0:09 This is The GPL Podcast, the production of gopherpucklive.com. 0:22 Now, let's join Hammy, Vegoe and your host, Jupiter. 0:37 We've got some music for you this time, Hammy. 0:39 That's what it works. 0:43 Well, welcome to the Gopher Puck Live Podcast. 0:46 I'm Jupiter, and we've obviously got Hammy and Vegoe with us as always. 0:51 How's it going, boys? 0:53 Pretty good, fantastic. 0:55 Okay, fans are wondering, what is the car of choice this week, Vegoe? 1:01 It's the Equinox again tonight. 1:04 You might hear a little wind out there. 1:06 It is a bit windy, especially out by my place. 1:09 I'm hearing a lots of noises outside, so you sound good so far, and that's all that really matters. 1:17 Well, we took a week off. 1:18 I didn't really feel like doing the podcast last week. 1:20 I was just lazy, basically. 1:22 Who cares? 1:24 But since we last spoke, the Gopher split at Notre Dame and then swept Mankato at home. 1:32 First, let's get to Notre Dame, tough place to play, Hammy. 1:35 They had not lost there in 10 games. 1:39 First game not so good, second game, they seem to play a bit better, a lot of freshmen scoring. 1:45 What are your thoughts on the Notre Dame series? 1:48 Well, I think it's kind of to be expected. 1:50 You're going on the road against a real good team. 1:53 We got a young team. 1:54 I actually kind of came out of that series at the end feeling pretty positive about things, mainly because they didn't play particularly well on Friday. 2:03 And we've sort of talked about how would this team recover, being a young team, how would they rebound? 2:09 And would they kind of let things get to them? 2:11 Or would they actually do kind of be inspired to do a little better? 2:14 And I thought that the way that they recovered on Saturday and played, granted, there were still some late period breakdowns and things like that. 2:20 But overall, I think that I came out of that series feeling pretty good about things. 2:25 Pretty good for the freshmen, huh, Vegoe, on that series? 2:30 Yeah, especially in the second game. 2:31 I think the freshmen have really stepped into their roles on this team. 2:35 And there aren't many classes that have this many players all performing, you know, top six, top four roles. 2:44 And it's impressive to see. 2:47 And then they got some good goaltending in that game. 2:50 Even though there were those breakdowns, Wilcox came up for saves when they needed them down the stretch. 2:56 And it was sloppy, but they got a W there. 3:00 Now Hammy, this was the first time we've got to see Mr. 3:03 Gertler. 3:03 What are your initial thoughts on him? 3:05 You know, he played the whole weekend and then this previous weekend he played only one game. 3:09 But what do you think so far? 3:13 Well, I mean, it's kind of what you would expect from a freshman, particularly a guy that's, you know, hasn't been in the line up yet and this is essentially his first games. 3:22 And, you know, I don't think you can expect too, too much. 3:26 I think we're a little spoiled because of how some of the other guys have been doing right out of the gate. 3:30 But, you know, for him, I just think that it's going to take a little time to just kind of get your, you know, his bearings and just play some good hockey. 3:38 And he's going to be responsible two ways. 3:40 And, you know, I just think that it's going to take a little time for him to kind of get comfortable. 3:45 Any initial thoughts on Gertler there, AVegoe, excuse me? 3:49 Just that he's really going to be in a battle for playing time. 3:52 I think the Gophers really have, you know, seven guys for those, or eight guys for those bottom six spots. 3:58 And it looks like there's going to be guys rotating in and out of those spots the whole year. 4:04 And the top six looks pretty set, but those bottom six, you're going to see a lot of shuffling around. 4:08 So a lot of competition to keep those guys interested. 4:12 Speaking of shuffle around, Hammy, it looks like we're seeing quite a bit of that on defense. 4:18 You know, with some young players stepping in their play up a little bit and causing some older players like Mr. 4:24 Hall to sit out a game. 4:27 Yeah, I mean, you know, you can't really blame him because if you look at, you know, I think for me, Bischoff has been a real surprise the way that he's coming, I mean, coming right up, basically coming right out of high school. 4:38 I mean, he got some little bit of junior hockey, but, you know, he's essentially coming right from high school, and he's been very solid right out of the gate, you know, getting a couple of goals, and just, you know, I've been real surprised and real happy with how he's kind of transitioned into college hockey. 4:53 So, you know, I can understand, and Brzezinski has done real well in his time, you know, and so I, you know, I don't know what they're judging things on. 5:01 I mean, they all are pretty solid with their plus minus. 5:04 I think the lowest is a plus four, you know, out of the defensemen. 5:07 So, you know, they're all doing pretty solid out in that regard, so. 5:11 But it continues to work, and as long as you got a good goalie behind you, too, that always helps. 5:16 You know, he played Bischoff, you know, doubled up this past weekend and, you know, Hall sat for a game, but then Hall came back the next night and was very key in some of the way the Gophers played. 5:28 So they have seven pretty darn good guys right now, and it's, somebody's going to have to sit out every night. 5:37 Well, and you also have to remember, it's a long season. 5:40 I'm sure that there's going to be a guy getting dinged up here or there, so you kind of need that depth, and you have to feel somewhat confident that if somebody does go down for a little bit period of time, hopefully that doesn't happen, but if it does, you can feel pretty confident that you have somebody else to step in and do well. 5:57 Will we ever see Ryan Reilly play? 6:03 Well. 6:08 I don't know what to say about him. 6:10 Well, I mean, I just think it's one of those things where you got so much depth out there on this team that some guys are just going to have to be patient and hope that they get an opportunity. 6:21 I mean, he'll get a chance on a few games, but I mean, I think it's pretty fair to say that he's not going to be a consistent presence in the lineup. 6:29 Yeah, you saw Doug McLeod ask Lucia that after one of the post games, I think the Friday Mankato series. 6:36 And you can see Lucia was kind of uncomfortable talking about having all three Riley brothers in the lineup. 6:41 So, you know, it could be a little while. 6:43 There's just so many good players up top for them. 6:46 It's going to be hard to crack it. 6:48 Yeah, it sounds like we may only see him with injuries, unfortunately. 6:52 So, well, you mentioned Mankato. 6:55 Obviously, the Gophers had, you know, I would say we're all fairly happy with the Notre Dame series. 6:59 And then Mankato comes to town with supposed to be a pretty good team this year. 7:06 Maybe might win the WCHA. 7:08 We'll have to see. 7:08 I think they're struggling a little bit right now, but the Gophers come away with a solid sweep this past weekend, four to one and three to zero. 7:17 A lot of the same, more freshmen scoring, a couple of guys who hadn't scored, scored, you know, like and then obviously we got to see somebody we haven't seen in a while and Michael Shabrowski. 7:28 So Vegoe, a couple of little new things this weekend, but all that matters is that we got the sweep. 7:36 Yeah, it was nice to see Shabrowski get in there. 7:39 After the game, you could talk to the players and they all were super happy for him. 7:43 It was his birthday on Friday night and they're all, you know, excited that good things happened to him because he's a good kid and just keeps his nose clean and shows up to practice and works hard, stays after to help the other guys find their shots. 