0:03 This is the GopherPuckLive Podcast, episode number five, recorded November 1, 2011. 0:20 Thank you for joining us here in the GopherPuckLive Broadcast Podcast. 0:25 I am Jupiter, your host, and of course, joining me this week is Hammeh. 0:29 Hammeh, how you doing? 0:31 Doing pretty well. 0:31 Doing well. 0:33 Cardinal, a little sore, doing a little paintballing today, I understand. 0:37 Yeah, a little enjoying the bi-week at work, and a much-needed recovery after a nice weekend in Charlotte that took a little bit out of me, physically and mentally. 0:47 So, yeah, bi-week comes at a good time. 0:50 Yeah, we all saw your little run-in with the Ultimate Warriors. 0:52 Pretty entertaining. 0:55 Yeah, there was a lot of characters, literally and figuratively, again, out in Charlotte. 0:59 But a successful weekend for the club, so that was good. 1:02 And yeah, so no complaints. 1:04 Well, a successful weekend for the Vikings, also a successful weekend for our Gopher Hockey team. 1:09 They get a sweep up in Anchorage. 1:12 I think it's a definite positive thing, because they tend to do okay in Anchorage. 1:18 I don't think they've been swept there as long as I can remember, but it tends to be a tricky little trip. 1:27 Well, you have all the time changes, three hours behind what we're used to. 1:33 It is a pretty long trip, although it sounds like the flights have improved over the years. 1:38 And yeah, Anchorage is always a pretty gritty team. 1:41 They play pretty tough at home, even if they're not always high up in the standings or whatever, of course, they generally aren't. 1:48 But they're still a pretty tough team to play at home, usually a little bit older, a little more physical. 1:53 So it was a good trip overall. 1:56 The young guys handled it pretty well. 1:58 Yeah, when you go on the road, some of the keys are scoring first, which they of course did in both games, and then special teams and some power play goals on Friday night, and then a couple of shorthanded goals on Saturday. 2:10 So you kind of had good goal tending a lot of the things that you typically need to win on the road. 2:14 And like Andy said, especially against older physical type team like Anchorage, where you can get a couple of goals ahead of them, it's gonna be tough for them to come back. 2:21 So yeah, Gophers did exactly what they needed to do. 2:25 Yeah, it was definitely a good weekend. 2:27 We had a lot of people on the website, killed it a couple of times, got suspended. 2:33 It was quite an interesting weekend for the website, I'll tell you that. 2:36 So any general thoughts on the weekend? 2:39 Beyond what we've already talked about, obviously I think it's, they're 4-0 on the road in the WCHA so far. 2:47 They're winning games that in the previous years, they might not have won. 2:51 It's still looking good as we head into SEW Week. 2:56 Well, I think the thing that I take out of it is the eight goals that we scored against Anchorage, it was by seven different players. 3:05 It continues to kind of be a pattern of, it's not just one guy, it's not just one line, it's multiple lines and multiple players chipping in offensively and continues the pattern that we've seen so far this season where we have a pretty deep offense this year from the looks of it, I mean, thus far at least, and it's another positive to build on and hopefully it'll continue. 3:29 Yeah, and Ken Patterson again, very solid on the back end and he's continued his good play and I know I've had some people ask me this week at work, he's gonna play like every game and it seems that way and he's been their best player so far probably, obviously, how other guys, but the goalie's got four shutouts and he's just been awesome. 3:47 So, and yeah, like Kami said, I mean, it's a lot of the things that we thought would be true with this team have been true, whether it's Patterson being really good or having a lot of depth up front. 3:56 So yeah, and as long as the special teams keep being as good as they are, there's no reason to think this team can't keep rolling right along. 4:03 Speaking of rolling along, look who's rolling along now. 4:07 Michigan Tech, three out of four points against number two Denver. 4:15 I don't know what Guazdecki was doing, but he definitely pulled his goalie in the third period with what was, what about six or seven minutes left and he didn't take, he didn't put him back in. 4:26 They scored three goals in 31 seconds and that game was completely over, killed seven to two that night. 4:33 What's going on up there? 4:34 I guess he was just feeling a little generous. 4:36 I wanted to help some of the tech players with their numbers. 4:40 You know, I don't know, I mean, I guess, it's kind of like what we've seen with Gensel, I suppose to a degree, is you get some, a fresh face in there for coaching and maybe it adds a little bit of inspiration to the players. 4:52 I feel kind of a fresh new slate to start from and they're playing inspired hockey. 4:58 And, you know, I mean, from a Gopher's standpoint, whenever we've gone up there, that is one place that we seem to, even when they've been at their worst, we've still struggled a bit up there. 5:08 So, you know, for us, it probably wouldn't be that uncommon necessarily to come out there, not without four points, but, you know, Denver, I'm very surprised. 5:17 They're one of the top two or three teams, at least pre-season wise, a lot of people had them in the top two or three. 5:23 And to come out of there with only one point and kind of a goaltending situation up in the air, it's pretty interesting. 5:32 Yeah, I mean, that was the whole thing with Denver, right? 5:34 Was, you know, look great on everything, but then with Sam Britton being out for until what January looks like or February or whatever, you know, could Adam Murray, a kid who was pretty highly touted coming in, and he's obviously struggled to the point where Britton was, you know, the guy to take over last year. 5:48 And, you know, he got pulled on Friday night and he hasn't been all that great. 5:51 And, you know, you look at Denver's lineup and their top, you know, line and, you know, maybe a little bit more are decent. 5:55 But they only look again at the Gophers with all the depth they have and compared to some of the other teams. 5:59 And, you know, Denver might have a couple of guys that are maybe more high end than anything the Gophers can offer. 6:04 But the depth thing for them is it looks like it might be, you know, becoming an issue here. 6:08 So we'll see. 6:09 They have a pretty big series this weekend at home against the Bulldogs. 6:13 I'm sure we'll touch on at some point, but it's a pretty important one for them to bounce back from a pretty poor showing in Houghton. 6:19 I think Adam Murray is a little dinged up too now, isn't he? 6:21 They're not even sure if he's in a play, I think, this coming weekend. 6:25 So that's obviously going to be a big question mark for them. 6:28 Well, here's the key stat, I think. 6:30 You know, I don't think Tech's going to finish it, you know, obviously one or two or anything like that. 6:37 But they do have seven points in the league so far, only in the first month of play. 6:43 They only had six points all of last season. 6:47 So they're definitely moving in the right direction. 6:50 And they have, you know, Minnesota State went on the docket this weekend at home. 6:55 So, you know, they've had a lot of home games so far and, you know, they continue that this weekend and they, you know, you kind of think they're going to, what, probably split it worse against Minnesota State with a pretty good chance to, you know, maybe get some more considering the way the Mavericks have started and I know, you know, they got to be a little bit healthier this weekend than they were maybe the last couple, but, you know, still are pretty banged up teams. 7:13 So yeah, I mean, Tech's got a good chance to, you know, keep getting off to a hot start with all those home games. 7:18 And for a team like that, where you're, you know, trying to instill a lot of confidence in a new coach, I mean, if you can, you know, rack up some wins and put up some points at home, that's a good thing for them. 7:27 Well, let's move on to Duluth and Bemidji. 7:30 Duluth gets the sweep. 7:33 Nothing really surprising there. 7:34 The second game seemed like a pretty big snoozer according to Drunk Hockey Guy. 7:40 He seemed like he was bored the whole game. 7:44 Well, you know, he's got high expectations, I guess, especially after our national title year. 7:48 So you can't read too much into that, I would guess. 7:51 But, you know, Duluth has actually rebounded pretty well after having been swept by us up there. 7:58 I think they're 3-0-1-1 since then. 7:59 So they've rebounded nicely. 8:01 And, you know, they're building some momentum. 8:04 It'll be interesting to see how they perform this week out in Denver. 8:08 Like we just talked about with Denver, they have some questions that are not playing at the top of their game. 8:12 So we'll have to see how that series goes. 8:16 Yeah, that's big for Duluth. 8:17 I mean, you could probably make an argument that they maybe should have got a point or two out of the Gopher series. 8:21 But, you know, of course, as it turns out, that didn't happen. 8:23 And, you know, but then, you know, they can't be so to go out to Providence, which anytime you go out East, it doesn't matter really who you're playing. 