0:04 This is The GPL Podcast, part of the Pulltab Sports family. 0:10 Oh, boy, Jup making mistakes. 0:13 I love it. 0:28 But I think the Gophers have, skater-wise, one of the 19 best rosters in the country. 0:39 Come on down. 0:45 Now, here's Jupiter and Vegoe. 0:53 Jûpe Good evening and welcome to The GPL Podcast, episode number 288, the season 15 premiere. 1:02 Jûpe Good evening, Mr. 1:03 Jûpe Eric Vegoe. 1:04 Jûpe How's it going, Veegs? 1:06 Vegoe Good evening. 1:07 Vegoe It is going great. 1:08 Vegoe I am glad it's hockey season. 1:10 Vegoe I'm just waiting for that cooler weather to come. 1:12 Vegoe Oh, waiting. 1:13 Vegoe My favorite weather of the year is fall, so. 1:16 Jûpe I would agree with you, and it's going to be like 89 on Friday when we head down to Mary Uchi. 1:22 Vegoe So it's hockey season, it will feel like hockey season very soon. 1:26 Jûpe It will be next week. 1:27 Jûpe It will be next week. 1:28 Jûpe Well, so much has gone on. 1:30 Jûpe We had our summer episode, kind of did a little recap, but now we're ready to get into the season. 1:35 Jûpe And what did we hear just a couple weeks ago, Veegs? 1:39 Jûpe Frank Mazzocco is coming back to TV this weekend. 1:43 Vegoe I know it's really going to sound like hockey season when you hear those dulcet tones on your TV and you haven't muted the TV and you're playing the radio, you know, it's going to be like old time hockey again. 1:54 Jûpe It will be like, I don't think he's been on 2010, final five maybe. 2:02 Jûpe I'm not really sure. 2:04 Jûpe Well, you know, I know what you're saying. 2:05 Jûpe Let's ask him. 2:07 Jûpe Frank Mazzocco, joining the show. 2:10 Jûpe Surprise guest tonight, Frank. 2:14 Jûpe Welcome back to television, sir. 2:18 Frank Do I have to wear makeup? 2:22 Jûpe Yes, you do. 2:22 Jûpe Get out your old makeup. 2:24 Frank Oh no. 2:25 Jûpe You have to buy new stuff maybe. 2:27 Jûpe It's probably a little dried out now. 2:30 Vegoe Maybe expired. 2:34 Frank I threw it out 15 years ago, in case you were. 2:38 Frank To help you with your math. 2:40 Jûpe It was the final five? 2:43 Jûpe Final five. 2:45 Jûpe I remember you always saying the last bunch of games you ever called were North Dakota games. 2:52 Frank He said, happily. 2:54 Jûpe Now, I can laugh at it now, but I knew you're calling a bunch of North Dakota games. 3:02 Frank It was three Gopher games up there and I got shellacked. 3:07 Frank And then why did North Dakota wind up playing a play-in game here? 3:13 Frank Because that would have been three more. 3:16 Jûpe I don't know what I had for breakfast. 3:17 Jûpe Do you remember what happened in 2010 Final Five? 3:20 Jûpe I certainly don't remember. 3:22 Jûpe I know. 3:23 Jûpe I was just trying to remember. 3:24 Jûpe I was just trying to remember. 3:26 Jûpe So the deal is Jim Rich is heading to London to cover the Vikings. 3:30 Jûpe They needed someone to fill in and they gave you a call. 3:38 Frank You got to reach the bottom of the barrel sooner or later. 3:40 Jûpe Oh, come on. 3:44 Frank I have no voice right now, so I don't know what's going to happen. 3:46 Frank No, honestly, I answered in about 30 seconds. 3:52 Frank I said, yeah, I'll do it. 3:56 Frank It's just going to be fun, provided I get some voice back here and can talk. 4:00 Frank But I might fall on my face. 4:07 Frank Look, if I really get desperate, all I have to do is say, Mick, what do you think about that? 4:14 Frank And he'll fill for whatever I need. 4:20 Jûpe It's true, he will. 4:22 Jûpe He'll fill in nicely for you. 4:23 Jûpe He can keep going. 4:27 Jûpe I don't know if he'll go off on tangents quite like the Wugger used to, but he could definitely fill time for you. 4:36 Frank Right. 4:36 Frank I don't think that goes off on tangents, but he does ramble. 4:45 Jûpe That's what we love about Pat. 4:46 Jûpe That's why he's one of our best guests. 4:48 Jûpe When he comes on, we could just send him a topic. 4:51 Jûpe He's going to go and entertain everyone. 4:56 Frank I talked to him today. 4:57 Frank We've already set up a couple of questions back and forth. 5:02 Jûpe Okay, one thing I saw you put out today that I shared is that you're doing a photo everyday challenge to raise awareness for cancer, aren't you? 5:17 Frank Tell us about that. 5:19 Frank Thank you for mentioning it just, it was another one of those things that I'm rarely on Facebook and this opportunity just popped up. 5:30 Frank Don't ask me where or how, I was on my tablet and there it was. 5:34 Frank And I thought I could do that. 5:38 Frank So it's to raise money. 5:42 Frank Right now, I don't know how many photographers are involved. 5:48 Frank I know, after I signed up, they set my donation goal, which kind of surprised me. 5:57 Frank 250 bucks sounds like an awful lot for a guy who's, you know, just threw his feet in the water this morning. 6:03 Frank But it's going to be a photo a day. 6:06 Frank And, you know, the rules are that you take the picture on the day. 6:12 Frank They're going to be flexible. 6:15 Frank You know, they want to raise money, right? 6:18 Frank Yeah. 6:18 Frank But that will be my goal. 6:19 Frank And I've already got a couple of topics set up for the next week or so. 6:23 Frank And so I'm looking forward to it very much. 6:26 Frank I have a new lens for my camera. 6:27 Frank So that's going to be some pictures. 6:30 Frank Yeah. 6:31 Jûpe Yeah. 6:31 Jûpe I got a new lens this summer too. 6:33 Jûpe 100 to 500 RF lens for my camera. 6:37 Jûpe So I was pretty excited. 6:37 Jûpe I threw a QR code up on the page. 6:39 Jûpe If you guys are watching live, if you scan that QR code and bring you right to Frank Mazzocco's Everyday Photo Challenge Fundraiser for Cancer. 6:50 Jûpe So be sure to check that out. 6:54 Jûpe Frank, I can't tell you how excited I am to have you back on TV. 6:59 Jûpe Obviously, you know how many people love you on TV for so long, and it ended so quickly. 7:09 Jûpe I think this is going to be a really cool thing to have you come back to call this. 7:17 Frank I'm looking forward to it, and I appreciate it. 7:20 Frank I really do. 7:24 Frank I haven't used my voice all summer. 7:26 Frank I haven't used it since a year and a half, so I got some vocal exercises to do here. 7:33 Frank But I'm looking forward to it. 7:36 Frank One of the things I like about it is Michigan Tech is in town. 7:41 Frank Now, it's just going to be a little bit of old school. 7:44 Jûpe Old school, yeah. 7:45 Frank It'll be fun. 7:47 Jûpe Well, we also have to thank you because we started this podcast 15 years ago, and who was our first guest in episode number two was you. 7:57 Jûpe You came on with us. 7:58 Jûpe You helped us out. 7:59 Jûpe This is your 11th appearance on the show. 8:04 Jûpe Yeah, 11th appearance. 8:05 Jûpe You were last on our 200th special episode back in November of 2021. 8:11 Jûpe So it's been a little while since you've been on, but I couldn't think of a better reason to surprise the people watching live and the people who are going to watch this or listen to this later to be able to hear from you because I guess that you're a big boost to us and this podcast being guest over and over at least once a year for many years. 8:32 Jûpe And it means a lot to me and it means a lot to Vegoe that you took your time out to help us get our podcast out there. 8:39 Jûpe So we thank you as well. 8:42 Frank Well, you're welcome for that. 8:44 Frank It was easy. 8:44 Frank It's a pleasure to do. 8:46 Frank You guys have just grown and grown. 8:49 Frank I'm looking forward to the rest of tonight's show because I need some notes on all the new players. 8:58 Frank Well, there's a lot of them. 8:59 Jûpe There's a lot of them. 9:00 Jûpe So it's going to be one of those things. 9:04 Vegoe It was pretty funny at the opening practice, Frank. 9:06 Vegoe You noticed right away, this is a big Gopher team. 9:10 Vegoe You're telling me, usually you used to count the guys that were over six feet tall. 9:14 Vegoe And now it's the reverse with this team where you can count the guys that are under six feet tall on this roster. 9:19 Vegoe So it's quite, quite different than it used to be in the old days. 9:22 Frank Yeah, the number is staggering. 9:26 Frank I used the benchmark, six, two and taller. 9:31 Frank There's ten of them. 9:34 Frank There's ten of them. 9:38 Frank And we're not counting the guys who are six, one. 9:41 Frank So it's, yeah. 9:43 Frank And I don't know, you guys were at that practice a week ago. 9:49 Frank They're pretty mobile too. 9:52 Jûpe Yes, very much so. 9:54 Jûpe It's, it's, it's really exciting. 9:57 Jûpe Yes, we know they've lost a lot of points this year, Veegs that will have to be filled in. 10:04 Jûpe But it all starts this weekend. 