7:57 And it was just a real solid series. 8:00 The defensemen made a lot of smart decisions with the puck all weekend. 8:04 They got involved in the play. 8:06 Bischoff jumped into play for a goal. 8:08 Hall's end-to-end rush led to the third goal for Serratore on Saturday. 8:14 So it was good to see in a game like that, if they start making turnovers all over the ice, it can get to be a difficult game, or if they start making a parade to the box, it can be a difficult game, and they avoided both of those. 8:28 Hammy, I kind of thought that it was a bit of a boring weekend, at least for me. 8:35 It just didn't seem like a lot of things were there. 8:37 I mean, for me, maybe there just wasn't a much excitement. 8:39 Maybe it was the team. 8:40 I don't know. 8:42 What do you think? 8:43 Did you have that feeling at all? 8:45 Well, I mean, I didn't think it was necessarily boring, but I thought that, you know, I think that some of it was the fact that it wasn't quite as up and down. 8:54 I think that really Mankato's big issue is offense. 8:57 I mean, they're struggling big time offensively. 9:00 And that's why, to me, it made a lot of sense for Lucia to start, you know, shibby in that second game because, you know, Mankato has been struggling to put the puck in the net. 9:08 And it's a good way to get your back up some confidence and, you know, your team in general to feel good about it. 9:15 I mean, it's nice to see guys like that rewarded for their hard work when they don't get to see a lot of ice time. 9:20 So, but I didn't feel it was particularly boring per se. 9:23 I thought that, you know, we kind of came out of the gate really well on Friday and then kind of just at the end kind of let it slip a little bit. 9:32 The third period is pretty brutal Friday night. 9:34 Yeah. 9:35 Yeah. 9:35 So, I mean, it wasn't like, that was exactly a positive, but then, you know, and then, of course, Saturday, it was, you know, kind of a tight checking or, you know, one to nothing type of game for the most part, you know, until close to the end. 9:47 So, there wasn't a lot of thrills, I guess. 9:50 So, I could see that attitude. 9:51 But in the end, to me, it's, are they playing well? 9:55 Are they making some plays? 9:56 You know, they were pretty dominant, I think, on the faceoff circle both nights. 9:59 And so, I thought it was pretty positive all around weekend. 10:03 Okay. 10:04 This is for both of you. 10:04 What did you get? 10:05 I mean, it was great that Chibi got in, but what did you think of his play? 10:09 We'll start with you, Vegoe. 10:11 Well, I thought he did really well. 10:12 I mean, he got a lot of traffic around him in front of the net. 10:15 There was a big stretch at the opening of the third period, where there were probably two or three scrambles in a row, where Minnesota was having trouble getting across the red line, gaining the zone and kind of relieving pressure. 10:28 And he came through and bailed them out when they needed it. 10:31 I mean, it was a one-nothing game at that point. 10:33 So, if Mankato got a goal there, you know, it's a hockey game and they probably get energized. 10:38 But the fact that he was able to stand tall, keep his pads on the ice and keep the puck out on that, that was good to see. 10:46 Hammy? 10:47 Yeah, I mean, I think that when you're playing a one-nothing game like that, it's kind of, you know, the margin for error. 10:54 Even though if you're playing well, you know, you still only have that slight margin for error. 10:58 And all it takes is one bad play. 11:00 So to have that kind of pressure on him and still kind of come through, I think was, you know, definitely a positive sign. 11:06 I know that he had a few, I think, shaky moments regarding handling the puck a few times. 11:11 But, you know, other than that, I think that he had a pretty solid outing. 11:15 And I don't know that he was tremendously challenged. 11:19 It wasn't like, you know, we were playing a Boston College or anything like that. 11:22 But I thought that, you know, given what we the game was like, I thought he did pretty well. 11:28 All right. 11:28 Well, two pretty successful weekends, which is always good at this time of year. 11:32 The Gophers are one loss and one tie officially on the season. 11:37 Still ranked number one. 11:40 So that's not, and that's good. 11:41 You know, it looks like the team is playing pretty, pretty well as that number one ranked team. 11:46 Any other little concerns over the past two weekends? 11:48 How about the number one rating? 11:50 Anything you think about that, Hammy? 11:53 No, you know, I was actually kind of thinking about that this weekend. 11:57 And I really, not to go off on a tangent, but I kind of feel that Gopher Hockey has over the handful of years, has sort of, the fans have reduced their expectations to a degree, I think. 12:11 I mean, I mean, I kind of feel like we're not going to win the national title every year, but that should be the goal. 12:18 You know, there's no reason why that shouldn't be the goal at this program is to win it every year. 12:22 Now, like I said, you're not going to do that, but that should be the goal. 12:26 And I kind of feel like fans are a little bit caref- 12:31 you know, they're a little bit leery of, you know, putting too many expectations. 12:34 I don't know if it's because they're worried about being let down if they don't do it or, you know, I don't know the exact reasons. 12:39 And I honestly feel that part of it kind of comes from within the program too. 12:43 I think that, you know, Lucia at times, I feel has kind of downplayed, you know, what we should expect, you know, in certain seasons based on, you know, if we were a young team or whatever. 12:54 And I'm not saying that he should be on the paper saying, yeah, we're going to win the national title. 12:59 But, you know, that would be awfully stupid. 13:01 But I do think that, you know, we should always have very high standards. 13:05 And so having the number one ranking, I think that we should embrace that, you know, that challenge and embrace those kinds of expectations. 13:13 And sometimes it's going to work and sometimes it doesn't, but I would rather have really high expectations than not. 13:19 I guess it's just been a few years. 13:21 And like you said, Luchia is always kind of downplaying it. 13:25 Maybe you're right. 13:25 Maybe we do need to kind of expect it a little more and expect the team to play well, even though they're ranked number one. 13:31 So any thoughts, Vigo? 13:34 No, I agree with Hammy there. 13:36 I mean, this is Minnesota. 13:38 They get the top choice of their recruits for the most part. 13:42 I think there was a quote I read from another unnamed college coach who said, you know, one of the advantages of recruiting Minnesota kids is they don't commit until they're 16 or 17. 13:53 And that's because those kids are waiting to hear a phone call from Don Lucia or Grant Pultone or Mike Gensel saying, we want you to play for the M. 14:02 And so, you know, the expectations should be high. 14:06 On the flip side, college hockey is improving. 14:08 I think, you know, the top 30 teams in college hockey are better than they were 20 years ago. 14:14 And you get in those playoff games, you know, it can be tough to win a 1-0 game against those teams when they just shell up. 14:21 So, you know, expectations should be high. 14:25 And I think going into the Big Ten season here in two weeks, they look like the top team in the Big Ten right now. 14:32 I think Wisconsin struggled a little bit. 14:33 Michigan's got some youth. 14:36 And those are the other top two teams. 14:38 So I think, you know, expecting Minnesota to win the Big Ten is a realistic one. 14:43 Sounds good to me, I'll tell you that. 14:45 Nothing wrong with that. 14:47 Don't forget, if you're listening live, you could tweet us at Gopher Puck Live, and we'll, you know, take your suggestions or questions or whatever. 