0:03
This is The GPL Podcast, part of the Pulltab Sports family.
0:09
Oh, boy, Jup make mistakes.
0:12
I love it.
0:27
The thing is, if I drink whiskey, I will not be able to function.
0:31
Perfect, let's do it.
0:32
That's true.
0:34
It's happened before.
0:36
Let's get this bandwagon going, folks.
0:40
Mr.
0:40
Negative.
0:44
Now, here's Jupiter and Vegoe.
0:53
Jûpe
Good evening, welcome to The GPL Podcast.
0:56
Jûpe
Yes, if you're watching, you're not seeing us right now, but...
1:01
Jûpe
Yes, USA VEGES, USA.
1:07
Jûpe
Double gold medals for one of our favorite teams, Team USA, man.
1:16
Vegoe
Red, white and blue, Alexa, play free bird.
1:21
Jûpe
There it is.
1:22
Jûpe
And I put the, if you're watching this photo by Elsa Hatch, she's from Brainerd, Minnesota.
1:30
Jûpe
And that's gonna be the iconic photo right there, VEGES of Jackie's.
1:36
Jûpe
Wow.
1:37
Vegoe
I mean, what a Olympics for Team USA, the hockey that they put on was really impressive.
1:46
Vegoe
And just the pace of the game was just phenomenal.
1:50
Vegoe
And it just reminds you, like, there is a higher end.
1:53
Vegoe
You watch College Hockey, it's pretty good, pretty good.
1:55
Vegoe
You watch good teams.
1:56
Vegoe
It's like, wow, that's an elite line.
1:58
Vegoe
You watch the NHL, it's like, wow, Quinn Hughes is really good.
2:01
Vegoe
And then you put the best on best in this kind of format.
2:05
Vegoe
And Quinn doesn't have the space to do what he does in a normal NHL game.
2:09
Vegoe
And just, everybody is just have that frenetic pace to themselves.
2:13
Vegoe
And you just see some of the skill that they're able to pull off in those moments.
2:16
Vegoe
And, you know, USA got some great gold tending in that gold medal game and super entertaining.
2:22
Jûpe
So Veegs, you were a little young for 1980, weren't you?
2:26
Jûpe
I was one year old.
2:27
Vegoe
I was one year old.
2:28
Vegoe
I do not remember the game.
2:30
Jûpe
Well, I know someone who's about my age who definitely was there and has definitely felt the entire 46 year wait.
2:41
Jûpe
Ben Holden, joining the show.
2:44
Jûpe
There he is.
2:45
Jûpe
How's it going, Ben?
2:48
Ben
Good, man.
2:48
Ben
I do.
2:49
Ben
I was nine years old.
2:51
Ben
I'm a November birthday.
2:53
Ben
It was a 7th birthday or so.
2:55
Ben
Yeah, I fell in love with the sport and I haven't looked back since.
2:59
Ben
I wasn't gonna be my hero at the time growing up in Lansing, Michigan.
3:02
Ben
And that's Magic Johnson.
3:04
Ben
Nothing was going to make me black and six foot nine.
3:07
Ben
So it was great that I found hockey and I haven't turned back.
3:14
Jûpe
Forty-six years, man.
3:15
Jûpe
Forty-six years.
3:20
Jûpe
And as Veegs said, it was some of the best hockey we've ever seen.
3:24
Jûpe
I mean, the speed of that final for the men's game was amazing.
3:31
Ben
Yeah, it was incredible.
3:32
Ben
I mean, funny story, I don't get up very early in the morning.
3:37
Ben
I'll be honest, I'm not a morning guy.
3:40
Ben
And my girlfriend, Owens, we call her, and I said, I'm getting up at 7.55.
3:46
Ben
She's like, no, you're not.
3:48
Ben
I said, watch me.
3:49
Ben
Right when the alarm went off, I was up, man.
3:51
Ben
So, no, it was incredible.
3:54
Ben
I mean, it was fun to watch.
3:55
Ben
I could watch that every day and, you know, to see our guys do it and, you know, all the comments from Canada afterwards.
4:02
Ben
They are what they are, but, you know, that's the format.
4:05
Ben
I'm sorry.
4:05
Ben
It's three on three.
4:06
Ben
They agree to it.
4:07
Ben
Is it the best way to decide a championship?
4:10
Ben
I'd rather just see them play five on five for 20 minutes because I think it's going to be over in five minutes anyway.
4:16
Ben
I don't think it's going to go very long.
4:17
Ben
So, you know, great for our guys, great for our country and great for USA Hockey, for the women and the men that did it in overtime.
4:25
Ben
And I got to point out, boys, you know, I'm proud of my home state.
4:28
Ben
A lot of Michigan people on those teams and both OT winners were scored by Megan Keller and, of course, Jack Hughes from Michigan.
4:37
Jûpe
If Megan only had a place to go play in Michigan.
4:40
Ben
True.
4:40
Ben
Good point.
4:42
Ben
Good point.
4:43
Ben
Good point.
4:43
Ben
I won't argue that.
4:44
Jûpe
I've got to snap those Michigan schools in that one.
4:48
Ben
It amazes me.
4:48
Ben
I don't get, I mean, I get it, but it needs to happen.
4:52
Ben
It really does.
4:53
Jûpe
Let's talk about that women's game, Veegs, because the women's team, they were feeling the pressure because they dominated the entire tournament, beat Canada five, five zip, five one, five zip it was.
5:06
Jûpe
They felt the pressure when they got down in that game and the way they came back and that Megan Keller goal.
5:13
Jûpe
Wow.
5:14
Jûpe
That's all I could say.
5:14
Jûpe
Wow.
5:16
Vegoe
I mean, it takes special players to make special plays in games like that.
5:20
Vegoe
And you just watch Canada's team basically collapse on their own goal in the defensive zone.
5:25
Vegoe
You know, it's going to be so hard for Team USA to get pucks to the net.
5:30
Vegoe
You know, it takes that screen and tip by Hillary Knight to get the game scored and going into overtime.
5:37
Vegoe
And you knew it was going to take a play like that.
5:39
Vegoe
And for a veteran player to make a savvy tip on a screen, that was very impressive for them.
5:44
Vegoe
You know, that USA team had dominated Canada leading up to the Olympics as well.
5:50
Vegoe
The lot was made of the roster turnover underway with USA Hockey and their women's program.
5:56
Vegoe
They had so many young players that were given roles.
5:59
Vegoe
There are a lot of great articles in the Athletic about, you know, the people who kind of like behind the scenes were making that stuff happen.
6:06
Vegoe
And I don't think USA is as dominant a team in this tournament without that youth.
6:11
Vegoe
You know, you look at Caroline Harvey, you know, she's like a huge brother.
6:14
Vegoe
You're a sister, you know, she just fits right in with that style and that freedom and that control of the game and especially in the women's game.
6:22
Vegoe
When you have players like that, it's such a difference maker.
6:26
Jûpe
But I would say even on the women's side, Canada played the perfect game they needed to play.
6:30
Jûpe
It didn't work out for them in the end, but that kind of maybe that leadership of older team helped them stay in that game.
6:42
Vegoe
I will say when you have a team, I just went through coaching my teams and districts and stuff.
6:48
Vegoe
When you get these tight games, you always want that one more goal.
6:53
Vegoe
I think it's always dangerous when you just collapse and you sit back and you want to keep pressing.
6:59
Vegoe
You want to keep doing what makes you a talented team.
7:02
Vegoe
I think when you put yourself in that shell, it just invites situations like Canada ran into in their gold medal game where they lost in overtime.
7:12
Jûpe
And then of course on the men, Ben, the move by Boldy to get that goal, to get them up early, Hellebuck, holy cow, to Jack Hughes' overtime winner losing half his mouth and the whole thing.
7:31
Jûpe
Yes, Canada did dominate, but it's the final score that matters, kid.
7:36
Jûpe
It's the final score.
7:39
Ben
I mean, it's McCarr jumping down trying to trip Jack Hughes.
7:43
Ben
Jack Hughes makes a great play with his stick, chips it around.
7:47
Ben
It's McKinnon losing the battle to Zach Baranski and McCarr and McDavid.
7:53
Ben
I don't know, Veegs, you coach, you just said, I don't know how good that back check was.
7:57
Ben
It didn't look very strong to me.
7:59
Ben
I've seen guys in the league I play in put in a little bit better effort than that, man.
8:03
Ben
And that's all about hockey.
8:05
Jûpe
There's not much defense in old man hockey as we all know.
8:08
Ben
Hey, we won last night 2-0 and our goalie shut out the last two opponents.
8:13
Ben
Look at that.
8:14
Ben
And before you ask, I was plus two with one and one.
8:17
Jûpe
So I had the winner.
8:20
Ben
So I had to get that in.
8:21
Ben
I knew you'd go there.
8:22
Ben
So I, it's all good.
8:24
Jûpe
It's all good.
8:26
Vegoe
But I do think the amount of ice time that those got in this tournament for Canada was surprising to me.
8:32
Vegoe
You have such a deep, talented roster.
8:35
Vegoe
I don't know if you need to lean on those guys quite like John Cooper did.
8:39
Vegoe
You know, John Cooper, he's a great coach.
8:42
Vegoe
He's achieved some phenomenal things.
8:44
Vegoe
But you have these short, condensed tournaments where the pace is so high.
8:49
Vegoe
You know, it looked like it may have cost them in the overtime there with the effort they gave on the back check.
8:55
Ben
Yeah, I mean, three best players in the world.
8:58
Ben
Exactly.
8:59
Ben
And that's what I said.
9:00
Ben
Like, you know, you're going to complain about it.
9:02
Ben
You have the literally the three best guys in the world on the ice and you don't win the game because I think, and I know you guys will say too, I mean, I think McDavid was simply trying to win the game on the first ship, taking on three guys, and it threw everything askew for them and they were out of shape.
9:19
Ben
They just, they couldn't get back.
9:22
Jûpe
Veegs, it comes back to people should listen to Billy Guerin.
9:26
Jûpe
He knew what he was doing when he picked the team and why he didn't pick certain guys.
9:33
Jûpe
You know, those were the gold.
9:35
Jûpe
Look at the gold.
9:35
Vegoe
They went into overtime and people were like, really would be nice to have Cole Caulfield to throw over the boards in this situation though.
9:41
Vegoe
But they got away with it.
