0:03 This is the GopherPuckLive Podcast, episode number 39, recording Tuesday, March 19th, 2013. 0:20 Welcome to the GopherPuckLive Podcast, along with Hammeh and Vegoe. 0:25 I am your host, Jupiter. 0:27 Well, it's the end of an era, boys. 0:29 The last Final Five we will ever have. 0:33 It's truly an end of an era, isn't it, Hammeh? 0:37 Yeah, I mean, it's been a successful run with the Final Five, and there's been a lot of exciting games over the years, and Excel's always been a great place to have it at, you know, in recent years, and it is unfortunate, but life will go on, and, you know, eventually we'll bring on some new traditions. 0:56 What do you think, Veegs? 0:57 Is it the end of an era? 0:59 It truly is. 1:00 I mean, Excel for the Final Five, with all the hockey fans in the area, able to come to the rink and wear their jerseys and drink beer in the beautiful streets of St. 1:12 Paul, it's gonna be sad to see go. 1:16 Well, it's gotten pretty big with that little tailgate you guys have going over there by four paws, I believe. 1:21 Yep, and as people start to brew beer on their own, they just bring kegs of beer with, and it's just getting more and more impressive every year. 1:32 I get the feeling that at least for Gopher fans, that will continue even with the Big Ten tournament, but it's definitely growing. 1:43 If you don't know, a lot of these, not just Gopher fans, but there's tech fans, there's Sioux fans, there's Bulldog fans. 1:52 They've made this tailgate, and it's getting bigger and bigger each year. 1:55 It's right by the four, it's in the four paws parking lot, kind of right behind Dairy Quinn there off of West Seventh. 2:03 It's gotten a little crazy, so much that they actually rent an outhouse. 2:08 Two of them. 2:09 Two of them now, wow. 2:11 That's going big time. 2:13 Of course, it would be nice if you donated to the person who got them to help out. 2:18 I don't know if it's going to be the same without all those other fans there next year, because certainly the Badger fans aren't going to show up. 2:28 So who knows? 2:31 And I think Great Waters would probably be taking a hit without the green wave coming down from North Dakota. 2:38 They just packed that place with Sioux fans. 2:41 It's unbelievable. 2:43 Yeah. 2:44 Well, how did we get to this final five, guys? 2:46 Well, our Gophers got their business done Friday and Saturday night. 2:51 It wasn't easy. 2:53 Friday night, boy, just peppered Walsh with shots. 2:57 Well, it was over 50 shots, I believe. 3:00 Only one goal to show for it. 3:01 And sure enough, right at the end there, the Beavers scored a tie with, what, about 38 seconds left. 3:09 Sensed overtime. 3:10 It wasn't looking too good until Mr. 3:13 Kyle Rowe came through in the end. 3:15 Vegoe, your thoughts on Friday night? 3:18 They threw everything they could at Walsh. 3:19 Just couldn't get it by them. 3:21 Well, they threw a lot of pucks at net. 3:22 I think they had over 90 attempts. 3:25 One of the frustrating things, I think, as a fan was to see so many soft shots coming from outside the circle area, and Walsh was just cleaning those up. 3:37 Hat off to him that he wasn't giving away a lot of rebounds, but at the same point, the Gophers were just settling for getting the puck on net. 3:45 It's almost like when the coaches are telling you to get the puck on net, they don't mean to lob it in to his jersey. 3:52 So that was one thing that I think they probably can work on and focus on. 3:58 Getting pucks in the harder areas, the ice, and creating rebound opportunities, not just putting the puck on net. 4:05 Well, rebound opportunities is exactly what happened a little better on Saturday night, Hammy. 4:10 Obviously, Howla just throws a shot on net as quick as he can. 4:14 Michelson makes a great move and ties the game up after the Gophers had been down most of the game. 4:20 So, you know, we've had a couple situations this year. 4:22 We've got the Gophers, you know, squeaking by in overtime, and then the Saturday night, Hammy, you know, they were down and came back in one late. 4:31 Yeah, well, I mean, I have a few different thoughts. 4:32 I mean, I think first of all, you have to realize that beating the same team four times in a row, even a team that's, you know, at a talent disadvantage, it's never easy. 4:42 I mean, and particularly on back to back weekends, I mean, I don't want to say there's a fear factor involved with teams at this level, but I think that there's certainly a familiarity factor that you get from playing a team that many times in such a close span of time. 4:57 So it's going to be more difficult than I think the fans are going to realize a lot of times in those situations. 5:03 And secondly, you know, you are talking about a team that knows, hey, if we lose, we're done, you know, and of course, you're more than likely to get the other team's best effort when those circumstances are there. 5:15 So I think these are the kinds of games that we're going to have to expect. 5:18 I mean, you know, they're going to be, you know, from here on out, more than likely one goal games or maybe two goal with an empty net, you know, or those kinds of games moving forward. 5:29 So to kind of be put in those positions where you have to, you know, either battle back or, you know, play kind of a tight game like that, I think that that's kind of a positive and they came out and won both games. 5:40 So I think that that's kind of a good sign in that sense. 5:43 Well, one thing Coach Lucia did say, you know, after the games this weekend on the show last night was Bemidji kept adjusting their game, doing different strategies and they had to stay on their toes and adjust themselves quite often. 5:59 Well, yeah, I mean, I think that there's certainly, you know, especially, you know, you have good coaches out there. 