14:54 Also, you can call us and leave a voicemail at 320-321-9584. 15:03 And, you know, we had a couple last time. 15:05 We'll get to and play them, and we'll make you be part of the podcast if we can. 15:11 And we do have one here so far, but we have got two, but one of them with a little more length in. 15:16 Let's take a listen here. 15:19 Hey, it's Zach from Mankato. 15:21 Gopher's recently had a series set up between them and North Dakota in the 2016 and 2017 seasons. 15:28 What do you make of that? 15:28 Do you think it will be the classic Minnesota and North Dakota series? 15:32 Or do you think it will be less physical since they haven't seen each other, or will have seen each other in the last three years? 15:39 What's your take on that? 15:41 Thanks. 15:43 What do you think, Vegoe, what's your take? 15:44 You think it's going to be old school North Dakota, Minnesota when they get back together in a few seasons? 15:50 Well, I know North Dakota has a tendency to play that kind of physical hockey and get up and down the rink, so I think both programs will get excited for that game. 16:01 You know, both teams should still be among the top programs in college hockey, you'd think at that time, so I think, and the fans especially will get up for it. 16:09 I expect, you know, high demand for tickets for those series. 16:13 You know, Hammy, I think we're going to see each other a lot sooner, because you know, since we're not in the same conference anymore, NCAA is just going to love putting us together in the same region also. 16:26 I think the bad blood will be there no matter what comes 2016. 16:33 Yeah, I mean, I think that the odds are pretty good considering that both teams are usually in NCAAs. 16:38 I don't know, you know, what's going to happen this year, because North Dakota has been struggling a bit, and they've been, in my opinion, a bit mediocre. 16:46 So we'll see if they rebound. 16:48 Well, I think if you're honest, if you take an honest look at it, that's what the results say. 16:52 So whether they improve and rebound, we'll see. 16:56 I mean, if they do, it wouldn't shock me if we play them. 16:59 But as far as whether or not the intensity is gonna be there, I'm sure there'll always be aspects of that. 17:05 But I think that, realistically, I think a lot of it's gonna be more marketing hype. 17:12 As a marketing guy, I just have a feeling that a lot of it's gonna be more the marketing hype. 17:17 The ballad crazy thing. 17:18 Yeah, we've already kinda seen a bit of that. 17:21 And we're still, what, three years out or whatever. 17:24 So I kinda feel that some of it's gonna be manufactured. 17:28 I'm sure that the fans will be excited. 17:30 A lot of the fans will be, but I also agree with you. 17:34 It's gonna somewhat depend on, you know, do we face each other in the interim and the NCAAs? 17:39 And because, you know, when you're spending three years apart from each other, you're not really playing any significant games if we don't face each other in the playoffs. 17:50 You know, even the regular season series that we're gonna be playing, they don't have quite the same, you know, meeting given you're not fighting for the same big titles and all that stuff. 17:59 So I think that, you know, I think it's probably not entirely realistic to expect it to be exactly like it was. 18:07 I'm sure it'll have elements of that. 18:08 But I think that, you know, it probably won't be quite as intense as it used to be. 18:14 Personally, I think the new bad blood is going to be with Michigan. 18:19 And I really hope that is the case. 18:22 It's just my own personal feelings. 18:24 I've always loved the Michigan Games. 18:26 And now the games of Michigan are going to mean a hell of a lot more. 18:30 You know, they've historically been an excellent team. 18:34 And watch out, folks. 18:36 It's going to be fun. 18:37 So we lost North Dakota, but we've gained back Michigan. 18:41 And I think it's going to be a lot of fun. 18:44 Well, you know, it's always familiarity. 18:46 A lot of times, breeds can tempt, you know. 18:48 And like I said, you know, when you're starting to fight for the same trophies and you're starting to play key games that lead to winning or losing those trophies, there's definitely going to be an increase in that rivalry. 19:02 And I, you know, we played, I mean, I think we all remember being frustrated by playing Michigan in the NCAAs kind of like during the WUG era. 19:10 And, you know, then we've kind of gotten some of that, you know, back like when Vance scored the OT winner against them back in 2003. 19:17 And some of the other things that we've, I mean, we've done a lot better against them recently. 19:21 So, but I think that that's going to be certainly if you're going to pick any team on a schedule on an annual basis, that'd be the one that probably be most likely to replace the, excuse me, North Dakota rivalry. 19:34 Well, hopefully their fans are much better than those jerks up at North Dakota. 19:38 So here, here, because we know you had some of that already this week, didn't you? 19:44 A little back and forth, some people bitching about your tweet about Huntsville. 19:48 I mean, really? 19:50 Yeah. 19:50 You got me 10 zip. 19:52 Come on, people. 19:54 And why are these people at North Dakota? 19:57 Why do they care? 19:59 Well, I think a few, well, look at the product on the ice that they have to look at. 20:02 Oh. 20:05 I mean, I probably want to be looking at what somebody else is saying, too, if I had to deal with that. 20:10 But I mean, to me, it was a little ridiculous. 20:13 I mean, first of all, all I really said was that they're an embarrassment. 20:16 And if you look at the statistics, they are. 20:18 I mean, they're 0 and 10. 20:20 They've been outscored basically, I think it was 50 to 11 in those games. 20:24 They got blown out 10 to nothing on home ice. 20:27 And it's like, look, I'm glad that they are still around. 20:31 I never said that they should be totally annihilated from college hockey and we should get rid of them. 20:36 I never said that. 20:37 What I said is, they're embarrassing and they suck. 20:40 And I think that if you're, unless you're aren't a competitor, I mean, I would even suggest that those players are probably embarrassed by those results. 20:47 If they're not, then they should be playing sports. 20:50 And secondly, if you can't call it as it is, then you're probably a candy ass, politically correct, no balls person. 20:59 I mean, that's just reality. 21:00 I just love it. 21:01 I love it when you vent, man. 21:02 It's good when you vent like this. 21:04 I mean, if you're honest and you look at things statistically, if you took the name off of that and you just showed the average hockey fan, here are the stats. 21:13 What would you say? 21:14 I would guarantee you pretty much every hockey fan would say, that's pretty damn bad. 21:19 And so to call it as it is and to have somebody whine about it. 21:23 And I thought it was kind of funny that they didn't have the guts to even connect my name to it on Twitter. 21:28 So I was even aware of it. 21:30 I had to find out through somebody else telling me. 21:32 It's like, you know, what kind of gutless move is that? 21:35 But nonetheless, it's not like I called them like they should get rid of them or whatever. 21:39 I'm glad that they're around because at least it's another, you know, 18 scholarships to give to kids and whatever. 21:45 But that doesn't mean you can't call it as it is. 21:47 It's not Little League Baseball where you're going to give everybody a participation trophy and pat them on the head and be like, oh, you did a really good job, little Johnny. 21:55 You did a good job. 21:56 I mean, come on, if you suck, you suck and it's nothing wrong with calling that. 22:01 I kind of agree with you. 22:03 When the Gophers have been bad at times, you know what? 22:05 I tell them that they suck. 22:07 That's just the way it is. 22:09 Here's the other thing that cracks me up is like, you always hear this whole, it's the Gopher arrogance card and they're arrogant. 