10:07 Jûpe And it's going to be exciting to start this weekend, have Frank back on TV. 10:13 Jûpe For those of you outside of the viewing area, you can see it on BTN Plus. 10:18 Jûpe It will be streamed. 10:19 Jûpe So you don't have to be on Fox 9 or Fox 9 Plus on Saturday. 10:23 Jûpe You can see it if you have the BTN Plus subscription. 10:26 Jûpe We gave away 50% off code. 10:28 Jûpe Just I think it was last week, Veegs, where everyone got... 10:31 Jûpe It went from $90 down to $45 for the season. 10:35 Jûpe So many people took advantage of that. 10:37 Jûpe And it's going to help me because I'll be in Grand Marais on Saturday. 10:41 Jûpe And how am I going to watch it? 10:42 Jûpe BTN Plus. 10:45 Jûpe So I'll get to see you, Frank, on Saturday night. 10:47 Jûpe And I'll probably go back and watch you on Friday as well. 10:50 Frank Yeah, well, I don't have BTN Plus, so I'm just going to set my VCR. 10:59 Jûpe Well, Frank, thanks for coming on. 11:02 Jûpe I know we got to rest your voice. 11:05 Jûpe I wanted to say thank you to all the great stuff you've done for us over the years, and just kind of build some excitement of you coming back to television this weekend. 11:13 Jûpe Good luck. 11:16 Jûpe We're just all excited, and just thank you for coming on with us. 11:20 Frank Hey, easy peasy. 11:22 Frank Thanks very much. 11:23 Frank I appreciate the photo plug too. 11:25 Jûpe Yes. 11:26 Jûpe Thanks, Frank. 11:27 Jûpe We'll see you later. 11:29 Vegoe Good to see you on Friday, hopefully. 11:31 Jûpe Deal. 11:32 Frank Tomorrow. 11:34 Vegoe Oh, yeah, tomorrow too. 11:35 Vegoe Oh my goodness. 11:36 Vegoe Two times in a week. 11:39 Frank I'm getting paid for two games. 11:40 Frank I'll be there tomorrow. 11:42 Vegoe Way to go. 11:44 Jûpe All right. 11:44 Jûpe Thanks, Frank. 11:46 Vegoe See you guys. 11:48 Jûpe All right, Veegs. 11:50 Jûpe Here we go. 11:51 Jûpe Oh, it's great to have Frank on. 11:52 Jûpe Kind of surprised people with the, with him coming on. 11:56 Jûpe That was a, it was real nice of him to do for us. 11:59 Vegoe Yeah, it's going to be good to see him on the air again, especially, you know, playing the Huskies. 12:03 Vegoe I think it's fitting to get Frank back on the play-by-play call for, for Fox. 12:09 Jûpe It'll be great. 12:10 Jûpe Oh, it's going to be fun. 12:11 Jûpe Of course, thanks, Frank, for coming on. 12:13 Jûpe It was, there we go. 12:16 Jûpe Eric Breivor saw some of Frank behind the mic this weekend. 12:22 Jûpe Talking about, oh, oh, here's Motay. 12:25 Jûpe Another season of The Chance of Glory. 12:27 Jûpe I'm here for it. 12:28 Jûpe Let's effing go. 12:30 Jûpe And we got Matthew here. 12:33 Jûpe I remember seeing Rumpach step on the ice this summer. 12:35 Jûpe I thought Rinzel was tall, but wow. 12:38 Vegoe Yeah, seeing him at the World Junior Summer Showcase. 12:42 Vegoe You know, going for Mooney to Rumpach was quite the change. 12:45 Vegoe I don't look up at a lot of hockey players. 12:49 Vegoe Jacob's a big guy and he moves pretty well. 12:52 Vegoe And I think Steve Miller is really honing in his game. 12:55 Vegoe And he's going to be an impact player right away. 12:57 Jûpe Well, let's talk about the whole off season. 13:00 Jûpe A lot of guys are gone, Veegs. 13:03 Vegoe Yeah, like over 60% of the scoring's gone from last year. 13:08 Jûpe I saw the GopherPuckStats putting out 200 plus points lost. 13:18 Vegoe Yeah, it's a lot. 13:20 Vegoe You look at the leading returning scorers, Brody Lamb, Brody Ziemer, and then a lot of guys with like four or five, six goals. 13:28 Vegoe And so I think Minnesota is really going to have to be looking for new players this year and new roles. 13:34 Vegoe And it's going to be exciting, I think. 13:37 Vegoe LJ Mooney is obviously probably one of the most dynamic talents for Minnesota up front. 13:43 Vegoe But otherwise, you're seeing a lot of size, a lot of speed, and a lot of compete. 13:47 Vegoe So I think this is going to be a little bit different Gopher team than people are used to. 13:52 Vegoe And I'm interested to see it in game action because I've probably been to five or six practices so far leading up to the season. 14:00 Vegoe And this looks like a hard, direct team. 14:03 Vegoe They play pretty heavy in practice, and I'm sure once you put refs on the ice and some fans in the building, they'll play even harder. 14:10 Jûpe I'm looking at some of your notes. 14:11 Jûpe You get some lines that you've seen so far this year that you're going to share later. 14:16 Jûpe But what else happened in this off season? 14:19 Jûpe We'll talk about later. 14:20 Jûpe We've got a new pairwise is gone. 14:23 Jûpe The NPI is coming along. 14:26 Jûpe Boy, a lot of coaches left. 14:29 Jûpe Our guy, Brad Schlossman, was writing a lot about that today. 14:32 Jûpe About it's more coaches than we've seen in recent history. 14:37 Vegoe Yeah, 11 new coaches in NCAA Hockey this year. 14:41 Vegoe Quite the turnover. 14:42 Vegoe A lot of guys with lots of experience leaving college hockey. 14:46 Vegoe I think that the changes in college athletics, the last couple of years, have been a lot for coaches. 14:54 Vegoe Right now, we've got roster limits that are new. 14:57 Vegoe We've got CHL players that's new. 14:59 Vegoe And apparently, now you can play some professional games and still come to college, which is kind of crazy. 15:06 Jûpe Yeah, yeah. 15:08 Vegoe You know, there's like a threshold of how much, you know, a player can earn and money that they would have gotten in room and board and all that stuff that if it's even, they can come back, which is weird to me. 15:21 Vegoe So a lot of changes. 15:22 Vegoe So some of the coaches are turning over the reins to new blood. 15:25 Vegoe And you know, that'll be interesting for college hockey. 15:28 Vegoe And I think it leads to more unknowns going into this year than maybe any other, you know, the transfer portal was different, but those were pretty known commodities. 15:38 Vegoe Now you've got, you know, almost 150 CHL players coming. 15:43 Vegoe I'm not sure how all those guys are going to translate to college hockey. 15:47 Vegoe You know, it's very similar to the USHL players coming, but you have players who, you know, haven't had their eye on college, and now they're going to be taking classes and being student-athletes, it's probably a little bit of a different experience. 16:01 Vegoe And probably it's going to be challenging for coaches to figure out, you know, are these good fits? 16:06 Vegoe Is this good for our program? 16:08 Vegoe How long are those guys going to stay? 16:10 Vegoe How much do they buy into the routine of college? 16:13 Vegoe Because you only get the two games a week. 16:15 Vegoe And, you know, a lot of practice time. 16:18 Jûpe I see Steve Larson, who's the biggest surprise? 16:21 Jûpe Is Kurth leaving? 16:23 Jûpe After I heard he graduated, I guess it's a lot, it's less surprising. 16:29 Jûpe Probably spend the whole year in the AHL. 16:32 Jûpe But you know, if he's graduated and he's done with school, it's not a terrible excuse. 16:40 Jûpe It really isn't. 16:43 Vegoe I mean, I understand it from Kurth's perspective, life-wise perhaps. 16:47 Vegoe I think he's going to be an AHL, ECHL guy. 16:51 Vegoe He's going to bounce between those. 16:53 Vegoe I think it's a big difference, the pace and pressure of pro hockey. 16:58 Vegoe You talk to a lot of guys that go pro, there's not a lot of development being done with players who are pros. 17:05 Vegoe If you're not performing and you're not up to snuff, they don't sit you down and say, hey, we're going to give you a chance after chance after chance, it's we're going to replace you. 17:15 Vegoe So the players are kind of on their own, they've got to be ready and they've got to hit the ground running. 17:19 Vegoe You remember Nate Condon was on our show way back and he talked about how he had a bad two weeks, he had another bad week and his chance in American pro hockey was kind of done. 17:31 Vegoe Yeah. 17:32 Vegoe And that can happen really quick to a player. 17:35 Vegoe And so if you don't have a lot of confidence in your game and you're going to a higher level, it's hard to find it there. 17:42 Vegoe And I think Kurth left some development on the table by going pro. 17:49 Jûpe Probably did. 17:51 Jûpe He hung around a lot this summer. 17:55 Jûpe He was part of the crowd at the Gopher football game, wasn't he? 17:58 Jûpe He was part of that group that celebrated Gopher hockey. 18:05 Vegoe Maybe. 18:11 Vegoe I think he's probably the surprise. 18:12 Vegoe Chesley is probably another one. 18:14 Vegoe He maybe is more of a pro kind of player going on, but I don't think he's ready yet. 18:20 Vegoe And I remember hearing Bob Mazzocco talking on PA at the state fair. 18:26 Vegoe He basically said, I expected this team to be loaded. 