6:05 I mean, I think Serratore is kind of an underrated coach simply because of he coaches up in, you know, Bemidji and they don't get a lot of attention a lot of time. 6:12 Well, they don't. 6:13 You know, I think he's a good coach and he's, you know, a smart guy and certainly teams are going to have to adjust, you know, and be on their toes because, you know, especially when you're in kind of these league playoff situations, you know, they all know each other and sometimes you kind of have to throw the other team a bit of a curveball, you know, and see where it might get you. 6:34 So yeah, you have to be able to adjust. 6:37 All right, boys. 6:38 Well, the Gophers made it through in two games. 6:40 This is we're happy to see Lucia is definitely happy about it. 6:43 He, as he said, he does not like these games, but he's glad that he's done with it. 6:49 Back to the final five. 6:51 And he's glad he's got Adam Wilcox as his goaltender because save after save, every time there was a breakaway or a big two on one chance, he bailed them out. 7:01 And that's a big difference this year than in years past. 7:05 Definitely. 7:06 I mean, Wilcox is, you know, everyone talks about, you know, Bukestead and Howla, yadda, yadda, yadda. 7:15 Any reason to believe why Wilcox couldn't be the team MVP for the way he's played as a freshman? 7:23 And we've been so solid back there, whereas when our first podcast is a season, this was the biggest question mark on this team. 7:32 Yeah, I mean, he doesn't face a gigantic workload every weekend, but he's forced to come up with big saves on breakaways every weekend, it seems like. 7:43 And these close games aren't close if your goaltender doesn't make those saves. 7:48 And Wilcox is the big reason they're at the spot where they are. 7:53 Any thoughts on that, Hammeh? 7:55 Well, yeah. 7:56 Is he your team MVP? 7:58 He might be my MVP. 8:00 Well, he certainly was the guy that had the biggest question mark as far as his role and what the team was facing coming into the year. 8:07 I was having this debate on Twitter with our pal, Chuck Schwartz, Andy Johnson, about because he was upset the fact that Wisconsin goalie wasn't in the All League teams and Wilcox was and he was focused simply on one stat, which is the save percentage stat. 8:28 And while certainly that might be one of the key variables in judging a goalie, my argument was that on a week in and week out basis, the Gophers play a style in which they're going to be taking more risks and the goalie is going to have to be in positions to make some tougher saves. 8:45 I mean, let's face it, Wisconsin, they might give up a few more shots on average, but they're not going to give a lot of great shots up. 8:52 And so I feel like Wilcox on the whole was the better choice. 8:57 And if you're looking at a team MVP, it would certainly have to be either him or probably Havela or possibly, I guess, Schmidt, but certainly those guys would be the key ones. 9:08 Yeah. 9:08 Rumpel definitely isn't seeing two, three breakaways every weekend like Wilcox seems to be. 9:14 I mean, that was my thing. 9:16 I certainly don't know disrespect meant to Rumpel, but to me, Wilcox has had more of a, I mean, first of all, he's played a lot more minutes, so he's had more of a challenge on a consistent basis. 9:29 And secondly, he's faced, I think, probably, I mean, I don't have any fact behind it, but I do think it's fair to say, given the two systems, that the Gophers are probably going to be giving up a few more high-quality chances per game than Wisconsin. 9:42 So I just think that he is a better pick in that situation. 9:46 All right. 9:47 Well, also qualifying in two games are, we're the St. 9:50 Cloud State Huskies, guys. 9:51 So they are going to hold on to their number one seed. 9:54 And it didn't take much for them to take care of Anchorage, huh, Veegs? 9:59 No, they definitely got the team with no fight in their matchup. 10:04 I think Anchorage is ready to hit the summer and start swinging the golf clubs a little bit. 10:09 And St. 10:11 Cloud didn't let them into any of the games. 10:13 So they did their job. 10:15 Hammey, Anchorage is definitely once every five to seven years. 10:20 They make the final five and put up a fight, but the rest of them, just like Vegoe said, not much of a fight. 10:27 Well, yeah, they went into the series shorthanded, so they didn't even have a full lineup for either night. 10:36 You kind of expect St. 10:37 Cloud to take care of business on their home ice against a team that's not all that talented and shorthanded in addition. 10:45 The thing is, though, is that they did give St. 10:47 Cloud a bit of a fight on Saturday. 10:50 It was only one-nothing going into the third period, and then St. 10:53 Cloud kind of took over. 10:57 They did put up a little bit of an effort in that sense, but yeah, they were just undermanned and overmatched. 11:03 Well, I was hoping for a bulldog upset, but it just wasn't to be, drunk hockey guy. 11:08 Sorry, bud. 11:10 Your team let me down. 11:12 Wisconsin Badger's sweet, Pammy. 11:15 We were hoping Duluth would put up a fight, but they didn't, and I wouldn't want to be Mankato or St. 11:21 Cloud right now, because Wisconsin just keeps playing better and better. 11:27 Well, I mean, I think we've mentioned it in the past that they're the kind of team that is kind of built a little more for a playoff environment where it's kind of closer to the vest and real defensive kind of style hockey and, you know, if you have, you keep things close, you know, especially going into that last period, you just never know what's going to happen, you know, in those kinds of games. 11:48 And, you know, sometimes they'll pull them out and sometimes they won't, but it's, you know, it's kind of more that kind of close style and, you know, it works for them. 11:57 And, you know, it's not the thing that you want to be relying on over the course of a season, but it can get you, you know, some success in the playoffs where it's, you know, a one and done situation. 12:09 So we'll see how it goes. 12:11 I think that they'll certainly give, you know, if they should advance in the final five, I think that they'll give, I think they're what, going to be St. 12:19 Cloud, I think, if they win. 12:20 So, you know, it'll be interesting. 