0:03 This is The Gopher Puck Live Podcast, episode number 28, recorded Tuesday, November 27th, 2012. 0:21 Welcome to the Gopher Puck Live Podcast. 0:25 Along with Hammy and Vegoe, I'm your host, Jupiter. 0:28 Well, the Gophers made their first trip out to the East Coast since 2005, I do believe. 0:34 And they swept Vermont. 0:37 Nice sweep, haven't swept the road in a little while, haven't been to the East Coast in a while, so a lot of good things happened this weekend. 0:43 Hammy, Vegoe, how you guys doing? 0:46 Not too bad, not too bad at all. 0:48 Yeah, okay. 0:51 Hammy, your thoughts on the weekend against Vermont? 0:54 Well, I mean, I think I was, you know, Friday night, I was very happy with how the team kind of came out, especially in that second period, and kind of took over the game. 1:02 It was nice to see, you know, for the weekend itself, you know, the five on five scoring that everybody was concerned about. 1:08 You know, granted, Vermont isn't, you know, the greatest team, but nonetheless, you know, I don't think they're quite as bad as people think. 1:14 I think that they're a little better. 1:16 They had some injuries, but, you know, so I think that was a positive. 1:19 It was really nice to see some of the lower line guys score, you know, the AJ. 1:24 Michelsons and the Saratores, you know, those kinds of guys. 1:27 You know, it's nice to see them getting goals and not having to completely rely on the top two lines. 1:33 So I thought overall it was a positive weekend. 1:35 I knew Saturday would be a tougher game because you just can't expect, you know, your opponent to just kind of fall flat two nights in a row on home ice. 1:45 So I knew it was going to be a tougher game, but I was pretty happy with how they played. 1:49 Vegoe, now, you know, Hammey mentioned it there, but I was impressed with Michelsons and the way he played. 1:54 You know, he got his first point Friday, got his first goal Saturday, which turned out to be the game winning goal and it was a beautiful goal. 2:00 He didn't mess around, got the puck, shot it and scored. 2:03 So I was really impressed with him. 2:04 What did you think about him this weekend? 2:07 Yeah, I think he's faced a lot of adversity in the last three years. 2:11 There was a lot of people questioning his game and, you know, he kind of had to suck it up and come here as a little bit less heralded recruit than he'd like to have been. 2:20 And he put together a solid weekend and, you know, it's good to see those secondary guys trying to assert themselves in the lineup. 2:29 Because for this team to be good, they're going to need that secondary scoring that Lucia has been talking about from the opening media day. 2:36 And we saw a little bit of it Saturday night and, you know, if he steps up and makes a spot for, you know, whether it's the third line that he was on Saturday, or if he's, you know, anchoring down the fourth line, that'd be good for him. 2:49 Yeah, I think, you know, for him, you know, first of all, I've been kind of critical of his play. 2:54 So I have to give him his props for having a good weekend. 2:56 But I think really the key was moving him to wing, you know, so he's not maybe as quite as overwhelmed in that position. 3:02 And I think that, you know, he could just kind of play his game and just kind of go with the flow a little bit more. 3:08 Maybe he felt a little less pressure. 3:09 I don't know. 3:10 But I think that that move to wing was certainly a positive and hopefully it will be an omen for, you know, things to come. 3:16 Now, Hammeh, you've been down on one of the freshman defensemen, Mr. 3:19 Shea, but how do you think he did this weekend? 3:21 I mean, he got his first career goal, which is always good to get off your shoulders. 3:26 But what are your thoughts on him this past weekend? 3:29 Well, I don't know. 3:29 I mean, I think he stopped following me on Twitter because of my criticism. 3:32 So maybe I should rip on him. 3:35 No, I thought in general, the whole team played pretty solid defense. 3:40 I mean, granted, Vermont's not a powerhouse offensive team, so you have to keep that in consideration. 3:46 But I thought he played pretty well. 3:49 I thought the freshman had a solid weekend. 3:52 I thought the defense as a whole had a solid weekend. 3:54 Of course, when your goalie is playing as well as ours is, that certainly helps your confidence out there as well. 4:01 You know, maybe you relax a little bit because you know that the guy behind you is, you know, he's on top of his game and playing well. 4:08 So I think that overall I was pretty happy with the whole team performance. 4:11 Now, Veegs, how about the goalie situation? 4:14 It's pretty much Wilcox is to lose now. 4:16 Shabrowski's had some injuries. 4:17 Obviously, he'll come in. 4:18 He might get some spot duty here and there, but it looks like Wilcox is the guy. 4:23 Yeah, he's played strong since opening weekend and he's made that his net. 4:29 I think it's going to be hard for Lucia to give anybody else a start in goal for quite a while here. 4:37 He's looked good. 4:38 It'll be nice that they'll have the holiday break coming up so he can get a little bit more rest. 4:42 I know Lucia has been talking about going easier on him in practice and kind of lightening the load there so that he can play two games each weekend. 4:53 That's going to be something that I have to watch a little bit. 4:55 I mean, these guys play a lot of games in junior, but, you know, you have to be worried that it could be too much for him and he might lose the mental sharpness or something, but he's played great so far. 5:09 We've had that problem in the past where we've kind of rode somebody too much and they've kind of worn down. 5:13 We saw it in Kangas. 5:14 We saw it in Patterson. 5:15 We kind of saw it with everyone, so hopefully he does get Shabrowski in there once in a while to give Wilcox a rest because he's a freshman. 