9:42
Vegoe
So good for Billy G.
9:45
Vegoe
Yeah, it was a fun team to watch and a great game.
9:49
Vegoe
Connor Hellebuck played outstanding.
9:52
Vegoe
And just the story of him, you know, a guy who played high school hockey in Michigan, you know, couldn't do the AAA route like his brother went through, you know, so had to do high school and then finds his way to UMass and, you know, had trouble finding junior teams to play for and look at him now, gold medal winner.
10:10
Ben
Yeah, it's a great point.
10:12
Ben
I mean, he was a second team all-state or his senior year.
10:15
Ben
Wasn't even a first team guy.
10:17
Ben
And I remember doing, they played at Michigan.
10:20
Ben
I think it was his sophomore year, junior year, whatever it was.
10:23
Ben
And, you know, you watch him and you're like, he's good.
10:26
Ben
You know, he's a good college goalie.
10:27
Ben
You think nothing of it.
10:29
Ben
But what I kept thinking is how did nobody, he was good.
10:33
Ben
And that made me think, how did nobody in the state recruit him?
10:37
Ben
Nobody offered him.
10:38
Ben
Not one of the seven schools in this state offered him.
10:41
Ben
And good for him, man.
10:43
Ben
I'm with you, Veegs.
10:43
Ben
It's a great story, great story of perseverance and, you know, proving the doubters wrong and taking the one chance you got and making everything out of it.
10:53
Ben
I think that's great message indeed for a lot of young kids out there that watch these, these men's and women's teams win the gold.
11:00
Vegoe
Well, I think goalie sets a hard position to develop, recruit, evaluate.
11:04
Vegoe
And, you know, I've talked to Chris Mayotte at CC.
11:07
Vegoe
You know, he's had some talented goalies come through and he's like, you know, these big NHL style goalies, it takes them a while to control their bodies to be able to play that position at a high level.
11:19
Vegoe
And it's like, you know, junior teams might not be patient enough to have a guy like that, you know, who's got that, you know, potential runway.
11:26
Vegoe
You know, a college team might not have the patience for that to give a player an opportunity to develop.
11:32
Vegoe
But by the time they get to their peak, man, it's something to watch.
11:36
Ben
Sure is.
11:37
Jûpe
Veegs, it also shows a goalie can bring you a long way.
11:43
Jûpe
Oh, for sure.
11:44
Jûpe
I mean, yes, there was fortune.
11:46
Jûpe
I mean, I mean, was it miss wide open miss nets, couple messed up breakaways?
11:55
Jûpe
Yes, you got the stick on that, you know that the save that should go up in the Louvre, but it's like there's some fortune with that, but it's he got in their heads.
12:07
Vegoe
That's 100% makes a difference when you've got a goalie who's on it.
12:11
Vegoe
It forces the other team to be a little bit more fine and it forces them to maybe make that extra pass or maybe shoot a little bit quicker before they're comfortable.
12:21
Vegoe
When you have a goalie that's standing on their head like that, it just changes the whole tenor of the game.
12:27
Vegoe
I think that's what we saw a little bit.
12:29
Vegoe
Macklin Celebrini is having an amazing year, had a clean look.
12:32
Vegoe
Connor McDavid had clean looks.
12:35
Vegoe
It's something to watch and it was really fun.
12:38
Vegoe
Ben's saying he's not a morning person.
12:40
Vegoe
I'm not usually a morning person either.
12:42
Vegoe
I like to do overtime and stay up late and have a couple of whiskies and things like that.
12:47
Vegoe
But I was up at 4 a.m.
12:49
Vegoe
for this game.
12:49
Vegoe
Wow.
12:50
Vegoe
My kids had two games later that day in districts.
12:53
Vegoe
I'm nervous about that and I'm like, got to make sure I'm up on time to watch this gold medal games.
12:58
Vegoe
I won't have time to watch it on DVR or anything.
13:01
Vegoe
So I was up before.
13:02
Vegoe
I was making American breakfast, eggs, bacon, toast, jam, getting ready to go.
13:10
Jûpe
Wow.
13:11
Jûpe
I love the celebration shots, Veegs.
13:13
Jûpe
I saw youth kids games.
13:16
Jûpe
All of a sudden, you hear their parents cheering.
13:18
Jûpe
And these kids just stop the game and start skating around the ice that are just having a ball.
13:24
Vegoe
Yeah.
13:25
Vegoe
Good moment for USA Hockey.
13:27
Vegoe
I was looking back.
13:28
Vegoe
Someone tweeted in 2011 that USA Hockey U8 numbers were over 100,000 for the first time.
13:35
Vegoe
And he's like, look out in 15 years.
13:38
Ben
That was Craig Custens that tweeted that.
13:41
Ben
Yeah, I saw that too.
13:43
Vegoe
And I always look at the U numbers.
13:45
Vegoe
I go, man, that high school in eight, nine years is going to have a great team in the double A state tournament, which is coming up here in Minnesota.
13:53
Vegoe
It's all about numbers and development.
13:56
Vegoe
Minnesota Hockey, USA Hockey has done such a great job developing a big player pool.
14:02
Vegoe
And I think that's so key.
14:03
Vegoe
You look at the roster, yeah, there's 10 Minnesotans that won gold among the two teams.
14:08
Vegoe
But you've got players from Arizona and California and Florida and Michigan and Massachusetts all over the place that are contributing to this team.
14:17
Vegoe
And I always think in hockey, it's like you want to develop talent, but you want to keep kids playing for a long time.
14:26
Jûpe
Ben, we heard recently that the NHL took out a large, or they had to take out, IOC had to take out a large insurance policy on these NHL players.
14:37
Jûpe
And it looks like they're going to be paying some of that out for Sidney Crosby now that he's going to be out for weeks.
14:44
Ben
Sounds that, yeah, for weeks.
14:46
Ben
You know, maybe you guys saw the video too.
14:48
Ben
It was on Instagram.
14:49
Ben
He was at a kids camp today and he's out there taping sticks for kids.
14:53
Ben
I mean, you know, American, Canadian, Swedish, Finnish, whatever, man.
14:57
Ben
How do you not respect that guy?
14:59
Ben
And, you know, it's I mean, here in Detroit, we were a little, little ticked at him for a few years because of the handshake and all that.
15:06
Ben
But I mean, who cares?
15:07
Ben
I mean, I didn't play in that.
15:09
Ben
I didn't really ever care about that.
15:10
Ben
But I know a lot of fans were.
15:11
Ben
But, you know, as a hockey guy, man, I mean, utmost respect for him.
15:15
Ben
And, you know, it's unfortunate what happened.
15:18
Ben
I mean, I don't know about you guys.
15:21
Ben
But I mean, it's easy to sit here for us to say.
15:24
Ben
And I'm sure a lot of other people have said it too.
15:26
Ben
You know, to me, if he takes that hit, and I know that's hard to do, I know that's hard to do, but he leaned back and, you know, and I know it's a split second, but looking back, you know, you wish I wish it wouldn't have happened.
15:38
Ben
I wish you would have been playing on Sunday.
15:40
Ben
I wanted to see him play.
15:41
Ben
I thought there was no way that he was going to miss that game.
15:44
Ben
But obviously, it's serious enough where he couldn't go on it.
15:49
Jûpe
And that was unfortunate.
15:50
Jûpe
But like you said, Veegs all around great tournament.
15:54
Jûpe
I understand why they do three on three.
15:56
Jûpe
They want to end quickly.
15:57
Jûpe
They can't.
15:58
Jûpe
It's the last day of the Olympics.
16:00
Jûpe
They can't chance it.
16:03
Jûpe
Closing ceremonies, everything.
16:05
Jûpe
It's not just like its own little thing.
16:07
Jûpe
It's part of something a lot bigger.
16:10
Vegoe
Yeah, it's just, I think everyone understands what they're getting into with this event and why it is that way.
16:17
Vegoe
And you just deal with it and prepare and add some drama to it, too.
16:21
Vegoe
Hearing TJ Oshie talk about his experience in the Olympics.
16:25
Vegoe
You know, that's pretty unique stuff and it only happens there.
16:29
Vegoe
So very entertaining.
16:30
Vegoe
And I was glad that USA came out on top this time.
16:34
Jûpe
Oh, boy.
16:35
Jûpe
It's exactly.
16:37
Jûpe
It's to the air.
16:38
Jûpe
Let's go.
16:41
Jûpe
On the other end, we're off a week because our hometown Gophers didn't play.
16:46
Jûpe
But before that, two points at Notre Dame.
16:53
Jûpe
The penalty power play clearly missed our young Mr.
16:59
Jûpe
18.
17:02
Jûpe
Not a good result for Minnesota at Notre Dame.
17:06
Vegoe
Yeah, Minnesota is at a point of their season where LJ Mooney is a huge factor.
17:12
Vegoe
And when you pull him out of the lineup, it's going to have a huge impact.
17:16
Vegoe
That top line isn't nearly as dangerous without him on the ice.
17:20
Vegoe
The power play clearly isn't as good when you swap Mooney for Poulsen.
17:25
Vegoe
And it's just a different team.
17:27
Vegoe
And I think, you know, if it was a playoff type game or if there was a race in the standings that was critical for Minnesota, there's a chance LJ could have played.
17:36
Vegoe
You know, he skated with the team in South Bend and didn't have the Red Cross jersey on.
17:41
Vegoe
He wasn't playing for Switzerland that week.
17:44
Vegoe
But I think the safe bet is to keep him out of the lineup and make sure he's 100% come back with the bi-week that they've just got off of here.
17:53
Vegoe
And he's ready to go again.
17:55
Vegoe
And I think that's the big picture thing for Minnesota.
18:00
Vegoe
Whipple was a D who played 20 minutes a night in both games.
18:04
Vegoe
He's established himself as a top four guy.
18:07
Vegoe
That third pair still isn't getting much of an opportunity.
18:10
Vegoe
They're leaning pretty heavy on Luke Middlestad and Cal Thomas still at this point.
18:15
Vegoe
But this is a team that's focusing on the end of the season.
18:19
Vegoe
And I know our friends at USCHO called out Minnesota as a dark horse team.
18:24
Vegoe
And there's just a couple teams here in the Big Ten that aren't high in the standings.
18:28
Vegoe
But they've got good power plays.