8:28 That's a, you know, not an easy thing to go out there. 8:30 And, you know, they get a win in a tie. 8:32 And then you come home against an Amidji team that, you know, has been okay this year. 8:35 I mean, they won at Miami. 8:36 So, you know, they're a pretty good team and, you know, to sweep them up there. 8:39 And you kind of figured that the way that series would go with, you know, one kind of blowout game where Duluth's offense is really clicking and then one game it's a little bit lower scoring and close to the vest. 8:48 But, you know, that's the kind of, you know, when you get dropped at home by Minnesota, you know, you got to rebound and not let, you know, kind of give those extra points or even an extra point, you know, singularly away. 8:57 And, you know, so good job for the Bulldogs to get four points against the Beavers. 9:02 Then the other two series were both splits. 9:04 Nebraska- 9:05 Omaha came back to win Friday night against Wisconsin. 9:07 Wisconsin pays them back. 9:09 You know, then we've got St. 9:10 Cloud blanking North Dakota Friday night and then obviously North Dakota coming back and winning. 9:15 Any thoughts on those two series? 9:18 You know, for me, I mean, we saw Friday night game on FSN for the Wisconsin UNO game. 9:26 And, you know, I was very surprised at how, in my opinion, soft UNO looked defensively. 9:33 I didn't see Saturday's game, but... 9:37 You had commented on that early, too. 9:39 I remember you saying, gosh, they look terrible defensively. 9:43 And obviously when it was 3-0 real quick, that's not exactly the wrong opinion. 9:48 Yeah, well, and I think the other problem... 9:50 But they stuck with it. 9:52 Yeah, and, you know, their goaltending, I mean, I remember when we talked about it in the preview podcast. 9:57 You know, I questioned how solid their goaltending was going to be this year. 10:02 And as a team, their, you know, save percentage is under 88%. 10:06 So, I mean, they haven't really looked up in goal or, you know, defensively to, you know, kind of what you would expect from a team that a lot of people had a little bit higher in the standings, for preseason rankings at least. 10:16 So we'll see how it goes. 10:19 Yeah, and for that, I mean, to give up 10 goals to Wisconsin on the weekend, I mean, that's, you know, Wisconsin, I kind of keep doubting them, but I mean, they did well against North Dakota, and they did well against Omaha in terms of scoring goals. 10:30 But, yeah, for Wisconsin, you know, the expectations may be a little bit lower, just considering everything they've lost, and, you know, they're off to a pretty decent start. 10:39 So again, a lot of those have been at home. 10:40 Obviously, being swept at Michigan Tech is a sore spot. 10:43 But, you know, if you're Wisconsin, you know, it was a tough loss on Friday night, but then to rebound and score six goals. 10:49 And, you know, so for the Badgers, at least, the offense is coming, even though a lot of people, including myself, didn't think it would be there, especially in the year, so that's, you know, hopefully a good sign for them and for the fact that down the road, you know, you think some of the young guys will get better and, you know, for the second half of the year. 11:03 So if they're already producing at a somewhat high level, you know, that bodes well for them. 11:08 And then, you know, St. 11:10 Cloud entry to their number one goalie, Mike Lee, they head up, throw a rookie in there, and he blanks North Dakota. 11:18 Yeah, that had to be, for me, the surprise game of the whole weekend. 11:22 You know, when you bring your backup goalie in, and, you know, not that Mike Lee has been playing great for St. 11:28 Cloud, but, I mean, he's certainly their unquestioned starter, I would say. 11:32 And to bring, you know, a rookie backup goalie into the game up to Grand Forks and to get a shot at it, you know, it's relatively impressive. 11:41 I mean, North Dakota got over 40 shots that game. 11:43 I mean, we have talked about it multiple times. 11:45 Shots on goal don't necessarily mean diddly, but still to face that many shots on the road, that's certainly going to be, you know, something that is kind of a surprise. 11:58 And, you know, you can expect the North Dakota rebound the next night, and that's what they did. 12:02 So you have to give them credit, and they have a little bit of momentum coming into this week against the Gophers. 12:08 Yeah, and I know I was personally pretty happy to see North Dakota win on Saturday just because, you know, they were coming up that really rough weekend in Wisconsin. 12:15 I know at least one of those two games, I think it was the Saturday game, where the Sioux really dominated shots and goals. 12:20 It was very similar to the Friday night game against St. 12:22 Cloud. 12:22 So it was kind of back-to-back games where they, you know, really dominated the play, but, you know, lost both times. 12:27 And, you know, it's one of those things where, you know, that's only going to happen so many times. 12:30 And so, you know, selfishly, I was very happy to see the Sioux win on Saturday just so you didn't see a team on an 0-4-4 skid coming down to Mariucci. 12:38 So, but, yeah, I mean, St. 12:39 Cloud, I don't know if it's, you know, I was kind of on the loop today, so I don't know if the news on Mike Lee, if that's, you know, they said last week that it could be a long-term thing, you know, soon here. 12:49 So, you know, not that their season hinges on that, but it kind of does. 12:52 I mean, I know, though, I'd say Farragher is not the kid's name on Friday night. 12:55 He played really well, but, you know, he doesn't have a big resume behind him. 12:58 And, you know, just St. 12:59 Cloud in general is not the most defensive-minded team. 13:02 So, you know, typically, it's going to help to have a, you know, pretty good goalie back there. 13:05 And like Hammy said, Lee hasn't been, you know, maybe lived up to the hype of what he committed so far. 13:09 But, you know, he's still probably one of the better goalies in the WCHA, and he's a junior now. 13:13 So, if it was him for the season, that would be, you know, pretty devastating for a team that was picked to finish, I think by most people in the bottom half of the conference. 13:22 Yeah, we're going to have to see what happens there, because obviously that would be a huge loss. 13:27 Well, before we get to the big SU Gopher Series, let's quickly go through the rest of the series this week. 13:35 Quick comments. 13:36 Mankato heads up to Tech. 13:38 Tech's playing really pretty well right now, and Mankato is barely staying above water. 13:45 Yeah, well, I mean, Mankato had an off week, so I don't know what their injury situation has improved. 13:51 I'm sure it has a little bit with the off week, but I really don't see what the way Tech is playing up at home. 13:56 I don't know how Mankato is really going to come out of there with points. 13:59 They did play a solid game, I believe, if I remember correctly, against Denver on the road, but still I would expect Tech to sweep that series. 14:09 Yeah, I mean, it's tough with Tech to, you know, it's weird to even be talking about predicting a sweep for them. 14:13 I mean, that's pretty rare when that happens, but yeah, I mean, I would assume that Tech would fairly, you know, do pretty well this weekend, you know, Mankato in the off week, so definitely time to lick their wounds and, you know, maybe get something together. 14:24 So I wouldn't be surprised if they maybe got a point out of there just because, you know, Tech needs to have a little bit more of a resume for him, you know, predicting the sweep too often, but again, it wouldn't be a shock if they took four points from the Mavericks at this point, just the direction that both teams appear to be heading. 14:37 CC heads to Nebraska. 14:41 Thoughts? 14:42 Well, I mean, like I talked about earlier, defensively in a goal, you know, a little bit surprised at how UNO has played thus far. 14:51 Maybe they missed Gensel as much as we gained from getting Gensel back. 14:55 So in any case, the goaltending is a little bit iffy there, and defensively I thought against Wisconsin, they played a little bit soft, and you know, CC is a good team. 15:07 They haven't had a heck of a lot of scoring. 15:09 I mean, it seems like they rely mostly on that top line with Schwartz boys. 15:16 So I would personally, I'm going to pick CC with a road sweep. 15:21 Yeah, CC, I mean, they've kind of been the one WCHA team picked by most people towards the top. 15:26 It's done pretty well this year, and granted, they've only played four games at home against the Midgis and then out at RPI, but you know, the sweep at RPI, I mean, they're usually, I mean, what, they're an NCAA team last year and with Seth Appert, the former Denver coach there, they've been a team definitely on the rise. 15:40 So if you can go out there and sweep, I mean, that's, I'd say that's very solid. 15:42 And just looking, like Hammy said, that top line with the Shorts brothers and then Scott Wrinkler, I believe it is, and it's 10 of their 17 goals this year. 15:48 So, you know, kind of just like the Gophers where, you know, you thought they'd in-depth, the whole thing with CC was, you know, the Shorts brothers are going to be really tough to stop. 15:55 And, you know, they haven't racked up a ton of goals yet, but they're scoring, you know, the vast majority of that team's goals. 