0:03 This is The Gopher Puck Live Podcast, episode number 41, recorded Tuesday, April 16, 2013. 0:23 Welcome to The Gopher Puck Live Podcast. 0:26 Along with Hammeh and Vegoe, I am your host, Jupiter. 0:30 Well, boys, the playoffs came to an end awfully quick for our Gophers a few weeks ago. 0:36 But don't feel bad, at least the team we lost to won the national championship again. 0:41 Seems to be a theme the last few years. 0:43 What do you think, Hammeh? 0:44 Yale! 0:46 Looked pretty bad at first, didn't it? 0:49 Yeah, I mean, it was a little bit of a surprise in the sense that I think we expected a little bit better of efforts early on. 0:56 We didn't expect to have to quite rally, you know, but I think it was sort of a tale of the entire season. 1:01 I mean, you saw a team that, for one reason or another, seemed like it could just turn it on when they needed to and come away with the win. 1:10 And sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. 1:12 And it just didn't happen to work out this time. 1:16 Well, as in the, you know, in the past, it would have really pissed me off. 1:20 But it is kind of like you almost like expected to see something like that happen, you know, after the struggles they had with Bemidji State the last four games, the terrible game in the final five, they still get a number one seed or in the region, and then obviously they came back late. 1:37 But Vegoe, it was awfully disappointing, especially nine seconds into overtime. 1:44 Yeah, it was very disappointing. 1:46 You look at one perspective, the Gophers played a pretty solid effort. 1:53 They played hard, they controlled the puck for a lot of the game, and two mistakes in the second period really cost them. 2:01 It's a long time ago now, but there was an offensive zone turnover, and there was absolutely no back pressure. 2:07 And I know Agostino had tons of time to pick a shot there coming in late to the zone. 2:13 And there's three forwards at the far blue line. 2:16 And it's just a couple of mistakes that it's cost this team all year. 2:20 And then they had a hard time getting shots to the net. 2:24 They took and attempted a lot of shots, but the good, high quality scoring chances just weren't there. 2:31 And that seemed to be the case against Colorado College. 2:34 They managed to get a couple goals, but Hammy, the last part of the season, last month, they struggled to score. 2:42 Yeah, I mean sometimes it's hard to put your finger on exactly what the deal was. 2:47 You know, the thing that frustrated me, you know, and I pointed out on Twitter kind of, I think right after the game, it's been so long, I can't exactly remember, but you know, Bukstad did not, you know, he did not come through when we needed him, you know, and you need your best guy to come through. 3:05 And it's not all on him, of course, but nonetheless, you know, if you look at his career in the playoffs, you know, whether it's WCHA or NCAAs, he did not play particular well, especially after that first round series that you expect your home team to do pretty well in. 3:22 And to me, it's sort of in a nutshell, you just didn't see some of the star guys really step up. 3:28 I didn't look necessarily as carefully at some of the other guys, but, you know, he's certainly a big cog and it just didn't work out. 3:35 And I think that's a big part of it. 3:38 Was it a failed season then, Hammeh? 3:42 You know, I said from the beginning that for me it was national title or bust. 3:46 So I guess in a way to me it is. 3:48 I mean, to me, it's like you have very few years where you really can. 3:53 I mean, we always expect to contend for the national title. 3:57 But when you return as much talent as we did, much of a very high caliber, you know, impact guys, I just think that for me it is a disappointment. 4:08 And I think that, you know, we didn't have as many points in the league as we did the prior year, despite the fact what we returned. 4:16 It was very inconsistent throughout the entire season. 4:19 And obviously in the NCAAs were much more disappointing than last year. 4:23 So to me, it's a disappointing year. 4:27 What about for you, Figgs? 4:28 Disappointing? 4:30 Well, obviously disappointing. 4:31 I think everybody had high hopes for this team. 4:34 They had so much returning depth. 4:36 And the biggest question was their goaltender. 4:38 And all in all, Adam Wilcox had a phenomenal year. 4:42 He was definitely not the part that was holding this team back. 4:47 One thing though is that college hockey is getting a lot more competitive top to bottom. 4:53 And the difference between the 1-2 seed and the 15-16 seed isn't as big as it was a decade ago. 5:02 And it's a lot harder to make a run in the tournament now because the coaching is so good, the goal-tending is so good, the defensive play is so good. 5:09 And that's a big difference. 5:11 So you get into these one-game situations, and it's probably a 60-40 edge. 5:18 And you're not going to win that every time. 5:21 Well, my feeling on it is that it's always in those one-and-done situations. 5:26 Anybody can win those kinds of situations. 5:29 So for me, that's not the surprise. 