18:31
Vegoe
You look at Notre Dame's power play.
18:32
Vegoe
You look at Minnesota's power play.
18:34
Vegoe
They're very good.
18:35
Vegoe
You look at their top six forwards.
18:36
Vegoe
Both teams pretty good.
18:39
Vegoe
Defense, not as deep for both those teams.
18:41
Vegoe
I think that's what impacts them five on five.
18:44
Vegoe
And as a team, when you look at their whole resume, because when you don't have those defensemen who are really productive, it's hard to be consistent.
18:53
Jûpe
Well, you just look at it, Ben.
18:54
Jûpe
Right now, Minnesota would travel to Penn State for one game.
19:01
Jûpe
Penn State leads the country in penalty minutes per game.
19:05
Jûpe
Like you said, that whole thing Veegs was saying, in a one game scenario, you know, Minnesota could get blown out and do what everyone expects, but it could be the total opposite as well.
19:16
Jûpe
It's been one of those seasons.
19:18
Jûpe
That's not something that Penn State can go, huh, we got Minnesota because they don't.
19:26
Ben
No, you're right.
19:26
Ben
And, you know, I mean, I had Notre Dame last week in the two games at Michigan State.
19:30
Ben
And, you know, I think there was a couple of times Fred and I had mentioned on the air, like, I don't know if I want to play this team in one game.
19:37
Ben
I mean, that I know their record is horrible too.
19:40
Ben
And, you know, they're going through a change.
19:42
Ben
And I think in a year or two at most, I think Brock Sheehan is going to turn that program back around.
19:48
Ben
I mean, I asked Brock about, you know, he was, I started calling games in 04, his freshman year.
19:55
Ben
And I did 12 games at Notre Dame that year and they won five games, five.
20:01
Ben
One of them was against BC when they were number one and Morgan Say stopped 50 shots.
20:06
Ben
But anyways, I think they're going to get back to that.
20:10
Ben
And I know the result on Saturday was not pretty.
20:13
Ben
Michigan State was complete.
20:14
Ben
They were thorough.
20:16
Ben
They just ran them out of the building.
20:19
Ben
But up until that power play where Notre Dame had a five minute major, they were in the game and they were certainly in the game on Thursday.
20:27
Ben
So I wouldn't want to play them.
20:28
Ben
I wouldn't want to play Minnesota if I'm Penn State because I think Minnesota, when they're healthy, like you guys mentioned, in Mooney, we talked to him today, man.
20:36
Ben
I love that kid.
20:38
Ben
He is a firecracker, man.
20:39
Ben
I really like him and he gives such a dimension to their team.
20:43
Ben
And you guys know better than anybody.
20:45
Ben
You watch him every game.
20:46
Ben
He does so much for their team and he's ready to go.
20:49
Ben
So we had a good chat with him today.
20:50
Ben
But yeah, I mean, I like the new format.
20:54
Ben
I think it keeps teams, it's gonna give teams a chance to be fresher, to be healthier, instead of the best of three or whatever it is.
21:03
Ben
It goes two or three and so I like it.
21:06
Ben
But I think Michigan's gonna end up being the two.
21:10
Ben
And I think they're gonna end up playing Notre Dame.
21:12
Ben
I mean, so that's, and they got some history there.
21:15
Ben
They took years out.
21:16
Ben
Ivan Kovac got taken out.
21:18
Ben
I'll still stand on my ground, what I've said all along.
21:21
Ben
I don't think Henry Nelson ran him.
21:22
Ben
I think he toe picked.
21:25
Ben
But Ivan Kovac missed a month, but Michigan didn't really miss a beat.
21:28
Ben
So there's a lot of history there and their two brand names too, as we know.
21:32
Jûpe
A quick question on Michigan.
21:34
Jûpe
I'm still amazed that they're still the only team who has not won a regular season title.
21:41
Jûpe
And they're gonna, right now it's, you know, they've got two games left.
21:45
Jûpe
It's their last two games this weekend.
21:50
Jûpe
Yes, they're technically in the lead, but they would need a lot of help to prevent Michigan State from passing them up.
21:56
Jûpe
They're a playoff team, yes, they've won three of them.
21:59
Jûpe
But regular season has evaded them.
22:03
Jûpe
What is the deal?
22:04
Ben
I don't know.
22:05
Ben
I mean, you know, mathematically Penn State's still alive, but realistically, let's be honest, I don't think Michigan State's gonna slip.
22:14
Ben
You know, they could, I mean, Minnesota could give them a hard time.
22:17
Ben
I don't think they have any trouble with Ohio State this weekend.
22:20
Ben
I just don't, I mean, Ohio State just gave up 16 goals to Penn State.
22:24
Ben
I mean, McKenna and those guys just shredded them.
22:27
Ben
So I don't think State's losing one of those games.
22:30
Ben
I think if they're gonna, if there's gonna be a blemish, I think it's against Minnesota.
22:34
Ben
Maybe a game goes to overtime.
22:37
Ben
I don't see that this weekend.
22:38
Ben
Michigan, I don't know.
22:40
Ben
I mean, it's baffling to me that they have never won the regular season.
22:45
Ben
I believe the number is 2011.
22:47
Ben
That's the last time they won a league.
22:49
Ben
And that was the CCHA title, of course.
22:52
Ben
So I don't know, but I really like their team.
22:57
Ben
They've got all the elements.
22:58
Ben
And I think the thing for other teams that's concerning and scary for them is they've got a goalie in Jack Ivenkovic.
23:04
Ben
And, you know, we were, Fred and I and our crew, we were surprised the night he came back downtown, but he didn't have his best game that night.
23:13
Ben
I think one of those, the first goal he gave up, he'd like back, but the other four, I don't think anybody would stop him.
23:18
Ben
So state was on that night like they were the other night and like they've been most night, so Michigan's going to be a problem for a lot of teams the rest of the year.
23:27
Jûpe
Veegs, I know you've been a little hard on Neurado and the way he's kind of built teams, but this season you've felt a little different about how his team has come together.
23:38
Vegoe
They just seem like a little more complete team than some of the past Michigan teams.
23:42
Vegoe
I think they've got enough veteran players that are contributing or playing the right way for them.
23:49
Vegoe
They've just been able to score their mistakes.
23:52
Vegoe
You look back at Michigan, they haven't won a regular season title since 2011, like Ben said, but they've been to four Frozen Fours.
24:00
Vegoe
This is a team that's had a lot of talent and a lot of success, and it's just been one of those programs where they're not as consistent.
24:08
Vegoe
This year it's been a little bit different for them, and they've been really tough for everyone to play against because they can score at a very high rate.
24:15
Vegoe
And they don't have very many undisciplined games where they give up a ton either.
24:20
Ben
That's the key, you just said it.
24:22
Ben
Sorry, Jupps, but that's the key, is the discipline.
24:26
Ben
I mean, you look at Tyler Duke, who's a senior, experienced guy, well over 100 games in his career.
24:32
Ben
But he hasn't come unglued at all this year.
24:35
Ben
Guys like that, I think Luca Fantilli is really under the radar.
24:39
Ben
I mean, I don't think he makes the first or second team in the Big Ten.
24:41
Ben
Maybe he makes the second team at D, maybe.
24:45
Ben
But point is, he's been consistent to your point, Veegs, about this whole team being a deeper, more complete team.
24:52
Ben
And that's what they are.
24:53
Ben
I mean, they got the star power in Hage and Jayden Perron's played well.
24:57
Ben
But it's TJ Hughes that leads them, man.
24:59
Ben
He's a four year guy.
25:01
Ben
He's a heartbeat of that team.
25:02
Ben
He's the engine.
25:03
Ben
He's the driver.
25:03
Ben
Call him whatever you want.
25:05
Ben
He's just, we talked to him yesterday.
25:07
Ben
And quiet guy, you wouldn't know he's been a two year captain at Michigan and just goes about his business and he's smart and he thinks the game and makes the right play and guys like that.
25:18
Ben
I'm just looking at some of their other guys like some of their freshmen have been really good.
25:22
Ben
McKinney's been good.
25:23
Ben
Aiden Park's been really good.
25:25
Ben
I mean, they can flip the game in a hurry, man.
25:27
Ben
So, and they've got four lines.
25:28
Ben
They really do.
25:29
Ben
And then you got Big Ernesty and Draper.
25:31
Ben
And those guys are mixing it up, banging everything in sight.
25:35
Ben
And it is, you're right, Veegs.
25:36
Ben
It's a complete team this year.
25:38
Ben
And again, I think with Ivan Colby, I think they're going to be a tough out in this thing down the stretch.
25:45
Vegoe
But I think you just look at how you build a roster in College Hockey these days.
25:49
Vegoe
You need those guys who can stick around for three and four years.
25:52
Vegoe
It makes such a huge difference in how your program can operate, because then those young guys can fit in on a line with a couple older guys, where they don't have to do it every night and they can get the support to contribute.
26:05
Vegoe
You know, Brad Schlossman likes to put out that tweet every NCAA tournament, like the last team with a first round pick was Brock Besser on North Dakota to win the championship.
26:16
Vegoe
It takes some experience to play well in these big games, and to be consistent, and be patient when things aren't going your way, and you got to avoid shooting yourself in the foot.
26:26
Vegoe
And when you're experienced and strong like Michigan is right now, you can do that.
26:31
Vegoe
You know, on the flip side, you look at teams like Minnesota, Notre Dame, they don't have that.
26:35
Vegoe
They have so many young guys that they're counting on to do things.
26:39
Vegoe
And last year, you know, with the portal being a little thin, without the fifth year grad guys, you know, it just wasn't as easy to fill holes in your roster.
26:49
Vegoe
And so you kind of see that that gap between the teams that are super consistent this year and the teams that are not.
26:58
Ben
Great point.
26:58
Ben
No, I mean, it's you're right on, man.
27:02
Jûpe
It's going to be interesting to see how this all comes together.
27:06
Jûpe
Before we move on Veegs, we need to talk about one of our sponsors here.
27:11
Jûpe
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27:13
Jûpe
I know you've been using that a lot lately from playing hockey and coaching and chasing all those kids.
27:18
Jûpe
Haven't you?
27:19
Jûpe
Yeah.
27:20
Vegoe
You know, it's for pros, college athletes, weekend warriors like myself who are at the rink.
27:25
Vegoe
You know, you get some soreness.