22:15 I saw that too. 22:17 But here's the thing. 22:17 This is the thing that makes me laugh about these morons is that, they don't seem to realize that most Gopher hockey fans are also Gopher sports fans. 22:27 And if anybody knows what it's like to follow a team that sucks or has not been very good for a long period of time, it's fricking Gopher fans because we've seen it with the football team for 40 plus years. 22:39 Now, we've had little blips on the radar where they've been average or above average, and hopefully Coach Kill is turning it around here now. 22:45 But come on, I remember back in what I think it was like 83, where we got absolutely destroyed by Nebraska, something like, I don't even remember the score. 22:55 80 something to 13 or something ridiculous. 22:57 I mean, that's like the equivalent of getting blown out 10 to nothing on your own rank. 23:01 You know what I mean? 23:03 So if anybody can call it as it is and realize that, yeah, it sucks to be in those shoes, it's a Gopher fan. 23:09 So these people need to ditch the whole Gopher arrogance card and pull their head out of their ass. 23:15 Vegoe, would you like to follow that up? 23:17 I know you missed probably quite a bit of it because you were having some Skype issues, but Hammy was picked on a little bit and he's venting a bit and I kind of like it. 23:28 I heard about this and I'm glad to have more college hockey programs around because if they start losing them then the tournament gets smaller and that's just bad and no one liked that. 23:39 So you want to try to keep them around, but they are struggling a little bit. 23:44 I don't think that means that we want their program erased and canceled and all those kids can't play college hockey but. 23:53 That's the thing that I think sort of got lost in is like just because I said that they're embarrassing, that's not me saying let's just totally annihilate the program and get rid of them. 24:02 But come on, if you suck, you suck. 24:04 So it's like call it as it is. 24:06 If you can't call it as it is, then why even have an opinion at all? 24:10 You'd hope that the administration will get behind them and give them some facilities or a little bit more budget to improve. 24:18 And I just got my Golden Gopher Fund little pamphlet this week, and it costs $47,000 for each Golden Gopher Athlete. 24:27 So they got to step up and do what it takes if they want to be competitive. 24:32 You know, and I know that this is I don't want to go off too far off on a tangent. 24:36 I do think well, at some point, I think the discussion needs to be with the future of college hockey is where do you see the growth? 24:45 Because to me, as much as it's nice to have these smaller programs or whatever, that's not really where college hockey is going to grow in the long run, because you can't have a lot of these smaller programs that are basically scratching and clawing to keep their head above water, you know, and just eking by and not really being terribly competitive. 25:05 You're not going to grow the sport that way. 25:07 You need more investment. 25:09 You need some of these bigger schools. 25:11 And that's why I think Penn State is so important, because it's sort of a test case for some of these other bigger universities to look at and say, hey, you know, they did it well. 25:21 Now, granted, you're not going to have an 85 million or whatever it was arena. 25:24 But, you know, if we invest and we play it smart, we can do something successful here, too. 25:30 That's why I think Penn State is so important for the future of college hockey. 25:33 And I'm not trying to put down the little guys. 25:35 But I think that realistically, if you want to really grow the sport, that's where it's going to grow. 25:41 It's not going to grow with some little peon school. 25:43 It's going to grow with some of the bigger universities. 25:47 One of the thoughts I actually kind of had is, it may have been better if the CCHA stayed together, and maybe picked up Huntsville on their own, and the WCHA would have been just fine. 26:03 If they would have stayed. 26:04 But once Denver and everyone broke up, started the national, it left both leagues kind of screwed, so they had to combine together. 26:16 And it's just going to take a few years to adjust. 26:21 It's just going to have to be patient, because we just don't know right now. 26:27 Should we shut down Huntsville? 26:29 No, but you know what, let's give them a couple years to be in a legitimate conference, and maybe they will be able to do better there. 26:37 Otherwise, I think you're right. 26:38 We should have, maybe look at it. 26:40 It might not be the right area to have hockey. 26:42 I mean, we've lost hockey in quite a few areas around the country back in the day, back in the 80s, and maybe it's time again for it to happen. 26:50 Who knows? 26:52 But it's all about the money, guys. 26:54 It's all about the money. 26:55 Unless you have money like they did for Penn State, starting a program is next to impossible. 27:02 No doubt about it. 27:05 So, oh boy, now I can't wait to hear from Goon and all his other little goons. 27:13 How's the quality, Rand Hammy? 27:15 I'm proud of you. 27:17 Well, thank you very much. 27:18 I try. 27:22 All right. 27:23 I don't mind it, but it's just like, dude, if you're going to say something, at least make me aware of it. 27:30 Oh, just let them have their little tiff and let them whine and stuff like that. 27:34 We know what their problems are. 27:35 And we'll keep our arrogance big and proud. 27:42 So, all right, guys, a couple of things I would love to talk about. 27:46 One of them being, especially teams, guys, power play just keeps falling. 27:51 We are now 48th in the country on the power play. 27:56 That's out of like 59 teams. 27:58 Penalty kill is 39th. 28:01 Vegoe, are you concerned yet? 28:04 I am a little bit concerned. 28:06 I mean, the power play units, they're gaining the zone. 28:10 So their zone entries look pretty clean for the most part. 28:13 The only time they've really struggled doing that was Notre Dame. 28:16 And part of that's going up against a 1-3-4 check on a smaller ice surface against one of the better teams in college hockey. 28:24 When they played Boston College, Boston College had won the best penalty kill units in college hockey last year and they returned most of those guys. 28:32 So you know, that's not as concerning. 28:34 But what does concern me is they're still shuffling guys through the unit. 28:39 We saw Connor Riley there this weekend and he did get a goal. 28:43 But at the same point, they still don't look very dynamic. 28:47 The best three that look like to me were Clues, Camerata and Riley. 28:52 And now they've taken Riley off that group and put Marshall with that group. 28:55 So that chemistry that they were showing isn't going to translate with Marshall there. 29:01 So that's a little concerning. 29:02 Penalty kill, it's a little bit harder to tell. 29:06 They've been giving up the zone a little too easy, I think, based on what I see. 29:09 But they had to replace a lot of guys who were in those roles last year. 29:15 You know, one of the things that, you know, I'm not as concerned on the penalty kill is that they're one of the lowest penalized teams. 29:24 I mean, they're averaging under 10 minutes a game, which is pretty low compared to where a lot of other schools are. 29:30 So it kind of balances out a little bit on that end. 29:34 But Hammy, what do you think? 29:36 Power play so far in the penalty kill? 29:39 Well, I think that first of all, you kind of have to, you know, it's not going to be top 10 units this year, especially when you've come off to a slow start. 29:46 So I mean, when you start looking at where they're ranked among, you know, NCAA teams, I mean, they'll improve throughout the year, I think. 