16:00 So, yeah, I think it should be a really entertaining series. 16:02 I mean, both those teams are, you know, typically offense first. 16:05 I think Omaha might have a little bit more depth up front, whereas CC definitely has the better high-end guys. 16:10 So, you know, when you look at, in net for CC, I mean, they have a giant advantage. 16:13 You know, Omaha's goal-tening has been really suspect. 16:15 And, you know, for the most part, at CC, I mean, to hold RPI to a goal again last weekend on the road, that's really good with Joe House. 16:21 So, yeah, I'd expect CC to fare, you know, pretty well this weekend against the Omaha team. 16:25 That's, you know, not off to the greatest start in the world. 16:28 Bucky at St. 16:30 Cloud. 16:32 Yeah, that'd be an interesting series. 16:35 You know, like Ryan touched on earlier, Wisconsin's actually done a little bit better offensively than I thought that they would. 16:44 So it'll be interesting to see if they can continue that on the road. 16:47 I mean, they did get, you know, beat a couple times at Tech, so we'll see how they play on the road. 16:54 St. 16:54 Cloud, you know, they're coming off of what I would say as a positive weekend, you know, coming out of the Grand Forks with a couple points, and, you know, we'll see if they're young goalie. 17:03 I mean, I don't know what the prognosis is on Mike Lee. 17:06 I would assume it sounds like it's going to be at least a little while. 17:10 So I would guess that they're going to have that young kid playing in goal again, and we'll see how he can follow up his first full weekend of hockey. 17:18 And I think that's my tendency is to go with the home team, so I'm probably going to go with St. 17:24 Cloud, three out of four. 17:26 Yeah, it could be with Wisconsin, their freshman goalies, and they've been kind of up and down, and then St. 17:31 Cloud maybe starting a freshman, too. 17:33 So I think you might see some high-scoring games here definitely entertaining, despite the fact that I'm sure Wisconsin is going to want to try to lock it down a little bit. 17:40 But yeah, I mean, these two teams are pretty even, and they'll probably be just the way the season is kind of shaping up. 17:46 I mean, this could be one of those things where home ice comes down to one of these two teams. 17:50 It seems like they're both kind of headed towards the middle of the pack type finish. 17:53 So yeah, I mean, it's definitely a big series, and they do play later in the season. 17:57 But yeah, I'll say a split probably. 17:59 But yeah, if I had to give a slight edge, you know, probably to St. 18:01 Cloud is for the home ice. 18:03 Denver hosts Duluth. 18:07 I think this is an interesting series. 18:09 Denver, you know, obviously high ranking. 18:14 Supposed to be a great team coming off one point at Tech. 18:18 Duluth seems to be up on, you know, doing a lot better since they played us. 18:23 I think it's going to be an interesting series. 18:27 Well, yeah, you know, I was talking a little bit on Twitter to Drunk Hockey. 18:32 Yeah, and I was like, yeah, I think I'm going to take that series as a split. 18:36 You know, but the reality is I don't know what Denver is going to have for goaltending play. 18:40 And that's kind of a wild card when you're going into this series because, you know, as we've seen, goaltending can be a real equalizer no matter how the rest of your team is playing. 18:50 And I don't think Denver, I mean, they've had, of course, that huge night against Mankato. 18:57 But, I mean, the way they've been playing, you can't really count that as being much of a telltale sign of anything. 19:03 But I would say the way the Bulldogs have been playing lately, you know, I'm going to call it a split, but it won't surprise me if UMD actually does a little better than that out there. 19:14 Yeah, like Craig said, I mean, this should be a really interesting series just based on, you know, Denver's been so up and down and, you know, they go out to the Boston schools and they split, which is really good. 19:22 And then you come home against Minnesota State and like Hammy said, I mean, they took them apart, but what does that really mean at this point? 19:27 And then, you know, coming off the pretty poor outing attack. 19:30 So you think Friday night, especially that Denver would be pretty fired up. 19:34 But, you know, like Hammy said, too, the goaltending question mark if Murray's going to be available or not. 19:38 I mean, you know, how many times you see in hockey where a team can dominate, but if you're, you know, don't have much on the back end and there's not many teams in the league that would be able to lose their top two goalies, which will Britton and Murray up there both down for this game, you know, be able to roll the third string guy out against a team like Duluth and fair to well. 19:53 So, yeah, I mean, I would have guessed a split, too, but, you know, look, you know, this series is probably going to come down to the high end players. 19:59 I mean, there's some of the best forwards in the WCHA on both of these teams. 20:02 So, you know, I would assume that whichever, you know, kind of group shines the most will have the most success this weekend. 20:09 And now, the Fighting FlickrTales come to Mariucci for the first time since January 2010. 20:16 Now, Ryan, I know you were hoping the Gophers would be A to 0 and would just put the beat down on them. 20:21 I know you're excited about this series. 20:23 Give us your initial thoughts. 20:26 I'll take 7 and 1. 20:27 I mean, yeah, the undefeated thing would have been cool, although the whole undefeated thing, eventually, that starts to kind of weigh on a team a little bit and set things, you know, expectations get a little bit high. 20:35 So maybe the one loss is kind of a good thing. 20:37 But yeah, I mean, I know, you know, I'm sure once the Gophers talk with the media tomorrow and, you know, both teams will probably try to downplay a little bit. 20:44 But I think it is important for the Gophers, maybe more than North Dakota, in that, you know, the Gophers schedule has been a little bit easier so far. 20:51 North Dakota has put a very tough schedule, especially with, you know, losing so much from last year. 20:55 And but, you know, I think it's important for the Gophers. 20:58 Granted, you know, this North Dakota team is under 500 and, you know, they're not great right now. 21:02 But at the same time, you know, this is a team that's only Gophers over the last several years. 21:06 I think the record is the Gophers are what, five, 11 and three against them in their last ass amount of games. 21:11 So it's a team that, you know, it's our biggest rival, in my opinion, when it comes to hockey, for sure. 21:15 And, you know, it's a team that's only Gophers over the last few years. 21:18 And they've had really good teams and obviously the Gophers haven't. 21:20 And, you know, this is, we're pretty young on this season, but, you know, it appears the Gophers are the better team right now. 21:25 And it would be really, really disappointing if they lay an egg this weekend, especially against North Dakota. 21:29 If they were playing, you know, Denver or something and they laid an egg, I don't think people would, you know, have as big a problem with it, or at least I wouldn't. 21:36 But no, I really want the Gophers to do well. 21:38 It's a team that, like I said, they've owned us over the years. 21:40 And, you know, we definitely owe them just for the last, you know, X amount of seasons of them kind of taking it to us. 21:45 So, yeah, no, I think it is a big one, big one for the Gophers, despite the good start. 21:52 For me, you know, you have to give North Dakota a lot of credit. 21:55 They've been very good over the last, you know, handful of years in our hack stall. 21:59 And it's kind of what Lucia said on the radio yesterday. 22:04 In order to beat the man, you have to beat the man. 22:07 Yeah. 22:08 And the reality is, is North Dakota, you know, has been the better program in the last, you know, few years. 22:13 And right as Cardinal said, right now, the Gophers appear to be, you know, and I believe this is true, that they're the better team this year. 22:23 I mean, I think that the depth up front is much better on the Gophers. 22:27 I mean, granted, we're only a month into the season, but we have two very good lines that are, you can consistently, you know, depend upon to score some goals. 22:37 Third line is, you know, they've been very good. 22:41 I mean, you have a third line that's probably as good as a lot of teams' second line. 22:45 I mean, you have Madsen and Condon doing well, and Ambrose is pitched in a bit, you know, with the physical part of the game. 22:52 So that's been very good. 22:53 You have Patterson, who, in my opinion, I set up before the season, and I continue to believe it. 22:58 I think he's the best goalie in WCHA. 23:01 And I think, of course, when you look at a series like this, goal-tending is huge. 23:06 And if you look at how Dell has played, and he's probably their main starter, I would guess he's given up close to three and a half goals a game so far this year. 23:16 And, you know, 85% or so save percentage, that's not going to get it done. 23:20 It's certainly not going to get it done against the Gophers. 