27:26
Vegoe
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27:28
Vegoe
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27:33
Vegoe
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27:36
Vegoe
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27:40
Vegoe
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27:46
Vegoe
It's something that retails for 25 bucks.
27:49
Vegoe
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27:50
Vegoe
You'll be able to try it on.
27:51
Vegoe
You know, it reduces inflammation, relieves pain, relieves stress.
27:56
Vegoe
You know, it's a great product, I think, for people who have just a little bit of soreness and want to play through it.
28:01
Vegoe
And it's NSF certified, so it's free from 300-band substances.
28:05
Vegoe
So you don't have to worry about anything there.
28:08
Vegoe
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28:09
Vegoe
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28:12
Jûpe
And here's that little sample right here.
28:14
Jûpe
So you can get one of these.
28:18
Jûpe
Right up your alley, Ben.
28:19
Jûpe
You should check it out.
28:21
Jûpe
Trust me.
28:23
Ben
You put that on the shoulder right now from last night.
28:26
Jûpe
There you go.
28:28
Jûpe
cascadescitygamessport.com/team.
28:32
Ben
Yeah, I'm going to check it out.
28:33
Ben
I mean, I'm 55, I'll be honest.
28:35
Ben
And there's guys at the 40 and over, and there's dudes in their 40s, their 50s like me, 60s.
28:40
Ben
We got some dudes in their early 70s, man.
28:42
Ben
And every now and then on the Sunday skate, the Sunday is more of, it's guys from the league, but it's kind of a handpicked group.
28:48
Ben
So it's a real high-tempo skate.
28:50
Ben
You know, and everybody knows everybody.
28:52
Ben
And then, of course, we play in the league either Tuesday or Wednesday.
28:54
Ben
And a couple weeks ago, man, I asked one of the guys, it's like, I think he's 72.
29:00
Ben
And I was like, Freddie, man.
29:02
Ben
I go, how do you feel, man, after you skate?
29:03
Ben
And he goes, I'm sore as hell.
29:05
Ben
That's how I feel.
29:07
Ben
I go, good, it's not just me.
29:11
Jûpe
But the thing is, you could play hockey much longer because it's not an impact sport.
29:16
Jûpe
You're gliding.
29:17
Jûpe
Yes, you can have, yes, you're putting stress on your knees, but it's nothing like playing squash or whatever it may be.
29:24
Jûpe
It's hard on the joints.
29:25
Jûpe
So that's why for years, we always saw Wendell Anderson, former governor of Minnesota, skating into his 80s in hockey.
29:34
Ben
So Red's still playing, Red Berenson, man.
29:39
Ben
I think he's 85 now.
29:41
Ben
He's still playing in the alumni games with the wings.
29:43
Ben
And yeah, it's crazy, man.
29:46
Ben
I mean, I'm so glad I started playing three years ago.
29:48
Ben
And I mean, I'm skating 100 times a year, literally.
29:50
Ben
And my CPA got me back into it.
29:53
Ben
You know, I was going through a tough patch there after I lost that job in DC.
29:57
Ben
It was questioning a lot of stuff.
29:58
Ben
And it's been great for me, man, and physically, emotionally, spiritually, you know, being with the boys, you know, in the locker room and hang.
30:06
Ben
And you guys know how it is.
30:07
Ben
And, you know, my girlfriend and I get a little separation a couple of nights a week.
30:11
Ben
So that's always a good thing, too, boys.
30:13
Jûpe
So, OK, time to get out of the house.
30:17
Ben
You know, exactly.
30:20
Ben
I get to start traveling for rugby in a couple of weeks.
30:23
Ben
So we'll get a little room there.
30:24
Jûpe
It's all good.
30:27
Jûpe
All right.
30:28
Jûpe
We need to take a look at Veegso's top 20 this week.
30:32
Jûpe
Veegs, you actually put Michigan down a little bit.
30:36
Jûpe
Look at that.
30:38
Vegoe
Well, you know, you split at Wisconsin.
30:40
Vegoe
You know, you got to drop a little bit, I think.
30:43
Vegoe
You know, as talented as they are, Wisconsin was a team that's just kind of hanging on by a thread.
30:49
Vegoe
And that's one of those games that got away from Michigan just a little bit.
30:52
Vegoe
I think Wisconsin was playing a little bit desperate and just shows you, you know, at the top, you know, it's a fine line up there.
31:00
Jûpe
Ben, you look at that top 10 that Veegs has together, that's pretty close to, you know, what it really should be.
31:06
Jûpe
I mean, actually, probably your top 10.
31:09
Jûpe
I would maybe even quit a PIAC down, you know, you got Providence has been pretty consistent all year.
31:15
Jûpe
Penn State, Denver, Denver's been a little up and down in your poll Veegs, but really, they've been consistent too.
31:21
Jûpe
Really, your top 10 this year has been fairly consistent the last two months, hasn't it?
31:26
Vegoe
Yeah, I'm probably the outlier on Cornell and Dartmouth.
31:30
Vegoe
You know, everyone's been higher on them than I have.
31:33
Vegoe
I just see their strength of schedule and who they've played, and it's just not as impressive as the rest of the teams in the top 10 here.
31:41
Vegoe
All those schools have played tough teams.
31:43
Vegoe
They've proven themselves.
31:45
Vegoe
You know, they've had some down moments in their season, and they've recovered, and they've got some elite talent.
31:50
Vegoe
And so that's kind of where I'm looking at those top 10 teams.
31:54
Vegoe
And, you know, they're looking pretty safe here as we get towards the NCAA tournament.
31:58
Vegoe
And I think once you get past BC, things are getting scary because I was listening to those guys on USCHO.
32:05
Vegoe
There are potentially a lot of upsets that could happen in conference tournaments.
32:10
Vegoe
And we might see a number of teams outside the, you know, at-large area for bids this year that could make it.
32:17
Jûpe
Let's take a look straight at NPI right there.
32:20
Jûpe
I mean, holy Western teams, Batman, top four right there, Penn State, technically Big Ten, but not a lot of East schools up at the top this year, Ben.
32:32
Ben
No, I mean, the Minton's dominating, boys.
32:34
Ben
Hopefully in the end we're winning another one this year.
32:37
Ben
But yeah, I mean, you know, North Dakota is playing Western this weekend in Kalamazoo.
32:41
Ben
And you know, some big series here in the state, you know, with Michigan and Michigan State and who they're playing.
32:46
Ben
And, you know, Lawson will be rocking, man.
32:49
Ben
I miss that place.
32:50
Ben
I love doing that league, just go to Lawson all the time.
32:52
Ben
But yeah, I mean, it's it's really impressive what first has done at Western.
32:57
Ben
I mean, you know, again, I don't do a lot of their games anymore.
33:00
Ben
I did the one at Michigan in October.
33:02
Ben
And I mean, they're just a solid group, man.
33:05
Ben
They got to figure it out.
33:06
Ben
And, you know, he's such a good coach and a great recruiter.
33:09
Ben
And, you know, they're just they're just nails to play against, man.
33:12
Ben
They're hard.
33:12
Ben
They got layers.
33:13
Ben
They got every area covered from the net out.
33:16
Ben
They're decors good.
33:17
Ben
They're strong.
33:17
Ben
They're physical.
33:18
Ben
They can move the puck fast, you know, and they got a good mix of their forward.
33:22
Ben
So I don't really North Dakota.
33:24
Ben
I haven't seen a lot of NODAC this year, but, you know, I trust based on their record in which Schlossman tweets out that all is well up in the forks right now, boys.
33:32
Jûpe
Well, I was given a few of them hard time that, you know, if they wouldn't have lost to Minnesota in October, that, you know, 58.156 would be 59 point.
33:41
Jûpe
They'd be a full point higher if they didn't lose to Minnesota.
33:44
Ben
So, yeah, they'd be probably second.
33:47
Jûpe
Minnesota fans a little happier schedule ranked Minnesota still number one in the toughest schedule of leagues.
33:53
Jûpe
That's the only consolation we have right now, don't we?
33:57
Jûpe
Yeah.
33:57
Vegoe
I mean, you look at Minnesota, they do have quality wins.
34:00
Vegoe
You know, they got the win over Denver.
34:03
Vegoe
You know, they got the win over North Dakota.
34:05
Vegoe
You know, they've got the win over Penn State.
34:07
Vegoe
You know, they have shown signs that they can be a dangerous team.
34:11
Vegoe
So it's just, I think, for one year where the Big Ten goes to these one-off games, it really benefits a team like Minnesota because they've shown they can pull it off for a game or two.
34:20
Vegoe
You just got to do that a couple of series in a row.
34:25
Ben
Yeah.
34:25
Ben
I mean, in talking to Steve, Steve, the killer Miller, we love the killer man.
34:32
Ben
It's always great to see him.
34:33
Ben
We saw him at the rink today and, you know, a big takeaway from him.
34:37
Ben
There were many, but, you know, the biggest thing, and you guys know better than anybody, but just for those maybe that don't out there or joining the show or whatever, I mean, the five on five is where they got to be better.
34:47
Ben
I mean, the power play, that hasn't been, I mean, it was a problem in the beginning of the year.
34:52
Ben
You know, and it's interesting, too, that, you know, he made a good point, Steve did, and when he was talking to Freddie and I listened to the interview back because I was in talking to Paul Martin, so I missed talking with him, but I mean, the best penalty kill in the Big Ten is like 80%.
35:06
Ben
You know, that's incredible.
35:07
Ben
I mean, you know, normally PKs were, you know, 85 to 90, you know, and it's changed, and it's, I think, it's probably going down a rabbit hole about the way games are called and what's called and, you know, all that with the five-minute penalties or more of those, you know, the last few years than we've ever had.
35:26
Ben
But, you know, the Big Ten, the power plays are pretty darn good, man.
35:30
Ben
Really, with everybody.
35:32
Ben
So better stay out of the box.
35:34
Ben
But, again, I think for Minnesota, one of the things they're going to have to be a lot better in, in this series starting tomorrow night is five-on-five, and they got to be attacking, man.
35:44
Ben
I mean, Luke and Epasko can't stop 92 shots in the series like he did in the first one.
35:49
Ben
I mean, they've got to be better.
35:50
Ben
They've got to be sound in that five-on-five and button it up there.
35:55
Jûpe
Taking a look at the rest of the Big Ten this weekend.