29:53 But I mean, they're never going to, they're very, I mean, unless they go on some unreal clip of scoring goals or whatever, I highly doubt we're going to see them suddenly jump up into the top 10. 30:04 Maybe, but I wouldn't suspect it. 30:06 The one thing I would point out with the power play that, you know, has kind of, I mean, we already know about the personnel, you know, a lot of new personnel out there and whatever. 30:16 But, you know, we played some very good penalty killing teams. 30:19 And if you look at the current top 10 and penalty kill, you know, this weekend against Duluth being another one, we played like five of the top 10 penalty kill teams, I think. 30:29 Notre Dame we've played, we're gonna play UMD this weekend, we played Boston College, we played Bemidji, we played Minnesota State last weekend. 30:37 Those are all top 10 penalty kills. 30:39 So it's not like we've been going against the Little Sisters of the Poor, you know, with regard to the opponent's penalty kill. 30:47 So I think that that's gonna play a role in it, as well as the fact that we've had, you know, some new faces out on the ice, particularly in the top power play unit. 30:57 All right, one other thing I would like to talk about is that he scored a goal first game of the season. 31:05 Haven't heard from him in the goal column since. 31:08 That is Kyle Rowe. 31:11 Vegoe, you and I had kind of talked about this a bit this past Saturday night when we were at the game. 31:18 He's fourth in scoring still, you know, he's got nine assists, but he's got to be getting frustrated. 31:24 And we kind of see that at times on the ice and because he hasn't put the puck away in a long time. 31:32 Yeah, I think, you know, he'll force it a little bit at the end of the game when maybe the smart play is just to clear the zone and relieve the pressure he's trying to maybe try to create a scoring chance for himself. 31:43 But the biggest thing, I think, is he's getting so much more attention on the ice. 31:48 You could hear Bischoff talk about it, that Rowe just draws attention to himself and is having a hard time getting free. 31:55 Then on the flip side, he's got all the added responsibilities of playing center. 32:00 He can't leave the zone quite as quick and he's got to stay maybe a little bit higher in the offensive zone. 32:06 That's affecting his scoring. 32:09 Luckily, warning and fashion look to be like they can put the puck in the net. 32:14 So they're not getting hurt so much on the top line. 32:17 But it is going to be a concern because he's gotten frustrated and taken a couple of penalties this year. 32:21 And that might have something to do with it. 32:24 Are you concerned at all, Hammy? 32:27 You know, not really. 32:29 I mean, you know, he does have different responsibilities. 32:32 I think, you know, certainly he doesn't have a bukestad out there that's going to be, you know, kind of drawing a lot of the shooting attention and leaving him. 32:40 I mean, let's face it, a lot of his goals are, you know, scored on that kind of the right side of the net, you know, kind of that play just where he's just standing there and kind of cleaning up some of the garbage. 32:49 That's where a lot of his goals were scored last year. 32:52 But now that's where fashioning is a lot. 32:54 Yeah, and I think that, you know, you have to look at, there's only going to be, I mean, each line is going to get so much ice time. 33:01 And when these guys, they're still scoring on a similar clip to last year's top line. 33:06 So I don't really care who's scoring the goals as long as that line is creating opportunities and putting them in the net. 33:13 And so the fact that warning and fashioning, you know, are kind of stepping up and taking some of those responsibilities. 33:20 To me, it doesn't really matter how much, I'm sure for Raul it matters, of course, because he's going to want to score goals. 33:25 But ultimately, as a fan, as somebody who just cares about the end results of the team, as long as the line is scoring, I don't really care who's doing it. 33:34 That's true. 33:35 But a happy Raul is a good Raul. 33:37 So hopefully he can get it going because once he, if he starts scoring, it just seems like he just pisses off the opponents even more because then he starts chirping. 33:48 Well, I think he's a guy to look to jump start the power play a little bit. 33:55 If they start doing that kind of pass off pad type power play to get some opportunities and increase for him to jump on pucks, that would be good to see it. 34:03 It does kind of look like the shooters are trying to pick the top corners on those one-timers when if they just put something low and hard into the pads and Raul jumps those pucks, that's going to be a good way for him to get the scoreboard. 34:17 I think the other thing for me is that what I care about with Raul, I don't want to see him tripping as much to be honest with you. 34:23 He's in a leadership role now. 34:25 I want him to be a little bit more responsible with how he's acting out there and setting the tone that's not kind of a little bit on the edge. 34:34 I don't really like when he's, he's not been heavily penalized this year, but when he takes that run, I think it was at Notre Dame or whatever, stuff like that, that's a little bit borderline. 34:46 And I kind of like to see him just tone some of that stuff down and I'm not on the ice, so I don't know how much he's chirping or not, but as far as this year goes, so but I'm hoping that that's toned down a little bit. 34:58 Yeah, I've only been down on the ice for one period and I didn't hear him chirping too much. 35:02 So in the past, I've heard him quite a bit, so we'll have to see there. 35:07 And maybe he is trying to be a little different on the ice, but we'll have to wait and see. 35:14 All right, boys, this weekend, we've got our old foes from up in Duluth, the Bulldogs coming down to play the Gophers for a set. 35:22 That's Friday and Sunday. 35:25 Sunday, remember, the game was moved due to football, so Sunday at 4 p.m. 35:29 You have Saturday tickets, just remember that. 35:32 Vegoe, the Bulldogs back in town, and no, we don't have Drunk Hockey Guy on because he doesn't have a website anymore, so there's really no reason for him to have to be on, I guess. 35:41 Vegoe, what do you think? 35:42 Yeah. 35:43 Well, I think Duluth has shown that they can play with teams. 35:46 I mean, they've got wins over Notre Dame and North Dakota already. 35:50 They've also had some shaky losses with Ohio State and Michigan Tech and the overtime loss. 35:57 But Duluth has talent. 35:59 They've got some guys who can really put the puck in the net, and they've got decent goaltending. 36:05 I think last year they were a really young team, and so it gave them a chance to put those young guys on scoring roles, and they've probably developed, and you know they're going to get excited for this weekend. 36:16 So it's going to be a tough series. 36:19 Hammy, what do you think? 36:20 Bulldogs in town. 36:21 I know you miss Drunk Hockey Guy. 36:24 Yeah, he's a good guy. 36:27 No, I think that it should be a pretty competitive series. 36:30 I mean, I think that judging strictly off statistics, I mean, they're not necessarily the most offensive team in the world. 36:39 I mean, they did put up some good goals on North Dakota, but well, I won't even go there. 36:44 But anyways... 36:45 Oh, come on, you want to go there. 36:47 But nonetheless, I think that it's going to be a competitive series and I think that they look like they're doing pretty well defensively. 36:55 They're getting some good goaltending numbers statistically and they're very good amongst nationally in terms of goals against. 