5:25 He's going to get tired. 5:26 Well, I mean, he did play 43 games last year, so it's not like... 5:30 Yeah, but he's got the books on top of that and school. 5:35 I would think it's a lot more tiring than what he's used to. 5:39 I'm not saying that that's not a role. 5:41 I'm just saying that from a physical standpoint, I think that it can be a little overrated in the sense that, I mean, come on, these guys are in the prime of their life, 20 years old. 5:52 I mean, playing two games a night or a weekend, I should say, shouldn't be that big of a deal for them, especially with how many games they've played over the years and whatever. 6:02 But I understand, maybe from a mental standpoint, I could see where you're coming from with that. 6:07 Yeah, I think it's definitely more of a mental sharpness than an actual physical fatigue, because sitting in that net for 20 minutes and seeing five shots, and probably two of them could be odd man rushes coming your way, to stay mentally sharp during that two and a half hours can be challenging. 6:23 I mean, I know a lot of 20 somethings and they're not sharp all the time mentally. 6:29 Definitely. 6:31 That's an understatement. 6:33 I'm never sharp mentally any time of the day or year. 6:37 Any other thoughts on the weekend, guys? 6:40 It was good overall, I thought, you know, good to see them get out to the East Coast. 6:43 You know, there's quite a few fans out there that we saw on TV, which I was kind of surprised how many there were, but it was good to get a nice East Coast trip in there and hopefully we're doing it more often in the years to come. 6:54 Well, yeah, I mean, that's the one thing that I had mentioned on Twitter after that first game was, I mean, of course, it's easy to say, you know, hey, it was a great weekend when you win both games on the road, you know what I mean? 7:04 But I actually really enjoyed seeing our team in a new rank, a different arena, a different atmosphere, you know, out East. 7:14 I mean, I just, I liked that, you know, I liked it. 7:16 And that's really what I've been excited about. 7:18 I know some fans are not that excited about the changes for conference coming up next year and whatever. 7:23 But for me, it's like, yeah, you know, we get a little bit more variety, you know, we get at least a non-conference play. 7:29 We have more flexibility, you know, to see some different teams over the end. 7:33 I kind of like that. 7:34 So it was kind of fun for me to see them out in Vermont. 7:36 And Vermont had a great old barn, kind of a Quonset hut type of building, built in the early 60s, you know, with the wood ceiling going all the way across. 7:45 It looked beautiful. 7:47 Yeah, I mean, it reminded me of some of the rinks that I've seen, you know, in some of the high school rinks around the state, you know, some of the older ones and whatever that, that I grew up, you know, either playing or watching teams in. 7:58 And I kind of, I kind of liked that. 8:00 Just kind of had a cool vibe to it. 8:01 Well, Gorg and McLeod were drooling all over it. 8:04 So they seem to enjoy it though. 8:07 I'm surprised because, you know, what a lot of people don't know is that FSN was planning on not sending them out there last weekend. 8:18 They were going to just have them call it from the studio and try to fake it. 8:22 But they decided to send them out there last minute, apparently. 8:25 So they were in attendance and called the game. 8:28 But we'll see how long that continues. 8:31 Cause I know FSN tried that a few years ago and they fooled most people. 8:34 A lot of people didn't know that they faked it. 8:37 But we'll see how they do. 8:40 Was that the CCC game a few years ago? 8:41 They sent Marnie Gellner out there to do interviews. 8:45 But at the time Mazaku and Wug were calling it from a studio. 8:49 So they were gonna do it this week, but apparently some issues came up and they couldn't do that. 8:54 So, but all on a great weekend, old barn. 8:58 It was great to see. 8:59 And obviously two wins does make us feel a lot better as well. 9:04 Well, let's look at the rest of WCHA. 9:08 Boy, Badgers are looking bad. 9:12 Get swept at home from Minnesota State Mankato. 9:17 Vegoe, they're in trouble. 9:20 And it's not gonna get a whole lot better. 9:23 I know they have Denver on their travel plans this weekend. 9:28 And say what you will about Denver dropping to this past weekend. 9:32 Denver is a talented team. 9:34 And it's not like they didn't come to play against New Hampshire and Yale. 9:39 I mean, those are two tight games. 9:41 And Wisconsin is in some trouble. 9:43 Because I think Denver is going to be able to score some goals. 9:45 And that's something Wisconsin is just not doing right now. 9:49 They're struggling to generate offense. 9:51 Well, Hammy, they do get a couple of guys back soon, don't they? 9:55 Yeah, I think, I don't know entirely what Zingerlea, I think I saw something online today where he was going to be traveling with the team out to Denver or whatever. 10:05 I don't, it's not like I follow the Badgers that closely, but I think I saw something like that. 10:11 And yeah, I mean, I know that, I think this was the last week, last weekend was the last weekend for the suspension, or that suspension for, his name's slipping my mind right now. 10:25 Yeah, Curly's, I mean, I'm sorry. 10:26 And so, I mean, that will probably, you know, certainly probably help them out, but nonetheless, you know, there's certainly a lot of turmoil going on there, and they're not scoring goals. 10:40 Maybe those guys, if they return to the lineup, will help a little bit, but it's pretty hard to pick against Denver at home this weekend. 10:47 Well, you were tweeting earlier this week saying how, you know, since the Badgers lost, Mark Osiki to become a head coach at Iowa State, they're sub-500, and obviously, early this season, they lose Bill Butters, and they haven't won a game at home. 11:03 In fact, the only game they won, I believe, was a road game at Duluth. 