen, right, coming in. 54:07 And I think the Gophers this year kind of built a little bit different. 54:12 So I think they got them. 54:13 They got them in both games. 54:15 All right. 54:16 I'm going to pick a split as well. 54:18 Kind of, like I said, I'm looking at the history. 54:20 Last four years, every series here has been a split, you know, besides the playoffs. 54:25 So I'm usually miscapositive, but Vegues, I'm just not confident on where this team is yet. 54:33 Like you said, the schedule has been a little soft, and we'll see when those Michigan teams come in. 54:37 And maybe I'll feel different, you know, after the series this weekend. 54:41 The one thing is, this weekend, if Michigan shows the undisciplined play that they've shown this season and takes a lot of penalties, I think it's definitely going to be a sweep. 54:52 If Michigan comes into this weekend and they play disciplined and they stay out of the box like they've done in some of these Big Ten Championship games at Merigy, it's going to be tougher for Minnesota. 55:02 But the way the power play is starting to look for the Gophers, if Michigan plays undisciplined, it's going to be six points. 55:09 I think if they get the job done Friday night, they're going to have a little extra motivation on Saturday with that early game. 55:17 That's why I like a sweep a little bit. 55:21 Are you saying the players like the early Saturday game too, Sam? 55:23 Yes, that's what I'm alluding to. 55:25 It's Saturday's party day. 55:26 Friday nights go out with the parents, Saturday's party. 55:29 A little bit of extra time after the game if you get that sweep on Friday or on Saturday night. 55:35 I love it. 55:36 I've had people say, hey, I've got young kids. 55:39 We like being able to have come earlier and get home in a decent hour. 55:44 And then there's folks like you, Veegs, you're taking down your notes. 55:47 You're kind of going through all the stuff that was said at post-game and you look at your watch and it's not 11 o'clock. 55:54 Yeah, it can be nice. 55:56 Saturday is going to be tricky for me. 55:57 I've got a youth hockey tournament this weekend for both my kids. 56:01 Oh boy. 56:02 Semi out of town. 56:02 So it'll be challenging. 56:04 I'm trying to get back for the Saturday 5 o'clock game, but I might even just be in the stands on Saturday, part of the whiteout. 56:12 Hey, go with dad. 56:16 Go with Donald Vegoe. 56:17 Go with Donald Vegoe. 56:18 I might be bringing the kid with for me on this one. 56:20 Oh, okay. 56:22 And Sam, we talked a little bit before the show. 56:25 Ramsey is a little under the weather. 56:27 You might be on the radio this weekend. 56:29 You're not sure yet. 56:30 Yeah, waiting for the call up. 56:31 We'll see. 56:32 He's going to let us know tomorrow how he's feeling, but he caught a cold. 56:37 He said Wally had caught a cold and gave it to him. 56:39 Oh, he's blaming Wally. 56:42 Oh, wow. 56:44 So we'll see. 56:44 But if he's Ramsey because, man, it was so weird to see Ramsey without any facial hair. 56:50 He looked like a little baby. 56:52 I swear. 56:53 I think it hurt his immunity, his immune system. 56:56 There you go. 56:57 Not having the beardies, you know. 56:59 Probably there's probably some probiotics in that beard that he had going. 57:03 How come he spends all that time outdoors hunting those deer? 57:09 I wish I could have that. 57:12 What do you do? 57:13 Well, Sam, thanks for being on the show with us. 57:15 Can you hang out with some overtime with us? 57:17 Yeah, for sure. 57:18 I, so I need to, I need to look under the hood of what overtime is all about. 57:22 Oh, wow. 57:24 You'll have to stay on and see. 57:26 All right, let's do it. 57:28 Well, that's going to do it for this episode of The GPL Podcast. 57:31 Of course, we thank Sam for coming on the show this week. 57:34 Next week's our final show before the kind of the first half break. 57:37 And we've got Eric Sheerhorn scheduled to be on. 57:41 So for those of you watching live, stay tuned for overtime. 57:45 The rest of you will catch you next week on The GPL Podcast.