37:03 So I would suspect that they're going to be maybe a little bit, I do think that's going to be a pretty open skating game because I think that they have some really good skaters and I could be in some respects kind of like what we saw with Boston College but then again you know I think that they're a little bit maybe a little bit better defensively maybe not good as offensively as a BC of course but defensively they're probably a little bit more veteran and a little bit more solid back there so so I think it's gonna be a good series it should be entertaining. 37:32 Who are some of the young guys or the new guys that we should be looking out for this weekend, Hammy? 37:37 Well, I think you know Tanonato is a he's definitely a good player he did well while at Fargo last year he played up in Duluth as a high schooler so he's a real good player. 37:51 I don't know if you're talking strictly freshmen here or what are we talking about? 37:55 Freshmen or anything like that? 37:57 Osserberg is a Lakeville product kind of like Clues and he's kind of a smaller kid that's real kind of skilled and quick and I like his game. 38:08 Those are the two guys locally that I kind of connect with the most as far as their first year guys go. 38:14 I know that they have a few other freshmen that have been showing some good stuff early on. 38:19 Raskob's a kid from Hastings that played at Shattuck I believe so he's on defense. 38:25 He's a pretty good player. 38:27 So yeah, I mean they have some good young talent on their program. 38:30 So what do you think? 38:31 You think the Gophers can sweep or it'll be more of a split type of weekend, Hammy? 38:36 You know, I don't know. 38:37 I mean I think that for some reason this weekend I'm kind of going more with the split vibe just because I think that Duluth has proven that they can play pretty well against some good teams. 38:48 I mean, you know, you're going on the playing Notre Dame and split with them and you know, they just had a pretty solid split on the road at North Dakota even though North Dakota is not the usual North Dakota. 38:59 But you know, it's still a nice result in Grand Forks. 39:02 So it wouldn't shock me if it comes out a split. 39:05 I think that we're the better team. 39:07 But I think that, you know, when you get a rivalry series, you kind of have to put some of the talent advantages and some of those other things aside and just kind of see how it shakes out. 39:16 But it wouldn't shock me if it's a split. 39:19 I'm going sweep all the way. 39:21 Dogs suck. 39:23 Vegoe, your thoughts? 39:27 I wish I could agree with you, but I do kind of see a split come in this weekend. 39:30 Yeah, I know. 39:32 I mean, Crandall's been playing really well this year. 39:35 And I really like Austin Farley and Tony Cameronese. 39:39 I think those two guys are really dynamic. 39:41 I know their power play can be pretty potent. 39:45 So I can see them get in a game where they get a lead and then hunker down and protect it. 39:51 So I think they're going to get a split this weekend. 39:55 Okay. 39:56 Well, you guys suck and I rule because they're going to sweep. 40:00 Hey, believe me, I think we should sweep, but I'm just saying what I think, my gut is going to tell on me. 40:06 My heart tells me, yeah, sweep. 40:07 But yeah, I mean, they should sweep, but I just think that there's going to be enough wide open hockey in this game because it's going to get that racehorse style. 40:18 And you know, the Gopher defensemen seem to be making really great decisions the whole season. 40:23 And this might be a game where they struggle a little bit. 40:26 I don't know people ripping on Ben Marshall quite a bit. 40:30 I see that on GPL. 40:31 I've been ripping him a little bit too. 40:34 Yeah, well, it's kind of like what I... 40:35 Some of his decisions lately have been a little iffy on the defensive side. 40:38 But you know, I'll give him some more time before I make him the whipping boy. 40:42 Well, I mean, here's the thing with a kid like that, he's very dynamic with the puck. 40:46 He's always been more of an offensive defenseman. 40:48 I mean, he's going to be a high risk, high reward type of a player from the blue line. 40:52 And I think he adds an element that other than Mike Riley, you know, no other defenseman on the Gophers, at least at this point, really has, which is just really being able to create with, you know, speed and his skill on the rush. 41:04 And so I mean, I think that, you know, you're going to have some mistakes here or there, but I really feel, you know, glad that he's on the team. 41:12 I think he adds some elements that are very valuable. 41:15 Yeah. 41:17 And for the first time in forever, the women's hockey team actually lost a game. 41:23 62 straight guys, you know, we haven't talked about them this year because, you know, there was no need to. 41:29 They were solid. 41:30 They kept winning. 41:31 Some of them, they had to come back and win. 41:33 But still number one. 41:36 And no matter what anybody says, 62 games is just simply amazing for a hockey team. 41:44 Men's, women's, I don't care. 41:47 They more than doubled the record, if I recall. 41:49 I mean, I think the men's record was, what, 20 something or maybe 30. 41:55 To go 62 games without a loss or a tie is simply amazing. 42:01 And hopefully they can get their game back together after this one loss this weekend. 42:07 You know, I know you're just bringing this up to get under a drunk hockey guy's skin because he's always a women's hockey hater. 42:12 Oh, I know, I know. 42:14 Ooh, jumped on the bandwagon, blah, blah, blah. 42:17 We know that not many people follow them, but hey, when they do amazing things, we're going to talk about it. 42:24 Yeah, I agree. 42:25 Congratulations. 42:26 It's a great streak. 42:27 And for me, if anything, I really believe that this kind of stuff maybe takes a little bit of the pressure off because you don't have everybody talking. 42:36 I mean, it's great when it's going on. 42:38 But to have that kind of, you know, you're almost having to be perfect every weekend, weekend after weekend. 42:45 That's a lot to carry around with you. 42:46 It's a great feeling when you look back on it. 42:50 But it's a lot of pressure still to have to win to keep it going. 42:53 And now they can just kind of, okay, that's over with, let's refocus and now let's try to win another national title. 42:59 So I think in the long run, it can be something that is actually beneficial to this year's team. 43:04 Yeah, get a couple losses and that's better than losing later in the season because you know, last season, the pressure was just tremendous on them. 43:14 I can't imagine the pressure, you know, they had everything at home, they were undefeated. 43:19 If they didn't perform, it was a huge disappointment. 43:22 So I think the pressure was not there as much this year, but boy, 62, it's just amazing, Veegs. 43:30 Yeah, I think the pressure would have built had they carried the streak all the way with them in the playoffs. 43:35 And if anything, it probably makes their season easier from a certain standpoint. 43:40 But yeah, like Brad Frost said, you know, congrats to the team that can win 63 because 62 is one heck of a number. 43:48 It won't be touched by a men's team. 43:50 I just don't think, not with the way that college hockey is set up for men these days, you know, maybe another women's team, who knows? 43:58 But men, it's just not going to happen. 44:00 Not until there's another 12 Alba Huntsville's. 44:06 Oh, hey guys, what are your thoughts on St. 44:09 Cloud State right behind us there in the rankings? 44:12 Same record, 8-1 and 1. 44:15 Sounds like they're doing pretty good up there, huh, Vakes? 44:18 Yeah, I was a little surprised. 44:20 You know, they lost a couple of players off their team last year, and they kind of ended last year on a down note. 44:25 But you know, they're playing well so far. 44:27 You know, that's another team that would be fun to see in the playoffs. 44:31 What do you think, Hammy, St. 44:32 Cloud, are they a fraud or are they doing pretty well, you think? 