5:32 I actually feel, and I think I said this on Gopher Puck Live, I actually think it was not a very good year in college hockey in general. 5:41 And when you look at your top contenders for the Hobie, and the guy who wins it is barely, what, 50 points for the year or whatever. 5:51 I mean, to me, that tells you the kind of year that college hockey has had. 5:55 Nothing against Drew LeBlanc, but a lot of years over the last decade, he wouldn't even be in the conversation because there's guys like, say a year like Ryan Patoni had. 6:06 I mean, he would have blown him out of the water. 6:08 But to me, that's kind of the way college hockey has got. 6:11 I mean, you can say it's coaching and defense, whatever. 6:14 But to me, some of it's, the talent isn't necessarily as great. 6:18 And maybe it's because of departures or maybe it's because Canadian juniors are siphoning off some good players. 6:26 You can make an argument for any of that. 6:27 But I don't think that college hockey had a particularly strong year. 6:32 Don't get me started on Ryan Batali, man. 6:35 That was ridiculous that he wasn't even a finalist, like a top ten finalist. 6:39 And no one has come close to scoring 38 goals in the season since he did it. 6:44 Yeah, well, like I said, I was bitter about that. 6:46 But it's just I don't think the talent is, you know, I think that some of it's there. 6:51 But I think on the whole, I just don't think it's quite the same. 6:55 Well, the season ended, boys. 6:56 There's nothing we could do about it. 6:57 But I know you weren't too happy that St. 7:00 Cloud made it to the Frozen Four. 7:02 I mean, I know you like the coach. 7:04 You're half and half on the team. 7:06 But anything that makes the fans happy is not what makes you happy, Hammeh. 7:13 Well, I mean, I don't have anything against the program. 7:16 I don't have anything against the coach, certainly. 7:18 I mean, he helped out when he was here at the U. 7:21 Yeah, I have to give them credit. 7:22 They actually came and they had a couple upsets in their regional. 7:28 Not that, I think that the margin for error, Notre Dame and Miami kind of remind me of Wisconsin. 7:35 It's like they're not high scoring teams. 7:38 So their margin for error is not great. 7:41 They're good, really good team defense, but they're not going to score a lot. 7:46 So if you do happen to get up on them, you have a good chance of winning those games. 7:50 So you have to give St. 7:51 Cloud credit for getting to the Frozen 4. 7:54 How did your bracket turn out there, Veegs? 7:59 I might have missed probably nine games in the first weekend. 8:04 It was brutal. 8:05 I don't know if I picked a single Final Four team. 8:09 Well, for a start off, Wisconsin just got killed. 8:12 After they were probably the hottest team in the country. 8:15 Obviously St. 8:16 Cloud upset on their region. 8:18 We didn't think they would go anywhere. 8:20 You've got Yale taking out our region. 8:23 It was pretty strange. 8:25 Yeah, I mean, you got BC going out right away. 8:28 It was just crazy. 8:29 And they got killed. 8:31 Yeah, 5-1. 8:33 It wasn't even a contest. 8:35 It wasn't. 8:35 Union was all over them. 8:37 They looked really good. 8:38 And then Union lays an egg against Quinnipiac. 8:41 And everyone's like, oh, Quinnipiac, look out. 8:44 I don't know. 8:45 I think Quinnipiac was good all season. 8:47 But a lot of people saying, hey, they deserve to get there. 8:50 They deserve to get there. 8:51 And then when they get there, that senior leadership didn't help them by getting blanked by Yale in the title game. 9:02 Well, I mean, you know, when you get to those games, you just never know what's going to happen, and especially with teams that haven't really been there. 9:09 You know, you just don't know. 9:11 I wasn't not at all surprised that, you know, that St. 9:14 Cloud lost the first game in the Frozen Four simply because I thought that, you know, when they're playing a team that has a big senior goalie and they're a team filled with older guys, I mean, St. 9:27 Cloud can't really count on any kind of experience factor or, you know, the talent factor might have been a little bit in their favor, but I just think the fact that, you know, they're playing somebody that has an older team and a really good goalie, I just, I wasn't surprised they lost that game. 9:44 And Yale, to me, was a little bit more of a surprise because I really expected, I kind of picked UMass and, you know, for me, it was a team that I expected to really do well. 9:55 And they did do well. 9:57 I mean, they did go to overtime in that semifinal game. 9:59 So it wasn't like they were a slouch. 10:02 Well, yeah, true. 10:03 I mean, but for me, I just thought that they were, you know, the way that they were finishing off the year, they were really clicking in my view. 10:10 And so I actually thought that they were going to be the team that was going to win it all. 10:13 I mean, once the Frozen Four was set, but that's just not what happened. 10:19 Well, what can we do? 10:22 You know, it was a strange season. 