23:22 And so to me, you know, if Patterson continues to play like he has, and we see, you know, Dell not picking up his game, there's going to be some, you know, real trouble for North Dakota. 23:33 But, you know, there's so many things that you can say throughout, you know, when you get in a rivalry series. 23:39 So you can't look at the trends necessarily too deeply because emotions run high. 23:43 So we'll see how it goes. 23:45 I think one of the big keys this weekend is going to be how disciplined the Gophers are. 23:52 In the past, actually just a couple weeks ago, they've taken some dumb penalties. 23:58 Well, this is, you can't do that against North Dakota. 24:01 We know that North Dakota could likely goon it up, but we have to be under control. 24:06 You have to keep your head, head on. 24:10 You really have to do that. 24:11 If you don't, we're going to be playing four on four. 24:14 We need to take advantage of our power play when we get those advantages. 24:18 So I think discipline is going to be really key this weekend for the younger guys. 24:23 Yeah, I agree. 24:23 You look at one of the things that, one of the reasons that North Dakota has had so much success against the Gophers is that typically North Dakota teams are physical and borderline cheap, and they're going to take their fair share of penalties. 24:34 They're not borderline cheap. 24:35 They were cheap. 24:37 I'm just going with it. 24:39 They're a bunch of hacks. 24:40 Come on. 24:41 That's true. 24:42 But at the same time, there are a lot of Gopher fans that complain that the Gophers haven't played a lot of energy and emotion. 24:47 So I guess I'd rather have it where you cross the line a little bit than if you come short of that line all the time. 24:52 But regardless of that, you know, the Gophers haven't had the power play the last few years to put the hammer down on North Dakota when they do cross the line. 24:59 When Fratton hit weirds in that playoff series, part of the reason I'm sure that Fratton didn't think twice about it is, well, the Gopher power play is abysmal. 25:05 So even if we give them a five-minute penalty, they're not going to score on it. 25:08 Gophers didn't and they lost the game. 25:10 But, you know, nowadays, you know, the Gopher power play is unbelievable. 25:13 And, you know, they're at, what, 35, 36 percent. 25:15 It's not going to click that high all year long, but it's lethal right now. 25:19 And, you know, North Dakota, whether it's, you know, being, you know, doing the cheap stuff or just the fact that, you know, guys like Blood and Mick William, I mean, you get them on the big ice and those guys are really good defensemen. 25:28 But, you know, the big ice, their skating gets exposed a little bit and they're going to take some holding penalties or hooking. 25:33 So, if the Gophers can get that board check going and, you know, get on the power play, you know, you score one or two power play goals a night, which is not unrealistic the way the Gopher power play is going right now. 25:42 You know, that can be the difference in a series like this. 25:44 So, yeah, the Gophers can't retaliate and they just need to play their game, draw some penalties and let the power play do the work for them. 25:51 But I also think they need to, you know, they're not going to surprise North Dakota. 25:57 Well, actually, I think they could surprise North Dakota because North Dakota is not used to seeing a physical team out of Minnesota. 26:02 Minnesota is definitely more physical this year. 26:06 And they also can take a shot and punch right back. 26:10 I mean, look at the Rao kid. 26:11 The Rao's kid is still getting beat up left and right. 26:14 And he's got his buddies next to him, ready to take the guys out. 26:17 And he'll go just go down and score. 26:18 So I think North Dakota will be a little surprised at how physical we are, as long as we don't retaliate too much. 26:26 Well, you know, the funny thing is, I was looking at the stats earlier today. 26:30 And North Dakota actually has not been very penalized this year. 26:35 I mean, they're only, I think, averaging 10 penalty minutes a game, which for them is extremely low. 26:40 Granted, we're only talking about what eight, you know, eight games. 26:42 But nonetheless, they haven't been, you know, we've actually been far more penalized so far this year than North Dakota has. 26:49 So, you know, to kind of piggyback on what you guys are saying, I really believe that you know, North Dakota is going to play in your face. 26:56 That's how they generally are. 26:59 And you kind of have to answer that. 27:00 But you also have to be, like you said, disciplined. 27:02 You can't take the stupid after the whistle penalties. 27:05 I mean, that's what killed us when I, you know, at that second Vermont game, you had guys taking dumb penalties, you know, after the whistle. 27:12 I mean, I remember one for Helgeson where we were going to go on the power play and he comes in after the whistle and slashes a guy and evens it up. 27:19 But I mean, those are the kinds of things with our power play that you can't get sucked into. 27:23 You have to just, you know, skate away and let's make them pay on the power play. 27:27 I mean, you know, I was looking at the numbers in conference play, we're over 50% on the power play. 27:33 Granted, it's only four games, it's a small sample. 27:35 But nonetheless, when you've got that kind of potency, you can't be taking stupid penalties. 27:40 And it's killed our momentum in a couple of games. 27:43 That Vermont game, it certainly hurt us on the second Anchorage game. 27:48 So taking two, three penalties in a row, you can't be doing that kind of stuff. 27:52 So discipline is going to be a big one as well as, you know, special teams. 27:56 And Craig, one thing you said too about with the Gophers being a little bit more physical and with the size especially, I mean, you look at, you know, I mean, Blood and McWilliam, I mean, those are two really good defensemen. 28:04 And that's one area this weekend where on paper North Dakota does have the edge, in my opinion, is that on the blue line, you know, guys like Blood and McWilliam are a little bit older, but then, you know, Derek Forbert. 28:13 So they have some pretty high end defensemen, but, you know, with Blood and McWilliam, you know, especially killing penalties. 28:18 And, you know, in the past, it's been a lot of, you know, this, you know, the smaller ball and Cephas and some of the smaller forwards, but now when you're, you know, on loan, you have, you know, guys like Budish and Buksan and Ambrose. 28:28 So the Gophers, you know, not only, you know, their power play in general, maybe one of the reasons they are equipped to do a little bit more damage against them is that they have some bigger bodies that, you know, can go at all the North Dakota D, which, you know, usually the, you know, they're not quite like they were in the days where every guy was, you know, 6'6, it seemed, but, you know, they definitely have some bigger guys back there. 28:45 So hopefully they can, you know, use their physicality to the Gopher's edge this weekend. 28:49 You know, and the other interesting thing, I mean, we talked about, yeah, I mean, before the season end, we still do is, you know, North Dakota, the strength of their team was going to be defense and goal. 28:59 And, you know, but the reality is, is that hasn't really, I mean, it hasn't lived up to reality. 29:04 I mean, I talked about Dell, his statistics earlier have been very subpar. 29:09 And, you know, team defense, I think if I looked at North Dakota was tied for 39th in the country. 29:16 And you'd expect a lot more from a team that, you know, from a talent perspective is certainly very good on the blue line. 29:22 And granted, defense is a team effort. 29:24 It's not just the blue line guys and the goalies. 29:27 You still have to have forwards that are back checking and covering their areas. 29:31 But, you know, as a team defense, they haven't lived up to what you would expect from them. 29:36 And that's been, I think, the biggest surprise for me out of them. 29:39 I mean, you kind of knew that they would struggle to score goals because they lost a lot of, you know, goals team last year because some of the players. 29:46 But defensively, they have, to this point, not lived up to expectations. 29:51 So give me your picks then. 29:54 What do you think is going to happen this weekend, Ryan? 29:57 I'll say three points for the Gophers. 29:59 I mean, I think, you know, despite the fact that, you know, the Gophers are, you know, arguably the best team in the country right now, you can make that argument. 30:05 And North Dakota is at a slow start. 30:06 Now, granted, like I said earlier, North Dakota has definitely played a tougher schedule, which, you know, plays into some of their numbers. 30:11 And you have to take that into consideration. 30:13 But, you know, I just think that the fact that the series is in Minneapolis, I think it means more to the Gophers just because of the way the last few years have gone for the program in general. 30:21 And then especially, you know, in most of the games against the Sioux, which haven't gone the Gophers' way, you know, I think North Dakota is going to struggle a little bit on the big ice. 30:29 You know, and I just think the Gophers' depth up front is what's going to kind of lead the way this weekend. 