0:07 This is The GPL Podcast, part of the Pulltab Sports family. 0:13 So right away, my confidence is, it's doing really, really, really well before that. 0:20 And then Don goes, can anybody on the ice take the penalty shot? 0:25 And the referee goes, no, it has to be Ramsey. 0:27 And I'm like, okay, there's shot two to the confidence. 0:29 That's great. 0:32 You know, a good recruiting tip is like, we're going to get a good drinker out of here. 0:37 Put him in the Atlantic and they win the conference. 0:45 Oh, my God, it's unbelievable. 0:48 Now, here's Jupiter and Vego. 1:02 Good evening, and welcome to The GPL Podcast, episode number 284. 1:10 It's playoff time, Veegs. 1:12 You ready to go? 1:14 We finally made it. 1:15 Gophers are in good shape right now. 1:17 And I think Bob is happy that the team gets to play this weekend. 1:21 They get to play, and he gets a nice little bonus for, since they became co-champions. 1:26 You can't ask for more than that. 1:28 Yeah, it's pretty funny. 1:29 He was talking about how going to the game, and he was prepared to pull the goalie so that they can win the game and get the co-title. 1:37 And, you know, nice little extra check for coach. 1:40 Nice little extra check. 1:41 I, you know, we've heard about rumblings of that from other teams in the past. 1:45 Well, I was going to pull the goal in case, and never, I haven't seen it, at least not in a long time. 1:51 But we know Jack Ramsey has been playing hockey a long time. 1:54 Let's find out what's ever happened to him. 1:57 Good evening, Jack. 1:58 How are you first off? 2:00 Gentlemen, I'm doing fantastic. 2:02 We got state tournament, playoff hockey, etc. 2:05 It's a great time to be around. 2:07 Have you ever had a coach pull a goalie when you're not behind to try to win a game due to circumstances? 2:16 No, I don't think so. 2:17 I think the last time I saw it was the wild, maybe two years ago, trying to get into a playoff spot. 2:23 I don't think it was. 2:24 But I think that was the last time I saw it. 2:27 And it was a lot of people were like, Oh my gosh, because remember, Veegs wouldn't it if they there was something weird, like if they did get scored on. 2:37 Well, if you do it in overtime in the NHL, you get scored on, you don't get the loser point, which is just kind of a ridiculous thing. 2:45 I think they put that in because in Europe, a lot of teams will do it once they get possession of the puck. 2:51 Because a four on three and overtime makes a big difference. 2:55 Interesting, interesting. 2:58 So four points, Veegs, you actually picked a four to weekend. 3:04 I'm not sure if that's the way you want it to turn out when it had started. 3:08 But, you know, a four to three overtime loss, yes. 3:13 Not great in the overtime again. 3:16 But then they come back Saturday night and get the 5-3 win and get a co-championship and a number two overall seed. 3:23 So, goal still accomplished. 3:26 Yeah, I was expecting a pretty tight weekend with the way Penn State had been playing down the stretch. 3:32 One of the hottest teams in College Hockey playing for their lives. 3:36 You know, they are on that pairwise bubble right now. 3:39 And getting a win against Minnesota was big for them, even though it was in the three-on-three, not regulations. 3:46 Let's help them, you know. 3:48 And the Gophers, they've been making a few too many mistakes defensively, I think, and they're giving up opportunities to other teams. 3:56 And Penn State's got some talented players that capitalize on those chances. 4:01 But Jack, Penn State has been really playing well the second half of the season. 4:06 And have really, from starting out in last place for quarter round, it was 0-1-8, they were like terrible. 4:13 They came closer to getting home field advantage for the playoffs and have put themselves in contention pairwise ways. 4:21 Yeah. 4:22 It's kind of interesting. 4:22 You don't, you don't see like that kind of turnaround in college hockey a lot, because it's the same roster, right? 4:28 You can't make any moves or bring any guys in. 4:31 So it is really impressive. 4:33 It's a bad draw for Michigan. 4:35 Really. 4:38 I would take Penn State betting on that for sure. 4:41 Just the way that they're rolling and even splitting last week. 4:46 And I think they even more momentum coming out of that, picking up a sweep and playing a pretty good game on Saturday. 4:52 So tough draw for Michigan. 4:54 It's not a team that I'd want to play rolling down the stretch, but I put money on that. 4:58 They're going to sneak into the tournament, especially if they pick up the series against Michigan. 5:04 So the overtime loss Friday night, Veegs, boy. 5:09 Obviously the three on three is done, thank goodness, because Minnesota was just not good at it. 5:15 Only four regulation losses this season, not so bad. 5:20 But yes, probably their overtime and obviously shootout play did cost them the Big Ten Regulations and Championship outright this season. 5:31 It did. 5:31 Yeah, it might not matter in the long run, but that's where they could have won it. 5:37 Yeah, it's definitely surprising to see Minnesota struggle so much in the overtime. 5:42 We've seen them try a couple of different things, putting out 2D to start the overtime, and some nights they just would lose that face off, and it seemed like they'd never get the puck back. 5:53 This weekend, again, Penn State, they did have the puck on their stick a couple of times, and made some curious plays where they put themselves into danger and gave it right back to the Lions. 6:04 That was a little surprising. 6:05 Maybe just the team feeling some pressure. 6:11 We say that there's no momentum in sports, but there is a little bit. 6:15 You get into those situations, if you have some bad memories and you're doing some negative self-talk, it might not be out loud, but it's there and you just don't see the confidence in the structure in their OT play, in their shootout attempts. 6:29 And thankfully we can turn the page on the season and maybe get a fresh start next year with these kind of situations. 6:37 And it cost them the number one seat in the Big Ten, but I don't think that's really what Gopher fans, Gopher players, Gopher coaches are looking at as their end to your goal. 6:49 So Jack, just talking about the overtime part, where do you see the team struggling? 