10:25 Obviously, the Gophers didn't get as far as they wanted to. 10:27 I mean, maybe Quinnipiac got further just because of senior leadership. 10:31 I mean, they did have quite a few seniors. 10:33 And obviously, most of the teams around here don't. 10:36 Well, it's not just that, but their seniors are guys who are like 24 years old. 10:40 I mean, they're older guys. 10:42 And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. 10:44 You got to do what you know. 10:45 But that does matter, I think, in some cases. 10:47 That probably helped them quite a bit because you think they're going to have much of a team next year? 10:53 Well, I mean, I can't say I'm an expert on our team, but considering how much they lose and they lost their best player and their goalie, I think it would be a little bit of a surprise to see them back in that situation. 11:04 Maybe it was a senior leadership thing. 11:05 And I guess we'll never know because they never could finish it off. 11:09 I do think one thing that's nice, though, is that we do have a new champion, someone who had never won it before. 11:16 I think we had seen enough BCs and whoever winning. 11:20 I think it was nice for a program like Yale who's been around forever to finally get through and win without the scholarships and all that other hoopla. 11:29 So congrats to them. 11:31 I mean, obviously they got hot at the right time of the year. 11:34 And it's good for a good old program to finally get on the board. 11:40 Well, the one thing I will say is I do sometimes think that the whole scholarship thing is a little overrated on Ivy schools. 11:46 Those guys get plenty of help. 11:48 They just don't get, you know, it's more academically. 11:51 They get mommy and daddy's help. 11:54 You know, well, it's not just that, but they get plenty of help from their schools. 11:58 I mean, those are very wealthy schools. 12:01 And so, it's not like they might not get the quote-unquote athletic scholarship, but trust me, those guys get plenty of help in terms of books and, you know, all that kind of good stuff. 12:13 Vig, was it good for college hockey that a new team won, you think? 12:17 Well, I think it's bound to happen because I think college hockey, you know, among the big conferences is really growing. 12:24 I think there's a lot of good players out there. 12:26 And, you know, when a team does have the chance to develop some older 23, 24-year-old leadership that sticks around, you know, that's a big difference when you've got your 24-year-old senior, 25-year-old senior out against a 21-year-old guy. 12:40 Or, you know, you got somebody who accelerated high school and then they're only in their third year of college hockey. 12:46 I mean, that's a big difference. 12:49 It definitely is. 12:50 Vig, what are your thoughts on a team like St. 12:52 Cloud getting back there? 12:53 I mean, obviously, I talked with our buddy Jeremy and I told him, you know, you got to take advantage. 12:59 I mean, we hate your team, but you love your team and hopefully they take advantage. 13:05 This was probably their best shot in quite a while to take advantage of it, the way they went through their regional and got lucky with some of the teams they could have played. 13:15 I thought it was gonna be similar to a Duluth, that this is your chance, take advantage of it, and they just couldn't quite do it. 13:22 Well, you know, despite sharing the McNaughton Cup this year, it's not like St. 13:26 Cloud was a dominant team all year round. 13:30 You know, they picked up a few extra points than a lot of the other top teams at WCHA, and they struggled a lot of conference a little bit. 13:36 I think, you know, when they got into a slower game or a more patient game, they struggled. 13:42 I know that their power play chances against Wisconsin and the WCHA Final Five, and then again, and then CWA Tournament, they struggled to get things going, and they were playing on the perimeter, and they were having a hard time forcing the play. 13:56 I think that at times happened to the Minnesota team this year, too. 13:59 You know, sometimes you just got to have your guys command so much presence on the puck that they're going to create high quality scoring chances. 14:08 And in the big games, neither St. 14:10 Claude or Minnesota were able to do that. 14:13 Is it coaching? 14:15 I mean, a lot of people were saying, you know, at the end of the season, you know, Lucia couldn't get them to get past the defense, to get the scoring going, couldn't, couldn't just couldn't get them going. 14:27 They wouldn't adjust. 14:27 Do you think that's the case, Hammeh? 14:29 Not really, because then why would they be able to score in other parts of the season? 14:33 You know, I mean, I, I always... 14:35 It just seemed like the end of the season, they just weren't doing anything. 14:37 They were just getting shut down right at the blue line. 14:40 Well, I mean, you know, sometimes it just happens even in the pros, teams go through their slumps where they're scoring goals. 14:47 I mean, the Wild recently, I mean, they had a good stretch where they were scoring, then they're not, you know what I mean? 14:52 And it's not like it's because of lack of talent. 