35:59
Jûpe
Penn State at Notre Dame, Ohio State at Michigan State.
36:05
Jûpe
Gee, I think that one's a Big Ten, too.
36:07
Jûpe
Who's calling?
36:08
Jûpe
Is that going to be another?
36:09
Jûpe
Is that a, who's calling that game?
36:10
Jûpe
You know, I mean, you're going to be on Minnesota.
36:13
Ben
Yep.
36:13
Ben
So Freddie and I are at Michigan for both climber and fosters are up in East Lansing.
36:19
Ben
So we're, there's only two games tomorrow.
36:23
Ben
Lake States playing.
36:24
Ben
I think they're playing Ferris.
36:25
Ben
I think I thought I saw in our game and then doubleheader for us on Friday and then a solo Saturday game up at state with those guys.
36:34
Jûpe
I like all those games we've been seeing.
36:36
Jûpe
I mean, yeah, man.
36:38
Jûpe
I mean, we, you know, we, we were giving Cappy a hard time.
36:41
Jûpe
Like, you know, maybe they should have some defense, you know, at that game.
36:45
Ben
The Buckeyes?
36:46
Jûpe
At Penn State.
36:46
Jûpe
Yeah.
36:47
Ben
Oh, I was gassing him on text when he was doing the game, man.
36:50
Ben
I'm like, your team stinks.
36:53
Jûpe
You know, there was like six goals in like the first six minutes.
36:56
Jûpe
It was just crazy.
36:59
Ben
Defense optional.
37:01
Jûpe
Eight points, Vs for Mr.
37:03
Jûpe
McKenna.
37:05
Vegoe
Yeah, I was joking with Bob this week.
37:06
Vegoe
I was like, what do you make of the the scoreboard in the Big Ten this last weekend?
37:10
Vegoe
He's like, I wish we were a part of that.
37:13
Vegoe
For offense and, you know, like a defense optional game from someone we play.
37:18
Vegoe
But, you know, the power plays are talented and McKenna had a night, you know, and you have a game that gets on a hand like that.
37:27
Vegoe
And there's a lot of space.
37:29
Vegoe
That is definitely his skill set.
37:30
Vegoe
He's got great hands and great vision.
37:33
Vegoe
I think the thing that we're still concerned about with him is his effort to contribute more than that.
37:39
Vegoe
But when that's the, that's the game, he's a master of that.
37:43
Jûpe
Well, I would say we kind of saw a similar game last year, Ben, when Minnesota was that Michigan state, there was a game.
37:50
Jûpe
What was it?
37:50
Jûpe
9-3?
37:51
Jûpe
It was just as bad.
37:54
Jûpe
Sometimes games just get away from you.
37:56
Jûpe
We don't see it as often as you would see back in the 70s and 80s and maybe 90s, but it still does happen.
38:03
Ben
Well, yeah, I mean, Michigan state put the snowman on Notre Dame in game two on Friday.
38:07
Ben
So yeah, that was the night Penn State scored 11, right?
38:11
Ben
So you had 19 goals just that in that game, those two games.
38:15
Ben
And I think there were four or five in the Michigan Wisconsin game.
38:19
Ben
So yeah, it's rare.
38:22
Ben
You know, I had a chance to see McKenna at Michigan, watch both games.
38:27
Ben
He finished with 16 shots, didn't score.
38:30
Ben
So, you know, they got a late goal, Mesa tipped one in late.
38:34
Ben
You know, I'm going to be that guy.
38:37
Ben
But I look at what he's done against Michigan and Michigan State.
38:39
Ben
And he didn't score against Michigan in four games.
38:41
Ben
I think he had one game where he scored against State, the outdoor game with a great picture everyone saw.
38:47
Ben
I mean, yeah, there's a lot there.
38:49
Ben
But I think there's still a lot more that's got to come in his game.
38:53
Ben
And, you know, the passing to me is passing his next level.
38:56
Ben
It's off the charts, man.
38:58
Ben
He I watched him Friday.
39:00
Ben
I was up with Freddie and Al in the radio booth.
39:02
Ben
And it was a right wing pass all the way backhand sauce pass.
39:06
Ben
I mean, on the middle of the tape, that kind of stuff.
39:09
Ben
But, you know, I personally think whether he's number one or not, he needs to come back and play another year college hockey.
39:16
Ben
I don't think.
39:16
Jûpe
No, he doesn't.
39:17
Jûpe
No, he doesn't.
39:17
Jûpe
No, he doesn't.
39:19
Ben
Well, I can't.
39:21
Jûpe
No, he doesn't.
39:23
Ben
He does.
39:24
Ben
I'm going to stick to that.
39:25
Jûpe
I think my costpanes take too much, too much more money.
39:30
Ben
Well, they got plenty of that, right?
39:31
Ben
So but that's that's those are my two cents on him.
39:35
Jûpe
You know, it's strange, Veegs, you know, he you know, McKenna hasn't been as successful against some of the bigger teams.
39:41
Jûpe
And you know what?
39:42
Jûpe
Sometimes these superstars can get shut down quite a bit.
39:47
Jûpe
I remember back in the day, you know, Minnesota shut down Hughes pretty consistently at Michigan.
39:54
Jûpe
I look back at the Johnny Hockey was shut down by Minnesota when they had played against him.
40:01
Jûpe
So there's just there's just times where some teams are not going to just not going to let this guy get free.
40:07
Jûpe
And maybe that's what, you know, Michigan, Michigan State's been doing, because you got to put somebody on them.
40:12
Jûpe
You got to cover.
40:13
Vegoe
Make the big difference in college hockey than, you know, major junior or USHL or these world junior tournaments is the structure can be so much firmer.
40:24
Vegoe
And guys are tighter on checks and they're bigger and they're stronger and they've done the strength and conditioning and they're able to force you to the outside.
40:32
Vegoe
And so for players like McKenna, we haven't had to deal with that as much.
40:36
Vegoe
It's a learning experience to figure out where they can touch the stove and where they're going to lose possession and where they can't get momentum.
40:43
Vegoe
And you know, I think some guys get frustrated with that and they just want to move on to the next level because they're like, well, it's not going to get any different to the AHL.
40:52
Vegoe
I might as well do it and get paid.
40:54
Vegoe
So we'll see what McKenna decides to do.
40:57
Vegoe
You know, there's a lot of college coaches that say if you're ready to go to the AHL, I'll drive to the airport and other guys, their agents are going to take them to the airport.
41:05
Vegoe
So we'll see what happens to McKenna at the end of the year.
41:09
Jûpe
It's going to be a fun couple of weeks, though.
41:11
Jûpe
It's going to be a fun couple of weeks.
41:12
Jûpe
You know, it's weird being on the outside, Veegs.
41:16
Jûpe
You know, we'll get to that a bit here.
41:20
Jûpe
But I'm hoping that we can see some BigTen success this year, Ben, because they really need it.
41:28
Jûpe
The only conference really been chatting is NCHC, and they've got the hardware to prove it.
41:34
Ben
Yeah, I mean, they've dominated the sport since the split, when they started in 13-14, and, you know, it's time.
41:42
Ben
I mean, I've been saying it, I was on a couple of different shows last week, and, you know, I think Michigan State, not by much, not by much.
41:52
Ben
But I think Michigan State, to me, is the more complete team in the Big Ten.
41:59
Ben
And it's not by much, it's really not.
42:02
Ben
If I had to pick a difference in a separating factor, I would say it's Marton and Stramell.
42:08
Ben
Because those guys have been really consistent for, they haven't had too many nights where they haven't produced.
42:14
Ben
And I know Red Berenson once told me in an alumni game after I put up two goals and had two assists, and he asked me how I played.
42:21
Ben
And I said, well, I had two and two.
42:22
Ben
He goes, doesn't mean you played well, right?
42:25
Ben
He loved throwing that in my face, and he's right.
42:28
Ben
But I just, the presence of those two guys, I think is what separates the two teams that are in my state.
42:37
Ben
And again, I don't think it's by much, but I think that's the factor for me that I think is going to be the difference for state this year.
42:45
Jûpe
And just thinking back on Stramel's career, Veegs, it wasn't much long ago that people were like, what were the wild thinking drafting this kid?
42:55
Jûpe
Teams were making him look bad, Veegs, when he was at Wisconsin and even early on in Michigan State.
43:01
Vegoe
Well, I've always thought big players take a little bit longer to bake.
43:04
Vegoe
There you go.
43:05
Vegoe
There's just something about it.
43:07
Vegoe
There's just something about it.
43:09
Vegoe
You've got to figure out how to make an impact in the game, how to get your foot speed going.
43:13
Vegoe
Matthew Nyes is one of those rare big players that I thought made an impact really quickly with his physicality.
43:20
Vegoe
But a lot of other big players, it just takes a while to figure it out.
43:24
Vegoe
Strammell is a guy who's benefited from some patience and sticking to it.
43:28
Vegoe
I think it really makes Marton a better player, be able to see that every day and not be that guy, but be the second guy.
43:37
Vegoe
Strammell is going to get all the attention of the best big physical players from the other team.
43:41
Vegoe
Then Marton can slip in there as a secondary big guy.
43:45
Vegoe
And just the matchups could be really beneficial for a guy like that and help his development.
43:52
Jûpe
It's going to be interesting.
43:53
Jûpe
It's going to be interesting.
43:54
Jûpe
I'm excited because I'm excited as a wild fan, Veegs, that he's figuring it out.
43:59
Jûpe
It's a big body.
44:01
Jûpe
I'm looking forward to him coming to the wild now.
44:03
Vegoe
So don't get too excited.
44:05
Vegoe
I saw Hoppy tweet today that maybe there's a chance that Thomas from St.
44:09
Vegoe
Louis could be acquired for a guy like Strammell and some draft picks and maybe a goalie.
44:15
Jûpe
Oh, boy.
44:17
Ben
Yeah, he's, you know, we've talked, you know, about him in Porter Marton.
44:23
Ben
You know, obviously every game, but, you know, reminded us of Zach Hyman.
44:26
Ben
Fred brought that up one day.
44:28
Ben
I can't remember which coach it was with, but he's like, Red would always say about Hyman, you could take him right now and you could drop him on any team in the league.
44:35
Ben
Like he can play and both those dudes can play.
44:37
Ben
And there's no way Marton's back.