12:24 I think that'll be a challenge for St. 12:25 Cloud. 12:27 Well, the third seed took care of business, but it took them three games. 12:33 North Dakota fighting the Who. 12:35 Takeout Michigan Tech, a little tougher than they thought it was going to be. 12:38 Obviously, Sunday, they eventually did just kind of put them away and it was all over. 12:44 But Vegoe, Tech put up a little bit of a fight with the Who. 12:49 Yeah, that Saturday game, you know, they got up a goal and North Dakota, North Dakota even it up and then they took it away in the last couple of minutes. 12:58 So good fight out of Tech. 13:00 I thought maybe they'd have a chance on Sunday, you know, with North Dakota gripping the sticks a little bit tightly. 13:06 And I think North Dakota is kind of a one-line reliant team. 13:10 I don't think they're getting a lot of secondary scoring and, you know, that could affect them in one of these games this weekend. 13:19 What do you think of that series up there in Grand Forks, Hammy? 13:22 You know, I mean, I think it's kind of, you know, it reminded me of kind of last year with them and the Gophers, you know, as far as tech goes. 13:30 I mean, they put up a nice fight. 13:31 And I think that, you know, North Dakota right now kind of reminds me a little bit of how we've seen with the Gophers throughout the year. 13:38 They seem lately kind of just inconsistent. 13:41 They have, you know, one game in the weekend that they'll do, you know, pretty well at and the other game that, you know, they'll have a kind of an inconsistent effort. 13:49 And their last few series have kind of, you know, three, four series have been that way. 13:53 And so, you know, it's not exactly, I think, heading into the playoffs. 13:57 It's not the optimal way to be. 13:59 And I would agree that they seem to be kind of trying to find themselves a bit as far as secondary scoring goes. 14:05 I mean, you can't complain about getting six goals on their last game. 14:08 So maybe that'll help with some additional confidence. 14:12 But it'll be interesting to see how things go this coming weekend. 14:17 Minnesota State takes out UNO. 14:19 It took them three games. 14:21 We thought it would be a little more of a sweep. 14:23 But they eventually took care of business, didn't they, Vegoe? 14:27 Yeah, and they were all tight games. 14:29 So that was kind of interesting. 14:31 I didn't expect that coming out of Omaha, the way they performed down the stretch. 14:36 But Minnesota State pulled it out in OT on Friday. 14:41 Omaha won the 2-1 game on Saturday. 14:43 It was real tight. 14:44 And then there was another tight game on Sunday. 14:45 So, you know, a little bit surprising. 14:49 And you know, they're going to be playing Wisconsin this weekend. 14:52 So it's probably going to be another low-scoring game. 14:55 So probably a good experience for Minnesota State going into that one. 14:58 Well, Minnesota State had quite a bit of bad luck in recent years. 15:03 I mean, obviously, they've gone to three games many times. 15:06 But it's been 10 years since they've been to the Final Five. 15:11 And that year, they lost to Minnesota in overtime, and the only other time they made it was a few years before that. 15:16 So Hastings has definitely brought them back from the edge. 15:22 And this is a great time for them to come up because they're going to be the leaders of the WCHA next year. 15:27 They're going to be the team, the go-to team, I think. 15:30 So I think it's important at least some team that's going to be left in the WCHA makes the Final Five this year. 15:36 And they have done that. 15:39 So we'll have to see, Hammeh, what do you think? 15:41 They did exactly what you thought they would, they took out UNO. 15:43 Can they go further? 15:46 Well, first of all, I would agree that the series was a little bit of a surprise in the sense that it was as tightly played as it was. 15:55 I really expected Mankato to come up on top in two games. 16:00 And I thought that the way that UNO has been playing that it would probably be a quick series. 16:06 But so I'll give them credit for that. 16:08 But I don't think it's a shock that they won the series. 16:11 UNO has been pretty much awful the last few years down the stretch. 16:15 And obviously, they weren't any different this year in that sense. 16:18 As far as the future goes, I think it is, you know, I think that they are positioned pretty well in WCHA, you know, in the future. 16:27 And I think they'll be one of the leaders. 16:30 I think that it'll be an interesting league. 16:32 I actually think it's not going to be quite as bad as people probably think. 16:36 I think that they'll, you know, it'll be helpful for some teams because they'll probably have more of a fighting chance. 16:41 And, you know, to win their league or move on to the NCAAs and certainly Mankato would be one of the best candidates. 16:51 Finally, we have, well, what do we have with Denver getting upset by Colorado College? 16:58 That's one pick I did get right. 17:00 CC and three. 17:02 Hammeh, your thoughts? 17:05 Yeah, it's a little surprising. 17:06 I mean, I, you know, I guess when you look at the season, Denver has been, you know, real kind of inconsistent up and down. 17:16 So I can't say I'm stunned. 17:18 And I think that the one thing that we did mention last weekend is that, you know, when you're in a rival series like this, you just don't know, you can kind of throw the records and some of the statistics and all that out the window because you just don't know what's going to happen in those kinds of series. 17:32 And I think this was an example of that. 17:34 I think certainly on paper and throughout what we've seen most of the season, Denver is the better team of the two. 17:41 But nonetheless, Colorado College came together and, you know, got the win. 17:46 It sounds like how, you know, even though I've been disappointed in how he's been over his college career, it sounds like he kind of rise to the occasion, especially this on Sunday and had some success. 17:58 Well, it didn't help that the Denver goalie pretty much kicked it in the net for the game-winning goal, did it, Vegoe? 