14:55 It's just sometimes teams go through those stretches where they're just not on top of their game. 14:59 And I think that the whole coaching angle is always the quick cop out that fans always point to. 15:07 But you can have the best game plan in the world if the players aren't executing, it's not going to matter. 15:13 And so I'm not saying that coaching should never be pointed at ever. 15:19 But I do think like sometimes it's a little bit too quick to be pointed at by some fans. 15:25 Kind of heading back to what you were talking about a little bit before with St. 15:29 Cloud, I absolutely agree with the attitude that they, when you get there, you really have to capitalize, especially when you're these teams that don't quite reload as quickly with top notch recruits and all that. 15:43 I mean, that's why UMD, you have to tip your hat to them a few years ago. 15:47 They actually took advantage of their opportunity and won it all. 15:51 And St. 15:52 Cloud, I see them having a tough time. 15:54 I'm not saying like, they don't lose a lot in terms of numbers, but the guys that they do lose, you know, I mean, LeBlanc, you got Hanowski. 16:03 I think it's pretty much very likely they'll lose Jensen. 16:07 You know, they're losing some major Cogs, you know, maybe not in terms of numbers, but the guys, you know, you can't replace leadership and experience and talent like that. 16:17 And I think that, you know, LeBlanc in particular, he had a big, big impact on, you know, Brzezinski and the Finnish kid, you know, that freshman. 16:26 And I mean, he, you know, a lot of their goals were directly related to assist from him. 16:31 He was one of the, probably the best set up guy in the country this year. 16:35 And you can't replace that. 16:36 So I do think that they're going to probably have a little bit of regret thinking back, you know, years down the road that they didn't quite capitalize the way that they would have wanted to. 16:46 Well, Vegoe, the season ended and boy, it didn't take long for guys to start leaving. 16:50 Bukestead, Holla, Buda, Schmidt, the surprise, alt. 16:56 And then finally, Larson, who decided to move on because he wasn't going to play, but still, that's a lot of bodies, Veegs. 17:03 Yeah, well, that's kind of the trend in college hockey. 17:05 It's pretty rare for these guys to get to their junior year of college, get to the end of the season and come back. 17:12 You know, the NHL teams, they don't want to risk, you know, losing an invested draft pick to free agency by letting them go back. 17:20 So, for certain guys, they'll give a lot of incentives to get them to sign early and come out. 17:25 And it's tough to fault the players because that's their best leverage that year if they're going to sign with that team. 17:32 I was a little surprised with Alt leaving. 17:35 He probably could have had a bigger role next year. 17:38 But at the same point, Lucia's got a lot of talent coming in. 17:41 I mean, you look at the guys, these guys coming in, it's a lot of skill. 17:45 Smaller guys, but a lot of skill, which should be fun to watch. 17:50 Well, Hammeh, what do you think? 17:51 Quite a few losses, but let's talk about the people who will replace these guys. 17:56 Incoming freshmen, it's looking really good, isn't it? 18:00 Yeah, man, it's a very strong recruiting class. 18:03 These guys have all been pretty darn productive in terms of their junior hockey experience. 18:10 Clues is, you know, you have, basically, Camerata and Clues are kind of like 1A, you know, 1 and 1A. 18:15 I mean, they're top flight offensive forwards, very dynamic. 18:20 You know, they're the kinds of guys that, you know, you can see coming in and especially considering they'll probably have plenty of opportunities next year to play, you know, top six roles and get some power play time. 18:31 I mean, they're the kind of kids that you could see, you know, having a 30 or 40 point season because they're that good and they'll have the opportunity. 18:40 So I mean, you don't want to put too much pressure on these guys, but certainly that they have a great chance to be impact guys. 18:46 And Gabe Gertler is, you know, a pretty good goal scorer. 18:50 He's not quite as productive offensively, but he's going to be a guy that I think the Gopher fans will like a lot. 18:57 But opposing fans will hate because he's one of those guys that is sort of an agitator and can get under the skin of the other team. 19:04 And he's certainly a goal scorer. 19:07 So he's not afraid to mix it up, even though he's not a big kid. 19:09 You know, he's, but he's pretty sturdy on his skates. 19:13 And then you have Hudson Fashing. 19:16 Everybody knows him from our Apple Valley, you know, his Apple Valley days. 19:19 And then he went off to the US team. 19:20 And, you know, he hasn't quite performed offensively as much as you would like to see. 19:25 But I think that he'll be a guy that you can kind of plug in maybe on that second or third, you know, maybe even the fourth line role, depending on, you know, how the guys improve next year. 19:34 And he should get plenty of ice time. 19:36 And, you know, defensively, I think that we're in pretty good shape. 