18:29 Vegoe And I had my non-conference schedule ready for a loaded team. 18:34 Vegoe Well, I don't know if Oliver Moore was necessarily ready to go pro either. 18:38 Vegoe You know, he's another player who I think he's going to be a pro. 18:42 Vegoe Like he has definitely got the mindset to be a pro. 18:44 Vegoe He's got the skills to be a pro. 18:46 Vegoe But I think he's leaving development on the table by going now. 18:49 Vegoe And he's one of those players. 18:51 Vegoe He's going to be going back and forth a little bit as he refines his game to play at the pro level. 18:57 Vegoe So, you know, having all those departures probably hurt. 19:01 Vegoe Snug Rude, you know, he's right in the top six of the blues. 19:04 Vegoe He's right on the power play. 19:06 Jûpe Yeah. 19:06 Vegoe Sam Renzell, you know, probably had some development left at the college level, but the Blackhawks are going to play him a ton and he's going to get a great opportunity there. 19:14 Vegoe So hard to fault those two. 19:16 Jûpe And even more. 19:17 Jûpe I mean, they might try to play him. 19:19 Jûpe They've been playing him a lot in the preseason. 19:21 Jûpe So it's probably going to get sent down. 19:26 Jûpe But I think he's going to have more of a chance than some of the others that left. 19:31 Vegoe I think he's got the pro discipline, the pro demeanor, the attitude to handle the hard coaching and doing the work to be a pro. 19:40 Vegoe Whereas some of these other players, I think it's going to be a little bit rougher at times. 19:47 Jûpe All right. 19:47 Jûpe All right. 19:48 Jûpe I see what you mean. 19:49 Jûpe Well, before we get to your preseason top 20, which I know you struggled with because everyone struggles this year, we need to talk about one of our sponsors, Veegs. 19:57 Jûpe And we're going to talk about Gateway Fiber. 20:01 Jûpe Taking over on the north side, Fiber is great. 20:04 Jûpe We rely on it here. 20:06 Jûpe Tell us about Gateway Fiber. 20:08 Jûpe Yeah. 20:08 Vegoe I mean, you don't want to be that guy on the video call or on the podcast that's got the bad internet. 20:14 Vegoe You know, you want Fiber. 20:15 Vegoe And in Minnesota, where the state of hockey and a bad internet connection is like a bad line change, slows everything down, causes chaos. 20:23 Vegoe You might even lose the game. 20:24 Vegoe So check out Gateway Fiber, you know, they're coming all over here in the North Metro. 20:29 Vegoe And they're not just another provider. 20:31 Vegoe They're on your team. 20:32 Vegoe Visit gatewayfiber.com or call 1-800-201-4339 to see if Gateway Fiber is available in your area because life is too short for bad internet. 20:44 Jûpe It definitely is, Veegs. 20:46 Jûpe It definitely is. 20:47 Jûpe All right, preseason top 20, always tough. 20:51 Jûpe You've got some obvious teams here and there. 20:56 Jûpe I know you had on your official, a lot of your polls had, you know, what the USCHO decided. 21:02 Jûpe I just kind of tweaked a little bit, put what the team was rated last on your last poll if they were rated at all. 21:09 Jûpe Here it is. 21:10 Jûpe Western Michigan obviously deserves a top spot there. 21:12 Jûpe The defending champs, they've got quite a bit coming back. 21:15 Jûpe Things are looking good for them. 21:17 Vegoe Yeah, I do kind of shade the defending championship a little bit when I do like an opening top 20. 21:26 Vegoe You know, they're the returning champ. 21:27 Vegoe They get to defend it. 21:29 Vegoe So I don't know if Western Michigan is my pick to win the Frozen Four in Vegas at the end of the year. 21:36 Vegoe But I think right now they're a very deserving team. 21:39 Vegoe First Wilder did a great job with that program last year. 21:42 Vegoe Like he said, with zero NIL dollars. 21:46 Vegoe This year he's gone into the portal and he's added a couple extra players to fill some holes with guys who went pro. 21:53 Vegoe They've got great goaltending coming back. 21:55 Vegoe You know, they've got their NCAA tournament MVP back. 21:59 Vegoe They've got a lot of good pieces and the media and coaches picked Western Michigan to win the NCHC, which I think is going to be an improved conference this year. 22:09 Vegoe So kudos to them. 22:10 Vegoe They're number one. 22:13 Jûpe And really, your top four, maybe not Providence at five, but your top four is pretty close to what they did last season. 22:21 Jûpe I mean, Boston University, Michigan State is coming back strong. 22:24 Jûpe Denver is always strong. 22:26 Jûpe Providence kind of jumped up a little bit there, but that's looking pretty consistent based off of the end of last year. 22:33 Vegoe Yeah, I think if you look in this tier, like one through ten, I think all those teams have pretty solid chances to make the NCAA tournament this year and can compete to win it. 22:48 Vegoe I think they've all got really good pieces in place. 22:51 Vegoe They've added talented freshmen. 22:53 Vegoe They've got good goal-tending. 22:55 Vegoe They've got experienced coaches leading their teams. 22:59 Vegoe I think, you know, anyone in that top ten has a chance to win it this year. 23:05 Jûpe And then we've got Penn State just following up there. 23:07 Jûpe Maine, North Dakota, Boston College will be in town next week. 23:11 Jûpe Penn State, they snuck into that frozen for last year. 23:15 Jûpe They prayed super well at the end of the year. 23:17 Jûpe And they just added Mr. 23:19 Jûpe Superstar and Gavin McKenna. 23:21 Vegoe Yeah, I've got to give a lot of credit to Guy Gadowski. 23:25 Vegoe You know, I think he's improved his coaching acumen in the last couple of years. 23:30 Vegoe You know, they're not just a chaos hockey team anymore. 23:33 Vegoe I am seeing more structure in that team and I'm seeing them use their skill a little bit more effectively and not give away the puck so much. 23:43 Vegoe I think that was one of the things that hampered them probably like four or five years ago. 23:48 Vegoe They just didn't have enough possession to really dominate, win a lot of games. 23:52 Vegoe They were always dangerous. 23:54 Vegoe But I think that's a different kind of team than the one that Guy Gadowski is putting on the ice now. 23:59 Vegoe They are a lot more consistent and they'll go through this early schedule where they play a less than challenging schedule. 24:09 Vegoe And I think Gavin McKenna is going to be putting up a lot of points. 24:12 Vegoe You know, I was trying to figure out how many points am I expecting from Gavin McKenna this year. 24:17 Vegoe And I think with his schedule, 60 is probably your over-under. 24:22 Vegoe You know, he could easily hit 70, 75 points this year. 24:27 Vegoe But I think 60 is probably a good measure to see, you know, how well is he actually playing for the Nittany Lions. 24:34 Jûpe And is he 18 yet? 24:37 Jûpe Yeah, because he, well, because he wasn't eligible for the draft. 24:41 Jûpe He must be turning 18 sometime after that cutoff. 24:45 Jûpe So yeah. 24:46 Vegoe But he's a young player, just like Verhoff at North Dakota. 24:50 Vegoe They're the top two draft eligible players in college hockey this year. 24:55 Vegoe So it's going to be interesting to see how they adjust. 24:58 Vegoe The one thing about McKenna is he's not a big player. 25:02 Vegoe You know, he's probably like that 5'11, 6. 25:06 Vegoe But I think he's in that 160s for weight. 25:10 Vegoe And that's a little different than like the Fantilly or the Celebrini, who are just heavy, solid lower body players that could handle the grind of college hockey. 25:22 Vegoe Because as you talk to college coaches about, oh McKenna is coming to college, how's that going to beat a coach again? 25:28 Vegoe Maybe a little nervous. 25:29 Vegoe They're like, we've had talents like that play college hockey before. 25:34 Vegoe There's going to be 24, 25 year old bodies that know how to play hockey and aren't going to make easy giveaways. 25:42 Vegoe And they're going to protect the good ice and force them the bad ice. 25:45 Vegoe So it's going to be a big challenge for him to adjust. 25:51 Jûpe How is Arizona State going to play them? 25:53 Jûpe I think it's this weekend. 25:54 Jûpe Arizona has been an older team. 25:56 Jûpe They're getting better. 25:59 Jûpe They can play a little rough at times. 26:01 Jûpe Could this be something where they kind of tell McKenna, Hey, calm down. 26:07 Vegoe Welcome to College Hockey. 