0:03 This is The Gopher Puck Live Podcast, episode number 31, recorded Tuesday, January 15th, 2013. 0:21 Welcome to the Gopher Puck Live Podcast, along with Hammy and Vegoe. 0:26 I am your host, Jupiter, who's taking a month off. 0:30 A lot has happened, but we really don't care because it's Who Week. 0:35 And what do I mean by the who? 0:36 North Dakota. 0:37 Hammy, are you excited? 0:40 Of course, anytime you get to face the who, especially on home ice, it's gonna be definitely an enjoyable series. 0:47 Definitely will be a lot of intensity, and I think that we have a good chance for a pretty successful weekend. 0:53 Vegoe, any initial thoughts? 0:55 Are you excited? 0:55 You've got to be excited. 0:56 Come on. 0:58 I'm excited. 0:58 This is the last time they'll be here for a couple of years at least, and I know in my family did ticket draw for tickets that the who games went number one and two in the draft. 1:10 The draft. 1:11 Big in the Vegoe family. 1:16 Well, we're not going to quite get into the North Dakota stuff early here, but all I know is that we're excited. 1:23 It's the best week of the year, especially with the who coming into town, and we're going to call it the who because they don't have a name. 1:30 Sorry, guys. 1:31 I like calling them the undies, UND, underwear. 1:35 Oh, I saw that in your Tweet. 1:37 I'm like, oh. 1:38 The undies. 1:38 The undies. 1:39 Okay. 1:40 Well, whatever floats your boat, whatever floats your boat. 1:42 Especially if they're crap-stained undies. 1:46 Not that minor that way, but maybe some suit fans. 1:48 Sure. 1:51 Well, guys, since we last talked, it's been a good few, three, four games, whatever for the Gophers. 1:58 You know, they win the Mary H Classic, they beat Notre Dame, they sweep Anchorage. 2:06 What do you want to talk about first? 2:07 We go back to the Classic, and how about that 8-1 drubbing of Boston College? 2:12 Hammy, did you see that coming even with the injuries on the BC side? 2:18 No, I don't think that anybody would really go into a game against a quality program like Boston College and expect to come out of it with a 7-goal victory. 2:27 I don't remember what the exact time frame was, but what was it like? 2:30 Something like 15 years since they've been beaten that bad leader. 2:33 Something along those lines, yeah. 2:34 Yeah, I mean, it's been a long time for them since they got in. 2:37 So it was kind of a little bit of a perfect storm in the sense that they're missing their best player at World Juniors. 2:46 And he's a hell of a player. 2:48 Yeah, and I mean, I'm not saying that that would have, I still think we would have won with him in the game. 2:54 But nonetheless, he's gone, you have some injuries. 2:59 The Gophers really, other than Mike Riley, were pretty much at their full strength. 3:05 And yeah, I mean, it was just a buzz saw that night. 3:08 And it was kind of nice to see. 3:10 That was the exact word I was going to say, buzz saw. 3:14 In ways, it was similar to last year. 3:17 You know, the game at the Frozen Four, I thought was a pretty even played game for a while. 3:21 And then all of a sudden, they just, boom, they just took off. 3:24 And I don't think the score really reflected how the game went on the ice. 3:29 Do you, Veegs? 3:30 No, I thought that Wilcox just had an outstanding first period. 3:35 And really, you know, when a goaltender plays that way, starts challenging shooters, the net looks smaller. 3:41 You start missing that, start making that extra pass. 3:45 And against the Gophers, that's just a bad recipe, because you just, you know, you give away the chances that you do have, and then you start getting less, and you start giving up some the other way. 3:55 And that game just got out of hand. 3:57 I was definitely surprised. 3:59 I think it's a different game if B.C.'s got their veteran defenseman and Johnny Hockey in the lineup. 4:05 But if Wilcox plays like that in a big game, it's going to be hard for the Gophers to lose. 4:11 And Wilcox has played pretty well. 4:13 I mean, he is definitely, well, I don't know if he's the player of the year, but he could be. 4:18 He's definitely the rookie of the year for the Gophers. 4:20 But, Hammeh, getting into some other games, I thought Wilcox struggled a little bit Friday night against Alaska Anchorage this past weekend. 4:31 Yeah, there was, I mean, you know, you kind of have to give the guy, you'd cut him some slack if, I mean, you look at his statistics, and he has, what, like 1.6, you know, something goals against, and a 92 and a half save percentage. 4:43 I mean, that's better than what we saw from our senior goalie last year. 4:47 And so, I mean, you really have to give the kid, you know, a little bit of a break if he has a few moments here or there where he doesn't do so hot, so. 4:58 What is that? 4:59 Is that somebody who's like laundry? 5:01 That, that would be my heat. 5:04 Oh, got you to warm and toasty here. 5:08 Anyways, so I think that you have to kind of cut him some slack. 5:13 I think it's certainly, you know, you'd rather see it against an anchorage where you might be able to make up something like that because they're not the most skilled team in the world. 5:23 But so you can kind of forgive it a little bit from that standpoint. 5:26 But, you know, he recovered, he played pretty well lately overall against some good teams. 5:30 And Saturday, I was the only giving up a goal. 5:33 So, you know, we'll just call a little blip on the radar. 5:37 And of course, he only gave up one goal against Notre Dame, who came in right before the anchorage series and was ranked number two. 5:44 Vegoe, any thoughts on that Notre Dame series or game, I should say? 5:51 Sorry, I'm just trying to play with my heating, cooling unit, but... 5:58 Quit playing with your thingy. 6:00 Yeah. 6:01 Well, I mean, the Notre Dame game was such a strange game. 6:04 You know, it's middle of the week and Notre Dame has played really well defensively all season. 6:10 I think you look at their stats, they're leading the nation and scoring defense, and it was going to be a slow game. 6:17 And I think Wilcox played the game he needed to play. 6:21 Lucia keeps talking about game after game. 6:23 You know, when there is a breakdown in the defense, he's there to make the save. 6:29 And when you play in the big games and teams start shutting down the scoring opportunities, you need a guy like that. 6:38 Well, definitely, that is the case. 6:40 He has definitely been our savior at times of season, though I would say our defense has also been a big part of that as well. 6:46 So overall thoughts, you know, we don't want to get too much into the Anchorage series because, you know, obviously I thought they didn't play that well Friday night and Saturday night was a buzz saw. 6:58 Notre Dame, a big win. 7:00 Boston College, a big win. 7:03 Any other thoughts on those games, guys? 7:04 Ham, do you have any thoughts? 7:07 No, I mean, really, I think the thing that I keyed on through the last couple of weeks is just the fact that, you know, before the first half was, you know, had ended people were kind of like, you know, what's going on with Buickstead? 7:20 What's going on with Rao? 7:22 And those guys have caught, I mean, major fire the last, you know, what, five games since the second half kind of started. 