19:40 And Brzezinski's had a really good year in the USHL. 19:44 He's the top goal scorer in the league from a defensive standpoint. 19:48 And, you know, I think that he'll make an impact. 19:52 And they're, from what I understand, they're going to be bringing in Tommy Vannelli. 19:56 You know, I'm not real excited about the fact of bringing a kid right out of high school. 20:00 But, you know, they kind of had their hand forced when Alt decided to go. 20:04 So, sometimes you just have to go with that. 20:06 And I don't know what they're going to do with the eighth defensive role yet. 20:10 I've heard rumors that they might go with a walk-on, you know, somebody that's kind of older and maybe kind of a parental or, you know, a Thompson type of a situation to kind of plug in on depth-wise. 20:21 And I think that they're kind of hoping to put, you know, keep Bischoff in the USHL next year. 20:28 So I guess we'll see how it all pans out. 20:29 But there's a lot of talent coming in. 20:32 Gopher Puck's asking via Twitter, is this the best incoming class in the past five years? 20:38 You know, I would probably say entering into the season, I would probably say yes, simply because these guys have all been, you know, very productive, you know, for the most part in the junior level. 20:50 I mean, to bring in, you know, basically the top two scores in the USHL, I mean, that alone is pretty special. 20:57 I mean, those guys, one's over 90 points, one's close to 90 points and that's in a league that's pretty defensive minded, you know, so that's pretty special. 21:07 And, you know, you don't even know if, I mean, they might bring in Lettieri, I don't know if, you know, they've, that's sort of to be determined yet, but there's another kid, you know, can provide a lot of offense. 21:17 So there's, it could end up being one of the best classes we've had. 21:20 Of course, ultimately, they have to prove it over their college careers, but incoming at this point, yeah, it is looking pretty good. 21:27 Yeah, it's not about the paper. 21:29 It seems like, you know, we've heard this quite a few times. 21:31 Hey, it's a great class, a great class. 21:33 And then, you know, certain guys don't perform. 21:35 And it's, sometimes it gets a little ugly. 21:39 So who knows? 21:42 Veegs, besides the players coming and going, we've had quite a few headline coaches lose their jobs. 21:51 Mostly Mr. 21:52 Gwazdeky in Denver and on, you know, yesterday, Mr. 21:55 Osiki at Ohio State. 21:58 What's going on? 22:00 I think both situations are probably disagreements between the coaching staff and the school. 22:08 It sounds like both coaches are demanding more respect from their institutions and they're not getting backed. 22:16 These are two very highly thought of coaches. 22:20 I will miss Gwazdeky at Denver. 22:23 I could see him ending up somewhere. 22:25 I don't know if it's going to be Ohio State, if Ohio State's not backing their hockey program very well. 22:31 But he's one of the best coaches in college hockey and I was surprised to see him move on. 22:36 And I know a lot of alums from Denver were also surprised. 22:40 And it's hard to believe. 22:41 Well, there's never been, you know, Gwazdeky said, you know, he's bought a contract and blah, blah, blah. 22:46 But their administration has still said nothing on why they fired him. 22:51 He actually made a comment yesterday to the Denver Post and basically said that, you know, if we've been negotiating a contract for two years and can't come to an agreement, it's time to stop negotiating. 23:04 Boy, that's not encouraging for their program. 23:10 I mean, they've got one of the best coaches in the country and apparently they don't want to back him. 23:16 Yeah, she affirmed that hockey is the gem of their athletic department and that she won't be favoring their number one ranked lacrosse program or their up-and-coming basketball program more. 23:26 But actions speak louder than words on that one. 23:31 Anybody know how much Guaz was making out there? 23:36 He had been making decent money, wasn't he? 23:38 Yeah, he was among the top coaches in the league. 23:41 I don't remember exact figures, but I mean, he certainly was up there. 23:44 You know, it's hard to really say with these situations when you're not really in the room and you don't know what the number demands are, whether it's a program's lack of dedication to improving or their coach. 23:58 You know what I mean? 23:59 It's hard to say. 23:59 I mean, if the guy is going in there with outrageous... 24:02 I mean, let's face it, you know, Guaz is not exactly... 24:05 I don't think he's the most humble guy in the world. 24:07 So it wouldn't shock me if he went in there with pretty high demands. 24:12 And despite the fact that he does have success there, you do have to consider that, you know, hockey is not a big money maker. 24:20 So you do have to keep it in perspective despite his success. 24:23 So, you know, it's hard to say one way or the other. 24:26 I do think it's a, you know, kind of a blow for Denver. 