30:33 North Dakota, you know, Grimaldi's had some injuries and, you know, like Colton St. 30:37 Clair, a kid that they expected to probably do pretty well this year. 30:39 He's, you know, ruled out for the year. 30:40 And, you know, some of the other young guys that North Dakota expects to, you know, take that step or, you know, be impact freshmen just haven't done it yet. 30:47 So maybe by the time these teams play in January, North Dakota will have a little bit more depth up front. 30:52 But, you know, they have that big line with, you know, Nelson and, you know, Christo and Corbin Knight. 30:57 But, you know, past that, there's really not a lot to write home about. 30:59 So, you know, I just think the Gophers' depth up front and Patterson is going to be the difference this weekend. 31:08 Yeah, you know, for me, I would basically be kind of piggybacking on that. 31:12 I mean, the thing is, is that I see the keys being, we talked about special teams, but also the depth. 31:19 Ryan touched on it. 31:20 Really, North Dakota, to this point, has only had one line that's been consistently productive with that Christo Nelson Knight line. 31:28 The Gophers on the flip side have had two lines that are consistently scoring and a third line that has been relatively good as well. 31:36 And for me, it's going to be, how do we, you know, can we shut down that one line or at least limit the damage that they do for North Dakota and then watch our depth take, you know, take control. 31:47 We'll be able to match up lines because we have the final change. 31:51 Discipline is going to be a big one in a series with high emotions. 31:54 You know, you're going to have to be disciplined about, like I said, retaliating and taking some penalties. 31:59 Got to stay out of the box and work on our power play. 32:03 So I have been wavering a bit, you know, whether I wanted to say split or not, but I think I'm kind of going where Ryan is going, and that's going to be three out of four for the Gophers. 32:13 Well, some instant feedback for someone who's listening to us live. 32:16 South Texas Gopher wants to know, will this weekend be a reality check for the Gopher team that's played a soft schedule so far this season, or are the Sioux bad enough this year to not be relevant? 32:29 Well, I mean, they're going to be heard from at some point. 32:32 I mean, I might have been foolish to pick them to win the league, although it's still pretty early for that. 32:36 And we've seen Denver struggle a little bit. 32:39 But no, I mean, North Dakota is going to be heard from at some point. 32:41 I mean, their backhand hasn't been what everyone thought it would be, like Cami said, and they have some issues up front. 32:47 But they still have a lot of talent, and typically underhacks, they're definitely a second half team. 32:53 I mean, who knows, it could be a rally check for the Gophers. 32:55 I mean, I think, obviously, you want to focus on this weekend for Minnesota. 32:59 But like Lucia talked about with PA yesterday, you look at the next four weekends, you have North Dakota at home, then you're at Wisconsin, home at home with St. 33:06 Cloud, and then at Michigan State. 33:09 So I think kind of big picture, you kind of look at the season in chunks. 33:12 And we talked about that early where the Gopher schedule is pretty favorable early on, so if you can do well, and now if you can be even play 500 hockey the next four weekends, and then you have Mankato on Michigan Tech at home, you just kind of look at it in chunks and try to do as well as you can in those. 33:27 So yeah, it'd be awesome to do great against North Dakota, and then give yourself a little breathing room for all those road games they have coming up after that. 33:34 But yeah, I mean, if North Dakota, again, if they come down and sweep or take three out of four points, it's not the end of the world, but I do think it's going to sting a little bit more, just kind of what I said earlier about North Dakota being the better program of late. 33:45 And like I said, I think this weekend definitely means more for the Gophers than it does for the Sioux. 33:50 The one thing I would point out is a lot of people talk about the schedule, and certainly from a non-conference point of view, North Dakota's schedule has been, you know, was a bit more difficult. 33:59 I would point out, though, that both of the Gophers series and WCHA have been on the road, defending national champs who always get up for the Gophers, who went in there and swept. 34:10 Anchorage is not a weak team. 34:11 I mean, they've actually played relatively solid this year. 34:15 And I would actually dispute that the Gophers haven't had a little bit tougher. 34:19 Granted, like I've talked about earlier, it was a small sample size. 34:22 We weren't talking two series. 34:23 But, you know, the fact that they've gone 4-0 and UND has only gone 1-3 and two of those games are at home, I would dispute that, you know, it's been a tremendous amount of difference between the schedules overall. 34:36 So, you know, I think that, yeah, it's important for us. 34:41 There's no doubt this series is more important, I think, psychologically for us than it is for North Dakota, mainly because, you know, they have been doing better in recent seasons and, you know, we have to prove that we're back, you know, and the only way we're going to do that is by beating a team like North Dakota because they've handed it to us pretty well. 34:59 Well, I'm really hoping that the crowd shows up this weekend. 35:03 It's been a while since we've had an electric atmosphere at Mariucci. 35:08 Obviously, the team's been down for three years. 35:10 This is the chance for the crowd to show up to the games and get behind the team. 35:18 Yeah, I don't think there will be any issue with that this weekend. 35:21 I mean, like you said, it's been so-so for a while now, but we haven't had North Dakota down here for a while. 35:26 And I think with the fast start the team's had, that's probably instilled a little bit more faith in some of the fans that are the type where you might show up some weekends or give your tickets away or whatever. 35:37 I mean, this is a big one, and the home conference, the home games so far have been pretty blah, but in credit to North Dakota, their fans, whether they're making the road trip down from Grand Forks or they're just living down here, if there's any loose tickets out there, their fans are going to be here, and I think that helps make the atmosphere good too with a lot of opposing fans, and you kind of get the little back and forth going. 35:57 So yeah, I mean, I think every seat's going to be full. 35:59 I mean, if not, then I don't know what it's going to take. 36:02 I mean, the team's seven and one, and they're playing their biggest rival this weekend with a chance to do some damage. 36:06 So if the crowd's half-assed this weekend, or there's only 9,000 people there, or something like that, I mean, that's a major red flag to me. 36:14 But like I said, I don't think that'll be a problem. 36:17 Well, and hopefully we'll see Ralph score some more goals and then over-celebrate, or whatever the whining is on Sioux Sports about him. 36:26 It's hilarious. 36:27 I don't really read too much of that stuff. 36:30 I know that... 36:31 You do. 36:31 I know. 36:32 You're over at Sioux Sports 24-7, aren't you? 36:34 Yeah, you know it. 36:36 You know, it's funny because I remember growing up and watching North Star Games, and Dino Ciccarelli was one of my favorite players as a kid. 36:44 And if they think Ralph over-celebrates, you know, they should have seen Dino back in the day. 36:48 You know, we're talking about pro athletes here. 36:50 And so that kind of stuff is ridiculous. 36:53 But it's interesting. 36:54 It adds to the rivalry to watch the fans. 36:57 You know, it is entertaining to watch different threads like on GPL or some of these other sites. 37:02 And, you know, seeing the back and forth and... 37:06 There's literally no hockey talk going on between anybody right now. 37:11 It's all trash talk, at least from what I've seen at Su Sports and at GPL. 37:15 Nothing about trash. 37:17 Yeah, and the funny thing is, is that to a degree, it's true. 37:23 You know, the Gophers haven't had much to trash talk about in recent seasons, you know. 37:27 So to come off and have a good start and have the fans kind of back on board, because let's face it, some of them were a little bit skeptical, I think, even with some of the additions, like with Gensel and whatever, and to have things kind of heat up again. 37:40 And certainly, rivalries like this are at their best when you have two programs that are... 37:46 I mean, granted, North Dakota hasn't played their best hockey yet, but when two teams are at their best or close to it, that's what makes rivalries great. 37:55 So, I mean, it's nice to see the Gophers kind of back, and I think that everybody would agree that these series mean a lot more when you have two good teams, and it's not just one team, and the other one's a little bit down or whatever. 38:06 So, it's nice. 38:08 Well, I'm picking a sweep for the Gophers just because I'm a Rube. 38:13 Well, you've been doing that pretty much the whole season. 38:15 Have you picked us to lose once? 38:17 I don't even know. 38:19 Uh, no. 38:20 Hey, I'm seven and one, huh? 38:23 Well, I guess technically you're right. 38:27 But even in those series where there was a question that we might not sweep, I mean, like a Duluth on the road at Duluth, I mean, you wouldn't normally pick a Gophers to sweep. 