11:07 1-7, tie here or there, whatever, it's not looking good at all. 11:12 I mean, it's, and it's just becoming a thing since the past few years. 11:18 Well, I mean, I think Osiki was definitely a very good assistant coach to have on his staff, he was a good recruiter. 11:24 I think that his loss, and I think you compound it when you replace him with a guy that had been out of college hockey for a while. 11:32 I mean, Butters was a good coach back in the day. 11:35 I'm not saying anything bad about his coaching ability or anything about him as a person, but it is tough to kind of just jump right back into the college game after not being in it for a long time. 11:45 And to expect a guy to make all those recruiting contacts and hit the ground running on me, I mean, it's just not that easy. 11:52 And so, you know, I think that losing him and then the choice that they made, I don't know who all applied for that job back in the day. 12:01 But you have to question whether that was really the right choice. 12:04 And obviously, him leaving, you know, part way through the season wasn't a good sign for them as well. 12:09 So yeah, there's a lot of turmoil going on there. 12:12 Well, knowing them, they'll get, you know, they'll get those guys back and they'll probably be a formidable opponent later this season. 12:19 I don't think we've heard of the last of Wisconsin. 12:22 Well, they play that kind of style. 12:24 They'll stay in games a lot of the time, you know. 12:26 And I think that... 12:28 I mean, I wouldn't want to play them in the WCHA playoffs. 12:31 Well, right. 12:31 I mean, I think it's because it's one of those things where they keep it close. 12:34 You know, they generally keep games close. 12:37 I mean, it's kind of been Eve's style over the years. 12:39 You know, they're not going to score a lot, but they're not going to give up a lot usually either. 12:43 So, you know, I think that they'll improve, but, you know, they've dug themselves such a deep hole already that it's pretty hard to envision them being in the NCAAs unless they win the WCHA Final Five. 12:58 Yeah, unless they greatly improve. 12:59 Right now, they're pretty much stuck as a spoiler for now. 13:03 Yeah, I will say the difference with Scott's. 13:05 If they can score three goals, they've got a chance just about in any game. 13:10 The problem is they're scoring one or two goals most games. 13:14 So, you know, maybe getting these guys back in the lineup makes them a three-goal team again and put them in a little bit more competitive shape. 13:22 Well, when one of your guys has eight goals and the rest of the team has ten, I mean, that's not good. 13:29 Ha ha ha. 13:31 All right, well, it was definitely an odd thing to see Mankato go in there and sweep. 13:35 I don't know if they've ever done that, but I bet you, you know, they're glad that they don't have to play Mankato at the Cole Center anymore. 13:41 They'll have their Big Ten opponents and won't have to play those little schools from Minnesota anymore. 13:46 Yeah, I'm sure that that was kind of a little bit of a sweet taste in Mankato's mouth when they left that, you know, it was kind of an F-U to Wisconsin for, you know, not wanting to play the little guys anymore, so. 13:59 Definitely. 14:00 Alaska Anchorage and Bemidji State, three points for Bemidji. 14:04 You guys have any thoughts on that? 14:05 You know, I caught some of the games on that little Lakeland TV, but not too much. 14:10 Yeah, I watched a little bit too just because the Gopher game got over, you know, early because of the time. 14:15 But yeah, it was quite honestly, it was one of our passing interest. 14:20 You watch a little bit here or there. 14:22 And, you know, it seemed like they were pretty competitive games, but I mean, they're not the top of the heap teams either. 14:29 So you kind of expect them to be competitive. 14:32 All right, we'll just skip the rest of that, because nobody cares about that series. 14:36 St. 14:36 Cloud and Duluth split. 14:40 Do you know anything about that series, Veegs? 14:43 Other than that, I did call Duluth getting one win out of this series. 14:47 So, it was... 14:49 And that's their one WCHA win. 14:51 All right. 14:52 I know, I felt like they could pull one out. 14:55 Yeah, I was on that bandwagon too for this split. 14:59 Yeah, well, I didn't think Duluth would fall off that much. 15:04 I really didn't think they would. 15:05 I mean, obviously they lost some scoring, but they're in the basement right now. 15:10 Well, they only got three goals on the weekend, so it sounded like they got a ton of scoring. 15:15 Well, some guys aren't performing. 15:18 I would say that. 15:21 Well, I mean, they don't have those top, you know, JT Brown or Connelly, you know, to kind of carry the load anymore and keep the opposition's, you know, attention on them, these lower line guys from like last year or whatever, they're not stepping up, you know what I mean? 15:37 So, that's their big problem. 15:40 Yeah. 15:40 And in one non-conference series we could talk about, I thought was North Dakota and Notre Dame split. 15:46 I believe that was up in Grand Forks, wasn't it? 15:50 I think that was in actually, I think it was at Notre Dame. 15:52 I really don't remember actually. 15:55 So, do you guys have any thoughts on that series? 15:59 Well, I mean, I think that, you know, yeah, that was at Notre Dame, that series. 16:04 Okay, I wasn't sure. 16:06 You know, I don't know really what's, I mean, North Dakota didn't really score that many. 16:09 They had two goals both nights. 16:11 So, you know, but Notre Dame is a pretty good team. 16:13 And, you know, Lucia, you know, back in the lineup, and they've got some talent there. 16:18 I mean, they don't have, I think, a lot of scoring, but I think that they're a pretty good team overall. 