24:29 I don't think there's any doubt that from, you know, from what I saw from an alumni standpoint, from past players, that there wasn't a lot of happiness with the move. 24:38 And I'm not saying that, you know, they're going to have a lousy future ahead of them, but I think it's going to be pretty tough to, you know, recapture what Guazdequi has done there. 24:47 As far as Ohio State goes, I don't really understand the logic there. 24:53 The guy, you know, maybe they have a... 24:54 That money, that program has tons of money. 24:56 Obviously, a hockey bleeds quite a bit of money, but that is a strange situation going on there. 25:02 Well, I mean, for me, it's more on the lines of, I mean, they're deaf. 25:05 They were making some really good headway recruiting. 25:08 I mean, they have, I think, a pretty bright future, you know, with some of the recruits they had lined up. 25:13 And so I don't know if it's a case where, you know, there's a difference of opinion and they're like, well, hey, you know, there are a guy like Wozdecki is out there now. 25:24 You know, we don't have to listen to this. 25:25 We can, you know, I don't know. 25:28 But to me, it was an interesting situation because I thought, you know, Wozdecki is a good coach and I think that he was making some headway recruiting and ultimately in college sports, that's, you know, your number one variable. 25:41 I mean, you certainly have to know how to coach too, but nonetheless, you have to be able to recruit. 25:46 And I think he was doing a good job at that there. 25:49 And so that to me was definitely, you know, they're both very surprising, but I was a little bit real surprised with the Wozdecki thing. 25:58 Well, Denver's already hired a new coach. 26:00 Is it, what is it, Jim Montgomery, I think it is? 26:03 Yeah, he's a USA former Maine player back when Maine was super good. 26:09 And right now, was it Steve Rollick? 26:11 Wasn't he the former Hill Murray coach? 26:15 I want to say he was. 26:17 Well, and he was an assistant at UMD. 26:19 He actually is the guy who probably did a lot of the building of UMD's championship team. 26:23 Well, yeah, he's taken over in an interim role. 26:26 Who knows what's going to happen there, but a lot of strange things going on. 26:31 Obviously, Whitehead's out at Maine, and they have a search committee going up at Maine to get a new coach. 26:38 That might be a little challenging for them as well, because obviously it's a good hockey school, but that's about it. 26:46 It's going to be a bigger challenge for them now that there's an Ohio State with their money. 26:53 They can't be too patient because somebody else is going to come along and grab up the best candidate if they wait too long. 27:01 Well, I'd be surprised if they don't go after Guaz Dekhi, but are they willing to pay that kind of money? 27:07 We'll have to see. 27:09 Well, would Guaz Dekhi want to go there? 27:11 And that's another thing. 27:13 I'd prefer that he not, because his teams are Minnesota Killers. 27:18 Well, I mean, that's the other side of the world almost, compared to, you know, to, you know, where Denver is. 27:26 So it's a little interesting. 27:29 Well, who knows? 27:33 It's a strange situation, obviously. 27:35 You know, coaches come and go. 27:38 But boy, obviously, Guaz was there for 19 years. 27:41 And definitely a surprise, you know, you'd think they would have come to some kind of agreement. 27:45 But well, I mean, it's really strange. 27:49 I mean, they're going to the new conference now, and they're kind of one of the leaders of that conference and having it created. 27:55 And one of the voices who was part of it is now gone. 27:59 Yeah, I mean, he was certainly one of the guys that was sort of at the forefront when they were, you know, making this change into this new league and, you know, kind of one of the faces that they were putting out front as far as, you know, their league goes. 28:13 And it's not like Denver had a bad year. 28:15 I mean, you know, they had a pretty solid year, maybe not as good. 28:19 And certainly, they haven't really been doing as well in NCAAs in recent years when they got there. 28:23 But nonetheless, to see a guy that's, you know, been a real key figure in their program for a long time just suddenly depart, you know, it's certainly not going to be good. 28:34 And I think that, you know, we'll see how it affects their recruiting. 28:37 I know that, you know, there's talk of them losing a few guys and, you know, might happen in Ohio State, too. 28:43 We'll see. 28:46 Well, boys, where does that leave us now? 28:48 We've got this off season, we've got six months of nothing. 28:52 I hate it. 28:54 Yeah, I mean, I'll be honest with you, for me... 28:57 You need the break? 28:58 Yeah, I kind of need it because, for me, I get more into the hockey again when it kind of hits the summertime and model camp and, you know, you start getting to some of the summer stuff and it, you know, so for me, it's a little bit longer of a year. 29:16 So when it kind of gets to this time, and, you know, I actually look forward to it a little bit. 29:21 As much as I love hockey, you know, you kind of need a little bit of break from it. 29:25 So we'll see. 29:27 But I mean, yeah, it's going to be, I mean, I think that the one good thing is we probably, you know, we're not going to have to really sweat out the whole summer of wondering, you know, oh, is this guy going to come back or is this guy, you know, I mean, we've already, we've pretty much suffered what we're going to suffer. 