18:05 No, it didn't help. 18:06 Especially, I know on Saturday and Sunday, Denver outshot CC almost 2-1 both games and just controlled the game. 18:14 I know Guaz Dekhi was very complimentary about how he played during the season, the ending series for him there. 18:22 You know, sometimes a good goalie does bail you out. 18:26 He got CC to the final five and he'll be in for it on Thursday night. 18:33 Definitely will. 18:35 Well, before we get to the final five itself, I see we've got a question via Twitter. 18:40 Remember, if you're listening live, just send us a tweet. 18:42 You know, you could send Hammy Hockey tweet, Eviegoe tweet, or at GopherPuckLive if you have a question for us. 18:49 So we'll try to get an answer to them. 18:51 Obviously, a drunk hockey guy is a little bitter that we're calling it the last final five. 18:56 He thinks the tech fans won't like that. 18:57 But this is the last final five that's going to matter to us, I should say. 19:02 GopherPuck wants to know, what D-Men pair do you think is the Gophers' best right now? 19:08 Helge seems to be on the ice for goals lately. 19:11 He's a minus four. 19:14 What do you think, Hammy? 19:14 Who's our best pair? 19:17 You know, well, I mean, I guess it depends upon who's playing, you know? 19:21 I mean, because honestly, I feel that when Parenteau is out there, I feel confident whenever he's playing with somebody because I think that he's very defensively solid and he allows the other guy, I think, to kind of relax a little bit more. 19:36 And so it's hard for me to really answer that. 19:39 I've liked how Alta's stepped up to the plate a bit. 19:44 So, you know, it's really hard for me to say for sure. 19:47 It just really depends upon the lineup. 19:48 But I certainly like what I see out of, you know, when Parenteau gets the opportunity to play in a pairing, I like what I see when he's out there. 19:57 But I don't make those lineup calls either, so. 20:01 What do you think, Vig? 20:01 Who's our best defensive pair? 20:04 Well, it's Nate Schmidt and whoever he's playing with. 20:07 Because generally, you know, Schmidt always makes the right decision about when to pounce and when to bail. 20:14 And he doesn't really get caught below the tops of the circle unless it's a sure thing. 20:20 And he doesn't get shots blocked very often. 20:22 And definitely not getting a shot block that turns into a rush the other way. 20:26 So I think having Schmidt on the ice, whoever he's paired with, is just their top pair right now. 20:34 Well, I just wanted to kind of go back to the Gopher Weekend before we go to the final five. 20:40 Oh, right as I say that, a question comes in. 20:44 What will the regular season trophy for first place team in the standings be in the Big Ten Conference next year? 20:51 Well, Zach Wickman, you'll have to check the boards because there already is a trophy. 20:55 It's kind of weird looking, but there is a trophy. 20:57 I don't know what else I could tell you. 20:59 Check the Big Ten thread. 21:01 You'll see the new trophy. 21:03 We believe it's for the regular season. 21:04 Don't know what the playoff one is going to be or what it's going to look like yet. 21:08 I just kind of wanted to get into some of the gameplay this weekend, guys. 21:13 Obviously, I thought it was good that we saw some pressure situations leading into the big time playoffs here where the games will matter. 21:21 Obviously, we gave up that goal late Friday night. 21:24 Saturday, we were down by two goals, came back, tied it, and Marshall makes a great play to win the game late. 21:37 These type of games are exactly what we need going into the NCAA playoffs. 21:42 I'm hoping we see these type of games this weekend. 21:44 Things that challenge the boys, that keep them fresh. 21:49 What are your thoughts? 21:50 Do you think that was that kind of a weekend, Hammeh? 21:52 Something that's good for us? 21:54 Yeah, like I mentioned earlier, I think that these are the kinds of games that you're going to see going forward. 21:59 Let's face it, when you're in the Final Five or the NCAAs, generally you're playing pretty good teams, and you can't expect to go in there and just jump out to a two to three goal lead in the game and just sit on it and continue to build on it. 22:17 It's usually going to be tightly contested, and not that three, four goal games, victories never happen in those circumstances, but I do think that certainly it's a good sign that you can play in those tight games, whether playing with the lead and maintaining it or at least holding on to it enough where you can get an overtime and win, or else being able to come back from a goal or two down and not panicking. 22:45 So I do think that both situations that we saw this weekend are positive in that sense, and it will give the guys hopefully some confidence that when they're in those situations, hopefully they won't be playing from behind too much, but if they do get in those situations, they have the confidence to come back. 23:01 What do you think, Vegoe? 23:02 Good learning experience this weekend? 23:04 Well, I think it was a good learning experience. 23:06 The important thing is that they didn't make big mistakes that came back to bite them too much during the weekend, and we look back at the season as a whole, and there have been a lot of tight games. 23:18 You look at that BC game that was 8-1, well, it was a pretty tight first period. 23:23 That didn't happen right off the bat, so they saw a good, tight game early, and then I think BC's youth got away from them, and the game got away from them, and then they played Notre Dame the next night, and they saw that tight, real tight checking game, and they've had good experience down the stretch of the season, so I think they're well prepared for a tight game. 23:43 They just have to remember that experience and not let the game get away from them, playing too much of the puck or just giving away the puck too easily, so I think they're well prepared for the stretch run here. 23:57 The other thing I would say is that Bemidji, they're an older team, they're not going to quit, and they're the kind of team, I think, that is going to give you that kind of a mental challenge. 