38:35 You even picked that one to sweep, didn't you? 38:36 Yeah, but I was just being a smartass basically. 38:41 All right, well, we've gotten our picks. 38:43 Quite a few questions here on feedback here. 38:46 Let me see what I've got here. 38:47 Oh, here we go. 38:52 Manpucker, Gmanpucker on GPL. 38:54 He's got a list of questions here. 38:56 Let's just kind of go through a few of them. 38:59 What do you see as the difference with this team compared to teams over the last three years? 39:04 Is it attributed to scoring more on offense or playing better defense? 39:10 Well, I think that there's no doubt that the difference this year compared to the last few years is the depth up front. 39:17 I mean, the scoring depth. 39:19 In prior years, you know, as well as the power play, of course. 39:23 Defensively, I mean, we've been okay. 39:26 I wouldn't say we've been, you know, certainly shut out. 39:28 I mean, even though we've had shutouts, I mean, a lot of that is probably more due to Patterson playing very well as opposed to us just being a shut down defense. 39:37 So I would say that the overall improvement has come from the depth up front and the scoring, relying on two lines as opposed to just, you know, maybe two or three guys on a team. 39:49 Yeah, and, you know, I mean, for me, I don't know if this team on paper is, you know, that much more talented than, you know, some of these past teams. 39:56 And I don't know if it's the whole Hill-Gensel thing. 39:58 I don't know if they were just due, if it was the fact that, you know, Lucia had the health issues and he couldn't be as into it as it was. 40:05 But I don't know. 40:06 There's something different. 40:07 Again, like I said, I mean, one of these years, it wasn't going to be as bad as it's been. 40:11 I mean, on paper, this team shouldn't have been as bad as they've been the last three seasons, but yet they found themselves out of the NCAA tournament and they definitely underachieved. 40:19 So, again, I don't know what change. 40:22 Again, it's early in the year and who knows if this is going to continue, but I feel it will and I just think that there's something. 40:28 Again, it's tough to put your finger on it when it's behind the scenes type stuff or whatever it may be, but I think that's just as much as anything. 40:34 I mean, yeah, this team is pretty talented, but again, it's not like they've had a bunch of walk-ons through the last few years. 40:40 I mean, there have been a lot of guys who were highly recruited and the types that, hey, we beat out North Dakota for this guy, but yet he comes here and he's horrible. 40:48 But for whatever reason this year, that doesn't seem to be the case. 40:51 So again, there's good players on the ice for the team, but I think as much as anything, it's just they might have been due or the atmosphere changed. 40:58 I don't know, again, it's all stuff you can. 41:00 It's not really tangible, but I think that as much as anything is the reason why. 41:04 Addition by subtraction, bye-bye, John Haller. 41:09 I didn't buy into that as being such a big thing, but I mean, the person in the pudding, right? 41:13 I mean, maybe that was it. 41:14 I mean, I don't know, I guess it'd be crazy if an assistant coach was that big of a D bag where the whole program drained down because of him, but I mean, it's tough to argue that with a lot of facts at this point. 41:27 You'd be surprised. 41:28 I've heard, and granted, this is from a recruiting standpoint, I've heard at least two or three kids who are out there that really they thought Hill was arrogant. 41:39 They thought, you know, they didn't like him. 41:41 And certainly that's not gonna help you on the recruiting road. 41:44 And granted, it doesn't have anything to do with so much with this year's team, but I mean, if players who aren't even on your team yet are like, man, I don't like that guy, you can only imagine some of the turmoil going on with the guys who are on the team. 41:56 So I wouldn't underestimate, you know, the John Hill influence when it comes to how we're doing now. 42:02 Okay, more from G Manpucker. 42:05 Will the Gophers ride Patterson until we see him falter in a game? 42:10 Is this a good idea to ride him until he shows he's human or if he turns cold? 42:17 Yeah, I mean, I think they're like, you know, I mean, I touched on this earlier a little bit. 42:20 And I, just the way the schedule shakes out. 42:22 I mean, there's not a lot of gimmies in the WCHA. 42:24 I mean, you look at what Michigan Tech's doing. 42:26 And, you know, so I think between, you know, Patterson's, you know, arguably their top player. 42:30 He's, you know, like Hammy said, he's probably the best goal in the league. 42:32 If not, he's right there and one of the best in the country. 42:35 And, you know, I think with this young defensive core, you know, and, you know, the other thing too, is that it's not like there's a backup that, you know, is like an Alex Kangas last year before he got hurt, where it's like, oh, well, you know, we can put this guy in because he's got a big track record. 42:48 I mean, they don't have a backup that is, you know, all that great that we know. 42:52 I mean, maybe one of them, you know, like the Chabalsky kid will turn out to be great, but I mean, probably not. 42:56 That's, you know, I mean, I don't think, you know, he's going to be handed the starting job next year. 43:00 It's probably going to be a battle with Wilcox. 43:01 And, you know, and the other thing too is Lucia. 43:03 Let's face it, his job, you know, I know he just signed the extension, but this team needs to make the NCAA tournament. 43:08 And like we've seen, they've been one win or two wins away for, you know, a couple of years. 43:12 And, you know, all it takes is not starting Patterson one night against, you know, I don't know where you want to put him in, maybe in the winter or take him out. 43:18 I mean, maybe in the holiday classic against, you know, Princeton or whoever they play, Northeastern, I think is one of the teams. 43:23 I mean, what happens if you lose that game and, you know, the stat guys come, you know, March when the team doesn't make the tournament say, well, you want to know why you didn't make it? 43:30 Cause you lost this game. 43:31 So I think there's a, you know, they can give them time off during the week and, you know, Luchia has talked about that before. 43:36 So I see no reason why you don't start to meet him every night, even if he does have a clunker or two, I mean, just keep putting him out there. 43:42 He's got a great track record and he's by far the best option they have. 43:47 Yeah, there's nothing I could add to that. 43:48 I mean, you just keep playing him. 43:50 I mean, he's too good and even if he has a few bad games, I mean, he's earned it, let's face it. 43:57 That kid was pretty patient behind Kangas for a while until Kangas kind of, you know, he should have played a lot more earlier than he did in his career. 44:05 So, you know, this is the senior year, senior goalie, you got to ride that kind of player as much as you can, you know, in that. 44:10 So yeah, you keep putting them out there. 44:13 You know, I think, I agree. 44:14 I think they will keep putting them out there unless they're playing, let's say they're playing a Mankato and they're up seven to two and after the second or something along those lines. 44:24 I think they may pull them there just to give them a little extra rest, but otherwise, ride them. 44:29 Just keep riding them. 44:32 Here we go. 44:32 I've held on to this question since like week one, just because it's kind of about the Sioux, but I think I know the answer to it. 44:39 But any idea if the Gophers will be coming to the Ralph next season or is this year the final chapter for the two teams and Grand Forks as WCHA members? 44:50 This comes from Shacker or S Hacker. 44:53 Didn't really leave his name. 44:54 That's just come right from his email. 44:57 Well, I think Donald, when she answered this, right, with PA, he said that, you know, obviously we play them down here this weekend and then up there in January. 45:04 And then next year the Sioux come down here, but that is it. 45:08 So unless something works out where the Gophers hit up there in a playoff series, and we can only hope that does not happen for many reasons. 45:14 Yeah, I think this will be the next series in January, I should say, will be the last time the Gophers make that trek up there for possibly quite a long time. 45:23 Yeah, I don't know. 45:24 I mean, I haven't followed that very closely. 45:26 Of course, they have those scheduling agreements, you know, that they handle. 45:32 I really don't know how it's going to work out. 45:34 I mean, from what I understand, well, minimum we have 20 home games. 45:38 You know, when we get into, you know, say two years from now, you're going to have, what, you have 12, 10, is it? 45:46 Home league games, and then you're going to have 10 non-conference games. 45:52 And then, you know, you have what? 45:55 Another five series that are going to be on the road in the league. 45:58 So that's 30 games. 46:00 And then what, you have 34 games total. 46:03 Where, you know, where are those four games going to be? 46:06 We're planning on, I would assume, playing on the road to some local programs. 46:10 You know, your Mankato's or your St. 46:13 Cloud's or whatever. 