16:23 And I, you know, it's North Dakota. 16:26 They're always going to be one of those teams that are a little bit up and down in that first half, you know, and you don't really entirely, they're kind of, it's fine, they're bearings. 16:33 And you know that they'll be playing pretty good hockey in the second half. 16:36 So I suppose it's sort of standard operating procedure for them right now. 16:41 Okay. 16:42 Well, we have a question via email from a Megan Johnson that I forgot to read last week. 16:47 My bad, sorry Megan. 16:50 With the X being empty, is there any chance the Gophers playing a game or two over there? 16:55 I'm sure the bars and restaurants could use the business. 16:58 I don't see any chance that happening. 17:00 But Vegoe, do you think there's any chance? 17:03 A little unlikely. 17:06 I mean, I know some of the people up in North Dakota would love to have that because, you know, I know that's one of their thoughts on their message boards. 17:13 Like, hey, let's get one of the game at the X, get more people, blah, blah, blah. 17:16 I just don't see Minnesota giving up the home game for that. 17:21 Yeah, I think the only times they've played at the X has been the Wisconsin games. 17:25 And then when Mankato decided to have their games there. 17:29 I know Lucio just likes to keep it safe and simple at Mariucci. 17:38 I was going to say, it would be interesting. 17:40 I mean, that's an interesting idea. 17:42 I mean, I don't know that, you know, I certainly would agree that you don't give up your home ice at Mariucci against, you know, a team like, say, North Dakota. 17:51 You know, I think that you're like, you have to take advantage of those games. 17:55 But, you know, if you had some other series that, you know, maybe you feel like, hey, you know, we can bring that fan following over there and maybe add to it. 18:04 I could see that. 18:04 I mean, I'm not saying it would ever happen, but I could see the thought process behind that. 18:08 It wouldn't be such a bad idea, but I doubt it would happen. 18:12 Remember, you can always email your questions to podcast at goforpucklive.com, and we'll try to get to them. 18:18 But Twitter has been kind of waking up a little bit here on questions. 18:23 Let me see, TSMed8 asking, what are our thoughts of Marshall moving to Ford and ALT still getting blue line time? 18:32 Well, personally, Marshall has not been at Ford recently, and well, I've always been down on ALT. 18:38 But Hammeh, what do you think about that? 18:40 I think Marshall is pretty much good back on D now. 18:44 Yeah, I have to say that I've been pretty impressed with how he's played this year. 18:49 I mean, he's really stepped up. 18:50 I think the feeling I have is he looks like he has more confidence out there to make plays. 18:56 I think that maybe that first year, I was a little bit unsure about when you should jump into the play, when I think he has more experience and confidence now. 19:05 So I like him. 19:07 I think he's been one of the better defensemen on the team as far as consistency on both ends of the ranks. 19:14 So I like him at defense. 19:17 As far as Alt goes, he hasn't played as well as he's capable of. 19:22 I think that that's kind of obvious. 19:24 I think that he's had his moments where he's made mistakes, but he's played well at other times. 19:29 I just think it's about finding that consistency with him. 19:31 And I think he'll find it as the season goes on. 19:33 But certainly, I think that he needs to step it up a little bit. 19:38 Any thoughts there, Veegs? 19:40 Well, I think part of it when you look at a guy like Alt, is he needs game time. 19:44 You know, he didn't grow up as one of those guys who played a ton of hockey. 19:48 And so for him to improve, he's going to have to get some games in. 19:52 He's going to have to get his game on tape, and they're going to have to coach him up. 19:56 With Marshall, I think he's one of their steadiest guys back there. 19:58 He's probably one of their better natural stick handlers, able to go back, retrieve the puck, start the breakout, and they need guys like him and Schmidt to play a lot of minutes. 20:09 If they're going to take guys like Shay and Riley and Alt, and work them in the line up, they need steady guys who can eat up more ice, especially in those critical times of the game. 20:21 Okay, another question via Twitter from Josh Svensson. 20:25 How is Justin Clues doing down in the USHL? 20:28 Can't wait to see him in the maroon and gold. 20:32 Well, he's done, obviously, he's done very well. 20:35 He's, right now, last I checked, he was in third place in the league scoring down there, and he's averaging almost two points a game, which in the USHL is pretty unheard of. 20:46 Granted, it's only 20 games into the season, but they still have another 30 plus games to go. 20:52 But to be both him and Camerata, Camerata is over two points a game. 20:59 They've been insanely good so far this year in the USHL. 21:04 So, yeah, I mean, and I mentioned this last week or two weeks ago, whatever it was, you know, we don't know. 21:12 You know, I would not be shocked if some of the injury situation and some of the other stuff, it would not shock me if they bring him in halfway through. 21:21 It's not like it's never happened at Waterloo before. 21:23 I know it's happened to their team a couple times and their coach doesn't really seem to have a problem with it. 21:28 So, I'm not saying that's going to happen, but it wouldn't shock me given how he's played and if our lower line guys don't... 21:35 I mean, we saw some improvement this weekend, but if we needed some additional offense and if Warning's situation doesn't improve enough, it won't shock me if they decide to bring him in. 21:46 Definitely something to keep an eye on if something goes wrong down out there. 