44:37 Well, I mean, I think it's really revolves around this year. 44:40 It's a different kind of team. 44:41 I mean, they're not really nearly as offensively strong as they were last year. 44:46 They're more of a defensive minded team this year. 44:48 They're doing real well defensively. 44:50 They got some veteran players on the blue line, and they got their farragers back in goal. 44:57 So I think that that's where the strength of their team is. 45:00 So it's a little bit different. 45:02 It's good results, but it's just done a little differently this year for them. 45:05 And I will say that it's so early, and I think that we're seeing that other than, from my look, I don't remember everybody on their schedule, from the teams that I remember being on their schedule, other than Miami, I don't know that they've really played anybody. 45:19 I mean, I know they play North Dakota, but I think North Dakota is mediocre this year. 45:24 So I don't know that that's, I mean, it's great to sweep there. 45:27 Don't get me wrong. 45:27 It's never something you should sneeze at. 45:29 But nonetheless, it's not like this is a loaded North Dakota team either. 45:33 And so I think that, you know, it's a little bit early yet to understand, you know, who's doing what. 45:39 And I think so I think that sometimes early on, it can be a little deceiving because people look at the name brand of who you've played and don't really think about, well, is that team really strong this year or not? 45:50 So we'll see. 45:51 There's lots of season left. 45:52 So we'll see what happens. 45:54 Any other teams out there you guys kind of surprised or disappointed in, you know, anywhere in the college hockey? 46:00 I noticed we were kind of ripping on Denver earlier, but they seem to have picked it up a little more recently now that they've gotten into conference play. 46:09 Anyone else? 46:10 Nebraska-Omaha playing better, too. 46:13 The big surprise for me so far is Wisconsin not playing very well. 46:16 I think, you know, they had really high expectations coming into the season. 46:19 They're the Big Ten favorite. 46:21 You know, they've they've dropped a couple of games already and they've struggled. 46:25 They've played some ugly hockey, too. 46:28 And their attendance keeps going down year by year. 46:32 Well, I've been talking about that a little bit on Twitter in the last week now. 46:37 Over the few years, they've gone from averaging 15 a game to 13, to 11, to like just under 10. 46:44 And now it's even lower than that. 46:46 They've lost an average of 5,000 fans a game in the last three, four seasons. 46:55 That's a huge chunk. 46:58 That is pretty brutal. 46:59 I mean, even when they had good teams and bad teams, those idiot fans, we know they're stupid, but they go and cheer on their badgers. 47:07 They always did. 47:08 But I mean, to lose, basically one third of their average is quite striking for what's going on over there. 47:19 Well, I think the other, the thing that I find a little ironic is that the NCHC hasn't been this juggernaut, you know, running a rough shot over the rest of college hockey, like they were talking going into this year, you know, I mean, they had, you know, they didn't have a Penn State, you know, they didn't have one of those newbie programs and all that kind of stuff to, you know, all their teams were pretty well established and none of them other than really St. 47:45 Cloud has shown a great deal of success so far with their record. 47:49 I mean, even Miami hasn't been, I mean, they've already got four losses. 47:53 So, I mean, it's not like they've been fantastic. 47:56 I mean, they've, they're a good team. 47:57 But as far as the conference itself goes, I mean, they're not like running rough shot, like a lot of their fans kind of were predicting prior to the year. 48:06 So, I think that that's a little bit of an interesting result. 48:10 I mean, I know that's what was at Michigan to split at UNO. 48:15 And I remember, you know, in Wisconsin to split at Miami. 48:19 And so, I mean, it's not like they're head and shoulders above everybody else, like a lot of people were thinking they would be. 48:26 Well, if you look at their standings, you know, even though North Dakota is technically in third place, they've played a bunch more games than anybody. 48:34 They've got five losses already in league play, whereas no one else is even, well, I suppose Colorado College has four losses, but, you know, St. 48:43 Clouds only has the one loss so far. 48:45 So it'd be a shame if, you know, North Dakota didn't do so well in their new super conference that was going to be the best conference with the best contracts and the best everything ever. 48:56 It'd be a shame if they didn't do so well. 48:59 I think if they lose in those games, they won't make the tournament. 49:02 That's true. 49:04 You know, look at CC, how they've dropped off. 49:06 I just looked at that one in four in conference, one in six in one overall. 49:10 Yikes. 49:11 I mean, you don't really expect to see CC, you know, they haven't really struggled like that basically since right before Luchia took over there, you know what I mean? 49:20 So it's kind of shocking to see them, you know, playing that poorly. 49:25 I mean, only ten goals scored in eight games and I mean that's pretty bad. 49:30 We'll have to see, you know, we'll get into more conference plays soon, but it'll be interesting to watch what happens over the year. 49:40 Will they be calling for Haxdahl's head like they do every fall so far or will North Dakota do their own bounce back and maybe, you know, contend for a title? 49:50 Who knows, but as of right now, they're kind of in trouble in their own league. 49:54 So we will see. 49:58 Guys, you got anything else for this week? 50:00 I think I saw, I mean, you'll have to verify this, but I think I saw a question on Twitter from somebody asking about the whole rank size issue and all that kind of stuff. 50:12 Well, it looks like we got this big $10 million donation from a couple of people or whatever. 50:16 And I'm not sure about the time, but it sounds like they are going to reduce the size of the rank. 50:23 Originally, I had heard they would go to about 93. 50:26 Now, it's looking like they will go closer to 90 feet wide. 50:30 They may dig down. 50:32 It just kind of depends what the architect says. 50:34 They will not be going down to full NHL size. 50:37 I mean, there is only so much they could do without messing up the seating, you know, in the corners and whatnot. 50:43 The other thing I heard is that Gensel would like to change the radius and the corners. 50:48 You know, right now, their radius is 20 feet, which is very small and makes it deep, actually. 50:55 NHL radius is closer to 28 feet, you know, much more rounded. 51:00 From what I heard, they d like to go to somewhere in between, more along the 24-foot type radius in the corners, so just so they are not as deep as they are now, because Vegoe, you have played at Mariucci and I have, too. 51:11 Those are deep corners and there is a lot of space over there, so they would like to minimize that a little bit. 51:20 And then obviously, they are going to rip up the whole locker room area. 51:25 They are going to, as Vegoe would know, probably Hammy, you might know, too, you have these double doors that lead into the two, the opponent, and then the Gopher locker room and training area. 51:36 They plan to just clean it all out and start over. 51:39 I am not sure when, but it is coming soon, maybe this summer or maybe the summer afterwards. 51:47 We will have to see, but a smaller rink is coming, people. 51:52 We play a lot of teams that have smaller rinks. 51:54 We are not in the WCHA anymore. 51:55 We are pretty much half the teams had Olympic size. 51:58 I mean, even look at Mankato. 51:59 Mankato redid their rink this year, and they went to an NHL size themselves. 52:03 So it is, I know a lot of people might like the big ice, but it is going to disappear, folks. 