46:14 I don't really know where there's going to be a lot of room for, you know, going to all these different places every year. 46:20 So some of these programs are going to have to get used to not seeing the Gophers in their rink quite as often. 46:27 And plus, you know, any deal that North Dakota and Minnesota would do, it would always be a one for one situation. 46:31 Whereas, you know, whatever deal the Gophers do with St. 46:34 Cloud State, for example, the Gophers have the leverage to, you know, probably say, hey, we'll go up to your rink, but you guys have to come down here twice over whatever the year span is. 46:41 I mean, North Dakota, they're not gonna, you know, screw around at that. 46:44 No, granted, North Dakota, when the Gophers go up there, they, you know, practically double their ticket prices and it sells out, you know, instantly. 46:50 So there's a little bit maybe of incentive there to, you know, for them to have a little flexibility getting the Gophers up there. 46:55 But still, there's no way North Dakota is gonna come down here more times than the Gophers go up there. 46:59 So, you know, there's not gonna be a lot of flexibility in terms of the negotiating, like there might be for, you know, some of the other programs. 47:07 You know, for me, I'll be honest, I like the idea of kind of playing some different teams. 47:12 I mean, yes, this is a great, great rivalry. 47:14 Nobody's gonna argue that. 47:15 But, you know, Lucia on his show was talking about how, you know, they were talking with BU and BC doing some home and home out there and then having those two teams come out here different years to play a series. 47:28 You know, it opens up some doors to be able to play some different teams that we maybe don't have that flexibility now because there's so few non-conference opportunities. 47:36 So as much as we get a little bit upset about some of these rivalries not being quite as played as often, it's going to be nice to have some opportunities to play some good programs that we don't typically play. 47:50 Well, I think it's a little too bad, but I think the Sioux, Minnesota rivalry is going to kind of go down in a few years once they break up different leagues. 48:00 Just for the reasons you guys say, they're just, it's going to be tough for them to have one-and-ones, home-and-homes, whatever. 48:06 And I think it's very unfortunate. 48:09 It's just pretty unfortunate. 48:10 Well, you know, it is, but at the same time, and I've mentioned this a few times on GPL, rivalries don't, they're not created overnight, and so you kind of have to be patient. 48:20 Yes, we're not going to have some team in the Big Ten, for instance, just automatically come in and replace this rivalry with North Dakota or whatever, but at the same time, you're going to develop new rivalries and, you know, so you just kind of have to be patient. 48:35 Maybe it's never going to live up to the North Dakota-Minnesota rivalry. 48:39 I guess we'll see what happens down the road, but you just kind of have to let those things develop. 48:44 You know, I'm actually looking forward to Michigan a lot. 48:48 Michigan has obviously historically been a long-time rival, just like North Dakota, you know, because the College Hockey Showcase is done, thanks to Barry Alvarez in Wisconsin. 48:59 We don't get to see Michigan this year, but it'll be nice to, I think that's gonna be the North Dakota Series in a few years. 49:06 I think Michigan is gonna be our biggest rival. 49:09 Yeah, to me, well, I mean, to me, I think they're a number two rival already. 49:13 I'd put them ahead of Wisconsin, you know, it's just because the Wisconsin Hockey Program doesn't mean as much to, you know, Madison. 49:19 I mean, it's clearly third on the list. 49:21 And I don't know, I just, I think when Michigan comes here, there's just a more special field. 49:25 I get the same, I put them right in the mix with North Dakota like you, Craig, where it's, you know, when Michigan comes here, I don't know if it's just Berenson or, you know, what it is about them. 49:33 But, you know, Lucia has talked about that too, where, you know, prior to Alvarez and Yves killing in the showcase, you know, the, you know, kind of the measuring stick games against Michigan and Michigan State around Thanksgiving where, hey, you know, this is really, you know, you see what your team has going against those series. 49:46 I just think every time we play Michigan, it's just, I know the crowd doesn't necessarily indicate it's not as packed, you know, whenever we play them. 49:52 Previously, I thought it was been on a holiday weekend. 49:54 So it's kind of a weird deal where people are out of town and whatnot. 49:57 But yeah, I totally agree. 49:58 I can't wait to be playing Michigan four times each season. 50:01 And I would agree that Michigan is our number two rival, at least in my mind they are. 50:06 I always really look forward to those College Hockey Showcase games every year. 50:10 I don't think I've missed one since it started. 50:13 It's my favorite, one of my favorite series of the year. 50:18 Well, I think the thing I realize, there's two things. 50:20 First of all, it's gonna be a conference situation again. 50:24 So it's gonna be more meaningful for a series. 50:28 As compared to what we see with the College Hockey Showcase, all that kind of stuff. 50:32 But the other thing that I think a lot of fans don't understand is the Michigan, Minnesota thing, it goes down to the youth levels. 50:41 I mean, before USA Hockey kind of screwed up things with their summer select tournaments, where now they're just, the teams are made of colors and it's just kind of a garbled rosters and whatever, players from all over. 50:58 It used to be, you were represented by an area and it used to be Minnesota and Michigan in the summer and those games meant something, even though it was summer hockey, it meant something and players don't forget that stuff. 51:10 And so granted, that's kind of disappeared now, so maybe it's not as meaningful to the younger players, but it's definitely something that means, it has some meaning to it. 51:20 So I think that that'll definitely get better once this conference change is going into effect. 51:26 Well, I'm looking at some other feedback and a lot of it we've kind of already covered, so I guess we're going to have to just kind of move on. 51:34 How about some final thoughts on the weekend? 51:36 Any other things you guys want to talk about? 51:38 Anything you want to get out there? 51:39 Any recruiting news, Hammy? 51:41 Anything going on? 51:43 You know, I haven't heard anything pending. 51:46 I did hear some interesting news tonight about Kamarada. 51:51 I think that the Gopher is in really good shape there. 51:54 We'll have to see about if and when that might go down. 51:58 I'm not saying he's committing or anything like that, but it's looking pretty positive. 52:02 I've heard different things, not just tonight, but it seems like it's a little bit better than maybe what I heard a few weeks ago. 52:09 So that's a good thing, and certainly I would expect that they'll have some recruits in this weekend. 52:14 When you have a big series like this, you tend to bring in some players to kind of show around the rink and get a little bit of the feel for the rivalry and all that kind of good stuff. 52:24 So I would imagine there would be some recruits at the rink so people can keep their eyes out and see if they can notice any players with some jackets from junior teams or whatever you might say. 52:36 So we'll see. 52:37 Any final thoughts there, Ryan? 52:40 Yeah, then too, we touched on this previously, but we'll be no issues with those of us with DirecTV and FSN. 52:48 So that's definitely a good thing that that was crisis averted. 52:52 And then too, just the programming note with the late start on Saturday night with 7.30 due to the Big Ten Network. 52:58 So just for those people who are creatures of habit doing the 7 o'clock FSN thing, keep their eye out for that on Saturday night, a little bit of a later start on the Big Ten Network. 53:09 We didn't get any pot shots or nothing from Sue fans over Twitter or anything like that? 53:15 I mean, nothing? 53:16 I don't think they have the technical knowledge. 53:19 Man, what the hell? 53:20 Are these guys going soft or what? 53:22 I mean, I know their team hasn't played... 53:24 They're kind of down on their team. 53:25 Well, I know, but come on. 53:29 Next week, I have a feeling, if Sue happened to do well, you'll definitely hear from them then. 53:38 Well, yeah, but come on. 53:39 That's not very fun. 53:40 Show some balls if you're going to hack on the Gophers or whatever. 53:44 Get it out now. 53:45 Get it out before the series starts. 53:47 But I'm surprised. 53:49 I'm surprised. 53:51 Yeah, well. 53:53 Ryan, how about some trash talk from you? 53:57 You know, I'm kind of the quiet, confident right now. 54:01 I mean, you don't want to get too far out there because, again, it's just devastating if you start talking trash because finally Gophers are off to a tiny bit of a good start and then all of a sudden North Dakota comes down here and just takes it to us. 54:13 Like I said earlier, that would be just devastating even more than if any other team did it at this point. 