29:41 You know, we know that upfront. 29:42 And I think that what we saw, you know, people were kind of worried about, you know, did we over recruit or not? 29:47 Well, you have to give the coaches credit. 29:50 They were very well prepared for these departures. 29:53 I think that they did a good job of covering our butts as far as departures go this particular year. 30:00 And, you know, we mentioned the recruiting class earlier is very strong. 30:03 And so I think that, at least from that standpoint, we're not going to have to sit here and wonder about guys leaving at the 11th hour and kind of screwing us over. 30:12 And at least we hope not. 30:14 Yeah, well, I don't think we will. 30:15 I think that, you know, we've seen the guys that are going to go. 30:18 And I think that's pretty much it. 30:19 So I think from that standpoint, there'll be some stability. 30:23 I think the really key factor that I thought was missing from this Gopher team this year was really a leadership variable. 30:31 When I compare last year to what happened this season, I think that, you know, missing a guy like Taylor Matson and Jake Hansen and some of the, you know, they might not have been the best players, but they had a kind of a gritty bring it to, you know, bring your lunch pail every, you know, game. 30:48 Senior leadership. 30:50 Yeah. 30:50 And we just didn't have that, you know, we didn't really have, I think, the really strong leadership this year. 30:56 And I think that this off season, you know, we're going to have to see, you know, somebody's going to have to earn that captain title and, you know, earn it during the, you know, the off season workouts and dry land training and all that. 31:09 And then just kind of make decisions from there. 31:11 But hopefully some of these guys will realize that they need to step it up in terms of leadership and some of those kinds of intangible factors. 31:18 And it's not just about the talent. 31:19 If there's one thing I hope the young guys learn, you know, whether it's recruits or returning players, I hope that they learn that you can have all the talent in the world, but if you're not going to bring that attitude, you know, and leadership to the table, you know, it's not going to matter. 31:34 Hey, Veegs, a question for you. 31:37 Since we're kind of talking about leadership, do you think that Budish might have been pushed out a bit? 31:45 Well, I think... 31:46 I mean, he said he was coming back at first, and, you know, though he was dumb, he knew he was pretty much going to be done with school, but he said he was going to be back first thing in that, you know, news conference, and then, you know, we heard Lucia talking on his radio show that didn't really sound like he wanted him back. 32:04 Yeah, it's kind of a weird situation. 32:07 I mean, here's a guy where, you know, a senior captain who, you know, red-shirted to be a senior kind of deal, and he still got minutes over the season. 32:17 He still played with that first power play unit, and it's hard to read the tea leaves on that one. 32:23 I mean, you know, maybe they were looking for a little bit more from him. 32:26 But at the same time, up front, it's tough to follow Taylor Matson as a captain, and there weren't a lot of guys among those forwards who could speak up and get the respect of the room. 32:38 So it was kind of a weird situation. 32:40 A lot of the talented players are kind of more quiet guys, and there was a little bit of a vacuum there, I think, of leadership up front, because, you know, Nate Schmidt can't yell at everybody from the back. 32:52 So, you know, hopefully they get some guys who, you know, are a little bit more of those vocal guys up top. 32:59 Well, some of the whispers that I heard was that the coaches weren't particularly happy with, you know, what they saw for team leadership, and I think obviously that starts with a guy like Budish. 33:10 You know, I'm not in a locker room, none of us are in a locker room to really know everything 100%, but from what I heard, there was some disappointment in that aspect. 33:20 I think if you look at what he signed for for contract numbers, he did not get a great contract compared to what a lot of these guys get. 33:28 So that's kind of, to me, a little bit of another head scratcher when you're like, well, it's not the money variable. 33:34 It's not like he didn't get the max. 33:37 And so you start putting all these things together, you know. 33:41 Now, granted, he did, you know, from what I understand, he was going to graduate. 33:45 He was at the U for four years. 33:47 He just had the red shirt. 33:48 So he had the opportunity to come back. 33:51 So I think there was a lot of variables in play for him that were just different. 