6:53 Are they just trying to be too individualistic, that are not maybe just cycling? 6:58 What do you think they're kind of not, what's not coming together? 7:01 Yeah, and Veegs touched on a few really good ones and the individualistic thing right there, but never seems that we win the opening draw in overtime ever, right? 7:12 And go back all the way back to the last time we played Notre Dame, and we lost in overtime. 7:19 We didn't touch the puck, I think, for three minutes and 35 seconds of the overtime. 7:23 We might have had it for two seconds and then lost it. 7:27 Yeah. 7:27 And when we do get it, it is a lot of individual plays. 7:31 We all of a sudden get it and somebody wants to rush the ice and try to dance somebody and do it, where the teams that are playing the Gophers are looping back in seven, eight times, slowly picking apart, picking apart, wearing them down, getting the guys on the ice that they want. 7:44 And another thing that kind of grinded my gears was Soulea got a shot on net at one point and I was like, get rid of it, get rid of it. 7:51 Like he had a defenseman to move it to and steady held it. 7:55 I think these guys might have been a little gas but once you have possession, you have possession and forced a whistle, they, I think they lost the draw, you know, and, you know, so be it. 8:06 So small things like that, like don't take a whistle, try to maintain possession, stretch the zone, get these fresh guys on the ice. 8:12 They just don't do those things right, which is, it's very strange. 8:16 But really, it was a close series all weekend, Veegs. 8:19 It was within one goal pretty much the entire weekend until, you know, late in the second game. 8:25 Second game came together, you know, back and forth type of thing. 8:29 Minnesota just made a couple extra plays in the end that got them the win on the road. 8:36 And I think what you're seeing out of Minnesota last couple of weeks that I've noticed is a lot of plays at the net. 8:42 You're seeing traffic in front of the net, you're seeing screens, you're seeing, you know, second chances generated by players winning that 50-50 off a shot or a loose puck. 8:52 And that's really a key attribute as you get in the postseason, especially NCAA tournament. 8:58 You know, you're going to have to find ways to generate offense. 9:01 You're not always going to have a lot of rush scoring chances. 9:04 So I think that's a big emphasis from the coaching staff right now. 9:07 And seeing the players execute that has got to be a good sign for everybody going into the next couple of weeks. 9:14 I see a question here from Steve Larson. 9:16 Let's bring in an update on Paulson and Middlestead. 9:19 Did you hear anything with the media this week on those two? 9:23 I haven't heard anything yet on those two. 9:25 I think they're playing a little tight to the vest on guys. 9:29 Everything is a wait till the weekend kind of situation right now. 9:31 Well, there you go. 9:33 There you go. 9:33 I mean, it has been quiet. 9:37 Paulson obviously was injured somehow. 9:41 I didn't see what happened. 9:42 And then on top of that, you had Chesley out. 9:46 That was Saturday, wasn't it? 9:48 Yeah. 9:50 Saturday. 9:51 And they had Whipple in the lineup. 9:53 I know he's been on line up quite a bit. 9:55 Yeah. 9:55 See the ice. 9:57 So, you know, he's healthy, and he's an option. 9:59 But I think at this time of the year, it's tough to put him into the frying pan. 10:05 You know, the pace of the game right now is pretty intense, and he hasn't played a lot the last couple of weeks, so probably not very fair for him to be put in those situations, unless there's more injuries. 10:16 Another question here from Josh. 10:18 More of a comment. 10:18 Fun to see Kester get the game-winning goal. 10:20 Jack, Kester getting a goal Saturday. 10:24 Nevers contributing a lot more. 10:26 It seems like they were quiet kind of quite a bit in the season, but this is the time where those extra senior leadership comes in big. 10:35 Yeah. 10:36 No, for sure. 10:37 And with Kester, you have these young guys that are coming up and filling in power play spots and taking over offensive responsibilities. 10:44 So you don't expect the guy to kind of show out like he maybe has in the past few years, but they're going to have to lean on these older guys. 10:50 I know we have all this depth scoring across the board and four lines and 60, but big guns and Kester is one of those guys. 10:58 It kind of seems like in big moments can step up and provide some timely stuff. 11:03 But it's nice to see your older guys contributing and leaning on that. 11:07 So hoping we're not going to have to lean on, you know, snarled route for two goals a night, moving forward every single night. 11:12 Kind of those guys pick up the slack. 11:15 That would be good. 11:16 That would definitely be good. 11:17 So you, Shearhorn, Rossini started your, your radio careers this year. 11:25 How has it gone? 11:26 You're calling games with Wally this weekend. 11:29 How has it gone for you? 11:31 And I mean, are you really starting to get into it now? 11:34 I mean, obviously there's some trepidation first, nerves and everything like that. 11:38 How are you doing with it? 11:40 Yeah, it's, it's good. 11:42 It's, it's a lot different than I expected it to be. 11:46 You know, I was slated to start the season with the St. 11:49 Thomas games, but I, Shearhorn was actually going to be out of town for Alaska. 11:53 So we swapped that and that gave me the opportunity to do, it was the, was it the Alaska and the Notre Dame games back to back. 12:05 That was really nice to go into the Alaska series. 12:07 That was tough because first time going in, no training or anything, you know, you're just kind of getting there and talking to Wally like, you have two hours or, you know, I called him the day before, pick his brain a little bit and talk to Sam and Eric, but like, you know, tips, pointers, what do I, what do I need, this kind of thing, but just kind of go in there and do it. 12:25 And the first game was like that one-nothing overtime game. 12:29 Like it was a terrible game to call. 12:32 It was not exciting at all. 12:34 I'm like, this is kind of tough, you know. 12:37 But the next night was better and the next weekend was better just to kind of get that repetition. 