44:40
Ben
I think he's, you know, we're talking about McKenna earlier.
44:43
Ben
Marton's ready to roll, man, whatever state's done.
44:46
Ben
I don't know if the Flyers will be playing at that point, but they might have a game or two left.
44:50
Ben
I don't think they're making the playoffs, but I think he's a one and done guy.
44:55
Ben
And, you know, what a stud.
44:57
Ben
And, you know, Freddie asked him last week, too, about why he played college hockey.
45:00
Ben
And I joke that College Hockey, Inc.
45:02
Ben
needs to cut that into a promo right now.
45:05
Ben
It was fabulous what he said, guys.
45:07
Ben
I mean, it was just, it was incredible.
45:09
Ben
It was so good.
45:10
Ben
And he's such a well-spoken guy and a big fan of his, man.
45:13
Ben
He's a good young guy.
45:15
Jûpe
And Ben, I think that's going to change even more.
45:17
Jûpe
So some of these Canadian junior kids coming down to some of these big programs, Veegs and I have talked about this.
45:22
Jûpe
We're like, oh, wait a minute.
45:25
Jûpe
We're flying planes everywhere.
45:27
Jûpe
Yep.
45:28
Jûpe
We're charters.
45:29
Jûpe
We're flying charters.
45:30
Jûpe
We're getting, you know, no bussy.
45:33
Jûpe
Oh, it's a higher experience, Veegs, for a lot of these guys.
45:39
Vegoe
Well, and just the food and the training and hotels and all that stuff.
45:43
Vegoe
It's like when you see guys in the Big Ten start to look at the transfer portal, they're looking for a high quality of life.
45:49
Vegoe
They're not wanting to go down to the CCHA or Atlantic or anything like that for more playtime.
45:54
Vegoe
They're like, can I make a lateral move and keep all the nice things that go into playing Big Ten Hockey or Hockey, East Hockey or NCHC Hockey at the right school?
46:04
Vegoe
And it's going to be interesting.
46:06
Vegoe
The bigger picture for me is how these teams handle the early departures.
46:11
Vegoe
Because we see it with a lot of programs, you invest the time in these Canadian junior guys, if they're only going to stick around for a year, you really got to make sure it's the right situation to plug in on your lineup.
46:21
Vegoe
You know, if you had a guy like that at Minnesota, they might get exposed a little bit more because they'd be playing a bigger role.
46:28
Vegoe
You put them at Michigan State, they're hidden a little bit behind some older guys who know how to play and you could put them in the right situations and they'll shine brighter.
46:39
Jûpe
Yeah, that's legit.
46:42
Jûpe
All right, before we get to this weekend, Veegs, we got to talk about our other sponsor, Cub Foods.
46:47
Jûpe
They've been with us for a long time.
46:49
Vegoe
Yeah, Cub Foods, they're one of us.
46:51
Vegoe
They're sponsoring us.
46:53
Vegoe
They do the Pulltab Sports, Wildland 7 Pod.
46:57
Vegoe
They do the Homer Hankees.
46:58
Vegoe
They're on PJ Flex headset.
47:00
Vegoe
You know, they're a local company that wants to get back.
47:03
Vegoe
You look at Diggytown Athletes, Cub's deeply involved.
47:06
Vegoe
And when I go down to my Quarry Cub, I know everything's always going to be in stock.
47:10
Vegoe
You know, if I'm putting together my beef stew like I did tonight, you know, I need a couple of ingredients to make it work.
47:16
Vegoe
I go down to Cub, I can order online, I can pick it up, they'll deliver it, whatever I want.
47:21
Vegoe
And if I'm looking for a few beverages to go with that beef stew, or maybe with a little OT, I can pick it up at a lot of Cub's as well.
47:27
Vegoe
So check them out, shop happy, Cub.
47:31
Jûpe
All right.
47:33
Jûpe
Ben, it's been a tough season for us Minnesota fans.
47:39
Jûpe
I even heard the famous goon from North Dakota, he's like, it's just not the same when Minnesota's not good.
47:47
Jûpe
And this is, it's been a long time.
47:51
Jûpe
I mean, the last 50 years, they've only had sub 500 seasons four times.
47:57
Jûpe
Yep.
47:59
Jûpe
This is a sub 400 season, the first time in over 50 years.
48:04
Jûpe
Yeah.
48:05
Jûpe
Back to the 7172 season.
48:08
Jûpe
This is not normal for us here.
48:13
Jûpe
So it's been a little rough for Minnesota fans, especially when we go and see them beat North Dakota on the road five to one, go out to Pepsi's, I don't think it's Pepsi Center anymore, but Ball Arena, yeah, Ball Arena in Denver and beat Denver in overtime.
48:29
Jûpe
We just see these glimpses, but then all of a sudden we just see these crashes.
48:34
Jûpe
It's been a weird season, man.
48:35
Jûpe
Very weird.
48:37
Jûpe
Yeah.
48:37
Ben
Well, I mean, my allegiance is with team in East Lansing and they stunk for a decade.
48:42
Ben
So, you know, I mean, you know.
48:44
Jûpe
Hey, they're still the last BigTen team to win a national championship though.
48:48
Ben
When I'm put on the spot, that's who I root for.
48:51
Ben
I grew up there.
48:52
Ben
I'm not going to hide that I have for years, but that, I mean, people know.
48:55
Ben
I mean, Karmie gives me gas about that all the time.
48:57
Ben
You know, I'm like, hey, I grew up there.
48:59
Ben
My dream was to be a player at that school.
49:01
Ben
It never happened.
49:02
Ben
I wasn't good enough.
49:03
Ben
So, yeah, okay.
49:05
Jûpe
Now, but hold on.
49:05
Jûpe
You torture Karmie with like a lot of North Dakota guys and things like that.
49:11
Jûpe
So, I think you kind of like to stick the little needle in there.
49:14
Jûpe
Okay.
49:15
Jûpe
Which is great.
49:17
Jûpe
I like it when you do that.
49:19
Ben
It's all good.
49:20
Ben
No, I mean, back to your point, though.
49:21
Ben
I mean, it's, you know, and I'll say this.
49:24
Ben
You know, when we had the Gophers in East Lansing back in end of January, we did the second game.
49:29
Ben
And, you know, I didn't expect Bob to be down and out.
49:33
Ben
We wanted to talk to him.
49:34
Ben
I expect him to be, you know, a head coach that's leading his team.
49:39
Ben
And he was, and then some.
49:40
Ben
I mean, he was very upbeat with us that day.
49:43
Ben
They gave State a pretty tough game that night.
49:45
Ben
I know they didn't win it.
49:47
Ben
But he's, you know, he's going to get through this, you know, and even killer, you know, talking to us today, talking about there's an upbeat vibe.
49:57
Ben
The guys aren't down.
49:59
Ben
They just got to play again.
50:00
Ben
I think it comes down for them.
50:01
Ben
They've got to be better five on five.
50:03
Ben
They can't just count on the power play.
50:05
Ben
They've got to be better five on five and they've got to manage the puck at the right time and not make the wrong mistake.
50:11
Ben
I think it's basic things.
50:12
Ben
Sure, are they lacking a ton of talent?
50:14
Ben
Yeah, they lost 200 points, right?
50:15
Ben
So, you know, that's another story and that's nothing they can do about that now.
50:20
Ben
But, you know, it's tough.
50:23
Ben
I don't think they're going to be down long, guys.
50:25
Ben
I really don't.
50:26
Ben
It's like, you know, I think like Notre Dame, I don't think they're going to be down long.
50:30
Ben
I think in a year or two, they're going to be back.
50:32
Ben
And, you know, Bob can pull a string and they're back next year and they're a top three team in the league.
50:36
Ben
So, you know, they got four left in a regular season.
50:40
Ben
Unfortunately, they got to play two and one in back to back weeks like they did to start the month.
50:45
Ben
They're in the middle of the month.
50:46
Ben
So, but that's the way the cookie crumbles.
50:49
Ben
So they got a chance to do some of the tournament.
50:51
Ben
So I'd bank on that if I'm them.
50:54
Ben
And that's what their players told us today.
50:56
Ben
That's what Killer talked about.
50:57
Ben
And we talked a little bit about that today with Bob, too.
51:00
Ben
So there's a good upbeat feel in their room and it'll be it'll be a big test.
51:04
Ben
But we'll see what they do come Thursday night.
51:08
Jûpe
And means we were both at practice yesterday, just kind of sitting casually watching.
51:11
Jûpe
And we saw them doing some different type of drills that we had never seen before.
51:17
Jûpe
You know, maybe different they're working on right as you were getting there.
51:21
Jûpe
They're working on breakouts and things like that.
51:23
Jûpe
But then they were doing some things that I had never seen before.
51:25
Jûpe
So we know they're trying different things in practice.
51:29
Vegoe
Yeah, I mean, Bob is a coach who wants to promote offense.
51:34
Vegoe
And so he he designs a lot of drills where the offense has the advantage because he wants his players feeling good about scoring goals.
51:41
Vegoe
And he wants them being creative and being the artist they are.
51:45
Vegoe
He's like, you don't buy a kid a $350 hockey stick and then tell him to stick check with it, poke check and defend and get in shot lanes.
51:53
Vegoe
You buy a $350 stick, you want to shoot it and score goals.
51:56
Vegoe
And so that's that's the way he practices.
51:59
Vegoe
And so we saw a lot of like five on two type games where he'll do a four on two power play game where he's just trying to get guys thinking creatively and jumping to spots and not worrying so much about structure.
52:12
Vegoe
You know, the one thing I hope to see how this team in these last two series is just some confidence from Gruba, from Whipple, from Rombach, from Mlachlan.
52:23
Vegoe
You know, getting involved five on five offense requires your defense to step into plays and take chances and count on your teammates to cover for you when you take those opportunities.
52:33
Vegoe
So I'm really hoping to see in these last couple weekends that Minnesota invests in that and see what the returns are, because I think it's really hard to win games when you when you play three on five in the offensive zone.
52:48
Jûpe
Well, it's it's an interesting, you know, I was talking with Scott Slark's SID yesterday, Ben, and Minnesota has not been swept at Michigan at Yost since 1977.
53:04
Jûpe
Granted, they have they didn't play a lot there for a long time.
53:08
Jûpe
Yeah, and Bob has like some kind of like 82 type of record.