33:55 And I never buy what the hell these guys are going to say in the media as far as return or not return, especially right after a game. 34:01 You know what I mean? 34:02 I always think that that fans are no disrespect is, you know, I, some fans are good fans and they still believe this stuff, but I think that that stuff is ridiculous. 34:11 You cannot believe anything players say. 34:14 So, you just kind of have to go. 34:19 Well, one thing we don't know about next year is the schedule, guys. 34:25 We've had trickles of it leaking out, and it may be months until we hear anything. 34:33 I mean, one thing that just came out in the last day or so, it looks like there's going to be an icebreaker tournament at the beginning of the season. 34:40 And, you know, Minnesota is involved with that, with UNH and Clarkson and Mercyhurst. 34:45 It's going to be here in Minnesota, not sure. 34:48 We've got the Mary G Classic with Ferris State, Colgate and RPI, got the Minnesota Cup Tournament. 34:55 We have a home series with Duluth, an away series of Bemidji, kind of early, but that's it. 34:59 We know nothing else. 35:01 We know nothing about when we're going to play BC, when we're going to play Notre Dame. 35:06 Hopefully, we hear something soon, but we've heard that it may be in to the early fall until we know what the schedule is going to be. 35:14 Well, I'll be honest with you, I've never been one of those fans that have really been white-knuckling it over, you know, what's the schedule? 35:20 What's the schedule? 35:21 Because to me, the schedule, you know, where you're not going to be able to go to the games anyways, even if you know things three months ahead of time. 35:28 So I usually for myself, I know a lot of fans are really into it, but for me, it's never been a big deal. 35:34 So, but yeah, I mean, I can understand why fans want to know. 35:39 And certainly you can kind of piece some things together based on other schedules that come out. 35:45 But I think that I'm sure some of it's just, you know, Big Ten, you know, conference wanting to know, you know, what are we going to need to do for TV games and things of that nature? 35:55 You know, I'm sure some of it's part of that. 35:57 So I guess we'll just have to be patient. 36:00 Yeah, I would imagine the Big Ten's going to be trying to do a master schedule with all of their, you know, football, basketball, hockey and trying to figure out how to maximize the Big Ten network. 36:11 And, you know, I bet that just takes time. 36:14 It definitely does. 36:17 Well, boys, the season's over. 36:18 Do we have any final thoughts, Veegs? 36:21 Well, you know, I hope the players learned a little something from the season and grew a little bit. 36:27 You know, there are a bunch of talented guys who went on to the next level. 36:31 I'm still waiting for Veegs to have to get one of those points for Florida, but he's got a couple of weeks left. 36:36 And, you know, it can't happen every year. 36:39 I think college hockey is getting a lot better from top to bottom. 36:42 And I think Coach Lucia is still doing a great job of bringing in talent and developing them over the years. 36:49 It's, you know, they fell a little bit short this year. 36:52 Final thoughts, Hammeh? 36:55 Well, I mean, I think that, you know, it was a disappointing season, but I'm very excited for what next year, you know, has to offer. 37:01 I'm excited about the, you know, I know that a lot of fans were a little bit lukewarm about some of the changes in conference. 37:07 But, you know, you kind of have to look forward and make the best of it. 37:10 At least that's the way that I look at it. 37:12 I'm very excited from, you know, a player point of view. 37:15 We're going to have a lot of fresh faces, a lot of incoming talent. 37:18 And, you know, there's a lot going to be a lot of excitement built around that. 37:21 So, certainly that's a good thing. 37:25 And I think that, you know, we have kind of the, you know, the base, what you need for a really good team. 37:32 I mean, you have a really good goalie. 37:33 And I think that our defense will be good. 37:35 You know, Gensel's there. 37:37 I don't think that all leaving is a huge issue. 37:41 But nonetheless, you know, we have some good things going. 37:44 So I think that's a lot to look forward to for next year. 37:48 Well, I don't really have too much to say. 37:50 Obviously, it's sucked, but I'm kind of looking forward to the break myself, actually. 37:57 Well, that's going to do it for this year's GPL Podcast, you know, obviously. 38:03 I want to thank you, Hammy and you, Vego, for putting up with me for another year. 38:08 I'm sure we'll be back again next fall, probably, you know, end of September, early October, you know, whenever things start to happen again. 38:17 But you can always follow Hammy throughout the summer. 38:20 If something's going on, follow him on Twitter at Hammy Hockey. 38:23 Same thing with Vego, at eVego. 38:26 And of course, you know, well, if anything happens, follow us on Twitter and there will always be stuff going on on Gopher Puck Live. 38:33 That's it for the season, guys. 38:36 We're done. 38:37 Thanks for listening.