52:10 I mean, that is just the way it is going to be. 52:12 Well, I mean, here is the thing. 52:13 I think a lot of people are debating about the positives or the negatives of reducing the ice sheet and whatever. 52:21 Yeah, it might affect recruiting, maybe. 52:23 Well, here is the thing. 52:24 This is to me where people, a lot of times, maybe it is the bias of having had a program that has always, or at least for a long time, has had an Olympic size rink. 52:39 The reality is that there are a lot of programs, and to me, a program like BC is a perfect example because they play on, I believe, it's a 200 by 87, and which is essentially NHL, it's not 85, nonetheless, it's essentially NHL size. 52:57 BC is the most successful program in college hockey, probably in the last 10 or so years. 53:03 They've had many players that are that smaller, wire bug skilled player that are fast and quick and create a lot of offense. 53:11 They've had a lot of players like that, that have been very successful there on that kind of a rank. 53:17 And you can't argue with the results. 53:19 So when people start talking about, oh, it's gonna automatically lead to slowed down games and traps and blah, blah, blah to me, that's a lot of crap. 53:27 I think that's a lot of garbage. 53:29 I think that, I don't know if it's that they got skewed by what they saw in NHL in the 90s and the first half of the last decade where there was a lot of obstruction and trap and all that, but once you kept cracking down on that stuff, the game opens up. 53:44 So I just think that if you legitimately look at some of the programs, I mean, look at our opponent this weekend. 53:51 They won the national title a few years back and they, some of their key players were guys like Connolly. 53:59 I mean, he's a five, what, eight player, five foot age player. 54:02 I mean, you have JT Brown wasn't a big, he wasn't a big guy. 54:06 So I mean, you have guys that are successful and teams that are successful playing on these smaller rights. 54:12 I think it's a knee jerk reaction athletes and how it's going to make the game worse or slow it down just because we're not in an ocean at Mariucci. 54:21 What do you think, Veegs, about the smaller rights coming to Mariucci soon? 54:25 Well, I think it's just one more chip in the bucket for stay in college and play college hockey and keep developing for the NHL. 54:34 I think sometimes that's one thing that the NHL teams say is they don't like their players playing on the bigger ice. 54:40 It's one of the reasons they want to bring players from Europe into the NHL. 54:45 It's to get them playing in a rink with less time and space to make plays. 54:50 So it forces you to play a little bit faster. 54:53 It's going to make things a little bit different on power plays because you're going to see more of that 1-3 type look. 55:00 When you have the big ice, it's hard to do that and be successful, but you're going to see it on the smaller rinks. 55:05 So if anything, that's going to help them transition into the NCAA tournament because I don't think there's too many NCAA tournament games being played on the big ice. 55:15 So I think it's only going to help the program. 55:18 Well, I think the other thing that people sometimes mistake is like somehow they think that because you're on an Olympic size sheet, teams can't play a trap or teams don't slow it down or whatever, but they do. 55:28 I mean, we've seen it all the time in Mariucci. 55:30 Exactly. 55:31 We've seen it with Anchorage, for instance. 55:32 How many games have we played against them where we out-shoot them like 45 to 15 and it ends up a 2-1 game? 55:39 Exactly. 55:39 Because we're shooting all these shots from way on the outside and it is crammed in in a slider around the net because we're not getting any quality shots. 55:48 And it's like, dude, if you think just because you're on an Olympic size sheet that that means that other teams can't play that slow it down trap stuff, you're kidding yourself. 55:57 I mean, where have you been watching hockey? 55:59 I mean, that's happened to the Gophers many times on Mariucci's current rank. 56:04 So I think that sometimes people will just get caught up in, you know, all while bigger, bigger ice, more ice means that that's going to be more wide open and more skill play and whatever. 56:15 And I actually think that if you if you watch games on the big ice, a lot of teams, a lot of players don't actually move the puck as quickly because they don't feel that pressure. 56:25 They don't feel like, you know, they skate around with guys more. 56:29 They hold on to the puck more. 56:30 The puck movement isn't even necessarily as good because they know they have that extra time. 56:34 Whereas if you play on regulation or like when we used to play at the old deck, I mean, that's an even smaller rink or was a smaller rink than NHL regulation. 56:43 And you have to make quick decisions. 56:46 You have to move the puck quickly, you know, maybe shorter passes and you have to end. 56:50 If you make turnovers, it turns around on you quick. 56:53 So I don't really buy that suddenly the game is going to be this big slugfest, slow it down, you know, watching paint dry type of style. 57:03 Well, it's coming, you know, let's just give it a year or two. 57:07 The change is coming to Mariucci. 57:09 Obviously, 90 feet is not that bad. 57:11 So we'll have to see. 57:13 We had one more question from a user. 57:15 You guys might know who this is. 57:17 It's not Drunk Cocky Guy, but you might recognize him. 57:22 Yeah, it's a first-time listener and a long-time caller. 57:25 When are you guys going to have more trivia on your podcast? 57:29 Thanks. 57:29 I'll hang up and listen. 57:32 Was that Cliff Klaven? 57:37 I don't know. 57:41 I'm pretty sure that was Zwock being a funny man. 57:44 Wondering about trivia. 57:46 Well, we don't care about trivia here. 57:48 We'll go see you at Old Chicago sometime, Zwock. 57:51 Okay. 57:51 We'll come see you. 57:53 Anything else for this week, guys? 57:57 I think we've said plenty. 58:00 Yeah. 58:01 Hey, we got you going. 58:03 That's all that matters. 58:04 That's when it's fun. 58:06 So Vego, you good to go? 58:09 Good to go. 58:09 Looking forward to three games on campus this weekend. 58:13 Oh boy. 58:13 I'll be at two out of three. 58:15 Oh boy. 58:15 Football. 58:16 I... 58:18 Go Gophs. 58:19 I know Go Gophs, but I'm not feeling good about this at all. 58:24 Sorry to be negative, Nancy, but... 58:28 Well, we'll just have to see. 58:29 Well, I'm just looking for a close game. 58:31 That would be nice, because it really hasn't been close with Wisconsin in a while. 58:36 You know what? 58:37 They've had a successful year, no matter what happens in the next couple of weeks. 58:40 Oh, don't say that. 58:41 That's what we say all the time. 58:44 Well, I want to win. 58:45 Yeah, I mean, don't get me wrong. 58:46 I want to kill them. 58:47 But I'm just saying, no matter what happens, I'm happy with how they progress. 58:51 So, good for them. 58:52 Yeah, I guess so. 58:54 Well, as you heard from Zwock and Zach from Mankato, you can participate if you want. 59:00 Just leave us a voicemail at 320-321-9584. 59:05 And we'll try to get you on the air if we can. 59:07 We're still trying to do something new. 59:09 But we need you to call. 59:11 Don't be shy, call, be funny, I don't care, just don't swear. 59:15 Otherwise, you know, during the broadcast or, you know, anytime during the week, we'll try to write it down. 59:20 But just tweet us at Gopher Puck Live or at eeveego or at Hammy Hockey. 59:24 Use Twitter, let us know what do you want us to talk about. 59:28 Something specific, whatever you want, we'll try to get to it. 59:32 Other than that, I think we're done this week, boys. 59:35 We'll be back next week to talk about the series with the Bulldogs and open up the Big Ten Conference with the Badgers. 59:45 Until then, we'll see you next time.