53:13
Jûpe
Let me just emphasize that I'm not really sure, but Bob has been pretty successful there.
53:18
Jûpe
Yeah, so I'm going to take some of that into account.
53:22
Jûpe
They've done pretty well in that atmosphere.
53:26
Ben
Last last year, they went to both games, went to overtime.
53:29
Ben
So, you know, three of the last four games went to overtime and in the series.
53:34
Ben
But at Yost last year, we did both games last year.
53:36
Ben
I think we've done both games like for...
53:38
Ben
And I don't think it's every year I've been at BTN, but I think it's most years I've been.
53:42
Ben
And, you know, last year, Michigan won the first game 3-2.
53:46
Ben
And then now that it's finally over, I can say without everyone cringing, it went to a shootout.
53:54
Ben
Michigan won.
53:56
Ben
I still, I don't know what's crazier, the fact that that happened or they were first on the power play and last on the PK a couple weeks ago or whatever that was, man, just crazy.
54:07
Ben
But no, I mean, I think the Gophers are going to play hard, man.
54:12
Ben
I think they are.
54:12
Ben
I mean, Bob's a really good coach.
54:14
Ben
And he's done this a long time.
54:16
Ben
And he's got Killer and he's got Paul Martin, Ben Gordon, those guys.
54:19
Ben
And they're going to be ready to play.
54:21
Ben
And I can't tell you how much I really like this LJ Mooney.
54:27
Ben
We've talked to him twice.
54:29
Ben
We talked to him on Zoom a month ago and we met him today.
54:31
Ben
And I was like, man, I love this kid, man.
54:33
Ben
He's he's going to be a gamer for them for whatever long he's around, which will probably be for, you know, a couple more years, obviously.
54:40
Ben
But great player, great kid.
54:42
Ben
And I really enjoyed talking with him and Brody Lamb today.
54:45
Jûpe
Veegss, I would say Mooney is a little different personality than his cousin, Mr.
54:49
Jûpe
Cooley, too.
54:50
Jûpe
He is.
54:52
Vegoe
For sure.
54:53
Vegoe
He's just so much more comfortable, like he is in his own skin, like even in practice, like you just watch him in his body language about how he goes about his business and how he celebrates and how he picks other players up.
55:05
Vegoe
You just can see that energy that's contagious.
55:08
Vegoe
And you want as many of those guys on your team as you can, because when you're going through a season like this, guys who just have that positive energy carries other people along with them.
55:19
Vegoe
And you can just see when he plays with Brody Lamb and Brody Zemer, those guys, their dauber goes up a little bit, too.
55:26
Vegoe
You know, they feel that energy and they feel that confidence that LJ has.
55:30
Vegoe
And it's pretty funny.
55:30
Vegoe
I took my kids to skate with the Gophers this last week.
55:34
Vegoe
It was one of the things they did on their bye week.
55:36
Vegoe
I asked my son, it's like, do you want any pictures or meet anybody?
55:39
Vegoe
He's like, I want to see LJ Moody.
55:41
Vegoe
And it's like, I'm sure that's just common across every fan, every player.
55:46
Vegoe
You know, they want to be around people like that.
55:49
Ben
Well, Brody Brody Lamb said, sorry, Jupe, but Brody Lamb said, I'm looking right off my board here.
55:55
Ben
He said he's one of the best ever.
55:57
Ben
He's a huge part of our team.
55:59
Ben
And he lit up.
55:59
Ben
I mean, he absolutely lit up.
56:01
Ben
And he was sitting in between Freddie and I.
56:02
Ben
And, you know, you see, he lights up the room, man.
56:05
Ben
I mean, he's, and I was around Caulfield a few times.
56:08
Ben
And I mean, those guys ain't big, man, but damn, they can play, man.
56:12
Ben
And we'll watch them, you know, today at the skate and just ripping down the sheet and firing the pill and just getting after, man.
56:18
Ben
I'm excited to see those guys go.
56:20
Ben
And, you know, again, five on five has got to be better for them in this series.
56:24
Ben
And if it is, if it is, I think they're going to be two tight games.
56:27
Ben
I do.
56:27
Ben
If they're not, I don't think they're both tight games.
56:29
Ben
I think one's closed and one's probably not so close.
56:32
Ben
But I hope they're both overtime games, selfishly.
56:36
Jûpe
Veegs, you mentioned Brody Lamb there.
56:40
Jûpe
He has really embraced his role at center.
56:42
Jûpe
And I don't know if it was you that asked him yesterday or something.
56:45
Jûpe
It might have been you.
56:46
Jûpe
But he had never really played center much growing up at all.
56:50
Vegoe
Yeah, I was like, you know, Bob had been saying that he'd been thinking about Brody at center for a while.
56:56
Vegoe
I remember even talking to him last year about it.
56:58
Vegoe
You know, the center depth being an issue, you know, and Paulson got hurt.
57:02
Vegoe
He's like, well, Brody's kind of an option there.
57:04
Vegoe
I'd like to see him there.
57:06
Vegoe
He seems like he'd be a natural fit.
57:08
Vegoe
But, you know, when you have a player that's never tried it, you're just a little hesitant.
57:13
Vegoe
And this year, they kind of ran out of options.
57:15
Vegoe
And so they put him in there and it's worked really well because he's a big body.
57:19
Vegoe
He's matured over the years.
57:21
Vegoe
I think if he played center when he was younger, it might have been harder.
57:25
Vegoe
But now that he's put in the time in the weight room, he's a mature physical guy who likes to be engaged.
57:30
Vegoe
And I think a guy who plays better when he's engaged.
57:34
Vegoe
And when you put him on the wing, you know, he's not as involved.
57:37
Vegoe
I think it's harder to get in the games, especially when your season's not going as well.
57:41
Vegoe
Well, now at center, he can just make an impact all over the ice.
57:44
Vegoe
And he's looked really comfortable there.
57:46
Vegoe
I think a big key for Minnesota, if they're going to pull off any upsets, they have to get that line going.
57:51
Vegoe
And they have to get defensemen getting involved in the zone with them.
57:56
Vegoe
So like when I see Minnesota do these five on two type drills or these four on two type drills with a D and that line, that's what you're trying to foster.
58:05
Vegoe
You're trying to get those guys thinking outside their structure, starting to make plays with each other.
58:10
Vegoe
You know, you get Gruba, you get Middlestadt, you get Whipple, you get Rumbach, getting involved with those three.
58:16
Vegoe
That's a big plus for Minnesota.
58:20
Ben
Well, that Rumbach's a big rig.
58:21
Ben
I walked past him today and I was like, whoa, you should be in the NBA, brother.
58:25
Ben
That kid is big, man.
58:28
Jûpe
A short little story.
58:29
Jûpe
You know, we've talked about a little bit this year.
58:31
Jûpe
Veegs, you're what, 6'4?
58:33
Vegoe
No, I'm like 6'2.
58:35
Vegoe
Sometimes I feel like I'm 6'4, sometimes, but I'm 6'2.
58:38
Jûpe
He's tall.
58:39
Jûpe
So at the World Junior Showcase this summer, we had them all, all the guys individually, and we literally had Mooney down here in one interview.
58:49
Jûpe
The interview right before it, we had Rombach up here on VeegsS.
58:55
Jûpe
It was just shocking how different size those two guys are VeegsS.
59:00
Vegoe
It's pretty funny.
59:01
Vegoe
I think in the Rombach family, Jacob's one of the few hockey players to come out of that group.
59:06
Vegoe
I think baseball and basketball are bigger in that family.
59:09
Vegoe
So funny to see.
59:11
Vegoe
And he's one of those guys, I talked, big guys take a little bit longer to bake.
59:16
Vegoe
He's one of those types of players.
59:19
Vegoe
I think his best hockey is ahead of him.
59:21
Vegoe
He was a late to specialize in hockey player.
59:24
Vegoe
You know, he went to the development camp for Ann Arbor, where they picked the team, and he really surprised.
59:31
Vegoe
I don't think he was on a lot of people's radars because he didn't really come from a hockey factory.
59:35
Vegoe
And he was probably on the fringe of being picked, or it's probably better that he went to Lincoln and the USHL and got to have a better role.
59:43
Vegoe
You know, if you go to the national team and you're kind of an underbaked guy, you just get stuck, you know, 6th, 7th D, you're training with the great players and getting that experience, but you're not getting the ice time.
59:54
Vegoe
You know, you go to a USHL program, you get to play top four minutes.
59:58
Vegoe
You get that experience, you play through the boo-boos and you figure it out.
1:00:02
Vegoe
And he's had a rough stretch here for Minnesota, but you know, he's a second round pick.
1:00:07
Vegoe
I don't think anyone's going to be giving up on him.
1:00:10
Ben
Second rounder in Nashville, he might be playing in front of Jack Ivan Kovac before not too long, easy for me to say.
1:00:18
Jûpe
Yeah, we'll have to see.
1:00:20
Jûpe
So Veegs, what's your prediction on the weekend?
1:00:24
Vegoe
Well, I mean, if we go back in that history and Minnesota hasn't been swept at Yost and forever, I got to think they get one game this weekend.
1:00:33
Vegoe
I do think there's a chance it might just be two points, and that's what I'm going to go with.
1:00:39
Jûpe
Okay, okay.
1:00:40
Jûpe
You call in the games this weekend, Ben, from the rumor is, oh, what happened to my camera?
1:00:47
Ben
Two overtime games.
1:00:50
Jûpe
There you go.
1:00:51
Ben
That's what I'm open for.
1:00:53
Jûpe
You're open for two overtime games.
1:00:54
Jûpe
That's good enough for you, but it's your last series of the year.
1:00:57
Ben
Yeah, last, for BTN, yeah, my last series of the year, so.
1:01:01
Jûpe
But then you're doing some stuff with Pat, with CCHA, you got some rugby coming up here.
1:01:06
Jûpe
Yeah, you're all over rugby, man.
1:01:09
Ben
I try, man.
1:01:09
Ben
I try.
1:01:10
Ben
Yeah, so we're not, there's no games on Big Ten Network, the first weekend of March, the last weekend of the regular season.
1:01:18
Ben
That's a programming thing with basketball.
1:01:20
Ben
I think it's a women's tournament.
1:01:22
Ben
And then no quarterfinals are going to be on Big Ten Network.