7:30 And they've both been, you know, very good and you kind of have to say that, you know, that's the one kind of thing that a lot of fans were waiting on, you know, throughout that first half is that neither of those guys had really played, you know, near to what, you know, the expectations were and what their potential was. 7:47 And, you know, they've definitely been playing to their potential the last couple of weeks. 7:51 And if that's, you know, a sign of things to come, the Gophers have some really good, you know, things to look forward to. 7:58 Any thoughts, Veegs? 8:00 Well, I think the power play has also been under some criticism. 8:04 People have been like, I'm just expecting more out of the power play. 8:08 I was looking at the numbers today. 8:09 They're clicking at 27%. 8:12 I mean, they're the top scoring power play in the conference. 8:15 They look great. 8:15 They gain the zone consistently in every series. 8:20 They get the puck around. 8:21 They create scoring opportunities. 8:24 It's looked really spectacular. 8:27 And they're penalty kill, also right near the top of the league. 8:30 And the coaches talk about how 5-on-5, there isn't a big difference between the top teams and the bottom teams. 8:37 But when you look at who's really successful, it's because their special teams are coming through. 8:42 Definitely. 8:42 They have been clicking quite a bit better lately. 8:44 Of course, they did play against Anquich, which they tend to load up on power play goals. 8:50 You know, one last thought I have on, you know, kind of the Notre Dame and BC games is that they won the games. 8:57 This is great for the pairwise. 8:59 They went 7-0 this year against non-conference teams. 9:03 These are good for year-end numbers, you know, trying to get that number one seed or, you know, just trying to stay in that upper echelon of the pairwise. 9:13 Yeah, I mean, you definitely, that's the one thing we always talk about, you know, when we look at the season and we sometimes, you know, we think that the coaches don't really place as much emphasis on the non-conference compared to what they should and so it was nice to go undefeated in that portion of the schedule and, you know, certainly that's not going to hurt when it comes to pairwise. 9:37 Is that a North Dakota fan I hear in the background? 9:40 I think that is a Sioux fan. 9:42 That's probably what we're going to be hearing a lot this coming weekend. 9:48 He's excited, what can I say? 9:50 Oh, is that a cheer? 9:51 I can't really tell. 9:54 Sounds like, you know, Haxdahl whining at the referees. 9:59 Well, he's not giving the finger yet. 10:00 That's a good thing. 10:02 Does he have the flippin in the bird or anything? 10:04 Give it time, give it time, he'll learn. 10:06 Yeah, he will. 10:07 He'll learn. 10:08 He'll watch the game on Friday night on TV and maybe he'll see something new he's never seen before. 10:14 Well, we talked a little bit about the Anchorage series. 10:16 I don't know if we really want to go into it too much. 10:18 Obviously, we're excited about the North Dakota series. 10:20 But this past weekend, there were some other games. 10:24 Obviously, we haven't talked about the rest of WCHA in a while. 10:26 But we had Tech heading to Minnesota Duluth last weekend. 10:30 And Duluth comes away with a sweep. 10:33 Duluth has been playing much better lately, Hammeh. 10:36 Well, it's just Tech is a slump buster. 10:38 Well, that is true. 10:39 They are, well, I thought everybody was a slump buster, according to the drunk hockey guy, though. 10:45 Well, but Tech is specifically, according to him, a slump buster. 10:50 But Duluth has moved up in the standings recently, and they have been playing better than they were early. 10:57 I guess. 10:58 Okay. 10:59 Well, who cares? 10:59 Let's go on to the next series then, unless you had any thoughts, Veegs. 11:04 No, just good to see the Bulldogs coming around. 11:06 You know, they're coming to town pretty soon. 11:08 I'd like to not have any excuses for those Duluth fans. 11:11 I want them to be playing well when they come to Mariucci. 11:15 We have CC splitting with North Dakota before the Sioux head on down here this weekend. 11:22 Veegs, CC? 11:25 Well, one of the things, you know, it's kind of North Dakota week, so I was focused on them, but they had their two goalies start each game. 11:33 And Gothberg, the freshman, was the one who won the game on Saturday. 11:37 Saunders, who I've heard some people say that he's an experienced goaltender, you know, that's gonna do well for them, you know, played Friday, gave up four goals, and didn't play Saturday. 11:47 So it would be kind of interesting to see how that comes in their lineup this weekend. 11:51 Hammeh, any thoughts on that series? 11:53 Yeah, I mean, I caught a little bit of that, and, you know, just to piggyback on that, I mean, I thought that, you know, Saunders, I mean, I haven't, of course, watched a ton of North Dakota hockey this year, but, you know, he did not play particularly well that game. 12:06 I know that first goal was a particularly softy, and that, you know, you kind of, as a Gopher fan, say, hey, if that's what you're going to bring down to Mariucci, that's good for us. 12:14 So, you know, we'll see what kind of performance they get this coming weekend. 12:19 We had Wisconsin returning the favor of Minnesota State. 12:22 You know, Minnesota State headed out to Madison a couple months ago and swept the Badgers, and the Badgers came to Mankato and swept them both overtime games this past weekend. 12:35 Hammy, any thoughts on Wisconsin? 12:37 They are playing much better, and you kind of thought they would. 12:42 Well, I mean, there was a couple of things that I thought. 12:44 I mean, first of all, it's kind of like I told Chuck Schwartz, you know, what, six weeks ago or whatever it was when he was lamenting how badly they were playing that you're never as bad as you look at your worst, never as good as you look at, you know, at your best. 12:57 You're somewhere kind of in between. 12:58 And I think that's kind of what we're seeing with them. 13:00 And I think, you know, to be fair, some of it is also they haven't had the most difficult schedule over the last month or plus, you know, they've had, you know, they've won the games that you would kind of expect them to win. 13:13 I mean, these are teams that, you know, granted, Bancato was better this year, but for the most part, the schedule that they've had lately has not been particularly strong. 13:20 So, you know, you kind of would expect Wisconsin to bounce back. 13:24 And they're a tough team to play against. 13:26 They're going to play their style. 13:28 It's going to be that kind of, you know, they're not going to be a high score and it's going to be more of that grinded out, you know, try to keep the opponent. 13:33 Yeah, I mean, keep your opponent just, you know, it's kind of like the Gophers were, you know, three plus years ago where it was like, you know, if the opponent scores more than three goals, your base, you know, three or more goals, you're probably going to lose. 13:46 But if you keep them under three, you know, you might have a chance. 13:49 And that's kind of how Wisconsin's going to have to win this year. 13:53 Well, regardless of the schedule, Wisconsin's winning. 13:56 And that's obviously building confidence, don't you think, Vig? 14:00 Yeah, I mean, two course games with Minnesota State, and they both went to OT. 14:04 I mean, they're going to need those little scoring games. 