21:49 You, I mean, obviously, things have been quiet with Sam Warning. 21:52 We still don't know. 21:53 It's just an upper body injury and he may be back this week or he may be back the next week. 21:58 It's just, you just never know. 22:02 Another question, Joshua Kratzer. 22:06 Who do you feel is the best two-way player? 22:08 Seems like a lot of our top six guys also play on the penalty kill. 22:11 What do you think, Veegs? 22:13 Well, I like Boyd as one of the better two-way players. 22:16 I think he and Hala are really steady out there. 22:20 Both ends of the ice are both good in the face-off circle, which you want on special team situations. 22:25 You want a guy who can go out there and win and draw. 22:28 Same thing with Bukstad. 22:30 He can go out there and win big draws and eat up a lot of space out there, win the one-on-one battles. 22:35 I think that's key for all three of those guys. 22:37 What's going to make that penalty kill for the Gophers a real strength? 22:41 You have any thoughts on that, Hammeh? 22:43 Yeah. 22:43 My personal favorite is Nate Condon. 22:46 I really like the way he plays the game. 22:48 I love his speed. 22:49 I like how he's always been pretty defensively responsible. 22:54 I certainly think that he's improved as time has gone along, as far as offense goes. 23:00 He's not going to be the big gun, necessarily, like you see at Bukestad or some of those guys. 23:04 But I really like the two-way threat, so to speak, that he is out on the ice. 23:09 So that'd be my answer. 23:13 OK, we've got Marty Manley asking on Twitter, I'm going on a Gopher hockey road trip to Colorado Springs in nine days. 23:21 Never been to that altitude. 23:23 Is it OK to drink heavily? 23:29 We should have drunk hockey guy on that answer. 23:31 Definitely. 23:33 I think as long as Marty avoids Breckenridge, he'll be OK. 23:38 But my experience at Colorado Springs is you can have a good time just fine. 23:43 And they do serve beer at that rink. 23:45 Ooh, at Colorado Springs. 23:46 Yeah, nice craft beer. 23:48 It's a nice place, Denver too. 23:53 Quality beer. 23:53 Tigsy wants to know, quality hockey in Nebraska? 23:58 Weird. 23:58 What's next? 23:59 Knowledgeable fan base in Wisconsin? 24:03 Cheap shot. 24:04 I like that. 24:07 Oh, what else do we have here? 24:09 Oh, well, Jared Klein. 24:10 He wants to know, what do you guys think of Hall? 24:12 Better at forward or D? 24:17 Well, I mean, I think I've made it known over time that I wasn't the biggest fan of his on defense. 24:24 It's kind of hard to judge when we haven't seen a ton of him on defense this year. 24:27 So I think he's actually played pretty solid at forward in the time that he's been given. 24:35 I don't know what their plans are as far as shuffling guys in and out of the lineup and all that, if they're going to continue to do that or whatever, but I actually don't think he's played all that badly for what, for the time he's been given so far this year. 24:47 So props to him on that. 24:49 You know, I think he's looked okay. 24:51 Obviously he doesn't have the speed, but I think he's got the puck handling skills to do that up there. 24:56 But I think he's still trying to learn to how he needs to play up there. 25:02 So hopefully we'll see more out of them up there. 25:03 What do you think, Veegs? 25:05 Well, I think with the defensive situation, trying to get Shea, Riley and Alt, some ice time mixed in there with Schmidt and Marshall and Helgeson, he's not going to find a lot of ice time back there. 25:16 So I think for him to help the team, he's going to have to keep plugging away a wing. 25:21 He's been okay as that bubble hockey wing going straight up and down the ice. 25:27 So I think he'll be fine there. 25:29 He just probably needs some more games under his belt. 25:32 Yeah, I would agree with that. 25:34 Well, Hammy, is there any recruiting news besides the good stuff we're hearing about Clues and Camerata? 25:42 You know, I mean, nothing that's... 25:43 Any tidbits, any players to look for, or maybe who the Govars are looking at? 25:48 Well, I mean, high school hockey just started, you know, and certainly there's going to be guys like Hurley and Kursic and, you know, some of those players that, I mean, everybody's pretty well aware of, you know, on Gopher Puck Live at least. 26:00 And, you know, I mean, I know that Kulganski from St. 26:08 Cloud Cathedral, I mean, you know, there's different guys that they've been looking at and that they're interested in. 26:13 I don't know of anything that's, you know, pending for a decision like now, you know, or this week or whatever. 26:20 But, you know, it wouldn't surprise me once the season gets a little bit more into the swing of things that we see some action, you know, in the next couple of months. 26:28 Okay, well, let's move into this week in the WCHA. 26:32 We'll kick it off with UMD heading to Michigan Tech this weekend. 26:39 Boy, dogs are struggling, Tech's doing a little better. 26:43 Vego, what are your thoughts? 26:46 Well, I think that Duluth is obviously probably going to struggle again. 26:50 You know, they're having a hard time scoring goals. 26:52 And, you know, Tech's been a little bit more offensive in the last year and a half. 26:57 And I think it probably continues. 26:59 I would say Tech's going to get three points here. 27:03 I'm sorry for all those Bulldog fans, but I think they need more time to find who's going to step up and score for them. 27:09 Pammy? 27:10 Yeah, I mean, I think that that's probably a pretty good take. 27:12 I mean, you know, these teams, you know, for as much as we kind of rag on a little bit on scoring for Duluth, I mean, Tech really hasn't scored a heck of a lot more in that sense. 27:22 So I mean, you know, I have the feeling it's probably going to be relatively, well, you know, I don't know, you never know. 27:29 One of those games might be one of those up and down, where you have a lot more goals scoring than you really expect. 