24:08 It's not going to be a cakewalk, and I think playing against teams like that, where you're going to have to earn it, I think that that's a good thing, and I want to see them be more physical. 24:19 I think that's going to be important, especially when we're on these NHL-sized ranks, and getting pucks to the net. 24:25 Because if you end up playing Wisconsin or something along those lines, you're going to have to get pucks to the net and be more physical around the blue paint, and you kind of have to earn your goals a little more. 24:37 You're going to have to be a little bit more of that garbage goal mentality. 24:41 It's not going to be the pretty stuff. 24:43 So I think that these kinds of weekends certainly are positive from that standpoint as well. 24:49 One thing I think is positive about the whole year is I believe that only two times they lost by more than one goal. 24:57 I see a 5-3 loss at Michigan Tech and a 5-3 loss at Minnesota State, but everything else has been one goal here, one goal there. 25:09 They haven't been blown out or dominated all this year. 25:14 No, I think they've been relatively, in that sense, they have the kind of talent level where they're going to keep it close. 25:21 It's always when they have not played well, it's generally been just a little bit of lackluster play and just not mentally being ready for things. 25:30 And you would hope and imagine that, given its playoff times, final five and NCAAs in the future, that getting up for the games and being mentally prepared is not going to be an issue whatsoever. 25:43 I mean, that has yet to be proven, of course. 25:46 They have to show it, but you would think that that wouldn't be an issue. 25:49 Yeah, I think the only game where there's been questionable effort was the Friday Denver game. 25:54 Other than that, this team has been really consistent all year, giving an effort. 26:00 So I think hopefully they learn their lesson from that game. 26:05 That was a brutal game. 26:08 Not to bring it down. 26:09 I know, it was bad though. 26:10 I was not happy. 26:11 I was glad I didn't go to Mariucci that evening. 26:15 And you know, the coaches weren't satisfied and the players weren't satisfied. 26:18 So they took it and they moved on. 26:20 They played much better on Saturday and beat them 5-1. 26:23 So hopefully the message got across. 26:26 So that brings us to the final five. 26:28 We've got St. 26:28 Cloud, the number one seed, followed by Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Minnesota State and Colorado College. 26:36 It kicks off Thursday afternoon when Minnesota State takes on the Badgers. 26:44 Vegoe, Minnesota State had some good success. 26:47 They went to Madison earlier this year and swept them, then lost at home to the Badgers this year. 26:54 A couple of, I believe, overtime games. 26:57 So this looks like a pretty even matchup. 27:00 Yeah, I mean, you got two pretty good goaltenders in this game. 27:04 I think both of them are all WCHA goalies. 27:07 And I give a slight edge to Minnesota State. 27:11 I think they've got a little bit more scoring. 27:13 I think their power play is a little bit more effective than Wisconsin's. 27:17 And we've seen Wisconsin take some penalties here down the stretch. 27:21 But I expect it to be a really close competitive game. 27:24 I'd be surprised if this is more than a 2-1, 3-2 type game. 27:29 Hammey, I believe the crowd is going to be definitely behind Minnesota State Thursday afternoon. 27:36 Wisconsin hasn't brought fans to the Final Five in years, so they'll at least have the crowd behind them. 27:43 How do you think they'll do? 27:44 I mean, I think for me, this is the kind of game that has overtime written all over it. 27:51 I mean, I think that Williams is a very good goalie, and he's not going to give up a lot. 27:56 You know that Wisconsin generally is not going to give up a lot of chances because of their system and the way that they play. 28:03 So it just sort of has that tight game where it's just going to come down to one play towards the end. 28:10 At least that would be my feeling on it as far as a prediction goes. 28:15 I don't know what the tenets is going to be like for a Thursday afternoon game or whatever. 28:20 I guess that remains to be seen. 28:22 I would certainly think that Minnesota State would have most of the casual fans from other teams cheering for them in that case. 28:31 So that will be interesting. 28:33 But they haven't played at Excel in a while, haven't been in this kind of a situation. 28:38 So we'll see how it goes. 28:39 I would predict, boy, it's so tight for me to even really make a prediction, but I'm going to say that Mankato comes out on top. 28:48 Well, hopefully they get some fans there. 28:50 Obviously, I think the other school fans that are there will cheer for them over the Badgers easily. 28:56 Apparently this past weekend, their own fans forgot they had a home series because they had, what, under 3,000 both nights. 29:05 It was not good, and I heard quite a few Mankato fans were very disappointed in the turn on. 29:11 They have a wonderful season. 29:13 The most victories they've had in the WCHA, I think, ever, and the fans did not show up. 29:19 Yeah, they got to do what the Gopher ticket office does and just send those tickets out with the season tickets. 29:25 I would agree with that. 29:25 I would agree. 29:27 So we move on to Thursday night, where those upstart Colorado College Tigers get to face the Fighting Sioux. 29:36 Oh, sorry, the Fighting Who. 29:39 Guys, the Who have won the last three WCHA Final Fives, I should say. 29:46 They always play well this time of year. 29:49 I think it's hard to pick against them, even against Minnesota. 29:54 They just don't lose in the Final Five anymore. 29:56 Hammy? 29:58 Well, I mean, in this game, I think there's no doubt that they're the favorite. 