14:08 And, you know, McCabe played really well in the Wilt Junior, so it's good to have him back for them. 14:14 And he brings back some confidence and a little bit of attitude to that locker room. 14:18 And, you know, they're not going to be facing anybody big until they play the Who in February. 14:26 So we probably won't know quite what we've got with them for a while yet, but they are playing better. 14:31 Definitely. 14:32 And then finally we've got Nebraska-Omaha headed to Denver last weekend, and Denver pulls away with three points. 14:39 Hamme, obviously we kind of rode off Denver for a little while there. 14:42 I mean, they started, they were dropping like rocks, but they pulled it together last weekend. 14:48 Yeah, and I think you can kind of send a thank you note to Dean Blaze and his horse crap ability to pick goalies. 14:54 I mean, let's face it. 14:56 I mean, you know, they can score goals, you know, they can score goals fine, but the fact is, is that their goalies let basically in beach balls into the net. 15:04 I mean, they suck. 15:06 I mean, let's not pull any punches. 15:07 Look at their stats. 15:08 They suck in net. 15:10 So, I mean, it's not that going to be that, you know, I honestly, unless they continue to score at a pretty high clip, I wouldn't be surprised to see UNL kind of drop off a bit because you act, you know, you're going to need your goalies to rise to the occasion. 15:26 And you can't have guys in net that have, you know, save percentages that are just barely over 89%. 15:31 That's just not going to get it done. 15:33 Not going to get it done. 15:35 Indeed, Vego, what do you think about Denver's three points? 15:38 Are they on their way back? 15:40 Well, they must be turning around. 15:42 I mean, we did write them off. 15:44 I thought they'd be a top half team for sure because their defensemen are such talented puck movers and they just weren't getting enough goals. 15:52 And with UNL, man, they've really gotten downhill since they played the Gophers. 15:57 I thought they looked really good when they came to Marriott G. 15:59 I was like, wow, these guys are hanging in there with Walters playing as well for them as he has been. 16:06 I was surprised to see them only get one point out of the weekend. 16:10 All right. 16:10 So we're midway through the season pretty much. 16:14 Gophers have played 14 games, a few others have played 14, a few have played 16 games. 16:19 Nebraska and Denver are leading with Minnesota, North Dakota right behind them, St. 16:24 Cloud. 16:26 It's pretty close there, a bunch at the top. 16:27 But Hammeh, can you give me your overall thoughts of the kind of first half of the season, how it's gone so far? 16:32 Is it gone as you expected? 16:34 What are the surprises for you? 16:36 What are the disappointments for you? 16:38 Well, I mean, based on what, you know, the way that I, this first, you know, the first couple of games of the second half are going and just looking at schedules, I, to me it's sort of shaken out the way that, that I thought, I mean, in the beginning of the year, if I remember correctly, I think I had, the Gophers in North Dakota and Denver, my top three, I believe. 16:59 And honestly, when I look at the way things are right now, that's kind of, I still believe in some order, in some fashion, those are going to be the top three teams. 17:07 And I had St. 17:08 Cloud kind of just right behind that, you know, in that fourth, the fifth range. 17:12 And I think that, you know, they've been a little skittish, especially in non-conference. 17:16 So I'm a little bit, you know, I'm kind of a little concerned about my pick in their regard because they're not playing as well, I don't think. 17:23 And so they might slip off a little bit more than I thought. 17:27 And, you know, Duluth's been rising lately, so you got to give them credit. 17:32 You know, if you talked a few weeks ago, you would have said Wisconsin was a disappointment, but you know, now they've started improving. 17:38 So I don't know that I see anything. 17:41 I mean, I think Colorado College, everybody kind of knew was going to take a slip a little bit and they have, but you know, hey, they just had a split with North Dakota. 17:49 So I mean, I don't know that there's anything that's obvious when I look at the standings that I say is, oh, that team's doing way better than I expected and that one's doing way worse than I expected. 17:59 So Vegoe, what are your thoughts in the first half so far of the WCHA? 18:05 Well, I think when I was looking at the season predictions, I had Minnesota, North Dakota 1-2. 18:10 I thought they were the class of the WCHA. 18:13 And if you look at the goal differential, they're the top two teams. 18:17 They may not be the top two teams in the standings, but they've got two games in hand on pretty much everybody on the top there. 18:24 And they look good. 18:25 I thought Wisconsin would be the third team. 18:29 They've struggled a little bit, but they're right in it. 18:31 Only four points separated in the top eight teams. 18:35 And you look at those top eight, nine, maybe ten, you put them into an even strength neutral side game. 18:45 Any of them can win any night, I think. 18:48 The one surprise so far, I think, is Michigan Tech for me. 18:51 I thought they would, you know, do better than they have been. 18:54 They had a pretty good year last year. 18:56 I think they've got some talent there. 18:59 A little bit might be their schedule so far. 19:03 But we'll see. 19:04 I think we'll see them get a little bit closer in the points anyway. 19:07 I don't know if they can move up though. 19:10 It's going to be tough. 19:13 Looks like it's another Tech Anchorage race to the finish of the bottom of the league again. 19:20 Well, let's get into this week then. 19:22 Speaking of the bottom dwellers, Bemidji is right there at the bottom too and they're heading out to Michigan Tech this weekend. 19:30 Hammy, do you care about this series? 19:34 I don't. 19:36 Yeah, I mean, it's not exactly something that you're pointing towards and circling on the calendar every freaking year. 19:43 So, I think that this series is at Tech, is it? 19:48 Yeah. 19:49 Yeah. 19:50 I would probably think that, I will say that I am a little surprised at Tech as well. 19:57 I thought that they'd be a little bit better this year than what they've shown. 19:59 So maybe it's one of those things where they have a nice second half and we'll see where it goes from there. 20:05 But I would say that they're probably going to come out of this with three points at a minimum. 20:10 Okay. 20:11 Vego, what do you think? 20:13 I'm going with Tech getting all four points. 20:15 I mean, they lost by a goal on Friday night to the Lewis and a goal on Saturday night to the Lewis. 20:20 They played really well in the Great Lakes Invitational. 20:24 I mean, they beat the first time in forever. 20:28 Yeah. 20:29 So that was good for them. 20:30 So, I think they're underperforming a little bit in the conference. 20:34 So, I think they'll get four points this weekend. 20:36 I don't think they're as bad as they look in the standings. 20:40 Minnesota State's heading to Alaska Anchorage. 20:45 Vegoe, another game nobody really cares about. 20:48 Yeah, this one I actually don't care about that much, so. 20:52 Well, we'll move on. 20:54 Hammy didn't care at all. 20:55 I think state gets three, though. 20:56 Okay. 20:57 Hammy? 20:59 Yeah, I mean, you know, I said this on USCHO, and I probably should give my props to Anchorage. 