26:09 Jûpe Yeah, kind of. 26:09 Vegoe Who are six years older than you. 26:12 Vegoe I definitely could see that out of Greg Power's team. 26:15 Vegoe You know, they've been a little over the edge in the past. 26:19 Vegoe I think it's going to be must watch hockey this weekend to see how it goes. 26:23 Vegoe They definitely play with an edge and that's a big series to watch. 26:27 Jûpe The rumor is it's going to be an NHL network. 26:29 Jûpe So they're going to be following McKenna around all year. 26:33 Jûpe We've got the double header next week with BTN showing Clarkson at Penn State and then obviously BC against Minnesota here next Thursday evening. 26:43 Jûpe We're going to see a lot of Penn State, aren't we? 26:45 Vegoe I think we're going to see a lot of Chris Peters and Scott Wheeler as well, top prospect writers for the Athletic and Flow Hockey. 26:53 Vegoe They're here for the World Junior Summer Showcase. 26:55 Vegoe They were like, hey, I think we're going to be here a couple times this year to see McKenna and other CHL draft prospects and then World Junior. 27:04 Vegoe Where's a good place to get a beer here? 27:06 Vegoe Get some sushi, maybe a burger. 27:08 Vegoe You know, people were interested in some tour guides. 27:12 Vegoe They were in this town. 27:15 Jûpe So we've got Minnesota at 10 there. 27:18 Jûpe We'll talk about them plenty. 27:20 Jûpe The rest of your list here, a lot of non-rated teams, obviously, it's a crapshoot. 27:26 Jûpe It really, I kind of wonder why we even do preseason hockey because I would almost like to see at least three, four weeks a month till we do a first poll. 27:37 Vegoe Yeah, it is kind of first guess. 27:39 Vegoe You know, one of the things I look at is I expect five or six teams from Hockey East to make the tournament. 27:45 Vegoe So I've got five or six, sometimes seven Hockey East teams in my top 20. 27:51 Vegoe I think we'll see five or four NCHC teams make the tournament. 27:56 Vegoe I think five this year. 27:58 Vegoe So you got to figure those teams and how they're going to fit in the top 20. 28:01 Vegoe BigTen, they also are kind of a four or five team, probably close, probably four. 28:07 Vegoe I think they could get four in this year in the tournament. 28:09 Vegoe I think Michigan is talented enough, as roller coaster as they are, they've got talent to get in. 28:17 Vegoe And then you look at CCHA, ECAC, and Atlantic, four teams have a chance to be in the top 20 out of that group and three make the tournament. 28:28 Vegoe I mean, that's kind of the way things are headed. 28:29 Vegoe So as I put together my top 20, Sacred Heart is my top Atlantic team. 28:34 Vegoe I've got St. 28:34 Vegoe Thomas and Minnesota State there on the fringe of the top 20. 28:37 Vegoe I think that's just kind of where they are. 28:41 Vegoe So Quinnipiac is my ECAC team and we'll see how it goes. 28:49 Vegoe I also think looking at the Draft Kings odds on national title, they definitely have four favorites, Penn State, Michigan State, BU, Michigan. 29:00 Vegoe Then the next ring is BC, Minnesota, Denver, North Dakota, and then Western. 29:05 Vegoe So I think that's kind of an interesting thing to look at. 29:08 Vegoe What are the odds since the Frozen Four is going to be in Vegas? 29:12 Vegoe I think looking at the odds is going to be interesting this year. 29:16 Jûpe That will be interesting. 29:20 Jûpe Oh boy. 29:20 Jûpe All right. 29:21 Jûpe Let's talk about the newcomers here. 29:23 Jûpe Just go through each player, freshman, transfer, whatever we got going. 29:29 Jûpe Let's start with Tate Pritchard. 29:32 Jûpe Let's hear how he says his name exactly. 29:35 Jûpe Got these all from the US. 29:36 Jûpe I'm definitely going to use them. 29:37 Frank Tate Pritchard, Savage Minnesota. 29:40 Jûpe Tate Pritchard, Savage Minnesota. 29:45 Jûpe He had committed elsewhere, Veegs. 29:47 Jûpe Changed his mind. 29:50 Vegoe It's curious. 29:52 Vegoe It's hard to understand why someone would want to go to Minnesota versus Minnesota State. 29:58 Vegoe They're totally same experience, right, Jupe? 30:02 Vegoe Totally the same. 30:04 Vegoe Maybe not. 30:05 Vegoe I think a lot of Minnesota State fans were a little sore about losing some of their players. 30:10 Vegoe I know their coaching staff definitely was sore about it. 30:13 Vegoe Tate got an opportunity to play at Minnesota, I think because of all those departures that we talked about. 30:20 Vegoe Some of them were unexpected. 30:22 Vegoe So there's a spot that opened up. 30:24 Vegoe Tate took it. 30:26 Vegoe He's a big Ford, 6'2, almost 200 pounds. 30:30 Vegoe I think he'll be playing in the top nine here for Minnesota. 30:34 Vegoe A strong Ford player for him. 30:36 Jûpe Could Tanner Ludke have been part of that? 30:39 Jûpe He played with them in high school. 30:42 Vegoe Yeah, I think definitely those friendships and relationships come and play here. 30:48 Jûpe Okay, we're just going right by number here. 30:51 Jûpe Let's go with Jacob Rombach. 30:53 Jûpe We met this young man at the showcase this summer, along with his gigantic dad as well. 31:02 Jûpe Six six Vs. 31:04 Jûpe He's big. 31:05 Vegoe Yeah, I think a little bit of a late developing defenseman, you know, played a lot of other sports growing up, kind of late focusing hockey a little bit, made the decision to play those two years in the USHL, I think really rounded them out. 31:20 Vegoe Nashville was excited about him, took him in the second round, looked very big and solid at the World Junior Summer Showcase. 31:31 Vegoe I think he's going to play quite a bit this year. 31:34 Vegoe He provides a strong presence. 31:36 Vegoe As long as he plays inside the dots and stays in the good ice, he's going to have a productive season for Minnesota. 31:42 Vegoe Not a lot of offense, but very physical. 31:46 Jûpe And we know who's watching Vegoe look taller in the interview. 31:49 Jûpe You did not look taller, Vegs. 31:53 Vegoe I look taller than I am because of the camera angle, but I'm nowhere near 6'6. 32:00 Jûpe All right, let's move. 32:01 Jûpe Oh, I forgot to announce him here. 32:02 Jûpe I've got the audio. 32:03 Jûpe Let's hear how he says his name. 32:07 Jacob Rombach Jacob Rombach Blaine, Minnesota. 32:10 Jûpe Here we go. 32:10 Jûpe Jacob Rombach Blaine, Minnesota. 32:12 Jûpe Next is going to be... 32:14 Tanner Ludtke Tanner Ludtke, Lakeville, Minnesota. 32:16 Jûpe Tanner Ludke, Lakeville, Minnesota. 32:21 Jûpe There he is, Veegs, a transfer in from Omaha. 32:25 Vegoe Yeah, Utah draft pick. 32:28 Vegoe You know, went to Omaha. 32:30 Vegoe His brother was there, had an upper body injury that kind of hampered his year last season, but he's gonna play center for the Gophers. 32:39 Vegoe And you look at the Gopher roster, they really needed one more center. 32:44 Vegoe And so bringing in a junior who can fill that role, really important for the Gophers this year with all those departures. 32:51 Vegoe You know, I think he's gonna play a top-six type role, get on the power play a little bit, very important player for the Gophers this year. 32:58 Jûpe Yes, definitely important. 33:00 Vegoe LJ Mooney, West Mifflin, PA. 33:04 Jûpe LJ Little John Mooney. 33:07 Vegoe This guy is gonna be a fun one to watch, people. 33:09 Vegoe Get used to the name. 33:10 Vegoe You're gonna be hearing it a lot. 33:13 Vegoe Super dynamic with the puck on his stick, great vision, great jump. 33:18 Vegoe I've noticed one thing especially about him in the practices I've seen. 33:22 Vegoe He's not afraid to turn the corner and bring the puck to the crease, which for a guy of his stature is a great quality. 33:30 Vegoe You know, you want him going to those areas of the ice and getting the puck in dangerous spots. 33:35 Vegoe Really good hand-eye coordination. 33:37 Vegoe I think he reminds some people of Phil Kessel and how he can handle the puck with his head up and make plays. 33:44 Vegoe I expect him on the first power play. 33:46 Vegoe And if you're looking for someone to fill some of that 65% of scoring that left, LJ is going to be a big part of that. 33:54 Jûpe He definitely will be. 33:56 Vegoe Finn McLaughlin, Canmore, Alberta. 34:01 Jûpe Says he's Canadian. 34:02 Jûpe Though I know he's American too, but he's claiming Canada of Higgs. 34:07 Vegoe He wants to add a little fire to the locker room, I think. 34:09 Jûpe Yeah, yeah. 34:11 Vegoe Yeah, Finn was originally committed to Denver. 34:14 Vegoe Denver is one of those schools that kind of retains some players. 34:17 Vegoe They're going over the roster limit of 26 this year. 34:22 Vegoe So they were telling Finn to go back to junior. 34:26 Vegoe Finn wanted to come play college hockey. 34:28 Vegoe I think Minnesota, those early departures, wanted to grab one more player that they thought could contribute on their blue line. 34:36 Vegoe I think one of the things about local recruiting the last couple of years, there haven't been enough defensemen really for Minnesota to grab. 34:47 Vegoe You look at Leo Gruber. 