12:42 But with all of us sharing the responsibilities, you know, then I had another month and a half before I called the game again. 12:50 And so it's kind of like you start the whole process over again. 12:54 You go in Friday, a little nerves. 12:56 But Wally does such a good job and makes it so easy on you. 13:02 You got to think, you know, behind the mic, if we're looking at each other and kind of visual stuff like that to carry along. 13:08 But it's been so much fun. 13:10 It's I think it's the best spot in the rink to watch the game, like seeing everything unfold and break down. 13:15 And then, you know, you can take things in on the bench and stuff like that. 13:20 But it's been a lot of fun. 13:21 It's been a lot of a big learning experience. 13:23 And I'm excited, excited for this weekend, this weekend too. 13:27 So it's been good. 13:29 All right. 13:30 All right. 13:31 Well, what have you thought of his performance Veegs? 13:33 Because I haven't had a chance to listen to him as much because lots of times when he's calling I'm at the game, but or shooting, but you always have your earbuds in. 13:40 You're always listening. 13:41 Aren't you? 13:43 Yeah. 13:43 I try to get a, you know, a little bit of the radio play by play because sometimes those guys know a little bit more. 13:48 They get a little access to the coaches usually in the week of the games. 13:52 So they have some insights. 13:53 They get the updates quickly from Scott Slarks that maybe the rest of us don't get right away. 13:58 But I've appreciated Jack telling stories about his playing days and how the Gophers get in the situations of that night and how he handled those when he played and what he heard from coaching staffs when he was in those situations or as he's taking on some coaching in high school now, how he would approach it. 14:18 So I think those perspectives are great when he can bring him in there. 14:21 And as long as you don't have Pat Nicoletti in the booth with you, you could fit in a few phrases here and there. 14:29 Wally will give you a little space. 14:34 It's been good. 14:38 Well, Pat was scheduled to be on the show tonight. 14:40 And then obviously his team made it to the state tournament. 14:44 He said, I really want to go. 14:45 Can we record? 14:46 I'm like, we'll just push you out the next week. 14:48 So we did. 14:49 So Pat will be on next week, folks. 14:50 You're not going to miss him. 14:52 He'll be on the TV call this week. 14:54 And obviously Jack's going to be on with Wally. 14:56 So everyone's, everybody's happy. 14:59 So that's all we can ask for. 15:00 So it's all good. 15:04 Veegs, we need to talk about some of our sponsors here and we're going to kick things off with Lunch Bucket Hockey. 15:11 They've been, I've been seeing a lot of their stuff lately. 15:13 Wally Veegs from Custom Jerseys to obviously I love their buckets. 15:18 Yeah, they're getting out there. 15:19 You know, a couple of local guys who had, you know, Friday pick up hockey and they figured out how to get their brand together for grit and grind hockey players that just love hockey. 15:29 And you know, they do a lot of custom jerseys. 15:31 If you have a team that's got a special event, maybe you have an alumni game or you have a special event night, check out lunchbuckethockey.com. 15:39 They've got the gear for you and we love local and they're one of us. 15:44 Another company that's coming in trying to be local gateway fiber VX. 15:49 They are hitting it up on the north side, aren't they? 15:52 Yeah, that's right. 15:53 We did the fiber to the fish house event with them a couple of weeks ago. 15:57 And if you feel like you've got, you know, stuck with the big air net provider like Xfinity letting you down, check out gateway fiber, especially if you live in Blaine, Brooklyn Park, Champlain, Coon Rapids, Maple Grove, Plymouth. 16:11 Gateway fiber is already available to you. 16:14 They've got plans to expand deeper into Minnesota. 16:18 So we love fiber. 16:19 We have it for our podcast. 16:20 When we did out in the lake, everything went great. 16:23 So check out gateway fiber. 16:25 That was a fun thing out on the lake. 16:27 Vig's definitely interesting. 16:29 Never done that before. 16:30 So that was interesting. 16:32 Viggoe's top 20 this week, no change at the top. 16:35 Vig's you've got a little flip flopping, Maine and Western, but really your top 10 is fairly set these days. 16:44 Yeah. 16:44 It's going to take one of these teams getting swept really to change my mind. 16:49 You know, a couple of teams here in the top 10 are losing games here and there. 16:53 It's really hard to sweep in college hockey right now because teams lose one night. 16:58 They come back firing the next. 17:00 Western dropping a game to Arizona State kind of surprised me. 17:04 But then again, they just won the Penrose Cup the night before. 17:07 So maybe a little bit of a let down in that game. 17:10 I really expect anyone in these top five teams to be really dangerous in the tournament. 17:16 And then right behind them, you have teams like Denver and BU who've got a lot of firepower. 17:21 So it's going to be interesting as we come down the stretch here. 17:24 It's going to be interesting of the teams on the edge here. 17:27 You got Penn State right at 13. 17:30 They could do themselves a lot of good favors by taking out Michigan this weekend and probably giving them the boot, couldn't they? 17:38 Yeah. 17:39 If Penn State gets a win against Michigan, I think they have a good chance to get inside that bubble, you know, 12, 13 on pairways. 17:46 They're 14 right now. 17:48 It's going to be really interesting. 17:49 I just don't see how Hockey East can get seven teams in. 17:53 I know mathematically, it's possible. 17:55 But as they play each other down the stretch here, I feel like one of those teams is going to drop down just a little bit. 18:01 And there's room for Penn State to slip in. 18:03 And Quinnipiac, who had some struggles, you know, they're now in the bubble and they're just ahead of Penn State right now. 18:09 And it looks like they have a decent chance to get through ECAC, because I don't see a lot of great performances in that conference right now outside of Quinnipiac. 