21:07 I mean, I don't know if we'll see them in the playoffs or not. 21:09 If we don't, they won't probably see them for quite a while. 21:12 And, you know, they're a program that, you know, obviously they have their difficulties, and they've never been very talented in many years, other than maybe one or two seasons where they finally broke through to the final five. 21:26 And they work hard, though. 21:28 And I respect the fact that those guys don't quit, despite the fact that they have a pretty crappy record, and they don't have much of a shot against most teams. 21:37 But they still, I mean, when they play the Gophers, they play hard, you know. 21:41 So you have to give them credit for that. 21:43 And so I wouldn't be shocked if they get a split this weekend. 21:46 I'll give them a split. 21:48 OK. 21:50 Denver are heading to St. 21:51 Cloud State. 21:53 Pammy, you're a little worried about St. 21:55 Cloud. 21:56 Previously, we've been worried about Denver. 21:58 I think this is kind of an interesting series. 22:00 Yeah, well, I wouldn't say I'm worried about St. 22:02 Cloud. 22:02 As far as I'm concerned, it can go in the tank. 22:04 It wouldn't get, I wouldn't get a crap. 22:06 But I'm just saying, when I think about my predictions for the year, I did have, I had them like, I think, fourth or fifth. 22:13 So, and, you know, but they've been struggling non-conference and they haven't looked all that particularly impressive. 22:20 And I, this was a stretch of time where I really felt like they had to capitalize on their schedule because they had a number of home games in a row both in and out of the conference and they have not really stepped up to the plate and taken advantage of it the way they should have. 22:35 And so you kind of have to wonder, I mean, Denver is not going to be a pushover either. 22:39 So to me, this is a series that I would probably call a split and that's kind of been St. 22:45 Cloud's MO lately, particularly in conference. 22:48 So I think that that's what I would go with. 22:50 So Hammy's got a split, what do you got, Veegs? 22:53 I also have a split. 22:55 St. 22:55 Cloud has just kind of been Jekyll and Hyde a little bit. 22:59 They've beaten North Dakota and they've lost to Anchorage. 23:04 You know, it's tough to do. 23:09 All right, well, let's move on to some Twitter questions before we move on to the main topic today. 23:14 We've got Eric Jordan asking, what are you expecting over the next six game stretch? 23:21 You know, the Who, the Land Cows, the JBSU, and is going three and three acceptable? 23:29 What do you think, Hammy? 23:30 You think we should be doing better than three and three? 23:32 At least that's what I think. 23:35 Yeah, I know that Cardinal was talking a little bit about it on GPL, about the next stretch of, I don't know, like month or so or whatever it was. 23:44 But personally, my goal out of these next three series would probably be at a minimum to get eight points. 23:51 I think that that's very important. 23:55 I think that, you know, you sort of expect that one of those series, I personally expect that we're gonna get two wins out of one of these next three series. 24:05 And I would expect at least one win, you know, out of the other two. 24:08 So that would be my goal for that time frame, would be a four and two record. 24:13 Of course you want better. 24:15 But I think that that for me would be something that would be, I'd be happy with. 24:20 What do you think Vegoe? 24:23 Next three series. 24:24 I think eight points is a good aspiration for them to try and get. 24:30 And I strongly think that they'll get that. 24:33 I wouldn't be surprised if they went six and oh. 24:37 I mean, this is the kind of team where if they're playing soundly and Wilcox plays the way he's played so far and the special teams are clicking like they are, you know, this is a team that can go on a run like that. 24:49 But on the flip side, they've done so well in their out of conference schedule that if they were to go three and three, they'd still be okay pairwise, you know, ranking. 25:02 So it's not the end of the world. 25:04 The sky won't be falling if they go three and three. 25:07 I would expect that. 25:08 It would on GPL because it always does. 25:11 Yeah. 25:12 But I think they're in great shape right now. 25:14 So. 25:15 Okay, Joshua Kreitzer asks, I get best 18, but is Hall or Parenteau at forward really better than Riley or Michelson? 25:25 Personally, he thinks Parenteau needs to be a D. 25:29 What a good question. 25:30 He basically wants to know, Hall or Parenteau up forward? 25:34 Okay, say again now, what's the question? 25:38 Is Hall or Parenteau at forward really better than Riley or Michelson? 25:45 Well, you know, I don't think that Hall has played that badly. 25:49 You know, I actually think he's done rather well in that role. 25:54 So I really would prefer him. 25:57 I know I would say I prefer him over Riley. 26:01 You know, Michelson, it really depends upon the situation and the role that he's in. 26:06 You know, if he's playing wing or center, what kind of a spot he's being put in for me to really answer that one a little bit more definitively. 26:14 But I would say that I like Hall there. 26:16 I agree that Parenteau should be on defense. 26:19 That would be my preference as well. 26:20 I think he is a very settling presence back there, and solid and he's reliable. 26:27 And so I think with some of the kind of more puck moving types of guys that we have back there, that he's a guy that you can kind of just allow the other guy to roam a little bit and you can feel a little bit comfortable about it. 26:39 What do you think Vegoe, Hall or Parenteau up and forward instead of Riley and Marcus Michelson? 26:45 It's tough. 26:46 I do like seeing them rotate those guys through because you're not sure if injuries are going to come into play this year. 26:53 I don't think Lucia is comfortable enough this year to just roll four lines. 26:58 I think you saw in the Notre Dame series, he was matching up Bukshead line against the Notre Dame number one line. 27:07 He's doing that more this year than he has in the past. 27:10 I think you just want to keep as many guys playing that you think are going to play for you. 27:15 And if it's playing fronto and haul up front and forward to get them in the lineup, that's what you do, because I don't think you want to put Shea up there. 27:25 I don't think you want to put Marshall up there, because they've done okay in the back, and I think Shea has played better in the last couple of weekends than he did early in the season. 27:36 And I'm kind of thinking that maybe that World Juniors cut maybe was a little bit of a wake up call for the kid, hopefully. 27:43 Okay, okay. 27:44 Well, I personally have liked haul up and forward. 27:48 I think he hasn't done anything stupid. 27:51 He plays very well defensively as a forward up there, so I say keep him up there and use him back on D a few times a game, like he's been doing. 28:03 Yeah, the game is definitely a lot easier to play as a winger than as a D. 28:07 Your mistakes are not quite as glaring. 28:10 I agree. 28:11 Well, Keith wants to know, why are you and D fans so upset we won't play the next four seasons? 28:19 Seems it means far more to them than us. 28:23 Hamu, what do you think? 28:25 Are they obsessed over it? 28:27 Well, I mean, I can't... 28:31 Here's the thing for me, all right? 