34:48 Vegoe He flipped from St. 34:50 Vegoe Cloud to Minnesota. 34:52 Vegoe Now they get Finn to flip from Denver to Minnesota. 34:55 Vegoe They're just kind of filling that gap in the recruiting pipeline because locally there haven't been enough defensemen for Minnesota lately. 35:02 Vegoe Finn is getting some experience with the top power play groups so far in preseason camp. 35:08 Vegoe It looks pretty good with the puck on a stick, making good decisions, good size as well. 35:14 Vegoe So it would be interesting to see how he fits in this year. 35:17 Vegoe He had a great finish with Muskegon in the USHL this last year. 35:23 Jûpe All right, we need to listen to this name properly so everyone knows how to pronounce Luca's last name. 35:30 Frank Luca DePasquo, Livonia, Michigan. 35:34 Jûpe DePasquo, DePasquo, DePasquo, Luca DePasquo, Livonia, Michigan. 35:43 Vegoe All right, there we go. 35:44 Jûpe He looks like he was going to take backseat again over there in Michigan State. 35:48 Jûpe So he's like, I'm going to find a place to go. 35:51 Vegoe Yeah, and the coach of Michigan State, Adam Nightingale, spoke very highly of Luca, encouraged him to find another good fit. 35:59 Vegoe Luca is an aerospace engineering major. 36:02 Jûpe Yes, and that's one of the reasons. 36:04 Vegoe Yes, I heard one of the keys in his recruiting is he wanted to go to school where he could study this. 36:11 Vegoe Some other programs were not very interested in helping him with his academic pursuits. 36:18 Vegoe Minnesota was very attracted to Luca and made it happen, so he could keep that degree going here in Minneapolis. 36:25 Vegoe And he's going to be battling for the net. 36:28 Vegoe You know, when you have a roster like Minnesota, you want to make sure you have options and goal. 36:33 Vegoe And I think Nathan Airy last year showed the technique and the ability to be goalie. 36:39 Vegoe But I think sometimes battling through traffic in the crease and just the mental side of playing at a program like Minnesota were issues at times. 36:48 Vegoe I know Nathan Airy has worked on that in the off season and he's got a different mindset coming into this year. 36:53 Vegoe He's been pretty clear with the coaches. 36:56 Vegoe He knew what he had to work on this year. 36:58 Vegoe But Luca is being brought in to compete for that spot. 37:01 Vegoe And as Bob often says, I don't pick number ones. 37:05 Vegoe I pick starters for the night and we go from there. 37:09 Vegoe And so I think both goalies will have a chance to prove themselves. 37:11 Vegoe You know, Luca is a little bit smaller than Nathan, but he's an aggressive goalie, also a really good puck handler. 37:17 Vegoe So that's something that's showed out with him so far in preseason. 37:21 Jûpe All right. 37:23 Jûpe Javon Moore, Carver, Minnesota. 37:27 Jûpe I had no idea he was from Carver. 37:28 Jûpe He played at Minnetonka. 37:30 Jûpe I had no idea he was my neighbor just up the road. 37:33 Vegoe Yeah, you probably saw him on the outdoor rinks in the neighborhood, right? 37:36 Vegoe Maybe. 37:37 Vegoe Maybe. 37:38 Vegoe Big player. 37:39 Vegoe If he was at the outdoor rinks, you definitely would have noticed him. 37:43 Vegoe He's playing on a line right now with Brody Lamb and Jimmy Clark. 37:47 Vegoe And they might look like the most dynamic line Mazzocco's put together so far. 37:53 Vegoe He's making direct plays, hard plays to the net, competing for pucks in the corner. 37:59 Vegoe I think that extra year post-NDTP really helped him. 38:05 Vegoe You know, he was in Sioux Falls, played a lot, big minutes, something he didn't get with the program. 38:12 Vegoe I think he's ready to make a splash this year. 38:14 Vegoe And I think it just shows, you know, for some of those guys who go to the program and they're not playing big, big roles there, getting this extra year before coming to college is massive for your development. 38:27 Jûpe I'm excited to see him. 38:29 Vegoe Teddy Townsend, Eden Prairie, Minnesota. 38:34 Vegoe Yeah, so Teddy is a player from Eden Prairie. 38:37 Vegoe He's got connections to the U with his family. 38:40 Vegoe And, you know, I'm not sure what to expect with Teddy this year. 38:44 Vegoe I know he had a nice, nice finish the USHL season last year. 38:49 Vegoe He's probably one of those players who's going to develop a little bit while he's at Minnesota. 38:54 Vegoe You know, probably starting in a lower line role, lower ice time role, you know, but he's flashing some skill here and there. 39:01 Vegoe I know he's missed some practice here coming up, so we might not see him right away, but a player to watch down the line. 39:09 Jûpe All right. 39:11 Vegoe Mason Moe, Eden Prairie, Minnesota. 39:15 Vegoe Yeah, Mason was kind of a surprise player for me at the World Junior Summer Showcase. 39:21 Vegoe I saw him play a little bit in the USHL and he had some success there in the second half of the season. 39:28 Vegoe Comes to Minnesota as a player, also in one of those lower line roles right away. 39:34 Vegoe But I think that the coaching staff likes a lot of the tools here. 39:37 Vegoe He's a player who's grown quite a bit the last few seasons. 39:40 Vegoe So I think he was a little bit smaller player and he's matured now. 39:44 Vegoe He's starting to look more physical. 39:46 Vegoe I know in the summer showcase, he was getting some penalty kill opportunities, which he said he hadn't played much before in the USHL. 39:52 Vegoe But he's like, I'll do whatever. 39:55 Vegoe A real comfortable guy to talk to. 39:56 Vegoe I think a player to watch down the line. 40:00 Jûpe All right. 40:01 Jûpe Well, thanks for the summary there, Veegs. 40:03 Jûpe It's kind of nice to hear about all those guys. 40:05 Jûpe And thanks to Scott Slarks. 40:06 Jûpe I had all the audio from the players announcing except for Monia McLaughlin. 40:11 Jûpe So he was nice enough to send those over to me this afternoon. 40:15 Jûpe If you go to GPL, it's all on their profiles as every player. 40:18 Jûpe So you want to hear how they pronounce their name? 40:21 Jûpe Head on over. 40:22 Jûpe It's also on the US site as well. 40:26 Jûpe Veegs, what is NPI and why is it replacing Parawise? 40:32 Vegoe I'm a little confused about NPI so far. 40:35 Vegoe I've read Jimmy Connolly's article on uscho.com. 40:39 Vegoe I think that's the best place to get a summary of the details. 40:43 Vegoe I think one of the ideas of this adjustment, they've used it in D3 for picking their tournament before. 40:51 Vegoe It's supposed to be a little more mathematical heavy to reward teams for playing tougher schedules and winning games against better teams and maybe not take into account the bad losses. 41:05 Vegoe We've often talked about if you lose to Alaska Fairbanks at the winter break, it's going to kill your Parawise ranking. 41:13 Vegoe I think this one kind of diminishes some of that impact and it's looking more about how you play against the tough teams on your schedule. 41:22 Vegoe If you can beat the tough teams on your schedule, it's supposed to reward you more. 41:26 Vegoe I saw Brad Schlossman did a comparison of what does the Parawise do? 41:31 Vegoe What does the MPI do? 41:34 Vegoe It hasn't done a lot in terms of who makes the tournament and who doesn't. 41:39 Vegoe So I think as the season goes on and we see the results, we'll get a pretty good idea of if there are going to be any impacts. 41:46 Vegoe But the idea is that it's a little bit more math heavy to look at strength of schedule and rewarding big wins and playing tough teams. 41:57 Jûpe Will it be trickier? 41:59 Jûpe Will it be something we don't quite know? 42:02 Jûpe Or is it something we can, is it something definitely in like USCHO and CHN and all the sites are going to have their calculations automatically calculate this? 42:11 Jûpe Or is it going to be a little more difficult for them to really figure out? 42:16 Vegoe It should all be pretty straightforward. 42:18 Vegoe I think all the calculations are there, like publicly there for you to see. 42:25 Vegoe I mean, I definitely recommend going to USCHO and looking at the article where it's talking about the strength for home wins, away wins. 42:37 Vegoe When you're looking at the postseason tournament, there isn't a wait for home or road because it used to be really bad if you lost at home in the postseason. 42:49 Jûpe Like Minnesota? 42:51 Jûpe Yeah, like Minnesota did that one time last year. 42:56 Vegoe Yeah. 42:57 Vegoe So it's supposed to neutralize some of that stuff. 