18:18 And you've kind of got the same thing with Minnesota State. 18:21 I mean, they've got a great record. 18:24 Winning obviously helps in their case, because they do have a weak conference they're playing in, but they're still kind of holding strong there, Veegs. 18:31 And they obviously win their tournament. 18:34 They're going to be in and it could be Fargo for Minnesota State. 18:39 But they're going to have to win their tournament. 18:40 You know, those losses to Northern Michigan, Ferris State, St. 18:44 Thomas really hurt them. 18:46 You know, they've recovered from that and pulled off some wins to kind of optically look better and feel better about their game. 18:53 But when you drop games like that to Northern Michigan, who are so far down the pairwise, that really hurts you in the math. 19:01 What I found was interesting. 19:04 Nine teams in the CCHA, Jack. 19:08 One of them, St. 19:08 Thomas, can't play in the NCAA tournament. 19:14 But they took the ninth place team, Northern Michigan, and decided to exclude them instead. 19:18 Now, I think that's kind of weird. 19:21 Technically, Northern Michigan could win all the games and get into the tournament, whereas St. 19:28 Thomas could do the same thing, and they're not going to get into the tournament. 19:30 So I thought that was a little goofy on how CCHA is doing their playoffs. 19:37 It didn't ring right with me for some reason. 19:40 Well, they had it, gosh, was it last year or two years ago where did St. 19:44 Thomas make the final? 19:46 I think they did. 19:48 And it didn't matter. 19:49 So I remember talking with Brock Coutts because he was coaching at Bemidji. 19:53 And they're like, hey, we just need to win our semifinal game. 19:57 And then honestly, we can just rest guys if we want. 19:59 It doesn't matter. 20:00 We don't have to win this thing. 20:01 We just have to make the championship. 20:02 Because whoever made the championship against St. 20:04 Thomas moved on, which yeah, it is crazy. 20:07 They should probably just be excluded from it, take a spot from somebody. 20:14 But I also disagree with the rule entirely. 20:17 If you're moving up to a division one, why are we excluding teams? 20:24 If you're moving down, great, so be it. 20:26 But it makes, maybe there's a rule or explanation somewhere that makes sense, but it doesn't make sense to me. 20:32 What do you think, Veegs? 20:33 I just started to think about this, Dan. 20:34 Like, oh, they kind of, they eliminated Northern Michigan just so they could have just the eight teams, but by St. 20:42 Thomas, if they're not even eligible. 20:46 Yeah, it's really a curious thing to me. 20:48 The only reason I could think that rule of excluding teams and of moving up is you wouldn't want programs bouncing up and down between D1 and D3 or D1 and D2. 21:00 Whatever it is, you wouldn't want teams going up and down, so this would be a negative. 21:05 But when a team like St. 21:06 Thomas is investing as much as they're investing and commits to moving up, I don't know why they get excluded for so many years. 21:14 I know they had one year taken off, but it's still not this year. 21:19 Is it next year they're eligible? 21:21 Is it the year after? 21:21 It's something weird. 21:22 The year after, I think. 21:23 So they just have one more year, right? 21:26 I think that's what it is. 21:27 You're setting these guys back three steps on recruiting and stuff like that too. 21:31 Because even if you're a good team, I'm a good player in Minnesota High School. 21:35 I don't really want to go there because I want to try to play in the tournament. 21:43 I just noticed that I'm like, yeah, Northern Michigan, terrible year. 21:48 But technically still eligible for the NCAA tournament if they would have won their league, whereas St. 21:55 Thomas is not. 21:55 Now we're not trying to knock St. 21:57 Thomas. 21:57 Obviously, this is the rules they were given. 21:59 They have to get through it. 22:00 But just a little goofy in the CCHA Vegas. 22:05 I'm not sure what the thing is. 22:07 Yeah, I think probably with CCHA too, you didn't want that 8-9 play-in game. 22:13 Because it's going to cost everybody money to get that game on. 22:18 I think that's why leagues don't want to do that. 22:21 They just want to move on. 22:22 Like NCHC, they were going to have that. 22:25 But rather than do the expense of playing that game, they just move on and one team doesn't get in. 22:32 If they have any problems with that, they probably should have won more games during the regular season to be the eighth seed. 22:38 When does St. 22:39 Thomas go to the NCHC? 22:40 It's not next season. 22:43 Is it when they become D1 tournament eligible? 22:47 Do we know? 22:48 It's soon. 22:50 It got changed and I think it's not next year. 22:52 It's one more. 22:54 26, 27. 22:57 Because there was talk from Brad Schlossman at the NCHC media day, would they move it up early? 23:03 Because, you know, there's a little bit of bad blood with everybody about the moves in between conferences. 23:10 I suppose it's just, it's just all goofy to me. 23:12 It's all goofy. 23:14 All right. 23:14 BigTen tournament starts this weekend. 23:17 We kind of talked about Penn State and Michigan a little bit there. 23:19 But I first want to get into Wisconsin, heading to Ohio State, Veegs. 23:26 Wisconsin started terrible. 23:29 Started playing a lot better and now they're playing terrible again. 23:33 We're hoping to get better with an exhibition last weekend and it didn't really work out too well for them. 23:40 Yeah. 23:40 Sometimes when you're playing the kids, they're, they're talented. 23:44 And if you're not ready to play your game, they are going to be able to score some goals because they've got that much talent. 23:50 I just think that's a tough situation for a team like Wisconsin, you know, trying to fill the bye week with something. 23:58 You know, maybe you got some coaching pointers, but it's hard to know how much to take out of that. 24:03 Yeah, I'm sure Jack has experience playing the development team in his days. 24:07 It's just not a great environment maybe for a college player because it's just not something. 24:12 It's not a win or lose situation. 