28:32 And I'm speaking for myself, because I know there are Gopher fans that place a lot of importance on this series and whatever, and that's fine. 28:39 I'm not saying that they shouldn't. 28:40 But for myself personally, I do not have any problem whatsoever with how the Gophers are handing their schedule moving forward. 28:50 I think that all this conspiracy talk about how Lucia was trying to avoid them, and it really wasn't the nickname stuff at the time. 28:59 That's just BS, UND, crap talk. 29:03 That's ridiculous. 29:05 The reality of the matter is that our program has always... 29:11 The thing about a John Mariucci and a Herb Brooks and all those guys, one of their main focuses was always to make sure that the hockey within Minnesota's borders was strong. 29:22 And so it was always important for us to maintain our connections to the other D1 programs within the state's borders. 29:30 I think we all knew that was going to happen. 29:32 So you got eight games right there that are gone. 29:35 And then you have the fact that, hey, you got 20 league games that we're going to have in our future. 29:40 There's 28 games. 29:41 You got the Mariucci Classic. 29:42 So now we're basically down to two series that we have left to use up, you know, for non-conference. 29:48 And you know what? 29:49 One of my favorite series this year is when we went out east. 29:52 I liked seeing us play on a new rank against a new opponent. 29:56 To me, that was enjoyable. 29:58 I really had a good time watching. 29:59 And I'm glad that we're going to be playing, you know, a BC and what is it? 30:04 Northeastern or whatever. 30:05 And Notre Dame, yep. 30:06 Yeah, and Notre Dame. 30:07 I mean, I'm glad we're going to see some variety on the schedule in the future. 30:10 And then certainly we're going to see North Dakota again. 30:14 I mean, Lucia has said that, you know, that he kind of wants to play them two years on, you know, a series there, a series here, and then two years off where we can, you know, continue to have that variety in our schedule. 30:25 To me, that's the way to handle it. 30:27 That's, I like that as a fan. 30:29 I'm glad. 30:30 And it's not like that rivalry is going to disappear just because we don't play for a few years. 30:36 It's still going to be there. 30:37 And, you know, maybe it's one of those things. 30:40 Absence makes the heart grow fonder, you know? 30:42 Maybe they'll want to play us and beat the hell out of us worse and vice versa. 30:45 And, you know, so then when we do play it, maybe it'll be even more intense. 30:49 Who knows? 30:50 But I like the way it is, and I think that Lucia is handling it perfectly. 30:55 Do you think it's possible that some of these deals with, like, BC, Notre Dame happened before the Big Ten Conference was even a suggestion? 31:03 I mean, if that's the case, you know, Lucia's thinking, yeah, I play the Sioux every year, obviously. 31:09 I want to look ahead and play some other teams when it opens up. 31:13 But then this Big Ten comes along, and all of a sudden it might change things. 31:16 You think that has anything to do with it, or possibly has anything to do with it? 31:21 I can't personally speak to that. 31:23 But I mean, you know, we've known for what, almost close to two years now, that there was going to be a Big Ten conference. 31:28 Some of these deals are done many years in advance. 31:31 Well, yeah, but I don't know that all of them, I think for the most part, a lot of them are maybe one year out or a little bit more than that. 31:40 I don't know that it's necessarily like college football where you have to schedule six years down the road or something like that. 31:48 But I think certainly there was a time frame where once we knew that the Big Ten was going to be around, that North Dakota shot themselves in a foot with all that legal wrangling that they were doing. 32:02 And it did create this unknown factor of whether or not we were going to be able to schedule them because it wasn't Lucia's decision. 32:10 It wasn't even our athletic director. 32:12 It's the regents that decide if we can break that rule or not about the Indian nicknames and whatever. 32:20 And they weren't going to budge on that. 32:22 So I think the whole conspiracy thing is a joke to me. 32:26 And it's just bitter talk from bitter fans in a crappy town. 32:30 So that's that. 32:32 Well, I also think some of it, too. 32:33 It's like it's not the North Dakota hockey team putting up this huge fight. 32:38 It's the administration. 32:40 It's the people of North Dakota. 32:43 A lot of that has been out of their hands as well. 32:46 Obviously, it has nothing to do with the hockey team. 32:49 So I think some of that's in there, too. 32:51 It's not their fault. 32:52 It's not Lucia's fault. 32:54 It's just the way things kind of turned out. 32:58 Vegoe, what do you think? 33:01 Well, I think it's a great rivalry. 33:03 And I'm a little sad to see it come to an end with the who. 33:07 But at the same point, I love seeing the Eastern teams. 33:11 I mean, it's a great refreshing change of pace. 33:14 And at the start of the year when Lucia was kind of talking about the WCHA, looking back and being reflective, he was talking about how he's helped build Minnesota hockey, helping Bemidji become a program, Minnesota State become a program. 33:31 I think it's important for people who are involved with that to keep those teams going. 33:35 Because I know Bemidji is hurting for attendance right now. 33:38 They're hurting a lot of time. 33:40 And with the conference change, it's going to be even harder for them to keep it going. 33:43 And Minnesota wants to keep the tournament at the end of the year, 16-team tournament. 33:51 And if they start losing franchises, they're already getting an exception to get that many teams in the NCAAs. 33:59 So if it becomes a 12-team tournament, it's not quite as fun. 34:04 And I always think, you know, if this rivalry kind of gets set aside, you know, when they do play each other and make an NCAA game, it's going to mean a lot, even if it's in Denver or Detroit or wherever they end up hosting a regional that has a hard time selling tickets. 34:20 I think you'll see Minnesota and North Dakota fans go to that game. 34:24 Well, unfortunately, it's just out of everyone's hands. 34:27 It is what it is. 34:28 What can we do besides just kind of celebrate this weekend? 34:32 I personally, I think it sucks. 34:35 I don't think Lucia and his coaches and his players were all that interested in going to a Big Ten conference, but it was out of their hands. 34:45 It's the cards they were dealt. 34:49 One of the things that we have going here is we've got so much passion for both the Gophers and the Sioux by their fan base. 34:58 It's always been there. 35:00 It's always going to be there. 35:03 That's one thing I'm going to miss is that the passion on these weeks with the Sioux fans, the Gopher fans, you guys are idiots, no, you're idiots, the who, the Golden Chokers, the whole thing. 35:17 It's always a fun week for me. 35:19 I don't take it all that seriously. 35:20 I just have a lot of fun. 35:21 That's the part I'm going to miss about this series. 35:26 Well, I do think that fans need to understand that our program was built on developing Minnesota talent, Minnesota kids, developing the hockey in the state. 35:41 I know that the other D1 programs in the state don't like to hear it, but we are the flagship program, the team that's been around the longest, that's had the most success. 