27:35 But I would expect a couple of close games. 27:37 And I think that certainly you think that Tech at home would have the advantage. 27:42 I'm going to go with Tech with a sweep there, just to piss off drunk hockey guy. 27:47 He'd probably agree with you. 27:48 He might. 27:49 He's pretty down in his team right now. 27:51 So, we shouldn't brag on him too much, he might cry. 27:56 Bemidji State heading to Minnesota State University Mankato. 28:00 Hammy, do you have anything on that? 28:03 I would say Mankato sweeps that one. 28:05 I mean, it's hard. 28:06 Well, I mean, you know, honestly, it's hard to pick against them given the fact that they just came off a road. 28:10 So now, of course, you always worry about a let down a little bit. 28:13 But, you know, I just think that after watching them against the Gophers and then seeing how they played a little bit against Wisconsin, some of these other teams, I think that they're the better team of the two. 28:26 And I think that maybe, you know, I don't know, maybe one of those games ends up at a tie. 28:31 But I think that I'd probably go with Mankato's sweep. 28:36 I think they're going to split because I know that Mankato lost two to St. 28:42 Cloud and, you know, they lost two to Denver. 28:47 So, you know, sweep over Wisconsin maybe doesn't mean as much as it might appear on paper with Wisconsin struggling as much. 28:54 And Bemidji, you know, they'll try to battle and it could be low scoring games. 28:59 So I'm thinking it'll be a split. 29:02 St. 29:02 Cloud making the big trip up to Alaska Anchorage. 29:06 What was your pick? 29:07 Yeah, I... 29:10 Trying to avoid it? 29:12 Yeah, I just don't care about either team. 29:15 Then you went to Mankato. 29:16 I did go to Mankato, but that was so long ago. 29:20 That's when they were still Mankato State in a Division II or whatever team. 29:24 Well, I can see that you're a well-tied in alum. 29:28 I'm nuts. 29:30 I was a Gopher fan before I went down there, so it's kind of tough. 29:34 I'll say split just to say split and blah, blah, blah. 29:38 St. 29:38 Claude, heading up to Anchorage. 29:40 Pammy, does anything for you? 29:44 Well, I mean, on paper, of course, you expect that St. 29:47 Claude is going to sweep that series. 29:49 And they played pretty well and you have to give them credit for that. 29:54 And I think that they're a lot better team. 29:57 I mean, I think I picked them like fourth or I can't remember what it, fourth in that range. 30:01 And they've kind of lived up to what I thought they'd do. 30:04 I thought they'd be a pretty solid team. 30:06 But you always say you never know what the hell is going to happen when you have to travel all that distance up to Anchorage. 30:13 And it's probably even a little bit more of a hassle for a team that's outside of the Twin Cities. 30:17 They have to come down here and then they have to go. 30:20 And so I am going to say that one of those games will end up in a tie and they'll get three points. 30:27 I'm with you. 30:27 I think you never know what's going to happen up there. 30:31 I'm thinking maximum St. 30:33 Cloud gets three points, maybe even a split. 30:35 What do you think, Veegs? 30:37 I would say three points as well. 30:39 I think they probably get a tie. 30:41 St. 30:41 Cloud probably doesn't have the charter flight like the Gophers had to Vermont last week for their trip out to Alaska. 30:48 They had a nice little deal there. 30:50 Yeah, that looked nice. 30:51 I saw some Twitter photos that guys were posting of the charter, which is always nice for travel. 30:56 Maybe that's what the key is for all the road series down the line is charter flights. 31:03 Well, as Grant Petolian once told me, we are gopher hockey. 31:08 I asked him about a recording trip and I said, you're not driving, are you? 31:11 And he's like, no, we are gopher hockey. 31:15 In other words, they're not cheap. 31:18 Well, I'm sure they drive to some of the close high school, but you're probably right, little puddle jumper to Omaha or wherever it may be. 31:28 Okay, North Dakota heading to Colorado College, Hammey. 31:32 We got two teams tied in the standings. 31:36 They both played two less games than the rest of us here. 31:40 What do you think? 31:42 Well, I mean, it'll be interesting. 31:44 I, you know, just when I think that I have a good feel for both of those teams, something happens that kind of throws it a little bit for a live. 31:53 I'm actually going to call that one a split because I just think that I don't think North Dakota's hitting on all cylinders, but they they'll do enough, I think, to win one of those nights. 32:03 So I think that'll be a road split. 32:05 What do you think Vegoe? 32:07 I hate to wimp out and do the same thing, but I think CC is a top half team. 32:13 So I think they're definitely going to get at least two points this weekend. 32:16 But I think North Dakota is also a top half team. 32:18 So and they've got all their guys in the lineup. 32:21 None of them are on suspension that I know of. 32:23 So I can see a split there. 32:26 That's something you have to check every week. 32:28 You see if there's any suspension. 32:29 I was going to say it's only Tuesday. 32:32 Yeah, I don't get my grain in Fort Carroll anymore, so you know. 32:36 Got to check the police blotter. 32:38 I'm going with CC with three points there. 32:40 I think still early in the season for North Dakota to make their run. 32:45 They'll start making their run in January. 32:48 I'm surprised you didn't call us for a CC. 32:51 No, I got to give North Dakota something. 32:54 I got to throw a bow. 32:56 You got to annoy Goon. 32:57 Yeah, I got to throw a Goon a bow in here and there. 32:59 You're not sure how that North Dakota goaltender is going to do. 33:01 He's not very experienced. 33:03 Oh, jeez. 33:04 Yeah, exactly. 