24:14 It's just doesn't. 24:16 I don't know. 24:17 It's a lose-lose, in my opinion, and especially slating it in the bye week. 24:23 Like, I remember playing those guys. 24:25 I'm pretty sure we beat up on them pretty good the times we played them. 24:31 It's not playoff hockey. 24:33 It's nowhere close to playoff hockey. 24:34 It's probably the least thing from playoff hockey on your schedule for the entire year. 24:38 And to put it right before the tournament to fill a bye weekend, that's just a huge administrative coaching scheduling mistake, in my opinion, is especially to have your bye week at the end of the year, so. 24:51 I feel like, you know, there's a team in the Big Ten that has to be out of the conference schedule at the end of the year because you've got seven teams. 24:59 So, someone can't play a conference game, but you'd really want to try to schedule one of those independent teams. 25:06 You know, if you're playing someone like LIU, who, you know, not right now competing for a Paralyzed spot, but maybe it was like Arizona State a couple of years ago, where they needed wins to get in, I'm sure they would want to play a Big Ten team at the end of the year. 25:21 And if you were able to figure that out scheduling wise and find it independent like that to play, I think that'd be a better situation than playing the development team, an exhibition. 25:30 We've seen the Gophers, they went down to Rochester and they did their Intersquad one year when they were on by at this time of year. 25:37 So it's a complicated thing for coaches to deal with. 25:41 They are looking at Wisconsin schedule too. 25:43 They scheduled Lindenwood and Long Island. 25:45 So they had all those independent. 25:48 At that point, I wouldn't want to schedule both those because I mean, they won, tied, and then they split. 25:55 Like you're not doing yourself any favors in the pair wise. 26:01 Well, we, oh, Mote here. 26:03 Has anyone done a well-listened check on poor Todd? 26:06 Because he started kind of tweeting that game the other night that he just kind of stopped things. 26:11 Yeah, poor Todd. 26:13 His livelihood depends on Wisconsin fans reading his work. 26:17 And it's been a tough year, I think, for the Badger Faithful. 26:21 I think there's maybe some people who've got a little buyer's remorse with Mike Hastings. 26:28 He's a good coach, accomplished coach, but it's just taking a little bit longer than I think a lot of people expected. 26:34 And then, you know, he leaves Minnesota State and Luke Strand gets their team right back on the horse the next year. 26:39 So well, time will tell with Mike Hastings. 26:43 Can they get a win this weekend at Ohio State? 26:46 They're a nationwide arena, aren't they? 26:48 I mean, a similar gigantic arena, probably less fans. 26:56 I mean, they're not completely out of it, are they? 27:02 I don't think they completely are out of it. 27:05 You know, they're pretty reliant on their top line for scoring. 27:09 And if Quinn Finley isn't going, you know, the Badgers are having a tough time generating offense. 27:15 You know, the transfers from Minnesota State have not been as good this year as they were last year. 27:20 And I think that's been a big factor for Wisconsin this year struggling. 27:25 You know, they just don't have a lot of depth scoring and... 27:29 And they're scoring, some of their scoring also left. 27:34 Yeah. 27:34 I mean, yeah, I mean, you've got Stramel, Whitelaw, Lucius. 27:37 I mean, that's, that's still three guys that score. 27:41 They lost some of their talent, as you might say, but they're probably not fit for my casings either. 27:48 I don't think Charlie Stramel has the year he's having with Michigan State, if he were in the state of Wisconsin. 27:54 You know, that was just an oil and water situation. 27:56 And Stramel kind of refound his game with M. 27:59 Nightingale. 28:00 That wasn't happening in Madison. 28:03 You know, William Whitelaw, I don't think he was going to be a long-term fit in that situation either. 28:09 And so... 28:10 Fits Wisconsin, or fits Michigan really well though. 28:13 Fits Michigan great. 28:15 But, you know, I see Rhett Pitt leaving Minnesota to go to Minnesota State, you know, it better fit for him with the Mavericks than with the Gophers. 28:24 And it's just not an apples-to-apples comparison sometimes with these players in these programs. 28:29 So, I do like Ohio State. 28:31 I think Steve Rolex done a great job with his team. 28:34 They've got really good goaltending. 28:36 I think they will play a tight defensive structure against Wisconsin. 28:41 Maybe the Badgers can pull out one game, but I don't see them doing enough to win a series. 28:46 I don't see them getting on. 28:49 What do you think, Jack? 28:50 Wisconsin at Ohio State. 28:53 I think they're going to get smacked around. 28:55 I mean, yeah, they just, they don't have the team or the depth. 29:05 You said that top line. 29:06 Go ahead if they can get going. 29:08 But I don't think they're going to be able to match the depth of Ohio State in the long run. 29:12 I think it'll probably be two games. 29:16 I don't know. 29:17 When you come in with that record too, it's kind of, if you're a bubble team and you're playing well, you got some mojo going, it's like, great, let's hit the ground running going into the tournament. 29:26 But I think these guys are probably already packing up, you know, thinking about spring break. 29:31 So, and, and we got Penn State at Michigan, Jack, you already think Michigan's done. 29:38 I just, I think it'll be a three game series. 29:41 I don't think they're, I don't think they're done, but I think it'll go three games and that'll be, that'll be a fun one, you know, to, to watch on Sunday. 29:48 You know, hopefully we don't have to, don't have to call a game or be at a game on Sunday so we can, you know, take that one in. 29:56 But that'll be a really good series. 29:58 And I would, I have Penn State edging the, edging out Michigan, but that'll be a fun one. 30:04 What do you think, Biggs? 30:06 The only caveat to that is it seems like Michigan, for whatever reason, almost changes who they are when they get in these kinds of games. 30:16 They don't do some of the dumb things that they do during the regular season where they turn over pucks or take bad penalties or just give away offense. 