35:51 It's important for the Gophers because of their fan base and all that stuff to make sure that we keep those connections with the other teams, the St. 36:00 Clouds and the Mankatoes and the Bumidji's and Duluth. 36:03 I mean, that's important and that's the kind of thing that the Mariuchis wanted. 36:08 They wanted to develop that kind of hockey within the state's borders and you don't want to see that go away. 36:14 And so maybe that means you have to sacrifice a little bit more of the prime time series that you really enjoy with North Dakota because some of these other programs need us more. 36:25 I mean, North Dakota is going to be fine with or without us, okay? 36:29 And we're going to be fine with or without them. 36:31 And yeah, it's great to play each other and all that. 36:34 But some of these other programs, they need us more, a hell of a lot more than North Dakota does. 36:39 And so I just think it's one of those things that you have to think a little bit more big picture and that's just the way it goes and just make the best of it and hopefully we'll develop some new rivalries. 36:51 It's not going to happen overnight in a Big Ten conference, but over time I really believe that we'll see some intense rivalries develop. 36:58 It just takes a little bit of familiarity. 37:01 That's breeding contempt and then you'll have some more highly contested games. 37:06 Well Gopher 80 is asking, how much will playing in state schools hurt the Gophers in the rankings? 37:15 I mean, could be playing Bemidji State non-conference. 37:19 It's going to drop your, I mean, they're usually not going to be as good. 37:22 It's going to drop your RPI, all this other stuff. 37:24 Could hurting, playing these in school teams hurt us in the rankings? 37:28 Or is it just something we're going to have to deal with and just to keep building those other programs up, Pammy? 37:33 Well, I mean, I think it's to be determined. 37:34 I mean, it really depends upon how they do in their conference. 37:38 I mean, let's face it, they're changing conferences too and they're going to have different conference schedules and maybe they're, I mean, like a team like Mankato, for instance, they could be a top team in the WCHA, the future WCHA. 37:52 You just kind of have to see how it shakes out. 37:54 We just don't know yet how that's going to all work out. 37:57 And St. 37:58 Cloud and Duluth are both going to be in the National College Hockey Conference and that's going to be a good conference. 38:04 So do I think, I mean, Bimidji, I mean, we look at them now and yeah, they're kind of on the lower rung and what, you know, you just don't know what's going to happen. 38:11 I think that's the problem is too many fans get caught up in what they see now and just envision like that's just going to how it's going to be five, ten years from now. 38:19 And you know, because I see these idiots from the National College Hockey Conference like, oh, well, we got six or seven teams in the top 20 and the Big Ten only has one. 38:27 It's like, this is not etched in stone, moron. 38:30 You know, it's a moving process. 38:32 Penn State is going to improve. 38:33 Some of these programs are going to get better. 38:35 Some get worse. 38:36 I mean, let's face it, Lake State won some national titles. 38:39 I mean, you know, things don't stay the same. 38:42 So it's just a matter of letting things work its way out. 38:45 And we'll see how, you know, good or bad things are five, 10 years from now, and then we can make a better judgment. 38:51 Well, to be honest, I am concerned about Bemidji. 38:56 As far as what? 38:57 Surviving or? 38:58 You know what? 38:59 Surviving, yeah. 39:00 I mean, they just get this program built up. 39:04 They get to division one. 39:05 They play kind of, you know, in a weird conference for a little while. 39:08 They get to their dream league where they belong. 39:13 And all of a sudden, the big schools split right after they get into the league. 39:18 And, you know, it's pretty crappy for how Bemidji is going to have to deal with it after we're gone. 39:26 Well, I mean, there's different ways to look at it, though, because, I mean, let's face it, it's not like Anchorage has been this, you know, great success simply because they've been in WCHA. 39:36 I mean, you know, maybe it's a matter of they get to a league that's a little bit more on their competitive level and, maybe, you know, they have some success and, you know, they're still going to see some good teams non-conference, you know, I mean, the Gophers, they'll see, I'm sure they'll see North Dakota still and some of the other, you know, local teams. 39:55 So it's not like they're going to be completely abandoned and don't have, don't ever get, I mean, Wisconsin's the only one that's really seemingly the stuck up ones that don't want to play any of these smaller places. 40:05 And so I still think that some of these other good schools, you know, like us in North Dakota, they still want to play some of these teams. 40:11 So I don't think that'll be a huge problem. 40:13 You have any thoughts on this, Vegoe? 40:15 Well, just, you know, I hope that the G6 round, but I think it could be better for them to be out of a conference like the WCHA, because, you know, they probably have a better chance of making the NCAA tournament. 40:27 They probably have a better chance of, you know, making that four seed run to the frozen four. 40:33 So, you know, maybe it's going to work out a little bit better for them. 40:36 The team I'm worried about is Huntsville. 40:38 You know, that's a program that's struggling. 40:40 They're still looking for a conference, and, you know, you kind of wonder what's going to happen to the anchored schools as this keeps going, you know, if they're going to stick around. 40:49 So it's a big issue for college hockey. 40:51 You know, you got to support these smaller programs and invite them to your Marriott U Classic, or, you know, try to get them on the schedule, and, you know, you hope all the teams take a little responsibility with that. 41:04 All right, boys, it's time to move on. 41:06 We've got a big series this weekend. 41:08 The North Dakota Fighting Who, Who, because they don't have a name, Head to Mariucci, long storied history, regular season, kind of coming to an end. 41:21 But not only that, we're just going to have great hockey this weekend. 41:25 It's always good. 41:27 I don't, well, I'd love to see a Gopher sweep. 41:30 That would be awesome. 41:31 But boy, the Seward looking pretty good right now, Hammy. 41:34 I mean, they got their top scores. 41:36 They're really starting to pour it on right now. 41:38 Give me your initial thoughts. 41:42 You know, I think obviously it's going to be an interesting series and it's an understatement. 41:46 But I think for me, the interesting thing is going to be what kind of defensive effort do we see from North Dakota? 41:53 Because when I look at the numbers and everything, to me, the one telling difference between the two teams is the Gophers are actually a much better defensive team. 42:04 I mean, they're almost three quarters of a goal better defensively than North Dakota. 42:11 Our power, or excuse me, their penalty kill is ranked like 37th in the country. 42:17 So to me, the key is going to be what kind of defensive effort we see from North Dakota. 42:22 And this is really not the kind of North Dakota defensive unit that we've kind of grown accustomed to seeing over the last 10 plus years. 