33:05 Man, they were all over us. 33:08 Oh, your goalie is going to suck. 33:10 Ours is going to roll. 33:11 I'm like, whatever. 33:13 Well, I mean, the ironic thing about it is Gothberg isn't actually done. 33:18 I mean, he isn't played as well. 33:20 I mean, everybody kind of had him as the more hyped goalie as compared to Wilcox and obviously it's not quite turned out that way. 33:27 The Gophers are feeling pretty good about having Wilcox in their lineup. 33:31 Definitely. 33:33 Finally, we've got those poor badgers heading out to Denver this weekend. 33:37 And I see this is getting kind of ugly. 33:41 Four points for the Pioneers. 33:44 Hammey. 33:46 Yeah, I think it's going to be a long weekend for Wisconsin. 33:49 I think it's going to be a long trip back as well considering I really expect them to probably get handed to them pretty good both nights. 33:57 And maybe they'll surprise me if some of these guys come back into the lineup. 34:03 And maybe they'll surprise them one night. 34:06 You never know with a goalie if a goalie gets hot or whatever. 34:09 But it's pretty tough to pick against Denver. 34:11 Especially, they're obviously going to be feeling pretty sour after getting no wins this last weekend as well. 34:17 So I'm sure that Wisconsin is kind of catching them at a bad time. 34:22 Denver sweep Vegoe? 34:24 Yeah, I got to go with the Denver sweep. 34:26 They're a pretty tough team and Wisconsin is going to have hard time scoring goals there. 34:32 Sorry, our phone's ringing here. 34:33 Give me a second here. 34:36 Is it Eve? 34:37 Yeah, he's calling bitching about something. 34:42 He looks so stressed after the Gopher series. 34:45 I can hardly imagine what he's going to look like next weekend. 34:48 Oh, hopefully. 34:49 Isn't that how he always looks? 34:52 He just looked completely spent. 34:54 Really? 34:56 It's like, what do they say? 34:58 If he had the lump of coal turned into a diamond, I mean, to me, that's what that guy encapsulates. 35:06 He's just very uptight looking all the time. 35:07 Well, hopefully, he's not taking it out and beating his players again. 35:12 I don't think that will be going on. 35:16 All right. 35:17 Well, finally, we've got Nebraska Omaha heading to Mariucci Arena this weekend. 35:24 The first above 500 team that the Gophers will play or pairwise ranked team, the Gophers will play so far this season. 35:33 Obviously, we've been pretty lucky on our schedule so far, but it gets a lot tougher this weekend, Ami. 35:40 Yeah. 35:40 It'll be an interesting series. 35:44 To be honest, when I look at UNO's schedule, they've really not played great clubs for the most part. 35:53 I mean, they play Notre Dame, but I mean Bemidji, Tech, Duluth. 36:00 At least they're above 500. 36:02 Alabama, Huntsville. 36:03 But my point is that you do have to look at, just like you do with our schedule and record and everything, you have to look at the big picture and they haven't been playing great teams, just like we haven't for the most part. 36:17 So you have to say, well, maybe this is one of those weekends where you see what the real team is really all about. 36:28 I think that maybe this is a weekend that the guys need to step up and make a statement and say, hey, we've been not playing our best and now is the time to start putting the gas down. 36:39 I really think that we'll get at least three points this weekend because I just think that the guys will come out with some energy and we'll see. 36:46 I'm thinking a split. 36:49 I'm still not convinced this team is there yet. 36:53 Just a lot of inconsistencies on the offensive side. 36:57 Finally, a tough team coming into their barn because so far it really hasn't been, obviously record wise, they haven't played any tough teams. 37:04 So I'm thinking split. 37:06 UNO has always played as tough here, so at least the time they were here. 37:10 Vegoe, what do you think? 37:13 I feel like the safe pick is to do a split here. 37:17 But, you know, you look at Nebraska's schedule and who they've played and their six-game winning streak over Tech, Duluth and Huntsville. 37:25 It's not all that intimidating. 37:27 I know Ryan Walters is putting up a ton of points for them. 37:30 I think we didn't need them. 37:32 Yeah, we didn't need them, obviously, but he's got 16 points for Dean Blais. 37:37 So I feel like a split is a safe call, but at the same point, I think Minnesota started to pick up their game a little bit more against Vermont. 37:45 They're playing a little more consistently, five on five. 37:49 I think their young defensemen are getting a little bit more ice time under them, and hopefully, they've been coached up enough here where they can start making another step and it's at home. 37:59 So battle him. 38:00 Sweet. 38:03 Showing some guts. 38:04 I like that. 38:06 Definitely showing some guts there. 38:09 Well, Hammey, he talked about Mr. 38:11 Walters there. 38:12 Are there any bad feelings on Minnesota or aside on that? 38:16 Did they make the right decision on not bringing him in? 38:18 Because obviously, he's doing pretty well. 38:21 Well, I'm I think you, I'm sure that it's a case of he's probably matured a bit. 38:28 I think that that whole situation for him, I mean, he's older now and I'm sure that there's a maturity that he's gained, and I think it's probably showing in his performance, and he's not taking the penalties, and it looks to me like he's just matured as a person. 38:45 And so, good for him, that's great. 38:47 And I don't think that, I'm sure for him, he wants to come back home and prove something, like a lot of Minnesota kids do when they go to other teams and they come home and play at Mariucci against the Gophers. 38:58 They want to of course show that, hey, you guys should have had me in here or whatever. 39:02 But in hindsight, I think when you look back at that time, I think that the Gophers made the right call, not because the kid doesn't have any talent or anything of that nature. 