30:26 You know, they play a much tighter game. 30:29 It's almost like you wonder what happens with that program where they can turn on that switch and perform like that. 30:35 So I think we're going to see great hockey. 30:37 I think I agree with Jack. 30:38 It's going to be a three-game series. 30:41 Penn State is hungry though. 30:43 You can just tell that program wants to win. 30:48 They're playing the right way. 30:49 I think they're more defensive than they've been the last couple of years, and they've got some real high-end talent. 30:56 They do. 30:58 I do. 30:59 I'm trying to think. 31:02 I do think Ohio State is going to win that series two games straight. 31:07 Boy, I think Michigan goes down in overtime on Sunday. 31:13 That's like a double overtime, some kind of long game. 31:18 The crowd is on edge, and the cowbell will go silent, and Penn State is going to win that one. 31:23 Cowbell will go silent. 31:24 The kids of Yost will go quiet. 31:27 I'm looking. 31:28 The games they play this year are unbelievable. 31:31 I would love to watch this game on Sunday. 31:33 6-5 Michigan, 10-6 Michigan. 31:36 What the heck happened in that game? 31:38 That was crazy. 31:39 I was watching that one. 31:42 Yeah. 31:42 They're all high-scoring affairs, so it'll be interesting if both teams can tweak that and go, hey, we're playing playoff hockey now. 31:49 Let's rein it in, or if it's just going to be an all-out horse race. 31:53 That's what Penn State's been doing the last month and a half, Veegs, they've been playing playoff-style hockey. 31:59 Yeah. 32:00 I think they've played more discipline. 32:02 I think they realized they could win games like that. 32:05 It's just a change of style. 32:08 When you play Michigan in the regular season, I think sometimes all the rules go out the window and the players just get so excited to make plays and show what they got and get in that horse race. 32:18 But playoff time, it changes a little bit. 32:22 All right, it's going to be a fun weekend. 32:26 It's going to be a fun weekend. 32:28 A couple more sponsors here, Veegs. 32:31 We've got Elevated Beer, Wine and Spirits, kind of their main store out of White Bear Lake, right? 32:40 Yeah. 32:40 A couple of White Bear Lake guys who opened the store, want to give back to the community. 32:44 They've also got a store in South Minneapolis. 32:48 If you're looking for crafty stuff, Elevated's got all kinds of options there, but they've also got kind of the big label stuff. 32:54 If you're looking for Bud Miller Coors, Golden Light Cases, just $17.99. 32:59 If you need a big three liter wine, a black box, only $13.99 as well. 33:05 They also have their rare whiskey bourbon raffle going on right now. 33:09 If you stop in the stores, you can get a little ticket still going on through this weekend. 33:14 Check them out, Ryan and Tom, both White Bear guys who are trying to give back to the community. 33:19 And of course, last but not least, Veegs, Cub Foods. 33:24 Your staple, man. 33:25 That's a staple of yours. 33:27 Oh yeah, just down there this week, picking up some fresh produce. 33:31 You know, they're a local company that wants to give back. 33:35 They sponsor the Pulltab Sports Studio. 33:38 They're on the Gopher headsets of PJ Flack, and they've got all kinds of stuff if you need to get party supplies for watching Gopher Hockey, the high school tournament. 33:47 If you want to watch that Michigan-Penn State game on Sunday, make sure you stop at Cub. 33:51 You'll get everything you need in one place, and a lot of them now have beer, wine and spirits options too, so you can pick up those, maybe some THC drinks if you got to cool down from the big weekend. 34:02 So check them out, cub.com for pickup, delivery, or stop in the store. 34:08 All right. 34:09 Of course, we thank them for being sponsors of The GPL Podcast. 34:15 Let me see. 34:15 I'm going to try to save an image here that Jack sent me. 34:18 I didn't realize he sent me an image there, Jack. 34:21 I'm going to save it here in a second. 34:24 But Veegs, we've got Notre Dame coming into Mariucci this weekend. 34:32 I think Jeff Jackson is at like $4.99 or $5.99 or something like that. 34:40 And obviously we're hoping that Minnesota sweeps them, but it's going to be an end of an era this week weekend. 34:47 Isn't it? 34:48 Oh, hopefully. 34:51 Yeah. 34:51 I mean, Jeff Jackson has been a long time college coach when he was at Lake Superior state. 34:56 They were a juggernaut back then. 34:58 You know, he's the guy that started the national development program as their first coach, you know, recruiting Jordan Leopold to come out there and try something new. 35:06 And, you know, he's had some success at Notre Dame, but he's never really gotten them over the hump. 35:11 And now with the NIL and the Transfer Portal, I think he's just kind of, you know, sometimes it's run its course and you need a new voice and new energy to take over. 35:23 And I think that's what's happening with Jeff Jackson moving on because he's not retiring from hockey, just moving on from Notre Dame. 35:30 And, you know, he's a good coach who plays a structured team system. 35:34 It's just not working for the Irish this year. 35:37 They've, they've not been as consistent as usually you'd expect from him. 35:42 But they did get an overtime here earlier this year, Jack. 35:45 So it's not always as simple as that, is it? 35:49 No, it's not. 35:51 And that, it was kind of the duality of the Jeff Jackson coaching style and what Notre Dame is this year, like Veegs pointed out. 36:00 And because in night one, it was the five goals, I think, in the in the first period. 36:05 And then Gophers didn't score for four periods after that. 36:10 On Saturday night, they kind of brought that play style that we're used to. 36:15 And that's playoff hockey play style. 36:16 Now, it's really hard to just snap your fingers and go to that this weekend. 36:22 But they do have the ability to do that. 36:24 I almost wish we were playing this game at Notre Dame instead of Mariucci, just because we have, like, it seems like a flawless record the past five years at Notre Dame. 36:34 And they always seem to sneak one out at Mariucci. 36:36 So it'll be it'll be interesting. 