42:30 They're not, when we think of North Dakota defense, we usually think of these big trees that are all physical and more of the defensive stay at home guys that want to knock your head through the wall. 42:41 And they don't really have that kind of a unit right now. 42:44 McWilliam is certainly of that ilk, but some of these other guys are, for the most part, they've got some good size, but they're more finesse types of guys. 42:54 I mean, the Matsons and the Simpsons, and some of these guys, Schmaltz, they're not big strapping physical guys. 43:03 I mean, Forbert, he's a big kid, but he's never been accused of being this big physical guy. 43:08 And so, that's gonna be, to me, a little bit different. 43:11 I think that it's gonna be a little bit less, I mean, I'm sure they'll ramp up the physicality. 43:15 Don't get me wrong. 43:16 I doubt it's gonna be a big finesse series, but it's not quite the same blood and guts, no pun intended, for North Dakota on their defense as compared to what we're used to. 43:28 Vegoe, it's a huge sports weekend. 43:31 You know, we got Michigan coming in to play the Gophers in basketball. 43:35 We got the Wilds starting it up. 43:37 But the biggest ticket, the toughest ticket, is Gophers North Dakota. 43:43 What do you think? 43:45 I really hope a lot of the Golden Gopher fans are stepping up to step up and buying those tickets, because one of the things I'm really gonna miss, we're kinda, we're talking about the end of the WCHA, is the final five and just the wave of green jerseys that you see downtown St. 44:03 Paul. 44:03 I hope we don't see that this weekend. 44:05 I'm getting a little worried that with all the tickets available, I know that the Golden Gophers don't eat. 44:12 Yeah, they ain't cheap. 44:13 But there's 800 standing room seats that I think the ticket office releases for each game. 44:20 And I know they sold out of those for Saturday. 44:23 And I think they were almost sold out on Friday for the standing room seats. 44:27 So maybe some of those North Dakota people have jobs and they can't make it down on Friday in time. 44:32 Hard to leave. 44:34 I don't know. 44:34 I'm sure that some of those guys will just pull a gold tooth out, sell it, and then they'll be able to buy a couple of tickets. 44:41 So that will be exciting. 44:43 I think actual hockey wise, the thing I'm most interested to see is North Dakota's got a reputation for a really aggressive penalty kill. 44:52 They really jump on anybody who fumbles a puck. 44:56 We'll see if Holla is back in the lineup. 44:58 I think right after the injury, Lucia was thinking he'd be back for North Dakota. 45:04 And then as the media keeps asking him about it after every game, he's starting to hedge his bets a little bit, and he's a little less optimistic. 45:12 And on Saturday night, he said, we'll see what kind of role he has. 45:16 We'll try him out in practice. 45:18 Hopefully, probably going to be a game time decision. 45:22 So we'll see. 45:23 They tried Riley in that spot on the right-wing circle right away when he came back from UFA. 45:30 And then they put warning there. 45:31 Probably a little bit better fit, but he still wasn't super confident there. 45:36 And with that North Dakota penalty kill being so aggressive, anybody who fumbles a puck, there's going to be a guy right on them. 45:43 Well, you could say that they're aggressive, but like I said, they haven't been particularly successful as far as an actual success standpoint percentage. 45:53 I mean, 81.7% is not great and it's 37th in the country. 45:59 So, maybe they play aggressively, but they're also certainly making some mistakes on the penalty kill. 46:05 Yeah, they are making mistakes, but I'm just saying it's going to be a little bit different than what Minnesota's seen. 46:09 I mean, the past couple penalty kills they've seen have been pretty passive. 46:13 You know, try to stop them getting a clean entry at the blue line and then setting up into that box or diamond. 46:19 But, I mean, they've been giving space to work. 46:22 And on the big ice, you know, that's a tough recipe for success against a power play that's clicking at 27%. 46:31 Well, Pammy, what does North Dakota need to do to be successful this weekend? 46:38 Not show up. 46:42 I mean, obviously, you know, if they get an early goal, to kind of take the crowd out of it, obviously, they're going to be up for it. 46:49 We're going to get their best game. 46:53 I don't know. 46:54 You know, I mean, look, I think it's going to be one of those things where really they're going to have to capitalize on whatever defensive mistakes the Gophers make. 47:05 I mean, to me, that's really going to be the key if they can, you know, because, you know, there's going to be some mistakes made. 47:11 I mean, it's just impossible to play a perfect defensive game. 47:15 You know, there's going to be some mistakes against another talented team. 47:18 And it's really a matter of can they beat Wilcox when those mistakes occur? 47:23 You know, he's been very good at, you know, whenever Gophers have made a mistake, he's been pretty good at covering that up. 47:29 And to me, that's that's the key. 47:33 I don't think that they're going to shut us down offensively, especially on home ice. 47:38 I'm not saying that that's impossible, but given, you know, the statistics and the fact that, you know, we've been pretty, you know, pretty good offensively, especially as of late with our top couple lines, I just think that would be a tall order to expect that it's going to be some low-scoring two-to-one game where they're going to beat us. 47:55 And I have the feeling that it's going to probably, if they're going to beat us, it's probably going to have to be one of those, you know, four, five-to-four types of games where you're capitalizing on mistakes. 48:04 So I guess we'll see. 48:06 Do they need to goon it up, Vegoe? 48:09 I think it's in their best interest not to goon it up. 48:14 You know, Shayak was talking about this during the series last weekend about how five-minute major penalties are becoming pretty common in the league. 48:23 And the rest are calling it because that's the way they want the game to be called now. 48:27 I think if North Dakota gets out of hand, they might be picking up one or two of those. 48:35 What are the odds Danny Crystal gets a five-minute major this weekend? 48:39 What are the odds Danny Crystal freaks out for no reason? 48:42 Yeah, I have a feeling. 48:43 I mean, you know what? 48:45 I want to say this, okay, I'm going to miss that guy when he graduates because he is always worth at least one dumbass penalty per game or series that you can just count on being a momentum shifter for your team. 49:01 And so, I'm going to miss that guy, you know? 49:04 Danny, God bless you, you know, good luck with your throws. 49:07 You know, you are worth plenty of jokes and laughs over the last couple of years, you know. 49:13 I'm sure he's a good kid, you know, at heart, but so we'll miss you. 49:17 That major he took when he basically punched Marshall's head into the wall and started whining about it and trips his way and breaks his stick into the main hallway off the bench. 49:30 Oh, that was just comedy gold. 49:34 Well, sticks are expensive, too. 49:37 Well, we all know what Wally Shaver thinks, don't we? 49:40 What a bunch of cheap hose heads. 49:42 I think that's just a fact, right, Wally? 49:44 Just a bunch of hose heads. 49:45 I'm glad we're done with these guys. 49:47 Go form your own league. 