42:59 Vegoe So we'll see. 43:01 Jûpe It will be interesting because I remember it was years ago, our guy Tim Brule over at US-Cho figured out what the pairwise was and how it all worked. 43:12 Jûpe He was the first guy who figured out what the NCAA was doing. 43:20 Jûpe It was fun. 43:21 Jûpe I ran into him at the showcase as well this summer. 43:23 Jûpe It was fun to see Tim. 43:24 Jûpe We'll see him again. 43:26 Jûpe Maybe we should get Tim on again sometime. 43:28 Jûpe We had him on as a guest years ago. 43:30 Jûpe He's a quiet leader at uscho.com. 43:34 Vegoe I think Tim would be a perfect guest once we get half a season of MPI data, and we can start looking at where things stand. 43:44 Vegoe Because I've found that once you get past Christmas MPI pairwise, those numbers start to matter. 43:52 Vegoe It was very hard if you were outside the top 20 to have a chance at making the tournament. 43:57 Vegoe There's only been like two or three teams in the last 25 years that have been able to do that. 44:01 Vegoe But there is some shuffling on the bubble that becomes very interesting to watch at that point of the season. 44:08 Jûpe That's why I still miss the last 16. 44:11 Jûpe I used to love that little piece in there that shows that just gives a little bit more to the teams that are hot at the end of the year. 44:20 Jûpe I would also love to see what would the NPI have been, you know, what was it, 2012 when UMD got Minnesota by.001 in pairwise. 44:33 Jûpe Would it have turned out that way? 44:34 Jûpe Would Duluth have not made it? 44:36 Jûpe Maybe Minnesota or someone else made it. 44:38 Jûpe It would be interesting to not just go back a couple of years. 44:40 Jûpe Let's go back many years and see how things would have changed. 44:44 Jûpe Would it have knocked out a national champion from the tournament? 44:49 Jûpe That's I think would be fun. 44:52 Jûpe I'll get Tim on that. 44:55 Vegoe I'm sure he'll have a spreadsheet that has all the things to do it with. 45:01 Jûpe Well before we move on, Veegs, we need to talk about Cub Foods. 45:04 Jûpe They're back as a GPL sponsor. 45:08 Jûpe It's fall, Veegs. 45:11 Jûpe Cub was great in the fall. 45:13 Vegoe Yeah, and I live right by the Quarry Cub, so I am there quite a bit. 45:17 Vegoe I had a bunch of birthday parties last week. 45:20 Vegoe I was making the walk down the hill, picking up a few things at Cub, coming back up, getting ready for the party going, I need a few more things. 45:28 Vegoe And right now it's fall, so if you're looking for fresh picked apples, they've got all the apples you want. 45:34 Vegoe It's Minnesota, we love apples, they've got the variety. 45:36 Vegoe You want pumpkin spice? 45:38 Vegoe They got everything. 45:38 Vegoe I know the Cub Bakery in La Quarry, it's one of the best Cub Bakeries in the Metro. 45:43 Vegoe I'm sure they're all great, but this one's special. 45:45 Vegoe They have all kinds of special treats. 45:47 Vegoe So if you're baking, hosting, it's a game day, cozy night in, Cub's got the flavors that make fall feel like fall, and it will feel like fall in two weeks, trust me. 45:57 Vegoe So swing by your local Cub, stock up on all your seasonal favorites, because nothing says fall in Minnesota like comfort food from Cub. 46:05 Jûpe Nice. 46:07 Jûpe Thanks for sponsoring The GPL Podcast, both Gateway and Cub Foods. 46:13 Jûpe All right, Veegs, Big Ten predictions. 46:18 Jûpe What are your thoughts? 46:19 Jûpe The coaches have their thoughts. 46:24 Jûpe It's hard to disagree with them. 46:27 Jûpe Basically, Michigan Penn State, Minnesota, Michigan, and then the rest. 46:34 Jûpe What do you think? 46:37 Vegoe Yeah. 46:37 Vegoe I mean, did the coaches pick Michigan State first? 46:42 Vegoe Or if they pick Penn State first? 46:44 Vegoe Because I think that's kind of the big thing, like nationally, betters. 46:49 Vegoe Like there's some discrepancy between the two. 46:54 Vegoe I think when you're picking a preseason favorite, I probably give a slight edge to Michigan State over Penn State, just because I think Michigan State has a little bit more depth. 47:09 Vegoe You know, when I look at Penn State, I am super interested to see how Mac Gadowski plays for them. 47:15 Vegoe You know, he was such an impact player for Army. 47:18 Vegoe I want to see how he plays a Big Ten schedule. 47:23 Vegoe You know what I mean? 47:23 Vegoe And for dad. 47:24 Vegoe And for dad. 47:25 Vegoe You know, that's an interesting dynamic. 47:27 Vegoe You know, we saw Tony Luchillo playing for the Don. 47:31 Vegoe You know, Mario didn't want that. 47:33 Vegoe He went to a different school. 47:35 Vegoe So I think that will be an interesting thing to watch. 47:38 Vegoe I think there's going to be a lot of pressure on Penn State this year, a lot of eyes on Penn State. 47:43 Vegoe And the CHL players, you know, there and Michigan State CHL players. 47:47 Vegoe So it's going to be interesting to see how that plays out over the season. 47:51 Vegoe But they're definitely the top two teams. 47:55 Vegoe I agree with Hoppe. 47:55 Vegoe I like Michigan State probably because of Augustine. 47:59 Vegoe He's kind of been a team USA goalie. 48:02 Vegoe I know he's had some weakness to his game and some big showcase events. 48:08 Vegoe But he's got a lot of pedigree there. 48:10 Vegoe And, you know, obviously we saw Penn State discard a goalie for their big Russian right now. 48:20 Vegoe But we'll see what happens. 48:23 Vegoe I think Minnesota is definitely the number three team in the Big Ten for me. 48:27 Vegoe I know there's a lot of turnover for the Gophers. 48:31 Vegoe But I just think the coaching staff has done a pretty good job with bringing in enough experienced players. 48:38 Vegoe And I think last couple years, Minnesota's top point producing spots have almost been like preset, you know, coming into the year, you knew who was going to score points for them. 48:51 Vegoe And I think the players knew that too. 48:53 Vegoe And so they were maybe forcing pucks to certain guys rather than just playing creative free hockey. 49:01 Vegoe And I think this year's roster has a lot more openness to it. 49:04 Vegoe That'll be interesting to watch. 49:07 Jûpe You know, there was a question on Twitter earlier today. 49:09 Jûpe I just put up on here from our guy Darren Bakken on X. 49:13 Jûpe Not sure you're taking questions, but which player does Vegoe expect to make big strides this season and who will surprise? 49:23 Vegoe I think the player I'm expecting to see make the biggest strides are probably Jimmy Clark and Beckett Hendrickson. 49:31 Vegoe Oh, I think those were two players who last year had moments where they flashed what they had, but they just didn't really put things together consistently enough. 49:45 Vegoe So I think they're going to have big jumps in production. 49:48 Vegoe I saw somebody at GPL put together a list of players who had jumps of, I think, like 15 points or more from one season to the next. 49:57 Vegoe I think Hendrickson and Clark are two players who could make jumps like that this year. 50:03 Jûpe I just see this post by Andrew Carlson. 50:06 Jûpe Dan Woog played for his dad. 50:07 Jûpe Well, you know, and Dan Woog is going to be a guest on the podcast. 50:12 Jûpe Our last show in December before we go on break before the juniors, we've got Dan Woog scheduled to be on the GPL Podcast. 50:19 Jûpe I just saw that post and I just had to mention that because it's going to be fun to have a Wooger on the show, Veegs. 50:27 Vegoe That would be awesome. 50:29 Vegoe I know this wasn't quite the question, but I also expect Brody Zehmer to make a big jump. 50:34 Vegoe I thought Brody Zehmer was one of their more consistent players last year. 50:39 Vegoe So I'm not going to be surprised. 50:42 Vegoe I just think the points are going to come a little bit easier for him this year as well. 50:46 Jûpe One thing I thought was kind of tough and kind of hurt the team there. 50:49 Jûpe I'm not going to try to rip on him, but Rinzel had had such a great start last year. 50:54 Jûpe He was big. 50:55 Jûpe But really, I didn't notice him as much towards the end of the season in the playoffs and whatnot. 51:03 Jûpe It just, maybe he checked out. 51:06 Jûpe He was ready to go. 51:07 Jûpe I don't know, but it just seemed like there's a lot of stuff there that we missed. 51:15 Jûpe And then on the opposite end, you had Snuggerood who hadn't performed in the playoffs, performed definitely on that overtime loss to UMass. 51:22 Jûpe So, what can we expect? 51:25 Vegoe I definitely think Rinzel got scouted by teams from the first half. 51:30 Jûpe Okay. 51:30 Vegoe And they started taking away the things that he was doing to score points. 