30:01 You know, CC can bring some offense to the table, and they're going to have a puncher's chance in that sense. 30:09 And like I mentioned earlier, North Dakota has been a bit inconsistent. 30:14 So you don't know for sure if they're going to, you know, be playing their A game on a particular night. 30:20 So, and, you know, I mean, they've tied with Bemidji lately. 30:23 They, you know, they did lose to, you know, Mankato. 30:27 They lost to Tech, you know, last weekend. 30:29 I mean, so it's not like they've been just rolling teams, you know, here down the stretch. 30:33 So you don't know for sure what you're going to get, but I think it's, it'd be pretty hard for me to imagine that they're not going to come out on top in that game against Colorado College. 30:42 What do you think, Veegs? 30:46 You know, North Dakota is the odds-on favorite, for sure. 30:51 But the one thing is, North Dakota doesn't have a solid goalie this year. 30:56 Gothberg played on Friday night, and then Saunders played Saturday and Sunday. 31:03 So they don't really know what they're comfortable with there. 31:06 I mean, I don't know why Gothberg didn't get another shot in that, but they went with Saunders. 31:11 So what do they do coming into this weekend against a team they split with during the season? 31:17 I think they're going to come out on top, but I could see this being a 4-3 game that could go either way. 31:25 Interesting. 31:26 Well, that brings us to Friday night, guys. 31:31 The way we kind of have it going, it looks like we've got a Mankato that's going to face the St. 31:35 Cloud. 31:35 But Tammy, either way, does Mankato or Wisconsin have a good chance of beating St. 31:42 Cloud Friday afternoon? 31:45 You know, I actually think that Wisconsin, I think, has a better chance of beating St. 31:55 Cloud because of the style that they play. 32:00 It's not that I think that Wisconsin is the better team of Mankato because I did pick Mankato to win, even though it was a tight kind of difficult choice. 32:11 I just think that the defensive style is more what's going to, especially on an NHL size rank, playing that kind of style is going to be more difficult for St. 32:22 Cloud than it is maybe what they would see with Mankato, which is probably more of a similar game and something that I think St. 32:33 Cloud would be a little more comfortable playing. 32:36 I do think St. 32:37 Cloud would more likely come out on top, but it just depends upon that matchup. 32:43 If I'm picking them against Mankato, then I would probably say St. 32:46 Cloud will win that game. 32:47 I think the rank size, that's a pretty good point. 32:50 Obviously, every team plays on Olympic size except for North Dakota. 32:55 I mean, Wisconsin not quite, but it's pretty close. 32:59 All the rest of them all play on Olympic ice. 33:01 Does that make a difference this weekend? 33:05 I mean, the Sioux, they do well up there. 33:11 They're playing on their regular-issue ice all the time. 33:16 Well, I think it really depends on... 33:18 I don't think that this is the typical Sioux team that's real physical. 33:24 I mean, that's the thing that we talked about earlier in the season with North Dakota, is that this is not really the prototypical bunch of trees on the back end, and physical guys that are going to throw their weight around and make you pay, like we've seen in some seasons. 33:39 This isn't really a very physical defensive unit. 33:43 So I'm not sure that this is quite, you know, this team is quite as built for, you know, the smaller rink as maybe some of their other teams in the past. 33:51 So in that sense, I'm not sure that that is necessarily true here. 33:56 But I do think that, you know, like the Gophers I think are more built, I believe, for the smaller rink than they are usually because they have some physical guys on defense. 34:07 They have some real good size up front. 34:09 And I just think that they have a team that's built for that, even though they play most of their games on an Olympic rink. 34:15 So it just kind of depends, I think, on how a team is built. 34:19 What do you think, Veegs, on the rink size and on Wisconsin or Mankato playing St. 34:25 Cloud? 34:26 Well, I think the one thing about St. 34:28 Cloud is I think they are a little bit better in the open ice than they are in battles along the wall. 34:35 I look at some of their skilled players and I think they are better at playmaking as opposed to having to forecheck and get pucks out. 34:43 So I think that might be a little bit of a disadvantage for them playing at Excel, but they are definitely a very skilled team. 34:51 So I think they are the favorite. 34:54 But Wisconsin, North Dakota, those are teams that are battle teams. 34:58 They are chip the puck and battle and win forechecks. 35:02 So it definitely helps for them to be on the smaller ice. 35:08 Alright boys, Minnesota rule means that Minnesota plays Friday night. 35:12 And by all indications, looks like we are going to play North Dakota, but you never know. 35:21 What do you think, Cami? 35:23 This could be a classic matchup if we play North Dakota. 35:28 I mean, it's the last Final Five for our teams. 35:31 There will be 18,000 or 19,000 people there. 35:35 It will be an event, but what's going to happen? 35:39 Yeah, I mean, no doubt that. 35:40 I mean, I think that that will probably, you know, my personal opinion is whoever wins that game is going to win the Final Five. 35:48 That's my personal opinion because I think that despite what we saw in the regular season, I do think that North Dakota and Minnesota are the two best teams in the league from a talent standpoint. 35:59 I do think that they're, you know, have more experience in these situations. 36:03 So I just think that whoever comes out of that game is more than likely going to win the Final Five. 36:08 Sorry, St. 36:09 Cloud fans. 36:09 That's just my opinion. 36:13 It's real tough for me to say for sure. 36:15 I do think that it's going to be to the Gophers advantage to have, you know, that extra day of just kind of being prepared for that game. 36:23 You know, I know that the whole, you know, having to win three straight games to win the, you know, the playoffs, you know, like that's been done now. 36:33 And so it's not like it's some unheard of thing. 