49:49 Yeah, go form your own league, Sue. 49:52 Yeah, I'm sure that we'll see if there's any comments made this go around that they'll get Haxdahl up in arms, so he has to lose a little respect for Wally or whatever it was last time. 50:05 Oh, jeez. 50:06 I'm sure Wally's up at night worrying about that. 50:13 Any other thoughts on the weekend, boys? 50:16 Any other topics you want to talk about this weekend? 50:19 Well, I will say one thing last about North Dakota is that they are pretty reliant on their top line to score goals. 50:26 Knight and Crisco have ton of their points. 50:30 And if they're going up against Bucsad's line, I think they're going to have a hard time getting the puck because that guy's big as a house and he can protect it and take it coast to coast. 50:40 So I think that's a big matchup to watch, five on five. 50:43 How about the return of Rocco Grimaldi to Mariucci? 50:47 He obviously started out pretty well here last year. 50:51 Yeah, I mean, that's certainly, I mean, that's one of the things I was thinking about today is what are the differences between this year and last year and really that's of course one of them, but of course the big one for them is they've lost their big gun, Brock Nelson, from last year. 51:07 And so Grimaldi hasn't made up for that. 51:11 I mean, you don't really expect a guy to make up for, I don't know, how do you have 30 goals last year, Nelson? 51:17 I don't remember how many goals he had, but a lot. 51:20 He's a shifty little player, though. 51:22 He can cause huge problems. 51:25 Yeah, I mean, that's going to be an interesting thing to see. 51:28 I mean, the one thing you kind of have to, in my opinion, with him is you sort of have to play him as if he's going to shoot the puck all the time, because he's not really setting other guys up as much. 51:40 He's kind of like a Kessel, where you kind of expect him to shoot, and if he gets a siss, it's probably going to be because somebody got a rebound. 51:46 You know what I mean? 51:47 So that's kind of how I look at Grimaldi. 51:49 You just sort of have to expect that he's going to, you know, try to drive in the net and create something for himself. 51:56 And so that's how I would personally try to play him defensively. 52:01 All right, Vegoe, give us your prediction for the weekend. 52:06 What's going to happen? 52:08 Well, I think you're going to see high-paced hockey. 52:10 I don't think you're going to be seeing teams sitting back in a defensive shell. 52:14 And I think we see a couple, you know, five-three type games. 52:19 And I think the Gophers are going to pull them both out. 52:23 Wow. 52:24 Sweeps for Vegoe. 52:26 Okay, Hammeh, give it your best. 52:29 You know, I guess I'm going to, well, I don't want to hedge on it. 52:33 I mean, I do think that the Friday night game is going to be the key game because I really believe if the Gophers win that game, they're going to sweep the series. 52:41 So to me, it's really going to depend upon, you know, how the Gophers come out on Friday night because I really expect them, they're going to win on Saturday. 52:50 And so I will probably go, I'm going to say Gopher sweep. 52:58 Wow. 53:00 That's not going to make Goon very happy. 53:04 I know he's listening. 53:05 We know you're listening, Goon. 53:06 He'll just laugh if I'm wrong and that's okay. 53:12 I'm also going to say Gopher sweep because we don't like the who. 53:17 The who suck. 53:20 And that's all I have to say about that. 53:25 I'm having fun this week. 53:27 That's what it's all about, having fun for me. 53:29 I even went over to Sioux Sports and posted a couple of times. 53:33 I felt motivated. 53:34 Didn't say much, but... 53:35 Will there be any problems in handshake lines? 53:39 Will there be any of that stuff this weekend? 53:43 I think Ambrose is going to cause problems. 53:46 He's going to seek revenge. 53:48 What are the odds that... 53:49 He's going to take out Rocco Grimaldi. 53:52 Kyle Rau is going to agitate the sin out of somebody and they're going to lose their cool. 53:59 Well, that's 100% because Rau agitates everybody, whether it's on the ice or off the ice. 54:05 That kid has got a mouth on him and it's going 24-7 on the bench. 54:09 I've heard it and I cannot repeat anything that he says on the air because it all has to be bleeped. 54:17 As long as it keeps scoring the way he has the last few weeks, he can talk all he wants as far as I'm concerned. 54:22 But, he needs to be careful. 54:26 But, he doesn't need this diving crap. 54:28 You know, Shepherd and Hunt are going to put him in the box because we know we're going to get Shepherd and Hunt this weekend, aren't we? 54:34 They've done like 10 out of the last 11 series. 54:37 I swear we're going to get those two morons. 54:40 Well, I'm sure whoever we get will see some thread next week on Sioux Sports saying that the Gophers got the advantage from the reps. 54:49 Clearly it's a conspiracy. 54:51 It always has been. 54:53 Papa Shepherd has it out for the Sioux. 54:55 He always will. 54:58 The Shepherd brothers have it out for them. 55:00 Don Adam, God forbid. 55:01 Don't even think. 55:02 If we get Don Adam this weekend, there's already the built-in excuse for the Who fans. 55:07 Well, he should like them, right? 55:09 Because he's going to be their head of referees for their next league, isn't he? 55:13 So they should be proud to have him as the referee for this next weekend. 55:17 I bet you who are excited about Don Adam. 55:20 I don't really think they are, though. 55:22 Would you want him running your league? 55:25 I know I wouldn't, but apparently they want him, so... 55:28 Well, I don't know if they want him either. 55:30 Well, at least the two fans, I don't think they're that happy. 55:32 Don't they control that league? 55:33 I thought North Dakota controlled that league, basically. 55:36 We have found out recently that North Dakota isn't controlling anything, especially that bang-up TV contract they got. 55:44 Okay, well, I'll give you that. 55:47 Anything else, boys? 55:50 Not for me. 55:51 Any more trash talk? 55:52 Any more fun? 55:53 I'm talked out for it. 55:55 You ready to go have a beverage? 55:57 Yep. 55:57 Vegoe. 55:59 I'm just looking forward to some good hockey and a big atmosphere. 56:04 Bring it on. 56:05 That's one thing I am looking forward to, too. 56:07 It's going to be a great atmosphere. 56:08 It's going to be loud. 56:10 Racehorse hockey, which we all love. 56:14 And it's going to be a go for sweep and that's all we can ask for. 56:19 Remember, you can always... 56:21 What? 56:22 I hope we hear the battle hymn. 56:24 We will hear the battle hymn because they're going to sweep. 56:27 And if they don't, who cares? 56:30 Hammy, you can always find you on Twitter at Hammy Hockey, as usual, and you're always posted over on GPL. 56:37 Vegoe, you can catch him on Twitter, at eVegoe. 56:41 And of course, he writes for GPL. 56:43 You'll see his stories on the front page when he's recapping the games. 56:47 And of course, we're always here at Gopher Puck Live on Twitter, and that's about it. 56:55 That's it, boys. 56:56 No more trash talk. 56:57 Last chance. 56:59 I've done my bit. 57:01 Yeah, your bit. 57:02 Bitter Fans, Crappy Town. 57:04 Well, that's nothing better than that. 57:06 Exactly. 57:06 All right. 57:08 That's it for this week's GPL Podcast. 57:11 And we'll be back next week to recap the Gopher Sweep over the North Dakota Fighting Who and preview that series with Minnesota State. 57:19 Until then, we'll see you next time.