51:36 Vegoe I think he was driving down from the blue line a lot in the first half and joining the rush. 51:42 Vegoe And I think people were pretty aware of those things. 51:46 Vegoe And they were just taking away the good ice. 51:49 Vegoe And they were forcing him in the corner. 51:51 Vegoe They were taking away shooting lanes from him. 51:53 Vegoe And he just didn't have an answer for that to create something else. 52:00 Vegoe You know, that's one of the big things in College Hockey is if your power play gets going and you're reliant on getting the puck to Jimmy Snuggerud on the power play sometimes, you've got to have a B game that you can go to that's going to be successful. 52:14 Vegoe And I think every player needs to figure that out. 52:17 Vegoe And that's one of the great things about College Hockey. 52:21 Jûpe Hoppy and the SodaPod. 52:22 Jûpe Homer disappearing into bushes. 52:24 Jûpe That's when Renzell gets brought into discussion. 52:27 Jûpe You know, I just I remember you mentioned that it just seems like Renzell just wasn't quite there at the end of the season when they kind of used him. 52:34 Jûpe So that's that's kind of why I brought it up. 52:36 Vegoe Well, and I think the big thing with Renzell was his defensive presence, you know, plays around the net were struggles for him at times last year. 52:44 Vegoe And I think it was something they worked on throughout the year and it just didn't go away. 52:48 Vegoe And so I think he made the game a little bit more complicated for himself than he needed to. 52:53 Vegoe And you know, now he gets to do it at the pro level and make a lot of money doing it. 52:59 Jûpe Vegas odds of how many games the referees make it about them this year. 53:04 Jûpe You know, it's hard to comment because we get to meet these guys, these Vegas, and you know what? 53:10 Jûpe They're college hockey fans. 53:12 Jûpe They're big college hockey fans. 53:13 Jûpe They love the sport. 53:16 Vegoe They want to get the calls right. 53:18 Jûpe They do. 53:18 Vegoe Like they want to get it right. 53:20 Vegoe I think the biggest thing about this year's team is I hope that they learn that even though the refs make a call, you do not let that call have to define the game. 53:32 Vegoe And you have to play through it. 53:35 Vegoe At one of the coaching clinic videos I was watching, there was a coach who talked about encouraging a player, sometimes in practice, hey, I want you to start committing penalties. 53:45 Vegoe I want you tripping guys. 53:46 Vegoe I want you holding guys because I want to see player X have to fight through something that doesn't get called. 53:55 Vegoe Yeah, I want to see that player throw his hands up and look at the coach and go, he's holding me. 53:59 Vegoe And I want to see the coach go, play through it, overcome it. 54:03 Vegoe You're not going to get every call. 54:06 Vegoe Refs are going to mess up. 54:08 Vegoe You still have to finish the play. 54:10 Vegoe And I look back to the regional, the rest blew some calls. 54:14 Vegoe I think they look back at, they go, yep, that's not right. 54:18 Vegoe But the player on the ice still has an opportunity to make up for it and prevent it from losing them the game. 54:25 Jûpe It's hard to disagree with that hard to disagree. 54:27 Vegoe Control what you can control. 54:28 Jûpe Yes, yes, yes. 54:30 Jûpe They were very upset after the game. 54:32 Jûpe Obviously, we saw how upset the coaches and players were. 54:37 Jûpe But obviously, time gives you a little perspective. 54:40 Jûpe And even we saw, you know, maybe Snuggert could have done a little better on the back check on that overtime goal. 54:47 Vegoe He did have a great game though. 54:49 Jûpe And that's just it. 54:50 Jûpe It's hard to rep on him because he showed up. 54:53 Jûpe But we need to get in this weekend. 54:55 Jûpe And Michigan Tech coming back to TowneVegue. 54:57 Jûpe It's the first time in decades. 54:58 Jûpe Kind of mentioned it with Frank earlier. 55:00 Jûpe He's excited. 55:01 Jûpe An old WCHA rival. 55:02 Jûpe And obviously, possibly the biggest rival in the middle 70s, when they met for three national titles in a row. 55:11 Jûpe Minnesota taking two out of three. 55:14 Jûpe They're making the return trip next year. 55:16 Jûpe That's going to make a lot of people around GPL aren't happy. 55:20 Jûpe They love to go to Houghton. 55:21 Jûpe But, tell me about Michigan Tech. 55:26 Vegoe Big roster. 55:28 Vegoe I think they have 33 players on their roster. 55:32 Jûpe Really? 55:33 Vegoe I think they have six or seven CHL players coming into the mix. 55:39 Vegoe New coach Bill McCaul, famously has had some run ins with a previous assistant coach at Minnesota. 55:47 Vegoe Very colorful guy, a lot of energy. 55:50 Vegoe And he's got a lot of question marks at Michigan Tech. 55:53 Vegoe So he's brought in a lot of players, a lot of freshmen, a couple of transfers. 55:58 Vegoe So he's got a lot of question marks. 56:00 Vegoe He's got a couple of returning players that, you know, the Huskies have relied on. 56:06 Vegoe But I think there's going to be a feeling out process to figure out who fits in their lineup. 56:11 Vegoe And I was just wondering, how do you run a college practice with that many players? 56:17 Vegoe But there's going to be competition for playing time there, roster spots, all kinds of things. 56:23 Vegoe So it'll be interesting to see what Michigan Tech puts on the ice this weekend. 56:28 Vegoe I'm sure they're going to play them a cult style, which is up tempo, high pace, a lot of aggressiveness. 56:35 Vegoe It will be interesting to see. 56:36 Jûpe Like he was when he played for Michigan. 56:38 Vegoe Yep, he's a high-energy player. 56:39 Vegoe He wants to do offense and be aggressive. 56:43 Vegoe Odom Bartoszkiewicz is in net as one of the options for the Huskies, transferring from Lyndenwood, where he is at with McCult, to Michigan Tech. 56:52 Vegoe So I think it'd be fun for him to get a game this weekend. 56:57 Vegoe We'll see what happens. 56:58 Jûpe He seemed really popular with some of the guys we talked about with a couple of weeks ago. 57:01 Jûpe They seemed excited to be able to see him and just say hello and just kind of reconnect because he was part of the team. 57:09 Vegoe Yeah, I think there are no hard feelings there. 57:11 Vegoe No, he just needed a place to play and didn't work out for him at Minnesota at the time. 57:16 Vegoe And I think all the players are happy to see him getting that chance at Linda wounded down Michigan Tech. 57:23 Jûpe So Minnesota, how have you seen the Lions kind of recently? 57:25 Jûpe How do you think they'll kind of match up against Tech? 57:29 Vegoe Yeah, like I said earlier, Brody Zamm, Jimmy Clark, Javon Moore looked like one of the most dynamic Lions for the Gophers right now. 57:37 Vegoe I think there's just a lot of physicality there. 57:40 Vegoe I think there's hardworking possession players there. 57:43 Vegoe Brody Lamb is probably the pick to pop this year for the Gophers. 57:47 Vegoe You know, I think, you know, he could go up another 15 points this year if things go well for him. 57:53 Vegoe He could touch 50 points. 57:57 Vegoe He's going to get opportunities on the first power play. 57:59 Vegoe You know, if he's playing on this line, I think he's going to get lots of chances. 58:03 Vegoe The second line I'm seeing is Brody Ziemer, Tanner Ludke and LJ Mooney. 58:09 Vegoe You know, that's a little bit smaller line, but I think you see a lot of competing speed with all those guys. 58:17 Vegoe You know, Lucky was brought in to be a playmaking big center for the Gophers. 58:22 Vegoe You know, if he's out there with those two players, that's some talent. 58:26 Vegoe And you know, I think Brody Ziemer is a good leader for Minnesota and a good compete guy. 58:32 Vegoe And it'll be interesting to see how they fit on the ice together and who starts putting in goals for that group. 58:38 Jûpe Well, I think both Ludke and Ziemer needs to keep their head on a swivel because Mooney is just as much of a playmaker. 58:44 Jûpe We saw it in the showcase. 58:48 Jûpe Some of the best players in the world didn't see some of his passes coming, especially on the power play, especially on the power play. 58:55 Jûpe Wow, he was good on the power play. 58:58 Vegoe Yeah, I think it will be a fun line to watch. 59:00 Vegoe I'm expecting big things out of Bertie Ziemer this year. 59:03 Vegoe And with those two, that's a lot of talent on a line. 59:07 Frank Yeah. 59:08 Jûpe Who else? 59:10 Vegoe The next group I've been seeing is Beckett Hendrickson, Eric Paulson, Tate Pritchard. 59:14 Vegoe So there's some decent size to this group and there's some playmaking. 