1:01:26
Ben
They're all going to be on plus.
1:01:28
Ben
And then I would have been doing a semi, but I do a lot of work for World Rugby, and they asked me to do a gig back in mid-October.
1:01:36
Ben
And I had to take it.
1:01:38
Ben
I'm going to New York for a World Sevens event.
1:01:41
Ben
And yeah, so then I'll get one more hockey game with the pride of Hibbing, Minnesota.
1:01:49
Ben
It looks like it's going to be at St.
1:01:50
Ben
Thomas or Michigan Tech.
1:01:52
Ben
So if it's at Tech, I got an eight-hour drive.
1:01:56
Ben
If it's at St.
1:01:56
Ben
Thomas, I got an hour and 20-minute flight.
1:01:59
Jûpe
St.
1:01:59
Jûpe
Thomas, we might have to have a little gathering post game.
1:02:03
Vegoe
I'm game for that.
1:02:04
Vegoe
They started to sell alcohol at the Penny.
1:02:07
Ben
I saw that.
1:02:07
Ben
Yeah.
1:02:08
Ben
So yeah, we'll see.
1:02:10
Ben
So yeah, man, I'm excited.
1:02:13
Ben
Anytime I get to go to Yos, it's a good night, man.
1:02:15
Ben
I love doing games in there.
1:02:17
Ben
It's without question one of the favorite arenas, rinks, arenas, stadiums that I've ever got to call games in in my career.
1:02:24
Ben
And I just love being in there, man.
1:02:27
Ben
It's the history and just the place shakes and the band's going.
1:02:32
Ben
And it's just a fun place to be, man.
1:02:35
Ben
I'm very grateful that I get to still do what I do and looking forward to Thursday and Friday, man.
1:02:41
Ben
So it'll be nice to have another Saturday, Sunday off, boys.
1:02:44
Ben
That's rare for me.
1:02:46
Ben
So that's cool.
1:02:48
Jûpe
I don't mind it either.
1:02:49
Jûpe
The last two series are Thursday, Friday weekends for us.
1:02:52
Jûpe
Of course, all the teams are Thursday, Friday, next week, you know, just to prepare a little extra day before the Wednesday game.
1:02:58
Jûpe
So that that's going to be good as well.
1:03:00
Ben
Yeah.
1:03:01
Jûpe
It's going to be fun.
1:03:02
Jûpe
I'm going to pick, I'm going to pick a split straight up, three points each.
1:03:09
Ben
All right.
1:03:10
Jûpe
You know, I'm not going to get excited about it though, because it's been like this all season.
1:03:16
Ben
Have some confidence, man.
1:03:18
Vegoe
People don't want us to make picks, Ben.
1:03:20
Vegoe
People are like, you can skip the picks segment if you want.
1:03:23
Vegoe
You know, it's generally going to be you.
1:03:24
Ben
I give you guys credit for doing that, man, because you can take the easy road out and say, nah, we're not going to pick.
1:03:29
Ben
I give you guys credit for doing that.
1:03:32
Jûpe
Yeah.
1:03:33
Jûpe
We do what we're doing.
1:03:34
Vegoe
It's been a tough year for picking.
1:03:35
Jûpe
It has been a tough year.
1:03:37
Vegoe
Let's go back and do an audit of our picks this year and see how it goes.
1:03:40
Ben
I was going to say, is your pick percentage higher than the win percentage for the Gophers?
1:03:48
Ben
Really?
1:03:49
Jûpe
Wow.
1:03:51
Jûpe
We had Cappy on for Ohio State.
1:03:52
Ben
Why do they don't want you to pick?
1:03:53
Jûpe
We had Cappy on for Ohio State and all three of us picked the Minnesota Swede.
1:03:59
Ben
Ouch.
1:04:00
Jûpe
Just the opposite.
1:04:03
Ben
I remember that week and that's crazy, man.
1:04:05
Ben
Yeah.
1:04:06
Ben
That just shows you.
1:04:08
Ben
Again, I looked at Notre Dame last week.
1:04:11
Ben
They played toe-to-toe with State and State didn't play their best game in game one.
1:04:15
Ben
But you just don't know.
1:04:18
Jûpe
It was the same thing.
1:04:19
Jûpe
We had just demolished Wisconsin here after part of their losing streak.
1:04:25
Jûpe
Veegs, honestly, we're just throwing darts now, Veegs.
1:04:30
Vegoe
I'm trying not to make our listeners upset with me, basically.
1:04:33
Vegoe
I understand, because every time I pick a sweep, it does not go well for GopherNation.
1:04:38
Jûpe
So, a certain XSID loves to poke at us when we pick wrong.
1:04:47
Ben
BD?
1:04:48
Vegoe
Yep.
1:04:50
Vegoe
Happy birthday, BD, by the way.
1:04:52
Jûpe
Yeah.
1:04:53
Ben
What, today?
1:04:55
Vegoe
No, early this week.
1:04:56
Vegoe
He chose to jump out of the frozen lake to celebrate.
1:05:00
Ben
He what?
1:05:01
Vegoe
He jumped in a lake.
1:05:03
Jûpe
What?
1:05:03
Vegoe
He did a pull or plunge.
1:05:04
Jûpe
Charity things, yeah.
1:05:06
Ben
Oh, yeah, okay.
1:05:08
Ben
He's a better man than I am.
1:05:09
Ben
I don't know if I could do that.
1:05:11
Ben
I'll skate.
1:05:11
Ben
I'll play hockey three, four nights a week, but I won't jump in a frozen lake.
1:05:14
Vegoe
Stay above the ice.
1:05:15
Vegoe
Stay above the ice.
1:05:17
Jûpe
Oh, yeah.
1:05:17
Ben
That's right, man.
1:05:20
Jûpe
Well, Ben, you're going to keep with us for some overtime here?
1:05:23
Jûpe
A little overtime, huh?
1:05:24
Ben
Stick around for a few minutes.
1:05:26
Ben
I could use a sig I'll have with you boys in there.
1:05:30
Jûpe
Where's Jared Klein?
1:05:32
Jûpe
Is he not watching the show?
1:05:33
Jûpe
I'm going to be pissed if Jared's not watching.
1:05:34
Ben
Where's Cappy?
1:05:35
Ben
Where's Cappy?
1:05:35
Ben
Where's Micheletti?
1:05:36
Ben
Where are these guys at, man?
1:05:38
Jûpe
Wow, wait.
1:05:39
Jûpe
Micheletti could be watching, but a lot of times he's like, oh, it's past my bedtime.
1:05:43
Jûpe
It's past my bedtime, but then he'll comment on things.
1:05:46
Jûpe
So I'm like, maybe it's not past his bedtime.
1:05:50
Vegoe
I actually might be past his bedtime.
1:05:52
Ben
I got to take something up with him if he is watching.
1:05:55
Ben
I'm curious why he put his picks out today, and I'm going to give him grief when I see him if he's not watching this.
1:06:01
Ben
But he put McKenna, his four picks were McKenna, Martone, Smith, and there's Jared, and LJ Mooney first, his top four freshmen.
1:06:11
Ben
I mean, I'm sorry, but how is Jack Ivan Kovac not on there?
1:06:17
Vegoe
Injury, injury, can't put him on there because of it.
1:06:20
Ben
You missed four weeks, so you can't put him on there.
1:06:23
Vegoe
Yep, four weeks is the limit.
1:06:25
Ben
I'm giving him grief for that.
1:06:27
Jûpe
As you should.
1:06:28
Jûpe
We give him grief for everything.
1:06:29
Ben
So yeah, I know.
1:06:30
Jûpe
It's all fun.
1:06:31
Ben
We all love him, though.
1:06:32
Ben
I'm glad he's doing better and I'm looking forward to seeing him for a couple nights.
1:06:36
Ben
Him and Wally, always love seeing Wally.
1:06:38
Ben
And what a pro, man, what a pro that guy is.
1:06:41
Ben
And always cool to see your group.
1:06:44
Ben
And, you know, you mentioned Scott, man.
1:06:46
Ben
Got to give him a shout out.
1:06:47
Ben
He's a fabulous SID and, you know, just a great guy.
1:06:51
Ben
Fun to be around their team and great to see Bob.
1:06:53
Ben
It was fun to kind of chew it with him a little bit off the record on some stuff and leave it at that.
1:06:58
Ben
But it was a good time.
1:07:00
Ben
It was a good time seeing Bob.
1:07:02
Ben
I've known him a long time, all the years of St.
1:07:03
Ben
Cloud.
1:07:04
Ben
And yeah, man, it's good to be around the guys.
1:07:08
Jûpe
Definitely fun, but so thanks for coming on the show, man.
1:07:12
Jûpe
You're welcome back anytime.
1:07:15
Jûpe
It might be a short season this year with the Gophers.
1:07:17
Jûpe
We'll have to wait.
1:07:18
Jûpe
We'll keep doing shows as long as they keep winning.
1:07:21
Jûpe
So that would be great.
1:07:22
Jûpe
Veegs, anything going on that you want to leave us with?
1:07:26
Vegoe
Just keep watching.
1:07:28
Vegoe
Keep the faith on this.
1:07:29
Vegoe
You know, it's going to turn around at some point.
1:07:30
Vegoe
So we're watching the development right now.
1:07:33
Vegoe
That's good.
1:07:35
Jûpe
All right.
1:07:36
Jûpe
Well, that's going to do it for this episode of The GPL Podcast.
1:07:40
Jûpe
We're going to be on a little later next week, more on 10, 10, 15-ish.
1:07:44
Jûpe
You know, Veegs got some coaching duties, so we're going a little later next week.
1:07:47
Jûpe
And then after that, we're going to be on the Monday because of a Wednesday series.
1:07:51
Jûpe
So make sure you pay attention to the schedule there.
1:07:54
Jûpe
For those of you watching live, stay tuned for overtime.
1:07:57
Jûpe
For the rest of you, we'll catch you next week on The GPL Podcast.
1:08:13
Jûpe
If you are watching on YouTube, hit that subscribe button and get notified each time we go live or post a video.
1:08:20
Jûpe
If you listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, please rate our show and leave a review.
1:08:30
Jûpe
For those of you watching live, you know what's next.
1:08:34
Jûpe
It's Vegoe's Beverage of the Week.
1:08:38
Jûpe
It's time for Overtime.
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