36:40 I think we'll figure out really quickly on Friday, which Notre Dame team they're going to put forward. 36:47 Yeah, I remember that game, that Saturday game. 36:49 Motsko was like, Cole Canoogle, Danny Nelson really came to play that night. 36:54 And they were physical. 36:56 They were intense. 36:57 The refs kind of swallowed their whistles a little bit during that game. 37:01 And it was, you know, what some people call man's game. 37:05 And I think it took the Gophers too long to adjust that night to that style. 37:10 You almost have to expect that this weekend. 37:13 It's not going to be an easy weekend. 37:14 I bet it's going to be really physical. 37:16 You know, Notre Dame brings a lot of fans to Mary Ritchie when they play there. 37:20 So I would expect kind of the same energy this weekend. 37:23 Patience, right, Veegs? 37:25 It's a big patience weekend for the Gophers game. 37:29 It's a weekend where you have to be able to take some contact and make a good hockey play. 37:35 You have to be ready for that kind of battle and that compete. 37:38 You can't just expect to be skill play, skill play, skill play. 37:43 If you're not getting back to your retrieval quickly, you have to be able to absorb a hit and still maintain possession and move the puck along. 37:52 And that's sometimes not always the strength of Minnesota. 37:56 And I think that's going to be real focused. 37:58 I'll be watching Sam Rinzel and Ryan Chesley this weekend and seeing how they handle that kind of pressure and that poor check. 38:05 Because it's been a little inconsistent with those two and it's not a talent issue. 38:09 Those two are very talented. 38:11 That's why they're high draft picks. 38:13 But they're going to have to be consistent. 38:17 What are your thoughts, Jack? 38:19 It's patience is a big thing this weekend. 38:21 And like you said, Rinzel and Chesley, they got to really be on their game. 38:29 Yeah. 38:30 Remembering back to the last time that Saturday game, I think it was one or the two. 38:37 I think it was Chesley. 38:38 He really struggled that game. 38:40 It was just one of those games where pucks were bouncing on a stick and fanning on passes, but it was just something going on. 38:46 It could have been that tight play style. 38:49 I think it's going to be not really what Minnesota puts forward. 38:53 I think they're going to win the weekend no matter what happens. 38:58 It might be three games, though, just depending on what Notre Dame puts forward. 39:03 I think whatever the Gophers put forward their game, they're going to win the weekend. 39:06 But depending on what Notre Dame puts forward could make it two or three games. 39:10 I think we'll probably see an overtime game is just my guess. 39:19 When I was calling the last Notre Dame series, because that was the last time I was on the podcast too, was the Notre Dame week. 39:25 My guess was a split with the Gophers winning in a shootout. 39:28 It was whatever the bold call would get the shootout win. 39:31 There was like a minute 40 left in overtime and I was like, this is going to happen. 39:37 I'm going to get it right and they scored on it. 39:39 So good thing is the shootouts are gone. 39:43 So I think we'll see an overtime game, but that will play in the Gophers' favor that it's not three on three or a shootout. 39:50 That was kind of Vig's call last week. 39:53 We get to a shootout, the Gophers need that extra point to win the title, and the Gophers win the title on a shootout goal. 40:05 I thought it was a great call, Vig's. 40:06 You really weren't too far off, really. 40:10 It was close. 40:11 I mean, they had two close games against Penn State. 40:13 You know, I just needed them to take care of business on Friday and then get to OT on Saturday. 40:17 But Mikey Kester had other ideas on Saturday with his great vision. 40:22 You know, he's one of those defensemen who I think handles that kind of pressure. 40:25 Oh, yes. 40:26 And allows his teammates to skate into space. 40:30 He's really good at manipulating that. 40:32 That's why he can get pucks through traffic. 40:34 It's why he doesn't take huge hits on retrievals. 40:37 It's because he's deceptive and shifty and has that experience to make the right play in those situations. 40:44 And it's what makes him a great player in the Big Ten. 40:49 Veegs, I've also really liked the play of Oliver Moore these last couple, three, four weeks. 40:55 He's got a point streak going. 40:57 He seems to be making the right plays at the right time. 41:01 He gets in the dirty areas as well. 41:06 Well, I think what you're seeing with Oliver Moore is he's making higher percentage plays than maybe he was earlier in his career with the Gophers. 41:14 He's putting pucks into dangerous places, not just taking what's there all the time. 41:20 You're seeing him make some possession plays on the rush where he just doesn't settle for a bad shot that the goalie sees. 41:28 He's finding ways to create the ground game offense or he's creating opportunities to change angles. 41:34 I think that's really made him a more dangerous player for Minnesota down the stretch here. 41:39 And he's been better in the faceoff circle. 41:43 He has been better in the faceoff, which has been huge. 41:49 I know you're not fond of the Tacni jerseys, Jack, but they did pull them out on Sunday. 41:56 They were victorious in it. 41:57 They have not lost in those jerseys. 41:59 They had a 3-3 tie with Michigan State, but it looks like they'll be retired now. 42:06 Now that you've seen them a couple of times, do you feel any better about them or do you still hate them? 42:11 I like them better on video than, Okay. 42:15 Then in person. 42:16 Yeah. 42:16 It could be the lighting at Mariucci too. 42:19 Yeah. 42:19 They were better the second time, but I was shocked that these, like, that these are the jerseys that we're picking with the BigTen title on the line. 42:30 It's kind of crazy that they, you know, they'd go to those and pull them out for last game of the season. 42:35 So really, I don't know if Grezzer makes that call, I'm trying to think back, I don't know who makes that call. 42:42 They don't go to the captains, maybe it's the coaches, but who made the call for it? 42:46 Maybe I'll ask Grezzer this weekend. 