39:11 I just think that that was the right call to make at that time. 39:13 And hey, he chose not to wait and that's his prerogative. 39:17 And you just have to move on. 39:19 And I think the Gophers showed last year and I think that they've shown this year that they have a quality line up. 39:24 So do they miss them or not miss them? 39:26 I mean, that's up for debate. 39:28 But I think that we're fine where we are. 39:31 OK, well, do we have any other thoughts in the weekend? 39:33 Anything you'd like, any changes you'd like to see, maybe? 39:38 I mean, maybe get some other guys in there, maybe a Riley up there, keep a defenseman back on defense. 39:43 I mean, any little tweaks or anything else that's on your mind about this weekend? 39:49 Well, I'm sure that they'll, I mean, because they'll be at home, they'll have that roster flexibility a little bit more than they would obviously in the road. 39:55 So it wouldn't shock me if you see a guy pop in and out of the lineup for each night. 40:00 But I liked what I saw this last weekend. 40:04 And I kind of liked, I mean, of course, you don't want to have to double shift guys. 40:08 But I didn't think it looked too bad. 40:11 They were spot double shifts guys with that fourth line or whatever. 40:15 And so I think that that's worked out all right. 40:18 And that's not ideal. 40:19 But I think it's fine. 40:23 Okay. 40:23 Vegoe, any last thoughts? 40:25 Yeah. 40:26 I mean, I like seeing some of the top guys get a little more ice time. 40:29 I think that's one of the things that I've been watching Gopher Hockey a long time. 40:33 And one of the things Lucia likes to do is roll four lines, roll 6D. 40:38 And it's just something I'd like to see the top guys get more ice time. 40:43 And I kind of like the way this is going with those top guys getting more ice time. 40:47 And I hope we see more of that. 40:49 And I think you'll see guys in and out of the line up pretty much most of the season. 40:54 At least until we get to February. 40:57 Trying to find who's going to fit in that third line wing with Boyd and Ambrose and who's going to play on the fourth line that gets paired up with the odd top guy every now and then. 41:07 And that's just something to watch. 41:11 Okay, well, I do want to do a little plug here for this weekend. 41:16 The women's team is playing Wisconsin this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, two o'clock both nights, or afternoons I should say. 41:24 And let's try to fill up Ritter this weekend, people. 41:27 You know, we got this women's team that's 16-0. 41:30 They've scored 98 goals and given up only 10 this season, which is just ridiculous. 41:37 And, you know, Saturday's game is up two, general admission tickets are a dollar. 41:44 Come down early, see the women's game, go out, have some dinner and come back for the night game with UNO for the men. 41:50 Probably make a great day, but you get to see some pretty good hockey. 41:54 That women's team is just flat out amazing right now. 42:00 Yeah, I mean, it is pretty amazing. 42:02 I mean, you just say to yourself, you know, how can that last? 42:05 You know, they've played so well. 42:07 And, you know, they've been pretty much dominant against every team that they've played, whether it's been at home or on the road. 42:13 And, you know, certainly having Wisconsin coming in this weekend, and they're not quite, from what I understand, you know, like they usually are. 42:21 But nonetheless, it's, you know, probably the Gopher's biggest rival in terms of women's hockey. 42:26 So, you know, I think it's a great weekend to have that kind of a promotion. 42:30 And, you know, it's just a good time to get down there. 42:33 If you've never been to Ritter Arena before, it's a great arena. 42:36 I mean, it seats about 3,500 people. 42:39 Sight lines are great, you know. 42:41 I'd really like to see them, you know, kind of fill the house and, you know, get a record crowd in there. 42:45 I mean, a bucket ticket? 42:48 That's, uh, doesn't get any cheaper than that. 42:53 Yeah, Ritter's a great rink. 42:54 It's not like you're going to the Coliseum to watch a game. 42:57 It's a fun place to see a hockey game. 42:59 I've been up in the press box there, and you're overhanging the ice almost. 43:02 And it's just a great view from there. 43:04 So, hopefully the women keep that winning ways going. 43:07 You know, 16 and 0 so far this season. 43:10 I think their streak is over 20 or something ridiculous like that, going back to last season. 43:16 So, keep it going, ladies. 43:20 Well, any other thoughts on this week, guys? 43:22 We're good to go, I think. 43:24 Yep. 43:24 Just kind of pushing the women a little bit there. 43:26 I think they're just an amazing team right now. 43:29 Well, they deserve it, you know, the way they're playing. 43:32 I can't, the ten goals allowed in 16 games, 98 scored is just mind boggling. 43:39 Yeah, that kind of reminds you of some great young PVA team that's just super mature and just routing everybody that they play at that level. 43:48 And it just kind of reminds you that you don't usually see that kind of dominance. 43:54 I mean, granted, women's college hockey is not, and men's isn't either. 43:58 It's not like it's college football with 300 teams or whatever. 44:04 But nonetheless, you usually don't see that kind of dominance at that level. 44:07 So they certainly deserve all their props. 44:10 Definitely, definitely. 44:12 Well, that's going to do it for this week. 44:14 Remember, you can always follow Hammy on Twitter at Hammy Hockey. 44:18 And you can follow Vegoe on Gopher Puck Live when he has write ups on the games and on Twitter at eVegoe. 44:27 So, we'll be back next week. 44:28 We'll talk about the UNO series and then we'll preview the trip out to Colorado Springs. 44:33 Until then, thanks for listening.