36:35 But I think that having that extra day is going to be helpful for just planning. 36:40 And, you know, granted, they're used to playing back to back games, which I think that, like I pointed out earlier, North Dakota has not been particularly consistent in recent weeks. 36:49 So if I were going to say who's going to come out of that game, I think that the Gophers will come out on top. 36:57 Well, I think this Gopher team is a little bit different than some of the teams in years past. 37:02 And Minnesota has been very good at winning battles and having a good compete level. 37:06 And I think sometimes that gets away from them in these kinds of games in the past. 37:12 But I think this year's team, throughout the season, their resume shows that they battle and compete most games from start to finish. 37:19 I think they'll come on top regardless of who they're playing. 37:24 Interesting. 37:26 I personally hope it is against North Dakota because I just want that event, that huge spectacle that will be Friday night. 37:34 We're just not going to get that anymore. 37:35 I don't care if Michigan comes in here or whoever. 37:38 It's just not going to be the same. 37:41 I hope it's North Dakota. 37:44 So do they. 37:45 I think that it's not as crucial this year as it was last year. 37:52 Last year, we lost a seed because of it. 37:55 North Dakota, didn't we flip-flop or something like that? 38:00 That's not going to happen this year. 38:01 Minnesota is pretty much locked into the number two overall seed. 38:06 That's not going to change no matter what happens this weekend. 38:10 Maybe that will play into the Gophers' favor. 38:13 They could play more relaxed knowing, hey, we're in the tournament. 38:16 We're most likely going to Grand Rapids. 38:18 We know where we are. 38:19 Whereas previous years, it wasn't that way. 38:22 For me, honestly, I take the opposite view of that. 38:25 I actually think that because we've been kind of locked into that position for a little while, and I actually think it hasn't been necessarily advantageous. 38:34 I think that that's maybe played a little bit into the inconsistency that we've seen, because I think that, you know, let's face it, this whole year, and I've even been saying it, to me, it's been NCAA title or bust. 38:47 I mean, it's great to win a Sharon McNaughton, and it'd be great to win the Broadmoor. 38:51 Don't get me wrong. 38:52 But to me, it's the minute that Buxtead decided he was going to come back, it was, okay, we got to make a run and try to win the title. 38:59 And I think that on some levels, that mentality has been built and they've been locked into that kind of number one seed area for a while now. 39:09 And I just think that when you don't have that necessarily desperate edge at all, we got to get the best seed as possible. 39:16 I mean, they're pretty much locked in. 39:17 And I do feel that maybe at times that's played like that Denver game, for instance. 39:22 I do kind of wonder if that has hurt a little bit of the mentality. 39:26 And so I'm actually hoping that they look at it from more of an inspirational standpoint. 39:31 I mean, they did get a little bit embarrassed at the final five last year with the way they blew that game in the third period against North Dakota. 39:38 And granted, they avenged it a week later in the same rank in the NCAAs. 39:43 But nonetheless, I do think that that's something that should be reminded of and hopefully bring their A game to the table. 39:50 And I think playing North Dakota will bring their A game. 39:54 Talking to the players and the coaches after that series at Mariucci earlier in the year, they were hoping they'd run into each other again. 40:01 They were hoping they'd run into each other at the Final Five and maybe at the Frozen Four or what have you, but they wanted to play again. 40:09 They were not happy ending the season with a tie. 40:13 I believe that. 40:14 Well, I'm really looking forward to it. 40:18 Nothing against CC, but I would prefer to see North Dakota. 40:21 Well, that moves us on to Saturday, guys. 40:23 And obviously we're picking Minnesota, but we got a couple of different scenarios here, guys. 40:29 You know, who does Minnesota match up better against? 40:32 You know, St. 40:33 Cloud or maybe Wisconsin or Mankato? 40:37 Any of the three of those teams has a good chance of getting by on that side of the bracket. 40:44 Well, I mean, I think that, you know, obviously from a talent standpoint, St. 40:50 Cloud is clearly the best of those three teams. 40:53 Now, whether or not they're going to be there on Saturday night, you know, like I said earlier, I think it kind of depends a little bit on matchups and who they play on that Friday game. 41:03 But, yeah, I would suspect that St. 41:07 Cloud will be there even though, you know, just simply because I'm not sure that I think that Wisconsin is going to win that Thursday game. 41:17 Wisconsin certainly has a lot to play for. 41:19 They are right on the edge right now. 41:21 And, you know, getting that Thursday afternoon win is a big thing for them. 41:26 Yeah, well, and they are certainly on all the teams. 41:28 I mean, they are the most in the most precarious position. 41:31 Because CC, I mean, yes, they have to win out. 41:34 But I think that it would be pretty far fetched to see them beat North Dakota, then Minnesota, and then whoever is on the other end. 41:43 I mean, you know, I'm not saying it's impossible. 41:45 But that's a pretty steep hill to climb. 41:47 And so to me, the team that has the most precarious position is Wisconsin. 41:53 And they probably have the most to play for, given that fact. 41:56 And so it is tough to say. 41:59 I do think that St. 42:01 Cloud will probably end up being there on Saturday. 42:04 And I personally believe that the Gophers match up real well, especially on an NHL rank and around the boards and winning those puck battles. 