42:49 We had kind of heard earlier, Veegs, that it didn't look like they were coming back ever. 42:54 And we were suggesting, hey, you guys should put, do some kind of charity thing. 42:58 And then we heard a little rumblings the week before that they might pull them out this weekend. 43:03 I'm kind of like, and I'm kind of with you, Jack. 43:09 I did think they looked better under the lighting at Pagula. 43:13 I really thought the numbers and even the names really pop feegs. 43:17 How do you feel about them now? 43:20 I'm still a little bit on the dark side. 43:23 I'm not a huge, huge fan of them. 43:25 I thought they could have been a little bit cooler of a design. 43:28 But you know, if it's a championship jersey, I might keep rolling with it every once in a while here. 43:35 We might see it this weekend. 43:37 You know, if they're lucky. 43:38 Now the fans are going to maybe a last chance. 43:45 What are your predictions then this weekend? 43:47 Starting with you, Jack, what do you got? 43:49 Gophers and two Gophers and three. 43:53 Do they get upset? 43:54 Where are you at? 43:55 No, they might get upset in one game, but there's I would be shocked. 44:02 I really am stuck between two or three. 44:04 I do think a game is going to go to overtime, and if they pick that up and they sweep, if they don't, then it's three. 44:12 I'm going to go with, gosh, this is the most... 44:16 Usually I'm like, sweep, sweep, sweep. 44:18 I don't know, but I think, I think, you know, Notre Dame's done. 44:22 Like they're not one of those momentum teams that we were kind of talking about. 44:25 So I think they're, they're probably done. 44:27 And who knows, maybe the players really want to get Jeff his 600th win, but probably not. 44:32 So, so no big 600 Veegs. 44:35 What do you think? 44:38 I think Gopher's pull off wins on Friday and Saturday. 44:41 Yeah. 44:41 I like the way they played against Penn State. 44:43 You know, I think they have some inconsistency defensively, but I just don't know if Notre Dame has quite the firepower to take advantage of it. 44:52 Like some of these other teams have had against Minnesota. 44:55 So I think it's going to be a clean weekend and Jack's going to be able to watch Penn State, Michigan on Sunday. 45:03 I like the way you think. 45:04 I like the way you think. 45:05 I like that. 45:08 Well, I'm kind of with you guys. 45:10 I think the Gophers will. 45:12 I think there could be an overtime. 45:15 I'd like to see an overtime on Saturday night. 45:20 Just kind of get them back, you know. 45:22 They got us an overtime here and it was three on three BS. 45:25 Let's go. 45:27 Overtime would be great because it's five on five and it's different than the three on three. 45:32 So it might be a good experience for this team to play an overtime and just clean sheet of ice. 45:39 All starting fresh. 45:41 Yeah. 45:41 So it might be a good thing if they get to it. 45:43 I don't think it's going to happen, but it's a three game series. 45:47 So you have a little bit of wiggle room there. 45:51 You guys got anything else? 45:55 I was a little surprised to see Eric get to play both games at Penn State last weekend. 46:01 I think it's just another sign how much confidence the coaching staff has in him and how much the coaching staff did want that conference title. 46:10 So they're going to put their best foot forward. 46:12 And it does a signal of confidence in their goaltender and the team that they have. 46:17 So interesting to see going down the stretch because they, they did not take the foot off the gaps for that game, you know, and when Chesley's out, you know, they, they shorten the bench. 46:27 They did something, something to watch for this weekend. 46:31 Are the ice times maybe a little bit different than normal now that playoff time? 46:36 We'll see. 46:38 All right. 46:39 You got any last thoughts there, Jack? 46:40 Are you ready for overtime? 46:42 I'm just curious of somebody did it last year. 46:45 Somebody did a Big Ten. 46:46 Oh, maybe it was an NCAA bracket. 46:48 But I'm curious if you guys can put together a Big Ten bracket challenge or something last second, because I feel like, I feel like Penn State is going to beat Michigan. 46:56 And then Michigan State, by week, do you really want to have fun with Penn State now? 47:00 Now they're steamrolling. 47:01 So I know I think there's going to be a little chaos on that. 47:04 You know that it would be quite interesting, you know, if things go chalk, you know, Minnesota is hosting Ohio State, if that series happens. 47:14 But like you said, if Michigan gets upset by Penn State, Penn State is going right back to where they just had some really good success at Monterina. 47:23 It does make for definitely an interesting following semifinal weekend. 47:29 So stay tuned. 47:32 People say, oh, I don't want to pay for Big Ten Plus. 47:35 I've been loving Big Ten Plus all season just because, you know, Friday night, I'm just going to come coming only on Saturdays weekend, but this Friday night, I'll be able to sit here and watch three games all at the same time. 47:47 And love it. 47:48 I love it. 47:49 So we weren't able to really do that before. 47:51 So I love it. 47:52 So, and I like the condensed games that they put together so you can spend 30 minutes and get an update on a team. 48:00 You know, it's been really nice for the podcast to be able to watch some of those of the other teams before they play Minnesota. 48:06 He can get a snapshot of what they look like. 48:09 Well, thanks for coming on the show, Jack. 48:11 You're now one ahead of Eric Shearhorn and he's a little bitter already. 48:18 Sucks to suck, Eric. 48:19 He's like, can we have an emergency podcast? 48:22 Like it could be five minutes. 48:26 That's just how it goes. 48:27 But we appreciate you coming on again. 48:29 We like having you as a regular now. 48:31 So that's going to do it for this episode of the GPL podcast. 48:35 We will be back next week after the sem or the quarterfinals. 48:39 I guess it is and Pat McCleady will be making his return. 48:42 An earlier 730 show there. 48:44 So make sure you tune in for that. 48:47 For the rest of you watching live, stay tuned. 48:49 We got some overtime coming up. 48:52 But for the rest of you, thanks for watching the GPL podcast.