59:19 Vegoe I think Paulson and Pritchard have shown some skill and I think Hendrickson has shown a lot of toughness around the net. 59:26 Vegoe We saw Beckett and Eric play together in the USHL and have some chemistry. 59:33 Vegoe Paulson had that injury going right into the middle of the season last year that really kind of hampered his year. 59:40 Vegoe He was just starting to really find his place in the lineup before he got hurt. 59:47 Vegoe I thought there was this growth curve ahead of him that he was just starting to touch. 59:53 Vegoe I think he's back and he's fully healthy. 59:56 Vegoe Those three look good together and I think they're going to get a good opportunity to play. 59:59 Vegoe Mazzocco likes to roll four lines as much as he can. 1:00:03 Vegoe I think we'll see those guys out there a lot this weekend. 1:00:09 Jûpe Harris, Begley, Middlestead, Faloon kind of filling in on that fourth line. 1:00:15 Vegoe Yeah, I think so. 1:00:16 Vegoe I think the one thing to note is Begley skated at Ford this week. 1:00:21 Vegoe I think there's some players that are off the ice right now for the Gophers. 1:00:26 Vegoe So Harris and Begley might both dress for a game this weekend. 1:00:30 Vegoe Middlestead and Faloon have been pretty stapled in as playing together. 1:00:34 Vegoe I often talk about how Mazzocco likes to have pairs of players that just kind of stick together all year. 1:00:40 Vegoe I think Middlestead and Faloon might be that pair. 1:00:43 Vegoe It's interesting. 1:00:44 Vegoe John Middlestead, I think, is going to chip in some points this year. 1:00:47 Vegoe I've been watching practice and they'll be running these five on five in-zone possession sequences. 1:00:54 Vegoe And somehow I feel like I've seen John Middlestead score more than a handful of goals in those situations. 1:01:00 Vegoe And being one of the only players to score in these situations. 1:01:04 Vegoe He's one of those guys that just makes good, positive, game-winning decisions all the time that put his teammates in good spots. 1:01:14 Vegoe And I think maintain possession and momentum. 1:01:16 Vegoe That's such a key for hockey. 1:01:18 Jûpe Well, he was, I believe he was one of the scorers in the National Championship game against Quinnipiac. 1:01:25 Jûpe It seems like forever ago, but he can contribute at weird times. 1:01:31 Jûpe It's really strange. 1:01:33 Vegoe He's played a bunch of games for Minnesota, so it'll be interesting to see him move forward. 1:01:37 Jûpe How about the defense? 1:01:39 Vegoe Defense will be interesting. 1:01:41 Vegoe You know, I think Cal Thomas is fully healthy again. 1:01:45 Vegoe He's basically playing on one leg the second half of last year after his lower body injury. 1:01:51 Vegoe I think that really limited him and he had to play through it. 1:01:55 Vegoe But I think he's back and healthy along with Luke Middlesat and Leo Gruba. 1:01:59 Vegoe Like that trio, I feel like they can play a lot of minutes for the Gophers this year. 1:02:06 Vegoe Putting in McLaughlin, or I'm going to have to get this right. 1:02:13 Vegoe McLaughlin, because it's not McLaughlin. 1:02:16 Vegoe You know, we have Blake McLaughlin, so it's Loughlin. 1:02:19 Vegoe So I'm going to keep working on that. 1:02:21 Vegoe I think he's going to play a fair amount. 1:02:23 Vegoe I think Rombach is going to play it. 1:02:24 Vegoe I think Whipple is going to play. 1:02:26 Vegoe I think they're just going to play less than Thomas Gruba, Middle Stat. 1:02:31 Vegoe So we'll see how they all fit in. 1:02:34 Vegoe Powerplay, I've seen Thomas Gruba, Middle Stat, McLaughlin. 1:02:39 Vegoe Sometimes Whipple, you know how Mazzocco likes to run three Powerplay groups. 1:02:43 Vegoe Whipple kind of works in with that third group and sometimes comes on off with the other groups. 1:02:50 Vegoe I've seen Middle Stat run the point. 1:02:53 Vegoe I've seen Gruba run the half wall. 1:02:56 Vegoe I've seen Thomas run the point. 1:02:58 Vegoe So I think that's a big question mark for the Gophers as they go into the season. 1:03:02 Vegoe It's who are their defensemen that are going to run the Powerplay? 1:03:07 Vegoe Finn McLaughlin, Canmore, Alberta. 1:03:11 Vegoe McLaughlin. 1:03:12 Vegoe McLaughlin. 1:03:13 Frank Finn McLaughlin, Canmore, Alberta. 1:03:16 Jûpe So I'm glad we had those sounds. 1:03:18 Vegoe I know. 1:03:19 Vegoe I know. 1:03:20 Vegoe I'll get there, Finn, and Finn's family. 1:03:22 Vegoe McLaughlin. 1:03:24 Jûpe And I'm guessing probably Eric gets to start Friday and DePasquale gets to start Saturday. 1:03:31 Jûpe Probably going to see them both as we begin. 1:03:32 Vegoe I think we'll see both. 1:03:33 Vegoe You know, Bob wants the competition and he wants to see how people play in games. 1:03:37 Vegoe And I often tell people goalies in games are way different than goalies in practice. 1:03:42 Vegoe You have to see how they react in those situations and goalies need games. 1:03:48 Jûpe They definitely need games. 1:03:50 Jûpe What's your prediction for the weekend? 1:03:53 Vegoe You know, I was on with Tech Hockey Guide and I said 75% chance gopher sweep and I got laughed at by the group. 1:04:03 Vegoe And they were not very impressed with that rubric prediction that I had. 1:04:08 Vegoe But I've got to go sweep for Minnesota. 1:04:11 Vegoe I just think there's too many good things going on for the Gophers right now with the players they have, the way they're competing in the preseason, how hard they've been playing, and how if things get tough, they're really going to be able to lean on Thomas Gruber and Middlestad to control a game. 1:04:28 Vegoe And I don't think there are necessarily weaknesses for Minnesota. 1:04:32 Vegoe I think there's just question marks and who's going to do the scoring and what kind of chemistry we see with the Gophers. 1:04:40 Vegoe The one thing I'd be worried about this weekend was that I've seen the Gophers play very physical so far in the preseason. 1:04:50 Vegoe Could they be too hyped up for a college game in front of their home fans to start the season and get into penalty trouble? 1:05:00 Vegoe And looking at the Gophers, there's a lot of change on the PK pairs, too. 1:05:05 Vegoe They lost a lot of guys who killed penalties, so it's going to be real interesting to see who they lean on to kill penalties this year, especially at forward. 1:05:16 Vegoe I saw Zemur and Mooney as a PK pair, which would be really interesting to me. 1:05:22 Jûpe You know what? 1:05:23 Vegoe That's a group that could be dangerous for a power play as the two minutes wind down. 1:05:29 Vegoe That's one thing that Bob often did was he would send out a second pair, almost like an attacking group, to look to pick off plays and get short-handed goals. 1:05:40 Vegoe So, I think that will be an interesting thing to watch as the year goes on, if that's how he deploys them. 1:05:46 Jûpe Well, Mooney was on the penalty kill quite often in the Showcase this summer. 1:05:52 Jûpe He was on both ends contributing. 1:05:55 Jûpe I think it's just because he's so fast and he can cause so much trouble. 1:05:58 Vegoe Well, I think his hand-eye is so good. 1:06:01 Vegoe If there's a pass within his wingspan, he's going to get a stick on it. 1:06:05 Vegoe And then he's just so quick in those first couple strides that he might be able to take off. 1:06:10 Vegoe And I see Brody Lamb and Jimmy Clark. 1:06:12 Vegoe It's another PK pair. 1:06:14 Vegoe You know, those are two guys that have some experience there and they can maybe lean on. 1:06:19 Vegoe So we'll see what happens there. 1:06:22 Jûpe Any other thoughts or are you ready for some overtime? 1:06:26 Vegoe I think I'm ready for some overtime. 1:06:28 Vegoe I got a beverage picked out. 1:06:29 Vegoe I'm excited for the season. 1:06:30 Vegoe I'm going to be at the rink on Friday. 1:06:33 Vegoe Can't wait to be in there and see how this team looks this year. 1:06:37 Jûpe All right, let's go, Veegs. 1:06:39 Jûpe Let's go. 1:06:40 Vegoe Let's go. 1:06:41 Jûpe It's going to be exciting. 1:06:43 Jûpe Well, let's get to do it for this episode of The GPL Podcast. 1:06:46 Jûpe We'll be back next week when Jack Ramsey joins the show before the Boston College series, which is next Thursday and Friday. 1:06:56 Jûpe For those of you watching live, stay tuned for some overtime. 1:07:00 Jûpe For the rest, you will catch you next time on The GPL Podcast. 1:07:16 Jûpe If you are watching on YouTube, hit that subscribe button and get notified each time we go live or post a video. 1:07:22 Jûpe If you listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, please rate our show and leave a review. 1:07:33 Jûpe For those of you watching live, you know what's next. 1:07:36 Jûpe It's Vegoe's Beverage of the Week. 1:07:40 Jûpe It's time for Overtime.