54:17 But, you know, it's again, after the last few years, there's not a lot of trash you can talk. 54:21 I mean, as good as the Gophers have done this year, I mean, to do good this weekend would mean more than anything else they've done, and that's no disrespect for Duluth or anyone else, but it's just, you know, I hate North Dakota and I really hope we take it to them. 54:32 It's been sickening to watch them, you know, hit us around, you know, both on the scoreboard and then physically in a lot of these games recently, and, you know, to their credit, they've done really well the last few years, and we haven't, but, you know, big picture, these are probably two of the best five programs in the country, and, you know, hopefully we can turn the tables on and then get things going back in our direction starting this weekend. 54:50 Well, I think, well, let me say one thing. 54:52 I do think that, you know, from a fan perspective, we put the series, you know, high up on the pedestal, and certainly it's meaningful to the players as well. 55:01 I mean, it's a lot of emotion. 55:02 At the same time, though, I do think we have to put it in perspective that, I mean, even if we, like, say, swept the series, you know, it's not going to mean anything if we go out the next couple of weeks and then lay an egg, you know what I mean? 55:13 So you kind of, I know Lucia talks about, you know, not getting too high, not getting too low, you know, on the results. 55:21 And I think that that's kind of key here. 55:24 Whatever happens this weekend, you know, you don't want to read too much into it. 55:27 You certainly want to be happy if you do well. 55:29 But, you know, don't overdo it. 55:32 If things don't go, you know, fantastic, you kind of just want to keep an even keel, especially when we're only in November. 55:38 So I think we have to keep that in perspective. 55:41 No, I totally agree. 55:42 And like I said earlier, man, I think you look at the next month and, you know, with the Gophers having a pretty tough schedule. 55:46 I mean, it's been not easy so far, but, you know, they've done what they should have done so far. 55:50 And that's, you know, do well against, you know, some of the not, you know, top teams. 55:53 But now they play a lot of those tough teams in, you know, Wisconsin. 55:56 Again, not off to a great start, but it's a rivalry series, St. 55:58 Cloud, a home and home, you know, that's not going to be easy. 56:00 And Michigan State, a team that, you know, has been down a little bit, but again, traveling out there on the holiday weekend, that's not going to be easy. 56:06 So I think big picture, if the Gophers can go, you know, four and four-ish, maybe with some ties mixed in or whatever, but if they can play 500 hockey and, you know, you end the month in November, you know, six, seven, eight games above 500 and some wonderful games, you know, during December against, you know, some softer teams in the holiday classic. 56:21 I mean, I think big picture for the season. 56:24 I mean, I don't know what, you know, everyone's on this podcast goal is, but I just want the NCAA tournament. 56:28 I mean, yeah, it'd be great to win the WCHA or, you know, things like that. 56:31 But again, we've seen just make the NCAA tournament and, you know, this year especially with the team having home ice if they make it with the regional at the XL Energy Center. 56:39 So, you know, big picture if you're looking for this team to make the NCAA tournament, you know, they'd be in great shape if they can, you know, be a 500 team the next month. 56:47 And, you know, obviously, you know, it'd be great if you could put a couple of wins in the bank against the Sioux this weekend to, you know, get to that point. 56:54 So, ProudSue on Twitter is telling me that he did go trash talk. 56:57 Of course, it's probably over on Sioux Sports. 56:59 I'm not going to go over there. 57:01 And he said, fire hack, higher hill. 57:04 So, apparently, you know, the heat's on, hack stall up there. 57:06 Oh, come on. 57:08 I know. 57:08 You know, they get, you know, last year they started off really well and they played well throughout the whole season. 57:14 But in previous years, they always kind of had a rough start. 57:18 And it was fire hack until December. 57:23 And then in January, they started turning around and he would get them to the frozen four and all that talk would go away. 57:27 So, I think hack stall's doing just fine. 57:31 He hasn't won the big one yet, but I think he's doing just fine with all the frozen fours he's been to. 57:35 Well, yeah, you got to give him a tip of the hat for that. 57:37 But at the same time, you know, it's ironic to me, and I've always said this, that Woo got all that crap over the years about not being able to win the big one. 57:45 You know, usually the most vocal were the Sioux fans. 57:48 And now all of a sudden, it's the shoes on the other foot, and their guy is the one that keeps struggling to get over the hump. 57:55 And it's funny how they still give him a pat on the back as if that's okay for them. 58:00 Plus, I can guarantee you if, let's say, the Gophers had happened to sweep this weekend by about Saturday night at about 11 o'clock, I'm going to have to say that there's going to be some, you know, fringe member of Sioux Sports. 58:10 Not one of the hardcores, but maybe somebody who dabbles in it. 58:13 I mean, there's going to be some sort of, maybe not necessarily a fire hack thread, but I mean, he's going to get questioned if they get swept this weekend just the way that board is. 58:20 So, you know, let's give those guys a little bit of credit. 58:23 They'll come out of the woodwork if things go off the rails this weekend, I'd have to imagine. 58:27 They have their own personal, like, goal floors or, you know, Dewey or whatever. 58:37 Well, anything else? 58:39 I think we're pretty much good here, aren't we? 58:41 All right. 58:42 Ryan, you're on KFVN tomorrow and not Thursday, correct? 58:47 Correct, yeah. 58:48 PA is heading out of town for the bye weekend, so we'll be on tomorrow at, I believe, 9.55. 58:54 So, yeah, we'll probably, you know, have you focused on Minnesota and North Dakota, but I'm sure we'll touch on some of the other fan radio network stations and what their squads are up to. 59:03 So, yeah. 59:04 And, of course, we can always follow you at Ryan Cardinal on Twitter. 59:08 And get pictures of me with the Ultimate Warrior. 59:10 Oh, my God, that was so good this weekend. 59:14 Sweet. 59:14 You know, we were doing a live broadcast at the time, having some fun, and I was hoping you would call in, but I think you probably had a little too much, too many beverages to call in. 59:24 No, you know, at the time you requested it, I tried to. 59:28 I didn't have the Skype app on my phone, but due to the size of it, I tried to download it at the time, but it said I needed to be on Wi-Fi. 59:35 I couldn't just do it on the normal network. 59:36 Otherwise, I would have ducked in for sure, but I'll download that on the home front. 59:41 So the next time that pops up, I'll be able to oblige your requests. 59:45 I find it slightly ironic that Joop is pointing fingers at anybody else about how much they've had to drink on a specific night, considering the condition he was in this last week. 59:55 Put down the bottle, Gary. 59:56 Oh, man. 59:57 I had fun Saturday night. 59:59 It's been a while since I've had so few beverages. 1:00:02 Not as much fun as I had. 1:00:04 Well, yeah, I wasn't at the Ultimate Warrior Pony Guy, and I won't repeat what you said on a few of your texts to me. 1:00:12 We all get to hang out at the strip clubs with the bikes. 1:00:18 Hey, there was no strip clubs. 1:00:20 There was the Blackfin and Shetland. 1:00:22 The Gentlemen's Club was that, right? 1:00:24 Oh, okay. 1:00:26 Now, we go to Atlanta in a few weeks, so I can't say we're never going to be at one. 1:00:30 Ooh, Hotlanta. 1:00:31 Yeah, so most of the time, we try to make it to the local establishments, not the Gentlemen's Clubs, but I can't make a sweeping statement that never happens. 1:00:43 We tried something a little different this week. 1:00:45 We're actually broadcasting live as we record this, and I think we'll continue to do this in the future. 1:00:53 You can always head over to GopherPuckLive and head to the podcast page. 1:00:57 At the bottom of the podcast page, there's kind of a little app that plays and that will play our live audio while we're here. 1:01:05 In the future, we might be doing live audio during the games on the weekends as well, at least the road games maybe. 1:01:11 We'll see what happens. 1:01:12 We did that this past weekend and had a big group of people in there. 1:01:15 It was pretty fun. 1:01:17 Hammy, I think we got you covered, right? 1:01:20 At Hammy Hockey on Twitter. 1:01:22 I think most of you all know that. 1:01:24 Remember, you can always send us feedback at the podcast, the gopherpucklive.com, you know, via Twitter, or, you know, there's a couple people in chat tonight, but I think they're just more having fun than doing anything else. 1:01:38 Two guys talking to each other. 1:01:39 We got CP Hockey Man and DX, which we had a nice nickname for them, but I'm not going to announce that on the air. 1:01:46 I think that just about does it for us this week. 1:01:49 We'll be back next week. 1:01:50 We'll go over this Sioux series. 1:01:52 We'll see if we're up or we're down, and we'll also preview the Wisconsin series for you. 1:01:57 Until then, thanks for joining us.