42:15 I really like the size that the Gophers have and the depth. 42:19 So I think that the Gophers, if they play St. 42:21 Cloud, that they'll win that game. 42:22 What are your thoughts, Veegs? 42:25 You know, I'm excited to see a Minnesota St. 42:28 Cloud final. 42:29 I think St. 42:30 Cloud's kind of been like the kid brother to Minnesota all these years. 42:33 And they think they've got a pretty good team. 42:36 Yeah, I mean, they think they've got a pretty good team this year. 42:39 And they didn't do very well in their non-conference games. 42:46 And that's why they're not going to be a top seed in the NCAAs, because they just didn't prove themselves. 42:51 I think the difference for St. 42:52 Cloud this season was they didn't give away the games to the lower teams in the WCHA. 42:59 They capitalized on that. 43:01 That's why they got the extra wins and that's why they won the tiebreaker. 43:04 But I think St. 43:05 Cloud probably doesn't see the battle every weekend that Minnesota does. 43:09 And so I think if they get into a final, they're going to see the medal of the Gophers and it's going to be too much for them. 43:16 And you know, the one thing I will say when you talk about them and how they did in the league, they did lose at CC, you know, down the stretch. 43:25 They did lose to Michigan Tech on home ice. 43:27 They did lose to Wisconsin, you know, in Wisconsin. 43:30 And you know, none of those teams are great teams either. 43:34 So I mean, yes, they did play well in the league, but it's not like they were, you know, hitting on all cylinders down the stretch. 43:40 So, you know, that's the one thing I would keep in perspective. 43:48 Any other thoughts on the final five? 43:52 Besides the beer choices at the tailgate, Veegs. 43:56 There are plentiful choices. 43:58 I saw Viking's list. 44:00 It was very impressive. 44:01 He's had a very productive last couple months. 44:04 Well, Viking should be pretty happy because his Mavericks made it, so he'll be happy for at least one day. 44:11 I'm really looking forward to hearing about the stories of drunk hockey guy harassing Sioux fans and St. 44:18 Cloud fans. 44:19 I'm hoping to hear some good stories. 44:21 He tries to bait them every year. 44:24 He tries. 44:25 I mean, it sucks that his team's not here. 44:27 I think that would have been much more entertaining than Wisconsin. 44:31 That's just my personal feelings. 44:33 I think that's the one letdown of the weekend, is that the Bulldogs didn't take care of business and get to the final five. 44:41 I think he would agree with you, but they just couldn't do anything. 44:46 They couldn't score. 44:48 They could shoot the puck on that, but they just couldn't score. 44:51 Puck in the net. 44:53 Score the goals. 44:55 Drunk hockey guy kind of called that one. 44:58 He thought that that was the worst matchup. 45:01 He knows his dog, so he was right on that one. 45:05 Hammey, we had a commitment this week. 45:08 Or this past week, I should say. 45:10 Mr. 45:11 Novak, I believe? 45:12 Yeah, Tommy Novak, very skilled forward for St. 45:16 Thomas Academy. 45:19 A lot of people didn't like some of his celebrations at the state tourney. 45:25 Everybody is doing it, though. 45:26 What can you say about youth? 45:29 Sometimes, you kind of let the emotions get the best of you. 45:33 We'll see how long that lasts in college hockey. 45:37 They'll straighten them out pretty quick. 45:39 I don't think it's going to be happening once he gets to juniors and once he gets to college. 45:44 I think that will get nixed. 45:46 Very talented kid, very good hands. 45:49 He's got a lot of skill. 45:52 I'm real glad that we got him because he's one of those kids at that age group that you really feel you need to get. 46:00 What's his size? 46:01 How big is he? 46:04 Right now, I think he's in the 5, 10, 5, 11 range, but he's only a sophomore. 46:08 I don't know if he'll have a growth spurt or whatever. 46:12 That'll happen. 46:14 I think that he's already got pretty solid size for a kid that age. 46:20 He's not going to be a kid that's going to be throwing his weight around or anything like that. 46:23 You don't expect a guy that's skilled like that to be playing that kind of a role necessarily. 46:29 Like any kid that's that age, they still have a ways to go, and they have to improve and grow as individuals. 46:36 So you can't lock it in that they're going to be this wonderful college player. 46:40 But I think from a skill standpoint, he has plenty of opportunity to be that kind of a player. 46:46 All right, boys. 46:49 You guys have any other thoughts on the podcast this week? 46:54 Nope, just go Gophers. 46:56 Everybody get healthy and enjoy the weekend. 46:59 Yeah. 46:59 So you can get unhealthy with the booze, right? 47:01 Well, unhealthy with the booze, but yeah. 47:04 Healthy on maybe warning, getting healed up. 47:08 Who knows what's going on? 47:09 Lower body injury. 47:11 Lucia pretty much said nothing this past weekend. 47:14 Friday, you know, we didn't hear anything. 47:17 There were some rumors that he had to hurt a leg. 47:19 He was wearing some kind of foot thing. 47:22 And most people didn't know that. 47:24 And all of a sudden, he's not in the lineup this past Friday night. 47:27 People are all like, whoa, what's going on? 47:29 And of course, Don gave us nothing. 47:33 Well, you got the hippo, you know. 47:35 I don't know. 47:36 That's what they always say. 47:38 Who knows? 47:39 It's a shield. 47:40 Yeah. 47:42 All right. 47:43 I think that's going to do it for us this week. 47:45 You know, we'll be back next week. 47:46 We'll have, you know, Selection Sunday, I believe, and we'll have the whole lineup of the NCAA Tournament. 47:53 We'll go over the final five. 47:54 We'll have a bunch of stuff for you next week. 47:56 Remember, you can always follow Hammy on Twitter, at Hammy Hockey, and of course, you can follow Eric at E Vego on Twitter, and of course, he writes for GopherPuckLive. 48:09 That's it. 48:09 We're done. 48:10 We'll see you next week on the GopherPuckLive Podcast.